Is Salvation by Law or Grace? Part 2
Acts 15:13-18
We're continuing our study this morning in the fifteenth chapter of Acts. In Acts chapter fifteen, we have the great record of the council of Jerusalem. The church faced its first crisis on a church wide basis, and it was the crisis of what is the doctrine of salvation?
Some were trying to teach that a man was saved by grace plus works. Others were believing that a man is saved by grace alone. And so the conflict ensued. The conflict was resolved in the council of Jerusalem. The record of that resolution is in the first 35 verses of Acts 15, and so those 35 verses need to be taken as a unit which we have done. We began with Part 1 last time, Part 2 this time, Part 3 next time.
Now as we approach this chapter, we come really to the concept of grace. Now grace is a word that is basically essential in Christianity.
In fact more than anything else the term grace is inimicable or belongs to Christianity. All other religious systems in the world, all other ethnologies, all other systems of approach to God whoever God may be in their own system, all of them are based upon deeds or acts or works of men. There are certain things that a man goes through and because he does those things God approves of him and he reaches a certain level of approach. to God. Whether it be uh, some...something as, as rather simplistic as uh, one act entrance or whether it be something as complex as a very complicated religious rigmarole that goes on periodically, month by month, week by week or day by day, all systems of religion are for the most part built on works. You do something and God responds to what you have done, by approving of you. You make an offering uh, you appease a god somehow, uh, you go through a ritual, uh, you subscribe to X number of ethics that are set forth by certain teachers of this god. Whatever it is most religions are based upon the deeds that the individuals do, which that god approves of and if those approving uh, deeds out weigh those disapproved, you're in. And that's what makes women in India throw living babies into the Ganges River and watch them die. That's one way they can appease the god who then will look favorably on them, and so it goes. But in counter distinction to that, Christianity exists singularly in the religious world, as offering a salvation which absolutely has nothing to do with what you do, what you have done, or what you will do. The salvation that is offered in Christianity stands apart from every other system, as a pure grace salvation.
And grace might be defined as this, it is God's free salvation, offered to men on the basis of what Christ did, and apart from what they might do. I'll say it again, it is God's free salvation, offered to men on the basis of what Christ did, and apart from what they might do. I am saved not because of anything I deserved, not because of anything that I did, not because of anything that I am, but because of all that Christ is, and all that He did, which I only believed and God accounted to me His salvation, Now grace then, is the free effort on God's part to save men. But to show you the limits of grace or the limitless character of grace, better, God did not just offer grace to save you, but .
grace goes so far that God wanted to make you like His Son. He wanted to conform you to Jesus Christ. You see, that's the character of grace that knows no limits. You see, God can't just say' okay I have the grace to save you but don't expect much more. You know His grace is unlimited' so that to tap His grace initially is to tap His grace eternally and to its limits, it can't come in doses it comes all together or not at all. In fact in Hebrews lO'1? it simply says, "By one offering Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified." In other words, the grace of God offered in salvation makes you absolutely perfect. For somebody to come along and say, yes, of course grace does make you perfect, but you need to add such and such, is ridiculous.
What could you add to perfection? If grace makes you perfect, that settles it, You can't add anything to perfection, all you would do would be mess it up and wind up with imperfection. If something is perfect, you take your hands off. And grace perfects forever, the one who comes to Christ, and so we add nothing to grace. It is absolutely free, and it is absolutely full. Now when you experience the grace of salvation that's only the beginning, then you move secondly to what Paul describes in chapter 5 of Romans as the grace in which we stand. Having been saved by grace I live in grace, and then that grace is expanded to conform me to Christ, you see God can't limit His grace, the ultimate end of my salvation is I'll be like Jesus Christ. And you know something? Watch this one, here's a beauty, I haven't done one thing to deserve it, not before, not during, and not after. It is pure grace.
God designed to conform me to Jesus Christ, totally and freely apart from anything I could ever or would ever do, And don't you see how glorious grace is? You see to understand that grace is just God letting me get saved and I didn't deserve it, that's only the beginning. Grace is God letting me be like Jesus, when I didn't deserve it. Now that is what Christianity offers, Christianity doesn't say do this, do this, do this, do this, and if you get enough points you'll get this. Christianity doesn't, doesn't say that at all, Christianity says, simply believe what He has done, and I'll conform ya, says God to the very image of Jesus Christ forever. You can't add anything to perfection people, can't be done. Now you say, well that's simple enough MacArthur, that's what Christianity's all about? That's what Christianity's all about.
