Defining The Gospel (part 1)
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Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
Introduction
When we look at the animal kingdom there is an understanding that there are predators (S) and there are prey (S). A predator knows that if he can get into the middle of his pray undetected, he has a better chance of getting a meal. The predator will use any and every tactic to make the prey more vulnerable to his attack.
Scripture reveals that we have a predator. (S).
Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
Satan, the enemy of our souls, wants to devour us. He will use anything he can to destroy us. As the father of lies one of his primary tactics is to distort the truth. That is what we will see today.
We have been studying the book of Acts since January of 2017. This message is #55 in our series through this book. Acts is historical narrative account of the expansion of the early church. It records the spread of the gospel in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the ends of the earth. Back in July we started the final section of the book.
The Spread Of The Gospel To The End Of The Earth Chs. 11:19-28:31
Last week we finished ch. 14.
In the early church faces it’s first internal attack on the gospel itself. Up to this point the attacks have primarily been external. We did see the case of Ananias and Sapphire in ch. 5, however, their actions were not an attack on the gospel but on the personal holiness God demands of the believer.
As this attack is carried out, it becomes clear that the gospel needs to be clearly and definitively defined. Here’s what takes place in the chapter.
The Jerusalem Council Defines The Gospel Chs. 15:1-35
We will be examining this chapter in 4 parts. So this is part one of a planned four part series on defining the gospel. Today we will deal with…
The Demand To Define The Gospel vv. 1-5
Later on we will deal with…
The Decision To Define The Gospel vv. 6-21
The Decree To Define The Gospel vv. 22-29
The Delivery To Define The Gospel vv. 30-35
Here’s the question we need to ask.
Why is it necessary to define the gospel? Actually get some answers.
If we were to boil all these reasons down and distill them into one sentence I think we could put it this way:
The gospel must be defined because of the activity of Satan and those he empowers.
In this passage…
There are two methods used by Satan to twist the gospel.
To defend against these methods we must first identify them.
When we know Satan’s methods and are able to defend against them, two things happen.
1 - The faith of the church is strengthened.
2 - The mission of the church is affirmed.
As we look at we learn that the definition of the gospel is…
1. Demanded By Teaching vv. 1-2
1. Demanded By Teaching vv. 1-2
I recently read an article online where different people presented things they had been taught as children that were totally false.
One of my favorites, because I was taught it as well, was that swallowed gum stays in your system for 7 years.
This is scientifically false. Yet that didn’t stop lots if kids hearing and repeating it through the years!
To be successful, false teaching needs only to be heard and repeated.
Paul and Barnabas return from their first missionary journey and serve in the church for a long time. Now they are going to face a new form of opposition. False teaching. This false teaching takes two forms. First…
vv. 1-2 – Men come from Judea to Antioch and command circumcision for salvation.
a. Distorted teaching v. 1
a. Distorted teaching v. 1
READ v. 1
Men come from Judea to Antioch and command circumcision for salvation (S).
Men come from Judea to Antioch and command circumcision for salvation.
There are two primary problems with that they are teaching.
1 - This adds to the gospel.
This is conditional salvation. Notice the wording. “Unless you… You cannot be saved.”
This is where (S) is vital.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
By grace, through faith, plus nothing. It is a gift! It doesn’t come from ourselves nor by our works.
adds further clarity here. Turn there please.
What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.
But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness,
If you work for salvation, God owes it to you. This destroys grace and leaves us without strength to live on a day to day basis. Because if salvation is by works, sanctification must be as well.
We do not work, we believe.
What these men from Judea are teaching is that you must do something in order to be savable.
This belief system is still alive and well. There are several groups claiming to be Christian who teach that you are “Saved by grace after all you can do.” Catholicism teaches a very subtle works salvation, as do many 7th day groups, and some Nazarenes. Have to be careful here. I don’t want to pain with too broad a brush and say everyone in those groups believes this, but in general, those groups will hold to works salvation.
Salvation is unconditional. The moment you add a conjunction, you no longer have the gospel!
There is another teaching connected to this that I believe is equally dangerous. This belief system says that while you are saved by grace, there must be visible works to prove your salvation. Absence of works means you were never saved to begin with. This is often called Lordship salvation.
Let me be really clear. Good works are the natural outflow of a healthy believer. However, Absence of observable works does not mean an absence of salvation. There are several Biblical examples of believers who did not have observable works. That is not healthy, it is not God’s desire, and it will result in God’s correction.
God alone knows who is and is not a believer. It is not our place to attempt that determination. If someone is living like an unbeliever, we share the gospel with them. If they say they are a believer, we do what is necessary to restore them to a right relationship with Christ and fellowship with the Church.
Lordship salvation.
We need to be on guard against distorted teaching. That is what the church in Antioch faces here.
The second problem with what they are teaching is that it demonstrates…
2 - The desire to merge religions.
This is rampant today. Jesus was a good guy and I like some of what he said so I’ll take some pieces of that. But I also like what Gandhi said, and Buddha, and Mohammed… You get the picture.
These men from Judea want to bind all believers to the Mosaic law.
