Going Back to Jerusalem

Introduction

I want to begin tonight by talking to you a little more about Solomon. Solomon was the person we focused on when we started this week on Sunday morning. He was a man of great faith and accomplishment, wasn’t he? He was a man of incredible wisdom. And one of his greatest feats is when he built the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. During most of his 40 years, he shaped that city into a place of holiness. You could go there and listen to the word be read on the street corner and taught by the Levites in the square. God was there. His glory filled the temple at some points to where no one could even approach it. He created a great place of faith where people could gather Jerusalem.

However, and sadly, at the end of his life, he committed probably all three of the big mistakes we studied from Deuteronomy chapter 17. For himself, late in his life, he multiplied riches. He multiplied horses, literally from Egypt. I still can’t quite fathom that. And he multiplied wives and concubines up to a thousand. And just like God said through Moses in Deuteronomy, he said, Your heart’s going to be drawn away from the Lord, and Solomon’s heart was drawn away from the Lord. So God was angry with Solomon. And he approached him and he said, Because you have departed from me, I am going to divide your kingdom. Do you remember that story? Ten of the tribes will travel to the north and be led by someone else, and two, Judah and Benjamin and some of the Levites, they would stay in the south and continue the line that would lead to Jesus.

And about that same time, God reached out and made contact with a guy named Jeroboam. And he told Jeroboam, he said, I’m going to do this thing because of Solomon’s sin, and I want you to be the guy. You’re going to take these ten tribes when the time is right, and you’re going to leave here and head to the north. Now it says, and we’re in 1 Kings chapter 11. Let’s read a few verses there. It says in 1 Kings chapter 11, verse 38, Jeroboam, this is the right thing to do. I want you to do this, but it is very important, verse 38, that if you listen to all that I command you, and you walk in my ways, and you do what is right in my sight by observing my statutes and my commandments, as my servant David did, I will be with you.

I will build you an enduring house as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you. So God sets that up with a godly man named Jeroboam. Well, Solomon finds out about it, and what do you think he wants to do? He wants to kill Jeroboam. So Jeroboam had to leave town for a little while until Solomon is dead. And when Solomon dies, do you remember Solomon’s son who became king in his place? It’s Jeroboam, but different, right? Rehoboam. So Jeroboam kind of comes back in the next chapter and he says, okay, God said, I’m supposed to take ten tribes to the north, but I think Rehoboam, if you would treat us more fairly and do the right thing, that maybe we could get around all of this.

And Rehobam consulted with the wise men, and they said, Yes, you need to change your ways. And Rehobam consulted with his peers, and they told him to make it harder on the people. And I think you probably know the way that worked out. Rehoboam and his youth listened to the people of his youth, and so he sins. So Jeroboam takes the ten tribes, millions of Jews, and he heads to the north. Now here’s what I need you to know about that story so far. Jeroboam has done nothing wrong. The division was God’s will, not Jeroboam’s will. Taking the ten tribes to the north was God’s will. The only people who have sinned so far, Solomon sinned when he fell away for the idols, and Rehoboam’s sinned when he didn’t behave properly towards the people.

1. It Is Too Much to Go Up to Jerusalem

So everything is fine. The people, and they’re our big focus tonight, by the way. The people who traveled north, they didn’t do anything wrong either. They’re not in violation of the will of God. But that’s when things go awry. Is your Bible open to 1 Kings? And would you make sure that you are in chapter 12? Everything’s looking pretty good until Jeroboam has this fear, this ultimately irrational fear, since he should have trusted in God. But he had this fear that maybe what had begun was fickle. And it could turn against him rather swiftly. So look in verse 26. Jeroboam said in his heart, Now the kingdom will return to the house of David. If this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, then the heart of this people will return to their Lord, even to Rehoboam, king of Judah, and they will kill me and return to Rehoboam, king of Judah.

Now I just answered this question, but I’ll ask it for you anyway. Did he have a reason to be afraid? Answer? No. He was doing God’s will. And he should have trusted in God’s way. And when it was time for the people to go back to Jerusalem to offer their sacrifices, he should have led them back to Jerusalem to do what was right. That’s where the temple was located. And then they would have returned with him, come right back up to the north, and everybody would have been fine. But he is afraid that if they go back, he’ll lose everything. So he pitches an idea, a plan. And I want to read the plan to you, and the plan is found in verses 28 and following.

Are you in 1 Kings 12? I’m going to read verses 28, perhaps through the rest of the chapter. And his plan centers around this idea that it is just too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is too far. It is too inconvenient. It will take too much time. We need to start something new up here. We need to become our own people. And going back to Jerusalem, that will crimp our style. So let me pitch a five-point. I sound like a politician. I got a five-point plan. And when you read the tenants of this plan, it’s going to sound like a modern day politician. Not good, but if they sell it right, the people get stars in their eyes and expect great things.

