Salvation NOT a Work of Man Part 1
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Notes
Transcript
A. Rapport for the time
B. Reading of the text
C. Review of the text
Looking at it last week we saw a problem arise in the early church with the question of what we must do to be saved. The early church
D. Relevance of the text
I. Peter Explains God’s Work
I. Peter Explains God’s Work
6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter.
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.
8 And God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them, by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us,
9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
The debate has been going on for some time between the Apostles and Elders and Peter stands up to speak now. Peter jumps into the conversation and begins with early days. Again, with all that is going on in the life of the early church these early days are so important to the life of the church. The leaders do not want to leave anything to question they desire to work out the important details as they grow.
Peter says the gentiles are here by God’s choice. It is not Peter who decided this on his own but he recounts that God Chose the Gentiles to hear the Gospel by his mouth and they believed.
30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing
31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God.
32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’
33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”
Peter was given a vision by God in Acts 10 and Cornelius a gentile was given a vision to send for Peter that he and his household might hear the Gospel. Peter is recounting the story of what God did not what Peter did. How marvelous it must have been for Peter to get to stand up and declare what God had done in his life. Don’t miss that God had to teach Peter and now Peter is teaching others the lesson that he learned. That is discipleship!
He recounts what he learned in Acts 10:34-35
34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality,
35 but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.
vs. 9 God cleansed the heart of the gentiles bringing them to faith in Christ. Their is no distinction between Gentiles and Jews in the Kingdom of God.
Read vs. 19-22---
11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
This is not Peter thinking for himself and telling them his opinion. He is sharing God’s plan with them and directing them to follow it.
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?
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Cornelius and his household was saved by Faith alone. Peter witnessed the event personally. To add any other requirement but Faith to salvation would put the yoke of the law on gentiles and God did no such thing. The Jewish people were saved by Grace and their fathers did not keep the law perfectly. How could the Jewish people now place that yoke upon the new believers?
Acts Peter’s Witness (15:6–11)
How could Jewish Christians demand anything more than the faith already shown? To demand more would be to put God to the test, to act against God’s declared will, to see if God really meant what he had already shown in accepting Gentiles apart from the law
“God is now doing his work through what he is doing through Jesus.”
Peter addressing the group brings them to a place of silence in vs. 12.
T.S. Acts 15:12
12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles.
Between Peter Explaining God’s work and James Sharing God’s story you have Barnabas and Paul stand up and share their missionary journey among the gentiles. They would have explained in detail the events that transpired among the gentiles in Acts 13 & 14 before James stands up.
II. James Shares God’s Story
II. James Shares God’s Story
13 After they finished speaking, James replied, “Brothers, listen to me.
14 Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name.
James is introduced to us now in Acts and he is half-brother of Jesus. Before the resurrection of Jesus James did not believe.
7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.
But a resurrected Jesus appeared before him and he would ultimately become the leader of the Church in Jerusalem. James is knows as “James the Just” because of his piety. It was said that when he died his knees were callused like those of a camel because of his many hours of prayer. He is a pillar of the early church
19 But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.
9 and when James and Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given to me, they gave the right hand of fellowship to Barnabas and me, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.
James will point out that OT scripture backs up what Peter, Barnabas, and Paul have just shared. What is occuring amongst the gentiles is not something new but instead is exactly the way God intended and spoke through the prophets about.
15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,
16 “ ‘After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen; I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it,
17 that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord, who makes these things
18 known from of old.’
This passage come from:
11 “In that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old,
12 that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name,” declares the Lord who does this.
Amos is not the only OT passages their are many others..to name just a few
11 And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.
22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.
2 It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,
20 “Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, you survivors of the nations! They have no knowledge who carry about their wooden idols, and keep on praying to a god that cannot save.
21 Declare and present your case; let them take counsel together! Who told this long ago? Who declared it of old? Was it not I, the Lord? And there is no other god besides me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none besides me.
22 “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
23 By myself I have sworn; from my mouth has gone out in righteousness a word that shall not return: ‘To me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
4 For the children of Israel shall dwell many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or pillar, without ephod or household gods.
5 Afterward the children of Israel shall return and seek the Lord their God, and David their king, and they shall come in fear to the Lord and to his goodness in the latter days.
Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all that God had promised in the prophets long ago
7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God’s truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, “Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name.”
10 And again it is said, “Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”
11 And again, “Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him.”
12 And again Isaiah says, “The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope.”
13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.
Remember God said the entire world would be blessed not just one people group when he spoke to Abraham.
3 I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
I love vs. 18
18 known from of old.’
This new way that has been revealed is simply an old promise from God being fulfilled.
James concludes his remarks with
19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
20 but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”
Some commentators see vs. 19-21 as a compromise but I don’t believe this is a subject that can be compromised on in any way. Jewish people are saved by faith alone in Christ, Gentiles, Barbarians, all who come to be found as part of the Kingdom of God are their only by the finished work of Christ and not on account of anything they can do. These verses are James way of directing Gentile believers to live in accord with their fellow Jewish believers and protecting the unity of the faith as well as the new converts.
James makes 4 suggestions for the Gentiles.
Avoid contact with pollution that comes from idols—Food offered to pagan gods and then sold in temple butcher shops. Idolatry was repulsive to Jews and forbidden by God.
Avoid contact with immorality, probably associated with pagan rites and temple prostitution—Sexual sin in general, but particularly the orgies associated with the worship of pagan gods.
Avoid strangled things
Avoid blood matters—These are dietary restrictions that God had placed on his people in the OT that they would be separate from others.
Application:
Salvation cannot be a matter of human works. It is about receiving God’s grace from start to finish. Faith means relying only on what God has provided in terms of forgiveness and the benefits of salvation that come with it. On the other hand, Christian fellowship means that grace should be shown for differences that are not central to the truth of salvation, as an expression of love.
As long as the gospel is not compromised, then diversity of expression can be tolerated.