← ArchiveActsSunday, June 30, 2019DateJune 30, 2019Speaker—TextActs 15Passages in this sermonActs 152:29Ephesians 517:02Luke 1734:05TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00How y'all doing? Excellent. My name is Josh. As I mentioned earlier, I'm a lead pastor here. If you're new, if this is your first time, or you are newer, welcome to what we call our worship gathering, where we can honor Jesus Christ as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.0:30We have a lot of people traveling or sick, so if you're watching online, thank you guys for watching. We hope to see you soon. We have a lot that watch via the internet, and we're thankful that God has provided that medium. We also have, this morning, this is our fifth Sunday, so we have our grade schoolers here with us every fifth Sunday, which happens, I think, four times a year.0:59So if you're in first through sixth grade, if you just stand up, I'm not going to embarrass, this is the last time I'm going to embarrass you. So you guys stand up real quick. It's a joy to have you guys with us. Here's our promise to you. Our adults are going to be on their best behavior because you're here today. So we're thinking you guys can have a seat. One of our grade schoolers came up to me. I saw him in the hall this morning. I said, hey, how did you enjoy Wednesday night?1:26Because we've been playing games, and it's really a great time where we can gather around the gospel. And I said, hey, I forgot that he was on my team. And I said, hey, how did your team do Wednesday night? He said, we lost because of you. And it took everything. I said, okay, I have to be a pastor on Sunday. Is Sunday Lord giving me the strength?1:46And I want to say, you played the last game. It's your fault. But I figured it wasn't good to get into a fight with a fifth grader on Sundays. So I just want you to know, you know who you are. I forgive you for that. And it probably was my fault that we lost. He was right. So if you haven't been able to join us on Wednesdays, and it is an incredible opportunity just to meet new friends and make connections on Wednesday night in an environment that's more casual.2:15And so I encourage you to join us. We have two more in July. If you have your Bibles with you, and I hope that you do, turn to Acts chapter 15. The Acts of the Apostle chapter 15. Since the beginning of time, I believe that people and societies have solved problems through meetings.2:43Through meetings. Truly, some meetings, I believe, have altered the course of history. And I want to give you some of those right now. For instance, the friendship of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford had lasting, and still to this day, lasting consequences and rewards for our society. For instance, you have the meeting of Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, one of the great duos of any sport in history.3:13You have Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who met in high school and ultimately designed the first Apple computer, the Mac, and have also built the Apple dynasty. And some of you are thankful because you have an Apple phone in your pocket right now. If you do, please turn that on silent for the remainder of our service. Joseph Stalin, Winston Churchill, and Franklin Roosevelt met in 1944 to strategize against the German regime.3:45Thankfully, that meeting was successful. And who can forget the first time that Jelly met peanut butter and forever altered the dietary plans of most college students for the course of time? I'm a strawberry jelly person.4:14If you invite me to your house, do not put grape on that. That is blasphemy. I could do Apple. For me, strawberry is the place to go. Why do I give you those examples? Because what we're going to read right now is probably the most famous business meeting in the history of the church. It's so famous, in fact, that it has its own name, the Jerusalem Council.4:40This passage is so critical that scholars have called this chapter, chapter 15, and this ecclesiastical gathering, the most crucial chapter in Acts, the turning point, the centerpiece, and the watershed moment of the whole book. So with that, if you would look with me in Acts, chapter 15, as we read this Jerusalem Council,5:08in a message that's simply entitled this, When Your Tradition Test God. When Your Tradition Test God. Acts 15, beginning in verse 1, we read the word of the Lord. The living and active, inspired words of our Heavenly Father. Some men came down from Jerusalem and began to teach the brothers.5:38Unless you are circumcised according to the custom prescribed by Moses, you cannot be saved. After Paul and Barnabas had engaged him in serious argument and debate, Paul and Barnabas and some others were appointed to go up to the apostles and elders in Jerusalem about this issue. When they had been sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria,6:05describing in detail the conversation of the Gentiles, and they brought great joy