Now here’s what I need you to do. I’m going to read for you the five-point plan that Jeroboam pitched to people who remember have not yet gone against God. And I want you to imagine that you’re one of these Israelite families. You’ve left Jerusalem and traveled north because of the sins of others, and you’re trying to do the right thing, and you follow Jeroboam because you trust Jeroboam, right? I mean, God picked him. You gotta trust the guy. And he stands up and says, Listen, folks, I’ve got an idea. I’m gonna read the idea to you and you see what you think. Let’s begin in verse 28. So the king consulted and made two golden calves. And he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem.

Behold your gods, O Israel, that brought you up from the land of Egypt. He set one in Bethel, and the other he put in Dan. Now, this thing, and remember, we’re reading this later. We know this, the people don’t, but this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. Verse 31. He made houses on high places. And he made priests from among all the people who were not of the sons of Levi. Jeroboam instituted a feast, verse 32, in the eighth month on the 15th day of the month, like the feast which is in Judah, and he went up to the altar. Thus he did in Bethel, sacrificing to the calves which he had made, verse 32, and he stationed in Bethel the priests of the high places which he had made.

One more verse. Then he went up to the altar, verse 33, which he had made in Bethel on the 15th day in the eighth month, even in the month which he had devised in his own heart, and he instituted a feast for the sons of Israel and went up to the altar to burn incense. Now I don’t know if you made out the five pieces of the plan, but let me show them to you. Here is Jeroboam’s self-preservation proposal. And I think we need to see that right off the bat. This is not about God. God may be a part of it, but it’s not really about God, is it? This is not about holiness. This verse 33 is what he devised in his own heart to save his own skin.

How many of you know leaders sometimes do that? Leaders sometimes change the rules, create plans, try to convince the people to protect their own power, and that’s what he’s doing here. Here are the five pieces. He said, Alright, here’s what we’re going to do. First of all, how about two cities in which to worship instead of one? Instead of having to travel all the way to Jerusalem, which, if you remember, even when you lived in the south, that was a long travel for some of you guys. If you lived way over here in the west, you had a long walk. So how about this? We’re going to put a city in the northern portion of our territory, and we’re going to put Dan and Bethel. We’ll put a city in the southern portion, and you can worship in either city.

So you get to choose. Sound good? You get to choose which one you want to go to. If you’re 10 miles from one and 200 miles from the other, please nobody Google the distances between Dan and Bethel. I just made that up. If you’re closer to one, go there. If you like the other, go there. I want it to be easy for you. I want it to be short, and it shouldn’t have to take all day like it used to when you had to travel all the way to Jerusalem. Here’s a second part of it. He said, I tell you what, we’re going to put these high places close to home. Like maybe you live a little bit of a distance from Dan and Bethel, and every once in a while you’ll have to go to Dan or Bethel, but you get to pick which city, don’t forget.

But we’re going to put these high places outside of every little town. So if you want to worship God, but you don’t want to go all the way to Dan, you can just go to one of these little high places and make your little offering to the gods, and you’ll be in great shape. In fact, I’ll even build you some houses. Like you can take a nap while you’re there. You can go offer it, and you can go hit a house, take a nap, and then you can go on home. I want it to be so easy for you to worship God, you don’t break a sweat. Thirdly, how about everybody gets new roles? How many of you are a little bummed about the fact that only Levites can be priests?

Who made those rules? Don’t go check. We want to open this thing up to everybody. We want to let people from other tribes be priests. We’ve got all kinds of new roles exposed. We’re going to need priests in all those little high places. We’re going to need priest in Dan and priest in Bethel. And we’re saying that no matter where you come from, there’s a new role for you in this open source. Everybody gets to play a role, worship. Number four. We’re going to make a couple of pretty heavy changes, but stick with me. We still believe in God. Let me reiterate that, although I’ll be honest with you, if you read this later, you’re going to be hard pressed to find that in this text.

I do believe that they still did believe in Yahweh, God, the great deliverer, and you find that a little bit later in their history that they did still believe in God. But I’ve been thinking, what if we worship God, but we also set up a couple of idols. Now hear me out. I know that sounds like a bad word. But that will make us culturally relevant. That will make us a lot like the religious people around us, and they’ll accept us, and we’ll accept them, and we’ll adapt the things in our culture that are working, that people enjoy. So it’s sort of like whatever you want to do, it’ll work. Golden calf, check. North and south. Offering to some other God, we’ll put a high place up for that.

