Greetings and welcome to Witnesses of the King. This is an exposition of the book of Acts. We're going through and we're just exposing what is in the scriptures. And we're taking a close look at the book of Acts. Chapter by chapter, almost verse by verse. We'll spend two weeks here in Acts chapter 15. So please turn to Acts chapter 15. And we're going to take a look at what is happening in Jerusalem. We come to what is a pivotal chapter in the Book of Acts and indeed in all of the scriptures. This chapter is very important for understanding how it is that God is saving people in the new covenant by the blood of Jesus Christ, and then how those that are saved in Jesus Christ ought to live. And so it's a very important chapter. And for many people that subscribe to some form of Christianity that falls short of the biblical standard, Acts chapter 15 would be the chapter of missed opportunities for them. because if there were ever any stipulation to put on the behavior of human beings in which they had to be saved, or any kind of information that it would be absolutely necessary for you to follow this practice or follow that practice as a Christian, it should have been placed here in Acts chapter 15, but it's simply not here. and that is because those things are not necessary. What we're going to see is the right and true way to live in the Spirit in Jesus Christ. So turn to Acts chapter 15 and we're going to see two very important issues and we're going to cover them in order. First of all we're going to look at Firstly, this. We're going to handle these questions. Is it necessary to keep all the Law of Moses in order to be saved? That's the first question. We'll address that this time. The next time we're going to address the question, is it necessary to keep all of the Law of Moses in order to be faithful? In other words, is it right and is it upon Christians, is it necessary for them to keep the Law of Moses either to be saved or either to be faithful? We're going to look at those two questions in turn. Today we're going to focus on this first one and we're going to pick up the action here in Acts chapter 15 and we're going to read verses 1 through verses 21. So let's take a look at that right now together. We turn to Acts 15. You can see me turning the pages virtually in my Bible. But some men came down from Judea. Now let's pause there just a second and give ourselves a little context. In Acts chapter 14, Paul and Barnabas wrapped up their first missionary journey by returning to Antioch, Antioch that is in Syria, and giving a report to the church which had sent them. And so in Antioch, they were giving this report up here in chapter 14. They remained no little time with the disciples. So they're in Antioch of Syria. And from their perspective then, 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 came 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 this matter, and after there had 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 the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. And all the assembly fell silent. 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, Brothers, listen to me. Simeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them a people for his name. And with this the words of the prophets agree. Just as it is written, After this I will return, and I will rebuild the tent of David that has fallen. I will rebuild its ruins, and I will restore it, that the remnant of mankind may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who are called by my name, says the Lord who makes these things known from of old. Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, but we 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 had in every city those who proclaim him, for he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues. Well, let's open appropriately with a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you so much for this wonderful scripture and for this wonderful opportunity to know you by proclaiming your truth and to make you known by proclaiming your truth. We pray this day that you will use this scripture and the words of my mouth to encourage us to teach us and to guide us Lord I pray that your great message that your great truth will overshadow the weaknesses of myself the messenger and of all the hearers Lord We pray that your will be done and that you be known and glorified in Jesus name. Amen well there we have a powerful testimony and it begins there in verse one where these people come and the summary of their teaching is that unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses you cannot be saved now this is of course in Antioch where Paul and Barnabas were these were men that came down from Judea so presumably from Jerusalem where most of the leadership was. So they carried some weight with them having come from the area of Judea. But the question we have to ask ourselves right away is what do they mean here by the word saved? How are they using that word in this particular context? And by that we're talking about a particular Greek word meaning to heal or to save Usually it refers to salvation in the spiritual sense in the New Testament. Often it refers simply to basic healing, true physical healing. But generally when it speaks of salvation, it speaks of the grace of God providing salvation from sin and death through the atoning work of Jesus Christ upon the cross. A few times this word is used for the process after the initial