But you know it's amazing, that even within the confines of Christianity people misunderstand grace. They misrepresent grace and even fight grace. Men always wanta tack works on free grace. Which you see just ruins what it's all about, I mean if, if a person comes to you and says, you know uh, say they came to me for the sake of illustration, said, John, I, I, I love you and I want you to know that, and uh, I just ...I just want to show you how much you mean to me, and they give me something, let's say they give me something worth uh, $20.00. And this is a wonderful thing you know, and I say' oh my' thank you so much, but you don't have to do that. I know I don't have to do it, I do it be.,.
because I love you, I just wanta love ya, and I, I just wanta give it to ya, And ya say, well, well now, no‑no, no‑no, I can't allow you to do that. No' ??, let's see, $?O,OO at ??.5O an hour, which is going rate, I could probably give ya about 3 hours etc, good labor, do you have weeds to pull? I, I'm goin, come over and uh, what about painting, cleaning windows uh, and the guy, well no, no. You know what you do, you,re doing nothing but corrupting the love that is th‑ta is trying to be given to you freely, do you see? The guy would say, will you leave me alone? You know? If you,re goin, foul it up, give me back my gift.
I'll give it to somebody who wants to be loved. You see? Now that's how salvation operates. If you wanta mess up what God's tryin' to do, that's...you can mess it up, but you'll forfeit grace. God does not want ya to say, well God uh, okay I'm goin' do all my little things now, hhhhh, I know You did this for...will ya let him alone, let Him love ya? And don't add anything to salvation, it's all grace it's free grace, what you add to it corrupts it and eliminates it. It ceases to be a gift, it ceases to be free, it ceases to be grace. But you know it's amazing what people wanta add, well you've gotta get baptized or you' gotta do this, or you've gotta do that. And my wife was in the hospital this week and I was reading a magazine that was in there, it was telling that you...that salvation really included giving a tenth, and that you had to make sure that you didn't violate the law of the Sabbath, and it went on about certain other things you know, and all of these things were part and parcel of being a Christian. Now you have to do this, this is God's standard to be accepted. People running around trying to do things, trying to pay God back for a love gift, by giving Him labor.
Which does nothing but restrict the flow of love and eliminate the freedom of His gift of grace, Well that's what people are trying to do, and that's what happened in the early church. You see, here God was offering free salvation to Gentiles, and the Jews were running around saying, no, you can't take it freely you must be circumcised and you must obey the law and the ceremony and you've gotta go through all the rigmarole, the hocus‑pocus, see. And so you see there was a basic issue here. The basic issue of how does a man get saved? I mean is grace enough, or are we goin' believe the circumcision party or the Judaizers running around trying to corrupt grace with works, which is correct? And that's the issue that really comes to the four in the fifteenth chapter. Now you'll remember that the Lord said in Matthew 16' "I will build my church."
And you know when Jesus sets His mind to do something, He does it. And He went on to say, "And the gates of hell will not (what?) prevail against it." No, the gates of hell themselves will not prevail against the church. I'll build it and that'll settle it. It'll be built. Well He started in Jerusalem which was fine with the Jews, they loved that.
The ones who believed did, and then he moved to Samaria and some of the half breed Samaritans were getting saved and that was rough to handle.
Because the half breed Samaritans were despised by the Jews, the Jews believed in the purity of Judaism, and keeping the Hebrew stock, you know, and these Samaritans would intermarry with pagans, and they were really despised, and here they were getting saved and the Jews were having a terrible time justifying this and allowing this. But they did worship the Cod of Israel and they were sort of plugged into Judaism, and so .it was so...it was sort of tolerable. But then a couple of...
a couple of absolute radicals came along, a couple of characters named Paul and Barnabas. And they had the gall to go runnin' around all over the Gentile world, just offerin' salvation footloose and fancy‑free to every Gentile who wanted it, And the result was a whole bunch of Gentile congregations poppin, up all over the place. And this was too much, they just couldn't handle this, they didn't think it was fair that a Gentile could live the way he wanted to live and just come divin' in at the end and grab the Messiah and it was all great and he was an equal, they couldn't handle that. And they wanted to make sure those Gentiles became Jews first, and so they made, like we told ya last week, Judaism the vestibule to get into Christianity. And really Paul said to the Galatians he said uh, they did it because they wanted to glory in your flesh, it was an ego problem. They loved being Jews and they wanted to feel that they were the only ones who could get to God, so that anybody who got to God had to come through them. You see they had that kind of a, of a nationalistic ego, they wanted every Gentile to have to become a Jew to get to God. And so they started pushing off legalism in verse 1' they traveled all over the place and they even went to Antioch and they said to the Gentiles, except you're circumcised, except you have a physical operation, you can't be saved. Now this is ridiculous, this is laying legalism on them. Now it's so obviously an invalid point, to us who understand grace, but you see in that day and age it was a real issue. Because the Jews loved Judaism, and rightly so it had been granted them by God Himself. And all of the ceremony and all of the ritual of Judaism, and all of the symbolism and all the significance of it had been part of the days and weeks of their lives for all as long as they'd lived. And they had subscribed to all of this stuff and here came Gentiles jumpin' in and they got equal Messianic blessing, they got equal fellowship, they got equal rights, they got equal everything and they hadn't been through what the Jews had been through. Plus there was the ego factor, that they just thought it would be good if Gentiles had to become Jews, that'd show those Gentiles. So it became a problem, and these Jerusalem Jews who were known as the circumcision party or who ?re became known as Judaizers, trying to impose. Judaism on others, started traveling around messin, up the minds of the Gentiles. And they even went to Antioch, boy you know you gotta have a lot of gall to go right into the territory of Paul and Barnabas with heresy. I mean, you know hassling with Paul would not be an easy thing. So the heresy that they were teaching, and it may have been that they even hit the area's where Paul had established churches in Galatia, so they had messed up the whole Gentile Christian community with this doctrine that you had to do somethin' to get saved, you had to be a Jew first, you had to get into Judaism and go through all that routine, salvation by grace, yes' plus works. Which was ya see' that was like earning the wages to pay for the gift a guy just gave ya, which is spurning the freedom of his love. And so the heresy arose, The question is simple, how do you get saved? And it's gotta be answered. Because people, you can't mess up on that one. That's the cardinal issue in Christianity, if you know everything else, you don't know how to get saved you've missed it all.
