2022-09-04 Getting the Gospel Right (1): Truth Distorted

GETTING THE GOSPEL RIGHT (1): TRUTH DISTORTED (Acts 15:1-6) September 4, 2022 Read Acts 15:1-6 - R. C. Sproul once asked his 5-year-old son, "If you died today and God asked why He should let you into heaven, what would you say?" The boy answered, "Because I'm dead." Attend most funeral services, you'd think he was right. We assign a heavenly destination to all dead people. But Sproul was teaching a class in Romans-justification by faith being the theme of the book. When he asked his students why God should let them into heaven, 80% gave a "works righteousness" answer. 500 years after the Reformation, 80% of theology students were still trusting in human merit to be right with God. They still didn't have the gospel right! Tragic reality! That makes Acts 15 crucial to this book. P&B have no sooner reported on their 1st journey when Jews from Jerusalem arrived, purporting to represent leadership, but denying all Paul had been doing. The question at issue: How is one saved? Is it faith alone, or faith plus works? Acts 11 already addressed that. But it is a perpetual question - always arising anew. It's life's greatest question, thus this 3-part series, "Getting the Gospel Right" - Truth Distorted; Truth Delineated and Truth Delivered. This is BASIC as it gets! I. The Devilish Contention So, guys arrive from Jerusalem saying, "Great that you've accepted Christ as a great teacher. But 1b) "Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved." This Jerusalem group claimed, 5b) "It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses." They thought Moses must complete what Jesus began - a complete distortion of Jesus' message in Mt 5:17: "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them." It distorted Jesus' good news in Jn 5:24, "Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me has eternal life." It distorted Jesus' words in Jn 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." It was never Jesus plus something; it was always Jesus plus nothing! You can see how this could happen. Initial believers were Jews steeped in Jewish traditions. They could not imagine how anyone could be saved without being circumcised and obeying Jewish rituals. They insisted that in order to come to Christ, the Gentiles first had to become Jews. So, is this a big deal? If they received Jesus, was it wrong to be circumcised? The answer is yes and no. It was no big deal if they were not doing it to get saved - to add to faith something extra. But if they thought they had to do it, and were putting their faith partly in Christ and partly in circumcision, that was huge. Why? It turned the gospel from Jesus alone into Jesus plus - a fatal mistake. That makes Jesus' death insufficient, supposes that people can contribute to their own salvation and diminishes the value of God's sacrifice make for us through His Son. It is a rejection and denial of God Himself. Here's how serious it is? Gal 5:2-4: "Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. 3 I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. 4 You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace." It you add to what Christ has already done, you don't add at all. You nullify Him completely. You cut yourself off from Him altogether. You render Him of no advantage. If you want salvation by law, then you must keep all of it, not just have a good day now and then. But you try to add to Jesus in any way, and you have cut yourself off from Him, removed yourself from grace. You're not just confused; you're condemned. It can never be Christ plus; it can only be Christ alone. It doesn't matter whether the plus is circumcision, baptism, church membership, giving to the poor, going to confession or doing penance. It doesn't matter what it is. By adding anything to Christ, you subtract Him from the equation altogether. Watchman Nee, great Chinese pastor, was staying at a place once where bathing was a daily plunge in the river. One brother got a cramp in his leg and was sinking fast. Nee quickly pointed out the problem to a man who was an expert swimmer thinking he would help the man. But he made no such move. Nee desperately cried out, "Don't you see that the man is drowning?" Others joined in; still the expert lingered. The drowning man's effort grew feeble and Nee thought, "I hate that man, letting another drown before his very eyes." But just when all seemed lost, the swimmer took a few swift strokes and brought the man safely ashore. Nee berated the man for waiting. But the expert said, "I've been thru this before. Had I gone earlier he would have pulled us both under. A drowning man cannot be saved until he is utterly exhausted and ceases to make the slightest effort to save himself." That's like saving faith. It must be Christ plus nothing - no human effort at all. Salvation requires we come to the end of ourselves, and commit wholly to Him. It was devilish to tell the Gentiles they must be circumcised. Had they done so, they would have cut themselves off completely from Christ. II. The Divisive Confrontation So, that leads to a divisive confrontation. Paul loved unity. He would later write in Phil 2:4: "Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." He was all about unity and harmony. But when it came to perverting the gospel, the gloves came off. This was eternally critical. Jesus' substitutionary death was being diminished; people were being led to eternal condemnation by the "Jesus plus" movement, so Paul engaged. 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them." A donnybrook ensued. With the gospel, there's no room for "partially right." P&B fought furiously for the truth. You can be sure that wherever the gospel is clearly taught, and the supremacy of Christ is maintained, the enemy will not be far behind with some well-orchestrated and eminently plausible opposition. Eternal vigilance is our duty. And we must be ready to do battle. The "Jesus plus" movement spread rapidly. Shortly after this, Paul wrote in Gal 1:6-9: "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 [sent to hell]. 