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Gentiles, and Jews: Saved by Grace Alone

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Chris Sicks
November 10, 2024

Sermon Manuscript

Gentiles, and Jews: Saved by Grace Alone


Sermon for November 10, 2024
Acts 15:1-21
Pastor Chris Sicks

Today we will continue our series in the book of Acts.
We saw in Acts chapter 1 that Jesus ascended to heaven.
Before he left, he gave the Holy Spirit to his followers.
And he gave them a mission:
Jesus told them to travel throughout the world, spreading the good news.
What is this good news?
“God Saves Sinners.”

In Acts 13, Paul and Barnabas were sent out by the church of Antioch.
Their mission was to spread this good news in cities around the eastern region of the Mediterranean Sea.
Some Jews, and many Gentiles, received the good news with joy.
The Holy Spirit came on them and they became followers of Jesus.
After visiting many cities, Paul and Barnabas returned to their church family to tell them what God had done.
Listen to Acts 14:26–27.
26 “From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed.
27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.”

God opened a door–remember that.
Jesus said in John 10:9,
9 “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved…”
That word picture of the door will help us understand today’s passage from Acts chapter 15.
I’m going to read the first five verses of today’s text, and please be looking for a “second door” that threatened to block Gentiles from entering the family of God.
Acts 15:1–21
1 “Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:
“Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”

2 This brought Paul and Barnabas into sharp dispute and debate with them.
So Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.

3 The church sent them on their way, and as they traveled through Phoenicia and Samaria, they told how the Gentiles had been converted.
This news made all the believers very glad.

4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

Together we read Isaiah 40:8:
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.
Please pray with me.
Father in heaven, we come to you because you are the source of life and truth.
Jesus, we worship you because you are full of mercy and love.
Holy Spirit, please open our hearts and minds to be transformed by the word of God, amen.

Have you ever opened a door to walk into your house, but your nose suddenly hits a screen door that you didn’t see?
You jump back in surprise, because there is a second door blocking your path.
Did you notice the “second door” in the verses I read?
It’s there in verse 1:
1 “Certain people came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the believers:
“Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.”


Circumcision is not the door of salvation, but there is a door.
Every sinner must pass through the door of repentance and faith.
Anyone can become a child of God, by believing in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
He is the door to the household of God!
We have seen in the book of Acts that thousands of Jewish men, women, and children in Jerusalem walked through that door.
They recognized that Jesus was the Messiah they had been waiting for.
But then persecution began, driving many believers out of Jerusalem to cities like Antioch.
Those believers told Gentiles the good news, and they also put their faith in Jesus.
Remember that Gentiles did not grow up obeying the laws of Moses.
They ate different foods, they weren’t circumcised, they didn’t observe the Sabbath.
This bothered some of the believers back in Jerusalem.
They had worked hard all their lives to obey God’s laws.
They carefully separated themselves from the world.
They honored God with their food, clothing, language, schedule, everything.
Then suddenly, Gentiles who didn’t even know the laws of Moses were coming into God’s family!
There were pork-eating, Sabbath-breaking, uncircumcised Gentiles, right there–in the living room of God’s house!
Some Jewish believers thought, “we have to stop this.”
So they went to Antioch, insisting that Gentile men must be circumcised before they can be saved.
They wanted to install a second door at the only entrance to God’s house.
Friends, today’s passage describes one of the most-important events in church history.
The Protestant Reformation 500 years ago was also important, because it dealt with the same issue.
Martin Luther in Germany was fighting the same battle that Paul and Barnabas fought in Antioch.
Paul and Barnabas knew this was a gospel issue that would affect every church, in every city.
That’s why verse 2 says:
2b “Paul and Barnabas were appointed, along with some other believers, to go up to Jerusalem to see the apostles and elders about this question.”