How is a man saved? How are Gentiles saved? Do Gentiles have to become Jews, or can they be saved as Gentiles? That's the issue.
Now, the section is divided into four parts. We saw last week the first part which was the dissension. In the first 5 verses we saw the brewing dissension. And the Jews and the Gentiles were arguing about the fact that you had to be circumcised, and they were right up there in Antioch arguing with Paul and Barnabas. They believed that there had to be a badge, a physical thing to, to make valid salvation. And you know this is what goes on in religion today, I don't know if you've read much about Mohammedanism, but in Mohammedanism there is a thing called the sacred thread and uh, there is a ceremony called the ceremony of upanayana, which means something like initiation, and in the ceremony of upanayana the inductee is given a sacred thread' when he receives that sacred thread, the Hindus say that is the mark of the new birth.
I mean can you imagine anything as ridiculous, as saying your life is transformed when you go to your upanayana and get a piece of thread.
But you see that is the extreme to which the works routine goes, that's no different than right here. If...now you just imagine this, if what they said was so, can you imagine the confusion of trying to get that done in every Gentile church? Goin' around circumcisin' everybody. I mean what a ridiculous..,..I almost said operation, but what a ridiculous difficulty. I mean that would be a...that would be a horrible thing, get all the Gentiles to show up at some clinic or somethin', I..
it doesn't even make sense. And then to assume, then to assume from that, that that makes salvation genuine. Boy, wouldn't Satan love, love to get people to buy the doctrine of works, so that they can be satisfied in their minds that they please God by doing some little thing, that they've done in their own flesh and they have missed the whole point of salvation. Satan loves salvation by works, And so the question was law or grace, and the argument got hot in verse 5, they even came to Jerusalem and the Pharisee Christians or would be Christians got up, and said, they have to be circumcised and they have to keep the law of Moses.
Ya gotta do the do's and don't the don't's. Well the dissension led secondly to the discussion, and the discussion was just masterful. And there are three men that dominate the discussion, Peter, Paul and also Barnabas of course was there with him, and James. And as they speak, they give the answer to the problem, and it's really great. Look at verse ll and you'll see what their answer was, and here's the Apostles creed on salvation, "But we believe that through (what?) the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they." Even like .
Gentiles. That's their statement, we believe that salvation is through what? Grace. That's it, That is the statement of the Apostles, now they had had a pre council session, and they had...they knew this already, they didn't need to had to take a vote, I mean this was already known. They simply. stated their faith, that it is grace, plus nothing.
But they're goin' support that, And the first guy to ring out with support is Peter, and he gives four points, and I gave ,em to ya last week, just mention them, He said, salvation by grace is evidence by past revelation, verse ?, he says, a long time ago, ten years probably, "God made a choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and (what?) believe." Now he says, look, he says, where did you ever get this idea of works? Ten years ago God was saving Gentiles by faith. All they needed to do was hear the gospel and believe. So past revelation verifies grace is all. Secondly, the gift of the Spirit. Verse 8' "And God who knows the hearts'" God knows who's really saved, "bore them witness," testified to their salvation, .giving them the Holy Spirit, just like he did to us. And put no difference between us and them." In other words, only saved people get the Spirit, they got the Spirit, Now if God gave 'em the Spirit that means they were truly saved, apart from circumcision apart from legalism.
