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We're going to go ahead and get started this evening. For our first hymn, go ahead and grab your hymnal, turn to hymn number 43. Hymn number 43, we're marching to Zion. Hymn number 43. 43, let's sing. Come we that love the Lord, and let our joys be known. Join in a song with sweet accord, join in a song with sweet accord, and thus surround the throne, and thus surround the throne. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Let those refused to sing who never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King, but children of the heavenly King may speak their joys abroad, may speak their joys abroad. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. The hill of Zion yields a thousand sacred sweets before we reach the heavenly fields, before we reach the heavenly fields, or walk the golden streets, or walk the golden streets. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, on the beautiful city of God. Then let our songs abound, and every tear be dry. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground. We're marching through Emmanuel's ground to fairer worlds on high, to fairer worlds on high. We're marching to Zion, beautiful, beautiful Zion. We're marching upward to Zion, the beautiful city of God. Amen. Brother Sam, would you open us in a word of prayer? Amen. For our second hymn this evening, turn, if you would, to 372. Hymn number 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. 372, Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. Let's sing. Brightly beams our Father's mercy from His lighthouse evermore, but to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning. Send the gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen, you may rescue, you may save. Dark the night of sin has settled. Loud the angry billows roar. Eager eyes are watching, longing for the lights along the shore. Let the lower lights be burning. Send the gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen, you may rescue, you may save. Trim your feeble lamp, my brother. Some poor, safer tempestors, trying now to make the harbor. In the darkness may be lost. Let the lower lights be burning. Send the gleam across the wave. Some poor fainting, struggling seamen, you may rescue, you may save. Amen. Good evening. It's very good to see you guys. If you need a bulletin, there's a couple back there. These guys can come by and get you one if you just lift your hand up real quick. They can come by and get you a bulletin. Sorry we're running a few minutes late. We had a couple trains that didn't like us. But hey, we're still here and we're real excited. And we're going to take back that rainbow it looks like here with this bulletin. So there you go. And then also on the inside we have our service times and summoning times. Also we have our salvations. We're still on Romans chapter 8 verse number 16. And so Romans chapter 8 is definitely a longer passage. But I'd really encourage you to try and memorize that. And also on the right we have a couple expecting ladies. If you'd please keep them in your prayers. Also our preaching schedule. So July 11, Brother Philip Milstad, he's going to be coming down here and preaching for us. And so that's real exciting. He's a real good guy. And I think he's bringing his family. I can't say for sure. But definitely be thankful for him coming over here. Brother Carter just came this Sunday and that was great that he got to come out here again. And he's a really nice guy. I got to meet him when I was in Georgia for one of Pastor Burzen's camps. And so that was great that he was able to come back out here. Also another person from Stronghold specifically on July 25, Brother Devin Rogers. So he's another faithful member of Pastor Burzen's church. And he highly recommends him until he'll be traveling out here July 25. August 8, Brother Christopher is coming back out. And man, he's great to come out here, really lift everyone's spirits. And he'll talk faster than you can believe. Also Thursday, August 19, Brother Deacon Corbin Russell is going to be coming out. That's definitely a big blessing. He's been spearheading a church plant in Tucson, Arizona. And so he preaches out there every single week. He's actually moved out there. He's still on staff at Faith Word Baptist Church working for Pastor Steven Anderson. And he does work for him as well. But he's doing a lot of stuff. And so it's hard to get him away, but the fact that we get him is definitely a huge blessing. Make sure to thank him for coming out here. And then also Brother Ben Nyeen will be coming Sunday, August 22. And so, man, you've got a lot of great people coming down here. Definitely thank them and appreciate them for taking their time to travel. Because it's not always easy to travel. And so definitely be thankful to them. Support them. Show up. And also we have some upcoming events. We have the Fire Breathing Baptist Fellowship, October 6-10. And then any prayer requests. If you have them, you can submit them to the church. And so we can put those in the bulletin. One thing that I think we just continue to pray for is Brother Cameron's leg. He's just had some issues with some healing. If we just continue to pray for him, that would be a huge blessing. And if you just pray for the Dallas Fort Worth church, that everything would go smoothly for us up there. And so everything else I think is going really well. And so it's really great to be down here and see all you guys. Let's go to our third song for the evening. Brother Cameron, what are you going to lead for us? 363. Turn if you would to hymn number 363, Wonderful Words of Life. I don't know that I've ever heard this one sung at OKC or here. But it's a good—I grew up kind of singing this one, which is ironic because it's not what the false churches believe. Wonderful Words of Life, 363. Wonderful Words of Life. Let's sing. Sing them over again to me, Wonderful Words of Life. Let me more of their beauty see, Wonderful Words of Life. Words of life and beauty, Teach me faith and duty. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Christ the blessed one gives to all, Wonderful words of life. Sinnerless to the loving call, Wonderful words of life. Also freely given, Wooing us to heaven. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Sweetly echo the gospel call, Wonderful words of life. Offer pardon and peace to all, Wonderful words of life. Jesus, only Savior, Sanctify forever. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Beautiful words, wonderful words, Wonderful words of life. Amen. Good singing this evening. While the offering plate is being passed around, turn if you would to Acts 15. Acts chapter number 15. Acts chapter number 15. Brother Brandon, if you would read for us. All right, Acts chapter 15. And certain men which came down to Judea and taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you cannot be saved. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small decision and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, certain of the others of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And being brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phinehas and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders, and they declare all the things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses, and the apostles and elders came together for to consider this matter. And when there had been much disputing, after Peter rose up and said unto them, Men, brethren, ye know how a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bear them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore they tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be safe, even as they. Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had brought among the Gentiles by them. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simon hath declared how God hath the first did visit Gentiles to take out them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets, as it is written, After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up, that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is that we trouble not them which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and fornications, and from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogue every sabbath day, then pleaseth the apostles and elders with the whole church, and send the chosen men of their own country to Antioch, when Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surnamed Barsabas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren. They wrote letters by them after this manner. The apostles and the elders and brethren send greetings unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles, and Antioch, and Syria, and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard that certain which went from out of the trouble you with words, diverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment. It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent, therefore, Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost unto us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things, that you abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication, from which ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Bear ye well, so when ye are dismissed, they come to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle, which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. And Judas and Silas, being prophets, also themselves exhorted the brethren with many words, and confirmed them. And after they had tarried their space, they were let go in peace from the brethren unto the apostles. Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still, Paul also Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord with many others also. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brother at every city where we have preached the word of the Lord, and see how many they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought not good to take him with them, to depart from them from Pamphylia, and went not with them to the work. And the contention was so sharp between them that they departed asunder from one other. And so Barnabas took Mark, and sailed unto Cyprus. And Paul chose Silas, and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Samaria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. And they have put word of the Lord. And then Paul went to St. Eden, and said, If you have a dear one, if you have one that could make it, and you pray that you could bless the server for the beautiful glory of the nations, and the tithes, and the missions for life. Amen, we're going through the book of Acts, and we have lots of different action, and lots of different stories that are being brought up. Let's look at verse number one, the Bible reads, And certain men which came down from Judea, taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved, when therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them. They determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question. And so what we have here is essentially different missionaries, as you would call them, or evangelists, or preachers, are being sent from church to church at this time. And you've had a little bit of time where churches have actually grown, Christianity's had some time to kind of settle. And so we have, you know, kind of two main churches here, a church in Antioch, and you have a church which is at Jerusalem. Now, when you understand kind of what's happening from an authority perspective, and essentially how the gospel's being spread from Jerusalem, Jerusalem is kind of looked to as being