to all brothers and sisters. When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church, the apostles, the elders, and they reported all that God had done with them. But some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said,6:32It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this matter. And after there had been much debate, Peter stood and said to them, Brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days God made a choice among you and that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.6:53And 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, cleansing their hearts by faith.7:19Now then, why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, this is crucial this morning. On the contrary, we believe we are saved through grace of the Lord Jesus Christ in the same way that they are.7:38Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the reading of your word. That you would illuminate our minds and our hearts with your Holy Spirit, the same Spirit that inspired these words to be penned thousands of years ago.7:59And Lord, that we right now would not be doers, hearers only, but that we would do the work of our Father. And Lord, for those here right now that have never professed Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we thank you that you have given them the opportunity to hear the good news.8:19We thank you that you have given them the opportunity to respond to your grace. Now, Lord, give them the boldness by faith to receive the gift of salvation through your Son. Well, let me quickly set this contextual stage, what is going on here in Acts chapter 15.8:42It begins with a man named Saul. Saul, a legalistic Pharisee of the highest order, was saved on the road to Damascus. And his conversion was so radical, Paul believed so strongly in the good news of Jesus Christ, the news that could save radical Pharisees,9:06that he completely changed his career and decided to be a missionary based upon the call of God in his life. And so this call has now taken Paul around the ancient world, now to a place called Antioch, which was on the Syrian-Turkey border, about 250 miles north of Jerusalem.9:34And Paul, in this context, is sharing the good news. It's the same good news that has come to him on the road. It's the same good news that when he was blinded, he heard this voice and said, Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? And Paul is going to everyone that he comes in contact with, and he's saying, hey, the same grace that has saved me is the same grace that is offered to you. If you respond by faith, God will heal you. He will save you. He will forgive you of your sins.10:04The price has already been paid, received by faith. And when people hear the good news, guess what happens? They respond to it. People are responding to the good news. The church is growing. And so now what we have in Acts 15, people from Jerusalem are coming to inspect what God is doing in Antioch. And they send some men. Now, I've often found in my life, when people come to you and say, hey, some people are talking, that's never a pleasant conversation.10:30My immediate follow-up is, who are they? Give me their names. I would love to talk to them. Well, you know, those people. Well, those people have names. Is it Bob? Is it Susie? Is it Billy? Give me the names. I would love, well, you know, just they. What do we have here in verse 1? Chapter 15. We have some men. So let's meet these men.11:00They come from Judea in the south. They travel north to Turkey. Why? They have not come to celebrate God's work, but they've come to educate the church on how God works. That's what church people do if we're not careful, right? We don't want to celebrate God's work in people's life. We want to educate them on how God actually works. And so they've come from Judea, coming to Antioch, and they're looking at what God is doing.11:24Do these people love the Lord? Yes. Do they love the working of the Lord? I believe, yes, but they are so steeped in their custom that tradition is getting in the way of them seeing God work in their life. So they are here now encountering what God is doing, and they began to teach the brothers.11:49Now, we know that they belong to a certain party. Not the Democratic Party. Not the Republican Party. And they're not even Libertarians. They are the party of the Pharisees. Now, this is what the Pharisees believe. They believe in the resurrection. Is that a good thing to believe in? Yes, yes. The Sadducees, their competitors, if you will, most likely their enemies, believed in no afterlife, no resurrection.12:17So it's difficult to follow Jesus Christ if you don't believe in the resurrection, because Jesus himself says that he is the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus himself said that he would tear down the temple and rebuild it in three days. Jesus himself said that he would die for the sins of humanity, and in three days he would be resurrected. And so what they have now