Roadmaps? Or Roadblocks?

Okay, if you turn with me to Acts chapter 15, Acts chapter 15, on a blizzardy day in January at the turn of the century, there was a crowded passenger train that steamed its way from Chicago to St. Louis, and at one of the many stops along the way, one of the passengers on board observed a young mother board the train with two small children in tow. Please, sir, she said to the conductor, I need to get off at the city of Beaumont, and then she began looking around the crowded car for a seat. The passenger who watched her board the train with her children also took note of the overworked conductor, and so he approached the young woman and said, the conductor is very busy and no doubt he'll forget that you want to get off at Beaumont.

I've been on this train, though, a hundred times, and I'll make sure that you get off at the right place. Several hours later, as the train decelerated, the man made his way to the young mother and said, this is the spot. Here's where you need to get off. She thanked him, and she gathered her children and stepped out into the blizzardy night. Half an hour passed before the conductor entered that car and cried out, where's the woman

who wanted to get off at Beaumont? It's coming up in five minutes. Horrified at what he heard, the passenger said, what do you mean? Beaumont was the last stop that we made. No, sir, replied the conductor. The last stop we made was to pick up water at a tank out in the middle of nowhere, and both men instantly realized that the young mother and her children had been sent off

the train to their deaths. As believers in Jesus Christ, we are called of God and sent out to go to the uttermost with the gospel, with the good news of Jesus Christ.

We can give them a false picture of who God is and we can end up actually turning people off to the Lord, not only turning them off, but turning them around and literally, like this passenger on the train, sending them away to their death without the opportunity of receiving the wonderful saving grace that Jesus has to offer. Here in chapter 15, the church deals with that possibility. And I want you to see it as such as we look at these 35 verses, we're only going to look at 1 through 11 today, but in these 35 verses, rather than just seeing a recounting of what happened with the council in Jerusalem and seeing it as a boring committee meeting, a boring time where they got together and discussed doctrine, I want you to see that it's here

that the enemy sought to move in a subtle way to set roadblocks up, to set obstacles

And then we're also going to see it through the eyes of James, Jesus' half-brother. And in these four perspectives, I want you to let the Lord pierce your own heart and question, Lord, am I really being a roadmap? When I come in contact with other people who need the Lord, am I really lighting a way? Am I really reflecting you or am I being a roadblock?

said, the Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses. Okay, in these first five verses, we have the first two groups, the first two perspectives. We have Paul and the Judaizers, kind of a first century rock group, Paul and the Judaizers. And the one thing I want you to notice is their focus, the focus of each group, their

And then they come to Jerusalem and they reported, verse 4, everything that God had done through them. Then if you look down in verse 12, which is actually next week, the whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the miraculous signs and wonders that God had done among the Gentiles through them. So the focus of Paul and Barnabas is always on the Lord, even in their presentation of the gospel, it's always on what God has done, how the Lord has moved, how God has brought an opening of faith to the Gentiles. Now let's see what the Judaizers do.

The Judaizers emphasize what men need to do. Look at verse 1, they came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers that unless you are circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved. And then again, down in verse 5, they add something to it. They said unless you are circumcised and they should be required to obey the law of Moses.

So they began with looking, this is what the people need to do. It's great that they believe in Jesus, but there's other things that they need to do to really be saved. It's fine that Jesus died and was buried and rose again the third day and they believe that, but they're not really saved unless they're circumcised. And they will not only be circumcised, but they need to then keep the law of Moses.

They need to lay out all the things in the commandments and just seek to keep them. And that was the focus of the Judaizers. Much of the problem that the church experiences today deals with its focus. We all claim to be Christ-centered, but too often our focus isn't on Christ. Too often our focus as a church is seeking to try to change people. We want them to look like we think they ought to look, that they're a Christian.

And so to be a Christian, they need to do all of these rules. They need to act like Christians, then we got to make sure they don't do all of these other things. And so we even have them sign lists in some churches that say that you promise not to

You can be saved and baptized somewhere else, but unless you're really baptized in our church, our way. I mean, they may have baptized you in the name of Jesus and put you underwater, but you know, we baptize in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, in the name of Jesus, amen. And so you got to be all three or it's really not right, and you got to be baptized in our baptismal order. Or they emphasize that unless you speak with tongues, unless you have the blessing, whatever it is, add to it, you're not really saved.