Or if you want to worship God, we’ll try to find you a place to do it. Just don’t go back to Jerusalem. Number five. You want a feast? I’ll give you a feast. How many of you know that all the Israelites in the seventh month on the fifteenth day would all go back to Jerusalem? It was called the Day of Atonement, and it was amazing, wasn’t it? You go back to Jerusalem in the seventh month on the fifteenth day, you have this incredible feast. They blow the trumpet and the high priest enters into the holy of holies, and everybody’s sins are forgiven, and it was an important yearly feast for Israel. Well, I don’t know the exact math on what day it is, but if you look in verses 32 and 33, it looks like it’s about a month later.

So they just had one. And it’s almost like he’s saying, You guys remember that big feast we had a month ago in Jerusalem? Boy, you don’t want to wait 11 months for the next one of those, do you? You gotta wait 11 months, and then 11 months from now, you’re gonna have to take that whole trip again. I got a really great idea. We’re going to make a new feast, a bigger feast, a better feast with new rules and new ideas, and we’re going to put it right now. Like, we’ll just do it today. Or whenever it was. We’re going to make it one month later. So next year, when everybody’s talking about going back to Jerusalem, you could say, I think I’ll wait. Because our feast is coming up a month from now, and it’s going to be way better.

2. Why Did They Buy It?

And this was basically his five-point plan. Now, how many of you? How many of you are down with that? How many of you are saying, that sounds like a great set of ideas, Jeroboam? Nobody’s raising their hands. Let me ask you this. Anybody? No. How many of the Israelites followed his lead? Every single one of them. Look at that. Every single one of them followed his lead. Now, partially that’s the way it was culturally, and this goes back to something we taught on Sunday morning. As with the king, went the nation. When the king says something, that’s what we’re doing. So part of it was his leadership led them there. But I’ll tell you this, if you look in chapter 14, make no mistake, God was incredibly livid with the conduct of Jeroboam.

And if you’ll read there in about chapter 14, verses 7 and following, God levels judgment against Jeroboam for his choices. But look in verses 15 and 16. Guess who else is in trouble? The people are in trouble too. They didn’t come up with the idea, and leaving Jerusalem wasn’t their idea, but the idea of staying away and buying this got them in trouble. Look in verse 15. I’m in 1 Kings 14. For the Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water, and he will uproot Israel from this good land which he gave to their fathers and will scatter them beyond the Euphrates River because they have made their asherim, provoking the Lord to anger. One more verse.

They destroyed their lives by believing this lie. Alright, here’s the next question. Why did they buy it? What about this looks enticing to the servant of God? Well, I would suggest there are at least four things we could mention. The people accepted this and ruined their future. Number one, because they believed in the man. Jeroboam was the man. Who knows the Bible best in the room? Jeroboam. Who’s the guy that God is with? Oh, God’s with Jeroboam. Everybody knows that. God picked Jeroboam. He’s our guy. And so even though we’re not real clear on all the rules we’re hearing right now, we trust our guy. And they followed Jeroboam, and that’s one of the reasons why it all fell apart. But that’s not all. You know this had to come up.

Did you hear it in the description I was giving you a few minutes ago? This sounds so much easier. This would take a sliver of the time, 10% of the energy. We could worship when we want, where we want, how we want. There was this sense of it is too much for you to take that long and arduous Jerusalem march up the hill. I think they succumbed to the temptations of it being easy. And I think they like the idea of new roles. You mean I can be a priest? I can serve in that capacity that had been so long kept for me. Should we go back and read the story of Korah? There were people even among the Levites who didn’t like the assignment of the roles.

3. They Needed to Go Back to Jerusalem

He said, forget all that. I think they liked that very much. They wagered their souls that God would accept all of these changes, and they died. Now here’s my next question for you. I feel like I’ve been going over here for the questions. You guys okay? I’m going over here. Question for you. How could the people, I want to talk about the people tonight. We’re done with Jeroboam. How could the people have prevented this ruin? What could they have done to stop this? There is only one answer. The only thing that would have prevented them from making decisions to destroy their entire nation, they had to do one thing. Now you could say they need to turn to God and pray, and that would have been good.

Or ask for God’s help. That would have been good. But there was one absolutely physical, tangible thing they could have done, and it would have fixed the whole thing. They would have never served the false gods, they would have never bought into the high places, they would have never changed the feast. What one thing did they need to do? The very thing he told them not to do. They needed to go back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the only place on the map where they knew that God was. The temple was filled with God’s glory. It was the place where the law was. It was the place where the truth had been taught. It was the place that God had blessed. It was the place where they knew things were right.

