Sermon Tone Analysis

Great News about the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The Book of Acts - Part 50

Acts 15:11-31

Sermon by Rick Crandall

Grayson Baptist Church - July 27, 2014

INTRODUCTION:

*I have heard a lot of great news in my life.

"Yes, I'll marry you!" "I'm pregnant!"

(I got to hear that one 3 times!)

"You're going to be grandparents!"

"We got all of your wife's cancer, and we got it early.

She won't need treatments."

*I've heard great news in my life countless times.

But the greatest news I've ever heard is the gospel of Jesus Christ! "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life (John 3:16)."

*The good news of the cross of Jesus Christ is the greatest news the world will ever hear!

And this Scripture shows some of the great things about the gospel.

1. First: The gospel is based on God's grace.

*We start today with the wonderful statement of faith Peter made in vs. 11, "We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they.''

*The early church leaders had come together in Jerusalem to deal with the false teaching of legalistic believers.

They claimed in vs. 1 that "unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved."

The question then was: Do we have to keep Old Testament law in order to be saved?

And Christians: The clear answer was no.

"For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)."

*We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

King Duncan explained that this fact is so critical to us, because ultimately, the only thing the law can do is condemn us.

As Duncan said: "If we are saved by keeping all the laws and ordinances, then all of us are doomed.

*Henry Moorhouse told of a lady who said to him, 'I can't see how a person who has broken just one of the commandments can be as bad as another who has broken five or even all of them.' Moorhouse explained to her that God had actually given only one law which consists of ten different parts.

'Look at this watch of mine!' he said.

'If you counted all its cogs, you would find many.

If you ruined only one, you might leave the other parts in perfect condition.

And yet this would be a broken watch that would no longer run.'

*The woman still couldn't see the point; so he said, 'Suppose you were hanging over a cliff, suspended by a chain with ten links.

If someone took a hammer and smashed every link, where would you go?'

She replied, 'To the bottom of the canyon, of course.' 'But if he split only one link, what would happen?' 'Why, that would be just as bad.

I'd still fall and be killed!' Suddenly she got it.

She grasped the truth of James 2:10 that 'whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.' (1)

*If we had to be saved by keeping the law, then we would all be doomed.

But we are saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ!

And in these verses God confirmed the gospel of grace.

*First, grace was confirmed by God's works.

We see this in vs. 12, where "all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles."

*The grace of God was confirmed by God's works.

Then it was confirmed by God's Word, as James began to speak in vs. 13:

13. . .

"Men and brethren, listen to me:

14.

Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.

15.

And with this the words of the prophets agree. .

."

*Then James quoted verses from the Old Testament book of Amos, including great news for us Gentiles!

There the Lord said:

16. 'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David which has fallen down.

I will rebuild its ruins, and I will set it up,

17. so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who are called by My name, Says the Lord who does all these things.'

18. Known to God from eternity are all His works.

19.

Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God."

*There is hope for the Jews and the Gentiles!

There is hope for all of us!

There is hope for the lost!

There is hope for all who will receive our crucified and risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

There is hope for all who will trust in the grace of God.

That's great news about the gospel!

2. But there's more!

The gospel liberates us from Old Testament law.

*The gospel of Jesus Christ liberates us from the heavy burden of the Old Testament law.

*Starting in vs. 19, James proposed to write a letter to clear up this controversy about circumcision.

And James said:

19.

"Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God,

20. but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood.

21.

For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath.''

*Then in vs. 23-29, we see the actual letter:

23.

They wrote this letter by them: "The apostles, the elders, and the brethren, To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia: Greetings.

24.

Since we have heard that some who went out from us have troubled you with words, unsettling your souls, saying, 'You must be circumcised and keep the law' to whom we gave no such commandment

25. it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul,

26.

men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

27.

We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth.

28.

For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things:

29. that you abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality.

If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well.

Farewell."

*One thing that stands out in this letter is that the burden of Old Testament law had been lifted by the cross of Jesus Christ.

Keeping the laws about circumcision, animal sacrifices and the Sabbath, etc. was no longer required.

We can eat bacon!

Praise the Lord!

*Of course, God's moral law was never abolished.

In fact, Jesus calls us to a much higher standard than under the Old Testament.

The Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7 makes this truth abundantly clear.

But we are no longer bound by the multitude of ritualistic laws.

So the letter the church leaders sent out to the Gentile Christians was very simple.

It did not include 400 things to avoid or 40 things to avoid.

It only listed 4 things to avoid.

*Paul later talked about the simplicity of the gospel in 2 Corinthians 11:3, and there he said: "I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

The great news here is that we are released from the burden of the law!

We are released from the complex burden of Old Testament law.

*Many years ago, I worked for the Air Force as a contract negotiator and price analyst.

It was a very rewarding, but sometimes frustrating job.

I got to work with a great group of people for six years.

But the regulations were mind-boggling.

The basic regulation that we used was the A. S. P. R. or "Armed Services Procurement Regulation."

*The A.S.P.R. was thousands of pages long, and it was written in the most obscure gobbledygook you could possibly imagine.

If you asked three people the same question on any topic, you would usually get at least two different answers!

-- Sometimes more!

*The scribes and Pharisees had turned the Old Testament law into something like that.