a source of authority. It's kind of looked to as, you know, the parent church, so-called, or the ones to where they look to get the right doctrine and get the right information. So if someone sends somebody from Jerusalem to another church, they're going to think that this is like official doctrine, this is coming from the other apostles, and even really kind of primary apostles in the sense that it's Peter, you know, it's John, it's James. It's kind of the people that are looked to as being the most respected, the most authoritative, people that you would respect their opinions of. And so when certain people are coming from that area, you know, and they're saying, hey, we're teaching that you have to also be circumcised after the man of Moses, and otherwise you're not saved. That throws a lot of weight when they come from Judea, when they're saying that they're coming from this person, and they're saying they're teaching this doctrine. But what's important here is that the apostle Paul, even though he does have respect for people and maybe their position, at the end of the day there is a certain threshold which he's not willing to just go along with what people are saying, and that would be an attack on the gospel. It doesn't really matter who you are or what authority you have or even if you've been recommended of the brethren or no matter what church you're coming from. If you're attacking the gospel of Jesus Christ, notice what it says. In verse number two, they have no small dissension or disputation with them. So they're not just going to sit here and let somebody preach false doctrine in regards to salvation, get up and lie to people, and preach a damnable heresy, bringing this thing in. And when it says no small dissension, it's basically saying, this wasn't something where they were just like, I don't know if I agree with you. It's not like saying they were really just like, hey, this isn't that big a deal. We can all believe different things. Some of us believe some things about the rapture. Some of us believe different. Some people eat certain foods. Some other people don't. It's not a big deal. He's not saying like, no, it's just a small dissension. He's saying it was no small dissension, meaning that they're very upset. This is a big deal. They're making a big deal about it. This is a huge controversy. So, you know, the apostle Paul is not just going to roll over and let someone walk in with a false gospel, attacking the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, you know, even though Paul for sure knows that this is wrong, he still is also going to do this. He's going to go through the proper channels in order to validate this information. And so, number one, Paul does not tolerate false doctrine. But just because you don't tolerate false doctrine doesn't mean that you shouldn't go through the proper channels and handle yourself in a professional, respectable, appropriate way. You know, he didn't just like pull out a knife and start slitting these guys' throat or something. He didn't start attacking them physically or harming them or anything. He's just basically going to go through the gamut, run the course on these guys, and see, okay, well, let's check the source. Now, to their disadvantage back then, they didn't have Facebook and email. They didn't have a cell phone in their back pocket. They're like, let me call Peter up real quick. Let's get Peter on the phone and see what's going on here. No, they have to travel all the way to Jerusalem. So, this is a huge ordeal. I mean, this is going to take a lot of time, a lot of effort, which also illustrates this, that this is a very important thing. Why would you want to go through that much effort, that much energy of traveling all the way to Jerusalem if this wasn't a huge deal? And why is it such a huge deal? Because as soon as you add anything to faith, it's no longer true salvation. You're literally corrupting the gospel. It's not like, well, you know, you think it's faith alone. I think it's faith plus baptism. So, I'm just, I'm safer than you because I'm doing more than you. Now, here's the problem. As soon as you add something to the gospel, now you've changed the gospel and you're actually damning souls to hell. And look, they're literally adding one of the smallest things you could possibly add. Now, obviously, it's really uncomfortable. I get that. But I'm just saying, like, this isn't, like, as lofty as saying, like, never lie again. Or, you know, you have to go to church for the rest of your life. This is a one-time procedure that they're basically alluding to and they're saying, well, you have to do this one procedure. But what Paul knows and we know through reading this chapter and other parts of the Bible that as soon as you add one little tiny thing, well, then they're just going to add the whole rest of the list. Then they're going to add all the rest of the law and when we kind of read through this chapter, we're going to see, yeah, they're going to bring up even more stuff. Now, keep your finger and go to Galatians chapter 2 for a moment because Galatians is actually an epistle that deals with this exact same topic, this exact same subject where people are essentially adding circumcision to the gospel. They were trying to say it's faith plus circumcision. And we have in Galatians chapter number 2 the Apostle Paul, you know, dealing with this matter. Look what he says in verse number 3. But neither Titus, who is with me being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised and that because a false brethren unawares brought in who came in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, they might bring us into bondage, to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the gospel might continue with you. So, he's bringing up a situation that's basically the exact same thing where he's saying somebody figured out that Titus is not circumcised. Now, Paul would have been, but Paul was circumcised before he got saved. Paul was just a Pharisee of the Pharisees. He was a Hebrew of the Hebrews. He was of the tribe of Benjamin. And so, according to that, he was probably already circumcised at the eighth day of his birth. So, he doesn't have any control over that. But Titus is a Greek. He's been with Paul. And Paul's never said, like, you need to get circumcised. And Titus never looked at Paul and said, do you think I should get circumcised? They just didn't have that conversation because they're saying, we never even dreamed this up. We never thought this because we knew that the gospel was by faith. Why would we then be wondering if I have to get circumcised or something? Why would I then be bringing up all these extra doctrines? You know, we never even thought of this. This is not something that we decided we needed to do. And very specifically, he's saying that we didn't give place by subjection, no, not for an hour. He's saying, I wouldn't even allow someone to teach this false doctrine for an hour. You know what that tells me? Like, and you say, an hour, right? But let's put this in modern vernacular. Okay, what does that really mean? Because you would think, like, why tolerate it for even a second? But wait a minute. How long is a church service typically? Maybe an hour, a little over an hour, right? So, if he's saying, I'm not going to subject for an hour, what is he basically saying? It's so important he would potentially interrupt the church service for it. That's what he's saying. Like, if someone's just getting up here and just saying, like, you have to have works to be saved. If you do anything wrong, you're going to lose your salvation. He's basically saying he wouldn't just sit there through the service and say nothing. If you understand, he's like, I wouldn't even give place to this for an hour. Hey, if someone's going to get up and clearly teach works salvation, I would even interrupt the service potentially. It's basically what he's saying. And look, I'm not saying, you know, go to a false church and start interrupting the service, you know. Just don't go to the false church, okay, or just leave. You don't have to interrupt. You know, this is amongst saved people. This is like saying, you're going to Pure Words Baptist Church and I invited a guest preacher and the guest preacher all of a sudden starts teaching a clear works-based salvation that someone would be like, what do you mean by that? You know, like, what's going on here? They might be like, you know, basically questioning the preacher. But again, you know, you should normally not do this. This should never even probably happen. I don't expect this to happen. What I am saying is that's how serious he's taking it, that you would interrupt. Interrupting a service to me is something I would never dream up. But he's saying it's that severe, it's like he would potentially. You know, because it's that big of a deal and you don't want this kind of false doctrine. I mean, there's children in the room. There's visitors in the room. You don't know who's being affected by that kind of leaven, by that kind of wicked false doctrine. And we don't want to allow false doctrine like that to get preached behind God's pulpit. He also says later in the same chapter, specifically, he says in verse number, let's just read a little bit. Look at verse 15. Who are Jews by nature, not sinners of the Gentiles, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, or by the faith of Jesus Christ. Even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. For I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead and vain. So the apostle Paul is driving at a point, because even Peter was kind of mixed up on this issue, not necessarily circumcision, but just essentially, you know, basically pretending like, you know, he can't fellowship with the Gentiles or something like that. And the apostle Paul got in his face, he's calling him out, and he's making a big deal about this, because you cannot frustrate the grace of God. And he's saying, if the law has anything to do with salvation, then what Christ did is meaningless. That's what he's saying, because either salvation is by grace, which means it's not of works, or it's by works, which means it's no longer of grace, which nullifies everything Christ did, which nullifies the death on the cross, which nullifies his burial, which nullifies his soul descending into hell, which nullifies the resurrection, it's all meaningless if somehow I have to work my way to heaven, because then he doesn't get all the honor, he doesn't get all the glory, then he didn't really pay all my sins, then God's even a liar because of all the verses he told us that in. So it's basically destroying everything by trying to add anything. Just like if I get up and I promise you that I'm going to give you something free, but then I charge you any amount of money, I've destroyed the fact that I promised you it was free. And so it's the same way with salvation. As soon as you start adding anything else other than faith in Christ or salvation, you've now stripped away the faith aspect. You've stripped away that it's a free gift and you've destroyed it. Go back if you would to Acts chapter number 15. So this is a very serious thing, and what I want to say about this, what we're talking about, is there's probably almost no likelihood that you'll ever run into anybody, or even hear about churches that are teaching faith plus circumcision. I've never heard that, and I've heard a lot. I've heard some weird stuff and some crazy things that people believe about getting saved. I've never heard anybody teach me I had to be circumcised to be saved. Has anybody ever heard someone tell them