 But that said, we're here in Acts chapter 15. I'm going to read to you verses one through five. And then what we're going to do is I'm going to give to context, kind of sharing. As a matter of fact, I'll be sharing several things that we've seen as we've gotten up to chapter 15 to kind of lay the foundation for what is taking place here in the 15th chapter of the book of Acts. Because what is taking place is there's an argument that's occurring. It's relating to the place of the law of Moses in the life of a Christian. And there are those who are bringing in to the church a doctrine that says that you need to follow portions of the law of Moses and also circumcision in order to be saved. We're going to be seeing how that actually plays out and the response that you'll be seeing here in chapter 15 to that particular teaching that was error. But in order to get to that place, let me share with you a few things. First, I'll read verses one through five and then share a few things and we'll get into our study. Acts chapter 15, beginning at verse one, reading to verse five. Luke writes, 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 sects of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now, to develop this, let me remind you of a few things. First, I'll remind you that from the very early days of the church, Satan worked in opposition to the gospel of grace, the gospel of Jesus Christ. As we've seen, he used various strategies in order to undermine the effectiveness of this message. As we've gone through the book of Acts, we've seen how that Satan provoked religious leaders to attempt to silence the proclamation of the gospel. We saw how he instigated false believers, Ananias and Sapphira to infect it with greed. We saw how he incited division between Hellenist believers and native-born Jewish believers, bringing division into the body of Christ. He inspired two sorcerers, one by the name of Simon, the other by the name of Elimus to distort and to resist the gospel. Simon tried to buy the Holy Spirit. Elimus withstood the apostles as they proclaimed it. Now, in spite of this, the gospel was preached from Jerusalem and through Samaria. Peter had preached the gospel to a Gentile man by the name of Cornelius. And when he preached the gospel, I'll see this later on, when he preached the gospel, Cornelius was saved and the Jewish believers in Jerusalem heard of this and they were concerned. And when Peter had returned to Jerusalem, they asked, is this so? Has the, have you gone in to eat with and to minister to a Gentile? It may be that they forgot the commission that Jesus had given to the churches. Perhaps they were unaware of what he had said. Remember in Acts one, he had said, at verse eight, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in Al-Jadiyah and Samaria to the end of the earth. Later on, Paul would write to the Romans in chapter 15 verse 12, Isaiah says, the root of Jesse will appear, one who will arise to rule over the Gentiles and in him the Gentiles will put their hope. Well, when the Jewish believers in Jerusalem questioned him, he had testified to them, he shared. Peter shared what happened, how God had baptized them with the Holy Spirit in Acts 11, 17 and 18. If therefore God gave them the same gift as he gave us when we believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter says, who was I that I could withstand God? Well, when they heard these things, they became silent. They glorified God saying, then God also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life. The door of salvation has been opened to the world, to both the Jew and the Gentile. And Paul and Barnabas have gone to various lands, various cities and they've been preaching this gospel of grace. Jewish opposition increased, but Gentiles began to flood into the church. We saw in chapter 14 verse 27, how God had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. So in the midst of all the good things, opposition continues increasing. Persecution increased to the point that we saw how Paul had received stoning and almost died. Now, that would have caused many to have given up, but instead Paul continued preaching. And all of this shows the attempt that is being made to stifle the preaching of the gospel. It didn't stop him from ministering as we have seen. It only inspired him all the more. Later he's gonna say something. He's gonna say in Acts 21, 13, I'm ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem from the name of the Lord Jesus. So instead of quenching the spirit, it actually ignited the spirit of God in him. Now, there are all these efforts to stifle the proclamation of the gospel, but they're not working. The question has to be asked then, if this can't undermine the gospel, then what will? What can undermine the effectiveness of the gospel of Jesus Christ? I'll supply the answer. What can undermine it? The preaching of a different message. One that adds works to the grace of God. And that's what we're seeing here. See, persecution and opposition didn't undermine it at all, but adding to the work of God, adding to the grace of God, human efforts and human works undermines what the gospel's all about. And that's what we're looking at here in chapter 15. We're looking at an attempt to undermine the power of the gospel, a gospel of grace. We're looking into that now because that is something that was a very serious thing that they had to deal with. So in verse one, chapter 15, certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And 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 these certain men have come down from Judea and they're teaching the brethren. It would seem that these men may very well be mentioned again in the book of Galatians. You see, in the book of Galatians in chapter two, verse four and five, it says, this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in who came in by stealth