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The Jerusalem Council in Acts 15 is the turning point of the book of Acts. Today, Pastor Peter Teo leads us in the discovery of the background, leading to the landmark decision that we are saved by grace through faith alone.

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Today's topic is on Jerusalem Council. Okay. My wife, when I told her what the title was, my wife was saying, so boring title. You know, surely you can change the title. But uh, I mean, that's the impression we have, right? Of council meeting, of uh PCC, if you don't mind. And even uh even executive meeting, board meeting can be very, very boring. But I can assure you, this council meeting is one of the most interesting and one of the most uh important for us as Christians to know about. If you can forget all other council meetings, remember this Jerusalem council. And I also want to thank God for sustaining people like uh Reverend Daniel, uh Brother Abraham, brother Gary, and brother uh Richard, who survived and produced the fruit of long suffering yesterday when they go to the sinette. And they are still standing here today. Thank God for producing those fruits. And uh before I go on to it, let me pray right now. Father, I thank you. Father, for the love you have for each one of us. Tremendous love you have for us. We do not deserve to have this love. But you love us so much. Even while we are far away from you, Lord, you come to us. And this day, Lord, as we gather together to just love you, to give our ears to you, to give our heart to you. Lord, I pray that even as you have spoken to me as a servant, even as I have listened to your burdens for your people, that your heart for your people, Lord, I pray that with great clarity, you will help me deliver the burden to them. Deliver those words of life to them so they may be set free, so they may walk free and rejoice in the Lord. Hallelujah. So, Father, thank you for this time. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know, Acts chapter 15 is a very important uh chapter in the whole book of Acts. In fact, there's somebody who says Joseph uh by the by the name of Joseph Fitzmayer who says there are 12,385 words from chapter 1 to chapter 14, and from chapter 15 to chapter 28, which is the last chapter of Acts, he says there are altogether 12,502 words. So that means chapter 15 is right in the center, roughly of the book of Acts. And it is the turning point of the church, it is the watershed, the center and the pivotal point where everything starts to move. You know, we may rejoice that God moved in the book of Acts, in chapter 2, where the Holy Spirit comes upon his people and they receive power and they were able to do great things, miracles happen. But in chapter 15, even though it's a council meeting, that's why I say it's not uh boring, it is one of the most anointed, spirit-filled meetings anyone can ever have. Who says PCC meeting can be boring? PCC meeting can be spirit-filled, empowered to do the purpose of God. Amen. Hallelujah. So let's encourage the PCC members. Amen. So the from the very beginning of uh the book of Acts from chapter 1, the book has been narrating the culture, the the racial and and uh social expansion of the church from Jerusalem. But after chapter 15, they begin to the center begins to shift towards Antioch. And also the other thing is that in chapter 1 to chapter 14, we see a lot of Peter and less of Paul. But from 15 onwards, from this point onwards, it's very little of Peter, but more of Paul. The things begin to shift. That's why chapter 15 is the pivotal point, the center of everything. That's why we must know about Acts chapter 15, the Jerusalem Council. You know, as we read chapter 15, many people will say, chapter 15 is a tragedy. It's a tragedy. Because Christians should shouldn't quarrel. Christians shouldn't argue. There shouldn't be any fight, it shouldn't have happened. Because in Proverbs chapter 20, 20, verse 3, it says, avoiding a fight is a mark of honor. Only a fool insists on quartering. This is the word of God, right? Word of God. And and and and many says, um, you know, arguments are not edifying, they are not encouraging. These activists will say, let's keep off doctrine, let's keep off theology, let's just, because he only hits us, he gets us all heated up. Let's just pray and let's just go for mission. Don't bother about a sticking issue, let's not be distracted by the devil. Let me tell you something. Even though the devil may distract, God is high up there. He has the upper hand, he controls everything. Even in this situation, I believe the devil was there. But God wins. Amen. If people ask me what is the whole book of Revelation is all about, I can only give you one answer. Jesus wins in the end. You don't need to know the rest, just know that Jesus wins, the devil lose. Hallelujah. And so uh in fact, uh as I was thinking of this verse, I wanted just to satisfy say that this is the word of God. But and one thing about Proverbs you must recognize a proverbs cannot be taken seriously as a promise. Okay, although it's the word of God. Because it's