salvation. And that would be what we call sanctification. And in those instances when it's used that, it's usually used in the present continuous to state that you are being saved. In other words, you're a work in progress. And we know this to be true. Even though a human being, when encountered with the gospel and believing in the gospel, they are immediately saved. We know it begins a process of sanctification, which is sometimes also referred to in the Bible as salvation. So that's why we need to clear this up. Well here, clearly, based on the usage here, and based on the argument that goes on as we follow this reading through the rest of chapter 15 here, they are speaking of initial salvation. They are clearly saying that unless someone is circumcised, they can't possibly be saved regardless of their response to the gospel or their faith in the gospel. and so this is a major problem that we're seeing here and here's the point that I want to make and I want to make this very clearly in essence circumcision was the greatest the single greatest law given to the Israelites and in fact it was given to Abraham prior to Moses and it was this particular law or rule that almost disqualified Moses from bringing the people out of Israel. See he was on his way to Egypt after having encountered God at the burning bush and God was going to kill him. and his wife fortunately realized why this was because he had not circumcised his son and so right there on the road to Egypt they circumcised their son and were able to please God and Moses was able to continue with his journey so this is a very important ritual to the Jewish people and this is something indeed that goes all the way back in their history. It holds a preeminent position in the law and it's stated several times in the rest of the books of the law. So this makes circumcision our perfect case for examining if any work of the law is necessary for salvation. Because as you see, as what is potentially their greatest ceremonial law, if there are any ceremonial laws required for salvation, this would be the one. And that's why we're very fortunate that this is the one that comes up as an issue in Acts chapter 15 because now we can put to bed all these other considerations. Oh, you've got to keep the Sabbath. Oh, you've got to keep the festivals. Oh, you've got to do this or that from the law because right here we've got the biggest one. Circumcision is about to be refuted by the church and we're going to see how. Now, one might wonder, OK, what is the relevance of this message to us today? Well, I'm going to show you several types of relevances here. They include this. When the relevance of this passage is we have many, many modern-day equivalents to this. It's generally not circumcision that's the issue, but someone is saying things like, well you cannot be saved unless you belong to this particular group, or you cannot be saved unless you do this particular ritual, or you cannot be saved unless you obey these particular rules. And so we have many Christian cults and Christian borderline denominations that would suggest that, oh yeah, you need to have faith in Christ and Christ did all this work, but then you've got to jump in and you've got to do your part. And when they do that, they are making the same argument as we saw in chapter 15 verse 1. Unless you're circumcised, you cannot be saved. They're making the exact same argument but with a different ritual or different point. So, let's go see how it is that the apostles dealt with this issue. They all got together in Jerusalem. And the apostles and elders gathered together to consider the matter. And in verse 7 it says they had much debate. And that's why I've entitled this one, No Small Dissension, as it was given in verse 2. this idea that this was not a minor thing in fact it caused Paul and Barnabas and others including some of these Judaizers to travel all the way to Jerusalem to have this thing handled and we're talking about weeks of their lives taken out just to go make sure this matter settled. Why? Because it's critically important that we understand this and then what we see in turn is we have Peter and then Paul and Barnabas and then James all take their turns speaking Now in his commentary on this passage Warren Wiersbe points out that Peter more or less covers the past Reminding them what God had done in the past with him when he first started this this gospel wholesale to the Gentiles through the Apostle Peter and so he reminds him of this it's been years past at this point and And then Paul and Barnabas, if you like, kind of handle the present, where they speak of what God has been doing in their present ministry of preaching the gospel. And so they bring it up to modern time, but then James, when he takes a look at this, he really looks to the future. He realizes that according to the prophecies of Scripture, God is bringing forth a great number of the Gentiles. And in fact, as we examine the Scriptures and as we examine history, we see it's great many more Gentiles than there were ever Jews. And so this is the great grace of God in accomplishing these things. But let's take a look first, let's take a look at each of these in turn. First, Peter goes. And both the content and the attitude of what Peter says really addresses the issue. He refers back to what occurs as accounted in Acts chapters 10 and 11. He received a vision and he went and he preached in the house of Cornelius, a Gentile. And the