When Paul and Barnabas arrived in Jerusalem, they found “second door” guys there also.
4 “When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and elders, to whom they reported everything God had done through them.
5 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”

Can you picture the scene in Jerusalem?
A group of excited missionaries are there, reporting how many Gentiles are pouring through the door of faith into God’s household.
But the Pharisees want to slam a second door in the face of the Gentiles!
They wanted Gentiles to obey all the laws of Moses, including circumcision.
The leaders of the church must decide between these two groups.
Are repentance and faith sufficient for salvation?
Or must Gentiles become Jews first, before they can be saved?
How many doors are there, at the entrance to God’s household?
Let’s read what happened next, in Acts 15:6-11.
6 “The apostles and elders met to consider this question.
7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them:
“Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe.

8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us.
9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith.
10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?
11 No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.”

In verse 10, Peter reminds his Jewish audience about the burden of trying to obey the law.
For generations, they tried to earn God’s favor and acceptance.
But the burden was too heavy, they could never be holy in their own strength!
Jesus came to provide a better path, the only path, to holiness.
Paul wrote in Romans 6:23,
23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

A gift isn’t a gift if you try to pay for it.
God’s salvation is freely given, and must be freely received.
We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.
Notice what Peter told the Jewish believers in verse 11:
“it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that WE are saved, just as THEY are.”

Peter is telling the Jews:
“You are so addicted to the law that you can’t understand grace.
You need the Gentiles to help you!”
God saved Gentiles by grace alone, to help the Jews turn away from legalism, and turn to Christ alone for salvation.
Real salvation happens when you realize that you need Christ’s obedience to make you holy, because you can never become holy alone.
That’s still true today.
After Peter spoke, the assembly of church leaders continued their discussion.
Let’s read what happened next, in Acts 15:12-21.
12 “The whole assembly became silent as they listened to Barnabas and Paul telling about the signs and wonders God had done among the Gentiles through them.
13 When they finished, James spoke up.
“Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.

14 Simon [Peter] has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.
15 The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “ ‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,

17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’ —

18 things known from long ago.
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.
20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
## 21 For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”


James was the leader of the church council.
This James was the brother of Jesus, and the author of the Book of James in your Bible.
James is a religious conservative.
He believes that obedience to God’s laws is important, as you’ll see if you read his book.
But James also believes in salvation by grace alone, for Jews and Gentiles.
James summarized the decision of the council by saying in verse 19:
“we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

The council decided that there is no second door on the household of God.
Jesus alone is the door, and anyone can enter God’s family through faith in Christ.
Please notice that James relied on scripture for this decision.
Everyone heard Peter’s report that Gentiles received the Holy Spirit without circumcision.
But experience is not fact, remember that.
We must test our ideas, feelings, and experiences against the infallible truth of God’s Word.
As James listened to the experiences of Peter, Barnabas, and Paul, he recognized the truth that God spoke through the prophet Amos.
James quoted Amos in verses 15-17,
15 “The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:
16 “ ‘After this I will return
and rebuild David’s fallen tent.
Its ruins I will rebuild,
and I will restore it,

17 that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord,
even all the Gentiles who bear my name,
says the Lord, who does these things’”


To prove that God always intended to bring Gentiles into his household, James could have quoted dozens more passages from the Jewish scriptures.
There’s a whole list available to you on the back table if you want to read them.
The council in Jerusalem recognized that what God was doing among the Gentiles was a fulfillment of scripture.
They made their decision and wrote a letter to every believer in every church.
We see here some of the foundations of the presbyterian form of church government, by the way.
It started with a disagreement among believers in local churches in Antioch and Jerusalem.
To discuss the issue, pastors and elders from many churches gathered to discuss, study scripture, and pray.
The Holy Spirit helped them make a decision to share with all the churches, so they would understand what to do.
That is exactly how presbyterian churches today handle disagreements about doctrine and other things.
No one is wise enough alone to make important decisions like this.
God works through teams of godly leaders to guide his church.

So, we have seen that the Jerusalem council decided that it was a contradiction of the gospel to require circumcision for Gentiles.
The council’s letter told Jewish Christians to stop slamming a “second door” in the face of Gentiles coming into God’s household.
Their letter also had something to say to Gentile believers, who came into God’s household from very different cultures.
Those differences were threating to split the church along cultural lines.
If the council ignored this problem, there might have been churches for Jewish believers and different churches for Gentile believers.
They would have different food, music, clothing, etc.
That, also, would be a contradiction of the gospel, as Paul said in Galatians 2:14.
To make it possible for Christians from Jewish and Gentile backgrounds to fellowship in one church family, the council wrote this to the Gentiles in verse 20:
20 “abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.”

