Life of Paul Part 21 - It's All About Grace

Hey, let's take a Bible and open it together, Acts chapter 15 this morning.

We're continuing in our ongoing study of the life of the great man, the apostle Paul. While you're turning, just let me say Washington, D.C. is a pretty incredible place. I mean, you can see some really cool things in this city. And among the things that you can see that are really cool are down, go down to the National Archives, where you can see the actual original of the Declaration of Independence. Also down there, you can see the original copy of the Constitution of the United States. I mean, these incredible documents that our whole nation is based upon, you can see the original.

I think that's pretty amazing. And it's also interesting to remind ourselves how these documents came into being. They were the result of Continental Congresses, where political leaders from all over the colonies got together, and after much debate, they finally agreed upon and codified these wonderful documents. Now, you know, you may not realize it, but much of what we think of as biblical theology really came about through somewhat of a similar process, except that back then they didn't have Continental Congresses. They had church councils. And at these church councils, the leaders from all over Christendom would come, and they would codify biblical truth based upon both the Bible and their personal knowledge of Jesus Christ.

What are some of these councils? Well, there was the Council of Nicaea, 325 AD, which settled the question of the deity of Christ. There was the Council of Constantinople, 381 AD, that settled the question of the Trinity. There was the Council of Carthage, 397 AD, that decided which books really belonged in the Bible and settled that question. The Council of Ephesus, 431, that dealt with the virgin birth. The Council of Chalcedon, 451, that dealt with the dual nature of Christ. And these were just some of the early church councils.

There were more, but these are the major ones. Today here in Acts, Chapter 15, we're going to actually look at the very first church council ever held called the Council of Jerusalem. It was held somewhere around 49 AD, and all the big players were here. Peter was here. James was here. John was here. The Apostle Paul was here. Barnabas was here.

I mean, talk about a caste. Think of all the people that were here. All the apostles were here. And the church, the church council of Jerusalem was called together to deal with two issues.

They are related, but somewhat separate. Issue number one was this, just how do people get eternal life? In other words, do they get it on the basis of faith in Jesus plus nothing, or on top of faith in Jesus, is there some human work, some human act of performance that people have to do in order to cement the deal?

That was question number one. And question number two was, once a person has become a follower of Christ, once a person has come into a relationship with Christ, what is the basis of that person's ongoing relationship with Christ? Is a follower of Jesus free to act any way they want to act without endangering their relationship to God?

Or is God's continuing love, continuing good feeling, continuing acceptance towards that person based on some kind of human performance? So really, at the base of the Jerusalem Council, lay this issue, human performance, how does it relate both to coming to Christ, and once you are a follower of Christ, how does it play in? That's really the issue the Jerusalem Council dealt with. Now, that's a pretty important issue for us to have answers to. So over the next several weeks, we're going to be dealing with this. And all we're going to do today is deal with issue number one.

Just how does a person get eternal life? That's the issue we're going to be dealing with today. Well, a little bit of background before we dig in. Remember the Apostle Paul and Barnabas have been on their first missionary journey. They've gone from Antioch, their hometown here in Syria, to Cyprus, then they've gone up into the southern underbelly of Turkey here.

And now after completing their first missionary journey, they've come back home to Antioch, where they're staying as the events of chapter 15 begin to unfold. Remember, in all that they've been doing in their first missionary journey, the Apostle Paul and Barnabas primarily have been dealing with Gentiles, okay? And here at this church in Antioch, it's primarily a church full of Gentiles.

And so that's why what you're about to see happen becomes so important. Look, verse one, some men, it says, came down from Judea from Jerusalem, to Antioch, where Paul was staying, and they were teaching the brothers there, unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. Now, because most of the people here were Gentiles, this is a very, this shakes them, this is a very scary thought, that all of a sudden, what they've been taught is not right. Paul had been teaching up to this point, that our personal relationship with Christ, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, go into heaven doesn't have anything to do with human performance. It's only by faith in Jesus, these guys come down here, and they say, No, that's not the case at all. These people have got to be circumcised. They've got to keep the law of Moses.

And look what they say, if you don't, you cannot have eternal life, you cannot go to heaven, you cannot be in a relationship with God, unless you do that. Verse two, this brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. I mean, Paul and Barnabas, when they heard this, went and began arguing with these guys.

And the word that's used here for the translated sharp dispute is a Greek word that in other places means armed conflict, military action. I mean, the Bible is trying to tell us that this was no mild mannered disagreement these guys were having, that Paul and Barnabas were jazzed up in dealing with these guys. Now, you know what, to deal with Barnabas when he was jazzed up wouldn't really bother me that much. I mean, Barnabas, if he was jazzed up, all that would mean is when you're through talking, he wouldn't hug you.

