Maintaining Sound Doctrine
When any community of faith
encounters false teachings,
the spiritual leaders should make every effort
to clarify biblical truth.
Here's Gene:
This Principle is really dramatically illustrated
when Paul and Barnabas returned
from their first missionary journey.
Coming back now to Antioch of Syria.
Don't get confused between the Antiochs.
Antioch of Pisidia, of course
is in the Galatian region.
One of the first churches
after they came over the mountains
where they started the church.
But now they have returned.
They have come back to Antioch of Syria.
But notice what happened.
And I've entitled this "False Teachers."
You find it in Acts chapter 15,
right at the beginning of this chapter.
Some men came down from Judea
and began to teach the brothers:
"Unless you are circumcised
according to the custom prescribed by Moses,
you cannot be saved." ...
Now that was a very dramatic, strong statement.
Salvation was based upon circumcision.
By the way, that would eliminate
half the population in terms of
that requirement in order to be saved.
And of course, it wasn't true. But notice:
...After Paul and Barnabas had engaged them
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.
Now these are very strong words:
Serious argument. Serious debate.
And here was Paul the apostle.
One who was able to work signs
and wonders and miracles by the Spirit of God,
unable to resolve this issue.
Even through serious argument and debate.
And so consequently, the church sent them
up to Jerusalem to meet with the elders.
Now there's a mixed response.
You'll notice that in verse 4, it reads:
When they arrived at Jerusalem...
And of course, this is where it all began.
This is where the Holy Spirit came
on the day of Pentecost.
This is where 3,000 put their faith
in Jesus Christ.
And then the church began to grow and expand.
The fact is that almost a hundred percent
of those who put their faith in Christ
[and] responded, were Jews.
The Jerusalem church was
primarily a Jewish church.
Jews who accepted the fact
that Jesus was indeed the Messiah.
But notice the mixed response:
Well, they were welcomed by the church--
that is the believers in Jerusalem.
They were welcomed by the apostles.
Most of these men were still centralized
there in Jerusalem.
We don't know how many of them were there
out of the eleven at that particular time--
or I should say twelve.
Because Matthias was
added to the twelve after Judas,
of course, did what he did.
And it says: they were welcomed by
...the elders, and they reported all
that God had done with them. ...
That is what happened
on that first missionary journey.
And how these churches were started
in these pagan areas.
But notice:
...But some of the believers
who belonged to the party of the Pharisees
stood up and said,
"It is necessary to circumcise them
and to command them
to keep the law of Moses."
Otherwise, they can't be saved.
In other words, this was a religion of works.
And so this created a serious problem.
Isn't it interesting though,
that you had a lot of the Pharisees
who are these legalistic Jews.
That party that Paul was a part of
as a religious Pharisee.
They became believers in the Messiah
And yet they were not clear in their faith:
That you're saved only by grace through faith.
They still believed
that you had to keep the law of Moses.
So they were theologically confused
and teaching a false doctrine.
Now as a result of this, what happened is
that there was a meeting of the apostles
and the elders, particularly.
And they continued to try to solve
this theological problem.
And the first thing we have is Peter's witness:
In the midst of intense dialogue,
Peter reviewed his experiences
with Samaritan and Gentile conversions.
They were saved by faith.
And of course, one of the most
interesting experiences and revealing experiences
that Peter had is when he was on that housetop.
There of Simon the Tanner in Joppa.
And he had this vision of the sheet
coming down with all kinds of animals,
many unclean.
And the voice said: Peter, rise up and eat.
He said: I can't eat anything unclean.
Well it happened three times.
And he couldn't figure out what was happening.
But at the same time, the Holy Spirit
was speaking to a man in Caesarea
named Cornelius, who was a Gentile.
But he was a God-fearing Gentile.
Didn't understand the gospel.
And he was seeking.
And the Holy Spirit reached out to him and said:
Send some representatives up to talk to Peter.
And so they went.
And at the same time
that Peter was recovering from his vision,
there was a knock on the door.
And these men from Caesarea were there
and invited him to come down.
Well what happened is,
Peter reluctantly went.
But when he got down there,
God really spoke to him in a very special way
because he saw that Gentiles could be saved.
Which is really interesting
because Peter had been the leader
of the apostles for five years.
And he still didn't believe
that Gentiles could be saved.
That's what you call prejudice.
But God was dealing with that.
And so here, here's Peter's conclusion
relative to this debate:
Now 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? ...
And he's addressing those thoughts
primarily at the Pharisees and those
who were in confrontation with Paul
and Barnabas relative to the salvation of Gentiles.
And he said:
...On the contrary, we believe
that we are saved through the grace
of the Lord Jesus [Christ]
in the same way they are.
In other words, both Jew and Gentile
are saved only in one way.
And that's by grace through faith.
Not of works.
And by the way, I'm sure Peter
was reflecting also
on how Abraham was saved.
He wasn't saved by good works.
He was saved by faith before he was circumcised.
He believed God and God counted it to him
for righteousness.