to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage to whom we did not yield submission even for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. You see, they've been undermining the message of the gospel. How do you undermine the message of the gospel? You undermine the message of the gospel by adding to it or subtracting from it. The message has been intended to be communicated without addition and without omission. All the way back in Deuteronomy in the Old Testament, chapter 12, verse 32, we read, whatever I command you, be careful to observe it. You shall not add to it nor take away from it. These men are self-appointed teachers who are undermining the truth. They're insisting that circumcision is necessary for salvation. They're also saying that Christians need to obey the law of Moses. And these visitors from Judea would refuse fellowship with uncircumcised believers. Now what's really interesting is that they came to Antioch where Gentiles dominated in the church and still they're insisting the church not allow people in who don't follow their rules. They want to combine the law of Moses with the saving grace of God. And as is typical with error, they're mixed in the two. And in doing so, they're bringing people or in danger of bringing people into spiritual bondage. You see, the result, if you do something like that is you begin to put confidence in your good works rather than in the grace of God. Someone said, the teaching that salvation is by human works is a foundation of all false religions and the longest running heresy in the history of the Christian church. That's absolutely true. The teaching that you can somehow work your way into God's kingdom is the oldest heresy from the very beginning. That you can somehow be good enough and do enough that God will open the door to you because you're so good. There's really, as we know, nobody that good, except for me, other than that. None of you can go to heaven. Now the bottom line is, is you see that in every religious system. It's the heart of a variety. I could start naming them, but it's every system. See, in every system there is this effort to make yourself good, to do something, to make yourself good. But Christianity is the one message that says you're never gonna be good enough. That's why God sent us on Christ. That's why Jesus was sent in the first place. We don't put confidence in our works. When Paul was writing to the church in Philippi in chapter three, verses two and three, he said it like this, he's speaking of false teachers who are entering into the church, and he said it like this. He said, watch out for those dogs. Those men who do evil, those mutilators of the flesh, mutilators of the flesh could be speaking concerning those who are demanding circumcision. Those mutilators of the flesh, for it is we who are the circumcision, we who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus and who put no confidence in the flesh. Now Barnabas and Saul had gone out to minister under the authority of the church. Remember in Luke, Luke had said in chapter 13 how the Spirit had given direction to the church leadership concerning them, and it says in Acts 13, two and three, separate to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them, then having fasted and prayed, laid hands on them, they sent them away. So they had been sent out by the church, but not so with these men. These men came without authorization, and as they came they brought error. Now these teachers from Judea were not recognized by the leaders of the church. They claimed obviously to certain Christian principles, they claimed to recognize Jesus as a promised Messiah. They also would have asserted that they recognized the necessity of his death on the cross, because if they hadn't they wouldn't have had a hearing in the church. But the problem was this, it's very simple, as they tried to improve the gospel of Jesus and by doing so they were destroying the grace of God. It added man's efforts to God's grace and emptied grace of its power. Paul would write to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians chapter one, and he would say to them in verse 17, Christ didn't send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom and eloquence, unless the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. You see it's the power of the gospel to save, it's the power of the gospel to transform lives. We aren't transformed by man's wisdom. We're not transformed by human eloquence. You may enjoy listening to somebody who speaks and he speaks well. He can say things that tickle your ears and speak to your emotional part of your being. And he may have this sense of wisdom and he has this golden oration, he speaks well. But his fleshly wisdom and eloquence is not gonna save you. We're saved by the power of the grace of God to the gospel of Jesus Christ, a gospel of grace. Man's laws can restrict my behavior, but man's law can't change my evil, sinful nature. You can pass as many laws as you want and we're known for laws. We like to pass laws, we pass hundreds of them every year. And you can outlaw people from saying certain things and doing certain things and the more evil society, the more laws you have in it. And so you're always finding something to outlaw. You can't say this, you can't do this. We know that, we have those things taking place in our country, in our state. That's just part of what happens. We're used to passing laws. Don't do this, don't do that. You can do this, you can't do that. So a law may restrict my behavior. It's against the law for you to do such and so and then I won't do such and so because it's against the law, but that doesn't change my heart. You can pass as many laws as you want to tell me not to hate somebody, but you can never pass a law that makes me love them. That comes through the gospel. When you realize who you are and what you've done and how God has given you grace and what a sinner you've