So friends, as we anticipate the Lord and his mercy to us in his word, let's turn now to Acts chapter 15. Acts chapter 15, dear ones. In our time together this morning, we'll look at Acts chapter 15, verses 22 to 35. Acts chapter 15, verses 22 to 35. Friends, I have a title this morning. Servant encouraged through the truth. Encouraged through the truth. Acts chapter 15, verse 22. Dear ones, the word of God says, Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders of the whole church to choose men from among them, and send them to Antioch with Paul and Pardons. They sent Judas Paul, Arsatis, and Silas, leading men among the brothers, with the following letter. The brothers, both the apostles and the elders, to the brothers who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Silesia. Greetings. Since we have heard that some persons have gone out from us in trouble, with words unsettling your minds, although we gave them no instructions, it has seemed good to us, having come to one accord, to choose men and send them to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul. Many will risk their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who himself tell you the same But, and from what has been strangled, and from sexual immorality, you keep yourselves from these people too well." Apparently. So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement. And Judas and Silas, who were themselves proud, But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, teaching and preaching the Word of the Lord, with many others also. Dear ones, this is the Word of God. Thanks be to God. Our Father, have mercy on us now as we study. Grant us to see the freedom we have under Christ, to live for you, Lord, a freedom not to sin, but from sin and all of its death and Curse, Father, we pray that you would help us to encourage one another in the truth, to hold fast to Jesus, and to see that all we need is found in you. Father, thank you. Bless us now, we pray, in Jesus' name, amen. Well, friends, I have a July birthday, so that means in the school calendar, I was always the youngest, one of the youngest in my class. We met when everybody was in high school, everybody's turning 16, license and then start to drive. And I remember thinking, oh, if only I was older. And then it turned out that I could get a special license for a hardship so that I could drive myself from soccer practice and I could drive home. And the day I had that hardship, the first day I came to school, I thought, I thought I was something. And I pull into the school and I go through school day and I can't wait to drive And I could stop where I wanted to stop. I didn't have to go straight home. I could go down to the convenience store. And so I did. And I pulled into that gas station, got out, and bought the biggest can of Mountain Dew they had for sale in the gas station. A taste of freedom. I was a free man. Or so I thought. But friends, freedom is such a precious thing. Right? And friends, that's what Paul is trying to stress here, what Barnabas is stressing, what the Church of Jerusalem is stressing in this decision, that it is, as Paul says in Galatians 5.1, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Therefore, do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. Friends, if you are in Christ, if you have been born again by God in the Holy Spirit, himself and you are trusting in Jesus this day as your Savior and as your King, God is saying to you, you are free. You have a royal liberty, as James says, a liberty now to do what is good, to enjoy God, to delight in the truth. You have a royal liberty, freedom under Christ. not to sin, but rather to enjoy God and to serve Him with gladness. You're free, friends. And that's what is being communicated here, that the decision of the Jerusalem Council reinforced what God had said from the beginning and what Christ had told His disciples, that when redemption was accomplished, there would be aspects of the law that stood fulfilled and would no longer be binding on the people of God. And so the church in a real time and space by the governance and superintendence of God the Holy Spirit is understanding and unpacking that there are aspects of the Mosaic covenant that are not to be imposed on Gentile believers, those who do not come from a Jewish background. So the question is, do the Gentile believers first become Jews in order to come to Jesus, or do they come straight to Jesus? And God has made it very clear in the preaching of Paul, of Barnabas, and of Peter with Cornelius, that no, He's dealing directly with them, that they are born of the Spirit, given new eyes, given new ears, granted the gift of faith, given repentance unto life, and they come to Jesus, and it is in Jesus that they are made clean, to add their obedience to the law as the ground to their acceptance, and neither should you. Everything you need to be in a right relationship with God is found in Jesus Christ. When you come by faith to Him, friends, you are as loved, as accepted, as perfect in the sight of God as you'll ever be. You are His. He's adopted you, friends. You don't need anything else. And so, the church in Jerusalem, remember, the church of Jerusalem is where most of the apostles are, aside from Paul, and they come to this decision, and this is sort of the mother church. This was the church from which all these missionary journeys had gone out