A Gospel Worth Fighting For

Acts: The Second Missionary Journey  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  40:43
0 ratings
· 5 views
Files
Notes
Transcript
Introduction:
If you have your Bibles let me invite you to open with me to the book of Acts chapter 15.
As we begin, I want you to reflect on this question.
What fires you up?
What topic or discussion really elevates your heart rate, shortens your breath, and increases the intensity of your voice?
Is there topic of conversation that your family knows not to bring up at the dinner table, lest you get on your soap box?
Is it politics?
Is it sports?
Is it a particular hobby?
Is it the ammonia plant they are trying to build in St. Rose?
What is it that ignites an emotional response and an eagerness to share your convictions, engage in discussion, and even debate?
We turn to the book of Acts this morning at a pivotal point….
In fact, this is the very center of the book and it functions as the hinge between the first missionary journey of Paul, and the remainder of his missionary journeys to the Roman world.
And what we have in this central chapter is what the author Luke describes as “no small dissension and debate” due to a false teaching that has begun to spread.
The debate was so heated,
so serious,
so important,
that believers in Antioch sent representatives to Jerusalem so that they could bring the discussion before the 12 disciples who had learned directly from Jesus.
This topic of debate was worth the over 300 mile journey by foot to Jerusalem to get the authoritative word on the matter.
If we Christians are to be convictional and passionate about anything, we should be convictional and passionate about what we find in this text.
So lets read Acts 15 together.
Acts 15:1–11 ESV
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.” 2 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. 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. 4 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. 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.” 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. 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.”
Lets Pray
“You Cannot Be Saved!”
thats the message that came down from Judea to Antioch.
You need to feel the force of the teaching these men began to spread.
“You cannot be saved.”
You cannot escape the fires of an eternal hell.
You cannot be forgiven of your sins.
You cannot have a right relationship with God.
You cannot avoid God’s wrath on the day of judgment.
“You cannot be saved.”
Unless you perform this religious act according to the custom of Moses.
Here is the background:
When God made a covenant with Abraham he commanded him to symbolize that covenant by circumcising his male children when they were born.
It would be a sign in the flesh for every Jewish boy, that God had made them covenant promises.
Circumcision was never the grounds of salvation for the Jews. It was a command for them to follow.
These Jews from Judea, however, are now teaching that that Old Covenant sign given to the children of Abraham as a symbol is actually a requirement for all non-Jewish people from every nation if they really want to be saved eternally….
They are arguing that for the Gentile people, putting faith in Jesus is not enough.
Your salvation,
your right standing with God,
depends upon your obedience to this religious act.
The basis of salvation is not faith in Jesus alone… its faith in Jesus PLUS what you do.
Christians… there are some things worth protesting.
There are some things that are worth debate, dissension, discussion, and unrest.
The author of Acts says that Paul and Barnabas upon hearing this teaching, “had no small dissension with them.”
That word dissension could be translated as a riot, rebellion, insurrection, or heated quarrel.
Paul and Barnabas believed that this teaching was so contrary to the message of Jesus,
so antithetical to the gospel that they had been preaching,
that not only did they irrupt into heated debate for the sake of the church….,
The church actually appoints them to travel to Jerusalem so that they could get official word from the disciples who had the most direct interaction with Jesus.
They wanted to to squash this teaching with all the force of authority they could.
They wanted the public testimony from James, and John, and Peter and the elders in Jerusalem that this teaching did not come from them nor was it a viable way to understand what it means to be saved.
Christian if there be anything that we are passionate about…., may we be passionate about guarding the gospel message which saves us.
Three points this morning.