If they had said, Jeroboam, we need a couple of weeks. We’re going to go back to Jerusalem, get in the book, talk to the priests who are still there and consult God. If they had gone back to Jerusalem, they would have seen through all of the error, and they would have never made those mistakes. But it was just too far. Too much and too hard. And let me tell you why we’re talking about this tonight. We’re done with this story, basically, and we’re done with the reading of this story. But if you would look over what you see behind me, does this not share a tremendous amount in common with our modern religious and spiritual times? Think about what is happening in the Christian religion of our day.

There are all kinds of changes taking place, and you can’t put your finger on a change until it’s changed into something else. Leadership roles in churches have changed. From those who are allowed to serve as shepherds in churches to men and women and those of alternative lifestyles who are allowed to serve as public worship leaders. They’re constantly redefined and rearranged roles, and it’s all about acceptance, and it’s all about change for the better. Churches want to be, they get a kick out of being culturally relevant. We want to be the kind of church anybody can go to. We want to be the kind of people who accept everyone, who everyone’s belief matters, and we can build something to make you feel comfortable here. New roles, watered down religion, and there are these men who lead these movements, and people worship these guys.

These guys write a book and they just tremble when they hold. These men, these leaders, they believe in these men. These are intelligent men. These men have a doctorate in some religious study. And so they honor the men. And they love the new roles, and the convenience is phenomenal. There are some religions, I hesitate to say this. Anytime I say I hesitate to say something in a sermon, that’s a mental cue not to say it.

So I’m not going to say it. But I have an uncle who is of a religion. Sounds great. You never go to worship. I mean, unless you want to. Christmas is coming up. It’s on Sunday. You won’t go then. Drink all you want. Do all you want. Our church says it’s fine. Convenient. Build it your way. Make it how you want. People are wagering their souls that God will accept these changes under the name of trusting some guy, cultural relevance, or just making it convenient. Now let me ask you this question. I’m coming over here. For all of our religious friends, and we’re not talking about strangers here, are we? We’re talking about people I care a lot about. We’re talking about family members and friends who have believed in all of these wonderful progressive movements that are packing buildings full of people.

How can they know that God will accept it? That’s my big question for you tonight. I’m going to go sit down. I’ll come back up here in a minute after you thought about it. No, that would be. One day I’ll do that. Not today. What do they need to do to be sure that God will accept all this? You know what? I’ll help you out a little bit. Let’s quit talking about them. Let’s talk about you. You think you’re right, don’t you? How many of you think you’re right? How you worship? Is that the right way to worship? You feel pretty good about the way you worship? The roles of the Decker Prairie Church, you think you got that nailed down pretty good? The way that it’s convenient or inconvenient.

I mean, you have only Sunday through Wednesday meetings, so, you know. You think you kind of got that all weighed outright? Let me ask you something. How do you know you’re right about that? We’ve got to do the same thing our religious friends have to do. You think it’s any different for you? What do we do? You know what the answer is? We’ve got to go on a journey, folks. We have to go back to Jerusalem. We have to go all, I know it takes time. It’s not easy. Can’t just believe what some teacher tells you. You can’t buy into what your culture tells you. It’s fine. Can’t even look at your conscience. I’m going to name these. That one’s Ella. It’s my three-year-old daughter. You have to be willing to do what you’re telling your friends to do.

If the Israelites had traveled back to Jerusalem, they would have found all the answers, and that’s what we have to do. And what are we talking about? You know what we’re talking about? We’re talking about going back to the book of Acts, to the spiritual Jerusalem. Do you know that there was a place and a time not unlike the Jerusalem that Solomon had built? When he finished building that place, God was there. And the truth was there. And you would always find it there. And when you drift from it, you’re taking a risk. How many of you know that’s what Pentecost was? Open your Bibles with me to Acts chapter 2. When you’re in the book of Acts and in the first seven chapters, you are in Jerusalem.

You are in the place where the power of God from heaven came down and rested upon men, and they preached the unadulterated, unaffected, unculturally biased and absolute, unchangeable truth. And that’s the only place it’s ever been taught in the beginning was in Jerusalem. If we go back there, we’ll learn things. And can I just say this is all our religious friends need to do is be willing to say, let’s go back to Jerusalem. I want you to ask that of your friends this week. When you’re having a Bible discussion about instrumental music or baptism or roles in the church, quit all that stuff. It doesn’t do any good, and please stop doing this. Just say, would you be willing to go back to Jerusalem with me?

What are you talking about? I’m saying, why don’t we just forget my argument and your argument and my church and your church and what you do and what I do? And let’s just go back to the beginning of the church, the book of Acts, Jerusalem, where we both agree it was definitely right. Not probably definitely, and let’s just find what we see there, and let’s just do that. You’ll be amazed at how many of your religious friends will say, That sounds like a great idea. Because it’s it’s right, it’s whole, and it dates back to the beginning. Well, let me do this with you. The point is here, at this point, we could go a hundred different directions because I want to share with you things that I learned when I go back to Jerusalem.