that you have to be circumcised to be saved? I've never heard that. But what we can learn from this is the fact that anything you add, though, is a corruption of the gospel. So the Church of Christ, they'll just add baptism. Well, it's just baptism. What's the problem? Because no matter what you add, it's corrupting the gospel, and you're not supposed to tolerate it. Oh, well, I just add church attendance, or I just add being willing to change, or willing to turn to me. It doesn't matter what they add, it's a corruption of the gospel. At this time, they don't have all these other weird things to add. They're adding circumcision because that's where they're coming from. And so that's why you have to understand that, yes, some parts of the Bible are in context in the sense that this is kind of locked into time, it's locked into their circumstance, it's locked into the situations they find themselves in. So the doctrine that they're trying to add to the gospel is circumcision. But what really matters is that you're adding something. Don't get so focused and dialed in on circumcision and think like, well, this church is just adding baptism. They're not adding circumcision, so it's okay. No, no, no, no. Adding anything would be a corruption of the gospel. It's not just circumcision. And when you see what they're really after here, when we get a little bit further into this, we'll see it wasn't just circumcision either. Read verse number three. And being brought on their way by the church, so this is Paul and Barnas going to Jerusalem, trying to figure out what's really going on. They passed through Phinehas and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy into all the brethren. And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But they rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying that it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. So notice, as soon as we bring up the circumcision, we just, oh, and then the whole law too. Just FYI. Wow, that was a lot. That escalated quickly, didn't it? Because, see, that's the real agenda. As soon as people just start adding any kind of works, they typically just throw the whole cart on them. Because even, again, I'm going to use Church of Christ as an example, just because I know. They'll act like it's just baptism, but then when you really talk to them, it's like you really have to follow. And I worked with a guy that, he didn't really go to church that much. He kind of went to a Pentecostal church every once in a while. He was raised Christian, had a lot of fear of the Lord in the sense that he respected the Bible, and, you know, he'd give lip service to loving Jesus Christ. He wasn't saved, I don't believe, but, you know, he definitely was a nice guy, and I really liked him. But his brother was a Church of Christ. And I remember talking to him a lot about, you know, the Bible or those things, because he would bring them up. He loved to talk about the Bible and this stuff, and he loved to talk, to be honest. And I'm just his employee, so I just sit there and just listen. You know, I'm just smiling, just like, yeah, okay, yeah, sure. And I'm not trying to be adversarial to this guy. And I would try to give him the Gospel, but he just wasn't really interested. He would just be kind of like, no, I understand. No, I got it. But he would tell me about his brother-in-law, and he'd say, yeah, I go out hunting with my brother all the time. I think it was his brother or brother-in-law, I can't remember. They'd go hunting all the time, and he was Church of Christ, the brother-in-law. And he was telling me that he would always ask him, he says, so, do you think I'm going to heaven? And his brother would be like, no. And he's like, it's because I don't go to your church, right? And he's like, yeah. He's like, you have to go to our church or you're not going to go to heaven. And he was just being honest. He's like, you have to follow all the commands. And he's like, if you got out of church, would you go to hell? And he was like, yeah. I mean, they believe in one of the most hardcore. A lot of them will have a doctoral statement. It's like the seven things that get you to heaven. And the first four are good. It's like, they have to hear. And then they have to believe. And then they have to, you know, and it'll kind of elaborate. Then they have to call, you know, on the Lord. And basically, all the first few steps are good. It's like they have to hear it, understand it, believe it, and then call. And you're like, great. And then they're like, oh, and then get baptized. Oh, and the number six, follow all the commandments. Oh, and the number seven, persevere unto the end. And you're just like, whoa. That's hardcore. But notice, it was already happening here. And look, this is virtually every fake Christian denomination. You talk to them. You know, the Calvinists have the same viewpoint. They have the same doctrine. They have the perseverance of the saints. They think most of the people in their church aren't even saved. People come up and they say, I'm struggling with sin. And they're like, well, you need to get saved. How insulting would that be? If you came up to me and you said, hey, I'm struggling in this area, Pastor Shelley. And I'm just like, well, you're just obviously not saved. Get saved again. Do you want me to give you the gospel? It's like, you'd be like, I believe in Jesus. And you're like, you need to really believe. And you're like, I really believe it. But I'm struggling in this other area. You know, I'm having a hard time with this other area of my life. And it's like, is there any other Bible verses? Just the gospel. You know, and it's like, that's ridiculous. Obviously, there's a distinction between believing in Jesus Christ for salvation and all the other commandments that the Bible gives us. And no one has ever kept the law ever. Isn't it funny that they're bringing up, oh, keep all the law. When did the Jews ever keep all the law? You know, let's ask these people. You know, it's funny you knock on somebody's door. What do you have to do to go to heaven? Be a good person. Are you 100% sure you're going? Yes. It's like, really? So you're a good person. It's like, what do you have to do to go to heaven? Follow the commandments. Are you sure you're going to heaven? Yep. It's like, what? Do you even hear what you're saying? What person can get up and literally say, you have to follow all of the commandments? They're a hypocrite. There's none good, no, not one. There's not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sineth not. And really, what they end up doing is they start creating a subset list of sins that are okay for them to commit and still go to heaven. And your sins are not. So it's like, well, if you're practicing sin, if you're in a really sinful lifestyle, if you're really into this sin stuff, you're not going to make it. You know, that's not compatible with a real believer, with a real Christian or whatever. And it's like, what sins you got, buddy? Let's start talking about your sin issues. That's why sin, how much sin you have in your life has nothing to do with if you're going to heaven or not. They're the ones that are adding this to the gospel. They're bringing these false doctrines in. And they're really attacking the heart of the gospel here. Now, what's interesting about this verse, and I'm not going to give you a perfect explanation. I'll just give you my thoughts, okay? But it does say in verse five, but there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed and are saying this. So I think there's kind of two ways to look at that verse. One would be like, maybe there's just a whole group of Pharisees that believe. But then amongst them, there's some people that don't that are basically piping up and saying it. That's one way to interpret this. That there were some people in that group as a whole that are basically bringing up this. Those people didn't believe. Those people were unsaved and they're kind of Judas' amongst them. That's one way. Or another way to interpret this is that it's possible for a saved person to get somewhat confused on the gospel. Or to believe something wrong in the gospel. Now, I think that this is technically possible when you read Galatians, because when the apostle Paul is bringing up and addressing this issue with them, he's not damning them all to hell. But what he does say is, I'm afraid of you. But if it's unequivocal that you could never be screwed up or mixed up in any level or any shade, then he would just say, well, you're just definitely unsaved. But he's kind of bringing up the idea, I'm afraid of you. This is how I kind of look at this passage. It's possible that someone who's really novice or really a brand new Christian, after getting saved, could hear lies from some people and start parroting or repeating those lies. But if shown how they're wrong, they would immediately fix it. They would immediately change and immediately agree. And to me, I feel like I've seen this soul winning. There's been some times where I've gone soul winning and I've knocked on a door and I'm talking to somebody and I say, you know, what do you have to do to be saved? And they say, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say, pretty good, right? And then I'm like, do you think someone could lose their salvation? And they say, yes. And I'm like, okay, well, how could someone lose their salvation? And they're like, I don't know. And I'm like, okay, well, let's say someone did something really bad. They committed murder. Would they have lose their salvation? And they were like, no, I guess Jesus did pay all their sins. And I'm like, so is there anything you could do to lose your salvation? She's like, no, I guess not, because Jesus really paid all of your sins. I guess you can't. I didn't even teach that. She came out with her own thing. I was just kind of screwing it. But her first answer was you could lose your salvation. And you want to know why I believe that? I'm sure she goes to a bad church where there's someone teaching lies. In her heart she's saved, but she ended up started repeating something stupid because she's heard some of these lies. I didn't even have to change her mind, though. I just am kind of like, wait a minute, is this really what you believe? Is this kind of where you're at? And then she's able to self-correct based on just using logic, the Bible, and other verses and stuff like that. So when I run into people, sometimes they may give a weird answer or a wrong answer, and I don't just instantly think, like, you're unsafe. I kind of just slow down, ask a few other follow-up questions, or really try to make sure. So would you say faith alone or faithless works? And if someone's like kind of giving you both, then I may even just say this. Let's say I believe in Jesus, I truly believe, but then I just live however I want. I'm not really following the commandments. Would that faith that I did have in Him still take me to heaven? And if they're like, yeah, then I pretty much believe they're probably safe, even if they were given some weird answers or whatever. So again, that's just your own discretion that you kind of need to use. And I'm just saying, I think it's possible for someone to parrot some of the wrong things or kind of say something stupid that doesn't necessarily mean that they don't believe or they're unsafe. But if I'm asking them and they're just making it clear, yeah, you lose your salvation, if you commit murder, you're going to hell, yes. And I would say they're not safe. And I always correct them. No matter what it is. If they're safe or not, I don't care. It doesn't matter