Third thing, God forgave and purified them. Verse 9, "Purifying their hearts by (what?) faith." You see, Peter says, look, how can you introduce works now? Ten years ago God saved Gentiles by faith, cleansed their sins, and gave ,em His Holy Spirit, Is this a new doctrine you've got? You got some further word? Then he adds another powerful point, and that is the inability of the law. Verse 10, he says, "Therefore why put God to the test, to put a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?" Look he says, why put legalism on them, it didn't even work for us? Legalism didn't save us, it was a pain, it was a terrible yoke, why do you wanta hook them up to that thing? "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved." Are we goin' put law on them as a way of salvation? What's he saying? he's saying we've been...we lived under law a long time, it couldn't save us, now we believe we were saved by grace are we goin, put law on them? Peter's argument was really potent, believe me, cause at the first of verse 1? it says, "Then all the multitude kept silence." The argument ceased. And then Paul added another evidence, "Paul and Barnabas declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them." Paul preached a grace message, right? And God attended his message with miracles, you know what that means? That means God approved of his message, right? And .
if Paul preached a grace message that means God approved of grace, and Paul was simply saying, look people, God has already attested to the validity of the grace salvation by the miracles that have attended our preaching. The Judaizers had no miracles accompanying their information.
Well then James speaks, incidentally Paul's argument was pretty shocking because verse 13 says, "And after they had held their peace."
They were silent again, Uh, Peter and Paul had taken the wind out of their theological sails. Now we come to James, and James adds the sixth proof of salvation by grace. I call it prophetic promise. Prophetic promise, this is the sixth proof of salvation by grace. Prophetic promise, and it goes from verse 13 to 18. Now this is a difficult portion of scripture, and what I'm goin, attempt to do this morning is just to share with you what I see here, the best I can. Uh, you all know my limitations, and I know them and I, I..,it is very difficult to interpret this passage, simply,..I mean, I should say to be dogmatic about its interpretation because it could go several different ways, as to what he's saying and the use of the Old Testament verses, and so without being strongly dogmatic, let me go ahead and state what I believe, in the same way that I state everything, just as if it were true, and you'll have to trust me. But it's a difficult passage.
In verse 13 it says' "And after they had held the?rr peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken to me." Folks, I got somethin' to say. James is goin' talk. Now what he says here is simple on the surface, it's the interpretation of it a?d how it fits the sense that becomes difficult. Let's look at verse 1?, James speaks, "Symeon has declared," now Peter just got done talking, that's just the Hebrew equivalent of Simon and it's giving him his name. He has just "declared that God first did visit the nations (or the Gentiles) to take out of them a (name a) people for his name." Now Simon just told you that Cod saved Gentiles, that God desired to take out a group of people from the nations. And then he goes on, "And to this agree the words of the prophets." Now stop right there. He says look, Peter just gave you a speech, and in it he reminded you that God designed to, to visit the Gentiles and take out of them a people, and he began with Cornelius and they all knew that, and Cornelius household. Now he says, if you,re all up tight about Gentiles getting saved, have you forgotten that, "to this agree the words of the prophets." This is not any foreign thing.
You see the Jew always saw everything so provincially, he always saw everythin? only in terms and frames of Judaism. And the whole concept of Gentile salvation, watch, the Jew saw as Gentiles coming to Judaism, and once they,d become proselytes, then coming to Messiah, you see? And so the idea of Gentiles just plain old getting saved, without having to become Jews was something these Judaizers could not understand. And so he says, Peter just told you that God first visited the nations and took out a name, a people for his name. Now he says, to that agree the prophets that God was goin' do that, that He was going to actually save 1 Gentiles, while they were still Gentiles, not having them become Jews first, And of course the reaction would be, what prophet ever said that? And so he says, "as it is written." And he quotes Amos 9 verses ll and 12. Now he quotes it loosely, uh he quotes not the Hebrew version but the Greek version of it, the Septuagint, and he quotes it loosely. And he adds a word here and there of commentary as the Spirit of God helps him to, to give really what is an explanation of what Amos means. Now watch, "After this I'll return, build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down: and I'll build again its ruins, and I'll set it ?p. That the residue of men (now who's that? Gentiles) might seek after the Lord, and all the nations, (who call upon or) upon whom I call, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things." Now stop there for a minute and I'll try to ?untangle all this. This prophecy basically says' that Gentiles are goin' get saved' verse 1?' the residue of men are goin, seek the Lord, and all the nations. What does that mean? That means that whenever this salvation comes, that it will be coming from all the nations, all the Gentiles. Now what does that mean? Listen to this, it means that Gentiles can get saved as Gentiles. They don't have to become Jews first. Do you see anything in verse 17 that says the residue of men shall seek after Israel? The residue of men shall seek after the nation Israel, and all the nations on whom I call, .
is that referring to the fact that these nations have