Good morning to everyone. Beautiful morning this morning, sunshine and nice temperatures. 

I wanted to start this morning with a point of logic, if you will. I'd like to submit to you that two things that are different are not the same. And that may seem like an obvious point, but it seems to be a great point of confusion for us in the church. And it was a great point of confusion in Acts 15 in the region of Galatia, where these Judaizers were following around preaching what Paul called in Galatians a heteros—different gospel, which is not good news at all. 

The gospel is good news. We've been singing about that this morning, the grace of God, that Jesus came, became a man, lived a perfect and sinless life, and died in our place for our sins. And that through faith in Him alone, we can receive the righteousness of God. His righteousness is imputed to us, credited to us, accounted to us by faith. 

Now, this is not the same as the idea that Christ's death was not sufficient; that there's something left to do, that we must participate in sacraments or rites or rituals or works to contribute to what Christ did, as if Christ somehow just opened a door to heaven and we must enter in through our good works or religious exercises. 

So, two things that are different are not the same. Salvation by circumcision, by keeping the law of Moses, as the Judaizers would have liked to have put on the people— the Gentiles as well as the Jews in the early church—is not the same as salvation by grace through faith. 

This text is all about a council meeting where the church had to come together for the sole purpose that the believers, the people in the church, the Christians, were clear in their minds about this truth. Because if we're not clear about these truths, then how can we go out and witness? How can we go out and bring this good news and understand the need of men to hear, to believe, and be saved? 

So, that's what we're going to talk about today. As I studied the words before us, I tried to put myself in this place, in this time, and involved in what was going on in the church at this council in Jerusalem. It was an interesting time. I think a very interesting meeting, and it was a fight. 

There was a tremendous dissension and dispute among those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, and right here in the beginning, we had a crucial doctrinal dispute. The gloves were off because Paul and Barnabas were not going to stand for this adulteration of the clear gospel truth, this attack on the central doctrine of the faith. They understood that if this lie were allowed to permeate the church and take hold of the disciples as it had already begun to do in the region of Galatia, then confusion, fruitlessness, and eventual destruction would come to the church. 

They found it necessary in this circumstance to contend for the faith once for all delivered to the Saints, to stand up against the false teachers and call them exactly what they were. To make clear to the church from the leadership in Jerusalem down to every believer in every fellowship throughout the reach of their ministry the very essence, the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

And as I pondered this meeting, this coming together of all the founders and leaders of the church itself, I found it exhilarating to imagine the discussions, the disputes, the passion displayed to beat back this false gospel and those who were spreading it. That was what was happening, my friends. These legalistic Jews, these Judaizers, as we call them, were attempting to undermine the very nature and essence of the gospel of salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. And the church leaders, the Apostles, and Paul and Barnabas were ready to stand against and fight this perversion and make sure that the gospel was clear for all to hear and understand. 

Paul commanded the believers in Rome to do this very thing in his letter to them. In Romans 16:17, he says, "Now I urge you, brethren, to note—that is, to mark out publicly—to name those who cause divisions and offenses contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly. And by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." 

Paul gives us clear instruction about who these people are and where their doctrine comes from in 2nd Corinthians 11. He says, "But what I do, I will also continue to do, that I may cut off the opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the things of which they boast. For such are false Apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into Apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms himself into an angel of light. Therefore, it's no great thing if his ministers also transform themselves into ministers of righteousness, whose end will be according to their works." 

And Paul puts the exclamation point on clarity concerning this subject in Galatians 1:6-10 when he says, "I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than that which we have preached to you, let him be cursed to hell." This is what Paul wrote. 

As we've said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than that which you have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ. 

Our brothers and sisters in Christ, these words should shake every ecumenical bone from your body. There is no place in the church for compromise concerning the gospel. And Paul and Barnabas and the Apostles and the early church leaders were very black-and-white people. I'm afraid that there is a pall of gray draped over the church today, signifying in many cases its dead condition. 

Clearly, our culture has devolved into a state of political correctness that does not allow anyone to stand for anything in any situation but makes all truth relative and has made a strange kind of tolerance and non-offensiveness at all costs the greatest virtue of our time. And I'm afraid this sentiment has infiltrated and influenced the church and its thinking to a point where many are not willing to make a stand even for the gospel truth. 