to me. I can't change that. But what I can do is I can correct them. And I'll correct them. I'll get it right. And I'll say this. Do you feel like you had a change of mind about what you believed before I came or not? If they said no, then I'll just say fine. Then they probably were saved or they didn't have a change of mind enough to get saved anyways and I'll move on. If they're like, this is completely different than what I was blaming before, then I'll pray with them and try to get them saved. And I even think it's possible that sometimes we get people saved again. I'm just being honest. I'm just being candid with you. It's possible that someone got saved as a child, got really screwed up, and we kind of get them saved again. But what's the harm in that? Now they're right on the doctrine. Now they feel even more secure and even better, number one. Number two, someone that was wrong and we correct them, that's even better. And I don't think that God's going to be like, well, you were getting a couple people saved again. It's like, was that really a bad thing that we did? No. And sometimes we probably get people saved that we didn't even count. So the numbers are never going to be perfect. It doesn't really matter. It just gives us some kind of an idea of how much work we're doing, generally speaking. How much work we're doing, how receptive it is, areas that are good to go to and everything like that. And I like keeping numbers because it helps us accountable. You know, if we had a whole big number last year and it's like a third the next year, it's like, what are we doing wrong? Did we have less soul winning, less people going out, are we not zealous, or was it just unreceptive? And if maybe it was unreceptive, that's something we could fix or we could become more zealous or whatever. So it's good to have numbers, but again, can I really just say 1,000%? I looked in this guy's heart and I saw the Holy Spirit there. You know, it's like, no, obviously it's not foolproof. We're doing the best we can. And I think 99% of the time we're right on the ball. I think that our methods and the tools that we're using are 99 plus percent effective on discerning people that are saved and unsaved and being able to get them saved. But obviously there's going to be a small level there. And this is kind of one example. This is a very tiny example in the Bible where you see people that are called believers that are kind of screwed up on the gospel. This is not your common experience throughout the Bible. This is like a rare circumstance where someone is kind of screwed up. And I don't even know if that's what it's saying. It could, like I said earlier, be just unsaved people mixed in this group of saved. Or it could just be there was a handful of them that were just kind of screwed up. And as soon as they start correcting them, they get it right. It says in verse number 7, And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us, and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why tempt ye God to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? So Peter is saying like, look, we've never kept the law. Our fathers never kept the law. Why would you then instill or insist that the Gentiles would then have to keep the law when we couldn't do it? You know, it's this foolishness, it's nonsense. And we see Peter is a good leader here. He's trying to rally everybody. And he's using scripture and logic and history to kind of try and help them understand that, you know what, it's just by faith, guys. We already witnessed it. We already went to the Gentiles who were not keeping the law. It wasn't a question if the Gentiles were keeping the law when we showed up. It's like when I went to Samaria, when we were going to these other Gentile areas, it wasn't like, are you keeping the law? I'm not sure. It's just they weren't. And then by faith alone, they got the Holy Ghost. He's saying, look, we already proved that they didn't have to have that. And I think one of the reasons why God is giving all the sign gifts is because back then it was abundantly clear if someone was saved or not. If you had the Holy Ghost speaking through you in another language and the Holy Ghost came upon you and you're speaking with other tongues, you're saved. It's not, that's, you know, like I said, I can't look in someone's heart and see the Holy Spirit. But in that instance, you could see the manifestations of the Spirit and just know for sure that these people are saved. That's really important at this time because you would have a lot of people that would doubt if the Gentiles are really saved. They would doubt if they're really going into heaven. They would doubt the work that the Lord is doing amongst the Gentiles. And so by pouring out the Holy Spirit on them, it's helping confirm the fact that they're actually getting saved and they're actually our brethren because they have to overcome a really hard false doctrine where they believe the Jews are disappeared to the Gentiles, that God's only the God of the Jews, that God wants nothing to do with the Gentiles. So they're having to overcome this and God's kind of giving them the superpower of the Holy Ghost to help confirm the fact, no, these Gentiles are God's children too. The ones that are believing on Jesus Christ and getting saved are the same as us Jews. We got saved by faith. They got saved by faith. Why are you bringing up the law now? Why are you trying to get us saved by the law? Go to Romans chapter 3 and we'll see this kind of spelled out a little bit more. Romans chapter number 3. Now in today's age we don't have a hard time overcoming the Gentile doctrine because we're all Gentile. It's like we already got that. And so we don't need some of these other things. We have other technologies and other tools and other options in order to get the gospel out so God is not seeing fit to necessarily give us the same gifts that he gave to the apostles. And I think a lot of Christians probably wouldn't be able to handle it. The apostles were such humble men and they'd been with Christ and they'd seen him and so I think it was easier for them to be humble about the special giftings and the things that God had given and granted unto them. And they were constantly tortured and beaten for the work that they were doing. So it was kind of like discouraging to even perform those miracles. You would kind of think like if I could do that I would want to do it. But it's like as soon as they did it the whole city would kill them or try to. You know it's like you would think like wow if I could heal people I'd be great. That's not necessarily true because what if you could heal some people but not everybody. The person that showed up and didn't get healed they would be mad at you and want to hurt you. And think about how many people would flog you and harass you. You wouldn't be able to go to sleep. If you could heal people by just touching them you would go to sleep tonight and people would be beating down your door. They'd be taking the towels off the roof of your ceiling coming down and like touch my child now. And like this city has like eight million people or whatever in it. I mean you wouldn't even want to know how many people would be lined up at your door. You wouldn't even be able to get out of your house. You wouldn't even be able to drive here. There's just mobs of people there that are sick incessantly just wanting you to touch them. So you know don't think like oh I wish I had those abilities. They had to suffer because of them. You know we have the word of God. We have the full Old and New Testament. And you know I find that as a great tool. I don't need all that extra stuff anyways. It's probably more of a curse than it is a blessing when you really think about what was going on. Romans chapter number three look at verse number or a burden. I wouldn't say a curse. Maybe a burden's a better wording there. But Romans chapter number three look at verse number nineteen. Now we know that what things so ever the law say that saith to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped. And all the world may become guilty before God. So he's saying the purpose of the law is to make you feel guilty. So then why would you then get up and say well you have to keep all the law. The whole point is to show that you can't. The whole essence of the law is to make it clear to you that you're not going to keep it. So it's completely contradictory to then look at it and say you've got to keep it all. The whole point is you can't. The whole point is evidencing the fact that you're guilty before God. Verse twenty therefore by the deeds of the law there should no flesh be justified in sight. By the law is the knowledge of sin. He's saying the purpose of the law is to let you know you're doing something wrong. And I had somebody I was talking to the other day and I was trying to get him saved. And you know he just had he had genuine questions. He's just like well why is the Ten Commandments in the Bible. You know why is God giving us rules and why is God giving us laws. And I said we have to understand about the law and you have to understand about the commandments is they just make sin obvious. They let you know what sin is. And I said the purpose of rules and laws is to help identify to you that what you're doing is wrong. And I said it's to make sin exceeding sinful to make it more obvious. So like in the church I try to not have that many rules. But then rules get added because people have bad behavior right. If all the kids are coloring on the walls you know that's wrong. But I don't have like an official rule like don't color on the walls. But then if it was happening I would say OK official rule don't color on the walls. Now why would you do that. To make that behavior even more wrong because it's now been stated it's now been told to you. And so why did God give the law. He's like you guys are really bad. You guys have a lot of bad behavior and I want to make it really clear to you guys how bad you are. So that's what the purpose of bringing the law in. The law though doesn't make you good necessarily. It doesn't turn you into a better person just it helps you realize where you're standing. It helps you realize where you're at. Just like a mirror doesn't make you better looking. The mirror just you know they have some mirrors that try to make you look better but it doesn't matter. You know the purpose of a mirror is to let you know where you're at. The purpose of the law is just to let you know where you're at. What do you look like what do you stand. You know I can't hope in a mirror to make me look better. I'm not going to draw a picture of a handsome guy and then go look at it and be like oh look I'm looking great today. You just run the whole purpose of the mirror. And so again the law of God is not just going to on its own make you better. All it does is tell you where you're at and help you realize where to improve. Like the mirror I can look and say okay I got something on my face I need to take that off. So it obviously will help you get a picture of where you're at and help you improve. But what the Bible is telling us here is that going to heaven was never going to be by looking at the mirror. It was never by realizing how sinful you are because every time you looked you'd always realize there's a problem. He says in verse 21, But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even, meaning specifically, the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. So when we quote Romans 3 23 the context there is this. He's contrasting Jew and Gentile and he's saying there's no