Well, today we’re going to continue in the book of Acts. If you have a Bible, you can turn to Acts chapter 15.

If you need a Bible, we want to give a Bible to you. We have a room right over here that has the title Prayer over the door. If you need prayer, come to the prayer room. Our team will be ready to pray with you after the gathering. We have Bibles in there. We want to make sure that everyone has a copy of God’s Word for themselves.

Today, we’re going to be in Acts 15. We’ve been going through the book of Acts over a number of months. If you feel like you need to get caught up at any point, you can go to our website and listen or watch the previous messages.

I want to share a little bit of context from my own life before we get into our text today to kind of help us get into the frame of mind for what we’re going to look at.

As I was growing up, like you, there were some pretty important lessons that I needed to learn. One of the lessons that I needed to learn was about fighting.

When is it right to fight?

When is it wrong to fight?

The majority of that lesson I learned from my parents. I grew up two blocks that direction in the neighborhood, and they would teach me and train me about when it’s right to fight and when it’s wrong to fight.

I’m the youngest of three brothers, and I would always see my older brothers fighting, and it looked like they were having a great time, so I wanted to be a part of their fight. I weighed a little less than nothing, and I would throw myself into their fight and then kind of bounce off of their fight because I really wasn’t much to deal with. But I so wanted to be a part of what I saw them doing. They were going at it, and I thought, “That looks like a lot of fun.”

When I got into high school, I learned that you don’t just fight with your hands. In fact, you can fight with your mouth. I liked that even more because I found out that I could argue with people, I could yell at people, and I could get into a verbal fight.

You know what? I liked it a lot. A lot.

What marked me was I actually looked for a fight versus what’s right.

I wasn’t really asking the question, “What’s right?” In fact, I wasn’t even concerned if I knew what was right. I saw that there was a debate beginning and a few facts were shared, and I thought, “I’ll jump on one of the sides. I’m ready to fight right now. Let’s go.”

You know what I found out pretty much the majority of the time?

Whatever I chose to fight about, I was wrong.

In fact, I didn’t know what I was talking about. And guess what? None of my friends did either. None of us knew what we were talking about. We’re all enjoying the fight, and yet none of us knows what’s right.

Maybe you can relate to being in an argument, a heated discussion, where you end up finding that all the time, energy, and resource that you invested to make sure everybody knew your thought, opinion, and preference was correct, only to discover it wasn’t.

You actually didn’t know what you were talking about. You didn’t know what’s right.

But you enjoyed the fight.

The text we’re going to look at today is going to tie right into our common experience in Acts 15, verse 1.

“But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’

“And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.

“So being 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 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 some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.’

“The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

“And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth 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, having cleansed their hearts by faith.

“‘Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test 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 will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.’”

Let’s pray together.

Father God, Lord, as we look at Your Word, as we look at this passage, God, help us to understand what’s worth fighting about and what’s not. God, help us to understand what’s worth defending, what’s worth giving our time, energy, and resource to.

God, help us get lined up to what’s right, the truth, Your Word, that we might invest our lives in a direction that will have a good return.

Lord, teach us this morning. We need You to help us grow. I’m asking, God, that You would do it. Would You help us grow, please?

I pray this in Jesus’ name. And all God’s family said, amen.

This text is about a discussion, a debate, an argument, a council where they’re trying to figure out what’s right. They’re trying to figure out what God says is right, and they’re trying to figure out how to do the right thing.

One of the things that I discovered as I grew in my relationship with the Lord was that many of the times that I fought other people or had arguments with other people, I discussed things about God and I fought about things that had to do with God.

And I was wrong.

I didn’t know I was wrong until I actually learned what the Scriptures taught about God, what the Scriptures taught about me, and how we are to engage with one another and the Lord.

Have you ever been in a discussion with somebody or an argument with somebody where you were so adamant about your opinion about God that you were willing to fight for your opinion about God, only to discover God’s Word taught something different?

I’m going to guess many of us can relate to that.

Fortunately for us, when God describes how someone is saved in the Bible, which He does many times, every time God describes how someone experiences salvation, they all match perfectly. They’re all lined up. They’re all aligned.