I mean, it's all it would mean. But hey, the Apostle Paul, can you imagine taking on the Apostle Paul when he's jazzed up about something? Can you imagine facing the Apostle Paul nose to nose, one on one, when he has a head of steam up about something?

Man, I'll bet you this was a confrontation to behold. And when they were all done, they still couldn't agree. So verse two, and let's let's stop for a second, remind ourselves, what is the issue they're fighting about?

Very simple. It's the basis on which God gives people eternal life, forgiveness of sin in a place in heaven. Is it on on the basis of faith in Jesus plus nothing? Or is it faith in Jesus plus some kind of human works, whether those works be circumcision, keeping the Old Testament, church attendance, church membership, baptism, communion, whatever.

That's what they're fighting about. Now, verse two. So Paul and Barnabas were appointed along with some other believers to go to Jerusalem to see the apostles and the elders about this question. And the church sent them on their way. And as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted.

And the news made all the brothers very glad. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders to whom they reported everything that God had done through them on the first missionary journey. But there were some of the believers there who belong to the party of the Pharisees, who stood up and said, the Gentiles that you led to Christ must be circumcised, and they must be required to obey the law of Moses.

Just faith in Jesus is not enough, Paul. And so the apostles, verse six, and the elders met to consider this question. Here we have the Jerusalem Council meeting to look into this. And would you notice it wasn't settled by majority vote of the Jerusalem congregation?

That's not how they did it. But the leaders from all over Christendom came together and said, we're going to make a decision that everyone knows on what basis do people come into relationship with Christ? Now what happened verse seven, and after much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them. And he said, brothers, you know, that some time ago, God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might first hear from my lips, the message of the gospel and believe what's he talking about? Well, if you remember, he's talking about Acts chapter 10, where he was sitting on that rooftop in Joppa, and the Lord appeared to him and said, I want you to go see Cornelius, go to his home.

I want you to tell him about Jesus. Now Cornelius was a Roman military officer. He was as Gentile as Gentile can be. It wasn't a part of him that was Jewish.

And Peter went, he began preaching to him. And while he was standing there, Cornelius believed what he was telling him about Jesus. Cornelius wasn't baptized. Cornelius wasn't circumcised. Cornelius didn't go take communion.

He didn't join a church. He just believed and the Spirit of God fell on him. And Peter said, Wow, look at this. I guess it comes just by believing in Jesus.

Now that's what Peter's talking about. He goes on to say, verse eight, God who knows the heart showed that he had accepted them Cornelius and his family by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us the Gentiles and them, for he purified their hearts. Look at this by faith. He didn't purify their heart by circumcision or purify their heart by communion or baptism.

It was simple faith in Jesus. Verse 10. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the neck of these Gentile disciples Paul's led to Christ a yoke that neither we nor our Jewish fathers have been able to bear? Now, what is this yoke that Peter is referring to? It's the yoke of trying to earn our way to heaven by keeping the law of Moses. And Peter said that yoke that yoke of human performance was a yoke that we as Jewish people couldn't even make work that I as Peter couldn't even make work.

Why would we want to take something that God thank God finally liberated us from? And now lay it on these Gentiles? No, he says, verse 11. No, we believe that it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved. Just like these Gentiles friends, this is the great affirmation of the Council of Jerusalem, that salvation, eternal life, go into heaven, forgiveness of sin, entry into a personal relationship with Jesus. Verse nine is by faith plus nothing. Verse 11 is through grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus, plus nothing. Eternal life is through the grace of our Lord Jesus, plus nothing. Go into heaven is through the grace of our Lord Jesus, plus nothing. Having our sins forgiven is by the grace of our Lord Jesus, plus nothing.

Coming into a relationship with Christ is by the grace of our Lord Jesus, plus nothing. Now, since that's true, maybe it would be a good idea for us to stop for a moment and define what is grace. I mean, if all these things we get by grace, it probably be a good idea to know what grace is. You say, well, okay, I got an idea what grace is, Lon. Grace is, it's mercy, it's compassion, it's kindness, it's benevolence.

Well, that's true. But grace is more than that. Grace is undeserved kindness. Grace is undeserved mercy, undeserved benevolence and compassion.