4. If There's No Miracle, It's Not From God

I don’t suppose these things, and I don’t have to ask anybody. I can go back and find them out for sure, and I want to show them to you. Three things tonight that you learn and your friends will learn if you’re willing to make the trip. And here’s the first thing, and three that I’ll share. Here’s the first one. What do we learn all the way back at Jerusalem? 1. If there’s no miracle, it’s not from God. I really like that. That’s a game changer in religion and who we follow and what we believe and what we do. If there is no supernatural miracle, you are not a spokesman directly from God. Every revelation demands supernatural behavior. Let me show you what I’m talking about. Let’s back up a hair for just a moment.

Look in Mark chapter 16. In Mark chapter 16, this is just before Jesus ascended into heaven, and he was about to send his apostles to Jerusalem, where they would receive power. And in Mark chapter 16, he tells them, He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved. Now, in verse 17, he’s addressing the apostles who had some doubts, and he’s saying, These signs will accompany those who have believed. In my name, they will cast out demons. They will speak with new tongues, they will pick up serpents. If they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them. They will lay hands on the sick and they will recover. Look at the end of verse 20. They confirmed the word by the signs that follow.

Does that make sense to you? I’m about to do a supernatural thing so you can know that what I’m about to tell you is straight from heaven. No miracle, no deity. Miracles are to be believed. So when we get to Acts 2, that’s exactly what we find. Go to Acts 2. And in fact, we can back up and look at Acts 1, where Jesus told them in Acts chapter 1, verse 5. He told the apostles, you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now. And in verse 8, he said, You will receive power to be my witnesses. You see that? Power, witnesses. Supernatural ability, supernatural message. So in Acts chapter 2 and verses 1 through 4, the tongues fall on each one of them, and they begin speaking in other languages, and you know that story very well.

And in Acts 2, only the apostles are working miracles. In Acts 2, verse 43, the apostles are working miracles. In chapter 3, verses 6, 7, and 8, Peter and John are working miracles. In chapter 5, verse 12, the apostles are working miracles. In the first weeks of the church, only the apostles worked miracles, and only the apostles preached the word of God. And they were believed because of the miracles. That really simplifies things, doesn’t it? If I can prove historically that these people raised the dead or handled deadly snakes and were not hurt, or spoke Romanian, though they were Galilean fishermen, I will believe them. But if a man cannot cross that threshold, he cannot speak for God. How much religious simplicity would that bring to America?

If you do not believe or follow any teaching as doctrine unless it came from the hands and the words of these men. Let’s say those two doors come flying open, and a guy walks in right now, and he’s got a really nice three-piece suit on. And red tennis shoes. And I don’t know why I added that. Except Blake likes red tennis shoes. And he walked down this aisle and he walked right down here. And first of all, I know at least 15 people would have their hands on a weapon. But he walks down and he stands up here and he looks at me and he says, I am here to proclaim the word of God. Revelation from heaven to shape the future of this church. What do you think we would say?

Get out of here, bud. You need to get out of here. We’ve got our Bibles here, and we’re studying, and there’s something wrong with you, and I’ve got 15 guys with weapons ready to escort you out of this building. Alright, same scene. Doors fly open, three-piece suit guy comes in, red shoes, purple this time. And he have an infatuation with this. I apologize ahead of time. He levitates down the aisle. He’s floating. He’s floating. And he levitates up like this, and he floats over to me, and he’s about this high, and he’s standing over me, and he says, Chris, go sit down. What do you think I’m gonna do? I’m gonna go sit down. He’s levitating. I’m big Superman guy. What’s the difference? There’s only one difference.

God is with that man. I know God is with that man because he’s working a miracle. That proves that point. What that means is it’s a beautiful thing. It means that the apostles in Acts chapters 1 through 5. And you remember in Acts 6, other people received miraculous gifts, and they went out preaching men too. Stephen and Philip, right? Stephen and Philip went out preaching because of the miracles. These are men we study, we listen to their words, we follow their ways, and no one else in our generation gets to tell us what’s right and what’s wrong by God. No one. I was studying with a Mormon friend the other day, Latter-day Saint. He’s a new Mormon. He’s only been one for one year. He was just, they knocked on his door on the right Tuesday, and they came in, and he said, That sounds great.

