Holy Scriptures and Israel

Gideon Levytam: The study of Acts chapter 15. And notice at the end of verse 24, "To whom we gave no such commandment." You see they are turning to the believers at Antioch and saying, "Listen, we didn't send them. We didn't command them to teach these things to you. We didn't expect from them to go and trouble you with words, subverting your souls." Actually, the word for trouble, it's like to cause you to be confused, giving two kinds of messages. That's where we get the word Babylon, *lebalbel*, to confound, to confuse you.

The second word here, subverting your souls, this is like ruining your souls. When you tell somebody who just simply accepted the Messiah Yeshua and got gloriously saved and confessed his or her sins and says, "God be merciful to me, a sinner," and then they're saved and their sins are forgiven, and then they are starting to be taught with false teaching that ought not to be taught, it causes them to be confused. It's actually ruining the joy in their souls.

So they said, "Listen, we're going to deal with this issue." In this letter, they immediately addressed this. Brothers and sisters, this is very important for us to get ahold of because we are responsible not to give a wrong sound when it comes to teaching, when it comes to the truth of the Word of God, especially with respect to salvation. When someone tells us in order for one to be saved, he has to also be circumcised, or keeping a certain day, or keeping a certain holiday, otherwise he or she are not saved, this is wrong. This is not found in the Bible.

What it does to a believer is actually confusing him or her and also ruining the joy that they have in their hearts when they have accepted the Messiah and have their sins forgiven. And so they immediately dealt with that issue. They pointed out to this issue. Apparently, there were some believers at Galatia and this area that actually have adopted this kind of teaching. And the Apostle Paul had to instruct them in the book of Galatians that they were wrong in adopting it.

Look, turn with me to Galatians 5, please. The whole book of Galatians, the letter to the Galatians, was written by the Apostle Paul in order to deal with these issues that rose later on and some have adopted this kind of thing. He said to them in Galatians 5, verse 1: "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith the Messiah hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." Don't entangle with a yoke of bondage. This is exactly what we read earlier in Acts chapter 15 in the same chapter in verse 10. "This yoke neither we nor our fathers were able to bear," we read Peter said this. And here Paul is saying, "Don't entangle with the yoke of bondage."

Verse 2 of Galatians 5: "Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, the Messiah shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to the whole law. The Messiah is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace." Do you think that God will justify you by being circumcised or by seeking to keep the laws? Do you think that God is going to justify you? Listen, you have fallen from the grace of God.

In fact, if you think that you are justified by the law, you will find it very quickly that the law is only condemning you rather than justifying you because by the deeds of the law, there is no flesh shall be justified. It is only on a basis of the finished work of our Lord Jesus the Messiah, who finished the work for us on the tree. That's how we get to be justified. So they pointed to this problem. Those certain men, they came down from Judea, they trouble you, they subvert your souls. We did not send them, to whom we gave no such commandment. They went on their own and they have taught these things on their own.

And so in verses 25 and 26, there was a decision they write in the letter to deal with that problem. They said now in verse 25, "It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul." We have gathered together in Jerusalem and we made a decision that we are going to send some men with Paul and Barnabas to you to deal once and for all with this problem.

And then they pointed out something about these two Jewish believers, Paul and Barnabas, and they said about them that they were men that hazard their lives for the name of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah. You know how much danger both of them, Paul, Shaul and Barnabas, Barnabba, how much danger they have experienced in their ministry for the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. They endangered their lives. They have experienced persecution and misunderstanding.

In fact, if you remember, beloved brothers and sisters, in the previous chapter 14 and verse 19, it says, "And there came thither certain Jews from Antioch and Iconium, and they persuaded the people, and having stoned Paul." You remember that? We had this already before us in previous ministry. They stoned Paul and they drew him out of the city, and they thought that he was dead. You know, the Apostle Paul has endangered or hazarded his life for the name of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He paid a price.

I don't know if anyone of us can say that we have endangered our lives for the name of the Lord Jesus. I don't think we can say that. I think we can say we had a little bit of discomfort here and there because we stand for the name of the Lord. And we can say that sometimes I lost friends. And you know what, some of my family members don't appreciate me anymore because I became a believer in Yeshua the Messiah. But who of us have experienced such a thing that Paul and Barnabas have experienced?

They have experienced persecution for the name of our Lord Jesus the Messiah such as none of us would ever experience. We live here in this country where we have freedom, we have liberty. We have all the mercies and the blessings that one can have in this country. But who of us can say that we have experienced trouble and persecution, things such as the Apostle Paul mentioned in the epistles? Look at this, listen. In 2 Corinthians chapter 11 and verse 23 we read: "Are they ministers of the Messiah? I speak as a fool. I am more; in labors more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft."

"Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; in jeopardy often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; in weariness and in painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and in thirst, in fastings often, in cold and in nakedness." 2 Corinthians 11 and verse 23 to verse 27.

And on top of it, Paul is saying in this chapter verse 28, "Beside all these things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches, of all the assemblies." You know Paul and Barnabas have hazarded their lives for the Gospel, for the name of Yeshua the Messiah. They endangered themselves. So they were commended by their Jewish brethren in the city of Jerusalem when they send them down back to Antioch to give that letter to the Gentile brethren to show them we are coming to you, we are moving forward, we are one body, we have to deal with this issue. These men have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

And so as they continue in the letter, they are adding to these men, Paul and Barnabas, two other men that will testify about this letter, which we read about them earlier, but here they mention again in this letter verse 27: "We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth." Hear, brothers and sisters in Antioch, we're sending a letter, we're sending Paul and Barnabas, and we're sending Judas and Silas to speak to you verbally to show you that what we wrote is truly the truth, the decision that we in the city of Jerusalem, the council, have decided before the Lord.

