Attacks and Counterattacks

God from heaven, thank you for this morning. Thank you lord for Bringing us today in the midst of troubles and tribulations. Thank you for bringing us to your church Thank you lord for Allowing us to open your word and to learn from it from it We pray that the holy spirit will speak to our hearts according to our needs. We need your word Hey, we need to be hungry from your word lord And we're thirsty from your word and we pray that this morning that thirst and the hunger will be satisfied lord Please Give us wisdom to understand this word this morning in jesus name amen This morning we're going to talk about attacks and counter-attacks Counter-attacks can make can make a huge difference in the outcome of a battle of a war arguably the most famous and important counter-attack during the civil war Was the defense of little round top during the battle of gerrysburg many historians argue that this counter-attack Greatly helped the union with this important battle and eventually allowed them to win the whole war On july 2nd 1863 confederate troops under robert e lee were attempting to cross the potomac river to separate union forces from washington Little round top was a strategic hill on the very left of the union line Colonel joshua chamberlain was given the responsibility to hold the line With his 20th main regiment against several attacks by the second alabama regiments Exhausted and almost out of ammunition Chamberlain decided to launch a counter-attack He yelled bayonet And his men quickly charged at the confederates with bayonets drawn A scare the alabama forces began to retreat only to be met by surprise fire from behind This counter-attack allowed the union to hold Little round top and help the union to win the battle of gerrysburg Counter-attacks are key when defending essential ground against the enemy And this is the case in acts 15 Where the church was fighting to hold the most essential ground Which is salvation by grace through faith in christ alone And not just that but the church was fighting to hold another ground which is the bond of unity What brings us together?

What allows us to come together as a church? In the next 15 we're going to read the first 19 verses and you know that one of the things that I do I never finish during this first service So I think this is going to be the same thing today, but we're going to go through Verses 1 through 19.

I want you to follow Please say in your bibles acts 15 verses 1 through 19 Some men came down from judea and began teaching the brethren Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of moises. You cannot be safe And when paul and barnabas had great dissension and debate with them The brethren determined that paul and barnabas and some others of them should go up to jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue Therefore being sent on their way by the church They were passing through both Phoenicia and samaria describing in detail the conversion of the gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren When they arrived at jerusalem, they were received by the church and the apostles and the elders and they reported all that God had done with them But some of the sect of the pharisees Who had believed stood up saying It is necessary to circumcise them and to direct them to observe the law of moses The apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter And there had been much debate And the after there had been much debate Peter stood up and said to them brethren You know that in the early days god made a choice among you That by my mouth the gentiles were hear the word of the gospel and believe And god who knows the heart Testifies To them giving them the holy spirit Just as he also did to us And he made no distinction between us and them cleansing their hearts by faith now therefore Why do you put god to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers Nor we have been able to bear But we believe that we are safe through the grace of the lord.

Jesus in the same way as they also are All the people kept silent and they were listening to barnabas and paul as they were relating what signs are wonders God had done through them among the gentiles After they had stopped speaking james answered saying brethren listen to me simeon has related how god first concerned himself About taking from among the gentiles a people for his name With these words of the prophets with these words of the prophets agree Just as it is written After these things I will return And I will rebuild the tabernacle of david which has fallen And I will rebuild its ruins and I will restore it So that the rest of mankind makes sick the lord and all the gentiles who are called by my name Says the lord who makes these things known from long ago Therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble Those who are turning to god from among the gentiles So we have a simple outline It's going to be the first one is going to be the attack of false teacher with false doctrines And the second is going to be the counter attack on false teachers and false doctrines We're going to start with attack of false teachers with false doctrines and in verses one through four the first attack Coming from false teachers is the attack on the nature of salvation itself Their teaching was If you don't circumcise or unless you are circumcised You cannot be safe That was the statement.

That was their message That was the full teaching that went to antioch where paul and barnabas were missionaries from And where the church the gentile church started? And now there are people from judea Who are from the sect of the pharisees? Coming to antioch and telling people if you don't circumcise you cannot be safe Judea was the region where jerusalem is located Okay, judea Represents the first region where the gospel needed to be preached As commanded by jesus in acts 1 8 It says when the holy spirit comes upon you You will be my witnesses where in jerusalem in judea and samaria and to the ends of the earth Judea represented the mission field That later became the ground for war the doctrinal war false teachers war And the most important war that they were fighting was the truth about the salvation by grace through faith in christ alone The people to whom the gospel was preached became the main opposers of the gospel These judaizers As they were known were jews who identified themselves as guardians of the jewish traditions The ones were in galatians 1 7 were disturbing And distorting the people of galatia from the gospel of jesus christ The ones that james in the chapter 15 itself called them to not trouble anymore The gentiles believers, so there was a battle and there was a battle about salvation There was a battle about how can a person be safe?