God never contradicts Himself. God never changes His mind. He never changes the plan.

Everything that’s described in Scripture about how someone comes to faith and saving faith to experience salvation in God is communicating the same message.

God has a lot to say about how He saves us.

In this text, there’s a controversy. I’m going to describe it simply in these terms. The controversy is about this:

How is somebody righteous before God so that they can be saved?

One side of the argument is that a person is righteous before God and experiences salvation by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

On the other side of the argument, a person is righteous and experiences salvation in God by faith alone in Jesus Christ plus circumcision.

I’m going to present to you what the Scriptures teach, and then we’re going to walk through this passage and break it down.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ for good works.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus for good works.

Christian good works matter. The Bible teaches a lot about what we are to go and do.

But we need to have our Christian good works in the right order.

If we start a discussion about salvation and we begin with good works as the starting point, we’ve already started wrong.

We need to see good works in the order of where they belong.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus for good works.

Verse 1: “But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, ‘Unless you’re circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.’”

Paul and Barnabas are on a missionary journey. We’ve been looking at it for a long time together as a church, week by week. They’re out going from town to town, and they’re sharing the message of salvation—how a person is saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

Some people from Judea now come and follow them. They are following them to teach something different than what Paul and Barnabas have been teaching from town to town.

What they’re saying is, “No, no, no. Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you can’t be saved.”

The only way you can be saved is if you experience circumcision according to the custom of Moses.

What is circumcision?

Circumcision is the tearing away of flesh. It is meant to be symbolic to the tearing away of the heart for the purpose of adhering to the law. When someone is circumcised, they take on a pretty big commitment. We’re going to talk about that in just a moment.

But the way they see this is everybody they know is Jewish.

All the Israelites. They’re saying, “Hey, we’re all Jews. Jesus, He’s Jewish. The apostles, they’re Jewish. Everybody who had come to know Jesus Christ, they’re Jewish.”

They’re thinking, “How can someone possibly come to Christ and not be Jewish?”

So what do they need to do? They need to become Jewish, and then they can come to Christ.

Oh, I’ve got great news for everybody today.

There are no second-class Christians. None.

Everybody in Christ flies first class.

It’s a big old plane. There’s no second class.

There is no class system in the body of Christ.

You want to know why? Because we are all flat on the ground before the cross of Christ.

We have no place other than humbly accepting Jesus and surrendering to Him.

It is great news that we’re all even at the foot of the cross, needing a Savior who pulls us out of the pit of despair to do for us what we cannot do for ourselves.

There’s no second-class Christians.

Verse 2: “After Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question.”

Paul and Barnabas have been going from town to town sharing the message of the gospel: that you can have salvation, that God the Father sent Jesus Christ the Son, that He died on the cross for our sins, that He was buried, that He was resurrected to new life, and He ascended to the Father.

If you trust in Jesus Christ for your salvation, then you too can be saved for eternity with God in heaven.

They’re going from town to town sharing this message, and they see it as a huge problem that someone else is now coming and sharing a different message.

They’re sharing something different than what they understand to be true.

They see that the gospel message is at risk, and they say, “We’ve got to do something about this.”

Remember, they’re out in the mission field. They’re saying, “We’ve got to go back to headquarters. We’ve got to talk to the leadership, and we’ve got to get lined up. What is true? What do the Scriptures teach?”

We’ve got to get aligned because a lot’s at stake.

The gospel’s at stake.

We’re watching people find freedom in Jesus Christ. We’re watching the chains that the enemy has wrapped around people fall off. We’re watching people come to see and know the love of God.

We cannot mess around with this. We’ve got to deal with this.

Let’s go back to headquarters. Let’s talk with the leadership. Let’s get it lined up.

Verse 3: “So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers.”

Everywhere they go, they’ve been on this missionary journey and they’re now heading back to headquarters in Jerusalem.

Everywhere they go: “Hey, you’ve got to hear about how people are coming to Christ. You’ve got to hear about what happened in this town. How God rescued people in this town when we went to this village. You’ve got to hear about how the message of the gospel changed people’s lives.

“You’ve got to hear about the opposition we faced in this town. You’ve got to hear about the persecution we experienced here.”