And so now we find out in the next verse that what they decided, brothers and sisters, was not on their own. It was a decision that came by God. It was a divine design. The Holy Spirit of God assisted them to come to that decision. You know sometimes we do not know how to handle a situation. Problem rises among believers, issues rise, and we do not know how we're going to handle that. What we're going to do? How we're going to answer this situation? Well, they had the same situation such as this in that time and the brothers and sisters in the city of Jerusalem, the elders, the apostles, the brothers and sisters, needed the help of the Holy Spirit of God to come up to this decision.

So they tell them in verse 28, it was not our own decision only, "And it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things." You see, it seemed to the Holy Spirit of God and then to us that we should not lay upon you any greater burdens than what we are going to tell you to do right now. That shows us that they were instructed by the Holy Spirit of God. You remember we have just studied in the book of Ephesians: "Be not drunk with wine, but be filled by the Spirit of God."

The Holy Spirit of God is the one that will guide us and will instruct us and will help us to understand the things that we have to do, how we're going to handle certain situation. And this was exactly in line with what Yeshua the Messiah said to the apostles before he died in the upper room in the city of Jerusalem at the Passover table there. He said to them, "I have yet many things to say unto you," this is John 16:12 and 13, "but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth."

You see, Yeshua knew that he is going to leave, to die, to go back to heaven after the resurrection, and he is going to send the *Ruach HaKodesh*, Holy Spirit of God, to indwell the believers. So if the Holy Spirit of God is going to indwell the believers, he will guide the believers. He will instruct us. Even us, brothers and sisters, how do we understand the Bible, the Hebrew Scriptures, the *Brit Chadashah*, the New Testament, the Old Testament? How do we understand it unless the Holy Spirit of God help us to understand the Word of God?

And how can we make decisions in our lives that are godly, that are sound, unless we are getting the help of the Holy Spirit of God? After all, he is a divine person that is indwelling every believer in our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. He says he will guide you into all truth. John 16 and verse 13. The Holy Spirit of God. So the brothers and sisters from the city of Jerusalem said to the Gentile brothers and sisters of Antioch, he says, "Listen, it was the Holy Spirit of God, for it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and also to us to lay upon you no greater burdens than these necessary things." That's how the Spirit of God guided us.

And those are the four things in verse 29 that the Spirit of God guided us to expect from you to do. And that is found in verse 29: to abstain from meat or food that offered to idols, from blood, from things that are strangled, and from fornication. He reversed the order a little bit because if you remember in verse 20 of our chapter, he began with the same one, pollution or meats that are offered to idols, but then he continued with saying fornication and things that are strangled and blood. Here he began with the same thing, but he is ending with the word fornication.

And what he is really saying, there are four things that are a requirement for the people of God if they are to enjoy the things of the Lord and to be submissive to the Lord. Meat that is offered to idols would offend the Jewish believers because when you offer to idols a sacrifice and then you eat it, it would offend the Jewish people. In the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 12, Israel were told not to eat meat that was offered to idols like the Gentiles in the world. They are to be different. Eating food that is offered to idols by a Jewish person will not be a good testimony for him, and it's not that which will be pleasing.

Secondly, blood. Blood is that which, as we mentioned earlier previously, the life of the flesh is in the blood. It speaks of life. Abstain from drinking blood. Thirdly, things that are strangled. Well, as we have mentioned before, meat or food, an animal that's being strangled and killed, the blood remains in the meat, in the body. And therefore, when you are eating this, you are eating blood. And therefore drain the blood completely until then you can eat that meat without any blood. And of course fornication, immoral life.

In other words, change these things. This thing should be required from those Gentile believers in order to please the Lord and not to affect the Jewish believers in various areas of their towns, even the Jewish community at large, because Moses was preached in every Shabbat day in many cities and the Jewish community would be offended if we allow those things in our lives. They would wonder and say, "You claim that Jesus is the Messiah. Look at your life. Look at the way that you conduct yourself." And that will offend them.

And therefore the brethren in Jerusalem requested that from the Gentile believers in Antioch. And then they closed that letter that they have sent. He says, "From which if you keep yourselves," he says, "ye do well," verse 29, "and then they say fare ye well." That's how they close the letter. They began the letter with greetings, Shalom if you will, and they ended up the letter with greetings or with fare ye well, with Shalom. That means that they wanted to simply harmonize with the Gentile brethren, Jewish brethren, part of the body of Messiah, and they wanted finally to set this issue outside completely so they will not have these things remaining there in the city of Antioch.

Well, that has to do now with the letter that the brethren wrote from Jerusalem to Antioch. Now let's move on. In the next verses, brothers and sisters, verses 30 to 35, the letter is being delivered. So they take that letter with them. In verse 30, we see the arrival to Antioch. When they were dismissed, they came to Antioch. And when they had gathered the multitude together, they delivered the epistle. So this delegation from Jerusalem arrived finally in Antioch and they delivered the letter to the multitude there, to the assembly in Antioch.