This battle was not easy Because the attacks came from who the attacks came from people who claim to know I understand the old testament Okay, these were people that knew the old testament. These were people that were trained in the old testament But they couldn't accept the fact That before their eyes the old testament was fulfilling was fulfilling. It's interesting this part They couldn't accept the fact That the old testament Already told them about what happened at that moment when jesus christ came when jesus ascended to heaven And when the holy spirit came upon them and upon the gentiles, they couldn't accept that fact the fact so the battle Was not easy This was the war that paul and barnabas had to fight in the church of antioch The scripture describes these false teachers the song man from judea And their message was plain and simple right It is impossible It is impossible to be safe If you don't get circumcised and if you don't keep the law of moses What do you think circumcision was so important for them?

What do you think Circumcision was something that they were willing to go to war against the apostles against the elders against the church in jerusalem Why is so important is because in genesis 17 Chapter genesis chapter 17 verses 10 and 11 says this This is my covenant Which you shall keep between me and you and your descendants after you Every male among you shall be circumcised Okay But then verse 11 says and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your forest skin And it shall be the sign It shall be the sign of the covenant between me and you So there was a clear command When god made his covenant with abraham That they should circumcise the male in the eighth day to show that they are part of god's people That outside sign that shows that they were part of the people of israel And even there was a clear command in leviticus chapter 12 verse 3 to circumcise The male as well So circumcision for them was important Because he represented the covenant that god made with them with their father abraham and continue with isaac And then continue all the way to jacob and the 12 tribes Because he represented that he represented the covenant that god made with them and he represented the purification as well So now you can understand why there was a problem There was a big problem And the words that describe this problem are found in verse two When he says that paul and barnabas had great dissension and debate with them That it's interesting that they say great dissension is this is to say The counter-attack that they were given was no little The first word like dissension gives the idea of a lack of agreement Disunion disunion They were not going to be together with this false teacher And the second one is a direct result Because if I don't agree with this if I know that this is not true If I know that the salvation is not by the works of the law, then I need to debate strongly about this topic And it is interesting to see that paul Didn't like to have these conversations Because in second timothy chapter 2 verse 23 and titus 3 he says do not dispute about bane or unfruitful things Paul didn't like that But when it came to salvation, he was ready for it When he came to the truth about salvation, he was not going to negotiate Because he knew that salvation Is what brings unity in the church And was a dispute and the topic worth the time of paul and barnabas They were not going to agree with the false teachers.

They were not going to agree with false doctrine Okay, this is something important to understand in this part When there is a tag of false teacher with false doctrine about salvation We don't negotiate We don't back down We always are ready to counter attack And I love verse 2 because it shows how it was not easy, but paul and barnabas were willing To go to war For this essential topic of salvation So the solution was not agreeing with the false teacher The solution was not changing their teaching about salvation They debated They didn't look for unity on that topic.

They just said we're not gonna compromise the truth about salvation So what they decided to do They decided to go to jerusalem to settle the issue And verse 3 it says that verse 2 at the end it says that paul and barn the brethren This means that the church in antioch Determined that paul and barnabas and some others of them should go up to jerusalem to the apostles and elders concerning this issue Okay, so there is a problem. They know there is a problem. They go to war for this problem They know that there is not negotiating with the nature of salvation itself And They go to jerusalem to talk to the apostles To talk to the elders and to talk to the church in jerusalem But there was not just attacking the nature of salvation.

There was attack There was an attack as well in the advance of the missionary journey Because it's interesting that they say that in verse 3 that therefore being sent on their way by the church They were passing through both phoenicia and samaria Describing in detail the conversion of the gentiles and were bringing great joy to all the brethren There was an attack in the advance of the missionary journey. Why did I say that? Because acts is a book about missions. Okay In acts 1 9 and 10 the disciples were looking to the sky Asking what are we doing?

What are you going to do now that the lord is gone? Okay, they were looking intently into the sky just watching jesus live and disappear in the clouds And they were with their mouths open. They didn't know what to do But then the angel reminds them that the same way that jesus left he's gonna come back But they needed to remember the command Go and make disciples preach the gospel be my witnesses in jerusalem in judea samaria to the ends of the earth It was very hard to deal without the master present But after the holy spirit descended upon them the missionary labor started Slowly with up and downs the gospel reached outside jerusalem The gospel is advancing The gospel is being preached But every time paul went to a place Every time paul went to preach the gospel whether it be in a in a jewish context of a gentile context There were always false teachers and false doctrine attacking him Because they didn't want the gospel to advance There were always an attack on the missionary journey The same happened to philip The same happened to peter Peter When he goes to cornelius the next 10 It was peter peter himself who was being attacked inside He didn't want to go to cornelius He didn't want to preach the gospel to a dog How he referred to the gentiles The ones that are outside the city the ones that eat the trash the ones that don't belong to the people of god So there was trouble in the missionary journey as well So Paul and barnabas knew it They knew that the advance of christ's mission was in danger They knew that The attacks from false teachers and false doctrine were going to stop the advance of the of the gospel of jesus christ And you know, it's interesting that we seem to take for granted That the gospel reached this But we got to understand that people fought battles in the past so we can be here today today It took brave people to fight against the attacks Of the enemy against the tag of false teachers of false doctrine So we could have the true gospel Preach to us today So remember there is always threats to the true gospel But I love paul and barnabas right because when the attack came Instead of succumbing to the threats and fear they went back to visit The different groups of christian along the way They go back to phoenicia.

They go back to samaria And they are visiting confirming them affirming them in the in the faith And acts 15 tells us That the reaction from the people in phoenicia and samaria was of great joy They were happy that the gospel was advancing Those people in samaria Those people who were rejected Those people in phoenicia who peter didn't want to preach at one time Who nobody in jerusalem wanted to go out and preach to them now? They are joyful that the gospel is advancing among jews and among gentiles This is to say the gospel is saving everybody who has repentance and faith In jesus christ So let's think about it Salvation is the reason the reason for great joy in this text Okay People were being saved And people were joyful that that was happening So if paul if paul and barnabas Left their missionary journey due to the pressure right due to the fear that they're going to be a stone.

They're going to be killed The gospel would have taken longer to reach the ends of the earth. So let me ask you this God will keep his mission going.

Okay? He will do it the question is Are you willing to do it? Because god will do it with you or without you Because he doesn't need us, but he'll use us Because he doesn't depend upon us, but he'll give you everything you need for the mission So with paul and barnabas, it was amazing to see how they need they God gave them everything they needed to fight through these battles these essential battles So god will keep his mission going the question is are you willing to Do it and the third attack Is an attack on unity first an attack on the nature of salvation second An attack, sorry, the heat is getting me Yeah, i'm glad I preached last, you know because the ac is working better but It's still kind of hot since i've advanced in the missionary journey attack on the advance of the missionary journey And an attack on unity.

Okay, there is a third attack an attack on unity Why do I say this? Go with me to verse five but some Of the sect of the pharisees And this is interesting to see who had believed Okay Some of the sect of the pharisees who had believed So there is an attack on unity. Why because the attack on verse one came from outside, right? they are outsiders who are coming inside the church and try to penetrate the church try to Deceive the people from the church and paul and barnabas were ready But in chapter in verse five, he says that people who believe who were inside this church in jerusalem stood up and said this It is necessary to circumcise them And to direct them to observe the law the law of moses So look at this The attack transitions from outside the church to within the church now we're trying to damage fellowship Okay, we can't protect the text from outside right we just don't let them in But when it comes from out from inside it starts attacking the unity that we have as believers fellowship While we cherish they were trying to add things for fellowship And it says that they are from the sect of the pharisees who had believed And it's interesting to see that in verse four Paul and barnabas Reported all that god had done with them This is to say they gave a report of that god is saving the gentiles.

He's giving salvation to the ones who believe And god is doing amazing things among the gentiles And the only reaction from these people who believe and were part Of the sect of the pharisees was this they are not jews So they must fulfill Not just the circumcision right in verse one, but now They need to keep the law of moses as well This means that without keeping the law there can be fellowship So we need to understand one thing is to receive attacks from outside But when the attack comes from inside the vision is is inevitable inevitable The vision will come later or sooner because we're attacking the essential of Unity, we're attacking the essential part for unity and the pharisees so What separates them is the main component of the church?

For the pharisees what separates them what makes them different was the main component for fellowship The law must be followed and to be saved and have fellowship Okay So you need to follow the law moses to be safe And you need to be circumcised and follow the law moses to have fellowship with the church of christ So let me tell you something if we base the church In the things that makes us different We will end up with 350 million churches just in america If we base unity in the things that makes us different Everybody will have his own church with his own preacher with his own people his own musicians Everybody will be the way I like it That's why it was so important to define what makes fellowship possible Okay, what makes fellowship possible for these people?

It is not language Okay, they spoke many languages Okay, greek hebrew. I don't make many languages. They spoke at that time So it wasn't language. It was not culture It was not culture That wasn't the glue for unity Not hobbies not programs not color of your skin not race. It is salvation You are saved you become part of the body of christ whether you want it or not praise to god That is the bond of unity And these people were trying to attack that bond They were trying to attack salvation himself So you'll see fellowship becoming a jew And not see fellowship becoming a follower of jesus christ That's why for me it's important To put that in my mind as I lead the spanish ministry I don't have a spanish ministry because I don't like being here Okay We don't have spanish ministry because we don't like the culture because we don't it's just a matter of language Okay and even then I have Problems in my mind trying to say how can we be together?

How can we? Be more in fellowship with each other because that's what god is doing here He's just taking down all those walls of separation because he says if you are saving jesus christ You are part of the church of christ Okay, so you don't need to be hispanic to be part of the spanish ministry, okay You don't need to he's preaching today over there, but this is the beauty of the body of christ When people try to attack the unity in the body We gotta be ready to counter attack and to remind us We are not here because we like it or not like it.

We are here because we are saved in jesus christ And that what makes us the body of christ Let's pray Father in heaven. Thank you for this morning father. We thank you for Your work. Thank you lord for because of the men And women that fought the battles in the past So we're able to be here. So we're able to have your word We're able to listen and to preach your truth and we thank you because it is you doing this lord and not us It is you doing the work of the mission and not us and help us to understand that All you want lord is a person who is humble and trembles At your word in jesus name amen