ACTS "Old Testament Picture - New Testament Truth"- Acts 15:1-11 - Part 3

Brett Meador: You can't add to your salvation by being better. See, there's Christians out there who have this principle of the Acts 15 people saying, "Oh good for you, you're saved, you're a Christian, but now you gotta do this and do that." And they attach that to whether you're really saved or not. Don't make the mistake of attaching your sinfulness or sinlessness to your salvation. The only reason you're saved is you're saved by grace through faith through Jesus Christ alone.
Guest (Male): On today's word, Pastor Brett Meador affirming how God's grace is undeserved. How is a person truly saved? Acts chapter 15 tells of Peter addressing the confusion spreading through the early church. And continuing with remarkable examples of the Old Testament foreshadowing the work of Jesus begun last time, Pastor Brett Meador clarifies from today's word that salvation has never been earned by religious works, but received by faith in Christ alone.
Brett Meador: I want to show you today the Old Testament is a giant picture book, and it tells us of New Testament truths but foretold in the Old Testament. I'm going to give you the scriptures in case you want to go look all this stuff up that show us that Joseph is this amazing Old Testament picture of the coming Messiah of the Jews, Jesus Christ himself. Well, Joseph was betrayed, of course, by his brethren and sold for 20 pieces of silver. We saw that in Genesis 37:28, that he'd be sold to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver and brought Joseph into Egypt. Jesus, on the other hand, was betrayed by Judas Iscariot. Matthew 26, then one of the 12 called Judas Iscariot went unto the chief priests and said unto them, "What will you give me and I will deliver him unto you?" And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of silver. Both were betrayed and sold, one for 20 pieces, one for 30 pieces. Both were looked for in the pit, but not found. Genesis 37, when Reuben went unto the pit and tried to find him there in 37:29, Reuben returned unto the pit and behold Joseph was not in the pit, and so Reuben then rent his clothes. In Jesus's case, it says that then she ran from the tomb and came to Simon Peter and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, John, and said unto them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher and we know not where they have laid him." Interesting parallel there. Both were looked for, one in a pit, one in a tomb, but when they were looked for they were not found. Same thing in the story. Both were placed alongside, or I should say between two criminals. When Joseph was in prison, he sat between the Butler and the Baker, the two criminals that were put in prison. Genesis 40, verses two and three, Pharaoh was wroth against two of his officers, against the chief of the Butlers and against the chief of the Bakers, and he put them in ward in the house of the captain of the guard and in the prison and placed where Joseph was bound. Just like Jesus, when Jesus was crucified he was between two thieves. It says when they were come to the place which was called Calvary, they crucified him and the malefactors, the criminals, one on the right hand and one on the left hand. But not only that, one criminal was sort of exonerated and the other criminal was condemned. In Genesis 40, we find out that he restored the chief Butler to his butlership again and gave his cup of Pharaoh into his hand, but he hanged the chief Baker as Joseph had interpreted to them. So one was doomed and one was saved. In the same thing with the two malefactors hung next to Jesus, one declared his faith in Christ, the other didn't and continued to mock Christ. So Jesus said unto that one that repented, "Verily I say unto you today thou shalt be with me in paradise." Are you guys seeing the parallels here? Notice that both interceded on behalf of their brothers. Let me show you Joseph in Genesis 47:1. Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, "My father, my brethren, and their flocks and their herds and all that they have are come out of the land of Canaan and behold they are in the land of Goshen." And this was Joseph getting permission from the king to let his family come on into Goshen, the land of Egypt. That's where he interceded on behalf of them. Same thing with Jesus. Not only did Jesus intercede for his brothers but for really all of us. Hebrews 7:25, wherefore he, Jesus, is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. Even as we come to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, Jesus is the one who brings us to the Father in heaven and lets us in, which is so cool. He intercedes on our behalf. Joseph is pronounced savior of the world at that time because, remember, the known world was starving, dying. Listen to this. Genesis 41:57, and all the countries came to Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn because the famine was so sore in all lands. If you were living in the world that day, the known world, you had to go to one place. One