imparted in their life, if they're not careful, is they have added Jesus, the Messiah, into their already steeped cultural norms.12:42They've added Jesus Christ. They don't have to relinquish their distinctive beliefs. They just add Jesus to what they already believe.13:11Now, here is the inherent danger for the Pharisees, who want to educate and not celebrate what God is doing. Here is the inherent danger for church people. Listen to this very carefully. If their version of Christianity did not amount to anything more than their customs plus Jesus, they remain legalist at heart. If, I love when people talk back to me, if their belief in Christ amounted nothing more than what I already believe plus a little Jesus, they remained legalist at heart.13:42What they've done is just added Jesus into their belief system. They haven't changed their beliefs. They weren't Saul walking to Damascus radically changed. They were Pharisees who said, let's add a little Jesus into our Pharisaical ideas. We already believe in the resurrection. This person says he's raised from the dead.14:11Boom, done. But it didn't change their hearts. You see, legalists think, do this and you will love God. But that's not the way the gospel works. The gospel proclaims the love of God for you produces the love of God in you. The love of God for me produces the love of God in me. And what we strive and struggle with for those who are steeped in the cultural Christianity, which is not really Christianity.14:39It's a knowledge of God, but not love of God. It is if you just go to church, if you do these things enough, then you will love God. Work really hard and then you will love heavenly things. And God says, no, it's my love, Josh, for you that produces a love of you for me. That's the gospel. And we must recognize before we point fingers at the Pharisees and say, I can't believe you did that.15:07We need to recognize that you and I all have inherent customs. And these customs are not necessarily sinful unless our traditions become the ruling authority in our lives. And when our culture becomes the ruling authority over what Jesus is doing, that becomes lethal. See, legalism unchecked is lethal in our lives.15:35Martin Luther once said this, the human heart is hardwired for works righteousness. And I just found in my life, the more churched I become, the more likely I am to let traditionalism guide my life rather than the word of God. Because if I'm honest, there's a lot of things in the Bible that I don't want to be in there.16:01I'm saying that as a pastor. I can jump on board with one of the greatest commandments. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. Man, all day I can meditate on that. I can tattoo it on me. I will write it wherever. But the second command, love others as yourself. I don't really like that command. Because if I'm honest, other than Jesus Christ, the next person I love more than anyone else in the world is myself.16:31And it's hard for me to say, God, let me love people as you love them. Let me love them as myself. So how can we fight this danger of traditionalism in our lives? I want to give you some personal examples of how things in my life have been destructive. And maybe you've had similar experiences. Ephesians 5, 17.17:02These are things that distract from the gospel. Ephesians 5, 19 says that we are to speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and singing and making music with our heart unto the Lord. I cannot tell you the last time someone has come up to me and complained that we did not have a psalm in church. I've never received, in my years of growing up in church and pastoring, I've never had one person complain and said,17:29I can't believe we didn't sing a psalm today. What does Ephesians 5, 19 tell us to do in worship? To sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And that we are to sing and make music in our heart unto the Lord.17:52Did you know that musical instruments listed in the Bible are numerous? Let me give you some of those. The shofar, which is the horn. Cymbals, bells, wooden clappers, shakers and rattles, drums, reed pipes, the lyre, which was a stringed instrument, almost like a primitive guitar, and harp. I don't remember the last time someone has come up to me and said,18:21you know what, Pastor, we need more cymbal in our service. If Keith would just bang on that thing a little bit more, then my heart would stir and I would love Jesus. But it's right there in Scripture, isn't it? And you know what we should do with all of this, the main thing is that am I making music in my heart unto the Lord? Because customs, if authoritative, distract us from the cross.18:48And I'm not saying this message has been prepared for almost a year. I'm not saying this because there is issues going on last week. I said, I'm going to show those people. But as I've been unpacking the Scripture in my heart, I'm thinking, Lord, what tradition in my life prevents me from serving you more? I once had a