and I'm not doing this and I'm doing this and that's good and I need to be doing that and I'm doing this and I can check off that, then I measure my spirituality for the week by that list that I check off, and I can look at you, and I can see you missed a couple. So I'm really doing all right, you know, compared to you, but Paul warns us later not to do that, not to measure ourselves by ourselves, because we deceive ourselves in doing that.

you receive that, if you can ever come to the place where you recognize that fullness of His love for you, you will be constrained by His love to follow Him. You won't have to sign a list, you won't have to make a list of do's and don'ts, try and keep a list. His love for you will just draw you, you just have to follow Him, you just have to, you just want to do what He wants you to do. As Paul and Barnabas are sharing, this is what the Lord's doing, He's pouring out His

You know, walk worthy. Now, if He started off the book of Ephesians, the letter to the Ephesians, and if He were to give His sermon on the letter to the Ephesians to you and He started off with chapter four verse one and just got up here and the first words out of His mouth are walk worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called. How would that come across? Straight up, soldier of the cross, get out there and walk, you know, Patton, what's wrong with you?

You're dead, you know. Suck in that gut. Stand up straight. Walk worthy of the calling wherewith you have been called. But when it comes to chapter four, after going through the first three chapters of this is the blessing that you receive from the Lord and His love for you that's measureless, immeasurable. Therefore, walk worthy of the calling. Don't let any unwholesome communication come out of your mouth, but mimic the Lord.

Redeem the time. Submit yourselves to the Lord. Be filled with His Spirit. Submit yourselves to one another.

This is what you've done to Him, but He's for you then made a way, made a provision. A savior has been provided by our Lord, now it's your decision. All of Paul's presentation is always God first. This is what God has done. Now here's your opportunity to respond. Now we're given an opportunity to kind of look in these first five verses at the responses of people to the two particular focuses.

How do people respond? Well, to the presentation of God, to continually present the love of God and what God is doing, you just see a continual rejoicing. Back in, you could go back through chapters 13 and 14, and as they went to the different cities and they presented the gospel, the people rejoiced. They were blessed. The people that went after them were the people that were jealous at the strength of the ministry

that they had.

So with the Judaizers now, verse 1, they came and they said, unless you're circumcised according to the custom taught by Moses, you can't be saved. Verse 2 says, this brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them. That's what it says in NIV. Literally, it meant that there was very hostile argumentation that went on. It wasn't just a nice little discussion, well, you have your opinion and I have mine.

There was a full of friction, a hostile debate that ensued. It stirred up ire. Then when they come to Jerusalem and they share the same thing in verse 5, then the apostles, verse 6, and the elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, it says in verse 7, literally it implies the same kind of hostile, irritable agitation that went on as a result of the presentation of the focusing on what men ought to do.

So the response is when you tell people about the Lord and the goodness of God, they are really open to that, that God loves you and God has prepared a way for you to walk. He's prepared a way to remove your sins. There's a response to that, how beautiful on the mountains of the feet of those who bring good news, proclaiming peace, announcing news of happiness, our God reigns. How beautiful.

People respond. But when you focus on seeking to, I'm going to choose you, you lousy sinner, you know, I'm going to chain you, there's an area of friction and they don't hear about God's love and there's just a, the brakes are on, there's a rebelliousness that arises. There's no rejoicing. There is rejoicing. People will either rejoice wherever you go or people will be rejoicing whenever you go.

There will be rejoicing. Which way is that with you? Do people rejoice wherever you go, wherever you are? They just want to be there because they want to hear about the Lord or do they rejoice whenever you leave, you know? Praise God, he's gone. Well, then we have Peter's response.

Now then, why do you seek to try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No, we believe that it's through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved just as they are. Now, one thing I want you to notice is if this was the first time Peter spoke, it says after much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them, then he really has grown a lot. I mean, if all this is going on, he's just sitting there watching it go on and listening to it and taking it all in and then stands up and asks for permission to speak, excuse me.

And he really has shown some mature growth. Now, I don't know that that, I mean, he could have been right in there in the midst of them just kind of, you know, eyeball to eyeball with a couple of them just really going on and then ask for permission to speak, but I just thought that was kind of interesting. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them, literally he asked permission for them to speak. Also, I want you to notice that if Peter were the Pope, he wouldn't have to ask for permission to speak.

So, another thing that kind of blows that idea out of the water, Peter's not the Pope, he's equal with them. Matter of fact, James is actually the one that's in charge, as we'll see when we get down to that in a few verses. But the question that Peter is dealing with here is really, what do I have to do with my salvation? I mean, there's a roadmap here that says this is what God is doing, but then there's a roadblock here potentially that says this is what you, I mean, you're going to have to do this, you're going to have to do all these other things for you to really be saved.