And this is the lesson of our text today, my friends. It is a fascinating, instructive historical account of how the early church dealt with this formidable attack against the gospel truth. But it is also a tremendous lesson for us and for the need to continue to stand for this truth, to be willing to dispute, to have no small dissension with those who would undermine, confuse, or outright destroy the gospel message of grace by their legalistic works-righteous doctrine. 

Let's look at our text in Acts 15 together, please. Acts 15 at verse 1: "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.'" 

Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the Apostles and elders about this question. 

So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, describing the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy to all the brethren. 

When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the Apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. But some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, "It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses." 

Now the Apostles and elders came together to consider this matter, and when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, "Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us and made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. 

Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we are able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." 

Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 

I've given you four points on your outline. First, we're going to see the doctrinal attack; second, dissension and dispute; third, declaration; and fourth, that there's no distinction. 

Well, first in our text, we see a doctrinal attack on the gospel. And this is always the way that Satan works, my friends. The mood that infects the church today is one of de-emphasizing doctrine, de-emphasizing teaching and preaching, and elevating community action, social good, and entertainment, and all sorts of things. 

But Satan doesn't care about these things. He doesn't mind if you are a Mormon philanthropist or a Lutheran-sponsored food bank or an International Relief Agency feeding the starving children, as long as you don't have true, clear doctrine concerning the gospel. Then he is happy. 

The issue is doctrine. Because doctrine concerning the gospel is simply truth teaching concerning who Jesus is and what He has done. It doesn't matter if you're teaching the doctrines of the Church of Satan or voodoo, or if you are espousing the doctrines of a so-called Christian denomination. Satan is satisfied if you're polytheistic, if you're monotheistic, if you're a pagan or if you're a Christian in name, as long as there's not a clear message about Jesus Christ. 

So, his best work is done by undermining the truth with error. His best work, as Paul says in 2nd Corinthians 11, is done from the pulpits. And that is what we see in our world, in religion and in the warnings of the scriptures against his ministers who masquerade as ministers of righteousness, that the attack is always in the realm of doctrine and attempting to pervert or change or undermine either who Jesus is or what He has accomplished. 

Now, how does one do this? And how can we be clear as believers, as a church, as to what the truth of the gospel is? This is the important question before the church in Acts 15, and it's the absolutely vital question for us to answer and to understand individually and corporately as a body of believers. For if the gospel is lost, if the truth is compromised or clouded, then all is lost, my friends. Nothing else matters. 

We read the warning of Acts 20 to the elders in Ephesus in the last two messages. Paul promised that men would come in and attack the truth from outside, and he warned that men would rise up from within as well and try to lead away the disciples after themselves with false doctrine. 

And that's exactly what we see in the first verse of our text today. Verse 1 says, "And certain men came down from Judea and taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.'" 

Today we could say, "Unless you are baptized, you cannot be saved," which is taught in so many so-called Christian churches. Men came, Luke writes, and they taught. That's doctrine, my friends. They taught. And what they taught was that circumcision and keeping the law of Moses is necessary for salvation. 

It's a very clear doctrine; it's not hard to understand. The question is, does it mesh with the Bible? With the gospel as revealed in the scriptures? Is it truth or is it a lie? Is it a true way to salvation to God or is it a false message? 

What's interesting here is that it was a question that brought confusion. Because you see, Judaism, the law of circumcision, all these things were given by God. They had been practiced for the entire history of Israel since Sinai, and then circumcision before that. It had encompassed the lives of all these leaders of the early church, of all the Jews who were saved in those first years of the church. It was their life; it was their religion; it was their government; it was their everything. 

And there was a tremendous amount of confusion surrounding this issue—a tremendous amount of emotion, of passion, by those who were ascribing the necessity to impose the law of Moses on believers for salvation or for sanctification. So, this is not just some out-there, crazy pagan thing that these false teachers were trying to bring into the church. It had an element of legitimacy. 

It was deep-seated in the culture; they knew and loved many, many Jews, those who were probably still practicing Judaism. It was a very, very difficult, monumental thing for them to chuck the law of Moses and circumcision and turn solely to faith in Christ. It was almost insurmountable for them to allow the Gentiles to just come in as equals in Christ by grace through faith alone. 