He was saved before the law was given--
four hundred years later.
When was Abraham saved?
When he believed God.
You see, no one has ever been saved--
Old Testament, New Testament--
except by grace through faith.
And so they're debating this issue.
And Peter gives this very strong emphasis.
And then you have a testimony
by Barnabas and Paul:
Following Peter's presentation,
Barnabas and Paul shared
what actually happened
on their first missionary journey--
with a focus on the signs and wonders
that God did verifying the gospel.
By the way, isn't it interesting
that there it says Barnabas and Paul?
Whereas on the journey, you remember,
it was Paul and Barnabas.
Because he became the leader
after the experience in Cyprus.
Where Paul was definitely
anointed by the Holy Spirit.
And to work signs and wonders.
But I think the reason Barnabas
spoke first here, and Paul sort of took a back seat,
was that a lot of these Jews
remembered a man that was a murderer.
You don't forget what happened to Stephen.
Years. Even years.
And there were some Christians--
followers of Jesus that Paul had imprisoned--
that were still feeling the pain of all that experience.
And so very wisely, I think Paul took a back seat.
And Barnabas stepped forward to speak
and to give verification
of how people were saved.
And James, the half-brother of Jesus,
who was the primary leader
in Jerusalem of the elders,
is listening to all this.
And he stood up and he verified Gentile conversion.
James verified Gentile conversions
from the Old Testament.
He then proposed a solution--
they write a letter to Gentile believers
clarifying they are saved by grace
through faith and
that circumcision is not involved
in the salvation experience.
In fact, James stood up, listening to all of this,
and all of a sudden he realized
that the Old Testament prophets
talked about Gentiles being saved.
He too, was overcoming his prejudice
through this process of interaction,
discussion, and reporting.
And then, of course you have the proposal.
And unity is then restored.
So, in Acts 15: 30-31, here's what we read:
So they were sent off [and] went down to Antioch,
and after gathering the assembly,
they delivered the letter.
[And] when they read it, they rejoiced
because of its encouragement.
They went first to the church in Antioch
because that's where the debate started--
this huge Gentile church.
And when this letter was read:
That there's only one requirement
for salvation--it's faith, it's through grace
by faith--they were relieved.
What kind of experience do you have
when you're not sure how you're saved?
When you think it's good works.
You're never sure.
And I remember that was my experience
really, coming out of a sect
where I was taught
that works was important for salvation.
And for a period of time,
my faith was based on
what I thought was the right thing to do.
And if I failed, I felt lost.
I felt: Whoa, I'm not going to make it.
And so consequently when these believers--
these Gentile believers in Antioch
heard this affirmation from Jerusalem.
The apostles, the elders, and this letter:
[Sigh]--they were relieved.
Wow, we're saved by grace through faith.
We have that assurance.
Not that we shouldn't live for Christ.
Live out His commandments,
and His love commandments,
and His good works commandments.
But these are all a result of salvation.
And so we see this peace
that came into their lives.
So here we have an interesting illustration
of resolving theological issues.
But isn't it fascinating
that God didn't speak specifically--
through the prophets or through the apostles--
by the Holy Spirit and resolve the issue.
They had to go back to the Bible--
the Old Testament.
What God had already revealed.
They had to go back to their experiences.
What was happening in the lives
of these Gentiles here
on that first missionary journey.
So you'll see a process here
of God giving more and more
human responsibilities to solve issues
like this based upon what He's already revealed.
Because as the story unfolds, as I said,
we have more and more
human responsibility to make sure
that we're maintaining doctrinal purity.
So here's the question:
When resolving theological issues today,
how can we engage in intense human effort
and yet rely on the Holy Spirit
to guide these efforts?
Well let me just simply say
that this Principle really was practiced
throughout church history.
And when you get into later centuries,
they had to meet to resolve these issues.
To determine the doctrine of the Trinity.
To determine the doctrine
of the inspiration of Scriptures.
And it wasn't always a very comfortable environment.
I think one of the things that we can learn
from church history is that,
when we are meeting together,
there are two things that should be true
to resolve an issue:
We go back to the Bible--what God says.
And we walk in the Spirit of God,
allowing Him to help us, to guide our thoughts
as we look at the Scriptures.
And this is the Principle, I believe,
that is illustrated here.
You see, just as they had to meet
in Jerusalem to resolve this issue.
Just so, throughout church history,
we've had to meet to resolve these issues.
Now, fortunately in Jerusalem,
all the leaders in Jerusalem
agreed on this doctrinal clarification.
What do you do when the leaders
are teaching false doctrine in the church?
Then you've got another problem
which ultimately, will probably lead to a separation.
Because if the leaders are not
in harmony regarding God's Word,
and that it comes from God
And the deity of Jesus Christ.
And salvation by grace.
If they don't go back to the Bible as leaders,
chances are, people will have to leave
that situation and find believers and leaders
who truly are committed to the Word of God.
So here's the Principle:
When any community of faith
encounters false teachings,
the spiritual leaders should make every effort
to clarify biblical truth.