God is saving people.

Everybody who hears it experiences great joy.

Jesus said, “I want you to have joy. I came that you might have joy. I want you to have the fullness of joy.”

When we see and hear that God is working in people’s lives, what does it do?

It fills us up with joy.

The same thing just happened in this worship gathering as we were watching people be baptized.

It is so encouraging for all of us to see people be baptized, to go public with their faith. Yeah, we’re celebrating what God’s doing in them. But guess what? God does something in us as we see it because it encourages us and brings us great joy.

It’s so exciting to see how God is at work.

Verse 4: “Then they came to Jerusalem and they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them.”

Now they’re back at headquarters, and they begin to share with everybody who’s in Christ, everybody who has faith in Christ, the early church.

They begin to share, “Listen to what God has done in our lives.”

You know what we call that?

We call that giving testimony.

Giving testimony to what God has done in our lives.

It is always so encouraging to hear someone share testimony about what God has done in their life.

Just this last Tuesday, I was here at Celebrate Recovery. Every other week at Celebrate Recovery, a testimony is shared. One of my friends shared their testimony this last Tuesday night.

I want you to know it was powerful.

It was so powerful to hear about how God had transformed someone’s life and done amazing things in their life.

When’s the last time you shared with somebody, “Let me tell you about what God’s doing in my life. I want you to hear about all that God has done for me”?

Verse 5: “But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ‘It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.’”

The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.

There’s a group of people. They’re legalistic, and their party’s named the Pharisees. They don’t seem like much of a party.

They say, “Hey, we’re going to come in here. We’re going to fix this whole thing. Here’s what we’re going to do. They’re all going to need to be circumcised, and you’re going to order them to do it. You’re going to force them to do it. You’re going to make them do it.”

You’ve got all these people who were Jewish, who came out of observance to the Old Covenant, the Old Testament law. You’ve got these people who have now come to Christ.

Now the apostles and the elders are gathered together, and they’re like, “Okay, we’re hearing two different stories. We’ve got to consider this matter.”

Well, what is circumcision?

Circumcision is a sign of the old covenant.

If you want to read a little bit about that, you can do that in Deuteronomy 28.

But this is what someone is adhering to if they take on the sign of circumcision. They’re saying, “I am going to obey the law of Moses.”

There will only be two outcomes.

Outcome number one is: I will obey the law of Moses, and God is going to bless me.

Outcome number two is: I am not going to obey the law of Moses, and I will be cursed.

So when someone takes on the sign of circumcision, it is a really big deal because their life of blessing or their life of curse is hanging in the balance.

Well, what did Jesus teach when Jesus is hanging out with the guys in Luke chapter 22?

He says, “I’m going to start a new covenant, and the new covenant is going to be in My blood.”

What is He saying?

He’s saying, “When I die on the cross for you, when I shed My blood for you, I’m going to take the curse. I’m going to take it.

“I’m going to take the curse, and I’m going to give you the blessing.”

It’s a new covenant in the blood of Jesus Christ.

These guys grew up Jewish. They came out of observing the law of Moses. Yet they were in the room when Jesus was sharing these things, and now they’re considering this and trying to think, “What are we supposed to do here?”

Verse 7: “And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, ‘Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.’”

We’ve already covered this in the book of Acts, but essentially the short story is that God tells Peter, “You need to go to the Gentiles.”

Peter says, “I don’t think so.”

He’s not interested. He’s like, “Nope. Never done anything like that. Nope. Not going to do anything like that. I would never do that.”

God, over and over, tells him.

Finally, Peter obeys. Peter goes to the Gentiles and shares the gospel with the Gentiles.

What he’s saying here is, “Hey, you know that in the early days, in the early church, God made a choice. I didn’t do it. It wasn’t my idea. In fact, I didn’t even want to do it, but God made me do it.

“God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

One of the great descriptions of our God is in Exodus 33:19.

He says, “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”

God makes a choice.

He is gracious, and He decides who to be gracious toward. God is merciful, and He decides who to be merciful toward.

God made a choice.

“Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.”

Number one: God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

I want you to know, I’m so glad that God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

Here’s why: Because I don’t think I would have made the same choice.