been, but how good he's been to you, you begin to realize that he has shown you so much grace, why can't I show grace to other people? By this shall all men know that you're my disciples. If you do everything, no. By this shall all men know that you're my disciples if you have love one for another. And so the love of God worked out in our lives is the motivator for us to be kind to others and that comes through the grace of God, not by laws that say thou shalt, but rather laws that are not on the pages of our Bibles, but are written on the tablets of our heart. That comes through the grace of God and to try and force people into living outward righteousness doesn't change the heart. It's like that little boy who's running all over the house and mama gets so tired of him doing that. She says, you sit there. I don't want you standing any more. You sit there and think what you've been doing. And as he's sitting there in the corner, he says, I may be sitting down, but in my heart I'm standing up. And that's how we are. That's how people are. Is even though you restrict behavior, you cannot deal with sinful nature. Only the gospel can give me a new nature. Any man who is in crisis, a new creation, old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. That's how the grace of God works. That's why you can see pictures of all of these people who they were incarcerated. Some of them are sitting right next to you too. Watch your purses and your wallets. But it's the gospel. It's the gospel that changes lives. Incarceration didn't, the gospel did. And that's how it works, see? And we need to be careful that we don't try to force people to do the things that please us. But we should encourage them to do the things that please the Lord and he gives them the power to do that. That's what they're dealing with here. So you see, these men were self-appointed. They were not recognized by the church's teachers. They didn't meet the approval of the leadership. Now remember, Barnabas and Saul had been sent to minister by the church. It was under the church's authority. But not so with these men. They came without authorization. And when they went out, they brought error. They were teaching that circumcision's necessary for salvation as was following the law of Moses. And by adding to the gospel of grace, they created a different gospel. We are saved by grace and not by works. That's what the scripture tells us. In Romans 3.24, we are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Justified freely by his grace. For by grace you save through faith, that not of yourselves is a gift of God and not by works. Let's say any man should boast. And so as they're coming and they're bringing this bondage to the Gentiles, how did Paul and Barnabas respond? Well, Paul thought that the loving thing to do was just to get along with them and to encourage them in their teaching. After all, who was he to judge them? They had a right to preach their truth, didn't they? As long as they mentioned Jesus in their teachings, that's all that matters, right? I mean, that's what we say today. That's what we're saying today in purpose, all across the United States and throughout the world. As long as you use the name of Jesus and you're nice to your neighbor, everything's cool. I was watching an interview with an individual who preaches in a particular church who was being spoken to by an evangelical Christian and they were saying that. They were saying, oh, we don't preach these things. We rock them all. It doesn't matter. Everybody's gonna go to heaven. So is that how they respond? I want you to see this because the spirit of this age is welcoming this kind of thing, but Paul and Barnabas didn't welcome it. They actually responded to it. Notice it says in verse two, 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. They had no small dispute, no small argument. They vehemently disagreed and they wouldn't give an inch. This disagreement was important enough to be taken to the highest level. It needed to be taken to the apostles and elders in the city of Jerusalem. And so the church sent Paul and Barnabas and some others to Jerusalem for an answer. Now keep this in mind. Persecution and opposition was something they had accepted and were prepared for. As a matter of fact, the church had grown stronger, increased numerically through that. The problem here is more serious because it's going to the heart of the gospel. It's a foundational truth that must be defended. So verse three, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia, Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles and they caused great joy to all the brethren. So they were sent out. They went out through the church, they were sent out and accompanied and supplied for the journey and they're traveling to Jerusalem, the going south. They're going through Phoenicia. Remember, Phoenicia is actually ancient Lebanon. And remember that that area had been evangelized after Stephen had been martyred. Samaria also had received the word of God. And so as they're going, they're sharing the work of God and there's a great joy that's being experienced. In verse four, it says, 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. So they go to the church and the first mention is a general convergence of the body of Christ there in Jerusalem. The church gathers together and it includes the leadership of the church. If you look back and remember back in chapter eight, when persecution had first hit the church, the general membership of the church had scattered. It says in Acts eight, verse one, a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem and they were all scattered except the apostles. While the church wasn't completely eliminated, there were still gatherings and continued to grow. The apostles had remained. Peter and John had gone out to evangelize. And so Paul and Barnabas are traveling south and they're ministering to the