Gentiles Included
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2023 · 7 May 2023
We’re continuing our study of Acts 15, where the council of Jerusalem faced its first crisis, and it was the crisis of the doctrine of salvation. Some were trying to teach that a person was saved by grace plus works. Others were believing that a person is saved by grace alone. And so, the conflict ensued and was resolved in the council of Jerusalem. The record of that resolution is in the first 35 verses.
Now, as we approach this, we come to the concept of grace. Grace is a word that is essential in Christianity. In fact the term grace belongs to Christianity. All other religious systems in the world are based upon works of men. There are certain things that a man must do, and because he does those things God approves of him. And if those approving deeds outweigh those disapproved, you’re in.
Christianity exists offering a salvation which absolutely has nothing to do with what you do, what you have done, or what you will do. The salvation offered in Christianity stands apart from every other system as a pure grace salvation. And grace might be defined as this: it is God’s free salvation, offered to men on the basis of what Christ did, and apart from what they might do.
I am saved not because of anything I deserved, not because of anything that I did, not because of anything that I am, but because of all that Christ is, and all that He did, which I only believed, and God accounted to me as salvation. Now, grace then, is the free effort on God’s part to save men. God did not just offer grace to save you, but grace goes so far that God wants to make you like His Son.
He wanted to conform you to Jesus Christ. You see, that’s the character of grace that knows no limits. His grace is unlimited, so that to tap His grace initially is to tap His grace eternally. It comes all together, or not at all. In fact, in Hebrews 10:14, it says, “By one offering Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified.” The grace of God offered in salvation makes you perfect.
For somebody to say, “Yes, grace does make you perfect, but you need to add such and such,” is ridiculous. What could you add to perfection? If grace makes you perfect, that settles it. You can’t add anything to perfection; all you would do would be mess it up, and wind up with imperfection. And grace perfects forever the one who comes to Christ, and so we add nothing to grace.
Then, you move, secondly, to what Paul describes in Romans 5 as “the grace in which we stand.” Having been saved by grace, I live in grace, and then that grace is expanded to conform me to Christ. God can’t limit His grace. The ultimate end of my salvation is I’ll be like Jesus Christ. And I haven’t done one thing to deserve it; not before, not during, and not after. It is pure grace.
Christianity says, “Simply believe what He has done, and I’ll conform you,” says God, “to the very image of Jesus Christ, forever.” But you know, it’s amazing that even within the confines of Christianity, people misunderstand grace. They misrepresent grace, and even fight grace. God does not want you to say, “Well, God, I’m going to do all my little things now, you know like You did for me.”
People trying to pay God back for a love gift, by giving Him labor. Which does nothing but restrict the flow of love, and eliminate the freedom of His gift of grace. Well, that’s what happened in the early church. Here God was offering free salvation to Gentiles, and the Jews were running around saying, “Oh, you must be circumcised, and you must obey the law and the ceremony.
Now, remember that the Lord said in, Matthew 16, “I will build My church.” When Jesus sets His mind to do something, He does it. And He went on to say, “And the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” He started in Jerusalem, which was fine. And then He moved to Samaria, and some of the Samaritans were getting saved, and that was rough to handle because Samaritans were despised by the Jews.
The Jews believed in keeping the Hebrews pure, and these Samaritans had intermarried with pagans. But they did worship the God of Israel, and they were sort of part of Judaism, and so it was tolerable. But then a couple of radicals came along, named Paul and Barnabas. And they were going all over the Gentile world, just offering salvation to every Gentile who wanted it.
And the result was a lot of Gentile congregations were started all over the place. They didn’t think it was fair that a Gentile could live the way he wanted to live, and just come and believe in the Messiah, and suddenly he was an equal They wanted to make sure those Gentiles became Jews first. They thought they were the only ones who could get to God, they did it because it was an ego problem.
These Jerusalem Jews, who were known as the circumcision party, or also known as the Judaizers, trying to impose Judaism on others, started traveling around, messing up the minds of the Gentiles. So, the heresy that they were teaching even hit the areas where Paul had established churches in Galatia. So they had messed up the whole Gentile Christian community with this false doctrine.
If you know everything else and you don’t know how to get saved, you’ve missed it all. This section is divided into four parts. The first part was the dissension. This is what goes on in religion today. Well, secondly is the discussion. Peter, Paul (also Barnabas) and James. Verse 11, “We believe that we are all saved the same way, by the undeserved grace of the Lord Jesus.”
They simply stated their faith, that it is grace plus nothing. And the first guy to support this is Peter. He said salvation by grace is evidence by past revelation. Secondly, it is the gift of the Spirit. Only saved people get the Spirit. Third thing: God forgave and purified them by faith. He says, “Why put legalism on them? It didn’t even work for us.” Peter’s argument was potent. “Then all the multitude kept silence.”
Paul and Barnabas declared what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them in verse 12. Paul preached a grace message, and God supported his message with miracles. That means God approved of his message, right? Paul said, “Look, people, God has already attested to the validity of the grace salvation by the miracles that have attended our preaching.”
The Judaizers had no miracles accompanying their information. Then James speaks. Verse 13, “When they had finished, James stood and said, “Brothers, listen to me.” James adds the sixth proof of salvation by grace, prophetic promises, and it goes from verse 14 - 18, “Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself.”