before Paul and Barnabas had come from Antioch with the Gospel to Asia Minor, and so they come together And they are debating in verse 22 how to actually communicate the decision. I want you to see, friends, that the apostles and the elders have a leadership. To be an apostle means to be a second one, to be commissioned, to speak for the one who has sent you. Think of an ambassador. When the apostles speak, friends, they are speaking on the authority of Christ. If you reject an apostle, you reject Jesus. And if you reject Jesus, you reject the Father who sent him. So, the word of the apostles especially when it comes to this edict. Friends, this is nothing less than the authority of Christ speaking through his apostles. So the apostles are also with the elders. So friends, notice that already there is this leadership within the local church that will persist to the end. can be and there never will be. The ordinary leadership of the church are the elders. And the elders, they're pastors. Remember, there's not just one, there's five. And they govern, they rule, they shepherd the flock of God that is among them. That's what the elder does. He's not a tyrant, he's not a dictator, he's not an outcrop, he is a shepherd. He is one who leads, one who oversees, and he can't do it by himself. So while there's prominent preachers and teachers, like Paul and Martinus, like Paulus and others, there is also a body of leaders, God-given men whom the Lord uses to shepherd, to care for the people of God. So, friends, again, this is the pattern. This is the pattern that the Holy Spirit has given to His Church. And, friends, the elder is not a timer, you see, because the Church also comes into the picture. So it's not like the apostles and elders looked down at the Church There is a willingness on the part of the Apostles and Elders to wield their authority not as a dominating title, but the same gentleness that belongs to the Lord Jesus, the same tender concern that Christ shows for His Church, so that the Church, too, is brought into this decision-making process, where they, together, decide and why we believe that the gospel is interesting and that we can't add nothing to Christ. And so they choose two men. One of them is called Bar Sabbath. We're down here in verse 22. One of them is called, is Judas called Bar Sabbath. Bar Sabbath means son of Sabbath. And this is a moniker that's given to him by the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. a defining point in this theology. So, friends, again, this is a man who, it would appear, was very committed to the observance of the Law of Moses. He wanted to hold the Sabbath. And he believes that he still should hold the Sabbath and should still give God the Torah the Sabbath day. Remember, friends, the Sabbath day for us is the first day where God rested on the seventh day, in redemption, when God brought his people out of Egypt and delivered them into the land of Canaan. Remember, Hebrews tells us that if Joshua had given the people rest, he would not have spoken of a rest that was to come. Therefore, there remains for the people of God a savage rest, right? So all of this idea of resting in God and enjoying him is coming together in Christ. Jesus brings you to have peace with God through His promise. The restoration of the fellowship lost by sin in the fall, that wholeness, that Sabbath rest, is what you have in Christ. And every Sunday morning we remember that. That's why we gather on Sundays. That's why it's important that we gather early. answer for his glory, friends. Friends, this is a little taste of heaven. This is a little outpost of the kingdom here. Bear witness to the world that in Christ God has given rest and promises rest and salvation to sinners who will repent of their sin and trust in the Father. So this is Barsathos. He's going to represent the church It'll be very important in Paul's second missionary journey. Godly man, he's also a prophet, these guys are preachers, and they come, and we're told in verse 23, the content of the letter, and we're told, first of all, they're addressing primarily the Gentiles that are in these churches of Syria, Silesia, and particularly the one big church in Antioch. And so, again, the question is to say, How can I be right with a holy God? How can I be in a right relationship with my Creator? What does it take? Is it a joint effort? Is it a mutual endeavor? Is it a cooperative venture between me and God? Between Christ and myself? There's the Gospel message, wonderful, free grace. Grace, you can say it with faith, government, not the result of works, to let go of victims. That's what's at stake here, friend. That's what the Church of Jerusalem, under the leadership of the Apostles and Elders, especially being given by Silas and Bartholomew, In Jesus, the law is fulfilled. In Jesus, you have all righteousness. In Jesus, your sin is atoned for. In Jesus, your guilt is removed. Don't think that by going under the law as a means of salvation, as a means of justification, as a means of making yourself more acceptable to God. Don't go there. Because you will lose trust. yourself at all, you have lost it all. Verse 24, they're told that these people have gone out, this is the circumcision party, those Judaizers who disturbed the conscience of the folks in Antioch, spurring this whole controversy. And we're told now that though they claimed heritage and claimed