I don’t think I would have done it.

What do we mean when we say God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace?

Well, what is salvation?

Salvation is to be able to have a relationship with God for eternity in heaven, to be forgiven of our sin, and to experience eternal life with God.

That is salvation.

God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

What is grace?

Grace is an undeserved gift.

It is not earned.

It is not owed.

God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

We didn’t earn it. We are not owed it. We don’t deserve it.

God chose to give this to us as a gift.

I’m so glad that God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

You know, in God’s business, the accounting books of God’s business are His business.

We waste time, energy, and resource when we try to do the accounting books for God.

God has it handled.

God has made a choice to give us salvation by His grace.

You know where our time, energy, and resources are well spent?

To understand that God made a choice to give us salvation by His grace, and let’s share it with other people.

Let’s have God take care of His own accounting books.

Verse 8: “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, having cleansed their hearts by faith.”

What this is describing is that God proves who’s saved.

God’s handling His own accounting books.

God proves who’s saved.

God bears witness.

The way that God bears witness is that God places the Holy Spirit of God into the life of the person who is saved.

What they’re describing is: We, as people who were Jews, received the Holy Spirit. Those who were not Jews, Gentiles, received the Holy Spirit as well.

It wasn’t about who was circumcised or not.

It was about who received the Holy Spirit.

God made no distinction between us and them, giving them the Holy Spirit.

In the new covenant, made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ shed on the cross, the Holy Spirit is the seal of redemption.

In the old covenant, circumcision is the sign of the covenant.

In the new covenant, the Holy Spirit is the seal of redemption.

Number two: God gives us the Holy Spirit as proof of saving faith in Jesus.

Who proves that somebody has salvation?

God does.

You know what’s so awesome about having God the Father as our Father?

Like, everything.

But let me just explain a few things that are awesome.

God proves who His kids are.

God proves who His daughters are. You know how He does it? He puts the Holy Spirit of God in them.

God proves who His sons are. You know how He does it? He puts the Holy Spirit of God in them.

You know what’s so awesome about having God as Father?

He’s holding all of the birth certificates, and they’re all safe in His hand.

He knows exactly who His kids are, and He proves it with the Holy Spirit of God.

God gives us the Holy Spirit as proof of saving faith in Jesus.

Verse 10: “Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

What’s a yoke?

A yoke is a teaching in its most basic sense. It’s two animals hooked up together to work.

They’re saying, “Why are you placing a teaching, a burden on people that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

What are they saying?

They’re saying, “Our good works are not good enough to save us.”

Our good works are not good enough to save us.

Guess what?

Neither were Dad’s. Neither were Grandpa’s. Neither were Great-Grandpa’s.

Neither has been anybody in our nation.

No one has had good enough works to be able to save themselves.

Here’s what I love. It’s partly because I like a good fight. I like this passage.

I like a good fight, so I like this passage.

Here’s what I love.

Every legalistic Pharisee who’s hearing this, all of a sudden they’re super ticked off and angry at Peter.

I’m like, “All right, this is getting good. This is a good biblical fight.”

Why?

Because he just told them all, “You guys are hypocrites,” and he said it to their face.

You haven’t been able to keep what you’re trying to make everyone else do.

You haven’t been able to do it yourself, and you’re trying to force everybody else to do it.

“Why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?”

We’re not saved by our good works, but we are saved for them.

We’re not saved by our good works, but we are saved for them.

That’s number three.

You know what’s really cool about God?

God takes broken-down people and puts them to work in His kingdom.

God takes people who are completely destitute. They’re down and out. They’ve got nothing. They’ve raised the white flag, and they’ve totally surrendered.

He’s like, “Perfect. Now you’re exactly in the place that I want you. Let’s get to work. I’ve got a job for you as My kid. Come work in My kingdom.”

We’re not saved by our good works, but we are saved for them.

One of the chief texts, a primary text we look at to understand how good works relate to faith alone in Jesus Christ, is Ephesians chapter 2.

Ephesians 2:8–10.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.”

We’ve talked about that already. It’s an undeserved gift.

By grace you have been saved through faith.