difference. Why? For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what the context of that verse is. It's saying that no one is perfect. No one could keep the law. We've all somehow come short. Verse 24, Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith and his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. So basically what he's saying here is it's a free gift. It's by grace. All that redemption is only in Jesus. And Jesus was set forth to be the payment through faith and his blood. And then what we do is we end up declaring his righteousness for the remission of our sins. It has nothing to do with my righteousness. I don't have righteousness. So how would you declare yourself righteous? By following the law. But I'm not doing that. I'm declaring his righteousness and I get it through the forbearance of God. Forbearance, to forbear means to forgo or to not do something. And what we have to understand about God is he does not judge sin right away. It's not an immediate punishment. And you say, well why would God not immediately punish sin? Because he wants people to go to heaven. Because he wants people to be saved. Imagine if every person on this planet immediately was judged for their sin. No one would go to heaven. Because as soon as you sin you're in hell. When's your opportunity to get that right? So God ends up being really forbearing, long suffering, really gracious, really merciful to the world. Allowing every single person the opportunity to actually believe in Jesus Christ, accept his free gift, and go to heaven. And that's to show how good God is. So some people would think like, why doesn't God judge already? But you know what? It's because he's good that he's not judging in some cases. You know, it's because he's long suffering, it's because he's forbearing, it's because he's merciful. And just as much as we deserve to be punished a lot sooner for our sins, God was long suffering with us so we could get saved. So we shouldn't be upset when people in our lives are not judged immediately. Because maybe God's forbearance there in their life is to help them get things right, or to get saved, or whatever. Or sometimes it's just to treasure up wrath unto themselves. I understand that point. But I'm just saying, sometimes, you know, someone doing something wrong and not getting punished right away, is God's way of trying to show goodness unto that person to help them get saved. And so we shouldn't be upset with God and his delaying judgment at times. It's really just a testimony to his goodness. It's a testimony to his grace. Verse 26, to declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just in the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded by what law of works, nay, but by the law of faith. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. I mean, Paul's hammering this. Verse 29, is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not also the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, seeing it as one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith. So he's just saying, look, everyone's saved by one thing, faith, whether you're circumcised or uncircumcised, so the circumcision doesn't matter. If he's going to justify the uncircumcision through faith, then that means they don't have to be circumcised. And he says in verse number 31, do we then make the void the law through faith. So here's where the dichotomy comes in, or here's where the confusion comes in, is people kind of want to have this one-fits-all viewpoint. Where it's either you keep all the law to go to heaven, or we just never mention the law again or throw it in the trash or something. And it's like, neither of those are accurate. We're saved by faith, we've settled that. So then the next question is, well, where does the law come in? Is the law necessary for salvation? No. So we don't want to ever believe that, get near that, or touch that. Do we just then, who cares about the law then? Let's eat, drink, be married, because tomorrow we're going to heaven. It's like, no, no, no, wait a minute. What does he say? Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid. Yay, we establish law. Now what is to establish something is to confirm it, to build, to make it clear. So when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, the Bible teaches that we're supposed to be led of the Spirit, and when we're led of the Spirit, we're going to not fulfill the lust of the flesh, meaning that we're going to actually fulfill the law. Because whenever you're being led of the Spirit, and you're loving God, and you're loving your neighbor as yourself, there's not a single commandment that you'll ever be in violation of. Because all of it is under the guise of loving God, or loving your neighbor as yourself. Now there are a few laws where on the surface it could look like Gentiles are breaking that. But we have to understand that some of the laws were fulfilled in Christ, and they were a spiritual picture, and so they no longer pertain to us by a physical nature. And obviously because it takes a little bit of spiritual discernment, every unsaved person in the world mocks the view of New Testament Christianity, and mocks the fact that some Old Testament laws have been done away with. And then whenever we try to say, well we still believe other Old Testament laws, because there's this distinction, they just throw a conniption fit, and they get all mad, you know, because they don't like the death penalty. And you know why people don't like the death penalty? Because they're worthy of death. You know, it's not really that hard to figure out who's really mad about it. It's like, you know who gets really mad about rapists being put to death? Rapists. You know who gets really mad about murderers being put to death? Murderers. You know who gets really mad about sodomites being put to death? Sodomites. You know, it's not like just normal people are typically that upset about it. They're probably guilty of something else too, or they have some kind of other issue. You know, really, people that love children, and love innocence, and love their society, and love God, and love their neighbors their self, they're going to believe the commandments that God gave us. And they're not going to quibble over these, you know, secondary issues of, you know, well I don't understand why some of the laws are fulfilled or not. It's because you don't even believe the Bible. You know, it's funny, most of the people that get mad or try to attack us for what we believe in the Bible, they'll openly say, I don't even believe the Bible. But let me tell you, you're not interpreting it right. It's like, you don't even believe it. I mean, how does that even make any sense? I'm not going to tell a Muslim how to be a Muslim. I don't believe in the Quran. I'm not going to tell a Mormon how to be a Mormon. You know, I'll tell them how to be like me. I'll tell them how to be a Christian. I'll tell them how to get saved. You know, it's funny how atheists want to tell me how to be a Christian. Wouldn't they tell me how to be an atheist if they were really logical? And say like, well, we should believe nothing, you know. We should just brutally murder people and try to get away with it and steal and lie and cheat and do anything to get ahead. Survival of the fittest. Because that's really the morality of an atheist. But they tell you, you're supposed to love. It's like, you don't even believe the Bible. Where are you coming up with this junk? Go back to Acts chapter number 15. Go back to Acts chapter number 15. But we see, you know, they're trying to bring in work salvation. They're trying to bring in all the law. Peter is rebuking them and correcting them and making it clear. We never kept it. No one's ever kept the law. You know, it's faith. We've already even witnessed it. They already had the Holy Ghost come upon them. We've already seen it. Why are we doing this? Verse number 11. But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved even as they. So they say, look, we're saved by grace through faith. And guess what? They're saved by grace through faith. It's the same thing. Now verse number 12, it says, Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience unto Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had brought among the Gentiles by them. And you know what a good leader does and a good preacher does? Is he just puts everybody else to silence. And I like how it's like Peter just gets up, makes it clear, and then everybody just shuts up and they move on. And now all of a sudden Paul gets to actually talk about some cool things about their missionary journey and how they got all these Gentiles saved and everything else. And you know what? An effective leader brings unity. An effective leader brings peace. An effective leader squashes false doctrine. You know, there was all this division, there was all this conflict, but then he gets up and just preaches the Bible, preaches the word of God, and then everybody's on the same page. And you know what? That's what a good leader does. You know, a bad leader sows confusion. A bad leader causes, you know, splits in the church and causes all kinds of problems. And obviously sometimes, you know, get rid of the trash. I get that. But I'm just saying, you know, if you leave the church service more confused than you came in, that was a bad service. That was a bad message. You know, the leader should not get up and give an uncertain sound, but rather he should sound the trumpet and sound the cry of the battle and make things manifest and make things clear and stir up your hearts by faith and the word of God. And so Paul and Barnabas, they get to declare all these miracles and wonders and they really like that. Verse 13. And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me. Simon, and now that's Peter. That's his, you know, Simon Peter, says, hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets as it is written. After this I will return and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down, and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up that the residue of men might seek after the Lord and all the Gentiles upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. Now what I like about James is, and I hope that people will understand this, that even though some people and everybody may be on the same page, it's still a really good idea to prove the exact same doctrine all over again with even more scripture. Because then it just really establishes things in people's hearts. And I think there's a temptation for preachers to feel like they have to always preach something new or expound some new doctrine or some new idea or whatever, rather than just saying, you know what, I want to prove the exact same doctrine and I'll just use another verse or I'll just use another passage. Instead of finding new ways to teach the same doctrine, they're trying to come up with new doctrine. It's like, whoa, don't come up with new doctrine. If you want to use fresh verses to prove the same doctrines, by all means, go ahead, that's great. But don't try to get cute and don't try to teach things that you've never heard, you've never seen before. Typically when you come up with something new, there's a reason why it's new. It's because it's not probably true. And I'm not saying that new things can't be true, but what I am saying is that there's been a lot of other Christians that have been studying the Bible for a really long time. It's really hard to just come up with all this unique stuff that no one's ever heard. And in fact, I don't think that I've ever preached anything that I can't find someone else has taught before me. Of all