authority from the Church of Jerusalem, they were never explicitly commissioned to go. They did this of their own accord. So first of all, the Church of Jerusalem says, We did not send them. They came under false pretenses, as they presumed to say, that they spoke for us. And furthermore, they proposed false doctrine, because they were indeed saying things that were not true. And the result of that, verse 24, is that they were ensnaring your minds, troubling your spirits. You know, friends, doctrine is important. You know, think about it this way. Doctrine, and doctrine just means teaching, just means principles. It's something as simple as God created me and created the world around me. That's doctrine. That's a teaching of the Bible. That is something that we believe, something that we tell to others, and something that has implication for my life. Because if I believe that, it's going to affect the way I think, it's going to affect the way I live. Okay? So doctrine, it's never just What you think about God will determine how you live for the Lord. What you think, how you understand who He is, who you are, and how you are saved and brought into a reconciled relationship with Him in Christ will have a profound impact in your day-to-day life. find its way out. Doctrine directs devotion, and it drives doxology. That's why I'm so passionate for you to know God, to know Him in His words, and understand the Gospel with all of its brilliant color, to see Jesus as so sufficient and wonderful as the sweet savor and delight for you, because the more you know Him and treasure Him, friends, the effect will be joy and living for Him. If you know God more, you'll love Him a little more. You'll serve Him more. You'll enjoy Him a little more. And as you grow, just as your love for your spouse grows over the years and years that you've known Him, lived with Him, shared trial and tragedy, joy and delight with Him, so too that relationship is deepened and widened, so too it is with Christ. or you know what you love more, you're with Him. Deeper than communion. So, friends, false doctrine destroys a lot of that. And so, friends, we are seeking to bring our minds, bring our thinking into conformity with the Word of God. May the Lord help us. We said the name of God and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't just the title for title's sake. The name is glory distilled. It's the character of a person put into a word. Friends, your name says a lot about you. And friends, your name, it was set upon you, and friends, in very new ways, it shaped the whole of your life. The name that you're married to Because that was how they wanted to first distinguish who is He. Well, He's clay. When we talk about the name of the Lord, we're not just talking about His identification with clay. It's the glory of Christ revealed. His righteous rule unpacked. His steadfast love expounded. His work of redemption remembered all of who Jesus is. All that He's done, that's His name. His glory will prevail. That's what all the parties do. They preach, they whip, and so it means every time you're out and you're seeking to share the gospel and speak the truth with your neighbors and friends and folks at the gym and school, that's what you're doing. You're making known the name of Jesus. How He is revealed in the scriptures. not just what you think about him, not just what he thinks about him, but of who he really is, as the Bible has taught us. May God's Holy Spirit help us to speak boldly in the name of Christ and to share his gospel with those around us. something that they came up together. Verse 28, this is something that the Holy Spirit, seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us. So that's why, friends, I think we have to be real careful when we look at the requirements, because this is not just man's judgment, but this is, as we've said, the word from God, the Holy Spirit. And, friends, we can trust that God, the Holy Spirit, is continuing to lead the church into great unity and to encourage us in the truth. The canon is closed, so there's no more oracles to be given. The Holy Spirit is, therefore, leading us to the Bible. The Holy Spirit, brothers, and His role as the illuminator, as the one who enlightens our minds and hearts, His role, His precious work is to apply and to continue to unpack for you all that God has given to you. And so, friends, as He draws us into Christ, the effect is that there is a unity. A unity in the truth. A unity of love. A unity of joy and service one to another. Friends, as we cling to Christ, as the Spirit brings us near to Him, the effect is that we'll see ourselves drawn near to one another. Did not Jesus pray for that? Father, may they be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they also may be in us. And may have the joy that you give to me. That unity, friends, is in the Holy Spirit, by and through His indwelling, His being with you, His abiding with you, His coming to make His home with you. glory, the love of the Father and the Son brought home to you by God in the Holy Spirit. Friends, we depend on the Holy Spirit. When there is conflict in the church, or there are needs and discussions that need to be had, and there's problems to be solved, to be living life together, friends, that's what we depend on. We depend on the Savior and the Spirit to lead us back to life, lead us back to experience, so that