We’ve discussed that—faith alone in Jesus Christ, eternity with God in heaven.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves.”

We are not saved by our good works.

“This is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.”

It is grace.

“Not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Why is there a verse in our Bible where the entire verse is this: “Not by works, so that no one can boast”?

Why?

Because if we could work to earn our salvation, you know what we would do?

We would brag about it all the time.

“I’m so awesome. Let me tell you how great I am. I did such good works that I have earned my way to heaven. Here, help me out. I need someone else to help pat me on the back real quick.”

You know what’s really great?

It’s really great to hear people brag about themselves. Don’t you love that?

Don’t you love hanging out with people who just won’t stop talking about how wonderful they are?

Thanksgiving’s coming up. We’ve got a three-hour session with that crazy family member, right? They’re going to talk to you for like three hours straight about how amazing they are.

Don’t you love that?

It is in our human nature to go tell everybody how wonderful we are.

God knows that.

So He writes it down to let us know: You had nothing to do with this.

We’re not saved by our good works.

We are saved for them, but we’re not saved by our good works.

“Not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork.”

God is a master craftsman.

We are His workmanship.

We are His craftsmanship.

God is a master painter.

We are His work of art.

The God who hung the stars and the planets in the sky painted your eyes.

The God who carved out all the forms in the universe drew the lines on your hands.

You are not a mistake.

You are not an accident.

You have been crafted by the Master Craftsman.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works.”

You are the workmanship of God.

You know what God likes to do with His workmanship?

Put it into action.

You are the craftsmanship of God, and He wants to see His craftsmanship in action.

You are an amazing piece of art created by God, and God loves to see His artwork in action.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Before the creation of the world, God had this all lined up—that we should walk in them.

Which means there are good works that God has planned for you to do.

You have no idea.

I have no idea.

God has good works planned for us to do.

You know what we do?

We discover the good works that God has planned for us as we walk forward with Him.

He has it all lined up, and He’s so excited to blow our minds.

We’re going to walk into the good works that God has for us.

We have no idea what’s coming, but God does.

It’s an exciting life to live when we live the way we were designed to live—for the glory of God and for our joy.

“For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”

Last verse here, verse 11:

“But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

They’re saying, “Hey, the way we got saved is because of the grace of the Lord Jesus. The way that they’re going to get saved is because of the grace of the Lord Jesus. The way that the very next person who gets saved is going to get saved is because of the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

Just as they will.

We are a part of a chain reaction.

We are a part of a chain reaction of people finding freedom and salvation in Jesus Christ.

You want to know what’s worth fighting for?

That’s worth fighting for.

That people might come to know Jesus Christ.

It’s worth fighting for to understand the gospel.

It’s worth fighting for to know saving faith in Jesus Christ and to share it with other people.

You know where time, energy, and resource is invested well?

It’s invested well here.

Why?

Because we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus for good works.

It’s worth fighting for.

It’s worth investing our life in.

It’s worth making sure that we understand what Scripture teaches so we can share it with somebody, so that they might be able to have salvation in Jesus Christ as well.

It is an absolute honor to serve the King.

It’s an honor.

You know what? God’s an awesome boss.

It’s good to work for God.

You want to know why?

He always says the right thing.

He’s the only boss who always does the right thing.

He’s the only boss who always gives perfect instructions.

He’s the only boss who always gives you everything you need to go do the job that He’s asking you to do.

He’s an awesome boss to work for.

God is an amazing boss.

We’re saved by grace through faith in Jesus for good works.

He’s given us a mission to go reach this community, that this community might understand and come to know the love of God.

We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus for good works.

So let’s get to work.

Let’s do it.

Let’s get to work because this is what God has for us.

Absolutely.

Father God, Lord, we love You.

It’s great to be a part of Your family.

God, we want to continue to welcome more and more people to come to know the love of God through Jesus Christ, the grace of God, that we might have salvation in Jesus alone.

God, use us.

Put us to work.

Use us as Your sons, as Your daughters, as kids in the kingdom.

Give us a good kingdom job, God.

Let us serve You, that more people in our community might be able to come to know You.

We pray this in Jesus’ name.

And all God’s family said, amen.