a word about wisdom, the possibility of things happening, the probability of things happening. If you do this, yes, it'll be good for you. But for me, in my case, when I write these words, I take it literally as a promise, and I believe I should avoid all problems, all quarrel. And this was partly because of my background. Okay, my father, mother, when they quarrel or my grandmother quarrel, they always keep quiet. Nobody will speak out. Nobody will speak out. And when I went into full-time service, this was a problem. I will not speak out. Even though things were unjust, I will just swallow the bitter humble pill and say, I'm only going to be a martyr, I'm going to suffer quietly. And that was causing real problem, not only in my health, but also my wife. My wife was getting very mad. Why didn't you speak up? Why did you let people step all over you? And one day I remember one pastor ministered to me and said, Peter, what you're doing is not right. You must learn to speak out. You must learn to speak the truth in love. And he says, in love means you must speak out in love because you are loving yourself. If you do not speak up, it's not only that you're denying the truth, but you are not loving yourself. The Lord says you are supposed to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and your mind, supposed to love one another as yourself. And so when the pastor prayed for me, I recognized that, and when the pastor prayed for me, all of a sudden there was a great release. Great release, I believe probably it's a fear. But as as as they prayed for me, I roared like a lion. And I was totally set free. Ever since then. And it was so wonderful because it was right before I went to Japan. Because Japanese people don't speak up. And God set me free so that I can have a bonus to speak. And even as I share this testimony with you, I believe this may be a deliverance word for you. Many of you, wives who keep quiet, husbands who keep quiet because of the so-called fear of woman or fear of authority. You need to speak up. You need to live in truth. You need to love yourself enough to speak the truth. May you be set free. Not just avoid problems, but face it and be free. Amen. Hallelujah. And actually in the book of Acts, chapter 15, there were two quarrel. Not one. We read one. The other one is below Acts chapter 15. There was a not only the first one was that we are doing on is a fight over salvation. What salvation, what is the essential of salvation by faith, uh, by grace through faith. And the other one is about mission team. Okay, they are fighting over mission team, who to take, who not to take. Okay, but the marvelous thing is this quarrel that they had in the whole chapter of chapter 15, they were both resolved. They were both resolve. Firstly, uh they they resolved and there was great rejoicing in the first one about salvation. He says uh there was great rejoicing in verse 31. There was great rejoicing. The other one on mission team, it was also resolved because instead of one team, there was two teams: Paul and Silas, Barnabas and John Mark. Okay? So it was wonderful that it was resolved. And in fact, it's not only resolved, it advanced the work of the gospel. Both advanced the work of the gospel. So in every argument that we have, whether in homes, whether in church, wherever we can, I have five suggestions for you. Firstly, okay, I have five suggestions for you. Firstly, that we should come united as one spirit, one team. That is very important. We are all in the same family. We are all in the same church. And one of the most encouraging videos, uh, recent videos about uh Southeast Asian games, I find it very encouraging, even though the participant is representing Singapore is playing, there were the rest of the team who may not be even playing the same game, who will not be playing the same event, and yet they gathered together to support the contestant. And I believe this should be in the church. Okay, it's not uh you against me, but when somebody is in this church is doing something, or everybody will support them. That should be the way. So when we suffer, suffer together. When we rejoice, we rejoice together. What can I say? I'm only a new kid around the block. So the other thing is not only united in one spirit, one, one, one team, but we should have a win-win and a lose-lose situation. If you lose, I lose also. If you win, I win also. Not I win, you lose. Not watching the other person sing and then you clap your hands. Don't do that. We are all one team. When one suffers, let's pull our resources together and support the person. Because that should be the mentality. Win-win, lose-lose uh situation. And the other thing is in every conflict, we should stick to the issue. Stick to the issue. Don't take it as a personal attack. Many a times when we have quarrel, it is, you la! Ten years ago, all the problem, all the records all start coming out. We should stick to the issue. I'm not talking about 10 years ago. Now, let's solve this issue. And the other thing is we must have a resolve to resolve the problem. And in every quarrel, in every conflict, we should progress in our relationship. We should progress for the kingdom of God. Let this be a guideline. There's only five that I thought of. There may be other guidelines that you may know of. Please add it in. For the sake of working together. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. You may never you may not like me, but one day you're gonna see me in heaven. And we are gonna live together. Maybe I live next door to you. So let's let's get this thing quarrel out of it, let's soft quarrel out of it, and so that we can advance forward. And the I found I found a chart. Maybe let's take a photo of this because I'm going to refer very much to this. Okay, I got this chart while doing research for the sermon, and it's from Region University. Okay, it's got a he actually explained the whole thing about Acts chapter 15. Okay, Acts chapter 15. It all started not only in uh Acts chapter 15, it started in 1427, where Paul and Barnabas uh begin to say all that God has done, how he opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. And then after that, there was a protest. Unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved. Let me just explain this church a bit. Okay? There are three categories on the top report, reaction, and resolution. Three R. Can you remember? Report, reaction, and resolution. It can be divided like that, okay? And it's from left to right. From verse one all the way, left to right, and then bottom left to right until in the end it was resolved. Okay, got it? Can read it? Okay. So this uh the question is uh why did the uh Jewish so-called Judaizers, the troublemakers, the protesters, have this mindset that you are only safe unless you go through Moses uh circumcision. Okay, by the way, why is circumcision? Some of you may not know what circumcision is. Circumcision is a remove surgical removal of the foreskin or covering of the tip or the pennies of a man, of a male. Okay, this is uh partly part of the covenant that God gave to Abraham. Okay, from the very beginning, before uh Christianity came into existence, Judaism was around. And in Judaism, every Jew in the Old Testament needs to be circumcised and follow the law of Moses. And uh and and this is all instituted by God. But from the time of Abraham, to be circumcision is part of the covenant, and every male child that is born, maybe the eighth day, they need to be circumcised, to be part of the Hebrew nation, to be part of the community. This is uh what Judaism is all about. But when the Holy Spirit came, let me just go roughly through the book of Acts. When the Holy Spirit falls upon the believers in Acts chapter 2 in Pentecost, the believers uh were probably gathered in one place. That's what it says, gathered in one place. We really do not know whether it is the upper room or whether it's the temple, but definitely it's at a place that's very prominent where all the people of the crowd heard them praising God, the things that God did, right? And so they were in the temple ground, and not only then, they they they are considered a sect of Judaism, considered a part of Judaism, because they are the only ones that's different because they believe in Jesus, the Messiah. The rest do not believe. But these believing Christians who are filled with spirit believe in the Messiah, and so they follow the authority of the Old Testament, and it's a miracle that the Old Testament exists, because during the time of exile, uh, according to the Bible, they were open, destroyed. But somehow I get, I guess, through the oral tradition, they preserved the Old Testament. And so they were following not only the Old Testament, but also follow the service order of the Jewish worship. And the and probably at that time, they were probably going to temple, even Christians going to temple, sacrificing animals as a sacrifice. That's a possibility. Because everything stopped in AD 70 when Titus came into the temple and destroyed everything. Okay, from then onwards, there's no more temple. And all throughout the world, even present now, the Jewish are longing for the temple to be rebuilt. Okay, you heard about the third temple, yeah? But that's what they are longing for, the third temple. So, so the thing is they follow the Old Testament, and in it's very clear that in the Old Testament, circumcision and following the Moses law is very important. For us, for for the early church, the New Testament was not written yet. They were written as we go along, as they go along. Long story short, the early church leaders inherited a long-standing uh deeply held religious system. And so they have to discern. They have to discern without a clearly written out uh foundation or specific of how the Old Testament is related to Jesus' death. Resurrection and ascension. You have to scratch your head. There's no no no training parallel to that. Only Jesus can reveal to them. And so to do so, the early church leaders have to listen to arguments and pay attention to what the spirit is saying, is doing and revealing. So they are learning from uh from scratch. So not what God, what what the spirit has revealed, but what the spirit is revealing. This is something which