person tell me concerning Bible translations that the King James Bible, the 1611 authorized version, is the Bible that Jesus used.19:16And I just thought before I could answer them, because I'm very sarcastic and it gets me in trouble, I want to say, Lord, how do I answer them? Because your son was actually from the eternity he was here. And he was here 1600 years before this Bible. But then I began to think of the words of William Tyndale,19:46who gave his life so that the Bible would be accessible to the common English man. And he prayed at his death that the King of England's eyes would be open to the need of the Scriptures in the common language. It was Tyndale's work that provided much of the translation for the KJV Bible. The power of the Word of God is that it is available in our language. And I believe so strongly in the Word of God that I believe that it is living and it is active in Greek.20:17And it is living and active in Hebrew. And it is living and active in Daniel and Aramaic. And it is living and active in English and Spanish. And that there are other books in the world that people say, don't translate them. You will lose the power of that. And I say, man, the power is in the Word of God. Give it to people. Put it in their heart language and let the Word through his Holy Spirit change lives.20:46What power we have in the Word. I've had people complain to me throughout my years of dress code. As if Jesus wore a suit. Three-piece suit growing up. Now, some of you who say amen, I don't think Jesus wore skinny jeans either. Right? But I know one day he will clothe us in robes of righteousness.21:11That's the dress code I want on. Oh, that we would not let traditionalism break or distract us from the good news of Jesus Christ. I remember as a young person, I wanted to play on a Wednesday night. I believe in, it was probably a Sunday night actually. And I remember my parents telling me, hey, there's an important meeting at church and you have to be there. And I pouted because I couldn't play basketball outside with my friends. And I don't remember the details, but it had a lasting impact.21:40I remember that the church wanted to change the bylaws. And as I began to think about these men who traveled to Antioch and these people in a church in small Mississippi who wanted to fight over bylaws and those people who want to fight over suits and skinny jeans and those people who want to fight over whether we have symbols or this or that.21:47I just remember thinking with tears, I just remember thinking with tears, I was praying this this week.22:15I remember looking back at these meetings with tears, knowing that we were content to let people die and go to hell because we wanted to pause and pontificate our preferences. And church, I believe we'll be judged by God when we are so consumed with our preferences, my taste, that we forget that there are people dying and walking a road to destruction who need good news.22:31We need to celebrate what God's doing, not educate people on how God's working. Oh, that we would have a heart for the loss and just a question of reflection. What are you willing to lay aside today in your life so that someone might know Jesus?22:59What are you willing to lay aside right now? He said, it's not worth it. I will do without this so that someone might come to Jesus Christ. For me, there is no tradition that I love. I'm preaching to me. I'm going to let you guys listen. There's no tradition that I love that is worth losing a soul. And even more concerning for me, what tradition am I not willing to let go so that someone will hear about Jesus right now?23:32Oh, that we would not be steeped in our culture, that we would lose a world who needs Christ. You see, Jesus is the stumbling block. Nothing else should be. This is the custom. But we see also the answer to this traditionalism in our lives.24:00Look at verse 7. After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them. Now, this is the same apostle who, when he sees Jesus, jumps out of the boat and begins to run on the water because he just believes that Jesus is everything. Who cares about the storm? Who cares about the tempest? Who cares about drowning? I want to get to Jesus.24:30That's Peter. Peter's the same one that when they come to take Jesus, he whips out a sword and chops the high priest's servant's ear off. So I can imagine at this point, Peter is sitting on his hands thinking, okay, when do I get to speak? Peter's like this, listening to this people speak. Okay, let me at him, God. And then he finally gets a chance in verse 7. And this is what he says. Brothers and sisters, brothers and sisters, you are aware that in the early days, God made a choice among you that by my mouth, the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe.24:55Now, when I was reading that early this week, praying over the sermon and preparing it, I stopped dead in my tracks. Because, you know, the one thought that hit me through the Holy Spirit, I stopped