with humility, and love and faithfulness, we can see this is the path forward. This is how we can best glorify God. These are the most wise and faithful decisions we can make that are in front of us today. Depend on the Holy Spirit, not just in the church, but depend on your family first. When you have decisions before you, and we have decisions all the time to make, little things, big things, some things in between, ask God to lead you by his Spirit. Don't depend on our own understanding, as he was faithfully to the church, here in Acts 15. So the testimony, verse 29, is that there are to be four prohibitions. The first is that they should abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols. Now, as I had to say two weeks ago, some people have gotten a little confused about that because it seems like the council and Paul are contradicting themselves. Corinthians is talking about meat sacrifice to items. And remember, his thing there is, look, eat whatever's sold in the meat market without asking any questions on the ground of conscience. The earth is the Lord, the fullness therein. You have the liberty under Christ to eat whatever meat you buy. The temple butcher, you can buy from him. conscience might be wounded by that, and so in love with your brother. You might say, well, will I eat this or not? But again, my liberty is not defined by somebody else's conscience. The scruples of the weak do not determine the conscience of those who see their liberty in Christ. But again, friends, there's a walking in love, there's a walking in gentleness. But what Paul is mentioning here is that scenario. He's talking about, can I eat the discounted meat? that the temple butcher is selling after it's been used in sacrifice. And Paul says, yes, if you can eat by faith, if you can give God glory for that meat, do it. Right? Something different here. What's being addressed here seems to be more the case of the temple festival banquet. You see, for instance, the pagans have their sacrifices. you know, those priests of Zeus, he wanted to bring the whole oxen down and to sacrifice them at the cross. They were going to roast the ox and they were going to have a party. The Jerusalem council was saying, guys, don't do that. You can't go to the Bacchanalia. You can't go to the Feast of Bacchus. You can't go to the Feast of Zeus and Apollos and feast with those folks that are there and join in the celebration and worship the Alpha. That's not who you are anymore. Christ set you free from the worship of idols. Christ set you free from this sin that you were once enslaved to. You have liberty under Christ. You belong to Jesus now. So don't do that. That's what Paul said. And friends, for us, you know, it's In regards to consciousness training, you know, there's very few incidents, it seems, in our life where we may be in that situation. But suppose, for example, your good savior invites you to come over for dinner, right? He invites you to come over for dinner. You say, great, I'll be there. You don't ask any questions. He cooks whatever, you know, he has. And you tell him if you have allergies, of course, or if you're allergic to something, then you don't have to worry about anything. He prepares for you to be on the plane. Now I'm going to say that same thing when the Savior says, hey, we're about to celebrate this festival. I want you to come to my house. I want you to come to this place where we're going to gather and it's going to be a worship service with me. And I'm going to fix it and say, I'm sorry, brother. I'm sorry, my friend. I can't do that. I love the Lord, and he is the soul owner of my heart, and I can't give my heart to another. I belong to Him. If you want to go have dinner next Tuesday, go to school. So you see the difference there. One is in the context of worship, and the other is in the context of an ordinary meal. We're not to be worshiped on this. The blood and what is strangled, friends, they go together. Blood, remember, blood is important because blood is the symbol of life taken. It's the symbol of life and it's brought to an end. It is symbolizing the curse against sin. The judgment of sin is death. Remember, God said, the wages of sin is death. The free gift of God is eternal in Christ Jesus our Lord. So friends, the blood of the people of God has always symbolized for us that sin has a price, that evil will have a reckoning, that there is a judgment to come. There's a pain day someday. I urge you then today that the scriptures tell us that we shall all stand before God and give account of the works done in the flesh when we But it also spoke of the promise of God for atonement. Atonement means to make one. It means to make whole. It means to be complete. How we got atonement? By standing. By a promised Son. It was Jesus Christ. Why did the Israelites take that blood and put it on the altar? Why were they told to pour it out? Because God was saying, I will atone for your sin, my brother. I will satisfy my righteous wrath against your transgressions by punishing someone else in your place. And no, it can't be an animal. It can't be a bird. It can't be a goat. It can't be a bull. And why do you know this? Because you have to get more of them. There's not a year that goes by that you have to have another day of atonement. All of this is temporary. All of this is just a shadow. But the substance, the perfect, the one who it's all about is