And he, before you know it, that’s what he was. And so we were talking, we were studying at his house, and I kind of made this basic argument about we’ve got to get back to the Bible. I mean, that’s another way of saying what we’re saying tonight. Let’s just get back to the Bible where there were miracles. He said, We’ve got miracles. I said, Well, what do you got? He said, Well, we randomly select kids from around the country, and we take them to a facility in Utah, and 90 days later, they are fluent, miraculously fluent in a foreign language. And we send them out somewhere, and they can preach as if they’d been born there. And what do you think I said? Let’s go. I want to see that.

I want to see the kid from the back of the classroom that’s half asleep that they pick, that they take, and 90 days later, he’s speaking Romanian like crazy. Well, we both did a little digging. What do you think we found? They picked really smart kids with a tendency towards language adaptation. They put them through a 90-day tireless course of training, and when they came out, they were functionally Romanian in literate language. Interesting, not a miracle. I am excited about the idea that miracles stopped for a purpose. How many of you know the only reason supernatural miracles occurred was to confirm the word. And when the word was confirmed, the miracles stopped, and they will stay stopped. Unless somebody levitates in the room one day, and I will sit and I will listen.

5. Repentance and Baptism Found in the Beginning

Don’t be dogmatic against that. I think you need to leave that door open with people because it’s being fair, isn’t it? I can’t say if you work miracles, I’ll listen, but nobody’s ever going to work a miracle. No, you bring in, you show me, and we’ll talk. But I believe in God. And I believe in his plan. Let me show you a couple other things. When I go back to Jerusalem, this is a real game changer in terms of religion, but let me show you a couple other things. And I want to talk just doctrinally here. How many times have we preached and are we known for preaching that when it comes to being saved, salvation is always requiring repentance and immersion in water? That’s our big rub with our religious friends, right?

Because most of them believe that in our very convenient, culturally relevant society, that salvation is all about the wave of God’s grace. We all do very much love God’s grace, but that your actions mean nothing. And you and I come walking in all work monsters, saying, Oh, grace is great, but you also have to stop sinning, and you must be baptized to have your sins washed away. Let me ask you a question. Where’d you learn that? Where’d you pick that up? Answer. Back in Jerusalem. How many of you know the only reason this church believes in repentance and baptism for salvation is because that’s what we find when we get back to the beginning. If you got back to the beginning, look in Acts chapter 2, and you were back in Acts chapter 2, and the Bible said the grace of God will universally save every man, that’s what I’d be preaching tonight.

If it said that no matter fatalism, no matter what you do, you’re done. Well, we probably wouldn’t even be here tonight, would we? We’d be doing something else. We preach what we find. So we see Jesus, of course, in Mark chapter 16, where he said, and we read that verse a minute ago, Jesus said in the beginning, he who believes and is baptized shall be saved. Why do you teach that? Because Jesus taught that in the beginning. That’s always got to be your answer. Please don’t be a church of Christer. There are no church of Christers in the room. Oh, you’re a church Christer, right? You guys believe. Yes, we. Don’t ever say yes. That’s what we believe. Stop that. That’s what the Bible says. That’s what we find in the beginning.

I was talking to somebody the other night, and they said, Where’s your book? Where’s all the things you believe? I said, I’m about to blow your mind. You actually have one in your house. What? You mean in my house? No. It’s a Bible. It’s Jerusalem. It’s the only place in the history of mankind where we know the church was exactly what it was supposed to be. Because of the miracles? Because of the apostles and their work. Acts chapter 2 helps us dramatically here. Acts chapter 2, please, you know where we’re going, verses 36 through 38. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now, when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brethren, what shall we do?

Now I won’t delay this any longer, but I’m just here to tell you that the only reason we believe what we believe is because in Jerusalem, Peter said this. Repent. And each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Now you know they left Jerusalem after chapter 7. Can I ask you a question? Did the truth ever change? Did they have the Jerusalem version of salvation and then the Samaritan, the Samaria version, and then there was the uttermost parts of the earth version. It was always the same. In Acts chapter 8, Philip had left Jerusalem and he said, water. And they were baptized. When Saul was converted, they were not in Jerusalem, and Ananias said, Why do you delay?

Arise and be baptized, washing away your sins. Why did Ananias say that? Because that’s what he found in the beginning. First Peter chapter 3, verse 21, Peter wrote that 20 years or 25 years after Jerusalem, and Peter said, Baptism now saves you. What right do we have to alter in any way and or for any reason what was in the beginning? I just really believe that we’ve got friends and family that we haven’t been able to get through to. And we’ve tried every argumentation, every angle, every article, every this and every that. I’m convinced that all we really need them to do is take a journey with us and leave everything else behind. Leave all the Jeroboams behind, leave all the high places behind. Take a long journey back to the place where it all began, and that’s where you’re going to convert your friends.