the things that I've ever taught, I've always seen or heard other people teaching it before me. Something that I feel like I thought was kind of new, but it wasn't even before I realized it, the timing of the Passover. But I've found plenty of people that believe it's on Thursday, that have other verses that confirm all those things. The fact that I believe that the timing of the Passover or that Christ was killed on Thursday is not unique to me. I didn't dream it up. 99% of the doctrine I have came from Pastor Anderson and other pastors I've had before and all the other stuff that I learn and study. Sometimes I'll read some of the Bible and I'll be like, wow, I've never had that thought. And then I'll ask somebody else and be like, yeah, everybody says this, I already teach this. It's the same Holy Ghost. So be careful when you feel like you have something really new, really unique. That might be something that's false too. And I like that James is going to other scriptures. Go to Amos and let's see where he's kind of pulling this out of. He's using other Bible verses and he's saying, look, the prophets agree with what Peter said. What Simon said, the Bible says. And that's the best confirmation you can get. It's like if you get up and someone's like, well, everything he says is what the Bible says, then you're like, well, that's good. Beware of the people that have no verses to support their doctrine. Beware of the people that get up and teach you things, yet the verses are not saying that. And sometimes people will use verses, but it's not really what it's saying. That's why it's important for you to kind of know the context and be a Berean and go home and check and make sure everything's in context. Because if someone's pulling out a verse and it doesn't really fit with what they're saying, be skeptical of what they said, no matter who it is. If it's me or another pastor or even just one of the people from our church or a guest preacher. If what they're saying they have no verse to really hang that doctrine on or hang what they're teaching on, you should make life-altering decisions on that then. If you're going to make life-changing decisions, make sure there's verses that say that. Make sure there's things that you know that the Bible's really saying and confirming rather than just on a whim, oh, I heard somebody say this one time, I'll just do it. Sometimes people say stupid things. Sometimes people say things, I've listened to sermons and I don't even agree with certain phrases I said or certain things that I said necessarily. So you have to make sure that the Bible is your final authority. Amos chapter number 9, look at verse 11. In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that has fallen and close up the breaches thereof, and I will raise up his ruins and I will build it as in the days of old, that they may possess the remnant of Edom and all the heathen which are called by my name, sayeth the Lord, that doeth this. So notice all the way back in the Old Testament with the minor prophets, he's saying, look, there was already testimony that the heathen were going to end up getting saved. They're called by my name. So it's an evidence of the fact that the Gentiles were going to get saved and this is a fulfillment of Amos when they're going out and preaching the gospel here. Let's look at verse number 18, go back to Acts chapter 15, look at verse number 18. Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God, but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood. For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues, every Sabbath day. Now, the next section of this is a little bit difficult to interpret. And I've heard other people have a few different ideas as far as what's going on in this passage. But I'll just kind of give you my viewpoint of what's happening here. And maybe if you have a different viewpoint, you could share that at some point. But here's what James is bringing up, he's bringing up pollution of idols, fornication, things strangled and from blood and saying like, this is the only things that we should really tell the Gentiles not to do. These are kind of the commandments that we should tell them. It's certainly still not in context of salvation. He's not saying like you have to do these to be saved. And he's making it clear that he doesn't want to trouble them. The trouble would be in reference to preaching a false gospel or teaching Daniel heresy. And he brings up in verse 21, they have Moses of old time. So what is he insinuating? He's insinuating they have the law. So they have the word of God. They could, you know, every single week they've been hearing all the commandments of God like thou should not kill and thou should not bear false witness. You know, they've heard the commandments, they've heard the law, they've heard these things. So then why would James bring up these four or bring up these few different things that he's kind of talking about? The way I look at this is that essentially what he's doing is he's kind of like highlighting certain sins that are prevalent in their society, in their culture, in their timeline. And it's not that what he's saying is these are the only things that are bad or these are the only sins that they should avoid. But he's just trying to say like when I kind of look at what you guys are doing, here's what your major problems are, okay? And so like there could be certain people that I look at or a certain nation that I look at and I'm trying to give them advice and I'm like, look, you guys need to stop drinking alcohol, you guys need to, you know, quit committing fornication and this and say and they have the Bible for the rest of it. And so he's basically just saying like here are some major issues that they've got, here are some main things. But he doesn't feel the need to bring up, you know, necessarily printing marks on their body. Probably because it's probably not an issue, you know? There are certain areas where certain things just aren't an issue. So he's probably just bringing up a list of things that are really prevalent. And look, idolatry, this is prevalent in the heathen, okay? What would be a thing that's prevalent amongst all people? Fornication, you know? I mean he's bringing up sins that are just like super common. These are not like a few people are dealing with or a couple people have problems in these areas. I mean he's bringing up, you know, the meat, sacrifice and idols in the sense of things strangled and from blood. You know, he's bringing up these things. Now, I would say this, when it comes to from things strangled and from blood, those are Old Testament commands. And, you know, I still think that they would be applicable today and good advice that, you know, we don't want to eat meat that's been killed in an unorthodox way. You know, if you understand butcher shops and stuff, they kill an animal that's healthy and they try to kill it in a way so as to not ruin the food. You know, whether it gets contaminated by bacteria or if it's being strangled, it's kind of insinuating that it was like a gruesome death or it died in a weird way. Because if you kill an animal and it's like really tense or it's like going through a lot of anguish whenever it's being killed, it can often, you know, make the meat a lot tougher and it can have a lot of problems with it potentially. That's why cows, what they actually do, and I don't know if all of them do it now, but I know especially my dad worked for, he worked for a feed company. And basically what they would do is they would get a metal rod and they would just shove it through the cow's head, okay. But what it would do, it wouldn't kill it. It would just make it brain dead. And I guess it was like for two purposes. It wouldn't really move or do anything. And maybe it was more humane. But then they would wait and then they would finally slit its throat, okay, and let the blood drain from the animal so as to basically actually kill it. So the stun thing wasn't necessarily to kill it. But that stunning feature would also make it to where it wasn't going to like tense up or go into a weird state whenever you actually butcher the animal and get the blood out and drain it out. And they want it to be alive when they slit the throat or something because the heart pumps when it's alive. And whenever an animal's alive and the throat's slit, all the blood will just come out right away. If the animal's already dead and then you cut it, it won't just gush blood. Just like me as a person or anybody. If someone's alive and they're cut, I mean blood will just be like spewing and it's like, you know, coming out. If someone's dead and they didn't die from any kind of a wound that was losing blood and then you cut them, some blood will come out but it's not going to gush out. It's not going to be pumped out. So that's how a lot of these animals are killed in a manner so as that the blood is just drained like that because you don't want to eat meat with blood. You can contaminate it. It's problematic. And so even in today's world, talk about beef or any of these animals, they drain the blood from these animals when they kill them. Now some people get freaked out because you eat a medium rare steak, okay, and it's pink. And they're like, oh, there's blood. There's no blood. Look it up. It's not blood, okay. It's just the juice and, yeah, it may look a little red but it's not like I'm a vampire over here just like, you know, I got me a medium rare steak. Look, you got to eat a steak with some pink in it, okay. That's the right way. You don't want to overcook this. You don't want to burn it. I don't like eating burnt things to a crisp. I know some people have a hard time with this doctrine, okay. This is an exercise and did the Bible say does it have to be burnt or not, okay. This is my personal opinion but I'm just telling you it's the right way, okay. But essentially it's bringing up, what, don't eat these things, don't eat blood, don't eat things that are strangled. This is still good advice. It's still things that we carry forward in the New Testament and apparently they had issues in these areas. And look, there's some cultures, there's some areas where they don't have proper sanitation or proper practices in food and these type of things or they're sacrificing animals into, you know, false gods and stuff and so they've got some severe issues so he's bringing them up. I don't think that this is like, okay, we're Gentiles, these are the only laws that we have now. Just those, you know, I can lie, steal, cheat, commit adultery, those are on the table but I just can't eat blood. You know, it's like, no. He says in verse 21, for Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him. So he's saying, look, they still have the Old Testament to help accompany them but they don't have to keep the law to be saved either. And you say, but I thought the law, we don't need the law. Wait a minute, we established the law. So it's not like we got rid of the law, we're just, we're putting it in its proper place. We're saying it's not for salvation, we still look to it, it's still profitable for doctrine, it still helps us in our daily lives. And I believe James is just bringing up, you know, here's some of the things, if we're going to really give them other doctrine, here's the things I think we should, you know, basically bring up. That's how I would interpret this passage. Some people might look at this a little bit different but I believe that's what he's teaching. Verse 22, then it pleased, then pleased at the apostles and elders with the whole church to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, namely