The point here is that this was a real issue. It was an emotional issue, a traditional issue, and like all good lies, it had a lot of truth with it. I remember even Peter had become confused, and he'd been pressured into compromise in Galatians 2. Turn with me over to Galatians 2, and I want you to imagine the amazing scene. Peter, the great apostle to the Jews, the pillar of the early church, and Paul—so bold, so black-and-white, so clear. 

Galatians 2:11, Paul says, "Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face because he was to be blamed. For before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy." 

"But when I saw that they were not,"—this is the key—"when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, 'If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews? We who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentiles.'" 

Look at verse 16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law. For by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified." 

I love that verse because Paul's saying, how else can I say this? It’s not by works; it’s by faith. We've been justified by faith, not by works because no one can be justified by works. This was an issue that needed to be settled, and that's why we have this council in Jerusalem—to once and for all beat back this false gospel of works and rites and rituals of religion, and declare it to be false for all the church to hear. 

And Paul and Barnabas were not afraid to stand for the truth and expose the darkness with the light. In verse 2 of our text, it says, "Therefore, when Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain others of them should go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and elders about this question." 

And verse 4 says, "When they had come to Jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they reported all things that God had done with them. But,"—verse 5—"but some of the sect of the Pharisees who believed rose up, saying, 'It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.'" 

And the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter. Here we see dissension and dispute. Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and dispute with them. The word translated 'dissension' literally means standing or taking a position. They stood their ground; they took their position, and they set themselves against all positions that would contradict or stand against the truth. 

Do you see the application for us? It's not pleasant sometimes, is it? It's difficult; we're emotionally involved. All of our loved ones are involved in some Christian denomination that perverts the gospel, that adds works to faith. But if we don't stand, if we don't take the position with the clear gospel, if we compromise, then there's no hope for our loved ones. It’s not a loving thing at all. 

The word 'dispute' means to discuss, to debate. I love this. So, what it says is that Paul and Barnabas boldly, clearly set themselves in their position, they took a stand against the position or the teaching of the Judaizers, and then they discussed it with words. They argued; they made a polemic or defense of their position, showing the doctrine of these Pharisees to be false. 

They illustrated the fact—not only speaking the truth, but illustrated the fact that that meant that their message was false. And because there was some doubt in the church in Antioch, or perhaps confusion among the people brought by the false teaching, they had to go up there. They had to go to Jerusalem; they had to straighten this out.

It's interesting because what it says is that everyone was not completely clear about the gospel. The church could be influenced by false teaching. The church could become confused even about the gospel if the error were good enough, attractive enough, and that's what we see in our day as well. 

I would submit that there’s an equal or greater need today for clarity, for men who will stand up and take a position and argue, dispute, stand against error for the sake of the clear truth concerning the gospel. But I fear much of the church has no stomach for this in our day. 

I was thinking about this; I was writing these words, and I remember my wife and I have talked about this. But 20-25 years ago when we were in college, we used to argue for sport. It was fun to discuss things and argue and get in fights and trying to learn something, right? You can't argue today. My daughter told me you have to preface everything you say in her generation with, "This is my opinion." We can't take a stand; we can't take a position. 

What we must understand is that the motive for speaking the truth is not to win an argument; it's not to have a fight; it's not to prove ourselves right. The motive for speaking the truth is love. So often if someone stands and speaks the truth concerning false religion, as Jesus did—have you read Jesus' words in John 8 or Matthew 23 lately?—as Paul and Peter did, as Jude did, then they are accused of bashing a religion or a people involved in that religion. 

But it’s not bashing; it’s loving to warn about false teaching, to seek to rescue the perishing from the grips of doctrine that will send them to an eternal hell. And this confusion not only clouds the gospel for the lost, but also confuses the brethren. And the clearest example of this was in the book of Galatians, as these same Judaizers were spreading this message of works and law in those churches. Turn over to Galatians 3. 

I want to read a couple passages from Galatians just to see Paul's heart, why he's speaking the truth, and see the effect of false teaching in the church. Galatians 3:1, Paul writes, "O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" 

"Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? Have you suffered so many things in vain, if indeed it was in vain? Therefore, he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does he do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." 

"Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, 'In you all the nations shall be blessed.'" 