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." Paul is saying, "Don't even let an angel tell you Christ plus; it's Christ alone!" Paul gets graphic in Gal 5:12: "I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves." He's saying, "They want circumcision? I wish they'd cut a little too deep!" This was a critical matter to Paul. For good reason. It was keeping people away from God and out of heaven. He'd said in Gal 5:4 if you trust circumcision to save you, "you are severed from Christ." "By cutting that flesh, you've cut yourself off from Christ." The idea you are saved by faith in Christ plus some personal merit is a devilish idea straight from hell. Every generation has to fight this battle. Just prior to the Reformation, it wasn't Christ plus circumcision, but Christ plus baptism plus penance plus purgatory plus indulgences. We misrepresent the RC's when we say they believe we're saved by works. They believe we're saved by grace thru faith - but PLUS baptism and then repeated confession and penance. It was the latest iteration of "Jesus plus" until Martin Luther came along, studied his Bible instead of the catechism and found Rom 1:17: "The just shall live by faith." He found Rom 4:3: "Abe believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness." He found Rom 4:5: "And to the one who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." He found Gal 3:11: "Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith." He declared the only thing left to declare: "Thank God, it is justification by faith alone. It's not what we do, but what Jesus already did!" That severely undermined RC power over people. So at the Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1560, they adopted this: "If anyone says that by faith alone the sinner is justified, so as to mean that nothing else is required to cooperate in order to obtain the grace of justification . . . let him be anathema." They further adopted: "If anyone says that the guilt is remitted to every penitent sinner after the grace of justification has been received, and that the debt of eternal punishment is so blotted out that there remains no debt of temporal punishment to be discharged either in this world or in the next in Purgatory before heaven can be opened - let him be anathema." Those statements have never been retracted tho they categorically deny what the Bible teaches about justification. They continue to point millions down the broad road that leads to destruction. They've distorted truth we must fight! And the list goes on. Every false religion has its Jesus PLUS list. Closer to home with some evangelicals, it's "Jesus plus" fighting for the disenfranchised, feeding the poor, and freeing people from biblical extremism. And the list goes on - all of them distortions of the gospel, or as Paul says, no gospel at all. They sever from Christ. How is good news if I have to earn it! But the distortion that most concerns me isn't any religion or cult. It's Joe Average, who thinks heaven is yours by some form of "works righteousness." He may believe Jesus was a great teacher. But he believes he'll gain God bc he's as good as the next guy and better than most. Oh, Beloved. Don't go there. It is a lie. Your good can never be good enough. You know why "Jesus plus" is so popular? Bc it appeals to human nature. An old business case. A company developed a new cake mix that required adding water only. It tested superior to any other mix. But sales were horrible. After a little research, they reworked the formula and released a revised mix -- exactly the same as before - only now it required adding one egg. It sold like hotcakes. Why? People wanted to do something to help it along. Human nature! That's just the way we are when we come to Christ with our own add-on. Grace thru faith plus was a devilish invention then; it's devilish now! Salvation comes when we commit to add nothing to what He's already done. III. The Determinative Council So Paul was ready to fight. But not alone. 2b) "Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question." They spread joy among churches on the way, "describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles." Pretty trusting to be so joyful while on the way to what might be a contentious meeting, don't you think? But Paul had an ace in the hole. I think he describes this same Jerusalem meeting in Gal 2:1: "Then after fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me. 2 I went up because of a revelation and set before them (though privately before those who seemed influential [apostles, no doubt]) the gospel that I proclaim among the Gentiles, in order to make sure I was not running or had not run in vain." Paul's not saying he needed to make sure his message was right. He already knew that "bc of a revelation". From whom? From Jesus. He'd said in Gal 1:11 "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." Paul had no doubt of his "Jesus plus nothing" message. It came from Jesus Himself. But he went to Jerusalem to insure all the apostles had the same message, that they were all on the same page and ready to stand against the "Jesus plus" gang. Next week, we'll see exactly how that all worked out. Conc - Isaiah was one of the noblest and holiest men who ever lived. But one day, he got a vision: Isa 6:1: "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up." Attending angels cried out, "Holy, holy, holy." Isaiah responded: Isa 6:5: "'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips . . . for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'" When Isaiah saw himself next to God's glorious perfection he was undone. And God didn't say, "Oh, Isaiah, it's okay. You're the best of the best. You'll be okay." No what happened! Instead, God sent an angel with a burning coal to touch Isaiah's mouth. He said, 7b) "Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for." What Isaiah could not do for himself, nor even contribute to, God did for him based on the coming death of His own Son. When Isaiah saw God, then himself, he knew; it's Him or nothing. To think we can add to what Christ has done is the ultimate insult to God. It is like having da Vinci gift you the Mona Lisa - and then you taking up your own brush to make that smile just a little wider. That would be a travesty. Just like trying "Jesus plus." To add anything is to nullify His masterpiece and condemn ourselves. In the words of hymnwriter, Elvina Hall, "Jesus paid it all / All to Him I owe; / Sin had left a crimson stain, / He washed it white as snow." It's not what you can do; it's what He's already done. That's what can cleanse you this very day. Let's pray. DONE 7