different churches and they're speaking of the Gentiles who've come to faith and there's great joy. And hearing that the gospel is producing the fruit of salvation will always cause great joy. Why is that? Because joy is the natural response when we hear of someone getting saved. Why do we rejoice when someone's saved? Because someone has been rescued from judgment and has passed from death into life. And why wouldn't I rejoice? When I first got saved, we saw a lot of rejoice and we still do. When someone would get saved, I mean, even in this church, when I give invitations and God blesses by drawing people to be saved, there's cheering, there's joy, why is that? Because God is rejoicing over a person being saved, coming to faith in him. Remember with me in the New Testament book of Luke in chapter 15, that chapter 15 of Luke contains various parables of things that were lost and later were found. There was a lost sheep. There was a lost coin. There was a lost son. And there was joy when each of them had been found. Each of them had been recovered. In Luke 15, verse 10, Jesus said in the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. There is joy. There's rejoicing, notice, in the presence of the angels of God. If there's joy in the presence of the angels of God, the question has to be asked, who's rejoicing? A lot of times we'll hear it's the angels rejoicing. But when you read your scriptures, the scriptures tell us that the angels don't understand salvation. Why is that? Because angels, angels when they fell remain fallen and the ones who didn't fall remain unfallen. Angels don't understand the mystery of salvation because if they've failed, they have failed forever. If they didn't, they haven't failed. And so at the end, the angels who fell received judgment and the angels who didn't are not judged. I had somebody who wrote me a while back now saying that Satan is gonna repent and be saved. And I said, no, how could you say that? Well because Revelation 20 tells us verses 11 through 15 makes it clear that the enemy Satan goes into the lake of fire forever. He's never recovered. And none of the fallen angels are either. So those angels that didn't fall look into salvation questioning, wondering, because they don't understand it. It's God rejoicing, not the angels. There's joy in the presence of the angels of God. Why? Because God has found that which was lost. And when you got saved, there was joy in the presence of the angels of God because you got saved. And you're saying, well of course, look how important I am. No, that's not true. It's because God rejoices in your salvation because you have passed from death into life. And he sent his son Jesus to save you. And he rejoices over you because you have been found. You who have been lost. And so if God rejoices over someone being found, so should we. Genuine believers rejoice when someone is saved. And the joy of the church will not, the joy of the church contrasts rather with the harshness of the Pharisees. The Pharisees don't rejoice over those things, but the church does. So if God rejoices, so should we. Now it says, notice in verse four, when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church. So when Paul and Barnabas arrived, they were welcomed by the body of Christ. And they began in detail to share what they had gone through. Now that includes everything. That would include them giving testimony concerning the miracles that they had seen, the healings that they had seen, the demons that had been cast out, the salvation, all of that would be included as well as their pain and their suffering that they'd gone through. They would share with them, not only the things that were so wonderful that we all just are so excited to see, but they also shared concerning the things that were difficult, how they were run out of towns, how they were hounded, how Paul had been stoned to the point where they thought he was dead. But they also spoke of the multitudes of Gentiles who were being saved, even though the Jews were opposing that. Now, I mentioned that when Peter first explained this, the Jerusalem church had accepted it. Peter had told them that God had baptized them in the same gifts of the spirit as they themselves had received. Acts 1118 says that God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance until life. And so there was joy at first. They said, wow, this is wonderful, but not this time. When they're sharing this time, verse five, some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up saying, it's necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. So they're not rejoicing. They're saying there are other things required. They can't rejoice over what God is doing in the midst of their joy. Legalism breaks out. In the church, in the early days of the church, of the Jesus movement, I've said this before, bear with me as I repeat this. When hippies were coming to faith in Christ, you know, Greg brought out the movie Jesus Revolution and some of you saw it. A lot of what he was saying was very accurate, very true. When hippies started coming to faith in Christ, the church world didn't rejoice a whole lot about it. The church world actually got upset at us. Legalism began to filter in. There was a church, a well-known church, I could give you the name, I won't. It's in another state. I've shared this before, but during this movement, when young people were coming to faith in Christ and hippies were coming to faith in Christ, this church was a very large church and young people with long hair, young men with long hair and barefoot started going to church and this is a true statement. In the invitation, the pastor would pray with them and then send them to another room and that other room had a barber, true story. And the barber was there to cut the hair of the hippies to show that they really did come to faith in Christ because everybody knows that Jesus had a buzz cut and that's