Gentiles, Cornelius and his family and the others that he had gathered, received the Holy Spirit in the very middle of Peter's sermon. And so Peter gives a God-centered account. Notice in verses 7 through 11, Peter begins by saying, first of all, God chose. that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear and believe. So Peter's giving a very God-centered account. Peter says God bore witness to them by giving them the Holy Spirit. And then Peter goes on to say God made no distinction between them and us by giving them the Holy Spirit in this way. Now I want you to notice something. When Peter preached to them in Acts chapter 10, They received the Holy Spirit during his sermon. They had no occasion for circumcision. They had no occasion to make a case to God for themselves by obedience to the law. The Holy Spirit literally interrupted the sermon. Peter didn't even have time for an invitation. And interestingly, they didn't even repent. Now, there may have been repenting involved in what they did, because what we have is a summary of what happened when the Holy Spirit came upon them. But nevertheless, there was no encouragement of repentance yet by Peter. He was just beginning to preach the gospel when all this happened. I want you to also notice that Peter had crossed the line simply by doing this. By doing this, he had actually ignored the tradition not to go into a Gentile household. And he's called to account for this later after this scene. And so what we have is, we have this profound scene of the Holy Spirit coming upon these Gentiles before they had opportunity to do any works of the law. Essentially, they were saved by Peter, right in the eyes of Peter there, right as he watched, they were saved without any works of the law. It is God who cleansed their hearts by faith. And this is important that Peter points this out. God cleansed their hearts by faith. Having cleansed their hearts by faith. And interestingly, you notice that this verb, having cleansed their hearts, is different from the others. In the others, it's an active verb. God chose, God bore witness, God made no distinction. But here we have a participle form. And this participle form really kind of takes his cleansing of the hearts and moves it back because he did these things having cleansed their hearts by faith. In other words, cleansing their hearts by faith came before. Before what? Well, it came before making no distinction for sure and possibly came before even bearing witness to them. And so this idea of the cleansing of the heart, this even further reinforces the fact that Peter accounts the salvation of these Gentiles as something that God did. This is his emphasis. So the argument that he puts forth here truly is experiential. And some might say, well, Peter's argument here is just anecdotal. This is something that just happened one time. Yeah, but that one time was really significant because they took the visible leader of the apostles at the time, the one that Jesus said, on this rock I'll build my church, and then God takes this one gives him a vision, gives the Gentiles that he preaches to beforehand a vision of Peter and it sends these ones to them. So this whole thing has a divine hand in it on both sides from the beginning. Peter goes, he goes into the house and God is in. control this is the emphasis here this is how it happened before they could do any law before they could be circumcised they were saved and the Holy Spirit came on them and they spoke in tongues so that there be no mistake that this what's happening to these Gentiles is the same thing that happened to them way back in Acts chapter 2 It was God who arranged this, God who chose, God bore witness, God made no distinction through the cleansing of their hearts. Now the question is, would you put God to the test by ignoring the fact that God did this? And that's the question that he has. Why are you putting, this is Peter's words, 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." In other words, Peter is arguing, does it make any sense that they would have to obey the laws to be saved, laws that you and I have never kept, laws that historically our people have never been able to keep. Now it doesn't mean that the law is not good. It doesn't mean that the law is not right or given by God. It just means that the law was not intended for salvation. Paul makes this argument very clear later in some letters. But Peter sums up this whole thing in a great reversal of the normal order of things by the way he says this in verse 11. He says, we believe that we will be saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus. And so he puts a summary of salvation there. Salvation is by the grace of the Lord Jesus. We believe we'll be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will. Now normally the order of things in both what we read in the narratives and the way the gospel has been presented in the way that Jesus presented it was to the Jews first and secondly to the Gentiles but look what Peter says here he says instead of saying the normal thing to say the natural thing to say is Peter would have said well we believe they'll be saved the same way we are but no no no Peter reverses it he says we believe we'll be saved the same way they'll be saved And so Peter really turns us around emphatically on this. And his conclusion can be summed up in this way. That it is by grace that we are saved. It is by grace that we are saved. This would then be apart from