guy had bread enough to save you and to have you be saved from the famine, the death. In the same way Jesus said in John 6:35, Jesus said unto them, "I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger. He that believeth on me shall never thirst." And now's where I'm going to intentionally go to some of my favorite points that have to do with Acts chapter 15. You'll start to see it, hopefully. Do you remember when Joseph was given a Gentile bride before the seven years of famine? Well, that happened in Genesis 41. And both were given a Gentile bride as it turns out. Does anybody know who's the bride of Jesus? The church, the Gentile church is the bride of Christ. Joseph, when did he get the bride, the Gentile bride? Genesis 41:45, and Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnath-paaneah and gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera the priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. And what is he doing? He's preparing for the famine, for the seven years of famine, and right before that happens Pharaoh's so thrilled with the way Joseph has gotten the food together for the seven years, he gives Joseph a bride, and then suddenly you have this seven years of famine. Do you remember what's going to happen with Jesus? Well, how do we know we're the bride of Christ, Jesus is the bridegroom? Well, there's implications. Like here, husbands love your wives even as Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. Like the relationship that the church has with Christ is a marriage kind of relationship. Listen to what Paul said there in 2 Corinthians 11:2. He said, "For I, God says, am a jealous God over you with godly jealousy for I have espoused you to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." God is going to present his church, who's been made righteous by the blood of Christ, to be the bride of Christ. When was Joseph married to his bride? When did the marriage of Joseph happen? Right before the seven years of tribulation, the seven years of famine. That's when he got his bride and they had a big marriage feast there of Joseph and his new wife. When will the church finally be at the wedding feast and the bride of Christ? Well, this is where I believe right before the seven years of tribulation. There's seven years coming in the future called the tribulation period. When will the church finally be with his bride? When will Jesus be with his bride? Right at the rapture of the church, and we get to be in the marriage feast of the Lamb. Meanwhile, back on Earth, seven years of tribulation are going to be happening on the world. And guess what? This brings another interesting thing. When will the Jews actually realize that Jesus is the Messiah? Because like in our text, not only the Jews, are they rejecting the Gentiles, but they're also saying we reject Jesus. When will the Jews actually understand that Jesus really was who he was? Three and a half years into the tribulation. It's called an event Daniel talked about, Jesus talked about it in Matthew 24, the abomination of desolation. Right in the middle of the seven years, the Jews are going to realize, "Oh, he really is the Messiah." And they're going to say, "Where did you get those wounds?" Zechariah, the prophecy says, and he'll say, "I received these wounds in the house of my friends." And the Jews will be blown away that Jesus really is the Messiah that they'd missed for several thousand years, 2000 years. When's that going to happen? That's still in the future called tribulation, a seven-year period. And that brings me to point number 16. When did Joseph reveal himself to his brothers? The 11 sons of Jacob. In the middle of the seven years of famine. That's when the brothers came, they asked for food. He put them through a few series of tests, but eventually, he would reveal himself, and that was right about halfway through those seven years. Genesis 45:4 says Joseph said to his brethren, "Come near to me I pray you." And they all came near and he said, "I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." That's when they started shaking in their sandals going, "Oh, he's going to kill us now. We're in big trouble." But actually what is he going to do? Is he going to kill them? No, he's going to save them. He was revealing himself during the tribulation, you might say, of the famine. Same as Jesus, that's what he's going to do. We see that in the New Testament there in Revelation 1:7. Behold he cometh with clouds and every eye shall see him and they also which pierced him, speaking of the Jews, and all kindreds of the Earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. So interesting that this is an amazing picture of how Jesus is going to be revealed to the Jews. Remember Romans 11:25, it says after the fullness of the Gentiles, rapture of the church, then all of Israel shall be saved because they're going to see Jesus as the Messiah. All this fits perfectly together. Well, let's move on to the next one, point number 17. Rose to power at 30 years old. Genesis 41:6, Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh King of Egypt. Jesus was also 30 years, in fact, Luke 3:23, Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age when he started his ministry if you look at the context of that verse. Number 18, notice that Joseph and Jesus both wept for their brothers. They both, if you ask me, were in their rights to squish their brothers, to throw in prison their brothers. Jesus and Joseph could have done that, but instead, they were both compassionate, tender toward their brethren even though they mocked them, even though they hated him. Joseph did that, in fact, seven times in the story of Joseph it says he wept for his brothers, seven times. In Genesis 45:1 and 2, then Joseph could not refrain himself before all of them that stood by him, and he cried, "Cause every man out to go out from me." So all the Egyptians get out, I want just these Jewish guys here. So they all the Egyptians go out and I think they're listening through the door. Because read on, it says and there stood no man with him while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren and he wept aloud and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. Why's our leader in there crying with those Jews? Like what's going on? But they don't realize the big gravity of what's going on. What happened when Jesus came into Jerusalem? Well, we could give you several scriptures, but Luke 19:41, and when he was come into the city he beheld the city and wept over it. Same compassion that Jesus had. So weeping for his brothers. Number 19, Gentiles are suddenly made into Jews. I'll put it this way, Gentiles are made into God's people. How'd this happen? Now you might already get the Jesus one on this one, but how did Joseph do that? Well, therein lies a little bit of a mystery. Let me ask you a question. If you know Judaism or the way it rolls, if you think you're a Jew, how do you prove or who do you look to in your lineage to see if you're a Jew? Do you look to your father's lineage or your mother's? Your mother's. That's very different than a lot of cultures and people. The Jews look at their mother's lineage to be called officially a Jew. Now this raises an interesting thing. When Joseph takes on a Gentile bride, Asenath, and she gives birth to Ephraim and Manasseh, technically they are what? Gentiles. And can I just say they walked like Egyptians, they talked like Egyptians, they were born in Egypt. Here's Joseph their dad speaking the Egyptian tongue, shaved like Yul Brynner. I'm sure that Ephraim and Manasseh looked like Egyptians, walked and talked like Egyptians, and yet what happens? Something mysterious happens when Jacob's old in Genesis 48. He grabs his grandsons, he's blessing his sons and cursing a few of them, and he grabs his grandsons, Ephraim and Manasseh, and he says this, it's Genesis 48:5, and he says, "And now thy two sons Ephraim and Manasseh which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt," Jacob the father of Israel named Israel he says, "They are mine. As Reuben and Simeon they shall be mine." Do you see, we miss this and read like, "Well, of course they're mine they're your grandkids for crying out loud." But do you understand? This is Jacob saying, "I know they're born of Egyptian, born by a Gentile mom and they grew up in Egypt, but I'm now pronouncing them part of the 12 tribes of Israel." Have you ever wondered when you read the 12 tribes of Israel why you don't very often see the name of Joseph? He should have been one of the named tribes of Israel, but often he's not there. And you'll read the 12 tribe lists several times in the Bible, and sometimes they're different lists altogether. Sometimes it does include Joseph, other times it doesn't. Sometimes Dan's there, sometimes it's not. Sometimes Simeon's there but it's not. You're like, "Brett, contradiction in the Bible." No, interesting things in the Bible. Simeon and Dan were both cursed tribes if you remember, and they were cursed in the same chapter as this by the way, Genesis 48. So they're often not listed there. But the reason one or two of them are not listed and Joseph is not listed in the tribes, the 12 tribes, is because two of them were replaced with Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph. They should have technically been Gentiles, but I'm going to use this language for you all, they were grafted into Israel by Jacob even though they were technically in the world's eyes Gentiles. Joseph says, "Nope, they're Jews. Anybody got a problem with that?" And nobody can say that because he's the father of the Jews. So that's kind of a cool part. So you say, "Okay, big deal, Gentiles are made into God's people." But do you understand that's exactly what Jesus does, exactly what Jesus even predicted? In fact, it says this in Acts 28:28, be it known therefore unto you that the salvation of God is sent to the Gentiles that they will hear it. And also Romans 11 talks about how Gentiles, don't be arrogant, you've been grafted into the Jews like a branch. In the same way that Ephraim and Manasseh were grafted in. One more. Notice this one and this you