Jesus. That's what the blood taught. The life of the righteous one shed for the remission of your sins. That's what we're going to see when we come to the table. That's what the wine, that's what the grape juice represents, right? The juice represents the cup, represents that blood shed for the remission of your sin. And the strangulation, well, it's the same deal. You strangle something as a matter of execution of a beast, that blood doesn't get spilt. It gets coagulated within the muscles. It doesn't have a way to get out. And so, friends, when God's people would bring their animals for sacrifice, and when they would prepare them for their own meal, they did, you know, what today we know as or ship that was drained out of the mulch. It's a place to go. If it was just for a meal, cover it up. Cover it with dirt. But friends, again, like I said, does that mean that a Christian can't eat a steak? Friends, remember, all of our meats have been butchered. The blood's been drained. Whatever's in that meat is not really blood. It's proteins. It's that leftover, that red coloring. So yeah, eat a rare steak. I think it's great. Eat a rare steak, eat some sushi, go for it. But friends, again, God is saying, you know, remember these things. Part of your heritage, friends. Remember the blood that God shed for you. Remember that it was God's blood that your sins were forgiven. Now, finally, sexual morality, which, again, Rod Humphrey's term. And friends, again, the pagans of their day and of our day have different notions of sexual ethics. It was acceptable. It was not acceptable. We know in current glory, it was acceptable, at least for a time, that man should have his father's wife as a girlfriend. And we go, wow, that is weird. And it is weird, and it's wrong. But again, friends, their convictions on these things were different because of sin, and because of the culture conditioned by sin. So friends, as a Christian, we stand before the room, we say, you know, God gave God gave these gifts for us. It's good, friends. Intimacy is a good thing. It is a lesson. It is a gift to be a joy between one man and one woman. And in that context, friends, this is a most blessed thing. It is given for pleasure, procreation, and the preservation of the marital union. Don't forget that third one, friends. That's a very important part of this. It is also reminding the man and the wife that they are one together, that they have been brought together in Christ Jesus. God, the Holy Spirit, is affirming that this is good, this is sacred, this is something that is to be honored because of the covenant of God's covenant. Let's all pray together. You know, we stand before the world and we're saying, this is what's good, this is what makes intimacy such a blessing, this is why it is to be honored within the covenant of marriage. And we warn folks that bring destruction and bring harm. It's a church. We're called to live for Christ and speak to the world and hope for the life it's been. And then they come up with, you know, if you do these things, great, fair enough. What liberty friends? The Jerusalem councils, they didn't say, okay, you've got to bring your sacrifices, and oh, by the way, you've got to eat kosher, you know, unclean animals. I did say that. They say, if you really want to act with God, if you really want to be obedient to Him, you must do those things. Acts 15 is where you go. You say, no, no. How about the Holy Spirit said? Those things we don't want to miss. I want to put a yoke on the disciples. Neither we nor our fathers were able to bear in their sin. Well, the joy of this, the result, verse 30 to 35, is that everyone is excited, wow. And Judas and Silas preach, and they encourage us, certainly the brothers, with these words, and then they're sent off in peace. The fruit of this, God's decision to prove this truth, is that the church is encouraged Friends, there are some hills worth dying on. When the gospel's at stake, when Jesus Christ and his all-sufficiency is being assaulted, friends, we need to be tenacious. Friends, we can disagree on certain territory doctrines, we can have debates about eschatology, we can have debates on church government and different things like that, but friends, Our men, women, boys, and girls reconcile to a holy God in Christ. Through faith in Him, we need to be firm, we need to be tenacious, because, for instance, people slaughter a lot. Because it's only in Christ, in Christ alone, that we can be at peace. So, for instance, we transition down to I do want you to think about that. Do you have peace with God? If you were to die tonight and you were to appear before God, and God were to ask you, why should I let you into my heaven, what would you tell him? Would you claim your good works? Would you claim your merit? Would you say, I did my best, I tried my best, I'm not as bad as he is, I'm a little better than she is? Or would you say, no, God, I have no right in myself to interfere. but I come to you because of Jesus. Because my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' love and righteousness. I pray that you use that. It is you. Friends, you're most welcome to come to this table. You've been baptized, you've been sanctified, the Son of the Holy Spirit is taking this for you to come and be reminded of Christ, to come and feast upon him by faith, to enjoy him as the one in whom you have a full and perfect redemption.