6. A Method to Find the One Truth

That’s the only place with the power. Let me show you one more thing here. That’s a specific example, but I want to leave you with one other idea. And again, the lists are so wonderfully long about all the things we learned back in Jerusalem. But I’ll tell you this. Did you know this? Did you know that when we go back to Jerusalem, there is a method wherein we can find the one truth on any doctrinal issue. Now nobody believes that anymore. Nobody believes we can agree. We have to divide. That’s what a denomination is. It’s a division up into cash drawer sections, all in Jesus’ cash register. We have to be different. We can never really be the same, and then we’ll split that, and that’ll split that.

I’m telling you that if you’re willing to go back to Jerusalem with me, I can show you a method wherein any doctrinal issue, instrumental music issue, women leadership issue, salvation issue, I don’t care. We can always agree on the truth. Did you know that existed? That’s pretty cool stuff. Open your Bibles with me to Jerusalem, but a little further along in Acts chapter 15, please. Acts 15, let me show you what the problem was in Acts 15. And of course, the method you’re going to use will also help you in studying baptism, but I want to show you that it’s useful in many ways as well. The issue that they were facing in Jerusalem was a serious one. In verse 1, the Bible says of Acts 15, some men came down from Judea and began teaching the brethren, unless you are circumcised, according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.

Was that a very strong thing to say? It’s a pretty strong thing to say. Unless you’re circumcised, you cannot be saved. Speaking to the males, all the males in that family, right? Now, that may not be a big deal to you, but can I ask you something? In the first century, was that a big deal? That was a bigger, I’m going to suggest something that’s my opinion. Is that okay? That was a bigger deal than any religious issue you have ever had with anyone in your life. I mean, circumcision was the thing, right? There were the Jews and there were the Gentiles, and only Jews can be Christians, and no Gentiles can be Christians until Peter shows up and said, I’ve got a story to tell.

Something interesting happened. And they say, okay, alright, okay. We’ll allow Gentile Christians, but they definitely have to be circumcised. This has the potential to completely rip the church in two and divide it for good. It’s bigger than any issue you’ve ever discussed with any friend. I was telling Tony today, maybe the only comparison would be the racial issues in the mid 20th century. Black church, white church. And who’s really saved, and whose root? Maybe, but even then there was something deathly about this with them. Something so serious that it couldn’t have been greater. Well, I want you to look with me in Acts 15, and let’s skip forward just a little bit. And I want you to read something in verse 22. I’m skipping to the end of the story.

It seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas, and they sent this letter, and a part of this letter, verse 19, a part of this letter was Gentiles do not have to be circumcised. I’m telling you, a miracle happened in Jerusalem. Not of the supernatural variety. A cultural relationship miracle. A bunch of people who entirely disagreed and were willing to fight about it. Verses 4, 5, and 6 got together. You guys aren’t going to believe this. Human beings who differed. Got together in a room and talked about things without emotional bias, without insincerity, but with love for God. And they walked out of that room in the most difficult circumstance of their time, and they all agreed.

I gotta know how they did that. Because I think we could use a little more of that. I think the church could use more of that. I think Decca Prairie could use more of that. I think Lindell needs that. What is this tremendous method? Well, the same principles we use for repentance and baptism, we just need to use for everything else. That’s the that’s the big secret. Let me show you what they did. In Acts 15, first of all, you already saw it in verse 6. They came together. The apostles and the elders, and I’m convinced here after verse 6, it looks like the whole church is there too. They bring everybody in and they gather every shred of information on the topic they can find that they know has come from God.

I’m going to make sure I’m clear on that. We’re going to get every bit of the information on this topic together that we can find that we know came from God. Don’t forget point number one. It’s got to come from God. So here’s what happens. So, first of all, who speaks first? Peter, verse 7. Peter stands up and he tells them which story. Which story do you think he tells them? Hey, I got all that. Acts 10. He says, I need to tell you a story. There was this guy named Cornelius. And I was told by the Spirit to go, and there was this vision that took place, and all these things happened. And I’m talking to Cornelius, and all of a sudden he starts speaking Mandarin to me.

I think Mandarin’s a language. Is it a language? I don’t know what language he spoke, but he just starts speaking this foreign language. The Spirit gives him power, and I knew right then that Gentiles could be saved without circumcision. Because we baptized Cornelius and his family without circumcision. Now they didn’t stop there. They didn’t say, ooh, one good story. Let’s change everything. They gathered all the information they could get. So after Peter was done, that’s 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11. You can study this later. Verse 12, all the people kept silent, and they were listening to Barnabas and Paul as they were relating what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. Now, where we are in Paul’s journey is he’s between journey 1 and journey 2.

