"Intro to "The Discussion" (Acts 15:6-18)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/25/2018 9:30 PM

My Worship Time                                                                        Focus: Intro to “The Discussion”

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                 Reference:  Acts 15:6-18

            Message of the verses:  The following SD’s that we will be doing will consist of today’s introduction to the 2^nd main point from out outline from John MacArthur’s commentary and then we will be looking at six sub-divisions under this 2^nd main point.  We may do more than one of these in a day.

             “6 The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter. 7 After there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, "Brethren, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 "And God, who knows the heart, testified to them giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He also did to us; 9 and He made no distinction between us and them, cleansing their hearts by faith. 10 “Now therefore why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 “But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, in the same way as they also are." 12 All the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, "Brethren, listen to me. 14 “Simeon has related how God first concerned Himself about taking from among the Gentiles a people for His name. 15 “With this the words of the Prophets agree, just as it is written, 16 ’AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, 17 SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,’ 18. SAYS THELORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.”

            I have to say first of all that this is one of the most important sections of Scripture that is in the Word of God, especially the New Testament, and as noted before Peter and all those who headed up the Jerusalem church including James were certainly filled with the Holy Spirit’s wisdom as they made these statements and later on sent the letter to the church at Antioch.

            After all heard the message from Paul and Barnabas all the leaders decided to have a private meeting.  To be honest I don’t know if Luke was there since he was a great friend of Paul or if Paul later told him what happened in the meeting, at any rate we have in this section some of the things that went on in this meeting with more to follow.

            Another thing worth mentioning is that it would be the leaders and not the congregation who would decide what would happen in regard with this topic.  I am sure that later on the congregation heard about what happened, but for now it was up to the leaders.  Perhaps MacArthur has some insight that I did not have as he writes “Luke does not satisfy our curiosity by giving us an account of that meeting.  We can only imagine what it must have been like, with learned and godly men passionately pleading their cases.  Luke resumes his account with the entire congregation gathered to hear their leaders’ decision.  That decision was announced in a series of speeches by Peter, Paul and Barnabas, and James.  Each expounded the truth that salvation is wholly by God’s sovereign grace through faith, apart from any ritual or law-keeping.  Taken together, these speeches constitute one of the strongest defenses of that truth in Scripture.  It has well been said that Acts 15 is the Magna Carta of the Christian church.”

            Now we will get our outline for the six sub-section from the 2^nd main section:  “The speeches of Peter, Paul, and Barnabas, and James present six proofs that salvation is solely by grace.  Salvation by grace is proven by past revelation, the gift of the Spirit, cleansing from sin, the inability of the law to save, the fact of miracles, and the prophetic promise.”

            As mentioned we will begin looking at these in our next SD.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Jordan” (Matthew 3:13).

Today’s Bible question:  “Which two of the 12 spies said the Israelites could capture the land of Canaan?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/25/2018 9:51 PM