However, at that meeting, some of the converts of the Pharisees, genuine believers who became believers after being Pharisees, they stood up in the assembly in verse 5 and argued that circumcision and law keeping was in fact mandatory for salvation. And as the debate raged, you get to verse 7, it tells Peter stood up and began to speak. And in verses 7 through 11, we saw last time how Peter argued that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And salvation does not consist of, nor does it require, becoming a Jew. In fact, he even said in verse 11, we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved, even as they. Gentiles aren't saved by becoming Jews. Jews are saved, just like Gentiles, by grace through faith in Christ. And now, look at the opening of verse 12. It says, then all the multitude kept silence. Praise God. Debate over. Peter's message of salvation by grace through faith in Christ alone put an end to all of the theological bickering that was happening. From that point on there is no question The salvation is the same for the Jews and the Gentiles. But that is not the end of the Jerusalem Council. Acts 15 continues. The conversation is not done. It's completely finished in regard to what constitutes salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, but it continues because the reality is Jews and Gentiles are not alike. They're saved the same way, but that doesn't make them identical to one another. They're not like-minded people in many ways. Jews are not gonna start abandoning all of their tradition and behaving like Gentiles, nor should they have to. These two groups are naturally going to continue to struggle with one another as they try to associate together. So while the theological issue is resolved, The practical issue remains. How are these groups going to live with each other? So the last time we looked at verses one through 11, where we essentially saw the grace of God defended, now verses 12 through 31, we'll see the grace of God displayed. Starting at verse 12, then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simeon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles and take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written, after this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David which has fallen down and I will build again the ruins thereof and will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore, my sentence is, that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time has in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every Sabbath day. Then it pleased the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surname Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren. And they wrote letters by them after this manner. The apostles and elders and brethren send greetings unto the brethren which are the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law, to whom we gave no such commandments, it seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, that you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which, if you keep yourselves, you shall do well, fare ye well. So when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch, and when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. So the major part of that text is James's recommendation to this council at Jerusalem that's come together. And we're gonna see the grace of God displayed in two ways. First, grace is displayed through a desire to live in the will of God. And secondly, it's displayed through a desire to live in concern for others. So first, verses 12 through 18 give us our first point. Grace is displayed through a desire to live in the will of God. And even though the theological debate is over, Luke records this section by including this reaffirmation of theological truth. God has revealed it is his will to save Gentiles. The section may well go on to explain the concern about how Jews and Gentiles live together, but it has to start with this basic level of truth, that it's God's will to save Gentiles. It's somewhat like the modern saying, everyone's entitled to their own opinion, but you're not entitled to your own facts, right? Luke is establishing the facts first. Truth is truth. Truth is the starting point. God, who cannot lie, has revealed His will in sending His Son to display His glory full of grace and truth. And that Son, Jesus, sent the Holy Spirit and called Him the Spirit of truth and said, He will lead you into all truth. So truth is the starting point. So Luke begins by asserting the truth of the will of God in three ways. First, God's will is revealed through his actions, verses 12 through 14. Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me, listen to me, Simeon has declared how God at first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. So once the multitude has kept silence, Barnabas and Paul stand up in the assembly to speak some important facts. Now this is not the first time they've spoken here in Acts 15. By the way, Barnabas is listed first here probably because he was well known and well respected by the believers here at Jerusalem. They've already stood up in verse 5 and declared all the things that God had done with them. That is, they recounted the first missionary journey, as well as the growth of the church at Antioch. And Luke notes that they rise again in verse 12, and they speak specifically regarding the miracles which God had done among the Gentiles. Now, very little detail is given about what they said, except to just sort of sum up their comments. The details are sparse here, because we've already had a chance to read them in previous chapters. It may be that Luke is showing Barnabas and Paul are sort of taking a back seat here and merely giving confirmation of what Peter said. Because remember, Peter has pointed to this outpouring of the Holy Spirit as evidence of God's plan of salvation for Gentiles. And so Barnabas and Paul stand up and just merely confirm, look, God also did many miracles among the Gentiles on our missionary journey. What gets really interesting is in verse 13 when James stands up to speak. This is not James the apostle, right? He died back in Acts chapter 12. History confirms for us this is James the elder, right? He's the half-brother of Jesus. He's the writer of the epistle of James later in the New Testament. James is an elder of the church at Jerusalem and perhaps it looks like he is the one who is looked to mostly for leadership there. And he stands to confirm that the will of God can be seen by his actions. And he says in verse 14 that Simeon has declared. Now it's interesting how he uses the name Simeon. Who's he talking about there? We know he's talking about Peter, right? Peter has just been the one who stood up and said these things. And we, of course, know that that is his name throughout the Gospels. He's called Simon or Simon Peter. Simon is just a shortened version of the name Simeon. And actually, the only other time where Peter is referred to by his complete name Simeon is in 2 Peter 1.1, where he refers to himself as Simeon Peter. But what James is doing here probably is using that Aramaic form of Peter's name, that traditional Jewish way of referring to him to emphasize his affiliation with Jewish Christians. It's like saying, so look, remember that it's your Jewish friend who is talking about how God worked among the Gentiles. It's Simeon, the Jewish disciple who is the source when he spoke of how God began to visit the Gentiles and take a people out of them for his own name. That is to claim some Gentiles for his glory. It's God that did that. Peter didn't do that. Paul and Barnabas didn't do that. God did that. God had brought Peter to Cornelius' home. God had poured out the Holy Spirit on those Gentile believers. God had granted miracles and signs and wonders by the hand of Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journeys, right? It's God who did those things. The will of God was revealed through his gracious and miraculous actions toward the Gentiles. Not only that, but James adds, God's will was revealed through his word. Look at verses 15 through 17. and to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written. After this I will return, and I will build again the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things. The early Christians have set an example for all Christians to follow in weighing the will of God by searching out the Word of God. We should all seek for God's will for us in that way. Listen, the words, I feel like, or I think God would want, Those don't carry theological weight. We need to ask, what is it that thus saith the Lord? When we're seeking God's will for our lives, we have to understand God's will for our life is never going to contradict God's word that he's given us to live our lives by. And so that being said, this early church is looking to the Word of God to understand the will of God. Now, the statement that James makes does present some challenges because the clearest reference, this clearest sort of quotation area that James is quoting is Amos chapter 9 verses 11 and 12. However, James is not quoting it exactly the way you'll find it if you turn back and look at Amos 9, 11, and 12. He is perhaps paraphrasing. He is more likely quoting it from the Greek Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament instead of the Hebrew. But here's what it says in Amos 9, 11, and 12. If you turn and look there, it says, In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it up as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen which are called by my name, saith the Lord who does this. And so Amos promised a day when Israel would be restored and many, Amos uses the word heathen, it's the Hebrew word goyim, it's the way you refer to Gentiles or nations or foreigners, are going to call on the name of God in that day. Now that's a wonderfully appropriate passage, but it could cause us to start to sort of fumble all over ourselves if we're not careful because a review of that passage in Amos would tell us that James is quoting prophecy, which is still future to us. It is about the future restoration of Israel and the second coming of Jesus. And that's caused a lot of well-intended folks to argue Well, since James is saying that's fulfilled now, then obviously the church today is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises to Israel. But that's simply not within the scope of what Acts 15 is trying to teach. So let's be clear about what James is saying. Look again at verse 15. and to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written. Now, does James say that the prophecy in Amos is fulfilled? No, he's saying that God saving Gentiles is in complete agreement with the Old Testament scripture. He doesn't say fulfilled, which would be the common