#1 The Gospel is Worth Guarding

These false teachers would have been hard to recognize at first:
They were from Judea.
They presented themselves as authoritative
They likely quoted Old Testament Scripture.
And they did not out right deny that Jesus was the Messiah
They did not deny that he had rose from the dead.
But they did teach that Jesus’ perfect life, death, and resurrection was not sufficient to save the sinner without the sinner adding his own form of righteousness.
It is this exact false teaching that stirs Paul to write some of his strongest words in the bible.
Galatians 1:6–12 ESV
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— 7 not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. 10 For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ. 11 For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel. 12 For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
This is strong language against gospel distortions
And it matches well with Paul’s no small dissension when these guys showed up with their teaching.
There is a zero tolerance policy for the Paul when it comes to any person teaching that people must earn their salvation
For the message of salvation, Paul is willing to speak up.
He is willing to disagree,
he is willing to travel hundreds of miles
There is a word that Paul uses often to describe his relationship to the gospel message.
Paul believes that he was entrusted with God’s message.
Likewise, believers of the next generation will be entrusted with the message to preserve and pass on.
1 Timothy 1:11 ESV
11 in accordance with the gospel of the glory of the blessed God with which I have been entrusted.
1 Timothy 6:20 ESV
20 O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called “knowledge,”
2 Timothy 1:14 ESV
14 By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.
2 Timothy 2:2 ESV
2 and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.
Let me pause here,
Do you feel the weight of the gospel message you have been entrusted?
Do yo recognize this responsibility that you have of knowing and guarding and sharing the message?
Is the truth of how someone can be made right with God important enough for you to study it and stand upon it?
When it came to protecting their church, and their loved ones, from false teaching, Paul and Barnabas were not content to say, “well everybody’s entitled to an opinion”
They were not content “to keep the peace”
They were not content to say, “well I am not a very theological person or I don’t like to read”
Truth is worth fighting for.
Especially when that truth is a matter of eternal life or eternal death.
so they set out for Jerusalem
and a long the way they actively work to undo what those false teachers from Judea may have done.
Look at verse 3.
Acts 15:3 ESV
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.
Along the way they are proclaiming how the Gentiles had been saved by faith in Jesus not by works of the law.
Gentiles who did not participate in the Old Covenant ritual of circumcision.
Gentiles who simply trusted in Jesus their Lord and Savior, were saved
Paul and Barnabas are trying to fix what the false teachers had spread along the path.
And when they arrive to Jerusalem they do the same thing.
They boast and rejoice in how God saved Gentile sinners around the world…
It was like bait for the false teachers.
They were celebrating what the false Jewish teachers were saying was impossible.
And sure enough, they drew out those in Jerusalem who were had believed the false teaching.
Acts 15:4–5 ESV
4 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. 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.”
There it is again…
the poking head of heresy.
“It is necessary to circumcise the Gentiles
They must keep the law of Moses”
“Thats what saves you - its law keeping”
Its the same message from earlier, “YOU CANNOT BE SAVED” unless you do these things.
It is a message of salvation by your own religious work.
The lie had infiltrated the church in Jerusalem just as it had spread to the church at Antioch.
and just as before,
debate irrupted,
only this time, the big guns were there,
all the apostles and the elders of the Jersualem church were there.
The apostle Peter, himself, was there….
And as Peter does, he stood up to speak boldly.
Acts 15:6–7 ESV
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.
Peter is going to bring clarity as to what the gospel message of salvation really is.

#2 The Gospel is Good News that God Saves

Perhaps your new to the church or to the Bible or to Christianity.
This is some really helpful clarification .
Peter uses the word “gospel”
And he describes it as the word of the gospel that people hear and believe.
The word gospel literally means good news.
It is something to be heard and believed.
And the good news is that God is actively, intentionally, sovereignly working to save people from the consequences of their sin.
Notice how Peter emphasizes God’s prerogative in carrying out his saving work.
Peter reminds everyone present.
God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe.”
God is doing something in the world.
He made a choice that the the good news word would be proclaimed to the nations of the world and that they would hear that word and believe that word.
It’s God’s doing when someone proclaims the message,
It’s God’s doing when someone hears the message,
Its God’s doing when someone believes the message.
Salvation belongs to the Lord.
He is doing this saving work in us and around us and through us.
God makes the choice how he will accomplish what he wills to accomplish.
He sent the message through the mouth of Peter to the Gentiles,
AND by God’s grace they believed.
Peter continues.
Acts 15:8–9 ESV
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.
In Acts chapter 2, Peter preached the gospel message to thousands of Jews.
He preached that Jesus lived, died, and rose again for sinners.
3,000 people received the word, and when they believed, the Holy Spirit of God miraculously filled them with God’s presence in a visible and undeniable way.
They believed and they were changed.
Fast forward to Acts chapter 10 and by a series of visions and dreams and angelic encounters….
Peter is brought to the household of a Roman Centurion, a non-Jewish gentile and his whole family.
And again Peter preaches the gospel
Here is the summary of what he preached at this Roman’s house.
Acts 10:43 ESV
43 To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”
Thats the gospel message.
Now look at what happens.
Acts 10:44–45 ESV
44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles.
God saved the Gentiles
He saved them with the same visible manifestation of the Holy Spirit as he had done with the Jews in Acts chapter 2…
and it was all poured out on them when they believed in Jesus alone for salvation.
God was bearing witness to his sovereign work of saving sinners both Jew and Gentile…
God gave his Spirit in dramatic fashion to these Gentiles to make a statement.
Salvation is by in Jesus alone…
notice the emphasis again.
Acts 15:9 ESV
9 and he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith.
God made no distinction
God cleansed their hearts by faith.
What is the good news?
It is forgiveness, but its more than forgiveness.
God actually cleanses a sinners heart by faith.
He washes a sinners heart clean of all their guilt by faith.
Any religion,
any teaching,
any teacher,
that says that you must cleanse your own heart by the things you do is a false teaching..
Your dirty heart cannot be cleaned by your own dirty hands.
God is the only one who can clean your dirty heart, and he asks only that you trust him to do it.