So, Peter's dealing with the question, what do I have to do with my salvation? Is it really by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, or do I have to do something too? There's something else that has to be done for me to really say that I'm saved. And Peter says it's by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, period.

The voice from heaven said, never call unclean that which the Lord has purified, and the sheet was drawn back up into heaven, and Peter talked about that earlier, back in chapter 10 and 11, when he had to defend himself for going to Cornelius'. It wasn't my idea, it's God. God sent me there, gave me the vision, and had these brothers come and call me and ask me to go to the house of Cornelius', and I went, and as I was teaching, the Spirit of God fell, so it was God's choice.

And secondly, he says in verse 8, God, who knows the heart, showed that He accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them. God, God, again, the emphasis on God. It's God who made a choice among you, it's God who knows the heart. And see, that's the whole thing here, is they're arguing for an outward appearance. There has to be this outward thing. You have to be circumcised, you have to outwardly keep the law of Moses, keep all of the different

things of the law, not only the Sabbath, but all of the kosher sacrifices and the eating and the storing of the food and all that stuff, you have to keep all of that. There has to be this outward thing, this outward manifestation, just like you have to speak in tongues to be saved. And again, a lot of people have a false sense of security by those things. They think, if I can speak with tongues, you know, I come and I worship God and I speak in this unknown tongue, which I have the gift of tongue.

I'm not saying this in a condemning way and saying that that's not for today, it is definitely

Peter's making an argument for outward appearances. Well, you know, they're circumcised, or they're, oh, they're keeping the laws of Moses, they're purifying themselves a certain way, they're keeping the sacrifices, they're keeping the Sabbath. And Peter says, no, it's God who knows the heart. Ezekiel was a prophet who was given some great opportunities to see God working behind the scenes, to see past our three dimensions.

If you get Chuck Missler's newsletter, you've been following some interesting developments in the field of quantum physics, which is not my field. For those of you who may have an inkling toward math and realizing that the universe is measured according to quantum physics, which moves into theory, that there is an end to eternity, that there are multiple dimensions around us that mathematically has already been proved,

That our existence is actually a holographic type of another reality, that there is something else in another dimension that is literally, that we are a reflection of. Now what's exciting is that's what the Bible talks about, that the things that are here are simply pictures or shadows or types of things in heaven. When God gave Moses the plans for the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant and all, he said, this is a type, this is a picture of what's actually existing in heaven. And now quantum theory, quantum mathematics, quantum physics and all is literally proving that that's a real probability, and it's actually bringing physicists to Christ, to faith in God, because they're seeing the reality of another dimension, another set of dimensions

that really the Bible has already talked about as far as being the spiritual realm. And Ezekiel gets a glimpse behind some of this, he gets, you know, for our simple thinking

in the wall. I mean, it's just, it's a hole in the wall. I mean, this in spiritual heritage is a hole in the wall. And so, he said to me, go in and see the wicked, and, well, he says, son of man, now dig into the wall. So I dug into the wall, so he opens the hole wider and saw a doorway there, and he said, now go in and see the wicked and detestable things they're doing here.

So I went in, and I looked and I saw portrayed all over the walls all kinds of crawling things

of his imagery, in the chambers of his imagery, each at the shrine of his own idol, they say, the Lord does not see us, the Lord has forsaken the land. What God says to Ezekiel is, there's a hole in the wall here at the temple, dig into it, and he digs into it, and he goes in, and he sees all this detestable stuff, pictures of gross stuff, and he sees all these idols and stuff in this room, and it's disgusting, it makes him sick. It's the idols of the pagans, the stuff, the fornication and all the stuff, uncleanness,

You can sign a list. You don't smoke. You don't drink. You don't wear your hair a certain way. You don't wear clothes a certain way. You can say you speak in tongues and all that stuff, but God knows your heart. What have you been thinking about this week? What have you been contemplating this week? What have you been lusting after this week? Your heart been set on that's just as detestable as the decadence of this society, and you

think, well, at least outwardly I'm okay. It means nothing. God knows your heart.

Then he says, God made no distinction between us and them. Well, wait a minute. Wait a minute. I mean, I've been a practicing Jew all these years. I've kept the law. I wear my hair right. I do everything I'm supposed to do. I eat kosher foods. I wash all my bowls. I bring all the sacrifices. I go through all the rites of purification. What do you mean he made no distinction between us and them?