and said, hey, that was me.25:19But let me read it again. That by my mouth, the Gentiles would hear the gospel message and believe. And I remember looking up and saying, God, Peter was talking about me. I am the Gentile. I am the pagan. I am the rebellious. And God, you have offered me salvation. Peter's conclusion from his own experience that God accepts pagans, me, apart from the law.25:47You know, Peter's answer to the customs of people is the cross of Jesus Christ. Peter brings us back to the gospel. And the power of the gospel is this. Listen, Jesus does not say, go fix yourself and then come back. Jesus says it is finished.26:18Jesus says, come to me and I will fix you. Come to me, you who are weak and heavy and I will give you rest. He didn't say, go take a nap, find your rest and then come back. So this is the gospel message. At the cross of Jesus Christ, the Father makes no distinction between people. He, God did not say, Jews, you line up over here.26:48Gentiles, you line up over here. Pharisees, you line up over here. And everyone else, you guys right here. See, no one has a fast pass into eternal relationship with God. I don't care what membership you carry. No one has an eternal fast pass that we can bypass the grace of Christ in our lives. The Lord did not say to the Pharisees, come to the front.27:16Church people, you guys next. Hey, adulterers, murderers, y'all in the back. That's not the gospel. The gospel is you who are sinners come home. Come home, come home and naturally, Peter waters our soul in verse 11. He says, everyone here, I want you to know this.27:45We are all saved the same way. The same grace that is offered to this side is the same grace that is offered to this side. The same grace that is offered to me is the same grace that is offered to you. And we are naturally forgetful of God's grace, are we not? That's why Peter stands up to remind us. He reminds us that we are saved by faith. And the faith that saved me by grace is not a different sort than the grace that was offered to you.28:12So who am I to become frustrated at rebellious sinners, knowing that my heavenly father did not become frustrated with me and give up? I'm reminded of the song that says, grace, grace, God's grace, grace, God's grace, grace that is greater than all my sin.28:35That's the news that I need. And when we recognize that, as Peter has, that the gospel is solely dependent upon the grace of Christ,29:04we are less likely to place burdens on others who come to faith in Jesus. Or we are less likely to prevent and place barriers in other people who want to come to Jesus Christ. And I want to tell you this morning, as I look back at my life and God takes me home today, I pray that I have been a building block for others to Jesus, not a stumbling block.29:32I want to be someone that looks back and others can say, man, Josh was a building block to my faith in Jesus, not a stumbling block. He didn't load me down with all these burdens. He lifted me up with this good news that anyone can be saved. That's the good news of Christ.29:58Well, if we have customs and if we have this good news of the cross, let's retract just a bit and look at the collar that's placed upon people. The yoke, that traditionalism, if we're not careful, will bind us and choke us and leave heavy burden. So let's look at verse 10. This is what Peter says after he gives the gospel.30:26After he says there's no distinction. He says this in verse 10. Church people, listen up. He says, Why are you testing God by putting a yoke on the disciples' necks that neither our ancestors nor we have been able to bear? On the contrary, we believe that we are saved through grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way that they are.30:51Not only do our preferences fight to distract us from the main things. If we are not careful and if they are unchecked, our preferences become burdensome collars for others. Was the law of Moses good for the observing Jew who had come to faith in Jesus the Messiah? Yes.31:21Yes. Jesus had not come to abolish the law, but to what? But to fulfill it. Was the law of Moses supposed to be a tool that could be placed as a yoke and a collar on new converts who were Gentiles? That was never God's design. That was never his way. And if we are not careful, our traditions, our cultures, not even ours, yours, which are different than mine. If you try to impart your traditionalism on me or vice versa, it can constrict the Holy Spirit within me.31:50And so here are these words of warning from the Word of God. First, be careful, be wary when others tell you what God wants for your life. Have you ever had someone come up to you and say, I just want you to know, I'm going to drop a spiritual bomb and then walk away.32:15But in case you didn't know, this is what God wants for your life. Boom! And they leave. Be careful when people tell you what God wants for your life. Especially if it has been removed from the Word of the Lord. Now that is not to say that