Grace means that even though somebody's performance doesn't deserve kindness, even though somebody's performance doesn't deserve mercy, God shows it to that person anyway. You know, my son, my middle son, Justin, who's now in college when he was 16 and just started driving to high school and he came on my body in this old Acura to drive to high school. He came home one day and he said, Daddy said, I hate to tell you this, but this other kid ran into the side of my car in the parking lot at school and really banged up the side of my car. And I said, what?

So I went out and looked at the car and it was pretty banged up. And I said, well, did you get his insurance information? And he said, no. I said, what do you mean?

No. He said, well, he drove off before I could get it from him. I said, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. You're telling me this kid hit you and then he drove off without giving you his insurance information.

He left the scene of the accident. He said, well, yeah. I said, okay, do you know who this kid is? And he said, yeah. I said, give me his phone number. So he got me the phone number and I called his dad up and I said, sir, uh, I told him who I was and I said, did you, did you know that your son hit my son's car at school today? And he said, no. I said, well, he did. And he said, then I said, then your son left the scene of the accident.

And as you know, that's a criminal offense. And I said, now, you know, I really want to be nice about this, but I need you to check with your son. I need you to get confirmation of what happened. Then I need you to call me back and I need you to tell me whether you're going to pay to fix my son's car or whether your insurance is going to pay to fix my son's car because otherwise I'll have no choice but to call the police and turn your son in for leaving the scene of the accident. Well, he was a little upset and, uh, and he said, I'll look right into it.

I'll look right into it. I got a call back later and he left a voicemail message and he called back and said on the voicemail, he said, I talked to my son. He said, and he tells me first of all, that it was your son who pulled out in front of him in the parking lot and it was your son's fault.

And he's got witnesses to prove that. And he tells me second of all, that after the accident, your son jumped out the car, went around the side, looked at the dent, jumped back in his car and drove off so that it was your son who left the scene of the accident, not my son. And he concluded his message by saying, why don't you call me back and we'll talk about who is going to call the police on who.

I went to Justin. I said, Hey Justin, I thought you told me that this other kid left the scene of the accident first. He said, no, I didn't what I told you. He said, you asked me why I didn't get his insurance information and I told you it's because he drove off without giving it to me. He drove off right after I did. I said, wait a minute. You're telling me now that you left the scene of the accident first. And he said, well, yeah. I said, Justin, do you realize what I've done?

I have called this man up and threatened to call the police on his son. And now I find out it's you who left the scene of the accident first. I said, why didn't you tell me that you left first? He said, you didn't ask.

So all you ever asked me is why I didn't get the insurance information. And I told you cause he drove off before I could get it. I said, Oh my goodness. So I called the man back and I said, um, hello, sir. You know, I got your message and he said, yeah. And I said, um, I've talked to my son and, and I think your son probably had it more right than my son did. He said, really? I said, yes, sir. I said, first of all, let me say, I think I'll fix my own son's car. He said, I think that's a good place for us to begin. I said, well, what do you think we ought to do about the police thing?

There was silence. And I just was like, Oh geez. He said, well, Mr. Solomon, he said, I got to tell you, I didn't take real kindly to you calling up here and threatened to call the police on my son. I said, yes, sir.

I can totally understand how you might feel. He said, but I tell you what, he said, I could understand how that might've happened with two teenagers. He said, so why don't we do this? We'll call it no harm, no foul. What do you think of that?

I said, I think that's a wonderful idea, sir. Now friends, that's grace. And also the fact that I didn't skin my son alive. That's grace too.

You understand what I'm saying? Grace doesn't depend on our human performance. My human performance was terrible in that situation. I call up and accuse his son of something falsely and threatened to call the police on him.

My son's performance wasn't real good either. He leaves the scene of an accident, but the man showed us grace. And you know why? Here's the key point. Grace doesn't depend on the performance of the recipient. Grace depends on the benevolence of the person giving it. Do you understand?

And what the Jerusalem council confirmed is that God is a God of grace, that God grants eternal life and he grants forgiveness of sin and he grants heaven and he grants a relationship to Christ. He grants that to human beings on the basis of grace. We don't deserve it. We don't earn it. We don't merit it.

He gives it to us as a gift, free and postage paid because it's by grace. Now that's as far as we want to go right now in acts 15. We're going to come back and finish, but we want to stop now and ask the most important question and everybody knows what this is. So deep breath. Here we go. Nice and loud.

Ready? One, two, three. Ah, right. You say, Lon, so what? Say, I understand what you're saying about grace.