every church leader must have to discern what the Holy Spirit is revealing. Not what revealed 10 years ago, 20 years ago, 30 years ago. But what is he revealing now? What is God revealing to you now? Your testimony must not be 30 years ago's testimony. Have you come across people who keep on talking about the testimony 30 years ago? The question is we should be asking ourselves: what is your testimony now? Your reason testimony? He should be fresh because God is a miracle-working God. And where when He is fresh, He's living, He's not dead, He is not a name that we uh pay our loyalty to, and that He's He's gone. But He's God who is living and He's very, very present even now. And so the the leaders, the early church leaders, couldn't sort of evade the question. They have to solve this problem, they cannot sit on the fence because it's either you go through surgery or you don't go through surgery. So that is the issue. That is the issue, they have to uh wrestle with it. So that's the Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 8, Acts chapter 8, uh there was this persecution that came upon the church. Acts chapter 8, verse 1, the persecution came, right? Everybody was scattered except the apostles. Very interesting. Why is the apostle still in Jerusalem when all the other disciples were scattered all over? He says they were scattered to Judah and even to Samaria. Okay, in verse 4, chapter 8, verse 4, they say they were scattered because of the percussion, huh? Chapter 4. And then chapter 8, verse 4, it talks about scattering. After they thought about scattering, there was no mention of any other thing. And then in chapter 11 again, the same words. Those who were scattered in chapter 11, verse 19. Those who were scattered, that means chapter 8, verse 4, those who are scattered, chapter 11, verse 19, those who are scattered. In between, we see uh Philip meeting the Yunnan in the desert. Then we see Paul's conversion, and then we see Peter's experience in the rooftop where he saw the vision of the unclean animals. So, in between these two, there was this story, there was squeezed in between. Why did it happen? I don't know. Maybe Luke was writing chapter 8, verse 4, and beginning so excited about Paul, so excited about Peter's miracles, so excited about Philip's uh meeting with the Yunnan, he didn't finish it. And so in chapter 11, verse 19, he says, Those who were scattered. And let's look at the map. Okay, so in the beginning, you see, chapter 8, verse 4, it says, Those who were scattered from Jerusalem, bottom, to Judea and Samaria. Then chapter 11, verse 19, it says, Those who were scattered were scattered to Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch, right on top. Okay, so it was uh it gives you a fuller picture of those who were scattered. And so uh very soon, even in chapter 11, verse 26, the believers in Antioch was first time called Christians. Before they were called the people of the way. Okay, the way, the way, Jesus is the way. And here they are first called Christians, chapter 11, verse 26. And so Antioch slowly became the center of the new faith uh of Christianity. Okay, the devil doesn't want Christian faith to be to be uh spreading like that. His initial plan was he wants to keep Christianity in the closed doors of Judaism. Okay, but he made a silly mistake. He persecuted the church. When he persecuted the church, it was like breaking uh a container where all the viruses are, and the virus spread all over, far and wide. And so Christianity begins to spread more and more. And so he couldn't put Christianity back to the box of Judaism, can try to squeeze. It's like it's like, for example, uh a champagne that has been popped, and when the sparkling water or wine come out, there's no way you can squeeze everything back. And so the devil couldn't do it, but he wanted to just try, just try, get a few uh proud, uh strong Jewish uh people with strong background and culture and opinion, let them preach a different kind, a new old uh cultural version of Christianity, which includes circumcision, hoping to recover some of the captives back to Judaism. But it was too late. It was too late. Because in Acts chapter 13, when they begin to call Paul, remember Acts chapter 13? God called Paul in Barnabas, set them aside, and they go for their first mission team. God, Paul, what Paul did is that he began to spread the gospel, he didn't spread Judaism, but he began to spread the gospel, he uprooted the young plant of Christianity from the Jewish soil and began to transfer it into the Gentile soil, and it grew and flourishes, and so the Gentile was freely believing in Christ. It was great joy, uh, news that was going around. And so uh the this uh Christianity has now become a world religion through Paul. And so basically, the Paul's gospel is very simple. Paul's gospel and our gospel is the same. Because the scripture, can you turn to the scripture? Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8 and 9, it says, For by grace you have been saved through faith. It is not your own doing, it's the gift of God, not the result of works, so that no man, no one can boast. Ephesians chapter 2, verse 8. This is our faith. Our faith, we are saved by grace through faith, not on our own working. And and that's why when in in uh chapter 15, verse 5, later on they say, not only you must be circumcised, but it says, if circumcision, it says uh it's necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to the observe the law of Moses. That means not only circumcision. The the the Jewish uh uh protesters are saying, not only circumcision, we want them to follow the law of Moses. And when you start with the law of Moses, ten laws, right? You think it's ten laws? No, it's six hundred and thirteen laws. So if you open the door a little bit, the whole the whole door will be swung and you have to obey the whole 613 laws. And so Paul, being a Pharisee, no, this is a trick. This cannot be so. In his experience, he has been going around planting churches. He says, We are only saved by grace. The simple gospel is that we are safe. Okay, that the law, Paul Paul says the law cannot save us, even though you keep 613 laws, the law cannot save us. Man cannot make it, no matter how we try. How many of you try keeping the laws diligently? Never break any laws. I show on the shake of hands. Impossible. Man cannot make it. Only Jesus fulfilled that law. When he died on the cross, he fulfilled every law. All those curses that have been on us, he forgive. Hallelujah. And we need the Savior, Jesus Christ. The simple gospel is that we are saved by believing, not achieving, not trying very hard, but trusting. Because all about salvation, all about Jesus says, is that Jesus did everything for us. We didn't do anything. We really didn't do anything. Jesus is the one who died on the cross, and when he died on the cross, he forgave us of our sins, he break every curses there's upon us and gave us the blessings of Abraham. He is the one who did everything, he was something that he somebody did for me. And so, and the thing is, in fact, you do not need to be perfect to become a Christian. Some people say, Oh, I must be perfect first. Try, keep all the laws, then become Christian. No, you do not need to. Because Jesus has fulfilled the law, there's no probation. No say, ah, you're under probation for three months. If during the three months you break one law or something, cannot cannot become Christian. There's no probation. And all the achievements that accomplishments that you can cannot do anything to earn merit point for forgiving of your past and going to heaven. This is the theory of karma. Okay, karma believes that you do something wrong, the karma is cycle. And so you've got to do good things for yourself, for your parents, hoping that we will uh gain some merit points for our family. It will not happen. It will not happen. Okay, Jesus did it all. Jesus did it all. And today, even as I share this, I know I just presented the gospel. If you are first time here and you have not believed, and you want to believe, I want to encourage you right now to say this prayer together with me. Maybe all of us can say it together. Can we? Okay, let's pray together. Dear Lord Jesus, I know I'm a sinner. I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sin and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow you as Lord and Savior. If you have uh really wanted to be a Christian and believe, and you say that prayer, you're a Christian right now, a child of God. So after the service, you can come for come and tell us. Or if you are online, write to us so that we can really come and help you how to grow as a Christian. Hallelujah. So let me see. Okay, let's look at the child again. Okay, very interesting, all in the green. It's all about what God has done. All that God has done. Verse 14, 27. Then in 15, verse 4, all that God has done. Then in 15, verse 12, the signs and wonders and all that God has done. Is that a coincidence? I don't think so. I believe that even the second one, in detail, the conversion of the Gentiles, is also talking about all that God has done. All that God has done is the report, is the testimony, and then the reaction is so different. There are two protests. Okay? And there is also uh great joy and also silence. And this reminds me of 1 Thessalonians chapter 5, verse uh 18. It says, give thanks in every circumstance, for this is the will of God. That means give thank give glory to God, give uh tell about what God has done, no matter what reaction, whether people protest, whether people uh rejoice, whether people are silent, keep on praising God. Okay, even if they don't like it, praise God. Hallelujah. Okay. And so what did all the details that God, all the detail in verse, chapter 15, verse 3, the detail of the conversion of Gentiles, what did Paul and Barnabas testify? I believe they testified probably uh in from chapter when they go on the first mission, chapter 13 to chapter 14, there was this black magician who became blind. Okay, this is the reversal of miracle. Usually miracle is for blind to to see, but this is a sighted man who became blind, okay, when Paul said you shall be blind, and then also there was this conversion of the Roman pro-council and also the