He had just been a year or two traveling through Gentile cities, Lystra, Iconium and Derby and Pergam and all that. And he had gone through and made Gentile churches without circumcision. So he stands up and says, Here’s what I’ve got to tell you. I’ve got to tell you that we, with miraculous powers, I mean, I was handling snakes and stuff. We with miraculous powers. He actually did handle a snake accidentally a little later, didn’t he? We baptized Gentiles, we did not baptize them. Or we baptized Gentiles, we did not circumcise them. So after that’s done, James, who I think is the real hero of the story, by the way. James, probably the half-brother of Jesus, probably an elder in Jerusalem. I say probably because we disagree with me.

It’s not important that you agree with me. It’s only important that you admit that I’m right. But this guy named James, verse 13, look at this. I love this guy. Every church needs a bunch of James. Watch this. After they had stopped speaking, James answered, saying, Brethren, listen to me, Simeon, that is Peter, has related how God first concerned himself about taking from among the Gentiles of people for his own name. Now he doesn’t mention Paul and Barnabas because Paul and Barnabas just finished speaking. So they know Paul and Barnabas gave an argument, so he reminds them, hey, remember we also had Peter’s argument with this, the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written. And he goes back verse 17 into Amos and Isaiah and all this, and he says, so that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord and all the Gentiles who are called by my name.

Do you see what James did here? Would to God that everyone would do this. He got everything he could get from Paul. He got everything he could get from Peter. He got everything he could get from the Word of God. He put it all together, and he said, Only one answer agrees. And that answer, verse 19, is that Gentiles do not have to be circumcised to be saved. How convincing was his argument? Do you remember verse 22? So convincing. Everybody did it. Now, was he Jeroboam? Did he pull the wool over their eyes? Did he promise them that it was going to be easy? Let me come up with something that’s going to be easy. I tell you what would have been easy. West Jerusalem church and East Jerusalem church.

That would have been easy. Convenient. Hey, too. I’m going to preach this next time and make a bigger point out of that. We’re going to put it Dan in Bethel in Jerusalem. Hey, if you’re a Jew, you go over here, Gentile. He could have come up with a lot of easier answers. But he got them to believe the truth. Because he went back and put together the data in the beginning. Folks, that’s what I learned when I go back to Jerusalem. I learned that the only people who have the right to say the words that shape my life are people inspired by the Holy Spirit to work miracles. The apostles and prophets of your New Testament. I learned that all this teaching I heard as a child that I must believe and embrace the grace of God, but I must also turn from my sin continually and confess my sins, and I must be baptized to be saved.

That’s not just some sea of sea stuff. It goes all the way back to the book, and the book never changes. And in fact, we can work through any issue. Instrumental music, next time you’re talking to somebody about, well, your church doesn’t have music. Say, we got music. You know what I mean. You say, hey, I don’t want to argue about that. I don’t want to tell you that there weren’t instruments in the church until 600 AD, and that was just the Catholics, and even in the 18th century, the Baptists rebuked instruments. I’ve heard all of those are good arguments. But they’re not the best stuff. The best stuff is let’s just take a journey, you know. Let’s just go back to Jerusalem and the church that grew out of it, and let’s just see what they did.

Conclusion

Let’s do it. With that, the words of the prophets will agree, and they do agree, don’t they, on that issue when we go back? I feel so safe as a Christian. I don’t feel prideful. I don’t feel overconfident. But I feel like when we can go back and prove our case in Scripture, we know we’re right. And unlike every single other thing on the face of this earth, that never changes. Never will. All I can say by way of invitation is this. I need you to do two things tonight, and then we’re done. Thanks for your patience tonight. One thing is you know somebody, don’t you? They’re sincere. They’re good people. They’re just confused. They’ve got some Jeroboam spokesman that they trust just a little bit too much.

Or their church is so comfortable and easy that convenience has become the word of the day, and they’re believing in things that they would never believe if they thought it through more clearly. Would you do me a favor? Would you approach, do the do yourself a favor? Serve the Lord. Go approach those people from a different angle. See if you can get them to go on a journey with you. Show them what they find there. And then lastly, of course, the only people I can control is this guy, and the only people you can control tonight is just you. That’s the only person you can control tonight is you. Does your belief, your faith, your salvation story, does your life stand up to the journey back to Jerusalem?

Have you made that walk? And have you found the truth and brought it with you into and through your life? If you’re not a Christian, go back to Jerusalem. If you’ve not repented and you’ve got sin in your life, go back to Jerusalem. God was there, filled the place with his glory. And he’s got something to share with you by his grace and his love. Let us help you now as we stand together and sin.