I feel sorry you got a son like that. What, what difference does it make to us? Well, let's see if we can nail this down, friends. You know, what is the difference between biblical Christianity and every other ism and every other ology in the world? It's this issue of grace. This is what distinguishes the true faith that the Bible talks about from every other religious system in the world. In every other religious system of the world, it's all about human performance.

It's all about what we have to do in some form or fashion to work our way up to finally being in the good graces of God. Now, sometimes that's religious performance, like keeping the Ten Commandments bathing in the Ganges, praying five times a day, making a pilgrimage to Mecca, being in the synagogue for Yom Kippur, doing your two years of Mormon missionary service or being baptized, communionized or sacramentized. Sometimes it's just secular human performance.

You know, being a good person, giving to charity, doing volunteer work at the hospital, driving the speed limit and recycling. But it's all human performance. And what sets biblical Christianity apart is that the Bible says no.

Human performance has nothing to do with this. It's not about what you do for God. It's about what God has done for you in Jesus coming, dying on the cross, shedding his blood to pay for our wrongdoing in the sight of God. It's about God's grace.

It's not about human performance. And friends, because we don't deserve it, because we can't merit it, because we could never be worthy of it. That's why the system of the Bible is based on grace. God gives us undeserved mercy when we activate it.

Now, this is what the Bible, this is what the Bible teaches throughout. Listen, Ephesians chapter two, verse eight says, For it is by grace. There's our word. It is by grace, undeserved mercy that you have been delivered through faith. See that little phrase through faith tells us what we have to do to activate the grace of God.

What do we have to do? We have to show faith in what Jesus did for us on the cross. And once we do that, we activate the grace of God. And all this other stuff comes as a gift. Look, the verse goes on to say this, everything God's given us is not the result of your own performance. Rather, it is God's gift to you. Now, Romans chapter three, verse 23 says, For all of us have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. If you'd like the Bible to comment on our human performance, there you have it.

And it's not pretty. But I love the word but, but we as followers of Christ are justified. We've been pronounced not guilty by God.

And how did this happen? Because of our human performance? Oh, no, this happened freely by His grace. There's our word. And how do we activate this grace? Verse 25 goes on to say in Romans three, we do it through faith in His Jesus Christ blood. That's how we activate God's grace. Titus chapter three, verse five, God saved us, not because of any righteous things we had done, but because of His grace. Friend, if you're here today, and you've been trying to do business with God, you've been trying to earn your way to heaven, you've been trying to merit eternal life by your own effort by your own works by your own human performance.

Hey, the good news of the Bible is that you can't make it that way. So that instead of giving a system of human performance to us, God instead has given us a system of grace. That's the great news of the Bible, a system of grace that says, all we have to do is activated by taking our personal reliance off of our own human works, and putting that reliance on what Jesus did for us on the cross.

That's all we have to do. And we activate the grace of God. God gives us forgiveness of sin, God gives us eternal life, God gives us a place in heaven, God gives us a relationship with Him that we don't deserve. He gives it to us anyway, by His grace. That's the wonderful news of the Bible. And in just a moment, we're going to give you an opportunity right where you sit to activate the grace of God in your life if you've never done it before. So hold that thought.

But just before we do that, I want to close by talking for just a moment, to those of us who have already done this, to those of us who are already followers of Jesus Christ, we've already closed this deal and say, Well, what does this mean for us? You know, I came across an article a while back that talked about 100 reasons why it's great to be a guy. And I thought some of these were hysterical.

I thought I'd share a couple with you. One of the reasons why it's great to be a guy is because you don't need a support group to go to the bathroom. That's a great reason to be a guy. Ladies, lighten up.

We're just having some fun here. Here's another reason why it's great to be a guy. It's great to be a guy because you can open all your own jars.

Isn't that great? Hey, it's great to be a guy because if somebody else shows up at the party with the same outfit you have on, you'll probably become best friends. That's why it's great to be a guy. It's great to be a guy because same work, more pay. Lighten up. We're just having fun.

Hey, it's great to be a guy because if you retain water, it's in a canteen. That's right. And I got one more.

This is going south. I can see that. I got one more for you. It's great to be a guy. Here's another reason why. One mood all the time.

Great to be a guy. Now you say, Lon, what has this got to do with anything? Well the last one does.

The first ones were just having some fun. But the last one does because I'm here to tell you that when it comes to God, God is in one mood all the time. God operates on one system all the time. It's called grace. And friends, God doesn't use one system, grace, to bring us into relationship with God and then a completely different system to base our relationship with God on once we're in relationship with Him. God does not switch systems halfway to heaven. It's grace at the beginning, grace in the middle and grace at the end. And that's why Romans 6 14 says, For we are not under law as followers of Christ. We are under grace, which means that when we perform poorly, God doesn't love us any less. It means when we perform wonderfully, God doesn't love us anymore because we're not under a performance system with God. We're still under grace.