We will talk more extensively about this when we get to v. 5. For now, suffice it to say that they have the issue completely backwards.
This is an attack of Satan. He does not want the truth to come out! He wants us bound and blinded in our sin. He wants us distracted by dead religious forms instead of revitalized by a relationship with Jesus Christ!
It is interesting to note that they are teaching this to “the brethren”. This could be causing some who have already believed to doubt their salvation! It could also cause a superior attitude in those who had been circumcised.
If we are going to combat this, we must know the truth.
This distorted teaching is dangerous. It adds to the gospel.
The second form this false teaching takes is…
b. Divisive teaching v. 2
b. Divisive teaching v. 2
READ v. 2
False teaching, by it’s very nature, brings division.
The idea in this verse is that Paul and Barnabas spent a lot of time in conflict with these false teachers.
The context makes it clear that these men had come into the church and begun teaching their false doctrine.
The response of Paul and Barnabas is to dispute with them. To understand why they take this course of action we need to answer a question. False teachers: What does Scripture say to do with them? Look at (S).
And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
This is what Paul and Barnabas are doing.
False teachers must be exposed.
Here’s the key. To expose false teaching you must know the truth.
Turn to .
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
The fruit of false teachers must be tested.
The recognition of bad fruit requires familiarity with good fruit.
Why are so many people deceived today? Because they haven’t spent enough time with the right fruit!
Picture with me someone who has never seen or held an apple. They don’t know to expect a crisp crunch, so when they pick up an apple so bruised it is brown and begin to slurp it through a straw, they don’t know any better! We dare not eat rotten fruit! But we cannot tell it is rotten if we have never had the real thing!
Look at (S).
Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple.
After exposure and testing, false teachers are to be avoided.
To avoid false teaching we must know who is doing it.
Paul and Barnabas have exposed the teaching, they have tested it and now they are going to appeal to the leaders of the church.
What is the question here?
Is salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, enough?
Satan is the father of lies, he thrives on doubt, and that is what he is doing in this passage.
Doubt disappears under heavy doses of truth.
Turn to .
But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that having been justified by His grace we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Salvation is a work of God and in no way depends on you and me!
Paul and Barnabas know this, the church in Antioch knows this, so they send a group to Jerusalem to talk with Jesus’ disciples.
Paul and Barnabas appeal to a higher authority. They are submitting themselves.
How willing are we to place ourselves under authority?
The gospel is being corrupted, distorted and divisive teaching is bringing doubt and confusion. So what do we do?
When false teaching corrupts, we define the gospel
This is what we desperately need in the church today!
We need a very clear understanding of what the gospel is and what it is not.
The gospel is not social reform. The gospel is not personal reform. The gospel is not a politically induced utopia!
The gospel is that all have sinned and violated God’s holiness. The penalty of sin is death. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, died on the cross bearing our sin. When we believe in Him we are declared righteous and all our sins are blotted out.
That is the gospel! It is the good news about who Jesus is and what He did.
When that message is corrupted, we must set the record straight.
The false teaching of these men demanded that the gospel be defined.
Secondly, the definition of the gospel is…
2. Demanded By Tradition vv. 3-5
2. Demanded By Tradition vv. 3-5
My family is a family of traditions.
We are coming up on Thanksgiving and it is one of my favorite times of the year. What makes it so special is that my mom’s whole side of the family gets together and has a feast. We roast meat in the ground, we have deserts and play games and have a great time.
However, there are some traditions that are just ridiculous. I read the story of this young gal who was baking a ham for her new husband. Before she put it in the oven she cut both ends off. This seemed odd to him but he didn’t comment until later. When asked why, she said “That’s just what my mom always did.” Now curious, she goes and asks her mom. “Well, that’s what my mom always did.” They both go to the grandma who says “Oh, I had to do that to fit a full size ham in our first oven.”
Her practical need had turned into a ridiculous tradition.
If we are not careful, we can become more tied to tradition than we are to Christ.
In these verses we find 2 responses to tradition.
Response #1…
a. Tradition abandoned vv. 3-4
a. Tradition abandoned vv. 3-4
READ v. 3
Yet again Paul and Barnabas are sent out on a mission. This time though it is not one of evangelism but of clarification.
On the way to Jerusalem they travel through Phoenicia and Samaria (S). These are geographical areas, not cities. As they are traveling through these areas they are declaring what God has done in bringing Gentiles to Himself. This brings joy.
What an amazing testimony. When God transforms our lives, there is…
Joy at the conversion of the hated.
Gentiles were hated! Yet in Christ there is joy when the hated are redeemed. Why? Because we are all equally lost and in need of God’s grace!
This conversion, this turning of the Gentiles to Christ leads these people to abandon tradition.
Notice, their conversion brings great joy.
v. 3 – Joy over the salvation of Gentiles!
False teaching loses it’s power when confronted by truth.
The truth is that God doesn’t agree with these false teachers! God is converting Gentiles without circumcision!
How dare He? Right?
These are the kinds of attitudes we can be guilty of! Tradition cannot be allowed to trump God and His Word.
When opposed by truth, tradition must change.