word to use. He uses the word agree, right? And that word agree, is the Greek word symphonio, which should sound familiar to us. So we get our English word symphony from this, describing different sounds or different voices that aren't identical, but they match together in harmony with each other. And so James is not saying this fulfills what Amos said. James is saying this harmonizes, this agrees, this fits with what Amos said. Further, James is also, clear that he doesn't intend only Amos alone. He says, to this agree the words of the prophets, plural. Prophets. Now he goes on to quote Amos as an example, but I think James would agree he could have quoted Isaiah, or Jeremiah, or Daniel, or Ezekiel, or Joel, or Hosea, right? There's a big list that he could have quoted. The prophets as a whole taught that God would call Gentiles to salvation for his glory. And so these Christians could be certain that this conclusion about including Gentiles was in fact God's will because it was in perfect harmony with God's word. So we desire to live in the will of God, and we know God's will is revealed through his actions. God's will is revealed through his word. God's will is also revealed through his attributes. Look at verse 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. I just would love to camp out on that for hours, but we won't do that. The salvation of Gentiles. Here's what James is saying in verse 18. The salvation of Gentiles is not an afterthought. Claiming Gentiles for his name isn't a scheme that God concocted at a moment's whim. It is so sad that some hold the view that essentially says, well, Jesus came as the Jewish Messiah, but since he was rejected, God decided to save some Gentiles, kind of like plan B. That's nonsense. As God has revealed his will in his word, and God has revealed himself in his actions, ultimately that proves that every event in human history is nothing more than God's determination meeting its destination. Or in other words, every unfolding moment of history is only a crossroads between what God wants to happen meeting when God wants it to happen. The very attributes that make God, God. Tell us, there has never been a time where God did anything other than what he has always intended to do. The attributes of God in verse 18 would include God's omniscience, right? He knows everything. He knows all his works. Verse 18 also argues for the eternal nature of God's attributes. He has known what he knows from the beginning of the world before creation even took place. And it also, at the very least, strongly hints at his attribute of omnipotence. He is all-powerful. He always does what he is already determined to do, and no one can stop him. So, if it's God's intention to, as James has said, rebuild the tabernacle of David, he'll do it. If it's God's intention to save a remnant from the Gentiles, he'll do it. And all we need to do is see how he has revealed his will through his actions and his word. And in the case of the issue at hand between Jew and Gentile, God has always clearly revealed his purpose to save the Jewish people, not exclusively, not only them, but as an example, as a sort of a lighthouse, as a display to all of the world for them to see. He's been clear about that from as far back as when he brought them out of Egypt and had them encamped at the base of Mount Sinai. Listen to what God told them in Exodus 19 verses 5 and 6, and this is before he even gives the law. He essentially tells them, here's why I have you as a nation. He says, now, therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. In other words, God's telling Israel, look, you're a treasured people to me who I'm going to hold up as an example before all people because all of the world is mine. You're going to be a holy nation. You're going to live differently than the rest of the world lives. And you are going to be, he said, a priestly kingdom. And so just like a priest stood to mediate God's blessings to his people, Israel as a nation is held up to mediate God's blessings to all the nations. It's always been God's plan to claim the Jewish nation for his own and to lift them up as sort of a example, a display to all other nations. If you were here on Wednesday night, you heard Brother Tom Horn talking about this. He said, God's plan was not to use them as a reservoir of his blessings, but use them as a funnel for his blessings. that this comes to pass in such a clear way and the proclamation of the gospel to the Gentiles is nothing more than the evidence of God's perfect will, revealed through his actions and through his word and through his attributes, God saves sinners. And it has always been his intention to save sinners by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. And so this is truth, this has to be the starting point. For any discussion that's gonna go forward about how are Jews and Gentiles going to relate to one another? How's this diverse group of believers gonna function into their daily life? Well, it has to start with this truth. It is God's will that is primary, it's not our own. And so God said in his word and he showed in his actions and he's sovereign in his will. to save Jew and Gentile alike through faith in Jesus and to place them together in assemblies for his glory. And so any path that this council chooses going forward, it has to follow that path of God's will. There is not to be Jews over here, Gentiles