Now, friends, this is wonderful news. This is wonderful news to be set free from a performance system. You know, being in a relationship that's based on performance as to whether or not you get loved, whether or not you get accepted, whether or not you get cared for. That's a miserable experience. And when have you ever done enough to qualify for the blessing of God? Who knows? When have we ever done enough to lose the blessing of God?

Well, who knows? I mean, there's no liberty in a relationship like that. There's no freedom, no joy, no confidence in a relationship like that. Jesus set us free from a relationship like that and put us in a grace relationship with God, which means God still shows us his blessings even when we don't deserve it because we're under grace. Listen to what Paul said. Galatians chapter five, verse one. Jesus Christ, he said, has really set us free. So make sure that you stay free and don't get caught up again as a follower in Christ in slavery to human performance. The Bible tells us that as a follower of Christ, Jesus has set us free and put us under grace. And the Bible says we need to believe it and we need to enjoy it. When we walk out of our house in the morning, we need to enjoy knowing that no matter how good we perform that day or no matter how bad we perform that day, it doesn't change how God feels about us one bit. That's wonderful news.

We're under grace. Now you say, well, wait a minute. You're making me a little nervous here because it sounds like to me you're saying that once a person really trust Jesus, they can go live any way they want to live. They can go do anything they want to do. And it's perfectly OK.

It doesn't affect their relationship with God at all. I mean, you're not really saying that, are you? You're not really saying that you can go to movies and go to bars and drink alcohol and smoke cigars and play cards and and buy lottery tickets.

And you're not really saying you can do all of that and it won't change your relationship with God at all. Is that what you're saying? Or are you saying that? Well, friends, this is the issue that we're going to talk about next week. We are. I'm going to answer that question for you next week.

And it's a pretty important answer that we want to know. But let me come back this week and simply encourage you. Hey, when you walk out tomorrow morning as a follower of Christ, just remind yourself I'm under grace today. I'm gonna do my best. But you know what? No matter no matter what my best looks like, not going to change how God feels about me one bit.

Now you can have joy in that kind of relationship. But let me come back now and say I said earlier, if you're here and you've never activated the grace of God, we're going to give you a chance to do it today. So let's bow our heads and close our eyes together. If you've been relying on human performance, your own good efforts to try to get you to heaven or get you eternal life, get you into God's good graces, and you're willing today to make an exchange to exchange all of your good efforts and instead simply trust what Jesus did for you on the cross, then that will activate the grace of God. God will give you eternal life. He'll give you a place in heaven. He'll give you a relationship with him by grace.

That's the wonderful news of the Bible. And if you want to do that, we're going to give you a chance right where you sit. I'd like you to pray after me silently with one little phrase at a time as we tell God that you're willing to make that exchange. And as you ask him to activate the grace of God for you today. So you pray silently right after me.

Here we go. Lord Jesus, I come to you today because I want eternal life. I want to know that my sins are forgiven. I want to know that I have a secure place in heaven.

I want to have a relationship with you. And so today I'm willing to give up trying to get these things by my own human performance. And instead I transfer my trust today and I rely today on what Jesus did for me on the cross, shedding his blood to pay for my wrongdoing. Because I do this today, I ask you to activate the grace of God for me, to give me eternal life, to give me a place in heaven, to give me a relationship with you by grace. And I ask this in Jesus' name. And Father, I want to pray for the people who prayed that prayer, that you might confirm in their hearts right now that they've made a great transaction.

As the Bible said, they've passed from death into eternal life. And Father, my prayer is that you would remind them that this is the beginning of a whole new life, a life lived under the grace of God, not under human performance. Give them joy in knowing that, Lord. And for the rest of us here who have already done this, my prayer is that you would encourage our hearts today that God doesn't change systems halfway through.

That's great news. That we're not on a performance system with God. That his love and his acceptance of us is absolutely unchanging, no matter how we perform. And Lord, even though we may talk about the implications of that next week, my prayer this week is that you would give us joy in knowing every morning when we walk out our house, our performance is not the basis on which God loves us. Lord Jesus, it's wonderful to be under grace. Thank you for doing that for us. As we learn more about it in the weeks to come, encourage our hearts, strengthen our Christian desire to give back to you obedience. And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen.