The First Church Council - Works Salvation Came into the Church - Part 1

Please take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 15. Now we will be in verses one to 35, but actually in the message tonight, we will only cover verses one to five, verses one to five. Now here we have what many see as the most important chapter in the book of Acts. Now let that sink in. It's a big statement. Some have called chapter 15 the turning point in the book. I would agree. Others have called chapter 15 the watershed chapter of the book. I would agree. And some even call it the centerpiece of the book. I don't have a problem with that statement.

And all of those descriptions are accurate and we could probably add to that list of description descriptions. And I say all that for two reasons right away. First of all, I want to pique your interest. I want to pique your interest so you will study and read the chapter. Maybe use some of your study resources on your own. But then second, I want us to see just how important this chapter is. And I will explain its importance later on in the message, along through the message, and as we finish out these verses in the next few messages. But notice where we are in the book of Acts. This is big picture just stepping back from the verses.

Paul and Barnabas' first missionary trip or journey was over. I think we know that Luke covered their journey in chapter 13 and 14. And I believe we studied those events thoroughly and well in those eight messages that I brought to us. But Barnabas and Paul started their journey in Antioch. And what I see is their home church out of their worship there in the church and out of their service there in the church in Antioch. Paul and Barnabas were called of God to this work. They were commissioned by the church to the work. And they were sent out from the church into the work. They left Antioch of Syria.

They set across the Mediterranean to the autumn of Cyprus. They preached the gospel in the cities of Souness and then the capital city of Paphos, which is where the governor, Sergius, savingly believed. They then made their way back across the Mediterranean to Perga and on northward to Antioch where Paul preached and many believed. Next, we see that they went on into the region of Galatia to the cities of Iconium and Listeria and Derby, preaching the gospel in those cities and establishing churches all while facing great persecution from the Jews. And you might say, "Pastor Chris, yes, it was great.

"They stone Paul and left him for dead." That's pretty bad. And look at all of the great gospel success they had. From Luke's account, we see that Paul and Barnabas were able to stay in some of those cities long enough to evangelize enough people to establish churches in four important cities, Antioch, Iconium, Listeria, and Derby. Acts 14, verses 20 to 23, those verses say that Paul and Barnabas went back through those cities for the purpose of strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations, we must enter the kingdom of God.

And when they had appointed elders for them in every church with prayer and fasting, they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed. So based on those verses, we can say for sure that at least four churches were established in four important cities from their first missionary efforts. And on top of that, there were converts to Christ in some of those other cities, which may have resulted in churches being planted, but Luke does not clearly say that. And on top of all of that great gospel success now, they made their way back to Antioch for a great churchwide missions report and celebration.

I have said that this sounds like a missions conference, a local church missions conference. I don't believe it's stretching it. Verse 27, "And when they," that's Paul and Barnabas, "arrived," arrived in Antioch, "and gathered the church together, "they declared all that God had done with them, "and how he," that's God, "had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles." Now a question or two to think about, how did they all feel? Remember, this is the church that saw what God was doing in them, and commissioned them and sent them off. How do you think they all felt? How do you think they all reacted to this great report?

I believe there was lots of celebration. I believe there was lots of rejoicing. I believe there were lots of stories told, praises to God. I believe this stirred up lots of gospel, church planning, evangelism, excitement. At this point, they certainly must have been on this kind of Jesus gospel, evangelizing, church planning, excitement, and high. They certainly would have been fired up to go at it all over again. We know there was a second and third missionary journey. So I believe with the church right here in verse 27, I believe they were fired up and ready to do it all over again.

But in chapter 15, Luke tells us that the church could not get back on the missionary trail just yet. That is because Satan came in behind Paul and Barnabas and attacked the churches. And Satan did that by attacking the very message and power behind the great gospel success of those churches. Satan attacked the gospel. And chapter 15 is the most important book in the book of Acts. It is the watershed chapter in the book because here we have the first church council that met to address how Satan was attacking the church and attacking the gospel. And look at how important these matters were and are today.

They were important then and they're important now. We will see that out of this council, the church asked and answered the most consequential question for the church. Let me repeat that. We will see that out of this council in chapter 15, the church asked and answered the most consequential question for the church. What must a man do to be saved? What must a man do to be saved? What does a person have to do to be made right with God? And that is because Satan attacked the church by attacking the gospel.

And he attacked not by bringing immorality into the church, not by bringing Greek culture into the church, not by bringing worldliness into the church, no. He attacked by bringing the law of Moses into the church and adding Jewish legalisms, ritualism, and Jewish works to the gospel for the salvation of men and men. Now this is what was happening. This is background now. This is Jewish and Gentile culture now. I got some of this from John MacArthur and some of my own reading. I think it's very important. This will give us big picture culture background. This will help us more than we know.

Because of Paul and Barnabas' first missionary journey, there were a great number of Gentiles coming into the church. Gentile churches were even being established in Gentile territories comprised of only Gentiles. And this was very disturbing to many of the Jews. This was even threatening and dangerous in the eyes of many of the Jews. Many Jews believed that the Gentiles who wanted to believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah and come into the church, many of them believed that they should first become Jewish proselytes. When you come across the term proselytes, that means Gentiles who were converts to Judaism. They were proselytes.

That is because the Jews understood Christianity. Now get this as the culmination and the completion of Judaism. That was really a natural assumption. Think about it. To them, if the Gentiles just believed in Jesus and they came into the church just like they did, they saw that as a cheap, unauthentic shortcut in the process of becoming a Christian. Many of the Jews just could not comprehend and accept that pure pagans would believe in Jesus, become a part of the church, and become equal with them in the church without becoming Jewish first. Think about it.

Those Jews have been faithful to serve God and Judaism for generations, working hard in their faith, the faith of Judaism. And for those Gentiles to accept Jesus as the promised Messiah of their forefathers in the Old Testament and then become a part of the church right beside them, well, that seemed cheap, unfair, really even insulting to them. And on top of that, they were very afraid that this flood of Gentiles coming into the church would ruin and even destroy all of their Jewish culture, all of their cherished Jewish traditions that they held so dear. Think about what we've seen through our study of Acts.

The church was birthed at Pentecost, right? Which was the greatest event in the year for Judaism. And the church was birthed out of Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews, right? And the church was full of thousands of Jews and just a few proselytes who were Gentiles who had converted to Judaism. And when a trickle of a few Gentiles came in, like some proselytes in Acts two, just a few, like the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts eight, well, the Jews were kind of okay with that. Then when Cornelius, the Roman Satorian, and those of his household believed in Jesus and they were baptized in Acts 10, well, things got kind of shaky.

Peter had to give an account of himself in these events. There in the church at Jerusalem in Acts 11, I mean, he really had to prove what he had done. But when this great missionary journey all through Gentile territory brought many Gentiles to saving faith and both Gentile churches and Gentile regions, great concern, great conflict came about. So, Satan, being the master liar, the master deceiver, and the hater of all that is good, especially the hater of God, the hater of God's people, the hater of God's work, Satan took advantage of all of these things.

He planned and attacked, not by bringing sexual immorality into the church, not even by bringing all of this Greek culture into the church, not by bringing worldliness into the church. Satan attacked the church by bringing the law of Moses into the church and adding Jewish legalism, ritualism, and Jewish works to the gospel for the salvation of men and men. And he did that by using the Jews. And he did that by using this Jew-Gentile conflict in situation. And this led to the first church council, which is arguably the most important council in church history, which is commonly called the Jerusalem Council.

Many of you have a title above those verses in your Bible. In here, the church asked and answered the most consequential, the most important question ever for the church and mankind. What must a man do to be saved? What must a person do to have a right relationship with God? Now, with that background and that context of all of these verses and all that's been going on since Acts chapter two, when all of that in our mind and in our understanding, I want to share how I wanna approach the chapter. Most scholars see the Jerusalem Council starting in verse one, going to verse 35.

That's why I mentioned verses one to 35 in the beginning of the message. And most explain these events basically the same way. If you do your own study, you'll see most of the scholars that I refer to, that you study, basically have the same type of outline. So to me, I see that four things happen in these events. This is the outline. First, I see the dispute. That's in verses one to five. This was a dispute. This was dissension. This was division. So there's a dispute here that comes to the surface verses one to five. Second, the debate and the defense of the positions. I see the Jewish defense of the position.

Then I see the defense and the position of the apostles and the church leaders. And there's one kind of in the middle we'll see. We see that in verses six to 18. So the defense of these positions. Third, I see the decision that was made in verses 19 to 29. In other words, the conclusion, the decisions of all of these events. And then last, I see the dissemination of the decisions made known to the churches. In other words, they took what was decided there at the council and they disseminated that information into the churches verse 30 to 35. Now we'll revisit this outline throughout the messages and you'll be able to get this fairly easy.

And as always, if you want my notes, I'll be glad to give them to you. Now get this church. Notice this is right before the second missionary journey. Starts at verse 36. Think about that. This is right before the second missionary journey. And there is a great lesson here. The church must have her soteriology right before she goes on mission. Let me restate that. The church must have her soteriology right before she goes on mission. Now let me explain. I normally don't use big theological words. Most people don't like high dollar theological words. Soteriology is simply the theology pertaining to salvation affected by Christ.

This is the theology that studies and explains how man is made right with God, how man is saved. John MacArthur explains the great importance of proper soteriology by saying, and I'm quoting, "Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation "is the pinnacle of Christian theology." Let me restate that because he is so right. Soteriology, the doctrine of salvation, is the pinnacle of Christian theology since our eternal destiny hinges on the correctness of our soteriology. A question, what happens if our soteriology is wrong? We go to hell, we send others to hell.

And what would have happened to their missionary efforts in their second missionary journey if they had not asked and answered rightly the question, "What must a man do to be saved?" You see? What would have happened in their second missionary journey if they had not asked this question and answered it rightly, "What must a man do to be saved?" Well, I think you can get it. They could have ruined it all. The gospel would have been corrupted with works. The saving power of the gospel would have been ruined, and the birth and the work of the church would have been ruined as well. Satan knew just what he was doing, folks. So let's get started.

We will read the verses as we go. We will not try to read all of them. I'm gonna leave that to you to do in your homework. So number one, the first major point in our outline, this is the only one we'll cover tonight, the dispute that arose verses one to five. Let's read those verses. Remember now, this is right after this great missions conference. Really is. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers. Unless you were 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 Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers. That would be brothers and sisters. And when they had come to Jerusalem, or when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders.

That would be the elders there in the church at Jerusalem now and they declared all that God had done with them. In other words, they gave a report about their Gentile missionary journey. Verse five, "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." To keep the law of Moses. Now right here is where it is very important to understand how these verses and these events are connected to the book of Galatians.

Remember now, a few weeks ago, I explained that although there is some debate here, it seems that Paul wrote the book of Galatians to the churches in the region of Galatia. So that means he was writing to those churches that he and Barnabas established on their first missionary journey. Antioch, which is really into the north on the edge of Galatia, and then on down in the heart of Galatia, Iconium, Lystra, and Derby. So get this, notice this now.

The Jerusalem Council was dealing with the faults, works-based salvation that came into these churches after Paul and Barnabas had moved on and the book of Galatians was written later on to do the very same thing. But let's look into what happened in this dispute. Several things. First, we see the corruption that was brought into the church. Verse one, we see the corruption that was brought into the church. I wanna read that verse again. 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. Here we see a dispute was brought into the church.

But what church? Verse one says that the men came down from Judea and they were teaching the brothers, the brothers and the sisters. But who were these brothers and sisters? What church? Where did this take place? This is where understanding, this is where an understanding of Galatians connects with these events. This dispute came into the church at Antioch and it was brought in from some from Judea. And verse 24 tells us that they did not come with approval and authority from the church at Jerusalem. And verse two tells us that they did not come with any approval or authority from Paul. Simply they were acting on their own.

So simply, these men who became known as the Judaizers now without any authority or approval from the apostles and the church at Jerusalem, they went into the church at Antioch teaching those recently converted Gentiles that they must be circumcised according to the custom of Moses to be saved. Simply, they taught that it was not enough to repent and believe the gospel to be saved, but that they had to put themselves under certain parts of the Mosaic law as well in order to be saved. Simply, they were adding law keeping to grace. Simply, they were adding works to grace. I like what William McDonald says here. Any of you have his commentary?

I'm quoting, "This of course was a frontal attack on the gospel of the grace of God. The true gospel of grace teaches that Christ finished the work necessary for salvation on the cross." And he goes on to say, "The moment human merit or works are introduced, then it is no longer of grace. Under grace all depends on God and not men. If conditions are attached, then it is no longer a gift but a debt. And salvation is a gift, it is not earned or merited." And look church, look at how appealing this was for the Jews. That is while working to understand the context and the background of these events is very important.

Many of these Jews would have been tempted in a very big way to follow this doctrine and many did. And look at how Satan was working. Satan knew just what to do to corrupt the purity of the gospel and the power of the gospel. And he knew adding Jewish law keeping to the gospel would be very, very attractive to the Jews. And he knew that many would fall into this trap. Now there's a lesson here, actually two. Look church, listen close. Satan knows what to put in front of us to keep us from coming to faith in Christ. Let that sink in. Satan knows just what to put in front of us to keep us from coming to faith in Christ.

And the other lesson is this, Satan knows how to alter the gospel in such a way that is appealing to us in our day. He's that good, he's that clever. He knows how to alter the gospel in such a way that is appealing to us. Always remember he is an angel of light, he is the deceiver of all deceivers, he is the father of all eyes. He knows just how to do these things and he's good at it. Second, we see the opposition from Paul and Barnabas. Now this was a heated opposition. Look at verse two, I'll read verse one again.

But some men came down from Judea and they were teaching the brothers and sisters, unless you were circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them. Here we see that Paul and Barnabas put up a great fight against the Judaizers. The amplified says Paul and Barnabas disagreed greatly and debated with them. Now I was doing some research in the language here and I ran across what A.T. Robertson said about this fight. I looked to him for language research, he's a very noted theologian and scholar, language scholar. But this was really good, it's really good.

I think it's worth reading because Robertson really shows us the fierceness of their fight. He says and I'm quoting, Paul and Barnabas were not willing to see this Gentile church brow beaten and treated as heretics by the self appointed regulators of Christian orthodoxy from Jerusalem. The work had developed under the leadership of Paul and Barnabas and they accepted full responsibility for it and stoutly resisted these Judaizers to the point of sedition. In other words, he's helping us see that they put up a fight. We could say it like this, it was a yard dog fight. They were mad. They were mad.

They had worked, blood, sweat and tears been persecuted for these folks, you see. In other words, when Paul and Barnabas heard what these heretics were doing, they confronted them, they debated them, they fought them fiercely for the truth and for the spiritual wellbeing of the churches and those believers. Folks, listen, listen close to your pastor. God called pastors and elders will fight for you. They'll fight for the church.

God called pastors will go toe to toe with false doctrine and those who propagate false doctrine because they love the truth, they love Jesus, they love the church, they love God and they love the sheep, they are responsible for. Paul and Barnabas were furious. And get this, they were not only fighting for the purity of the gospel, they were fighting for the unity of the church. They knew that this heretical teaching would split the church between Jew and Gentile. They knew this could have split the church and made this Jewish church full of a bunch of Jewish legalism and made a Gentile church free from Gentile or Jewish legalism.

Third, we see the matter was taken to Jerusalem starting in verse two, the second part of verse two and on to verse four. Let's read the verses again. But some men came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, unless you were 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 other elders 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 Phoenicia and Samaria describing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles and brought great joy to all the brothers and sisters. And when they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles there in the church at Jerusalem and the elders there in the church at Jerusalem and they, that's Paul and those elders, they described or declared all that God had done with them. In other words, they gave a missions report there as well. But Luke tells us just how serious Paul and Barnabas saw these things.

Not only did they fight furiously against the teaching of the Judaizers, they sought to take these matters to the church at Jerusalem. And it wasn't just Paul and Barnabas. It was the leaders from the church at Antioch, you see. Now what we have here is this. The church at Antioch appointed a delegation of capable, trustworthy church leaders to take these matters to Jerusalem. Right there with Paul and Barnabas in the middle. They appointed Paul and Barnabas and some elders. And it would be safe to assume these were elders who had been appointed to lead in the church, you see.

But these appointed men were sent to Jerusalem to bring this theological debate and division in their theology to the apostles, to the elders there in the church at Jerusalem. And as this delegation traveled to Jerusalem, Luke tells us they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria and they explained all that had been happening with the Gentiles coming to saving faith. And Luke tells us that all of the brothers in those cities rejoiced and it appears they were on the right side. But why did they go to Jerusalem? Why didn't they just hash all that out in Antioch? Jerusalem was the mother church.

The church at Jerusalem was the mother church and the apostles were there. And the church at Jerusalem and the apostles there, they carry this unique authority. Think about it, the church was born in Jerusalem and the work of the church had emanated out of the church at Jerusalem and the apostles were headquartered there and working in and out of there. Of course, we know that Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles so he really was never in Jerusalem. But when they arrived in Jerusalem, Luke seems to tell us that Paul and Barnabas and those elders had two meetings. They had a private meeting and a public meeting.

Paul and his delegation went and met privately with the apostles and the elders of the church in private, giving them a full account of what God did in their ministry to the Gentiles. Let me pause here. Paul submitted himself to their authority. You see that? He speaks of this in the book of Galatians. Paul submitted himself to the authority of the apostles there in Jerusalem and the mother church. But in verse five it appears that this turned into a public meeting as well. It seems that there was some kind of a churchwide public meeting to deal with these things. So forth, we see the corruption was brought even to Jerusalem. Verse five.

But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them, speaking of the Gentiles now, that had been reported coming to faith and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Now I have already said this, but it appears that this became a public meeting where the Judaizers made their case and presented their doctrine publicly before the entire church. So this corruption, it made its way all the way to Jerusalem before the church. But we desperately need to see what this corruption did and what this corruption revealed in the church. And we can miss this if we are not careful.

As a matter of fact, I almost missed it. John MacArthur pointed it out and when he did, I'm telling you, I dove in head first. From verse one to verse five, we see that there were two groups involved. Let me explain. Verse one, Luke tells us that certain men came teaching this corrupt gospel. And most scholars do believe this group became known as the Judaizers. And it is important to know that the Judaizers were not true believers because they believed in a false works based salvation, which is no gospel at all. Remember, they believed that circumcision and keeping certain aspects of the law of Moses were necessary for salvation.

But verse five, in verse five, Luke tells us that some of the Pharisees who were believers, they rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses. Look back at verse five and notice that. But some believers who belong to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, it is necessary to circumcise them. That's the Gentiles who had come into the church and order them, that's the Gentiles, to keep the law of Moses. But we have to ask, what's going on here? Luke says they were believers. But it seems that they were believing and propagating the false gospel of the Judaizers. So what's Luke telling us?