the works of the law. And Peter's argument is because this is how it happened in the house of Cornelius. Well next up in the argumentation here is Paul and Barnabas. And Barnabas and Paul, they stand up and it says that they relate signs and wonders. They relate signs and wonders. And what they are doing is they are showing that their gospel message that they've been preaching, which is the salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, as Peter affirmed, that their gospel has been accompanied by signs and wonders. And we want to remember that the signs and wonders are what give testimony to the true gospel in the book of Acts. It was endorsed by God. See, of themselves, Barnabas and Paul could not have done signs and wonders. And by themselves, men can present all kinds of religious ideas and all kinds of testimonies and all kinds of Gospels, so-called false Gospels, but they cannot do signs and wonders except by the power of God. Now in the book of Galatians, Paul speaks of this visit that they're having here in Jerusalem in chapter 2 of the book of Galatians. And he relates there that James and Cephas and John all endorsed his message. That's important to read, to go there and see, because the book of Galatians is written entirely to address this issue of adding works to the grace of the gospel. Well that's what Paul and Barnabas get up and argue is that hey look our gospel has been accompanied by signs and wonders and we know that they've been preaching grace. Now James gets up and James quotes from Amos chapter 9 verses 11 and 12. Let's take a look at those. momentarily here in Amos chapter 9 verses 11 to 12. Now word by word this might be a little different than what James said but this is the point and this is the context. Amos is talking about the restoration of the nation Israel. That is restoring Israel to the point where it is going to be greater than it was before. Now if you pay attention to the narrative of the Old Testament Once Israel was exiled to Babylon, and they had this time of the Babylonian captivity, when they returned to their land, they were never as great as they were in the times of David. In fact, they never really had officially any kind of a king. And even in the days of the Gospels here, they have a king, but this king is not of the line of David. In fact, he's a foreigner. And so he is a totally inappropriate king for them to have, and they knew it. They were never what they were under David and Solomon. But listen to what Amos says about the restoration of Israel. He says, in that day, which always points to future events having to do generally with Messiah, he says, I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old. Now what is this tent or booth of David that he's speaking of, the house of David? That's never been restored except in the person of Jesus Christ who as we know was of the lineage of David. He was of the house of David. He is the new king and he is ruling from above and indeed his kingdom has come. And then this is, so that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations who are called by my name declares the Lord who does this. When is Israel ever and when will they ever possess all the nations? They never will except in the true Israel, the believers in Jesus Christ. We are in every nation. And this is the victory that is in Christ. This is the restoration of the house of David right now today. So James brings this up. And he brings this up to say that it's clear that the Gentiles are coming in. It's clear that the Gentiles are part of this restoration. And it's clear that it's going to be to every nation. So he endorses the arguments of Peter and Barnabas and Paul by citing the scripture that their testimonies are fulfilling. And he concludes, since it's obvious that God is saving the Gentiles in this way, they should not encumber the Gentiles with a bunch of rules to follow. Remember how this started in Acts chapter 15 verse 1, where these men were saying circumcision is necessary for salvation. And then to Acts 15 6, the Pharisees jump in and said, not only is circumcision necessary, they really got to obey the whole law. Now I don't think the Pharisees were arguing this was all necessary for salvation, but nevertheless, they're kind of piling on. So this is why we have two issues here. Are works of the law necessary for salvation? Are they necessary just to be faithful? James concludes with a four-fold recommendation of proper behavior that ought to be given here. And here's what he says. James says they ought to abstain from things polluted by idols. We'll talk much more about these next time. From sexual immorality. from what has been strangled, and from blood." Now all these, in one way or another, are things that are given in the law. But notice that he does not give these as a condition for salvation. He presents these as a recommendation for behavior. And why these particular things? Well, in verse 21, he makes it clear. He says, for, and this connects this to this fourfold recommendation, they ought to follow these things because from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he has read every Sabbath in the synagogues." In other words, they should be doing these things because there is a testimony likely in their city of the Jews and these four things. are four things that were very common in the practice of the pagan religions and the things that the Jews would abhor. These are the things that the Jews would look at