over there. God has brought to them together because it's always been God's purpose to bring them together. So not only do we need to live in the will of God, James goes on to describe, we display God's grace through a desire to live in concern for others. So at this point, he's established the facts, right? The truth of God's will. He moves on in verse 19 to give a summary of what it requires from believers. He begins verse 19 with wherefore, and you're probably already tired of me saying every time you hear that in scripture, you should think because of that, right? Because of those things that were just said. Because of that, he says, my sentence is that we trouble them not, which from among the Gentiles are turned unto God. But if the Gentiles have turned to God by faith in Jesus, don't trouble them. Don't place requirements on them that God doesn't place on them. Now, listen to me. This is important. God is about to place some requirements on them. Not requirements in addition to faith in order to be saved, but expectations on how they should live their lives and how we should live our lives to show the grace of God and concern for others. So James says, what these brothers who went up to Antioch have done is they've caused trouble. And the word he uses when he says, trouble them not, is a word that's only used here in the New Testament, and it means to make things extra difficult, to annoy them, to harass them. Yet when we read his conclusion, his judgment, to which the apostles and the elders and the church all agree, We find that James is not just saying, we should just leave them alone. That's not what James is saying. He's not saying, oh, just leave them alone. In fact, he issues some spirit-led guidance on living in God's grace around other believers. Look at what he says in verse 20. But that we write unto them. that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornications and from things strangled and from blood. He says, let's write them a letter. Let's write them a letter and say, everything is fine. You just live however it is you want to live. That's not what he says. Absolutely not. This letter is going to tell them so graciously and so lovingly. You don't have to be circumcised and keep the law of Moses and become a Jew in order to be saved. But if you want fellowship with the whole community of Christ, there are some guidelines that you need to follow. Now, there are four things listed are really, I would argue, There's really just three things because two of them are so closely related together. And all of them are closely associated with pagan idol worship that happened in a majority of Gentile communities. And the presence of any of these things in the life of Gentile believers is going to impede the ability of Jewish Christians to associate with them in good conscience. And so here's the list, and we need to deal with them for a moment. I don't want to pretend that this is simple, okay? But we're actually going to deal with them in the order they appear in the letter. When they write the letter, you can look down at verse 29. You see that list again in verse 29. Let's deal with it in that order for no other reason than it's just easier for me. First, abstain from meat offered to idols. It was a common practice in Gentile communities that if it was a community of any size, there would be a pagan temple to some false idol. And they would come and they would sacrifice animals in that temple to whatever false god it was that they worshipped. And then after that animal was sacrificed, they would take the body, they would take the meat, and they would carry it out the back door, and it would get sold in a marketplace, right? The back door of the temple became the cheapest butcher shop in town. Yet you can imagine how Jewish believers would be repulsed at the idea of eating something that has just been associated with worshiping an idol. Now, Is it wrong to eat meat that has been offered to an idol? No, not in and of itself. And Paul addresses this in 1 Corinthians 8. So leave a bookmark here and let's go over there so that you can see the principle. And this is a very important principle to understand if we're gonna reconcile what's happening here in Acts 15. 1 Corinthians 8. Paul had apparently received a question from the church at Corinth. And he starts to answer it in verse 4. You see, 1 Corinthians 8, 4, as concerning, therefore, the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols. We know that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none other God but one. You hear what he's saying there, the idol's nothing, there's only one God, and the argument he's gonna make is since the idol is nothing, that meat is just meat. He says in verse eight, meat doesn't commend us to God. You look at verse eight, meat doesn't commend us to God, you're not better for eating it, and you're not worse for not eating it. That meat is just meat, but he says, but be careful. In verse nine, be careful because your freedom might become a stumbling block. to others. Not everyone knows the fullness of truth the way you know the fullness of truth. You may have some weak brothers or sisters in Christ who think that eating that is a sin, so why would you do that in front of them or encourage them to do it? A lot is said about Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians 8. It is a chapter about Christian liberty or about