READ v. 4
They arrive in Jerusalem (S).
The record of their reception is interesting because it lists three distinct groups that made up the church in Jerusalem.
1 - The Church. 2 - The Apostles. 3 - The Elders.
This is one of those passages that makes the transitional nature of Acts clear.
The church is all believers other than the apostles and elders. As we have mentioned before, apostles are those who had been with Jesus and had physically seen Him. The elders would be the appointed leaders of the congregation in Jerusalem.
Why the distinction? Because at this time in the early church, authority rested in those men who had been with Jesus. They are the ones through whom God would give scripture and thus they serve as the authority until the completion of Scripture.
Turn to .
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.
Christ is the cornerstone, the apostles and prophets are the foundation. Through them God was pleased to give us His Holy Word.
Paul and Barnabas are greeted by these leaders and proceed to give a full account of all that God has done.
This is very important. Who did the work? God!
The gospel is about God and what He has done. If we go around talking about what we have done, that is not the gospel!
Turn to .
-31
the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints.
For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”
God chooses us in our weakness that He might get the glory that belongs to Him!
We glory in the Lord! He places us in Christ. He gives us righteousness. He redeems us. It is all about Him!
That is why Paul writes this to the Galatians. (S).
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.
We boast in the Cross!
That is what Paul and Barnabas do here.
It is about what God has done, not what they have done.
BUT. There’s always a but...
The response of Paul, Barnabas, and others is to abandon tradition when clear Biblical reasons are presented to do so.
That’s what we see next.
The response of Paul, Barnabas, and others is to abandon tradition when clear Biblical reasons are presented to do so.
Response #2…
b. Tradition adhered v. 5
b. Tradition adhered v. 5
READ v. 5
The first t thing we need to be aware of is that these are believing Pharisees.
(S).
For I know this, that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock.
This is a tactic of Satan. To bring wolves into the flock who will attack it from the inside. These wolves, these false teachers, are sometimes genuine believers who have lost their focus.
In this particular instance, I don’t think they knew they were wolves!
They have turned their eyes from the main thing, from the clear truth of Scripture.
When something other than Christ becomes our focus, error is unavoidable.
In this particular instance, I don’t think they knew they were wolves!
What is the error here? That circumcision and the keeping of the law are necessary for salvation.
Their assertion that circumcision was necessary highlights the transitional nature of Acts. These things were not yet firmly established.
This is one of the reasons I believe Galatians was written before the events here in , because Paul doesn’t cite this event.
These guys take it a step further. Add law keeping. There are still some who do this. 7th day groups.
These guys take it a step further than those back in v. 1 who had first taught in Antioch and started this whole thing. The Pharisees here add law keeping. There are still some who do this. 7th day groups.
In answering this assertion, there are a lot of places we could go. However I think there is one really vital passage. Turn to .
.
For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.
Therefore, when He came into the world, He said:
“Sacrifice and offering You did not desire,
But a body You have prepared for Me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin
You had no pleasure.
Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come—
In the volume of the book it is written of Me—
To do Your will, O God.’ ”
Previously saying, “Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them” (which are offered according to the law), then He said, “Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God.” He takes away the first that He may establish the second. By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.
These traditions they were clinging to had no power whatsoever to remove sin!
The blood of bulls and goats cannot remove sin!
We are sanctified through the offering of Jesus Christ, once for all!
He has eternally perfected all who believe. Our sanctification is an ongoing process. It is not dependent on human merit. It has nothing to do with circumcision. Sanctification is a product of the Holy Spirit as we depend on Him.
Why are these pharisees so attached to the law and circumcision? Tradition.
Blindly clinging to tradition only clouds the gospel.
We must always be willing to evaluate traditions. Anytime tradition clouds the gospel, tradition is to be changed.
When unbiblical traditions cloud, we define the gospel.
I have known people who believed that how you dressed was part of the gospel. Others thought that certain music styles made you more or less acceptable to God. I have even known a few people who believe that someone can only be saved when led to Christ using a certain Bible translation.
These are traditions that have been elevated to a place where they cloud the gospel. They need to be changed.
Clarity on the gospel is vital to the mission of the church.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we close I want to provide clarity on three questions.
When do we define the gospel?
A clear gospel definition is demanded when there is false teaching and foolish tradition.
How do we define the gospel?
Gospel definition is found in the Word of God.
Why do we define the gospel?
A clear gospel strengthens the church.
A clear gospel focuses the church.
It strengthens us because it reminds us that salvation is not about us. It is about God and His glory. It is about God and His will and purpose! It is about the love, grace, mercy, and boundless power of our heavenly Father.
It focuses us because it reminds us that our mission is to get the good news of Jesus’ death burial and resurrection to as many people as possible. With that urgency and passion, issues are kept in the proper perspective.
All of us here at Grace Church must be clear on the gospel.
We must be unswayed by false teaching or tradition.
We must stay focused on our mission until Christ calls us home.
And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.”
Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem, to the apostles and elders, about this question.
So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles; and they caused great joy to all the brethren.
And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders; and they reported all things that God had done with them.
But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.”