what they were doing. And if you didn't dress in your Sunday best, then you weren't really going to church. There were movements against the worship with electric guitars and drums. Now some of you are too young to know that, others are old enough to remember that. I grew up in a world that you didn't play drums in a church and so what happened and I remember this very well. What happened was people were saying, we don't want that voodoo music in our churches because it put you in a trance and it was just absolutely crazy how the mainstream church was responding to these hippies, these kids. Pastor Chuck, thank God for my pastor. He didn't put restrictions. He knew that you catch a fish before it's cleaned. And there's a whole lot of people who want to clean up that fish and they don't care if it goes to hell. Pastor wanted people to be saved and he knew that God would do what he was going to do with that person once he got all of them. That's what really matters. So we hippies, we kids with the long hair and the bare feet and all of that, he didn't tell us to put on shoes. I can still remember Chuck telling the story of how the hippie kids, myself included, would go to church and I did this. When he said it, I remembered it. You fold your leg, you know, you cross your legs in church and I wouldn't wear shoes. I didn't wear shoes for long. I didn't wear shoes when this church first began. I would preach barefooted. I don't wear shoes. I have to. My mother made me. She said, I want to look at your feet, put some shoes on. I didn't wear shoes. I don't wear shoes to this day except when I have to. That's just fact. And so I still remember crossing my legs and my big toe getting caught in the communion cup holder that you have right there. And Chuck spoke about those things and I laughed within because I know that's true because I did that. Haven't put some shoes on there. Soiling our carpets. He didn't get concerned about that. And the church, the church adds to the grace of God all the time. Don't play drums in church. Cut your hair. Make sure women wear dresses. They can't wear pants into church. They can't wear makeup. There's so many rules and regulations that people just put on you so that you look the way they want you to look. But you know what? There was this big thing when kids started getting their tattoos and stuff. You know, oh, no, you can't be, you know, why are you marking up your body? This and that, you know. And yet these kids, so many of them who have all those other marks and all they minister to other kids they see them for who they are and they can talk to them in a way that other people sometimes can't. God opens the door in that way. We need to rejoice when God reaches down and grabs somebody's life and not put shackles on them. They need the word of God. They need authority over them. We all do biblical authority, but we need to walk in the spirit and walk in the grace of God. And when these people are saying they have to keep these laws and they have to receive their Gentiles, they have to receive circumcision. You see, the Gentiles who were called God-fearers would attend synagogue, they would listen to the words that were being taught. They would hold fast to the moral teachings, but they were not full converts because they didn't receive, they didn't submit to the right of circumcision. So now they're saying, how can you know the grace of God if you don't understand the law of God? How can you understand grace in its depth if you haven't gone through the customs and laws that we have in the Old Testament? And that's what's taking place here. Now notice with me that it speaks concerning, in verse five, some of the sect of the Pharisees. Now during the time of Christ, there were people who were part of the Phariseic sect. It's like a religious denomination. And they had come to faith in Christ. In John 1242, it says, among the chief rulers also many believed on him. And when you read concerning some of the men who were followers of Christ, they're identified as Pharisees, like in Academis and Joseph of Arimathen, Paul himself was a Pharisee. He called himself a Pharisee, a Pharisees. I was a chief Pharisee, not just a Pharisee. But unlike Paul, these Pharisees hadn't relinquished the Mosaic tradition. They believed in Jesus' resurrection. They believed that Jesus was Messiah, but they were so ingrained with tradition, they wouldn't let it go. Some traditions aren't easy to let go of. There are different traditions in this church. Some of you may represent what I'm about to say. Now you came from a church where you had miracle seeds that were sold, that you would plant in God would bring an increase, or you had a blessed prayer mat, or you had tearing benches, or you danced in the aisles with your little tambourine. Some came from that. Others come from the background like I did, where you had the infant baptism, prayer to angels and saints, you prayed for the dead, you venerated Mary, you had holy water statues and scapular sacred pictures and all of that. And you get saved, and those things don't necessarily just immediately fall away. For some they do, for others it may take a little while. When my wife first got saved, she continued holding on to some of those things that were part of her tradition. But over time, as she got in the Word of God, she saw that these are the things that I need, this is the one I do need, and those things eventually are dealt with. That's how it works. Sometimes religious habits are hard to break free of. We can think that these things are real expressions of true faith. So they're saying believers need to receive circumcision, they need to keep the law of Moses, and if they don't do this, they really aren't believers in Messiah. It's a very serious situation. So verse six says the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. There's a meeting. Notice it's the leadership, the apostles and elders. So