Acts 15V1-21 - David Burrowes (7th June 2026)

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Are we gonna be reading from Acts chapter fifteen? Anybody got a page number for Acts chapter fifteen? One one zero. So Acts chapter fifteen. We're starting at verse one and we're gonna read all the way through to verse twenty one. Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the un teaching the believers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem and see the apostles and elders about this question. The church sent them on their way, and as they travelled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted. This news made all the believers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them. Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and elders met to consider their question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them. Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles should hear from my lips the message of the gospel and belief. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on their neck, the necks of the Gentiles, a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors had been able to bear? No. We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul, telling about some of the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them. When they finished, James spoke up. Brothers, he said, listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophet are in agreement with this, as it is written. After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. That the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things, these things known from long ago. It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead, we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals, and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times, and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath. This is God's word to us this morning. David, come up and preach God's word to us.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Right. Well, good morning, everybody. Good morning, good morning. Good to hear some right. Good morning. Um, have you ever been um in an argument or debate at some point when you just want to have that last word? Uh you know, just want to have that last word. You may know uh someone who infuriatingly um always gets that last word in an argument. I mean, I've um in my uh time in politics and oh I've been used to that. You've got you've got to get they've got that final word. I mean, it may be something that's really significant, it may be uh that finale of someone who's just saying something at the end of their career and they wanted to say those last words, that that last manager of a football team may just want to get those last words out there to the crowd or something. Or maybe a memorable closing speech of uh like a barrister to a jury in a trial. Well, here in Acts 15, we uh have an argument, we have a debate, and we have uh a last word. In fact, the last words that Peter said that was not that before he died, but the last words recorded about Peter, and these are significant words. And so we're going to uh look into these now, and let's before we do that, let's ask God for his help. Dear Father, thank you so very much uh for your words. Thank you for these words that we're gonna look at, particularly those last words recorded of Peter. Father, thank you for the importance of them. And Father, please may your spirit help us. Help us to keep attentive, help us, Father, by your spirit to be corrected, to be rebuked, to be taught, to be encouraged as we seek to grow in maturity in Christ. In Jesus' name. Amen. So here we got it. Uh the last words. So, what is the last word? Well, Acts 15, verse 11 are the words, the last words that I want us to look at. These are the words of Peter, and these are the words. No, we believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. Paul wants his listeners there, he wants their attention. And Luke, uh, the writer of Acts, also wants ours. So, when you hear me say no, right? I want us to raise our hands up. Okay, Rick with us? No. Fantastic. You can even say no as well. It's brilliant. Great. So, no. We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. So let's just pick up on this sort of gospel momentum of Paul and Barnabas. This is the first missionary journey. We're hearing about it last week, weren't we? It's in Acts. Um, you could just turn back a page in in chapter 13, verse uh 44. It was in verse 44, we read there, it was the it was basically the talk of the town of the city of Antioch. Verse 44 of chapter 13, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. Now, this was a huge number of people with Antioch, what being the third largest city in the Roman Empire. And then just turn just to verse 49 of chapter 13, just over the page there on 1109. The word of the Lord uh spread through the whole region. So it's really growing this gospel as it goes to all peoples or nations. So, and then turn to chapter 14, uh, verse 27. In fact, that was the verse we we we looked at, didn't we, last week? Verse 27 of chapter 14 on page 1110. On arriving there, this was seeing God is at work, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he'd opened a door of faith to the Gentiles. So, here we are, chapter 15. Very exciting time for the apostles and the spread of the gospel. In fact, as we read through these wonderful Acts of the Apostles, surely we're gonna come to another chapter of Holy Spirit filled gospel spreading in growth. We're gonna see the excitement of it all more people coming to know Jesus. It's heading for that finale. Look at that heading that's been put in there: the Council at Jerusalem. That's a bit of a dampener, isn't it? On our mood, we're really going for it. Here we are, you know, you've got the gospel spreading across everywhere. The council at Jerusalem. Look, I'm all for meetings, I attend loads of meetings. Some are very necessary, some are very important. We heard about the church meeting coming up, that's very important, okay. Um, but they do have their time and place. Why then? Why then have here in Acts of Apostles do we see, and here in the the growth of the gospel, do we have this meeting? I mean, come on, Luke, let's let's get let's get on to the second missionary journey that's about to happen. Let's get on to that, please, please. The report, okay, it's significant, but the first church council meeting is is surely not as important, is it, compared to reporting on the cross-cultural mission going on everywhere? But that's the point, and we always know that. Uh the Bible doesn't do things by mistake and accident. This is this is God's word, and it's so important that Luke interrupts the account of the spread of the gospel. Okay, he gives us this orderly account, very important for us. It's Peter's last word. And what is this last word? The last word is full of warning. Verse 11. No. That's it. No, we believe it's through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. That's right. Peter was saying no to the troublemakers in verse 1. If you look at verse 1, who'd come down from Judea to Antioch to teach that it's not enough to put your trust in Jesus alone. What were they saying that read there? That unless you're circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. Now, these Jewish believers, we read here in verse 5, belong to this Pharisees party, okay? And they said that Gentiles must not only be circumcised, in fact, what they also said, they must be required to keep the law of Moses. In other words, all the regulations that we read about in the Old Testament, such as eating richly slaughtered food and all of that. Now, this was not just a matter of particular laws, it was a critical issue that was at stake here. Were Gentiles saved by what Christ had done for them, or did they and everyone else need to do something else? A big, big question for them and for us. Now, what alarmed these the Pharisees party was that Gentiles were they were like being welcomed into fellowship by baptism without circumcision. Remember, we had a baptism a while ago with Dear Colin. And now they were saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, they were saying, you're becoming Christians without becoming Jews first. Well, the Pharisees party, they they believed that the grace of the gospel through faith in Jesus was not sufficient, and it was necessary to additionally follow the law of Moses, which meant circumcision, and and that that was all about the demonstration that there were separate chosen people of God who should not then be absorbed with other peoples and nations. Now, it was really on the line. This was the gospel of Christ, was it a reform movement within Judaism, within the Jewish people, or was it good news to the whole world? Now, like any good showdown, you need expert. I'm not sure if you like commentary, I was listening to a bit of cricket commentary in between the rain stuff yesterday. You need expert commentary, okay. And we've got expert commentary. We've got the help actually of Paul in his letter to the Galatians, which kind of puts all this into the right context. And it was writing about this very issue, and it was probably written by Paul when he was on his way from Antioch to this Jewish council that we read about in Acts 15. So if you can just keep one finger, okay, one finger still in Acts 15, and then turn to me with me to Galatians chapter 2. It's on page 1168, okay? So finger in one side, and then go over to page 1168, Galatians chapter 2. Because there where we read about the same group of teachers, known also as the circumcision party, who are teaching that circumcision and obedience to moral law were necessary for salvation. Now, you may, as I'm saying this, you may just be settling back in your seats comfortably, or maybe not so comfortably, listening on an early church argument talking about circumcision, um, which you may think has like no relevance to you or to me. No is the warning. It is the warning of Peter. Well, if you're not already, you should be like kind of on the edge of your seats here, because this is a big, big warning. You know, Paul is highlighting here in Galatians how crucial this threat was and actually is when he said in Galatians chapter 2, verse 2. Look at that. At the end of that verse, I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. It's huge. Paul's saying this. For Paul, it really is on the line. He doesn't hold back in his view of this circumcision party describing them in verse 4. Can we see that there? As false believers who had infiltrated our ranks like to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. I mean, big stuff here. So, what was at issue? What was it? Well, verse 5, we see that. In verse 5, see that there? It says that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you. This is, I say, the truth of the gospel is at stake. So be warned. This was and is a salvation issue, and it is a warning to all of us, both us leaders and members of our church, our church family, to stick to the truth of the gospel. So Peter's last word then is it's a warning because even Peter, right? This is Peter. We know sometimes we know him as the rock. Peter. Verse 8 of still in Galatians 2. Even Peter is he's described God was at work in him in verse 8. See that? Was an apostle to the circumcised and an apostle to the Gentiles. This is Peter, right? Got it sorted, hasn't he? He he himself was in danger of trying to add to the truth of the gospel. Even Peter, then, who Paul describes in verse 9, see that there? As esteemed as pillars. Even he, this pillar, wobbled. So Paul says in verse 11, okay, I opposed Cephas. That's Peter. In other words, for Peter, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. This is tough, tough talk from Paul. And it was really a public showdown, okay? And I want to just get you to understand this public showdown, right? Okay, these were like apostle heavyweights, okay? Paul versus Peter. This is like the early church equivalent of the boxes, Fury versus Wilder. This is serious stuff here, right? The real heavyweights of the church, of the early church. But it actually was beyond you know the Paul and Peter show, right? It was it was what they were contending for was the big question whether you can be saved by grace or by law. You know, question what when you maybe think sometimes, what must I do to be saved? What must I do to be sure of eternal life? So, Paul lands, okay, some jabs, right? First of all, put jabs at so Peter's hypocrisy in Galatians 2, verse 14. Have a look at that. First big jab saying to Peter, you are a Jew. Yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it then? You're with them all in with the Gentiles. How is it that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs? Hypocrite. Jab, jab. But then this is after the jabs, Paul then follows up with like a knockout blow, okay? Look, go to verse 21. This is the knockout blow of Paul to Peter. I do not set aside the grace of God. For if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing. Do we see how serious this issue is? If we start adding laws like circumcision to gain righteousness, actually what we're saying is Christ died for nothing. Paul highlights that it's a question of all or nothing. Either you accept all of grace for salvation, or it's nothing. Then Christ died in vain. So by the time we hear Peter's final word, okay, on this issue in Acts 15, this contest between Paul and Peter, or rather the contest of the debate between salvation by grace or law, it has actually ended. So if we go back to Acts 15, go back, um turn back to 110. We're not facing a rematch, okay? We're not going back on the council of Jerusalem. Here's another rematch between Paul and Peter. No, Peter had actually sorted out his understanding of grace, the truth of the gospel. So in Vacts 15 here, Peter was able to say with real and actually personal meaning, because he'd wrestled with this before the council in Jerusalem in verse 11, no. It was a warning to himself and his fellow Jewish believers that the grace of God is sufficient and not to rely upon the law for salvation. You know, we also need to listen to the warning in Peter's last word. You know, if actually Peter could start to try to add more to the gospel of grace, you know, I mean, so could we. I mean, do we ignore these warnings of no? You know, when I I flew to Slovakia last week, last Sunday in fact, to rush off on the picture break, just about got up to the standstead, got uh through through the gate and onto the runway, as happens often on Stansted as they you know usher you into the um into the plane. And I saw warnings, right? Uh do not run across the runway. Okay? Do not run. If I'd ignored those warnings and like run across the runway, you know, in front of moving airplanes, often taxing all the way along, the result would have been catastrophic, you know, and of course I wouldn't have been preaching here now. And you know, but so we have to listen and we have to heed these warnings, don't we? And the point of uh Paul indeed Peter's warning is that in terms of the gospel, if we ignore this warning of no, we undermine the gospel of grace, and that is actually catastrophic. That is it, that is the end of our salvation uh and end of it, uh our promise of eternal life. That is catastrophic. So is there a warning for us about maybe an act of obedience to a law, okay, which is maybe undermining our understanding and acceptance of grace? So let's take um the command to respect the Sabbath, okay? To respect to have Sunday as a day of rest. Now, for most of us, that is a Sunday, not for everyone, but for most of us uh it is Sunday. Maybe you've got an issue, for example, when you look at other Christians and how they how they apply that, um, how they use Sundays, maybe differently from you. You know, there's some Christians that decide that they're not going to go to shops or they're not going to work or they're not going to kind of do sports or do you know other activities for their children. No, but others will do that, right? Others will say, okay, that's that I think I will do that. I will go to church, I will place, I will do this. They have different ways of applying that command. Now, sometimes there may be a danger that one group of Christians could start looking at the others and how they do it and how they apply the law and actually start judging them on the basis of law and the basis of that they they're just they're disobeying one of God's commandments. And maybe they're not actually real Christians. Maybe it's another issue, maybe it's an issue