Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Welcome to the Karma Chaj podcast.
[00:00:05] Speaker B: So we've been going through acts. I pull a few things of Acts, and then we'll pray.
We might run a little bit over.
So in Acts 15, what we find is there's some trouble in the house at Antioch. Antioch is an amazing church that is like a beachhead.
It's a church that's reaching the unchurched. It's a church where the Gentiles are now coming in and finding faith in Jesus. Up until this point, it's been the Jews. But now the whole tide changes, and the Gentiles, as was prophesied by literally all the prophets, are now coming to the Lord. But whenever there is a move of God, there are always those people that are kind of. They're kind of like party poopers.
There's always, you're just too joyful. You're not reading your Bible enough, you're not praying enough, you're not sorry enough for your sin. All which is probably true, but none of these things actually save you.
Okay, let me be clear. There is only one way to get saved from hell into heaven. Paul says this in Romans 10. He says that you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.
Then you will be saved. That's how you get saved. He says, for the heart. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth, confession is made unto salvation. So there is a sense of putting our trust in the death and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and professing his goodness in our lives. How we come to Jesus. That's why we call people forward to give their lives to Jesus. There is no other way. So what has happened in Antioch is that men have come up from Jerusalem and said, you're not proper Christians because you haven't been circumcised.
And what they're trying to do is pull them back from grace faith in Jesus back into law. You work by your good works, you get into heaven, okay? It's only by the blood of Jesus, you get into heaven now. So what Paul and Barnabas do is they make a trip back to Jerusalem. Now, this is really important, okay? No church is an island. We are all members of the body of Christ.
There are hundreds of churches across this nation and across the world. We are all one in Jesus Christ. And no one church is above inspection or correction, even if it's led by the Apostle Paul.
So they are invited back to give account for all that's going on in the church. And that's why last week, if you were here, we had Hugh Osgood. Hugh was the moderator for the Free Church for many years. He served in just about every office in the church. And I love him coming. And I always ask Hugh, what do you see? You know, on a scale of 1 to 10, how crazy are we? Is it okay? Are we all good?
And then on Monday morning, he was just reflecting back some of his observations and saying, you know, what he loved and some of the things we need to work on. It's really good thing. And this is what we see in Acts. So they go back to Jerusalem, and now what the Council of Jerusalem decide sets the course for Christianity for all time, okay? So they give account.
And what I would say is, to you don't judge what is happening somewhere unless you hear it from the horse's mouth, okay?
Rumor is gossip. Rather, when you hear the Holy Spirit is moving somewhere, rejoice and be glad.
And so, as they give account, the first person to speak is Peter. Now, what I want you to remember is all those chapters back, Peter wasn't too sure about Paul. Peter was like, I don't know about this guy. And actually, they pack him off to Tarsus.
But now Peter can see the fruit. What's the fruit? Well, the Gentiles are coming to faith. There's signs and wonders, there's healing and there's salvation. And again, what I would say to you is, when the Holy Spirit moves, let the bush grow, okay? So sometimes we're too quick to bring order, okay?
When God moves, you have to let the bush grow so you can see what the fruit is going to be before you trim it. If you keep trimming it back, you won't get any fruit.
And too many moves of God are cut short by the fear of man and the control of man. So what Peter does is he reminds the church in Jerusalem that this gospel to the Gentiles started with Cornelius and with a vision that he had. And the Holy Spirit falling on Cornelius household Gentiles receiving the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues and magnifying God. And then James stands up, and James is the brother of Jesus. James is now leading the church at Jerusalem. So all the other apostles are off doing all their bits and bobs around, but James is the leader of the church. He stays in Jerusalem.
And he says this. He says, we should not trouble or make it difficult for those turning to God to find him. And what I want to say to you is, if you don't get anything else today, the church must be a place where people can find God now. I mean encounter God. I don't mean have an intellectual understanding of God. That is good. We need to understand the scriptures. But the church must be a place where you can have an encounter with the Lord Jesus, where your heart is changed and your life is set on a new trajectory. That is what happens when Jesus is in his church.
So what they do is they decide to send Judas a different Judas, and a new man is going to enter the story, Silas. And they send them off to Antioch. So we're going to quickly, quickly read this. And then I've got just three quick points. And then we're going to pray. So if you've got a Bible, find Acts 15. We're going to. And stand. Go on. We're going to pray. This is the word of the Lord. So we're going to read. So Acts 15, verse 23. They wrote this letter by them, the apostles, the elders and the brethren. To the brethren who are of the Gentiles in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia. Greetings.
Since we have heard that, some who went out from us have troubled you with words unsettling your souls, saying you must be circumcised and keep the law. To whom we gave no such commandment, it seemed good to us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men to you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Look, let me just put a pause. If you're going to listen to anyone, listen to people that have given everything to Jesus, that they've risked their life again and again for the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have therefore sent Judas and Silas, who will also report the same things by word of mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things that you abstain from. Things offered to idols, from blood and from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well. Farewell. Amen. Take a seat.
Three things.
You are saved by faith in Jesus and the infilling of his Holy Spirit. Number two.