freedom, but freedom simply means that you have a choice. Freedom does not make that choice for you. So many times today we think of liberty, Christian liberty to do something means that we're going to exercise that liberty without regard for others. But that is not, listen, that is not how Christian liberty behaves. In this case, freedom to eat meat that's sacrificed to idols is also freedom to not eat meat that was sacrificed to idols. And when some brother or sister is bruised in their conscience by that behavior, Paul is arguing, protect them by denying yourself. Paul even says in verse 12, if you sin against your weak brother, you're sinning against Christ in this regard. And so how does Paul say he will behave? Well, look at how he concludes it in verse 13. If eating meat makes my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world stands, right? I will not do that thing. So back in our text in Acts 15, Neither James nor the Jerusalem council is saying, they're not arguing that if these Gentiles buy a steak from the temple butcher shop that they're not saved. They're saying this is not a salvation issue, but this is a Christian living issue. If you're in a community with Jewish believers or even with Jewish unbelievers, you can protect your relationship with them by bearing with their weak consciences and denying yourself for their sake. Right? So how are Jew and Gentile going to live together? Well, they're advising these Gentiles, look, don't flaunt that liberty in front of the Jews who find that to be offensive. In the second issue, we see really two very similar things rolled into one. Look again at Acts 15 verse 29. You abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled. The law of Moses was very clear for Jews that they were prohibited from eating blood because the life is in the blood, is what it says. And that is don't eat blood, don't drink blood, don't eat meat that hasn't been properly drained of blood. And so, listen, we're not talking about a rare steak here. When it's talking about things strangled, it's talking about animals that have been killed by strangulation so that all of the blood is still in there. Again, this is not a salvation issue, nor is it a moral restriction which should be imposed on all Christians everywhere. Although I think I'll speak on the behalf of the majority of us here if I say, please don't bring that to the next church fellowship. The principle here is the same, whether a Jew is a believer or an unbeliever, either way, they're going to be offended by that kind of blatant disregard for their culture and their ethics. They're going to be offended by seeing you participate in what they associate with pagan idolatry. And so if Gentile believers want to live in harmony with these Jews, they don't have to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. But there are some common sense standards that you can easily follow to prevent being offensive. And that is a reasonable understanding. You can't invite a Jewish brother in Christ over to your home for dinner and serve him a plate that's dripping with blood sausage. That is an offense to him. You can't walk down the street drinking blood from a cup and go up to a Jew and try to witness about his Messiah to him. That would be offensive to him. And so the Jerusalem council is saying, what's your behavior to be? Your behavior is to give up those things for the cause of Christ your Savior. Now I know there is a voice that is within us that wants to shout, but listen, they are free in Christ. Yet what we learn is freedom in Christ is expressed through the words of Christ himself. Deny yourself and follow me. And look, this is hard. I understand that blood sausage or drinking some from a cup is not something that's probably hard for most of us, right? I doubt that there's a lot of us that are tempted by that today. But this was a regular part of the everyday life of these Gentiles, and they are being asked to give that up for the cause of Christ. Not that it's something that if they do it, they're not saved, but as an expression of unity with their Jewish brothers and sisters. James and the council at Jerusalem, they understand this is hard. When they write this letter and they send it along with Paul and Barnabas, they also send two other men, Judas and Silas, as witnesses to say, look, this isn't just like those guys who showed up from Jerusalem who we didn't send right here. You've got a letter. You've got them speaking. They should be able to confirm one another. You know what we really think. But listen to what they say in regard to those Those men who had come to Antioch saying Gentiles had to be circumcised and follow the law, at the end of verse 24, they say, we gave them no such commandment, right? You've already heard James say, they've troubled you, they've annoyed you, they've pestered you, they've put on an undue burden. But in regard to how to behave and display God's grace to others, Listen to how the letter says it in verse 28. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. It's as if they're saying, brothers, we don't want to overburden you and we're sorry that some have come and overburdened you. but there are some necessary things. There is a burden for you to carry. We cannot lift every weight from your shoulders. There is a cost of self-denial in following Christ and being part of his community. You have liberty, but let us tell you how it is that Christian liberty expresses itself. And by the way, that reminds me, many of these believers who are receiving this letter, would have already gotten instruction on this because Paul, as we said, has already written the letter to the churches in Galatia. And what he says to the Galatians is he says, you've been called to liberty, but don't use liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. So what is your freedom to do? Your freedom is not to be self-focused. Your freedom is to be focused and concerned for those around you. And so yeah, there is a burden of self-denial that's to be born for the sake of others. God's grace is displayed in the concern for the conscience of unbelievers. God's grace is displayed in concern for the weaknesses of other believers. And God's grace is also displayed in concerns for the standards of God himself. I know, we haven't talked about that third issue in the letter yet, right? It's not like the other two. Look at it again in verse 29. You abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which if you keep yourselves, you shall do well. There is not a simple explanation to the inclusion of that phrase in James's comments or in the letter in verse 29. It's not like the others. We can't pretend that that issue is like the others. I hope by reading 1 Corinthians 8, for example, we could agree that a Gentile could eat meat sacrificed to idols, but should prohibit themselves from doing it if it would be an offense to others. But this idea of fornication is different. The word here is the Greek word porneia, and it refers just generally to any kind of illicit sexual activity. Hopefully, we'd all be appalled at the idea of telling Gentiles, you know, abstain from fornication if it is offensive to others. But if it's not, you're free to go ahead and do it. You know, obviously, something different is happening with this one, right? Alternate explanations have been made trying to make this issue the same as others. All of those things that I've read fall flat. The best explanation is that Gentile communities had a standard of illicit sexual activity that did not conform to God's word. and it needed to change. Even newly saved Gentiles would not instinctively know that what was widely accepted as agreeable behavior in their culture is actually an offense against God. It was very common. in those pagan temples to come in and pay a temple prostitute for sex as an act of worship. It was not at all unusual for Gentile husbands to maintain a mistress for their gratification. It was widely accepted. And continuing in behavior like that is not just an offense to Jewish sensibilities, it's an offense to God and it has to be stopped. And so as much as those first two issues tell us that we can display God's grace through some, we'll say, cultural sensitivity, right? Don't do things that cause an offense to the conscience of others around you. This last issue proves that cultural sensitivity is not and is never the final standard for what is right and wrong. No matter what the culture around you tells you is okay, if God calls it sin, it is sin and it has to be avoided. I told you there was a lot here in this passage, right? Listen, this question of circumcision and law keeping These issues that are debated and defined in this letter, they in many ways seem foreign to us. But the issue of the Jerusalem Council is still alive and it is debated among us today. It is unlikely that anybody is going to tell you to be saved you have to become a Jew. But they might tell you that to be saved you need to have faith in Jesus plus do something else. Right? Faith plus baptism. Faith plus keeping this set of rules. There is a mingling of works and grace today like among the Seventh-day Adventists who argue law-keeping is necessary for salvation. On the other extreme, there is the voice of lawlessness that says, now you're saved, so you're free. Go use your liberty as an excuse for selfishness without any regard for the other people around you. But this council in Acts 15, the conclusion they reached, this letter that they wrote, It's valuable for us today because it defines God's grace and then it displays God's grace. It says, well, how is it that you live in this grace? Right? And the definition of salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. You're not adding anything to it. It's not faith plus something. It's not Jesus plus baptism or belief plus works. It's nothing but grace. But, Then living in that grace requires us to think of others. So out of concern for the lost, we should avoid cultural taboos that might set a barrier to the gospel. Out of concern for other Christians, we should freely choose to deny ourselves even of those things that are allowable if they would cause some brother or sister in Christ to stumble in their faith. And out of concern for our relationship with God, we should repent of all sin, even those culturally acceptable sins that society around us tells us is fine. You have to abandon those things. That's what this letter that gets written from the Jerusalem Council is about. It's not placing, oh well you don't have to be circumcised and keep the law but here are four rules that you have to keep to be saved. That's not what's happening. It is encouraging them to live in harmony among the community of believers so that you act out God's grace by displaying it in a concern for