The Grace Decision [Part 1]

Pastor, author, and Bible teacher, Alan Wright. One of my initiation rites was I had to go and wear something like a choir robe. I don't know if it was either a graduation robe or a choir robe.

I can remember something like that. I had to go stand in front of the drug store at what used to be the Golden Gate shopping center in Greensboro and sell coat hangers until I'd made $5. I made my $5. I could have been a salesman, but I made my $5 selling coat hangers.

Who buys used coat hangers in front of the drug store from a guy in a robe? That's Pastor Alan Wright. Welcome to another message of good news that will help you see your life in a whole new light. I'm Daniel Britt, excited for you to hear the teaching today in the series Unlimited, as presented at Reynolda Church in North Carolina. If you're not able to stay with us throughout the entire program, I'm going to make sure you know how to get our special resource right now. It can be yours for your donation this month to Alan Wright Ministries.

As you listen to today's message, go deeper as we send you today's special offer. Contact us at PastorAlan.org. That's PastorAlan.org. Or call 877-544-4860.

That's 877-544-4860. Now more on this later in the program. But right now, let's get started with today's teaching. Here is Alan Wright. Are you ready for some good news?

Yes! Grace. Don't need to add anything to it. Can't take anything away from it. The greatest news the world has ever heard or ever will hear is that our gospel is a gospel of grace and nothing but nothing need be added to it. Okay, history buffs. What do you think was the greatest, most important, let's say most important meeting in history? Most important conference or council or summit? What was the greatest in history? I Googled the question and it seemed like that the answer kept coming up, at least as regards political matters. The Yalta Conference of 1945 in the Yalta Soviet Union when the heads of the allied powers, Roosevelt and Churchill and Stalin meet, to talk about in anticipation of Germany's unconditional surrender, how to divide Germany and move forward in post-war Europe. You know, you would think with victory nigh, somebody'd look a little happier than that. I don't know.

I don't know who looks the most depressed. I think the world leaders were pretty tired by 1945. I give them that.

I give them that. Some historians will say maybe the most important meeting in history, at least from a religious perspective, is the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. Seminarians study this right off the bat because the Council of Nicaea ended up producing what we call the Nicene Creed. You've said parts of it before. We quote it some time to time. It was in this that the famous statement about Jesus that he was begotten, not made emerged because Arius was teaching that Jesus was a creature that had been made by the father and so he was not equal with the father and it was here that the early church father said, no, the scriptures teach that Jesus is God and he was not a creature.

He is co-equal of the same substance as God himself. Some might point to one of the most important meetings of history, which was the Diet of Worms. If you ever saw it written, it looks like Diet of Worms.

I confess that for some time in my life, that's how I pronounced it. The Diet of Worms. It was not a newfangled diet in the 16th century. It was an assembly that was called by the Roman Emperor at the time to question Martin Luther, who had famously written all about the power of grace alone by faith alone through scripture alone. They read out before Martin Luther 25 titles of the works that he's written and had asked him to recant. Just recently when John Huss had not recanted, he'd been executed. It's so funny because at the meeting everybody thinks about the incredible courage of Martin Luther, the great reformer, but what happened was they asked him, do you recant? And he said, could you give me a day to think about it? He took 24 hours to come back and give his answer, came back at four o'clock the next day and famously said, here I stand.

I can do no other. And the reformation continued. Maybe that's one of the most important meetings in history because we probably wouldn't be here. Some might point of course to 1963 where 200,000 people gathered at the Washington Mall and heard Martin Luther King Jr. say, I have a dream.

There have been some important moments in history where groups of people gathered to consider important matters, but I want to put on the list and maybe suggest that the most important meeting in history took place in the first century and is recorded in Acts chapter 15 and is known as the Jerusalem Council. It is perhaps the most important meeting ever because they were considering the question, is grace enough? And I would suggest to you, it is apart from the question is Jesus Lord, this question, is grace alone enough?

It might be the most important question for you to answer today and every day and to remind yourself of the answer for the rest of your life. Yes, it's all we need. This is what happened in Acts chapter 15 starting at verse one, some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Unless you observe this particular Jewish ceremonial law, then they said, you cannot be fully included in the body of Christ. Verse two, after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them. So this is something that is really hot issue.

They're carrying on a vigorous debate with them about it. Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about the question. It's the first time that the elders and apostles are going to come together, convene for the purpose of discussing, debating and praying over a really, really important question. Please note, by the way, right from the beginning under the Holy Spirit, the instinct of the people of God and the leaders was not to have one person who said, I hear from God, so therefore I get to make all decisions. The instinct was come together and pray together and in the counsel of many, there will be wisdom and we will better discern the Holy Spirit and the mind of Christ through a godly group than we will through just one individual. That's part of the reason I'm Presbyterian.

A good king and a godly king can be a good thing, but if the king is having a bad day, that's not the form of government you want. So they gather for the question in verse three, being sent on their way by the church, they pass through both Venetia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. This is a happy, happy gathering. And when they came to Jerusalem, verse four, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders and they declared all that God had done with them. But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, now listen, these are believers. These are Christians who had been Pharisees like Paul, Jewish Pharisees who have now become believers in Jesus. They're the ones that rise up, some of them, some of them, and said it's necessary to circumcise the Gentiles and to order them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter, this question. Maybe the most important question and the most important meeting baby in history.

Well, what is it would lead them to think that the Gentiles might need to keep this religious ritual of having their baby boys circumcised on the eighth day? What is so attractive about some kind of mark of a covenant like this? What is so seemingly important about the sign of inclusion like that that says, yes, I'm in, I'm fully in?

Well, it's because the human heart just craves to be in. The human heart craves acceptance and we see it in every human heart that apart from Christ and radical acceptance in Christ, we'll look for and do almost anything to feel accepted like we're part of it. That's Alan Wright, and we'll have more teaching in a moment from today's important series. Need some inspiration and practical help to bless those you love? In conjunction with the exciting release of Pastor Alan's new book, The Power to Bless, we put together some tools to get you started on the journey of speaking life and empowering the people you love. The toolkit includes an audio message of Pastor Alan's recent sermon on the mysterious blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, the gateway to understanding the power of all blessing. Also included in the kit is a booklet with a list of scriptures that can be spoken directly as blessings. The blessing scriptures are categorized so you can easily access them for specific situations. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll happily send you the Power to Bless toolkit as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

The resources are available for immediate digital download or available in CD and booklet. Partner with us and be inspired and equipped to bless someone's life today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support.

When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860. Or come to our website, PastorAlan.org. Today's teaching now continues.

Here once again is Alan Wright. I don't know if I ever told you before, but I joined a civic club when I was in high school. It was a silly civic club. It was just to get your picture in the yearbook or something. You know, we didn't do anything.

We didn't help anybody, and we didn't ever meet. But you have your picture in the yearbook, and it's supposed to look good on your resume for college, you know. And so I said, I'm joined, whatever it was, the civic club. So I can't remember which one it was. But we've got to go through initiation rites to be included. So one of my initiation rites was I had to go and wear something like a choir robe. I don't know if it was either a graduation robe or a choir robe.

I can remember something like that. And I had to go stand in front of the drugstore at what used to be the Golden Gate shopping center in Greensboro and sell coat hangers until I'd made $5. I made my $5. I could have been a salesman, but I made my $5 selling coat hangers.

Who buys used coat hangers in front of the drugstore from a guy in a robe? But anyway, the things that people have done throughout time to show that they're included, whatever silly ritual, whatever foolish mark, whatever it might be, people have been willing to do it so that they would be identified as one on the inside. So circumcision was the mark of being included in the covenant.

It also was the identification that were distinct from others. And you have to remember that the Jewish people had always been told by God they were holy. Now holy means set apart.

It means you're mine, says the Lord. And as such, they were used to being distinct from other peoples. And all the ceremonial laws were there to continually remind them they were holy. So before the time of Jesus, they didn't associate with Gentiles. And they did things that God said like washing their hands ritualistically, and people made fun of them for this. And they had their baby boys circumcised like no other peoples. And this was a mark of their distinctiveness. And they wanted to keep their distinction from the Gentiles.

It seemed absolutely wrong to do anything else. It was all heightened, this emphasis on circumcision, because of the persecution that the Jews felt, especially around a couple hundred centuries before Christ, around maybe 170 BC, Antiochus IV, a Roman ruler, persecuted viciously the Jews and forbade the practice of circumcision and said that any Jewish boys that were circumcised must be put to death along with their mothers. So there was a part of the Pharisees that said in order to maintain our faithfulness, we've got to continue this ceremonial law. It is what is the mark of the covenant. It makes us know that we're included and it marks us as distinct from the rest of the world. And they were saying essentially so the Gentiles need to carry on this practice because they need to show their faithfulness as well.

They need to show their distinctiveness from the rest of the culture and they need to prove that they're inside as well. Why was it so important, a seemingly small gesture like this? Was this just the clash of the old and the new? I told you a couple weeks ago I've gotten sucked right into the soap opera. That's what it is, Downton Abbey. And I'm right in the middle of the thing and we're just sitting there watching this thing night after night and finding out who's going to get married, who's going to die, what's going to happen.

It's set, if you've never seen it, in the World War I era in England of this noble family that maintains this huge estate and carries on all the traditions and yet there is the invasion of the more modern. And so every episode, if it's not about somebody getting married or dying, it is about the clash of the old and the new. And sometimes you could read the New Testament and think, well, what really it was about was the Pharisees were just stuck in the mud and they wanted the old ways and then Jesus came and there were the new ways.

That's not what's going on. It is not a clash between something that is old and something that is an adjustment of the old to a more modern way. It is a clash of an entirely different way of being. It is to say the new covenant is not to say that it is a modern adjustment of an older covenant.

It is to say it is entirely different in its essence. It is a move from law to grace. That's why they met in Jerusalem.

They weren't just answering the question, what's this deal of circumcision really all about? They were answering the question, what's the gospel all about? This is the thing that Paul addressed mainly in his letter to the Galatians and Paul, remember who he was. He is the apostle who wrote about love. He's the one who taught us in 1 Corinthians 13 what agape looks like. He is the one who in almost every breath spoke of grace. He is the one who prayed that we would have spiritual eyes to be able to see how long, how wide, how high, how deep is the love of God.

He is the one who taught us humility and grace. When he wrote the Galatians, he was furious. He was furious because similarly there, Judea Iser's, those who wanted to push the Jewish law were trying to tell the Galatian Christians who were so spirit filled and so joyous that those Gentile Galatians needed to be circumcised.

And Paul wrote in Galatians chapter one, verse six, you can see his emotion. He said, I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ. He said to start adapting yourself to little pieces of law, even if it's just 1% law, you are deserting him who called you in grace. And then he said, you're turning to a different gospel.

What Paul was saying is if your gospel says it's all Jesus and all grace, but you also have to practice the right of circumcision, you've turned to a different gospel. And then he says something even stronger at verse seven. He says, not that there is another one, but there are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we listen to this, if we speaking of himself or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one that we preached you, let him be accursed.

He is speaking language that is so strong. You can't even believe it comes from the apostles lips. What he's saying is that even if I preach a gospel that is grace plus law, let me let an angel, let anyone who does that be separated from God for all eternity.

Whoa, he's furious. You see it again in chapter three, verse one in Galatians where Paul said, Oh, foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you? He is saying that you to believe that you have to add some law to your gospel.

You have been put under a spell. Let me ask you this, he said, did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? How did you come into abundant life?

