We continue our series in the book of Acts, and today we're gonna look at the first half of chapter 15. So let us give our attention to God's inerrant, infallible, and inspired word. Acts 15, beginning in verse one. But 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. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. So being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. When they come to Jerusalem, 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 belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider the matter. And after there'd been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you. that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God who knows the heart bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us. And he made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why are you putting God to the test by placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? but we believe that we will be saved through grace, through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will, just as they will. And all the assembly fell silent and they listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, James replied, And with this, the word of the prophets agrees. Just as it is written, Therefore, my judgment. is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but should write to them to abstain from the things polluted by idols and from sexual immorality and from what has been strangled and from blood. For from ancient generations, Moses has been in every city, those who proclaim him. For he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Let's pray again. Heavenly Father, give me strength to preach this text. My hope is not in my words. My hope is in your scripture. You promise that it's like rain that comes down. It does what you desire. It always accomplishes what you desire. Lord, please do that this morning. Help us all, Lord, in the name of Christ. Amen. Amen. We live in an age when the average person could care less about denominations. Do you think it's a fair statement? I think that many people, when they're looking at churches, they say, well, how's the music? How's the preaching? What are the people like? Who cares how it's governed? Who cares what, what, you know, um, flag they're flying? Like this is what matters to us. You think it's pretty fair? I think it is for many, many people I talk to. So, I want to tell you about an interview with Tim Keller. So Tim Keller was interviewed on a podcast, and this podcast, the whole thing was dedicated to recounting the rise and the fall of a big mega church. And it just imploded, started, and it got huge, and then it imploded. And so they were telling a story of that. And so in, toward the end of that, they interviewed Tim Keller. If you don't know, Tim Keller is a PCA pastor, so he's Presbyterian. and very well-known, written many books, a nationally known name to many. And so he's, in this interview, is retelling about Presbyterianism. You're like, why are you doing this on this podcast about this non-nominational church? Well, what he says is, he retells the story. He says that he, so he's well-known, everyone knows him, he's popular, huge church, that this other Presbytery, in another area, were concerned about his views on creation in Adam and Eve. And so they wrote five times questioning. So they wrote to his presbytery, said, you need to examine Tim Keller to see what he believes about these things. Well, so in Presbyterianism, you got to do it. It doesn't matter who you are. So they asked him, he answered the question. They did that five times. And he said by the third or fourth, he was getting pretty tired of it. But he said, we got to do it. We're Presbyterian. We are under authority. There's authority structures that we're accountable to. It doesn't matter what a big name you are. Everyone, the same rules apply. And so the reason he brought this up, he said this, this whole incident, this whole situation with this mega church that imploded, and you guys know there's, there's a number of stories like that, right? He said, there was no accountability. The top person is just in charge. They're an independent church. There's no accountability. And so he was relating that. These are some of the benefits. We aren't perfect. We have lots of problems in the Presbyterian world, but this is a benefit. So my question to you is, are we Presbyterian pragmatically? you want to protect me or protect against me. Who knows? Right? We'll know that that's not the only reason. There's also this text is one of the reasons why. The text we're looking at today is one of the reasons Presbyterianisms exist. Because as we look at the early church, we look at, we see it as an example. Not just an example to appreciate, but an example to imitate. That God actually set up, Christ actually set up his church in the way he wanted. Not only how to worship, many of the things you see about our worship. We might grow in how many musicians have, in different things, but there's a lot about our service that we understand that scripture determined all that. Okay? So that's where we're going today. Look at the outline you see there on page seven. It says appeal to God's instituted authority structures. Two, the importance of the plurality of leadership and three, how Christ leads his church. Now there's one other thing in this passage. So this, I will talk a good amount about church government. You're like, boy, that's a yawner. You're already yawning. You're yawning. I saw you yawn earlier. You really be yawning about that. But there's another piece. It's way more important than that. And that's what they're arguing about. Okay. So as we look at this, I want you to focus on what was the debate all about? What were they fighting about? What were they all up in arms about? Why was Barnabas and Paul really angry? Right? Why was there this strong fight? Okay. So that's, Also where we're going to go. Okay. So point one appealed to God's Institute authority structures. Look at verse one again. And if you aren't familiar, we just walk through the passage. So look at verse one. But some men came down from Judea. So this is in Antioch. This is north of Jerusalem. They come to Antioch. They're teaching the brothers. What are they teaching? Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. That is not good news. Right? Gospel is good news. That's not good news. So they're saying, hey, you Gentiles, if you want to be a Christian, you need to become Jewish, and then you can become a Christian. That's basically what they're saying. It's going to become clearer as we go. This would not be good news if you're a Gentile. Okay, so there's this big debate. Look at verse two, after Paul and Barnabas have no small dissension, that means it's a huge one, debate with them. Okay, so there's all this fight, but then look what happens. And this is important. Paul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed. Who appointed them? Well, the church at Antioch. So church appoints them to do what? go up to Jerusalem. Well, if you know your geography, you're like, well, Antioch's up here. Jerusalem's down here. We usually say up and down by North and South. Well, if you look this way, Jerusalem's much higher. So maybe about 2000 feet higher than Antioch. So that's why they're saying up. Just a little geography for you. But the more important thing is that they're appointed to go. And so they go along with some other people But who do they go to? Here's look at that end of verse two. They're pointing to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles. No surprise there. They're the big dogs in the church right now, right? You got Peter. These are all the guys that were with Jesus. Not surprising. What's the next two words? The apostles and elders. Now you could just say, well, they're the tagalongs. And that's going to come clear in a little while. They're not. They're actually sent up to, this is kind of the mother churches, kind of where the center of Christianity is right now. They're all going to gather. And it's not only the apostles, but also the elders. Kids, have you seen the toy? It was when you're real young. Kids, if I have your attention. So it's like a flat surface with holes in it. And like one was a circle, one was a square, one was a triangle. Do you remember that? And then you had like pegs and you tried to like slide the right one in. Did you see that kids? I see some head nods, right? Okay, so we're gonna use that this morning. And that's our three forms of church government. You might not know that there's three forms. And one's gonna, we'll say square, round and a triangle. So one is Episcopal. This would be like the Anglican Church, obviously the Episcopal Church, the Catholic Church. Okay, and so they have like a guy at each level. So you have a bishop, cardinal, you know, and then you end up at the pope, right? Or archbishop. And then another form, we'll make that the square one, is this would be like the Baptist Church. They're congregational, right? So they're independent. So you make all your, almost all non-dominational churches are this way too. They might have affiliations, but you make, within the church, all the decisions are made. That's the second. And the third form is what we are, which is Presbyterian. And that's where there's a plurality of leadership. And we'll unpack that as we go. So what we're doing this morning is, here's your kids, here's your toy with the three holes in it. This passage is, we'll say a triangular peg, which hole does it fit in? That's what we're doing. We're saying, because there's a presupposition here, because you know that word, it means something I'm assuming. Before I even get to that, for what I'm assuming, a lot of churches start with the gospel. Is that a good place to start? Absolutely. They start with the gospel and they say, this is what we have to agree on. We feel the same way. We're all in agreement. But then they stop there. They close their Bible and they say, well, let's decide what kind of worship we like. Let's decide how we're going to govern ourselves based on what we think is best. And see, this is our presupposition. Our presupposition, as I said before, is that Acts and the New Testament and the whole Bible, God actually told us how to govern our church. He told us how to worship him. Okay, that's our presupposition. So you have to decide what you think of that. Do you think God actually gave us instruction or we're free to decide? I think that we're in. And so the Presbyterian, I believe in many other churches do too. They just disagree and say, but the Bible actually says to do something different. Okay. So let's keep going. Okay. I do have a spoiler alert here. It won't shock you that I believe that that triangular peg actually fits in Presbyterianism. Probably not a shock to you. But again, as I said, as we go through this, look at what they're arguing about. That's the bigger thing, right? What is it that's being debated? What were they so upset about? It's the gospel. They were saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's fine. You believe in Jesus, but you also need to be circumcised. You also need to do all this stuff, okay? That changes the gospel. That's a big deal. Okay, keep looking at the passage, verse three. So, they sent on their way by the church. They passed through Phoenicia, Samaria. They're describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles. They brought great joy to all the brothers. When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, by the apostles and the elders. Great, everyone's happy they're there. They declare all that God has done through them. We'll skip verse five. We'll come back to in a second. Verse six. Okay. So who is gathered? Again, we have the apostles and the elders are gathered to consider the matter. I know this doesn't seem all that impressive to you, but this matters because think about our three types of church government. Okay. So you have the apostles and the elders are all gathered together to consider this matter. That's significant. And you also see in verse five, it's very clear what this other party is arguing about. Look at verse five. Do you know there's three types of law of Moses? Do you know that? So the first would be, we'll say ceremonial. This would be all the animal sacrifices. That's exciting. Killing all animals. we don't do that on Sunday, right? So in all the food laws, all the kosher, you've seen on food where it says kosher, no, no more barbecue. Okay, so that's ceremonial law, still our moral law. That would be like the 10 commandments. Those go on for all time. And then civil law related to them as a nation. Okay. So they're saying all of it. So you Gentiles, you got to pick up all of this stuff, all three, at least ceremonial and moral. You need to do circumcision would fall into that. So they appointed them. So in this first point, all I wanted you to get was they're appealing. They didn't just solve it themselves. Okay? Think about your three forms. Which one does that start giving problems to? They did not just solve it at Antioch. They appealed to Jerusalem. It's congregational, right? Congregational says, well, we're an island. We just decide among ourselves. No, they're saying, no, we actually are connected to the church of Jerusalem. There's some connectionalism. Hope that makes sense to you. Okay. That's our first point. They're escalating it up to the higher court. And that brings us to our second point. Look at verse. So this is the importance of plurality of leadership. Verse six, the apostles and the elders were looked at that we're gathered together to consider the matter. You know, it's interesting timing of this. I didn't plan it this way that happened this weekend. Right? Why do we have an officer's retreat? I had a retreat in August. I dream big dreams for the church. Why do I get involved these guys? Because we're Presbyterian. I don't get to decide anything on my own. I bring back all my great ideas and we talk about them. Right? That's what it is to be Presbyterian. It's good. It's good for a church to have a plurality of leadership, not just to have of any time in the history of the church that you would think you wouldn't need this, it would be then. Right? You got Peter. You had all these big names. Guys had been with Jesus. You don't think they could just handle on their own? They didn't think so. They actually included the elders, other men in that. Men that hadn't been to seminary, hadn't been with Jesus. Right? I think that's noteworthy. And it's helpful for us. All right, look at verse seven. It says, and after there'd been much debate, Peter stood up. Okay, so the Catholics are like, see, I told you. Who's the first Pope? They say, Peter, Peter's going to stand up and as the Pope, he will settle the matter. It'll be over. Okay, so let's look. Here's Peter. Peter stood up and said to them, brothers, you know that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. and God, who knows the heart, bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit." Okay, what's he talking about? Just as he did to us. Remember the whole Cornelius thing? We say that a while ago. The vision he had, and then he went to Cornelius, the Gentile, and then the Holy Spirit fell on those uncircumcised people. They weren't keeping, they were eating unkosher food, right? And so Peter's argument is, Well, it's pretty obvious. God wants the Gentiles in. They don't got to jump through all the Jewish hoops. Does it, does the logic of his argument make sense? All right. I see some head nods. All right. So we keep moving. He made no distinction between us and them, having cleansed our hearts by faith. And this he's going to get to the gospel right here. Now, therefore, why are you putting to God to the test by placing a yoke? Kids, you know what a yoke is? It's all we had with breakfast. A yoke is a big beam of wood you put on two oxen. You strap their next to it and they pull a heavy load. And so he's using that as an analogy to say, why are you placing this heavy yoke the neck of the disciples. Neither our fathers nor we were able to bear it. We haven't lived up to the law. We haven't kept any of the law. We try, but you can't get to God. The gospel in the Old Testament was the same as the New Testament. Did I surprise anyone? Did you know that? The gospel in the Old Testament was the same. It was less revealed. It was much foggier. It was the same thing. You're saved by faith. You aren't saved by doing a bunch of Jewish stuff. No, Abraham had faith right from the very beginning, right? Our father Abraham wasn't saved by doing a bunch of stuff, right? And so they, they completely had lost the gospel. They didn't understand it. And so Peter is reminding them, right? We couldn't, we didn't keep this yoke. We didn't keep all this law, verse 11, but we believe that we'll be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as, as they will, just as the Gentiles were. Okay. Hope that makes sense. Paul uses in Ephesians 2.14, he says, he calls it the dividing wall of hostility saying that