How do you know that, Peter? Because he gave them the Holy Spirit. Not only that, in verse 9, he purified their hearts by faith. He purified their hearts by faith. Now, that's a powerful verse. I mean, that whole thing, that he knows the heart, showed that he accepted them, no distinction between us and them. That's okay. But then he purified their hearts by faith again.

Wait a minute. That means he purified their hearts apart from the law. They didn't have to keep the Sabbath day. They didn't have to bring the sacrifices. They didn't have to bring the Passover lamb. They didn't have to bring the sacrifices for their impurities. They didn't have to go through all of the cleansings and the purification times that we've had to go through, he's saying.

They didn't do any of that. They didn't even go through the atoning sacrifice that happens every year at Yom Kippur. They didn't go through any of that. And yet he says he purified their hearts by faith, by faith in the one sacrifice that God's provided in Christ.

As a matter of fact, they just dragged that rope wherever they wanted to go, where they wanted to get to go. They weren't remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy. They were just trying to do a servile function so that they could appear to be holy before the Lord. And Peter says, we couldn't do it. Our fathers couldn't do it. Why are we trying to yank them around and say that they need to do that too when we

did not? Notice verse 11, he says, we believe it's through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we

And you say, yeah, but you know, you put yoke on oxen to direct them, to drive them where you want to go. And if you just freed them, they'd go anywhere. So I mean, if you tell people that it's just by faith alone, through grace alone, or by grace alone, through faith alone, and Christ alone, and it frees them, aren't they just going to run off anywhere? Don't they need to have some direction?

And I scrubbed with the rag, and she made sure I knew how to scrub behind my ears with the rag. And then she made sure that I knew how to wash my hair properly, not just getting it wet with water, but you put the shampoo on there and you suds that puppy up. And then you make sure all of the soap's out, or you're going to be walking around scratching your head all day. And then she made sure that I knew that I needed deodorant, whether I thought I did or not, that other people could smell me, whether I could smell me or not.

So I needed to make sure I had my deodorant on, and my cologne, and then I needed to make sure my hair was combed just a certain way, because it looked stupid, all standing out everywhere. And then she made sure that I brushed my teeth, because like the deodorant, it was not only healthy for my teeth, but even though I couldn't smell it, other people could. And she made sure I did all of that every day when I went to school, and there were

Nobody had to tell me that I needed to make sure my pits were clean and I wore deodorant, just in case I didn't smell it myself, somebody else might smell it. Nobody had to tell me that I had to brush my teeth so that I wouldn't be offensive around anybody. I did it all, and I did it willingly, and I did it to the max that I could do it. Why did I do that? Because of love.

Because I loved her, and I did not want to be offensive to her in any way. She didn't give me a list. She didn't say, OK, if you're going to date me, you better brush your teeth, and you better make sure you're wearing deodorant. She said, you know, it was because I loved her that I would do whatever was necessary. Now, there are some of you here that are seeking to be accepted by the Lord by the things that

you do. You may have had a bad childhood growing up and didn't have the love of a father, and you tried desperately to do things to make your father love you, and he didn't, and he abandoned you, or he beat you, or you had some kind of real terrible childhood, and so you never had the experience of a loving father. And so to hear about a God who loves you, it's foreign to you, and you may have come to Christ and believed that he died and rose for you, but there's still this inkling that you have to do these things to be accepted by him. Let me tell you that he loves you as much now as he ever will.

He loves you to the max. There's nothing more you can do to make him love you anymore. What he wants you to do, what Paul said in Ephesians chapter 3 is, Oh, that you would come to know the height and the depth and the breadth and the length of God's love. So he just wants you to know that love. And many of you may have not experienced that, and so you're hopelessly wrapped up

in trying to do these things to prove your spirituality, to prove that you're okay. And God wants you to just come to know him. God wants you to experience that love relationship with him, and receive his love, and receive his grace for you. And then you know what? You're going to just be so full of love for him, you're just going to do the things that

hair, or that they needed to stop doing things. They just heard about the love of God, and God took a whole generation of hippies from the Jesus Movement, and they're now pastoring churches around the world, telling other people about the love of God. And their lives have been changed and straightened out, not because of a list of stuff that they were told to do, but because they met a God who loves them. Father, help anyone that's here this morning who may not know that love to just open their hearts to you.

Lord, break down any barriers that would keep us from realizing the freshness of your grace this morning, the freshness of your mercy, the freshness of the love that you have for us. Draw us close, Lord. Hold us tight. We give you our lives. In Jesus' name, amen. Let's stand together.