and say, no, no, no, wildly inappropriate. God doesn't want you to do that. And so James is making these recommendations essentially so that the Gentiles and the Jews will be able to more peacefully coexist in a singular congregation of believers in Jesus Christ. Now Paul is going to, in Romans 14, kind of roll back these things. And to be punny about it, I'll say Paul essentially puts food sacrifice to idols back on the table for the Gentiles. because he talks about our liberty in Christ and how it is that we can, by our conscience, decide how it is that we ought to worship. But at the same time, Paul emphasizes, but we should not be a stumbling block to other people of the faith who feel differently than we do. That's all in Romans 14 and we'll talk about that in extent next time because next time we're going to focus on the proper faith and practice of the church. So the Council concludes essentially that no, circumcision is not required for salvation. In fact, nothing is in addition to faith. However, in order to get along we recommend these particular things. So how do we conclude this? Well, we conclude as the Council did. First of all, this faith alone for salvation is affirmed. This is what theologians call monergism. You can see mono in that word, meaning one. and jism meaning a work and so in other words or ergo ergism being the work so monergism is saying the work of one The work of salvation is God alone. This is the traditional belief that is laid out here in Acts chapter 15. It's laid out very clearly by Paul in the book of Acts. It's laid out by all the apostles and by Jesus himself in every illustration they give of salvation. has the believer helpless. We are either rescued, which is the word salvation, which means that we were helpless. We are either dead or we are blind, which both indicate that we are helpless. We are adopted, which means we had no lineage, no life, no family, but we were brought into the family of God in action of the Father. All the illustrations that we were redeemed indicates that we were in slavery, and indeed we know that slavery was to sin. And being redeemed is an external act of someone to take you out of that, to pay the price for you and bring you out. We have also been justified. We have been granted the righteousness, imputed the righteousness of Christ. which is not our own righteousness. So over and over again everything you see in the New Testament regarding our salvation shows it to be a work of God and not of men. Men simply believe and even the believing we cannot take credit for. Now, secondly, faith plus anything else, therefore, is refuted. This is what we call synergism. This is anyone that would say, oh yeah, you have to have faith in Christ, but you also have to do this thing, or you have to join this group, or you have to subscribe to these things in order to have or to maintain your salvation. This is synergism. If you're working to accomplish your salvation, or you're working to finish your salvation, or you're working to continue your salvation, you are working with God, that is synergistically, to accomplish your salvation. In that system, regardless of how much work they claim is done, there is room for boasting. only in monarchism is boasting excluded as we see in the book of Ephesians that's why God did it this way so that no one would be boasting so that God would be entirely glorified in the salvation given to people so you can see if we look at Acts chapter 15 here We see that for many, this would be the chapter of missed opportunity. This was for the chance, once and for all, for the council, the apostles together, the leaders at Jerusalem to say, once for all, no, no, no, this is what you have to do to be saved. But the statement wasn't given. It didn't happen. It's not here. And all of these things, except for sexual immorality, are going to be rolled back. in our Christian liberty. Sexual immorality is the one thing that survives of all these things that is monumental and central to living a faithful life in Christ. The others fade away as the context changes, as the church becomes much more Gentile than Jew. Jesus and the Apostles were monarchists. They saw salvation clearly as an action of God as seen by the way they speak about it in their letters. So, what are some objections to this? And there are some, and there are some major and valid concerns when we talk of this way, because these are important things and it leads into error. I often say with Christian doctrine, there's a ditch on either side of the road, regardless of what it is. On the one side, there's one problem, but if you overreact to that, you end up on the other side. And the overreaction to the idea that salvation is by grace alone is that people say, oh, so we can just go ahead and live however we want. We can go on sinning because God did the work to save us. We don't have to do anything at all. Well, that's not actually true. Paul addresses this issue in Romans chapter 6. He says, so can we go on sinning so that grace may abound? And he comes back with a very strong, almost a curse, may it never be. May it never be. See, just because salvation is by grace, that does not give us permission to live how we want. In fact, it gives us the ability, the power, and in our hearts, changed by the Holy Spirit of God, it gives us the very desire to do what is right. John MacArthur puts it this way. He said, grace does not mean we have permission to do as we please. It means we