Judas, surnamed Barsabbas, and Silas, chief men among the brethren. And they wrote letters by them after this manner. The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. For as much as we have heard that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words subverting your souls saying you must be circumcised and keep the law to whom we gave no such commandment. So basically this is their letter. We're actually reading the letter that they were writing and sending and they're saying, hey people that are coming out claiming they're from us, we never said this. We never told them to preach this false doctrine, you know, we're settling the issue and we're making it clear where we stand and this church is basically helping the other church understand doctrine. Verse 25, it seemed good unto us being assembled with one accord to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives with the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. Now this is great when you think about it because they're not going to just, you know, Paul and Barnabas already made it clear how they feel when they were in Antioch, right? So wouldn't it be easy for them to come down and then come back and be like, oh, they agreed with us. You know what I mean? So what are they doing? They're sending other people from there to then confirm by mouth, no, what they're saying is legit. We're with Paul and we're with Barnabas and they're the guys that are actually right on this issue. Here's our letter and we're going to tell you and ourselves out of the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established. So they're doing what? They're going above and beyond to prove doctrine. They're going above and beyond to make sure the matters are right, to investigate and look at everything that we do. We need to make sure that we're above approach and we're investigating things and we always have two or three witnesses. You know, it's really easy for people to become railers and slanderers and exercise libel because they hear something from someone and they just repeat it or they only use one witness. You know, when we're going to make public statements and we're going to deal with doctrine and these different issues, we need to always make sure that we have all of the facts. And there's plenty of times when I know that I'm right or I know what somebody has done but I just don't have enough witnesses. I just don't have enough information to really go forward with that and I just, you know, I'm not saying I'm perfect here but I try to make sure that I don't go forward with that information then. Or I don't allow that information to taint my viewpoint because we need to make sure we do everything appropriately, perfectly, we're handling ourselves wisely. You know, David handled himself wisely. Daniel handled himself wisely. And because they are a good steward of handling these matters, God ends up preserving them and protecting them and we want to do the same thing. We don't want to just run around, running our mouth or not confirming things and going through the proper channels and establishing everything correctly. You know, if you've got a problem with doctrine, you need to go to the pastor, you need to go to the leadership, you need to have them confirm things unto you. You know, we don't want to just have a free-for-all when it comes to the word of God and doctrine and matters like that. We want to handle them appropriately and I love how, you know, God's people do things with such order and professionalism and they're ensuring everything is done correctly and they're not allowing anybody to gainsay or to say, well, how can we trust you guys? Well, here's the witness testimony, here's the paperwork and here's two guys, here's two physical witnesses. I mean, they're going above and beyond to prove every single thing that they do to make sure that it is corrected. Now, it says in verse 28, for it seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things. He abstained from each offered idols and from blood and from being strangled and from fornication, from which if ye keep yourselves ye shall do well, bear ye well. So, that's basically their letter and it confirms what we read up before. Verse 30, so when they were dismissed, they came to Antioch and when they gathered multiple together, they delivered the epistle, which when they had read, they rejoiced for the consolation. Judas and Silas, being prophets, also themselves exhorted the brethren with many words and confirmed them. And after they had tarried there a space, they were let go in peace from the brethren and the apostles, notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still. Paul also in Barnabas continued in Antioch, teaching and preaching the word of the Lord and with many others also. And some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, Let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined to take with them John, whose surname was Mark. But Paul thought it not good to take him with them, who departed from them from Pamphylia and went not with them to the work. And so the contention was sharp between them and they departed asunder, one from the other. And so Barnabas took Mark and sailed into Cyprus and Paul chose Silas and departed, being recommended by the brethren unto the grace of God. And he went through Syria and Cilicia, confirming the churches. Now, I've already kind of talked about this a little bit, but I just want to hit it again one more time. We have here a situation where Paul and Barnabas are deciding to go back to the churches that they've started, formed, see how they're doing, making sure that they're doing well, encouraging them, edifying them, and we get a lot of the epistles from this type of encounters that we're going to see. They're going on another missionary journey. Now, on their journey though, Barnabas wants to take John Mark. The problem is, in Acts chapter 13, if you look at it in verse 13, chapter 13 verse 13, it says, Now when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga and Pamphylia, and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. So John had previously gone with them, but departed. And that had to be frustrating to Paul and Barnabas because he was their minister, he was their servant. And look, just because Paul and Barnabas are really strong Christians and they are obviously self-sufficient men, having a servant or having a buddy is beneficial. And whenever the person leaves, it's a detriment. You know, it's harmful to the cause of price, it can put you in the wrong spirit, it can, you know, basically obviously help or causes an increase in the workload and everything like that. And because he left before, now when they're ready to go, Paul's skeptical that John Mark is going to be faithful. And for good reason, because he already failed. Now, you could say, well, why don't you just have grace? But here's the thing, Paul has another option. It's not like take John Mark or nothing, he's going to end up taking Silas. And Silas has been recommended of the brethren. So Silas has no problem, necessarily, he has a positive review. John Mark has a detriment on his, you know, resume as it were, he's already failed them. So if the apostle Paul is, you know, not being a respecter of persons here, and is steaming the fact that the gospel is so important that it needs to go forward, it probably makes more sense to pick Silas then. And since Paul, you know, the Bible says he was the chief speaker in other places, he's kind of the leader in a lot of this, it makes sense that he has the right to basically refuse John Mark and pick Silas. Now, I'm going to give you a few verses, go to 2 Timothy chapter 2, 2 Timothy chapter 2, and you say, well, who is right in this issue? Well, you know, sometimes things happen and it's not like right or wrong. But I would say this, I personally believe Paul is right, period. That's my opinion. Now, when it comes to Barnabas, I think it's kind of a gray matter. Because you could argue that Barnabas maybe should have just submitted unto Paul and just kind of gone along with Paul's leading and just gone with them and let Silas just be their minister. But obviously God ends up still using it for good that they had a break because then Barnabas and John get to do double the effort. You know, so they get to basically do more work for the Lord. And later in the Bible, you're going to find out that John Mark kind of got things right, so then Barnabas ends up, you know, essentially helping John Mark rectify things. And you know, Barnabas is the son of consolation according to the Bible. Consolation is someone that helps someone when they did something wrong or having a hard time. And I'm sure John Mark probably felt bad about it. And look, some people did really bad things and got it right and then it turned out to be great people. Like, how about Peter? Isn't it good that Peter got a second chance? I mean, that was a pretty good turnaround. And so it's not like, you know, Jonah. Jonah's kind of a comeback story and he's kind of bad at it again. But you know, it's like, we don't have this idea that just because someone's screwed up, they can't get things right. And so I don't want you to mishear what I'm teaching right this moment. Hey, you can always get right. But you have to understand, when you screw up, when you quit, when you fail, there can be consequences to that failure. You could be not used in the same way because you decided to not be faithful. And there's something to be said about someone that's faithful. Like what it says in 2 Timothy 2, verse 1. Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. So Paul obviously has a really big emphasis on people being faithful. And I believe this, if John Mark had been faithful, he probably would have taken it. Because, you know, Silas is less proved than John Mark. But because he failed, because he quit, because he gave up, because something happened, now he's deemed as unreliable. And you know, from Paul's perspective, he has a really important job here. You can't just be like, you know, sometimes the work of the ministry, the work of the ministry is not to just help everybody work out all their problems out. You know, it's like, we're just a band of misfits. Well, really, it's actually for a lot of the faithful people to continue being faithful and to work hard. You know, it's not just for us to keep screwing up and just pretending like it's not a big deal. Some churches have this mentality, and you know why? It's because their pastors just screw up. Their pastors just qualify themselves, and instead of, you know, stepping down and letting a faithful person get up, he basically insinuates it's not that big a deal to be faithful anymore. You know, like Peter Ruckman getting married and divorced, remarried I think like three times. That means you're not faithful. That doesn't really instill into the congregation, hey, be married to the same spouse if the pastor's not doing it. And what if Paul is just like, well, I know he screwed up and did terrible, but let's just pick him again. What kind of example is that set to other people? Now other people think like, well, if I screw up, it's not a big deal. Rather than looking at this example and saying, you know, if I screw up, Paul might not pick me next time. Paul might not use me. Paul might say, well, you're not faithful, so guess what? You're going to go back to the line. You're going to go back, and you're going to have to prove yourself that you're faithful again, and I'm going to use somebody else. And so there's something sad to be, you know, something to be sad about being faithful. We need