"So then, those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse. For it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.' But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for the just shall live by faith." 

"Yet the law is not of faith, but the man who does them shall live by them." This isn't good news, my friends. The law is not good news. You know why? Because men don't do it. 

Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, he says, having become a curse for us, that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

Paul had strong words for these believers being influenced by this false message because he did not want them to be led astray. He did not want their growth to be inhibited, their sanctification to be stunted by turning back to law because this confusion would lead to fruitlessness and lack of a clear message preached to the world. 

Look at Galatians 5:1. Paul says, "...stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." That's the same words that Peter used: Why do you put on the neck of the disciples a yoke of bondage—the law? 

"Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing. And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he’s a debtor to keep the whole law. You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything but faith working through love." 

"You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. I have confidence in you in the Lord that you have no other mind, but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is." 

Look at verse 12: "I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off." 

My friends, Paul was exercised about this. This was important. This was everything. I want you to see Paul's passion. He uses very strong language addressing the false teachers, warning the brethren, calling out the false message, and he explains why it is false and why it is profitless and damning. But his motive is love; his desire is for the truth. 

And that's how we must contend. We must dispute and have no small dissension with those who preach a false gospel. So, we see doctrinal attack, we see dissension and dispute, and next in our text we see a declaration. 

Look at Acts 15:6 with me, please. It says, "Now the apostles and elders came together to consider this matter, and when there had been much dispute, Peter rose up and said to them, 'What a clear declaration! Men and brethren, you know that a good while ago God chose among us that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe.'" 

"So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit just as He did to us. And He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they." 

Then all the multitude kept silent and listened to Barnabas and Paul declaring how many miracles and wonders God had worked through them among the Gentiles. 

We see from the very mouth of Peter not only a warning against false teaching, not only a setting straight of the false doctrine, but a clear declaration of the truth, and this is so important. We are not primarily as believers in Jesus Christ to be against error, as important as that is, but we are for the truth. 

Our joy is to declare, to proclaim the clear truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to appeal to men, to persuade men to come to Christ by faith. And that's what Peter does here. He recounts his experience with Cornelius, how God called him and gave him a vision, and a vision to Cornelius, and sent Peter to preach the good news gospel in the house of a Gentile, and how God saved him and his household through faith. 

By hearing the Word, by the grace of God, through faith, God saved the Gentiles just as He did the Jews. That was very intentional, what happened there—just as He did the Jews. He gave the Holy Spirit just as He'd done at Pentecost, and subsequently for everyone who believed the gospel. 

Peter, the Apostle to the Jews, the most Jewish of them all, stands up and he makes this declaration that salvation is by grace through faith alone, in Jesus alone. It’s not by circumcision; it's not by keeping the Law of Moses; it’s not by baptism, my friends. It’s not by good works or sacraments or religious ritual or whatever. 

It is because of what Jesus did on the cross in his one-time death in our place for our sins, fully satisfying the wrath of God, and it is appropriated by faith, and faith alone. Paul dealt with this same issue in Romans 4. I'd like you to look at Romans 4 with me also. 

Romans 4:1. This is after chapter 3 where he makes that great contrast between being under Law and receiving the righteousness of God through faith in Christ. And in 4:1 he says, "What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the scripture say? 'Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.'" 

Look at these words now, verse 4: "Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt. But to him who does not work, but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." Just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works. 

"Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin." Does this blessedness then come upon the circumcised only, or upon the uncircumcised also? For we say that faith was accounted to Abraham for righteousness. 

How then was it accounted? And Paul goes on to make the argument with the Jews: It was before he was circumcised. He received righteousness before he was circumcised; therefore it could not be through circumcision. Verse 13: "For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith." 

"For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect." Look at this: "Because the law brings about wrath. Where there’s no law, there’s no transgression. Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all." 

Does anybody ever tell you the Bible contradicts itself? It’s so unclear. Well, it seems pretty clear to me. We’ve read a lot of passages here that are very clear. It’s not by works; it’s by grace through faith. Is that clear? 

You say, well, yeah, but you've got to go to church on Sunday, and you've got to go through the sacraments, and you have to be baptized. No, it's not by works; it's by faith. That's what Paul said. It’s not by circumcision; it’s not by baptism; it’s by grace through faith. It’s very clear. 