might say goes without saying, but this is huge and especially for Acts 15. Both were unrecognized by his brothers. I've already made that point with Jesus, they did not recognize Jesus the Messiah, and they did not recognize Joseph their brother. But the reason this is so important is this answers the problem of what's going on, not only with the rejection of Jesus by the Jews in Acts chapter 15 because remember in chapter 14 some of the Jews stoned Paul to death, thought he was dead, and it's because they hated Jesus and they hated Paul. They've rejected and didn't recognize Jesus as their Messiah and they would not recognize him. But in the same way, Joseph was unrecognizable right up until Genesis 42, verse eight, and it says Joseph knew his brethren but they knew him not. In the same way, John, the Gospel of John, chapter one, it says he, Jesus, was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. He came unto his own and his own received him not. You see, this not only the not recognizing of Jesus and rejecting Jesus, that was all foretold. He'd be the stone the builders reject, like this is something over and over the Bible talks about. He'd be the rejected cornerstone. They wouldn't recognize him as the Messiah. They'd think he looked like a Gentile, but actually, he's more Jewish than any of them all put together combined and he's the right one that God ordained. That's Joseph, that's Jesus. Both pictured in a perfect way that way. Now the thing about that that's so important is you say what does this have to do with Acts 15? The people are not accepting the Gentiles, they reject Jesus and they're rejecting the Gentiles. Peter saying, "Don't you guys understand the Gentiles now are saved by faith?" What did Joseph's brothers have to do to be saved from the famine? Just go to Joseph. That's all they had to do. You say, "But Brett Joseph put them through the wringer kind of." But do you understand that wasn't about them being saved. Joseph gave them food even before he put them through the wringer. He gave them food and saved their lives from death just like Jesus saves us. And we don't have to do anything to be saved except come to Christ and ask. If you ask, anybody who comes to Jesus and confesses with their mouth and believes in their heart Jesus, they shall be saved. And that's why this powerful picture translates to Acts chapter 15, which brings to us a practical precept. What's a precept? That's just something you can live by or a rule to go by or something even to watch out for. What was required? You know, the people are saying, "Well you can be saved, yeah yeah, Jesus and all that." That's what some of the Pharisees were saying in Acts 15. "But you also have to be circumcised, and you also have to keep all the law of Moses." And Peter stands up, can I remind you what he said there? He said, "Now brethren why tempt you God to put 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 the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved even as they." The Gentiles were tempted to go back to rules and laws. There was a group called Judaizers. I used to think Judaizers were Jews trying to make Gentile Christians to be more like Jews, but that's not true. Upon further study and understanding, I've realized that the Judaizers spoken of in the Bible are Gentiles that were trying to become more like Jews, keeping the laws, have the spit curls and the hats and the tassels hanging out from them, and they were doing the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacles, and they were saying, "And you guys have to do that too." They were called Judaizers. And Paul said to those people in Galatians about that, he starts out nicely saying, "I do not frustrate the grace of God for if righteousness come by the law then Christ is dead in vain." He's saying, "You guys don't add to what Christ did on the cross by saying you gotta keep the laws." Paul would get more prickly than that. He'd say there in Galatians chapter three, he'd say, "Oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you should not obey the truth before whose eyes Jesus Christ has evidently been set forth crucified among you. This only would I learn of 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 you are now made perfect by the flesh?" In other words, you can't add to your salvation by being better, doing more, not sinning. See, there's Christians out there who have this principle of the Acts 15 people saying, "You gotta clean up your act. Oh good for you, you're saved, you're a Christian, but now you gotta do this and you gotta do that." And they attached that to whether you're really saved or not. Peter saying, "None of us could even do that. That was a burden that we couldn't even bear." Now Paul gets even more brutal than that to these Judaizers. They're saying, "Okay, drop your drawers, welcome to the family," and they're ready to sharpen their knives and cut the foreskin of these young Christian men. And Paul says this and I'm afraid even to say it in church, he says, "I would that they," those Judaizers, "were even cut off