Luke is telling us that the Pharisees were different but similar to the Judaizers. They were different in that they did not argue that circumcision was necessary for salvation, but they were similar in that they held on to much of Judaism and the law of Moses. But the key to their difference was this. This was life and death now. These believing Pharisees did not believe and argue that circumcision was necessary for salvation. But that those believing in Jesus were obliged to keep the law. Things like circumcision, you see? MacArthur helps us out here by showing us how these believing Pharisees now are spoken of in Romans 14.

He says, and I'm quoting, they were much like the weaker brothers of Romans 10, or Romans 14, one to 10, who held on to dietary laws, rituals, and Sabbath codes for conscience sake. Now before I move on to summarize verses one to five, we must see how this applies to us. First and foremost, no matter what, I don't care who is preaching. I don't care how many books they wrote. I don't care how famous they are. The gospel plus anything is no gospel at all and it will not save. It damns. And destroys. And we must never forget that Satan knows just how to alter the gospel to fool us.

The false gospel he used to trick these Jews may be different than the false gospel he uses to trick people in our day. He is that good. Second, and also very important, there are true believers who are susceptible to and prone to law keeping. See that in verse five? There are true believers, true believers now, who are susceptible to and prone to law keeping. Now that does not mean that these who are susceptible to Jewish law keeping and prone to law keeping are lost. No, Paul calls them the weaker brother in Romans 14. Now there's a lesson here actually too. First of all, never violate your conscience. Paul deals with that in Romans 14.

What he says to these Jews is this, you're a weaker brother, you can't disconnect from these Jewish rituals and Jewish customs. He says, don't violate your conscience but you are a weaker brother. And the lesson for us is this, we never violate our conscience. I give you an example. There are convictions that I once held to that I don't really hold to anymore. And I should have never been led to violate my conscience then 30 years ago. But now I'm free from some of those convictions. Let me give you an example of what I'm aiming at.

There was a day I would have told you if you had any drink of alcohol at all, you were lost, you were going to hell fast and it was a sin, I don't care who you were. It's very legalistic. But oh, I had that conviction, I had that conviction. And it's wrong to come along and lead people to violate their conscience. But as I have matured, I've understood, the scriptures don't allow that. Of course I can give many, many warnings as to why it's not wise, but I cannot tell you, the Bible says it's a sin to drink.

So we do not violate our conscience and we're getting into the matters of the conscience, those things we call convictions and it can get sticky and hard. But the second lesson is this, don't violate others to violate their conscience. Sounds like I'm being redundant but I'm saying it like that on purpose. Don't violate others by leading them to violate their conscience, that is wrong. Remember Romans 14 deals with a lot of this. The weaker brother, the stronger brother, matters of the conscience and how we deal with all of these things.

And let me tell you before I move on, if we don't handle these kind of things right, it creates all kinds of problems, it hurts all kinds of people and it creates more issues in the church than you know. So in summary, take notice of what we have here in verses one to five, oh it's quite a lot. A great dispute that led to a division arose in the church. Certain men came into the church preaching that folks are saved by grace through faith in Christ plus keeping certain aspects of the law in Moses, namely circumcision. And Paul and Barnabas confronted them, debated them and fought them. And Luke tells us this was no small division.

And what did Paul and Barnabas stand for? What did they stand for? What did they live and die for? That folks are saved by grace through faith apart from any works, even works of the law. Well, that did not quell the debate. That did not quell the division as we can see. So the church in Antioch sent this matter to the apostles and the elders there at the church in Jerusalem to let the mother church and all involved straighten it out. We call it the great Jerusalem council. But notice, we actually see three groups. I only mentioned two. Notice we see three.

First, those who believe like the Judaizers, they believe that a person, for a person to be saved, they must believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament as well as in here to certain parts of the law of Moses. Those are those who believed and propagated a false gospel, a gospel of works. It always damns and always destroys. Second, those who savingly believe, but they still felt bound to keep certain parts of the law of Moses. They believe that for a person to be saved, they must savingly believe in Jesus as the promised Messiah. And that was enough to save them.