“15 And this conversion of Gentiles is exactly what the prophets predicted. As it is written: 16 ‘Afterward I will return and restore the fallen house of David. I will rebuild its ruins and restore it, 17 so that the rest of humanity might seek the Lord, including the Gentiles, all those I have called to be mine. The Lord has spoken. 18 He who made these things known so long ago.”
Now, what James says here is simple; it’s the interpretation of it, and how it fits the scene that becomes difficult. Peter has told you about the time God first visited the Gentiles to take from them a people for himself. And that is exactly what the prophets predicted. Now he says, “If you’re all uptight about Gentiles getting saved, have you forgotten that, this is also what the prophets predicted?”
Verse 16-17, “After this I’ll return, build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I’ll build again its ruins, and I’ll restore it: So that the Gentiles might seek the Lord, and all the people whom I have called to be mine,’ says the Lord, who made these things known so long ago.” This prophecy basically says that Gentiles are going to get saved as Gentiles.
God says, “I call them directly to myself.” This is a millennial prophecy. And he’s saying this: there are two parts to the kingdom, Israel’s restoration. Israel’s going to reign in the kingdom, right? And that’s verse 16. “I’ll return, build the tabernacle of David,” which means the nation of Israel. But also in the kingdom of the Gentiles are going get saved as Gentiles in verse 17.
Christ is going return and set up His kingdom. Remember the judgment of the sheep and goats, in Matthew 24 and 25? The Gentiles who have mistreated Israel, those are the goats that are going be cast into fire. But the sheep Gentiles, are going to inherit the kingdom. So, you have living Gentiles going into the millennial kingdom. Those Gentiles are going have many children in the kingdom.
Now, they’re going have to get saved just like everybody else, by believing in Jesus Christ. But not all of them will be saved. There’s enough of them to have a worldwide rebellion at the end of the thousand years, remember when Satan is loosed, and leads them in a worldwide rebellion? And watch, the point is this is: they will be saved as Gentiles in the kingdom.
That’s the only way the Amos prophecy makes sense. Isaiah 11:10 says, “In that day the heir to David’s throne will be a banner of salvation to all the world. The nations (the Gentiles) will rally to Him and the land where He lives will be a glorious place.” Isaiah 66:23 says, “All humanity will come to worship Me from week to week and from month to month.” And he’s talking about Zion, where Christ will reign.
All the nations whom the Lord calls are going come to Him as they are. That’s the only requirement. We’ve told you that everything that’s going happen in the future kingdom has a limited fulfillment in this age of the church. For example, in the kingdom, Christ is going to reign, right? But now He reigns in our hearts. In the kingdom, there’s going be peace, but now there’s peace in our hearts.
In the kingdom, He will pour out His Spirit on all flesh; in the church age, the Spirit indwells the believer. Everything in the full character of the kingdom is, in a limited sense seen in the church. Now, can’t we see the allowance of Gentile salvation now, during the church age, without Judaism? So, it fits beautifully in the character of the thousand year kingdom.
And as I studied this, I thought, “Well, why does He put verse 16 in there?” This verse is to show all people that God has not set Israel aside in the Gentile salvation. Dispensational theology says that God still has a plan for Israel. On the other hand you have Covenant theology, which says God has forfeited all of His plans for Israel, and resolves everything in the church.
If God’s promises to Israel aren’t good, and if God didn’t keep His word to Israel, I’m not too secure in what He’s promised me. God said to Israel, “You’ll have a kingdom and you’ll reign with Me, and you’ll be restored, and you’ll be rebuilt, and you’ll be in your land, and you’ll have a kingdom.” So, verse 16 is in there because Jews needed to know that God has not forgotten Israel.
And we believe that God is going set up a kingdom for Israel in the future. Peter said in his sermon, “You killed the Prince of life.” But he turned right around and said, “And you’re still the sons of the covenant” same chapter. All we have to do is announce to the Jews that unbelievers get the curses and believers get the blessings. So he wants to confirm that God hasn’t set them aside.
God is not finished with Israel. Study the Old Testament and the New Testament, and you’ll find that the promises of Gentile salvation are all the while connected to the restoration of Israel. In the Old Testament prophecies, the promise of Israel’s restoration and the promise of Gentile salvation are in the same verse. Just because the restoration of Israel is true, the church existence is also true.
In the tribulation, God seals a hundred and forty four thousand out of Israel, to be His witnesses. In the kingdom, whose sleeves are people hanging on to when they’re coming to Messiah? The Jews. In the early church, who was it that carried the gospel to Israel? The Jews. Who was it that carried the gospel to Samaritans? The Jews. To the Gentiles? The Jews Paul and Barnabas.
God has always chosen Jewish servants, and God still in the future is going to use Jews. They didn’t have to become Jews; they were just going be led in by Jews. And in the Kingdom, God is going to use Israel as His messengers to bring people to Messiah. God has to rebuild Israel. Why? Because it is they who are going to be His witnesses, in order that they might bring the nations to the Lord.
And the key to the interpretation is verse 18, “He who made these things known so long ago.’ God hasn’t changed His plans. He’s still going restore Israel, you’re still going to clutch their sleeves there and carry ten Gentiles on in to the King. God just has an initial plan Peter told you about first, to gather out a people to begin with. But let’s face it, it’s no big deal that they’re getting saved as Gentiles now. Let us pray.