wall has been removed. Right? If you look back at earlier in Peter's speech, he says, you know, in the early days, God did make a choice. Well, there's a big gap between Jews and Gentiles. But he said, he's taken away that gap. We're all unified now. Okay. That's the logic of his argument. Here's another really interesting thing, because the Catholics are saying, yep, he settled it. It's done. The Pope has spoken. If you look at a passage, some other guys are going to stand up. It's not done. He was just one speaker. When you have the final word, you're the ultimate authority. When people get up after you and then argue, you're not the final authority. Right? Every parent, you know, has their kids. Like I said, this is it. And then there's all the big debate. Right? And so part of being a child is learning. Well, no, I actually have to submit to my parents. Look how I squeeze some parenting there. It's true though. Right? Okay. So Peter, there's this great verse in first Peter. Listen to this. This is first Peter five, one. So I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder, Hear what Peter just did? So he's writing to elders and he said, listen to it again. So I exhort you elders, wherever he's writing, as a fellow elder, Peter is putting himself not up here, but right beside the other elders. In Peter's mind, he sees a plurality of leadership. He sees himself on an, on an equal footing. If Peter can do it, I sure better be able to do it. Right? Every pastor better be able to say, Hey, I'm on equal footing with the elders. and a lot of pastors don't do that. A lot of churches, a lot of denominations don't do that. Do you see this is a picture of how the church is supposed to be run? Okay, so after he goes, after Peter finishes Paul and Barnabas, now it is pretty cool. Where is this? Verse 12. Look at that. And all the assembly fell silent. It was a really persuasive argument, but other people still speak. It's still an open floor. They listened to Barnabas and Paul as they related what signed in oners God had done through them among the Gentiles. After they finished speaking, another guy gets up. Who's that? James. He's the half brother of Jesus. James gets up. Paul and Barnabas's argument is basically God's done all these miracles among the Gentiles. This is evidence too. James gets up. What's his angle? He says, when God first visited or speaks of Simeon, that's another name for Peter, related first to the Gentiles. Look at verse 15, the word of the prophet. So he's now looking at the Old Testament and making another argument from Old Testament scripture. This comes from Amos chapter nine, verse 11 and 12. Look at verse 16 in our passage. After this, I will return and I will rebuild the tent of David, meaning the dynasty of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it. Okay, so he's saying God made all these promises to David. They weren't fulfilled yet and they're fulfilled in Jesus. And it speaks of all the Gentiles. So he's saying this isn't a new idea, guys. The whole Old Testament pointed to the Gentiles being included. Okay, so that's James' argument. I hope you see what I'm trying, the point I'm trying to make is there's a plurality of leadership. There are a number of guys who are speaking. Here's a fun fact. Do you know the three courts in the Presbyterian world? Okay, so we're one of them, right? So Russell, Todd, and I are one court. It's called a session, right? And so we all have one vote. I have one vote with them, right? And so it's, it's a plurality of leadership. The second court is called presbytery. And so in the low country, all the PCA churches get together. There's no head of it. It's just all of us. It's all the pastors, all the elders. So I'm called a teaching elder. They're called ruling elders. For that reason, we're all equal. So all of us get together, that's the second court. The third court is once a year in June, all the teaching elders, everyone's available, and ruling elders from the whole nation get together, and it's called General Assembly. There's a little lesson on Presbyterianism, that's how we work, we have three courts. And so each court is under the authority of the higher court. So the presbytery could examine us and say, just like they did Tim Keller, and say, there's something wonky about what you're teaching over at Hope Community. And so we have to give an account. But then we could appeal. We could appeal to the higher court. Every court has the right to appeal to a higher court. Does this sound familiar to you? Sounds a little bit like a U.S. government, doesn't it? If you've said kids, you've said U.S. government. So you might be tempted to say, I know where they got Presbyterianism. From the U.S. government. Okay. The only problem with that is history. Presbyterianism existed a long time before America did. So actually the opposite argument has been made that holds a little more water is that maybe the U.S. government got it from Presbyterianism. I mean, you look at how the structure of U.S. government, there's a checks and balances, a plurality of leadership. They try to keep any one part of the government from not having too much power. It's interesting, isn't it? Okay. Look at back at verse 12. What's the fourth word kids? and all the assembly. That's why we call it the General Assembly right there. That's why the third quarter of the PCA is called the General Assembly because of this passage that they were an assembly. They gathered together all of the apostles and elders, all of the leaders together. They considered the matter. All right, so keep going in the passage. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. All right, so keep going in the passage. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that, look at verse 19. So after all this, after he quotes that You just said we're not going to put rules on them, and then you list four rules. Is that confusing to you? Here's what he's doing. These are not like rules for salvation. Don't get confused by that. What he's doing is, he's saying, as the first, the verse 19 said, don't trouble them with laws. But these things he lists are to promote unity. If you were a good Jew in that day, These were huge no-nos. You don't eat anything strangled. You don't mess with blood, and you don't eat food offered to idols. Well Gentiles, all that stuff's kind of normal in the Gentile world. And so they're saying, hey, if you will abstain from this, this will help unity. This is to preserve unity. This is not about salvation. Does that distinction make sense? Okay, that's really important. Now what about the fourth one? Sexual morality is not like the other three. Okay, many have argued that that's because in pagan worship, there's a lot of sexual morality. I won't get into the details of it, but there's a lot. And so likely they're saying, hey, that's part of the moral law. It's the seventh commandment. Don't commit adultery. And also abstain from that. That's part of your cultural baggage, right? And we all have cultural baggage, whatever age we live in. So saying, you need to put that off. That's why he's listening to these four things. This is not part of the gospel. So he's freeing up the gospel and he's just giving him some practical advice to promote unity. I wanted to clarify that. All right. And this, Paul brings this up in Romans 14, first Corinthians eight about food sacrifice to idols. This was just an issue they had to deal with and talk about. All right. This is interesting. Look at if you have your actual Bible open, I'm stealing from next week, but just look at verse 23. Just listen if you don't have your Bible. Okay. So they actually send, they send them out with a letter and they're going and it says with the following letter, This is what the letter said. Greetings. Okay, so who's it from? apostles, and elders. Once again, I know I'm making the same point over and over, but there's a whole bunch of other dominations. Why are we Presbyterian? I just want you to understand. We look here and we see over and over there's a plurality of believers. The other thing that's interesting is, are they expecting everyone to obey this? Yeah. Yeah, this is binding. Now we do, this is where we agree with the Episcopal government or formal government, right? There is an authority structure, right? The congregational say, well, no, no, no one can tell us what to do. You're gonna have a hard time with this passage at that point, right? When they send this letter saying, hey, here's the ruling for all the churches. Does that make sense? But then the Episcopal falls apart because they just have one guy and it's not elders and apostles. So hopefully I made that point enough for it to make sense. This is really a good thing for our church. I want to read you two verses from Proverbs 11, Proverbs 11, 14, where there's no guidance that people falls, but an abundance of counselors, their safety. We are better off having elders. Proverbs 18, 17, the one who states his case first seems right. until other ones come and examine us, right? Are we, we have permission to examine each other, right? To say, uh, not so fast. I don't know if I like that idea. Right? And that if, and because there is possible, you can have Presbyterian churches where the, no one listens. He's got a bunch of yes men. I assure you, you have not elected two yes men. They're men with their own opinions and their own thoughts, and they feel the freedom to share it. And I'm thankful for that. You are better off for it. Tim Keller was right. Accountability for church matters. It's true. A lot of problems can be avoided. Now, what do you do with all this? I don't think, I don't want you to apply this and go tell all your Baptist friends, all your Anglian friends, you guys are all wrong. Okay? Not really the application I was hoping for. Some of you might be listening and saying, I'm not even convinced. I still think the Baptists are right. I still think the Episcopals are right. That's fine. I'll still be your friend. Many of my friends don't agree with me on this. In this community, all the pastors get together for lunch and we love each other. An Anglican, a couple of non-nominationals, and some Baptists. We love each other because we agree about the gospel. Remember, what was it they were arguing about? They're arguing about the gospel. That's our third point. Much more briefly. As we look at how Christ leads his church. If you look back through this passage, you see that over and over all the arguments, kids, look in verses seven to nine and see if you can find all three points or parts of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Circle them. They're appealing to God. God's doing this. What they're saying is we get our orders from God, right? There's no earthly head of the church, right? Catholics say the Pope is. Say, oh, well, Christ is in heaven. He's the visible, and no. God, Christ is ruling His church. All these arguments. James is arguing from the Old Testament. Right? Peter is arguing from what the Holy Spirit did. Right? All these things. The point is, this is Christ's church. It's true for us. This is not my church. It's not Todd's. It's not Russell's. It's not yours. It's Christ. Remember back when we were doing the confession with Todd? The Catholic church, the universal church. There is one church we can bind together. We'll do a Christmas Eve service with the Anglicans and the