You see, and this is our last point. There's no distinction. There's no partiality with God. God is not a respecter of persons. If you're a religious man, then you’re hoping, depending, that God is a respecter of persons. You talk to religious people and you ask them, "Are you going to heaven?" What do they say? "I hope so." And what's their hope? "I'm not as bad as that guy," right? 

God is not a respecter of persons. We read before in Galatians, if you choose the law, if you choose religion to be saved, then all you have to do is keep it perfectly. My neighbor is not the standard, right? Perfection is the standard. 

Peter said God makes no distinction. He saves Jew and Gentile in the same way. The just shall live by faith. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. You see, the law can only bring wrath because man cannot keep it. It requires perfection and no one is perfect. 

Therefore, what we need is righteousness apart from the law. We need grace. And Paul explains in Romans 4 that this righteousness, the very righteousness of God, is imputed to us, accounted to us when we turn from religion, when we turn from our own self-righteousness, when we turn from what we were trusting in, and we turn to Jesus in faith. 

That's repentance, my friends—turning to Jesus. It's not the one who works; it's not the good man because there are no good men. We're all sinners deserving of wrath. It's the ungodly, Paul says. I love that verse; it's the ungodly that God justifies through faith, not the one who works but the one who believes. 

And this salvation is for every man. There’s no distinction between Jew and Gentile. This was profound, my friends. This was mind-blowing to the Jew, to those who sat in this council. But it was the fact; it was the clear revelation of God through the Word and through experience such as Peter had with Cornelius and Paul and Barnabas had had, and it was the fulfillment of the Old Testament promises and prophecies as well. 

James speaks; he gets up and he concludes this meeting affirming this truth in the last verses of our text. Look at verse 13. It says, "And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, 'Men and brethren, listen to me. Simon has declared how God at the first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name. And with this the words of the prophets agree just as it is written.'" 

"'After this I will return and will rebuild the tabernacle of David, which has fallen down. I will rebuild its ruins and I will set it up so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord— even all the Gentiles who are called by My name,' says the Lord who does all these things. Known to God from eternity are all His works. Therefore I judge that we should not trouble those from among the Gentiles who are turning to God, but that we write to them to abstain from things polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from things strangled, and from blood. For Moses has had throughout many generations those who preach him in every city, being read in the synagogues every Sabbath." 

We'll tidy up some of those last verses next week, but James says, "Listen, we read Moses every Sabbath in the synagogues. What does the Word say? What did the prophets say? God has planned all along to save the Gentiles." 

And this is His plan, which He is bringing to pass in this time in the new covenant. Who could argue, my friends? Peter stood up. Paul and Barnabas stood up. James stood up. It says they all kept silent. It was settled forevermore in the church that law and religion and ritual had no place in the church for justification or for sanctification, but that salvation is solely by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. 

So, how should we apply these things in our time? We must stand against error, against false teaching, marking out those who teach a false gospel contrary to the doctrines of Christ, and we must make a clear declaration of the truth, proclaiming the good news of Jesus Christ to all men and calling on them to come to faith. 

And most importantly, we as believers in Jesus Christ must be clear about these things in our own minds. I don't care how nice a lady Grandma is. I don't care how often she sits on the porch and prays those beads and how good her intentions are. She needs to hear the gospel. 

And if we aren't clear in our minds and we think she doesn't need to be witnessed to, it's hard enough, my friends. There’s no way that we're going to bring her the truth, and that's not love. It’s not loving to not tell her the truth and let her perish in an eternal lake of fire. 

The love of Christ must compel us to seek to witness to our lost loved ones and those around us and anyone we have opportunity, and tell them about eternal life through faith in Christ. These are weighty matters, my friends, but of utmost importance in the early church in Acts and just as much in the church today. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we're so thankful for a clear gospel. I just pray that you help us to see the necessity of making that gospel clear, of defending the truth, of taking a stand and articulating and illustrating why what's false is false and what's true is true. Two things that are different are not the same, yet somehow we get confused about that in the passion and emotion and tradition of that which maybe we came out of. 

Help us to understand the truth and to apply it, Lord, in our lives and trust you to empower us and to work out the details according to your will. In Jesus' name, amen.