to strive to be faithful, and notice the command to Timothy is to pick people that are faithful. To prove people, you know, when we talk about the office of a deacon, you know, they're supposed to be proved before they even get that office. You're not just finding any bozo off the street, and when it comes to the work of the Lord, we want to commit things unto faithful people, not just say, oh, well, he's a screw up, but let's just let him do it anyways. No, this is the work of the Lord. You know, what if you had this mentality in the medical industry? What if it was like, well, this doctor, the last time he did brain surgery, he killed the guy. But he feels bad about it, he's ready to operate on you. Or do you want the doctor, it's like, every surgery's been a success. You know, he's never had a problem in this area, or it's like, every surgery this guy's had has been a failure. Are you ready? It's like, I don't want to be his guinea pig. And maybe he figured it out. You know, maybe he could be a good surgeon in the future, but it's like, you know, there's something to be said about the guy that's faithful. There's something to be said about the guy that does it right, that's not making the mistakes, that has been recommended, and we're going to see a lot of benefit. Look, Silas ends up being a great companion for Paul. So, obviously, you could say, well, you know, I don't know if he should have taken John Mark. I think he should have taken Silas because everything went great with Silas. Paul and Silas are great buddies, and they have some great stories and some great fellowship, and they're both singing praises when they're in jail. I mean, if John quit when they didn't even go to jail, would John have been willing to sing praises with Paul when they were in the jail cell? But notice Silas does. So, we could play the hypothetical game all day long, but this is what's important being faithful. Not being a quitter, not giving up, not being, you know, double-minded. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways. And look, if you quit, you can always get it right. You can always get back into the fight, but don't expect to then be put in positions of leadership when you're a quitter. You know, you've got to prove yourself again that you're not going to be a quitter. And, you know, people that show themselves to be weak are not going to be chosen to do hard tasks. You know, people that, if you can't, you know, I'm losing this verse, but it's like if you can't keep up with the footmen, how are you going to contend with horses? You know, it's like if you can't even handle these small issues, how are you going to put on the pressure? It's like whenever a church gets protested and people can't stand it, it's like, well, how are you going to do when you're the pastor? You know, it's like you can't even handle being a church member? How are you going to do it when you're the person that they're really mad at? That they're really getting, they're really screaming at? People get all mad and they're like, I'm afraid of being doxed. And it's like, you know, welcome to the club. It's like, what do you mean? You know, so you got to make sure that you're willing to count the cost and understand that when you quit, there's also something that's going to cost you. Look at chapter 4 and look at verse 9. It says this, Do thy diligence to come shortly unto me, for Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica. So some people that quit aren't going to get it right. So it's kind of irresponsible to just always give everybody second, third, fourth chances with really important jobs because sometimes the screw-up is going to screw up again. You know, that's why you don't pick screw-ups. That's why you don't just, oh, it's not a big deal, oh, no problem. No, that's why you commit things unto faithful men. And it's not just protecting you and your ministry and the work of the Lord, it's also protecting themselves. Sometimes people just can't handle things. And you don't want to put them in a position that they can't handle, that they're not ready. They've already shown themselves not to be faithful. Demas would have been a bad choice. You know, he already showed himself. It says, Crescensatulatia, Titus, unto Dalmatia, only Luke is with me. So they ball-to-ball saying, like, man, it's hard to find a faithful guy, a faithful man who can find. You know, that's what the Bible teaches. And, you know, everyone will proclaim his own goodness. You know, everybody will tell you that they're faithful, that they're ready to go. I'll stand with you, pastor. I'll die with you, Christ. Isn't that what Peter said? But then it was like a little girl's asking him, and he's like, I know not the man. I swear, you know, I've never even seen him. Hey, Seuss, who's that, you know? I mean, that's a weird name, you know. Jehizus, what are you saying? I've never heard this name. You know, it's, you laugh, but that's what it's like. And it's sad. I've seen people that are, like, gung ho. They act like you're their best buddy. And then you see them the next week, and they don't even want to know you. You see them the next week, and they don't like you. They're not your friend anymore. They're like, I want nothing to do with you. Stay away from me. And you're just like, what happened? You know, these things happen. And it's frustrating. It's confusing. And I don't think that, you know, a good leader should just put people in a position when they've already shown themselves to fail, and be a quitter, and to be weak. It says, take Mark and bring him with thee, for he is profitable to me for the ministry. And tick a kiss have I sent to Ephesus. So, you know, in the ministry, you have to be careful. You know, and there's been people, in the short time that I've been a pastor, it hasn't been that long, it's been a few years. I've had people screw up, okay? I've had people really screw up. And I gave them a second chance, and they totally redeem themselves. And they even are a really good person, and they're really strong, and they're showing themselves to be a really faithful person. And to me, I just think they probably have a longer journey with me. Let's make sure that you're really faithful, and let's really prove that. But I'm always willing to give people second chances. And I've had other people screw up, and I gave them another chance, and they screwed up again. And then I was like, okay, hesitant. And then I even gave them another chance, and then they really screwed up, and then it's like, okay, you're done. So it's not like I won't just continue giving people options and chances, because I will. And, you know, just man falls seven times and rises up again. You know, never stop fighting, never stop trying, never stop trying to be faithful. But at the end of the day, you have to realize, when you do fail, there's going to be setbacks. That's why it's important to try and get things right the first time. That's why it's important to count the cost now. That's why it's important to always be faithful, to always show up, to always do that which is right. And, you know, you're going to get the fast track when you're faithful. The faithful are going to get put in there quick. You know, and so that's why it's important to do things right and to study. And, you know, there's a prepared place for a prepared person in the work of the Lord. And we need to make sure that we're a faithful group of people. And I'm telling you what, you stick with the Lord, you continue to be faithful, and you will be used greatly for God's kingdom. But if you become a quitter, there can be all kinds of issues that come alongside. And don't be weary and faint with all the problems. What chapter of the Bible are we going to read where there's not problems? It's just problem after problem after problem after problem after problem after problem. And then it's finally we're just in heaven, okay? But it's problems until then. And you say, why do you say that? Because that's why it's important to emphasize being faithful. Because a faithful person goes through problems. It's easy to serve God when it's easy. It's hard to serve God when there's problems. It's hard to serve God when people are attacking you. It's hard to serve God when people are turning on you. It's hard to serve God when you go through battle after battle after battle because you get weary, you get faint. That's why we have to constantly be renewed by the word of God and have camaraderie with the brethren. And not get out of church. If I get out of church, I'm just going to quit. I'm not going to serve God. You're not going to go soul-winning. The people that get out of church, they're not like, hey, I just want to let you know I got 400 people saved since I've been. You know, I got out of church for the last six months, but I got like 400 people saved. You know, they come back and like, I haven't gone soul-winning in six months either. You know, I haven't been reading my Bible. You know, people that quit, they're not like radically serving God when they stop going to church. It's like, look, get back into church and start serving God and start being faithful. And either sometimes, I've had this thought. I'm looking at a person in my mind and I'm thinking like, I want to use this guy, but he just quit coming or he quit doing, he kind of like screwed up. And it's like, I want to use this guy more. And I'm thinking that some people are like, man, I wish this guy would get this right in his life because I would love to use this person in this way, but they just won't get it right. And so that's why it's important to serve God and to be faithful. And whenever you're faithful, you're going to be used. Look, if you want to be greatly used by God, just be faithful in this church. Be faithful in whatever church you find yourself in. I guarantee you, there will be more than enough to do. There will be more than enough to serve the Lord and do great things for God. The reason why people aren't getting used is because they're just not faithful. Let's close in prayer. Thank you, Heavenly Father, for your word. Thank you for this church. I pray that you would just encourage us and strengthen us to be faithful and to realize the importance and the value of showing up to church and going out soul winning and, you know, just showing up all the time and just always being someone that someone can count on. Always just being steady and stable and the benefit and the blessing there is in people that are faithful and just want to be strong and steady. And the examples that you gave us throughout the Bible of all the conflict and how they always get the victory through you strengthening them. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. What's our final song for the evening? Romans 10. We're going to do Romans 10, 9 through 13. We handed out some sheet music a couple weeks ago, but we have some more back on that back cabinet. I'll have a couple guys who will just help by handing that out. Verses that we're all pretty familiar with. Romans 10 verses 9 through 13. Romans 10 verses 9 through 13. We'll go ahead and start. And those of you that are still getting sheet music just pick up with us when you get it. Let's sing. That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever shall call, whosoever shall call, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, for the same Lord over all, rich to all that call upon him. For the scripture saith, whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever shall call, whosoever shall call, for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Amen. And with that you are dismissed. Have a good night.