have power to do what pleases God. And James helps us out very much here. In James chapter 2, he addresses this issue very clearly. He says, good works always accompany faith. Good works always accompany faith. He says faith without works is dead. In other words, it's not a true faith. It can't be the kind of faith that saves you. So follow the links on the notes and go check out these other scriptures and you'll see clearly James says, no there's no such thing as someone having salvation, having faith, but not working it out somehow. So what this means to us is very clearly, if you got baptized when you were eight years old, or you went down the aisle, you said some prayer or something one day, and you've not been back to church, and you're not actively growing in your Christian faith, and you're not actively serving God in your Christian faith, you honestly have no reason to believe that you had the kind of faith that saves. And you ought to then work out your faith with fear and trembling. You ought to go to the Word of God and to the people of God to make sure you've got this right. Because if there's no fruit, there's no faith. The Gospel assumes obedience beginning to end, putting forth a great effort in order to please God. Not so that we can be saved, but because we've been saved. Not so that we can earn a place in heaven, but so that we can glorify God who is in heaven to work out our salvation. Our good works bring great glory to God and they add to our assurance. Our good works give us the encouragement that, yeah, I might actually be in the faith. I might actually be the genuine article because I'm acting like I am. Ultimately, there's going to be a change in someone who truly believes in Jesus Christ because the Spirit of God comes into them. They are born again. They are new creations. The old things have passed away. Our greatest testimony to ourselves and to others that God has done something are the works that we do, working out our faith. So another objection would be this. Don't some verses in the Bible add something to faith for salvation? Examples of verses would be like this in Acts chapter 2 verse 38. We'll see this. We'll see Peter says, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Well, we know that having the forgiveness of sins and the Holy Spirit means that you're saved. So, does that mean we have to repent and be baptized? Well, yes, we have to repent and be baptized, but those are response. to the faith. Once the faith has come, people repent and baptize. And the same can be said of all the other various formulas we find. Like in Romans chapter 10, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. Look, if you confess with your mouth, you believe. You believe at least some, but then also it adds, believe in your heart. So this is a matter of the heart. Jesus talks about acknowledging. Everyone who acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God. So if you would deny Jesus before men, he says, I'll deny you before the Father. And that's true because if you would deny Jesus before men, you really don't believe that he is the Lord of Lords, that he's the King of Kings, that he's the eternal author and finisher of faith, that he is the one who bought you with a price by his blood. You cannot believe those things and then deny him before men. And so all these things are true. Another important one is enduring to the end. And Jesus says this several times in multiple discourses. He says, you will be hated by all for my name's sake, but the one who endures to the end will be saved. And some will look at that verse and they'll say, well, you have to endure to the end. And I will say, yes, you absolutely do. But I would add that if you're truly saved, you will. And so it becomes an issue of semantics, how these things are expressed. The Bible very commonly substitutes the effect for the cause. The effect is enduring to the end. The cause is salvation in Jesus Christ, real salvation. And so these are all deeds in keeping with repentance, as it says elsewhere in the scripture. And so what we'll find in addition to faith, we'll find repentance, baptism, confession, doing particular works, acknowledging Jesus before others, enduring to the end. All these things are the results of faith. Our ultimate references on this are Hebrews chapter 11 and Romans chapter 4. In Hebrews chapter 11, it shows very clearly that good works are the result of faith in the people of God. Hebrews chapter 11 brings person after person from the Old Testament before us, and it presents their faith to us, and it says, look what they did. They believed God, it says, and then they did this thing. And this is the pattern all through that chapter. That means that true faith results in works just as James says so. Romans chapter 4, Paul uses the case of Abraham to really march this out and really examine. He takes a whole chapter showing us that Abraham himself was justified by his faith before he had done the works that God even acknowledged. And so this is powerfully important. This is what James teaches. This is what all the Apostles teach. So what is our encouragement today? Our encouragement today then is a couple things. First of all this, trust in Jesus Christ alone for your salvation. The encouragement is if salvation were to depend upon us, we would surely mess it up. When we looked at the Old Testament and we read those things there, we recognized in the behavior of the people of Israel our own