which trouble you." You say, "But Brett, that's not so bad, I mean cut off from the family, cut off from the church." If you look up the two words "cut off" in the Greek text, it's translated as literally castrated. That's Paul, he said it, it's in the Bible. That's pretty strong language in the Bible. But Peter's saying, "Don't put that burden, that yoke that we tried to bear but we couldn't even do it ourselves. Jews for millennia we failed." And Peter could say that with authority, why? Because Peter was standing there when Jesus said this in Matthew chapter 11, he said, "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Whatever you do Christians, don't make the mistake of these men in Acts chapter 15. Oh you might not be saying go and keep the law of Moses, but some of you walk up to a new believer, "Well you might be a Christian, but man you gotta stop drinking and you gotta stop chewing and you gotta stop going with girls that are floozy and you gotta do this and you gotta do that and you're not really saved." And I understand where you're coming from, yes, we gotta teach and preach that sin is bad and that we should run from it, but don't make the mistake of attaching your sinfulness or sinlessness to your salvation. The only reason you're saved is you're saved by grace through faith through Jesus Christ alone. Once you are saved, once you do become a Christian, if you're smart, if you're wise, you'll follow the scripture and do what the Bible says because sin is not bad because it's forbidden, it's forbidden because it's bad. It messes you up. That's why Paul would say something like there's a lot of people who don't like this but it's in the Bible. Paul said, "All things are lawful for me but all things are not expedient. All things are lawful for me but not everything edifies." What's Paul saying? All things are lawful for me but you have to ask is this actually expedient or literally good for me? Is this a good thing for me? And the Lord lovingly cries out to his church, "Don't do sinful stuff." And we're like, "Well what if we want to do sinful stuff?" I would say we're stupid, that's why. God would lovingly say, "Because I want you to do things that are going to be good for you and I want you to walk with me." And that's why the Lord Jesus would say, "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled." Well, all this to say, do you see how the picture of the Old Testament answers the questions they're dealing with? What do we do with Gentiles? Man they're going to be added in, grafted in just like Ephraim and Manasseh. What do we do with Jesus the Messiah? He was misunderstood, misquoted, and even lied about. Just everything that happened to Joseph is what happened to the Messiah, and the Jews are going to come to that realization. But those Old Testament pictures give us all the keys that unlock the questions, like the questions they're asking in Acts 15. Should Gentiles be circumcised and do they have to keep the law? And the answer's no. And Peter's able to say that with authority both because of the vision that he had but also the authority of the word. Great stuff.
Guest (Male): Pastor Brett Meador concluding another moving study of Today's Word from his series in the book of Acts, highlighting an Old Testament picture of New Testament truth. And before we go, Pastor Brett would like to offer a closing prayer so I hope you'll stick around for that. But first, let me tell you a little bit more about Brett Meador. He's the senior pastor of Athey Creek Church just outside of Portland, Oregon. Brett's been the pastor of Athey Creek for 30 years. We invite you to listen each day for more. If you've missed any portion of our study, you'll find all of his messages online at todayswordradio.com. You can also watch full video messages by going to todayswordradio.com. I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have other locations in the Portland area. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations". Again, todayswordradio.com and click the link "Locations". Well, to end our time together, Pastor Brett Meador leads us in a brief closing prayer.
Brett Meador: Lord, we do thank you so much for the word that's living and powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. I would pray that you'd give us understanding of just the powerful nature of your word and the multi-layered truths that we could dive into. So may it be internalized. May we rejoice that we're saved by grace through faith. May that be our message to the unsaved. Lord, help us not to try to clean the fish before we catch the fish because the cleaning, Lord, is your job, we know that. So help us with this Lord we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Guest (Male): Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time here on Today's Word. Well, that's all the time we have. Next time, Pastor Brett will show us the compelling statements about salvation from Peter, Paul, and James that are key to what new believers should do and why. Today's Word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.