about um regularly uh serving or giving, all really good things, all that we're uh we're you know, there's commandments to do, we're encouraged to do. I'm not saying undermining any of that, but maybe like keeping the Sabbath, which all good things, all really good things, um, and important for all believers, but maybe there's the warning there, isn't there, that we can get like legalistic uh about keeping these things like Sabbath or acts, other acts of obedience, for the sake, and this is the point, for the sake of the law rather than for the sake of the gospel of grace. And that's the crucial issue here, isn't it? Then maybe that that warning we've got to think about, haven't we? Because we do tend uh to get into the law rather than accept fully the great gospel of grace. Now, Peter's last word is then full of warning that relying upon the law, and this is about the salvation, is relying upon the law is not necessary for salvation, which is only through faith in the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that brings me to the second point that Peter's last word is full of grace. No, we believe it's through. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that we're saved. Now we can never stop being reminded that salvation is through the grace of the Lord Jesus. We are saved by His free gift, which is totally undeserved. His gracious initiative in coming after us to rescue us from our sin and its consequences. Jesus died for our sake, our death. He paid our debts. And now he comes after us for our salvation. That's grace. It means that we are not saved one little bit by ourselves. What are we responsible for in our salvation? Our sin. And the consequence of our sin, nothing else. I mean, it's very hard to kind of illustrate the full extent of this grace, but this is a try. Eight years ago, some of you may remember this extraordinary story that hit the news. A youth team of boys aged 11 to 16 were trapped, right, in a flooded mountain cave in northern Thailand. Okay. You'll see them in the bottom there. The trap there. And at the top corner there, 800 meters down, they were trapped in the corner there. In this flooded mountain cave, northern Thailand. Their football coach was with them. They were there for over two weeks. Now these Thai boys were trapped in the cave, 800 meters down. It was impossible, really, in many ways, to get through to them, but they were totally incapable themselves of saving them. They were totally dependent on someone else. They couldn't do anything about being rescued. They were in a desperate situation. They need something else, some people to be able to deliver them. And you know, much as Christ was needed to enter humanity to save sinners, they needed international experts to rescue them. Including, in fact, a Thai marine diver who sadly died, giving his life in his efforts to save them. Just like Christ gave up his earthy life for us to have eternal life. You'll see some of those uh uh rescue people there. Now, the importance of this last word of Peter was that some of the Jewish believers were thinking that actually they could contribute to their salvation, or at least that the Gentiles should. And the pride of us as human beings is often we would want to find a way to be worthy before God, to make a contribution to our salvation. You know, the boys being rescued, you know, they they were thinking, can we do something? You know, can we just go through there? Can we can we try and swim or or climb up to help our salvation? But that would have been dangerous and in fact catastrophic and wouldn't have worked. So what happened in order for them to be uh rescued, what then had to happen is the divers had to go down and they had to sedate them with drugs for them to sleep so they could guide them through to be able to get through to the entrance to be rescued. They had to be rescued, they can their rescue was completely dependent on that rescue team. Now we also need to be reminded and maybe warned that it's it's only grace which saves us, not good works, not service, but remaining humbly grateful and dependent upon the grace of the gospel. But you know, for us uh Christians who are rescued and who are saved, our pride can easily actually creep back in. So don't think this is all just okay, this is just a step towards salvation. For those who are saved, we can easily start thinking, actually, then maybe we are contributing to our salvation. You know, the football coach who was rescued, he may have he may have said after his team's rescue that it was him looking after the boys in the cave which saved them. The boys would have perished left in that cave. They could only be rescued by the others. And the danger is that when salvation becomes about what we do rather than what Jesus has done for us. And so Peter's last word was full of grace that Jesus has done it all for us to be saved. Finally, Peter's uh last word is full of unity. Verse 11. No, we believe. See that the words we believe. You know, there'd been this big disagreement, hadn't there been? In you know, chapters uh 15, verse 2, we see there it brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate. And we saw in Galatians how Peter and Paul were divided for a time before Peter repented of his mistake and was back united with Paul. So in verse 7, here we are, we read that after much discussion, Peter was the first to speak to the council. And he he looked back how he was the first to bring the gospel to Gentiles and ended it with not look here. Well, I believe, but see what it says in