"Past Revelation Proves Salvation by Grace" (Acts 15:7)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 3/26/2018 8:50 AM

My Worship Time                                          Focus: Past Revelation Proves Salvation by Grace

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                             Reference:  Acts 15:7

            Message of the verses:  “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.”

            I have to admit that I have always thought that the words that we are reading in this section were what went on when all the leaders of the Jerusalem church got together with Paul and Barnabas, but because of what MacArthur wrote in his commentary I guess that what we are reading are the words that these men were speaking to the assembled church.  At any rate Peter was the first one to speak and in verse seven we can see that he is taking his listeners back to the early days of the church.  It seems to me that he is talking about the events that took place in Acts chapter ten where Peter led Cornelius and his family to the Lord.  I have always thought that Jesus singled out Peter to bring the gospel message to the different groups beginning with the Jews in Acts chapter two and this verse seems to support that idea.  So Peter reminds his listeners of what happened during that time of Acts chapter ten and thus to him it was already divinely settled.

            We will now look at the next sub-point from the second main point of “The Discussion.”

The Gift of the Spirit Proves Salvation is by Grace:  Acts 15:8-9a.

            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.”

            As we remember the discussion that Peter had with those who were leaders in the Jerusalem church when the Lord had used him to lead Cornelius and his family to the Lord, he now skillfully anticipated again what some were going to say about Gentiles salvation.  Peter is saying that it was God who knows all hearts, and was the One who gave them the Holy Spirit.  The argument against what happened to all the Gentiles who had been saved from the Judaizers was that all the converts were not really saved because they did not meet their legalistic requirements for salvation, so they were not really saved.  I have learned that what the Lord wants me to do is to sew the seed and to let the Holy Spirit do His work in bringing those who will be saved to salvation.  I cannot save anyone; I do not have the power of spiritually raising someone from the dead, as only the Spirit of God can do this.  I have also learned that I am not the judge to verify if a person is truly born-again.  I know as we look at the parable in Luke 8 and also in the other gospel accounts that when a person is truly born-again that they will produce fruit, Jesus says even 100 fold.  I have heard a long time ago from someone that when I get to heaven that there will be three surprises: First to see who is there; second to see who is not there; and last: I am there.

            As I look at what the saved Pharisees and also the Judaizers were saying it makes me think of what the Pharisees were saying to Jesus, and what I think they were saying was that “we are better than you.”  These Judaizers and Pharisees were doing something similar here as they thought because they were Jews that they were better than the common Gentiles who were saved, they thought that they were superior, and that certainly was not the case as it is up to God who will come to faith in His Son.  God has made no distinction between the saved Jews and the saved Gentiles.  MacArthur adds:  “The Gentiles received the same phenomenon, speaking in languages, as had the Jewish believers on Pentecost (Acts 10:44-45; 11:17-18).  That proved they had received the Spirit, which in turn affirmed that their salvation was genuine.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I am thankful for the remainder from this section that it is up to the Lord to save someone and all I am to do is to give out the Word of God to a dying world.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust that the Lord will give me great insight into my study of Daniel 9:20-27 as I continue to prepare to teach this in our next Sunday school class.

Answer to yesterday’s Bible question:  “Joshua and Caleb” (Numbers 14:1-9).

Today’s Bible question:  “The story of four men who refused to eat the king’s food is told in which book?”

Answer in our next SD.

3/26/2018 9:25 AM