Do not make it difficult for people to find God, even when you're further along the journey yourself. And number three. You are saved from sin unto righteousness, the ways of God. Number one. You're saved by faith in Jesus and the infilling of his Spirit. When God starts to move in people's lives, it is both glorious and messy. Some of you will have found this. Proverbs 14 says, the only Clean stable is an empty stable. So if you want the work of an ox and to enjoy an abundant harvest, you will have a mess or two to clean up.
Okay, good advice.
If you're going to see a harvest come in, there's going to be a bit of mess to clear, and people will come and tell you that unless you have all your ducks in a row, you're not a real Christian or indeed a good church. You know, when we had our children, when our children were born, these new lives came into our family. And it was a real shock, more for me than Juliet.
But these little things were born. And then as I looked at them, I didn't say, they're not real humans. When more food came out of their mouth than went in, when I was trying to feed them, and when they could move it through their body faster than I could get it in, and there was mess everywhere and I had to clean nappies, and I wasn't very good at it. And dads, I did learn a thing. If you do a really bad job of it, the wife takes over.
I didn't preach that in church, though.
The women are all, oh, no. Anyway, it worked for me.
So these little human beings, they made a mess wherever they want. They disrupted my life wherever they went. They destroyed my car. They posted everything in my cassette player at the time, and it didn't work anymore.
And I didn't know. You're not a real human. What we had to do as a parent was we had to take them as babies and we had to raise them into children. And then we had to raise them into teenagers, who are a whole different breed. And then we had to. And then we had to raise them into adulthood. And it was a journey. But it's the same in church. People come to church, they've forgiven their sin. We call it justification. Just as if I'd never sinned. But there is baggage.
They got all this stuff with them. So now the adventure begins.
You see, the adventure is becoming less like we were. We were singing it this morning and more like Jesus. But the interesting thing is this happens inside out. It doesn't. It's not like, give me your baggage. Let me take you back. No. You know, and they wrestle you a bit, their bag. It doesn't work that way.
It works from the infilling of the Holy Spirit changing our nature. And then we start to remove the bags, the hurts, the fears, disappointment, the insecurities, the addictions, and walk into a new life with Jesus.
And, you know, when I came to faith, suddenly My whole life changed, and I had a reason to live, you know, but sometimes when people come to faith, some of their baggage tries to pull them back. Someone gave me this book, and I have loved it so much. It's the prayers of Charles Spurgeon. He's the great Baptist preacher. And I've been praying them. I've been taking a prayer each morning this week and praying them through. He's like a juggernaut. Prayer. I went to Spurgeon's Bible College and no one ever told me about his prayers. They just told me about his preaching. Of course, it's obvious if you've got a good preacher, you've got a good prayer.
But I really recommend it, so you can find it. Anyway, this is how he prays for new believers. And if there are any that after having made the profession of faith, have gone astray, Lord, restore them. If they've fallen by strong drink, if they've fallen by sexual immorality, if they've fallen by dishonesty, if in any way they have stained their garments, oh, that thy mighty grace might bring them back and put them back among thy children, but give them not up. That's how he prays, and that's how we pray for you. You know, no matter what happens in your life, no matter where you go, that God would not give you up, but would draw you in to his presence. You see, because we start this journey of transformation with Jesus, you don't start a mature Christian. You start as a child, and you grow in your relationship with the Holy Spirit. Number two. I've got to do two in one minute. Do not make it difficult for people to find God. You see, the church has a tendency to keep lifting the bar for people to come and encounter Jesus because there's sometimes a teaching that if there's sin in the camp, God can't move.
The only thing that stops God moving is unbelief. He's in the forgiving sin business. That's why we had the cross. And I'm not worried about sinners in the church. I'm way more worried about religious people in the church that think that their righteousness comes from their own works.
And this is the deal that they're dealing with in chapter 15.
So I've said it before. If you find the perfect church, do not join it, because you'll ruin it, because you'll take your baggage in and it won't be perfect anymore.
There will be sin in the camp because sinners are coming to Jesus to be forgiven.
This morning, you might be sitting next to someone that gave their life to Jesus last week. They may not look like they've got all their ducks in a row. And you might be tempted to look over to them and go, have you been circumcised yet?
And they'll look at you pale. When did you do that to me?
A better thing to say would be, could I pray for you and top you up with the Holy Spirit so your cup overfloweth?
Because that is the way our lives are changed and transformed. We're pulled into the proximity of Jesus.
Number three, you're saved from sin unto righteousness.
So, Steve, are you saying that anything goes? We can just do what we want? No, not at all. In fact, that they say, they say, this is what we want you to do. Abstain from things offered to idols, from blood, from things strangled, and from sexual immorality. You see, when you come to Jesus, we teach his ways. That's what we do every week. I always tell new Christians to learn and read the Bible, you know, to pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you and teach you. It's he who leads you into all truth. But then there are three things I always go, first thing is never be ashamed of Jesus. Tell everyone what he's done for you. That's the story of Nicodemus. Number two. Stop drinking and doing drugs. Why? Because you now have the Holy Spirit. And Paul says to the Ephesians, don't get drunk and wine, but be filled with the Holy Spirit. What you were using doesn't work anymore. You now need his presence in your life. And the third one is, don't be immoral.