there, verse 11? What's it say? Whoops, it says, We believe. Let's get this up here. We believe. So back in we look here, if we look here, there's a collective unity, right? It's not just about Peter, what he believes, it's about the central belief of the apostles. It's it's not what Paul believes or what James believes, it's what we believe. Because back in Acts 15, as Paul, I'm sorry, as Peter gives his last word, look how the church leaders were all at one on this big issue of being saved by grace alone. Look at verse 12. See what it says? The whole assembly started debating and discussing. Is that what it says? Is that what it says? The whole assembly, what's it say there? Became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul. There was agreement, there was unity in the gospel, because now the assembly did not need, they didn't need to listen to further debate on how circumcision and the law of Moses fits into grace. They'd been reminded of the truth of the gospel of grace, and so now moved on to listen to how that gospel was spreading amongst Gentiles. James then delivered the verdict to the council, reminding those gathered that Peter's last words on the gospel of grace are actually the fulfillment of the whole of Scripture. And in verse 15, it reads the words of the prophets. That's the unity. The prophets are in agreement with this all the way along. This has been what it's been about, the gospel of grace, unity through the truth of the gospel. You know, we're all saved the same way. Peter, Paul, Barnabas, James, you and me, our common salvation is what makes us one. And it's the same God who first intervened to make become flesh through Jesus Christ to die on the cross and was raised, who first intervened to save the apostles, despite the apostles coming from different backgrounds and beliefs, who first intervened in verse 14. Do we read that? Intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. James was confirming Peter's last word that it's full of unity by being saved by grace. And you know, I mean, our fellowship uh is in our salvation of grace. This is our unity. It's not primarily, we may agree about quite a lot, um, but it's not primarily that we agree with each other. That's not where our unity comes from, but it's our salvation that makes us united. It makes us we. Because of the grace of because of the grace of salvation, we believers belong to the same community of Jesus and the family of God. So Peter's last word is full of unity, and that and that should um that should prompt us to ensure that we remain united in the gospel of salvation. You know, we can be thankful that this church does focus and is united on the gospel of grace. That's what we we do. We sing about, we preach about, week in, week out. We read about in our barbers, in our growth groups, in our praying. And because sadly, some churches lose that focus. We've read about it, haven't we, when we've been looking at uh the pastoral epistles of Timothy and Ephesus. Um you know, they they lose it and they they they start looking for other things. Maybe a pastor who attracts a big following um or a message that's not based on the truth of grace, but on good works or on good thoughts. We shouldn't be complacent about our unity, and we must continue to pray for us. Pray for myself and Gareth, pray for us as fellow elders, as uh pray for all of us as well together, that we we all will remain true to the gospel, to the saving grace of our Lord Jesus. But let's ask ourselves some questions. Are are we united in our response to our Lord, graciously taking the punishment we deserved for all our sins? And and how do we show that that unity? I mean, how are we getting out of our comfort zone, maybe, to speak to our work colleagues, our our friends and family about the gospel of grace? Because we're doing that together, we're praying for each other. It's a team game doing that. Are we united in our desire to go to you know, some so we are able to get up there to hand out leaflets or knock on doors, to invite friends? Are we united in the gospel of salvation? Are we united in uh in the gospel of grace to to really welcome newcomers? Uh like Christ generously welcomed us. Your newcomers who may not look, they may not sound, uh, they may not they may be very different from us, but all need the gospel of grace as much as us. So there we have it. Um the uh Peter's last words, full of warning, full of grace and unity. You may be struck, you may have been struck by Peter's warning, uh, and you may want to repent like Peter. No one is too big, no one's too informed to need to repent. Peter needs to, about adding to the gospel of grace. It may be that you've been resisting the grace of God. It may be that you've been become too proud and wanting to contribute to your salvation, or you may be convicted of the need to unify with your brothers and sisters as we go out and tell others about the gospel of grace. So why not um think about that and pray about that? I'll give you a few moments now uh just to think uh through that, and then there will also be time when we uh go into uh into communion uh to pray through that, and also when we're over coffee to pray with someone, just to give you a few moments to to to just to be quiet. No, we believe it is through the gospel of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are. Amen. Amen. So we're gonna now um stand to sing uh wonderfully so grace sufficient, grace for me, grace for all who will believe. We will stand on every promise of your word. Let's stand and sing.