Baptists. Why? Because we agree on the gospel, right? We disagree on other smaller things like church governance. So I want you to have a right scale. Kids, this is often confusing to you. I didn't grow up this real clearly. The difference between the gospel and everything else. Really important. This makes a difference. Whether you're going to heaven or hell. Do you understand that you're getting there? Not because you've tried hard. Not because you're a good person, but because of Jesus. What was being debated. We'd probably still be doing animal sacrifices if this didn't go the way it should that day. This is a big deal. This, so the gospel is what really, really matters. That's what I want you, the main thing to take away. Look, open back to page five in your bulletin. Rewind a couple of pages. Look at that confession. We said, I'm going to reread. You don't have to read it this time. 25-5. And I want to particularly speak to teens and preteens. So if you fit that category, please listen up. All right, look at what it says. The purest churches under heaven are subject both to mixture and error. We are imperfect, every church is, as we say. Some have so degenerated as to become no churches of Christ, but synagogues of Satan, quoting Revelation 3.9. Nevertheless, there shall always be a church on earth to worship God according to his will. " Teens, you're going to leave here one day, likely, and go somewhere else. You're going to find a new church, right? There are many, many churches, and you'll go into some of them. They'll smell like churches. They'll sound like churches. They'll be called churches, and they aren't church. Why? Because they don't preach the gospel. If they don't preach the gospel, they're not a church. This is strong language because it's needed. There's such a thing as synagogues of Satan. It's basically where it gives all the feelings of church, but doesn't have the gospel. That's dangerous. So I want to warn you, when you go out from here, you need to look. Now, after you get past the gospel, well, then you got to figure out what kind of church government. It does matter, right? There's a lot of protection. You're much safer in a Presbyterian church. There are bad ones and there are good ones, but generally there is accountability structures, as Tim Keller said, that you don't have in other types of churches. And we see from this passage that, but the number one thing, I'm fine if you disagree on that and you end up in a Baptist church, Anglican church, make sure they preach the gospel. Don't go to a synagogue of Satan. Okay. Hope the teens got that. All right. As we wrap up here, look back at verse 10 and 11, and we're going to close here. So Peter in his thing, well, verse nine, nine and 10, he says, he's made no distinction between us, having cleansed our hearts by faith. Now, therefore, why are you putting God to the test and placing this yoke on the neck of the disciples that neither us nor our fathers could bear? But we believe what? See if you can agree with verse 11. Even if you disagree with all this stuff about church government. Do you believe that you will be saved through grace and a gift that you do not deserve? What do you think of that? A number of friends that I've read the Bible with have realized this. It's an aha moment. I just had this happen last week. And they said, no, no. And if you, you're the most religious person I know, Nathan. And if you have no chance of getting in, I'm pretty sure I don't either. It's a huge aha moment. It's really beautiful when someone realizes that for the first time. They realize they're generally in Christian America, and they're like, I got a problem. It's really exciting because then the gospel is the solution. Do you believe, there are some of you right here today in almost every church that say, I can't see your soul. There are people that don't, that aren't Christians. They thought, and we talked about this in Sunday school this morning. Right? They might have deceived themselves their whole lives. So I just keep saying, I don't know who they are, but I don't want anyone to be surprised when they get to the end and say, Oh, I never actually did believe by faith that by grace, an unworthy gift that I would be saved. Do you believe that today? I hope you do. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord, I pray Any kids that are in age of understanding that are listening to me this morning, Lord, I pray that there might even be some of them that something would click this morning. Even adults that have long deceived themselves and even maybe all of us. But Lord, for the rest of us, Lord, we thank you for the gospel. We thank you for these brave men that stood up, Peter and James, Barnabas, Paul, and fought for the gospel. I want to do that. I want to fight for the gospel. Help me do that faithfully. Help us all do that as a church and protect us, Lord. Thank you for Russell. Thank you for Todd. Thank you that I'm not in charge. Thank you that we have a Presbyterian form of government with checks and balances. Lord, I pray for all the churches that don't, protect them. Those that really are churches that have the gospel, that don't have any authority structures. Lord, thank you for things like the Southern Baptist Association that has set up some kind of structure, a little bit like this, to have some accountability. Lord, we pray even for the Anglican churches, they're suffering, our believing brothers here in this city. Lord, there's conflict there. Lord, we love them. Lord, we pray it's all your church, the one Catholic, the one universal church. Lord, we pray that you would bring peace and unity and preserve all the churches. We pray in the name of Christ, amen.