healing of the of these uh cripple who and the cripple can walk, and because of that, Paul and Bandabras was stoned. I mean, Paul was stoned. Paul was stoned, and one of the great miracles in Lytra, Lytra, uh probably from chapter 14, verse 19 to 20, he talks about Paul, they stoned him and thought that he was dead, but when the believers gathered around, Paul rose up. Some people say Paul resurrected after being stoned and walked back to the city. Amazing. Cannot die. Paul cannot die. Paul, so these are all the great details of the great things among the Gentiles that they testify. So they the uh I don't know how many sessions they have about this uh Jerusalem Council, but definitely there were two appeals that were put forth. Firstly, Peter uh says, you know, not too long ago in chapter 10, where brother Richard preached about Peter and Cornelis, he said, not too long ago, I was in the rooftop and and uh you know I saw this vision of this uh unclean animals that was coming, and the Lord says he did three times got revealed to him. And he says I was there and God threw me in such a situation and I was brought to a gentile home, and you know what happened. So Peter was saying, God didn't even let me finish my sermon. Before I could finish my sermon, the Holy Spirit came upon them. Before they could even be baptized, the Holy Spirit come upon them and say, Surely, even as God has baptized us in the days of Pentecost, surely if God has baptized this Cornelius household with the Holy Spirit, God have accepted them. So if God has accepted them, we must accept them. That's the argument of uh Peter from experience. From experience. Then James went on to back up uh Peter's point and say from the scripture exposition. He back up from Amos chapter 9, verse 11 to 12. Okay, 11 to 9. This is a prophecy of Amos. Okay, whereby Amos predicted that God will rebuild the broken, the broken hope, the crushed hope of the Davidic line. After the exile, everything was lost. But God will restore. And when God restores David's line, David's tabernacle, some people say, the rest of the world, the Gentile, will come in and God will accept them. Okay, so this was a tremendous uh presentation to argue that we do not need circumcision, we just need to be saved by grace through faith. And the decision was such that uh uh after everybody had debated, everybody has spoken, this James, okay, who is James? James is actually the brother of Jesus Christ himself. When Jesus was around preaching, he was one of them who was who taught his brother Gonkuku, who tried to bring uh he tried to bring Jesus back. And so he decided that this decision, he says it feels right, it feels good, and he announced the decision. The decision is such that firstly, there were two points about this decision. Firstly, the decision is that we do not need circumcision, we do not need to be Jews, to be Christian. And and the thing is, if it were not so, then today we have to bring sheep and go to church. But because of this decision, we do not need to. We are saved by grace through faith. That's the second one. Uh it's a win-win situation. Because the second one is the second part of the decision is that the Gentiles must abstain from food offered to second idols, blood, fornication, and eating animals that've been stranded. Okay, this is uh uh 20 and 29. Okay, they insist that this must be on the uh gentle spot, uh gentile spot. Why do you think James put that decision there? I think it's important because it's not only liberty that we have that we are saved by grace through faith, but Paul is concerned about love and fellowship. Because we need to limit our liberty so that we can have fellowship. Paul is concerned that the Gentiles will probably abstain from pork to be able to sit with a Jew at a table. Because the Jews, Jewish people are like Chinese, they like fellowship, fellowship, okay? And so, for the sake of fellowship, abstain. Gentiles abstain from what is uh offense to the Jews, and so that this decision is good. Firstly, it's about liberty, liberty in the gospel. Secondly, it's about love. That we want to have fellowship, even though we are different. And so, because the Bible also says that if you see a brother, uh it says uh something like you must be careful so that your freedom does not cause uh cause a weaker brother to conscience to be stumbled. Okay, he says you must not do that. You must even though you feel like doing something, but because of the weaker brother, you will not do it. Okay, so it was a good decision, and so the result was that they sent a letter and they sent a messenger. Why letter and messenger? Everything is black and white, secondly, a messenger is so so they can be personal. And the result of Acts chapter 15 is that the churches grew stronger, grew in numbers, and many people were saved. So Acts chapter 15 is not a tragedy, but it's a triumph for the gospel. It is a very important point, and God Paul went on beginning the mission with great confidence. So Acts chapter 15, the council, the tourism council. It's indeed a trial for us. Hallelujah. Amen.

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