other people do not have authority in your life. If you're a part of the community of faith and someone sees sin in your life, in my life,32:44you have an obligation bound eternally by God to bring that to light. But don't tell me your opinion, your subjective thoughts of God's sovereign will for my life if it's not in the Word of God. That's not your job. You are not Gabriel. You are not the Archangel Michael. And you are not the Holy Spirit. Quit acting like it.33:14And the vice versa for me. We filter everything through the lens of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And this is what they say. It's exactly what the Pharisees are doing. Listen to their words in chapter 15, beginning in verse 5. They say, it is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.33:31It was probably in Greek, not English, but that's close. But they use a word here. It is necessary is this divine day. It's a word that Jesus Christ was used often for the will of God in his life.34:01It's the words that Jesus used in Luke 17 when he said that it was necessary that the Messiah must suffer many things. You see, they used the language of necessity, implying that their words were the words of God. And I simply want to caution you. Never confuse your words for the divine will. Never confuse your words for the divine will.34:30Point people back to the gospel. Point them back to the words of the Lord. Secondly, we must be very careful when we place conditions on the gospel. Actually, we must not place conditions on the gospel. Because Jesus did not place any conditions upon you before you came to Christ. He offered you grace through faith unconditionally.34:58It is by grace through faith that we are saved. It is the what of God. It is the gift of God. So we must be very careful. And Peter calls these traditionalist rules a yoke. Now the yoke was used as a metaphor for political or social control. As if these people came to Antioch to say, whether they knew it or not, maybe they had good intent,35:26but they wanted to control what was happening in the church. We're okay if God moves, but we want him to move with these constraints. Oh, how dangerous it is when we suffocate. The Spirit of God working out in the lives of others. We must not add rules and stipulations to the gospel.35:56We must learn to rejoice in the yoke of our Savior. Remembering that our Father, through his Son, said this about the yoke of his Son. He said, come to me all who are weary. What does he say about the yoke? My burden is easy. My yoke is light. He didn't say, I'm going to suffocate you to death. He says, if you would follow me, if you would delight in my ways,36:26you will find that they are not burdensome, but they are freedom. Rejoice. And with all of this, Peter sits down, metaphorically. But literarily, Peter is not heard from again in Acts. This was his last speech in the book. As if to say, church, if you hear anything at all,36:56listen to the final words of Peter. That we should not strangle the Holy Spirit in others. And we should not grieve the Holy Spirit within us. This is the power of the cross of Jesus. You might be thinking, well, so what? Where do we go from here? I want to give some thoughts about how we battle traditionalism in our lives.37:24And I've been very specific about using the word traditionalism. Tradition is good. But when tradition rules us above the Holy Spirit, it is traditionalism, which is unhealthy, which is a yoke. I think we must avoid the drift from reaching those on the outside to pacifying those on the inside. We must avoid the drift from reaching those on the outside37:52to pacifying those on the inside. What's going on in Antioch? People are being saved. People are coming to the gospel. And these, some people, we don't know who they are, some people come to Antioch to basically say, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey. That's not how we do it at First Baptist Jerusalem. And if you're going to be a church plant of us, that's not the way that we do things. What has happened? The focus is no longer on those who are far from Christ,38:22it's those on pacifying who know Christ. We must be careful to avoid that drift. That's why we believe here our mission is to bring the whole gospel to the whole person, to the whole world. It's not about our seeding capacity. It's about our sending capacity. Let's do something. Let's go. Let's see people's lives change. Let's celebrate that. We must avoid this drift to passivity. Secondly, we must avoid the drift from grace to law.38:50We must avoid the drift from grace to law. Legalism is lethal and puts God to the test. Don't expect, if you have been a follower of Christ for 50 years, do not expect someone who is new in the faith to live a righteous life like you do. Because that's not what you looked like 50 years ago. It's a daily following of Christ.39:18It's the way, who is the way, the truth, and the life. It's a daily following Christ, being a disciple of His grace