Truth #3 The Gospel is Good News of Salvation by Grace Alone Through Faith Aone

Peter gets even more explicit on the problem with the false teaching that has spread.
Acts 15:10 ESV
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?
In other words, Eternal Salvation has never been on the basis of a person’s ability to follow God’s law.
Peter says clearly that even the fathers of the Israelite people could not bear that weight.
They could not obey God’s law perfectly.
They could not earn their way into God’s eternal presence.
The whole Old Testament is one giant story of man’s inability. They cannot save themselves.
They cannot keep God’s law.
It is like a heavy yoke on the neck that we are unable to bear?
Consider the imagery Peter uses:
A yoke is the wooden beam that goes across an animal attaching them to a plow or a cart that they must pull.
The imagery Peter uses is that of an animal who is attached to a plow or a load that is far too heavy for them to pull.
Imagine an ox or a donkey pulling and straining and yanking and groaning and trembling and struggling until the weight of the yoke just causes them to collapse…
That is the picture of a person who believes they must somehow earn God’s favor with their good works.
It is an exhausting exercise.
It is a burdensome,
it is hopeless,
and it hurts.
We can’t live like that.
We cannot live our lives always trying to earn God’s approval of us,
Worried that he might in the end reject us because we couldn’t carry the load.
The gospel message is clear.
Your load is too heavy.
Your cart is so full of sin and rebellion and failures that the weight of it will crush you forever…
Unless you trust someone else to carry the Load.
The gospel message is that God sent Jesus to carry your load.
He put a wooden beam on his back
and in his perfection he carried the load for all the sinners of the world who would believe in him.
He took the punishment for sin on himself so that you would not have to.
So that you receive grace.
What the Jews desperately needed from God throughout the whole Old Testament story… was grace.
What you desperately need from God now is grace…
and thats exactly what Peter says the gospel is all about.
Acts 15:11 ESV
11 But we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”
Grace is God’s favor on the undeserving.
Grace is the reception of something we did not earn.
Amazing grace is that God might save a wretch like me.
This is the apostle Peter speaking.
And he is laying it down as clear as it gets.
We believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.
There is a confidence that Peter has in his own salvation and in the salvation of others,
not because he believes in his own ability, not because he believes that the Gentiles will do enough righteousness…..
I have heard it said that if you are confident in your own salvation than your arrogant.., but thats only true if my salvation is based on me at all.
I don’t trust in me at all.
I do trust in Christ completely,
and if I trust in Christ completely,
he is the one who will save me in the end…
in that I can be confident.
I can actually go to bed at night knowing that I am forgiven,
because I trust Jesus work on my behalf.
The grace of Jesus is the only grounds for salvation.
We are saved by grace alone - we don’t deserve it.
We are saved by faith alone - all we do is trust what Christ Jesus has done.
We are saved in Christ alone - only he could live the perfect life, only he died the substitutionary death for sinners.
We add nothing to God’s work to save us.
and that is good news for us.
do you believe that this morning?
are you certain that if you died today, God would welcome you in to his presence?
Have you asked God to cleans your heart by faith, or have you lived your whole live trying to do it yourself?
There are three simple takeaways today:

#1 Believe the Gospel

Ask God to forgive you of your sins
believe that he paid for your sins through perfect life of Jesus,
the sacrificial death of Jesus,
and the victorious resurrection of Jesus.
Trust him, and God will cleanse your heart from all guilt.
believe the gospel.

#2 Study the Gospel

You need to know why you believe this gospel.
You need to be able to defend this gospel.
You need to be able to share this gospel message.
This was a message worth debating over.
It was worthy causing a dissension over.
You need to be ready to recognize false teaching when you hear it.
And that only comes by the careful studying of the Bible one chapter at a time over many years.
Commit this year to sharpening your convictions over how God saves His people.
Ready yourself to share what is the best news in the world for all who believe.

#3 Share the Gospel

We have glorious things to explain.
And God has chosen to save people when they hear the word and believe the word that is shared from our lips.
So lets be a people who share it gladly.
Lets Pray
Related Media
See more
Related Sermons
See more
Earn an accredited degree from Redemption Seminary with Logos.