And you know, you see, when there is his presence, this Holy Spirit, we don't need the law because he's written it on our hearts. We don't need to mark our bodies because our hearts are now changed.
And let me just finish with talking to you about conviction. You see, when the Holy Spirit comes upon us, he convicts us of our sin by presenting Jesus so suddenly. In a moment, we are both convicted and overcome with love that our state of our sin is obvious because we're standing next to the holy Jesus Christ and something inside of us, our spirit, leaps and goes. That's what I've always wanted.
That's how I want to live. I want to be like him, not like me.
And so conviction of the Holy Spirit comes upon us.
And so we are drawn away from sin towards Jesus because He is now more attractive now. Why does the Council of Jerusalem pick sexual sin? Paul explains this to The Corinthians. Your body is now a temple that carries the presence of Jesus. And we read right from the beginning the man and woman would become one. That they would be joined together by the joining of their bodies and the Holy Spirit. A three corded strand is not easily broken and that we are not to divide that which God have joined together. You see, sexual sin always damages the temple and it sets you on a course away from Jesus instead of towards.
So if you're single, you are to devote yourself holy to the Lord. If you're married, you are to devote yourself holy to the Lord and your family. And so when the conviction of the Spirit comes, it's not about making you feel bad. The church isn't meant to make you feel bad. The conviction of the Spirit reveals Jesus. This is what Jesus is like. And something goes off inside. I remember it when I was 13 years old. That's what I want.
And in the moment of my sin being revealed and his enormous love, I was transformed. It was a miracle that happened in my life. And you know the reason the church reveals. When the church reveals Jesus, people look at the church and they look at the people of the church and go, that's how I want to live.
They see his presence in you and go, I want to be like them.
So you know, when Tim teaches the Bible, he doesn't need to say to you, you need to read your Bible more.
Why? Because you listen to him teach your Bible. I want to know the Bible like Tim's Bible. Something goes off in your spirit. I go, I want to know God's word.
If I knew it like he knew it.
Wow. I think things might change. So what happens? You go home and read your Bible. You hear somebody's testimony over dinner of what Jesus has done in their life and you go, that's what I want.
I need that. Something goes off in your spirit, the Holy Spirit starts to convict you and call you in.
Through my life, I've always, from the moment I became a Christian, people have always been around me and I've always, you know, I often wondered, you know, why. Go away. Shoot, you're annoying me. But actually what I've come to realize is from the moment I met Jesus, I've walked with Jesus and his presence is around me. And people like the presence, so they want to be around. It's nothing to do with me. It's just a smell of Jesus, the fragrance of Christ. We sound that. So they want to be around. It's nothing to do with gifting or anything. It's about the Lord Jesus. Why are you here this morning? He's here.
We want to be where he is.
You see, feeling bad about yourself always leads to death. But faith in Jesus brings life. You do not need to be circumcised. Phew. We need to be filled and transformed.
And you might say sometimes, yeah, but I sometimes feel pulled back. And that's, and that's your, that's, that's the baggage, your flesh. And you see, before Christ you were dead in your sins.
You weren't dead physically, you were alive. But when you, the Holy Spirit convicted you, revealed Jesus, your spirit came alive and said, that's what I want. And so you, you are now alive in Christ because your spirit is now leading. But your flesh sometimes pulls you back. Sometimes I want to go back. And I just determined when I met Jesus as a 13 year old kid. I'm going to leave my baggage at the cross. I'm not going to take it with me. I'm going to leave my bag, it's going to be buried with Jesus and I am going to walk with him. And what I found is the closer proximity I am with Jesus, the more his righteousness breaks out in my life.
If I'm distance from him, I'm a little grumpy. I'm not as fun to be around. If I'm right close to him, walking with him, things go much better. And I'm representing him and his ways.
And so what I'm saying to you is this morning is that, do you know what, sometimes there will be trouble in the house. People will try and tell you you're just too joyful here.
And whenever they say that to me, I just say, well, you're just too miserable.
But look at the fruit.
Be around people that call you closer to Jesus, not make you feel bad when the Spirit convicts you. Your spirit will leap, but your flesh might pull back. Every day we have a choice to walk with Jesus, to leave our baggage behind and follow him and walk in his light.
Many times I've been among Christians who fear that new believers coming into the church will offend God somehow because their lives aren't right. But actually the sign of new believers being in the church is a proof of his presence because they're drawn to his holiness and his righteousness and the way of life.
And this way of life is for us all. And it comes from inside out. We are transformed.
And if you will stay close to his presence, you will find God and your life will be transformed.
[00:22:28] Speaker A: Thanks for listening to the chroma Charge Podcast. If you enjoyed this message, you can like and subscribe. You can also join us in person or online every Sunday at Cromer Church. For more information about us, including our ministries, events, worship and how to donate, visit our website at Cromer Church.