the question is, shall we command Gentiles to become Jews? Again, how can people who've never been under the law of Moses understand the grace of God? So verse seven, when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel and believe. And so they're not angrily arguing, it's not a loud kind of shout fast. They're actually soberly discussing amongst themselves. They're disputing, they're inquiring. And even amongst the leaders, the solution isn't easily arrived at. Now Paul had spoken earlier of the Gentiles that had come to faith and multitudes had done so. They hadn't been circumcised. Peter had preached the gospel to Gentiles, mentioned named Cornelius. His family and household had become followers of Christ. They weren't converts to Judaism, so the question would be can they really be saved? And that's why Peter rises up and speaks. He shares what the Lord has taught about this. He encourages them and by inference, the church to unity. Notice again in verse seven, he said, men and brethren, you know that a good while ago, God chose. The conversion of Cornelius is what he's referring to. That had happened, it's estimated, some 10 years earlier. 10 years ago, God chose among us that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of God and believe. You know, come to faith, and so he's saying, if you want to determine when and how this started, begin with God and begin with me. God is the one who chose to move among the Gentiles. And of all the apostles, he chose to use me to open the door of heaven to them. Now notice in verse eight how he says, God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. I want you to look at that with me for a moment. Because when you look at the story of the conversion of Cornelius and his household, it's interesting that Cornelius didn't verbally acknowledge Jesus, but in his heart, he was truly converted. You don't see him verbally stating anything. And the way verse eight, and the way he, God acknowledged them was by giving them the Holy Spirit. I'll develop this with you a little bit. He did for them, Peter is saying, what he did for us, the Jews on the day of Pentecost. Because in Acts 10, 44 through 46, when Cornelius and our were converted, it says while Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished as many as came with Peter because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also, for they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. So these believing Jews who were there with Peter saw God pour out the same Spirit upon these Gentiles and realized that they were welcomed into the family of God too. But there was no invitation. He didn't say Cornelius and family and friends. Well, somebody's playing an organ. Come forward, bow your head. He didn't do that. I'm not saying you shouldn't do, I do that. When we have invitations, of course I do that. I give people opportunity to come forward, but do they necessarily have to answer an invitation? Well, the Bible doesn't seem to him to say that. What's it say? It says that God knew their hearts. They heard the word and they came to faith in Christ. I give invitation so we can give opportunity for followup. So we can say, you've come forward for Christ, let us help you to go forward in him. It's just, I think our responsibility to do that. But we have people who sit in here every week who give their heart to Christ. I've talked to them. They've come up and they said, I gave my heart to Jesus six years ago. I was in the pews and I opened my heart. That's what happened with Cornelius and his household. Peter didn't say receive Christ because God sovereignly knew their hearts and even as he was speaking, he hadn't come to a conclusion nor an invitation. Even as he was speaking, God saw their heart. Psalm 139, one and two, oh Lord, you've searched me and known me. You know when I sit down, when I rise up, you discern my thoughts from afar. He goes on in verse four of Psalm 139, even before a word is on my tongue, behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. You know that I'm giving you my life. You know that. Well, Paul makes it clear that there's no distinction, verse nine. No distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Salvation comes by faith for both Jew and Gentile and not, he's saying, by obedience to religious rules. Now, Paul makes it clear that salvation is received through faith. Romans two, 28 and 29. He is not a Jew who has won outwardly nor a circumcision, that which is outward in the flesh, but he's a Jew who has won inwardly. Circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit, not in the letter whose praise is not from men but from God. It's the circumcision of the heart. The physical circumcision is really an expression of the internal circumcision of the heart. Abraham is the father of Israel. He lived around 600 years or so before Moses gave the law. He did not receive circumcision according to the law of Moses. Oh, he was circumcised, but he didn't receive circumcision by the law of Moses nor did he have the law of Moses to live by. But Paul speaks of him in chapter four, verse three, when he says, what does scripture say? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. The point he's making is the Gentiles were converted. We have been converted in the same way. He says again, in verse nine, he made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now, verse 10, therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? Why are you trying to make them do what we fail that? Why are you giving them the rules and the regulations? We couldn't keep them. Why would you say they should? When he speaks about putting a yoke, that word yoke speaks of the severity of keeping the law of Moses. It's called the Yoke of the Law. And in James two, verse 10, James said it like this. He said, whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. You may not have ever committed adultery, but if you lied, you have broken the whole law because the law demands perfection, perfect obedience. And that's why we need the grace of God because none of us can keep the law. Because if I kept nine of those rules, we'll say, but I broke one, I'm guilty of breaking them all. That's the point he's making. And the Yoke of the Law is a very heavy burden. That's why Matthew 23, four, that's why Jesus said this concerning the Pharisees. He said they tie up heavy loads, put them on men's shoulders. They themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them. It's the Yoke, the burden of trying to live a perfect life. And that's why Jesus came. He did for us that which we could never do for ourselves. His invitation is found in Matthew 1129 when he says take my Yoke upon you, learn from me, for I'm gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. Without going into a large testimony, I don't have the time nor do I desire and I'm sure you don't want to hear it, but I will say this. I will say that when I gave my heart to Christ and I mentioned First Service this month on a Wednesday night, this month, December 20th is a Wednesday night. I will celebrate on a Wednesday night in a couple of weeks should I live until that point. My 53rd anniversary of coming to faith in Jesus Christ. 53 years. And it wasn't because I was a good person. It was because I was rotten in sin and miserable and tired, tired of hurting people, tired of my addictions, tired of all the things I was doing to break the heart of my family and friends. It wasn't because I was a good person trying hard. It was because I was a miserable person who needed to give up. I got arrested this one time. I didn't spend that much time, 27 years. No, I only spent a few hours at LA County, but I was driving drunk. I smashed into a pole, a light signal and they put me in jail. My father came to pick me up. And I was driving home with him. And I turned to my father and I said this. I said, I remember, I looked at my dad. I was 19 years old and I said, I'm sick. My dad tried to get me help, sent me to a psychologist. My problem wasn't just mental. My problem was spiritual. I was a miserable, lost, broken-hearted, addicted kid. You didn't know what love was. Didn't know what joy was. Didn't know what being faithful was. I was a thief and I was a liar and I was lost. And you could have told me all day long because my dad did. I believe that you son, you'll be all right. No, I won't. Because you don't get better over time. You fall deeper. I needed salvation. I already had a religious faith, but I needed to know Jesus. And so if you would have made me go to church and made me do certain prayers and maybe that would not have changed me. It did not change me. But when you told me that God loved me and he had forgiveness and grace for me and it wasn't works that I would do but his love and mercy towards me that would transform me. That was such a great offer. I couldn't resist it and that's how I got saved when I finally got sick and tired of being sick and tired. And so I heard a gospel that God would forgive me of every one of my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness and it wasn't by my works it was by the work he did through Christ and I yielded my life to him and this year, this month, 53 years later I have never regretted that. That's how it works. Finally, a couple thoughts and we'll close. I've been with Calvary for a long time and I was on a board with Pastor Chuck. I still am on the board. Chuck Smith had put me on a board with it was called the CCOF board. We oversaw all the Calvary chapels in the world. And Chuck would have meetings and we'd have tables full of guys that are in the Calvary circles are known that are in these meetings where we'd all be there and we'd be talking amongst ourselves. It's like a reunion in some ways because there's guys from the east and from the south and we're all together in the room and kind of talking amongst ourselves and we'd be talking maybe laughing and then Pastor Chuck would walk in and when Chuck walked in, all of this even though we're old men, passers-in-churches many of us, you know, we're not young but when Chuck would walk in we'd all immediately add a respect for Chuck, just be quiet. And Chuck would walk in and he'd say, hi boys, I always call this boys, hi boys, how you doing? He'd come and he'd sit down. And everybody'd be quiet and then somebody always would say this, Chuck, what are you concerned about? What would be the number one thing that you want us to be aware of? What are you concerned about? And he always quoted this scripture, Galatians 3.3. What am I concerned about? Are you so foolish? Having begun in the spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? What am I concerned about? I'm concerned that we could begin to add to the grace of God works and in doing so stifle the work of God amongst us. That's what I'm concerned about. May we walk in the spirit of God. May we wake up in the morning and say, Father, here am I used to be. God help me, I'm gonna encounter many things today that are gonna attempt to draw me away from you. Lord, I'm gonna wanna do your work. If I'm given opportunity, help me not to add to the gospel of grace. Help me to share what is true. And so it finally closes, and I'll close by saying this, all the multitude, verse 12, kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul, declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. They had listened to the apostle Peter. Now Paul and Barnabas are speaking, they're sharing, but this time they give special emphasis to the works of God, the miracles. Jesus had worked miracles, Jews had received miracles, so had the Gentiles. It's an evidence that God is working among them. And the testimony of these pillars of the church settles the concern, and the decision is about to be made. And we'll look at that decision when we gather together next Sunday.