But they still felt bound to certain parts of the Mosaic law and certain ways of living in Judaism for a conscious sake. These are those who believed and propagated the true gospel, but oh, they were prone to some legalism and holding on to those things in Judaism. And then third, that third group. Those who savingly believed, but they were totally free from all things that pertain to Judaism and the law of Moses. You see, circumcision, no big deal. That was out. What's that all about? The Sabbath days and all that, no more. They didn't pay attention to any of that. Jewish ceremonies and rituals, all that was gone.

These are those who believed and preached the true gospel and they had the most freedom. And occasionally we'll see that these three groups were button heads. Paul was always fighting the Judaizers. They always came behind him. These legalistic folks were always hanging around and the freedom folks were always hanging around and they always kind of had a hard time getting along. That goes on today. But look at this church. The latter two groups, the two groups who were really Christian. They were to love one another, not judge one another, even support one another.

And even love and support one another when they kind of lived out the Christian life a little different. No judgment, no gritting of teeth. I've known people who kind of were bound in their conscience by a lot of convictions and they would look at a brother or a sister over here that had a lot of freedom and they would say they love them and they would say they supported them, but they always had their teeth clenched. These two groups were to love one another, not judge one another, not grit their teeth, love and accept and rejoice that they are living out their Christian faith the way the Lord is leading them, not violating their conscience.

Now at this point I want to pause and our message, really our outline. Next week I'll pick up with verses six to 18 and we'll just see how far we get. But I want to close by showing us just how serious and dangerous these matters were to the gospel, in the work of the church, in the Gentiles right in the middle, okay? I borrowed these insights from Warren Wearsby. This is kind of some teaching that I do sometimes. Sometimes I'll grab teaching and I'll assimilate it into my message and it becomes kind of teaching. This is good, I held on to it and I knew I wanted to use it and it's perfect for our conclusion.

Notice just how dangerous this false gospel that the Judaizers were propagating, notice how dangerous it was. By trying to mix Jewish law keeping with grace, they were pouring the new wine of the gospel into the old worn out wineskins of the old covenant. Luke 5, 36 to 39. They were actually sewing up the veil that had been torn, Luke 23, 45, therefore blocking the new and living way to God that Jesus had opened up when he died on the cross and tore that veil there in the temple, Hebrews 10, 19 to 25.

In every way, they were really rebuilding the wall that existed between Jews and Gentiles that Jesus destroyed by going to the cross, Ephesians 2, 14 to 16. They were also putting the heavy Jewish yoke on the shoulders of the Gentiles, Acts 15, 10, and Galatians 5, 1, and get this, the Jews, they could not even carry this yoke very well themselves. And they were asking the newborn church to move out of the sunlight and into the shadows, Colossians 2, 16 to 17, Hebrews 10, 1. And I'm quoting Wiersby here by saying, they were saying a Gentile must first become a Jew before he can become a Christian.

It is not sufficient for them to simply trust in Jesus, they must also obey Moses. That's absurd, that's what they were doing. And how bad was that? How bad was that? How dangerous was that? How life-threatening was that? But it gets worse. This false gospel that the Judaizers were propagating threatened the very nature of the mission work of the church. Therefore it threatened the very nature of the great commission. If what the legalistic Judaizers were teaching was true, then all that Paul and Barnabas preached and did on their first missionary journey was wrong.

Along with preaching that salvation is found in Jesus, in Jesus name only, in the gospel only, they should have been teaching those Gentiles all about Judaism, they should have been converting them to Judaism and helping them to live under the law as well and then accepting Jesus. You see how bad that is? The implications of all of this is to the missionary journeys and the great commission. So let me stop here and I'll tell you the title of the message and we'll carry this title all throughout the study verses one to 35. This is all about the first church council. Work salvation came into the church. Think about that.

It all got turned upside down when that little group came on down, doesn't appear that they had a big following either, it all got turned upside down when that little group came on down and they started saying, Jesus, is that all? What about circumcision? You see, the first church council, work salvation, came into the church.