behavior. We read the book of Judges and we find out when things are good they kind of fell away. God would have to bring difficulties upon them and in the difficulties they cry out to God and God would save them. And you see they were in this vicious cycle of failure. But in Christ, because it depends on Him, then we're in an eternal and permanent victory. And so when we trust in Christ alone for our salvation, we don't have to question, well, was my faith sincere? Well, did I repent? Well, have I done enough good works? Have I been consistent enough in my good works? Do my good works outweigh my bad works? And we'll forever be fretting and uncertain of our eternal destiny. But if our eternal destiny is in the hands of Jesus Christ, as if he's our good shepherd, as if he is our brother, he is our intercessor before God, as if we have his righteousness, not our own to bring before God, all these truths of the Bible, if we believe in him as if all those things are so. then we are greatly encouraged, knowing that nothing can separate us from the love of God, as Paul says in Romans chapter 8. Trust in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and repent of your sins because all who believe will repent. And this is how we praise God for the salvation that he gives. This is how we avoid boasting. This is how we properly put all praise at the feet of Jesus Christ for the salvation that he has accomplished. If you're ever in doubt, turn to the end of the story and look at the conditions that we find in heaven. In the book of Revelation, in chapter 5 verses 9 and 10, we have a song and the song is given up to the worthy one, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the only one worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. And it says, worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and You have made them a kingdom and priests to our nation and they shall reign on the earth Did you notice the subject of all the verbs here? You know, you're worthy to take the scroll you were slain you ransomed you Have ransom to people from every tribe, tongue, nation, language. You made them a kingdom. And then it switches. They shall reign on the earth. Praise God, because what He has done, we receive. What He has accomplished, we reap the benefit. And that puts our worship in right order. And that puts us in right order with God, recognizing who He is and what He has done for us. And then secondly, because those things are true, examine yourself for the fruits of salvation. You might be one of these Christians who just, you just feel lukewarm, you feel like you really haven't done anything. Well it's time to really ask, am I truly in the faith? Do I really believe? And the way you're going to sort that out is in the context of the people with God. You're going to have to counsel with somebody that's known God longer than you. You're going to have to talk to somebody, and that's why I invite you to reach out to us at the end of this if you want help here. We'll help you find a church near you. We can assist in that. That is for the people of God to help you with. And the Word of God is going to be their primary tool in that order. But by yourself, it's going to be difficult to find assurance. Because remember Jesus' promise. He said, where two or more are gathered, there I am in the midst of them. There's a very special promise that Jesus gave for His people gathered together. And I tell you this, that if you are uncertain of your salvation, you cannot go it alone and get the assurance that you need. You have to have that encouragement of another believer in Jesus Christ. And not just any believer, one that believes the Bible. One that believes in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Let's pray together and praise God. God, we praise you for your great salvation that you have accomplished. We praise you for all that you are doing in this world. And Lord, that you have saved anyone is far more than the human race deserves. But Lord, you haven't just saved anyone. You've saved a great multitude from every tribe, tongue, nation, and language. Those who were your enemies, you have made your friends. Those who were far off, you brought near. Those who were dead, you made alive. You've done all these things. Lord, let us praise you for them. And let us, Lord, keep this straight. And let us work together against the heresies that come, as they did in Acts chapter 15, as we see the apostles gather together and search your scriptures and work these things out to see what it is you have done. Lord, let us do the same and give us a faith to discern it properly. Lord, we thank you. We praise you for putting these things in action, putting these things in order. Lord we give you all the glory and honor for you indeed are worth it all and we indeed Ask you to bless us this day with a knowledge of this Bless us with your presence Bless us with faith that we may understand that we may worship you in truth We praise you in Jesus name Amen And amen. And I hope you found that encouraging. Again, I encourage you to contact us. We can help answer your questions. We can answer your objections. If this brought up some things you're uncertain about, please contact us about that. We'll work that out together through the scriptures, through that special promise Jesus has made to be with us when we're together. And so contact us at Whiterunbaptist.gmail.com or you can go to Whiterun.org to learn more. God bless you.