The council instructed Gentiles to respect their Jewish brothers and sisters by not doing things that would make them uncomfortable.
It’s important to understand that this is not a “second door” blocking anyone from entering God’s family.
This is about how people IN God’s family can live together in harmony.
As you probably know, we never serve pork at our weekly dinner downstairs.
There’s nothing wrong with pork, as Jesus said in Mark 7:18–19.
18b “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them?
19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.”
In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.”

Jesus said it is okay to eat pork.
But we don’t serve pork on the dinner table downstairs, because we love our friends who are learning about Jesus.
We want them to feel welcome, so we are willing to abstain from a food we are allowed to eat.

This is not a law, but a choice motivated by love.
Christians are called to love people, to love God, and walk in holiness.
God’s law teaches us what holiness looks like, but obedience to the law can’t save you.
Therefore we must never use the law to prevent people from entering God’s household, or to judge those he welcomes inside.
I want to finish by looking again at one thing James said:
13b “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me.
14 Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles.”

That sentence does not shock us the way it shocked the original audience in Jerusalem.
Why were they shocked?
Listen to Deuteronomy 7:6, where Moses told the people of Israel:
6b “The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.”

For generations, the Jewish people thought they were special.
They separated themselves from Gentiles through strict obedience to the law of Moses.
But the Jews were not better than other people.
Israel was special because God used them as the launching pad for his global plan of redemption.
Imagine their shock when they heard James say that God was choosing “a people for his name FROM THE GENTILES.”
James wanted his Jewish brothers and sisters to see that God was doing a new thing.
He was choosing Gentiles, adding them to the family of God, inviting them into his eternal family.
Friends, if you have walked through the door of faith, through Jesus our Savior, then it means that God has also chosen you.
You are special.
And if you haven’t walked through that door yet, please know that it is open.
Jesus laid down his life, to open the door of heaven to anyone who will repent of sin and believe in His name.
It doesn’t matter where you are from, what you have done, or what has been done to you.
In Christ, we have all been chosen, saved, and made holy.
We did not choose God, he chose us.
He adopted us in love, opened the door of faith, and brought us into his household to live forevermore.
And today he continues to choose and save many more people, from every nation.
That’s why we can’t manufacture rules and restrictions, telling people they must do this or that to be saved.
Yes, we have cultural differences, so we must be patient and flexible with one another.
And yes, we must live moral lives, speaking and acting like God’s children.
But remember that we only learn to live in holiness after our adoption.
We are not orphans, trying to clean ourselves up to get inside the house.
We were saved by grace, and now we are learning to live by grace, as brothers and sisters in our Father’s house.
Let’s pray to him now.
Father in heaven, thank you for the gift of being chosen, for the glory of your name.
Thank you, Jesus, for your radical and sacrificial love.
You opened the door to heaven through your crucified Body, so we all could enter in.
Holy Spirit, would you help us accept and love one another in God’s household?
And teach us to welcome others as Christ has welcomed us, we pray in His name, amen.

Questions for Meditation and Discussion


1) Read Galatians 3:1-14.
a. Why did Paul call the Galatian Christians “foolish”? What mistake were they making?
b. Pray, and ask God to show you what “works of the law” you depend on, to earn God’s love and blessings.
c. In these verses, what does Paul encourage us to believe and know in our hearts?

2) Read Psalm 117.
a. Give thanks to God that you, a Gentile, are a full member of God’s household!
b. Pray for people you know who are still outside God’s house. Choose 5 names and pray for them every day for the next 10 days.

3) Read Galatians 2:11-16.
a. What did Peter (Cephas) do that made Paul so upset? Why did Paul say Peter’s actions contradicted the gospel?
b. Do you sometimes judge other Christians in your heart, and allow different views to divide you? Ask your heavenly Father to forgive you and give you the love of Christ for others.



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