Was it because you got circumcised or was it because we announced the gospel and you believed it? So the issue in Jerusalem in that first century, when they gathered for the most important meeting in history was not, is grace important? Everybody believed grace was important. I don't know any Christian who would say they don't believe grace is important. Of course, everybody that's a Christian believes grace is important. The question was not, is grace important? The question is, is grace all you need? The question was not, do Gentiles deserve to hear the gospel? The question is, do Gentiles need to follow Jewish customs in order to be fully engrafted in? What's at stake was the power of the gospel. What's at stake is the question, is it okay to have a gospel that's mostly grace but has a little bit of law added to it?

The resounding answer was, no, it is not. What's so important about it? Just one little religious ritual of circumcision? What one little mark of inclusion?

Why does that matter so much? Let me give you two images. The one is the image of poison. And whatever is the most poisonous substance on earth, and you take one drop and drop it into a glass of water.

It's so potent that that whole glass of water, though it be 99% water and only 1% poison has become all poison. I've said it before like this. If I were to tell my beautiful wife, who I love and been married to for 35 years, if I said, honey, for 99 days in a row, I said, honey, I love you. I'll never leave you. You're mine forever. I thank God for you. We'll have our ups and downs, but we're in a covenant together. You can count on me. And then on the hundredth day, I said, I'm not sure if you're good enough for me.

Unless you improve, I might leave you. Well, the first place is, you know, if you know my wife, I would never say that because I might not survive the day if I said something like that. So, uh, but I mainly would never say it because I would never believe it. But if I were to say that, what would happen 99 days in a row of, I love you and I'm committed to you. And then one day of I'm not so sure about it. Wouldn't that one day just wipe out the other 99 in an instant and wouldn't it do more than just wipe out the other 99 in an instant, it would actually infect the relationship with fear.

In fact, it could inject a poison so great that it could introduce unlimited fear because for the next 99 days she'd be going to is today the day he's going to say it again. Alan Wright. Today's good news message. The grace decision is in our series unlimited and pastor Alan is back with us in the studio, joining us to share his parting good news thought for the day in just a moment. Need some inspiration and practical help to bless those you love in conjunction with the exciting release of pastor Alan's new book, the power to bless. We put together some tools to get you started on the journey of speaking life and empowering the people you love. The toolkit includes an audio message of pastor Alan's recent sermon on the mysterious blessing of Ephraim and Manasseh, the gateway to understanding the power of all blessing. Also included in the kit is a booklet with a list of scriptures that can be spoken directly as blessings. The blessing scriptures are categorized so you can easily access them for specific situations. When you make your gift to Alan Wright Ministries this month, we'll happily send you the power to bless toolkit as our way of saying thanks for your partnership.

The resources are available for immediate digital download or available in CD and booklet. Partner with us and be inspired and equipped to bless someone's life today. The gospel is shared when you give to Alan Wright Ministries. This broadcast is only possible because of listener financial support. When you give today, we will send you today's special offer. We are happy to send this to you as our thanks from Alan Wright Ministries. Call us at 877-544-4860. That's 877-544-4860 or come to our website, pastoralan.org. Back here in the studio sharing Pastor Alan's parting good news thought for the day and that illustration has always stuck with me is we place the bookmark here in the grace decision that one drop, and I think of the food coloring example, right?

One tiny drop and impure clear water is going to take the whole glass. Yeah, the battle for most of us as Christians is not between law and pharisaical living versus the gospel of grace. The big, the big challenge is to not have a mixed gospel, not to have a little tiny bit of law to get mixed in, but if you put one drop of red food coloring into a glass of water, the whole thing becomes tainted doesn't it? And that's what we're learning about today. And that's why this, what we call the grace decision is one of the most important decisions, one of the most important moments in not just the history of the church, but I'd say Daniel in history itself. Today's good news message is a listener supported production of Alan Wright Ministries.