and His mercy. What someone needs is not for you to say, here's the rules, figure it out. They need someone to say, I will walk with you. Because it's about the grace of Christ. And we will one day find that God's desires in our life, the commands of Christ, are actually for life. Not for destruction.39:48They're to free us up, not to constrain us. Avoid the drift from grace to law. Avoid the drift from grace to law. Thirdly, we must avoid the lethal drift from internal change to merely external behavior. We must avoid the drift from internal change to external behavior.40:10God knows my heart and He sees past my spiritual facade. I was reading a story recently that in 2018, a local student went to a local zoo. And he was surprised when he took a closer look at the zebras. Mahmoud Sarhan was noticed that when it rained, this zebra's stripes had streaks on it.40:42And so he posted the picture of the zebra on Facebook. And to his surprise, he found out that two zebras at the Cairo International Garden, Municipal Park, were nothing more than donkeys with painted black stripes. And I began to think, God, how often do I show up to your presence?41:09And I feel like I'm righteous, but I'm nothing more than a donkey with black stripes. That's what traditionalism does. Jesus says as a warning, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. Because some who say, Lord, Lord, will be in His presence, He will say, depart from me, for I never knew you. See, there are some of us who are playing the church game and we say, we're going to show up and say, God, look, I'm a zebra.41:39Look at my religious stripes. God, look what I've done for you. And He's going to say, no, you're not. Josh, I see past the facade. Isaiah says that by His stripes we are healed. It's the stripes of Jesus Christ that bring us righteousness. So I don't know what religious stripes you're clinging to today.42:10But maybe you're the Pharisee and you feel like, man, I'm good by what I've done. The gospel says there's nothing you can do to make God to accept you. Actually, in spite of what you've done, He sent His only Son. While you were in rebellion, you might be saved. And I just ask you as a recovering traditionalist, as a recovering Pharisee, who one day I was sitting in church and the Holy Spirit began to reign over me.42:37And I remember just metaphorically looking at my hands and I saw these religious stripes begin to wash off and begin to fade. And I realized, God, these things that I'm counting on for hope and for righteousness, God, they're useless.43:02And in the same moment, I remember the Holy Spirit telling me, but Josh, if you would receive by faith this free grace, you'll be saved. You'll be made pure. And maybe that's you. Maybe you've been playing the church game. And as the Word of God has been preached, you, your heart has been stirred.43:32I want you to know that you can put your faith in Jesus Christ right now. You can pray a prayer like this. This prayer is not the answer, but a prayer of faith in the Savior is. You could pray a prayer and say, God, I know that I'm a sinner. God, I know you see through my facade. But God, I believe right now. I believe that Jesus died for me. And I believe the same grace that saved Josh, the same grace that offered and saved Peter.44:02And I believe that grace would save me. And I want that. Not based on what I've done, but God, based upon what you've done. If that's you today, just know if you confess him as Lord and you believe in your heart, the Bible says you don't have to worry. You don't have to think. This is not a conditional sentence. It says you will be saved. We pray that you would.44:33You would find hope in Jesus. Maybe you're here this morning and you feel strangled spiritually. Maybe other people have burdened you down and you're confused. You don't know whether you should wear a suit or skinny jeans. And you don't know whether you should follow this rule or that rule. And you just want to pull out your hair and you say, God, I don't get it. My answer to you today was lay that down at the altar and say, God, let me follow your spirit.44:57You can trust the spirit of God. Leave that. Leave that heavy yoke. Find freedom in Jesus. Maybe you're here today and you are the one. You're the one that's been placing the yokes on others. And maybe God has convicted you of that and you need to repent.45:27Not to me, but you need to spend some time and do business with the Lord. And maybe like me in my life, you've elevated traditionalism over the word of God. And maybe today you need to say, God, this thing is not worth losing souls. And God, I will give it up if it means that others would see your grace working in me. I don't know where you are, but God does.45:59The same grace, brothers, that was offered me is the same grace that saves you. Praise God for the grace that is what it is greater than our sin. Let's pray.← Previous in ActsSunday, June 23, 2019Next in Acts →Sunday, July 7, 2019More sermons on Acts →
