Exodus 19:8
"And
all the people answered together, and said, All that the Lord hath
spoken will do. And Moses returned the words of the people unto the
Lord." We wonder what the Lord said? He must have smiled
and said, "That's what they think." Because, we can see that, people
cannot keep the system of Law and yet anytime someone says they're doing
the best they can, and they are attempting to keep the Law, then they
are putting themselves under the curse. The wrath which is to come upon
them for their lawlessness and denial of the Truth. We can say with
Paul, Oh foolish people who has bewitched you and deceived you into
believing a lie?
We're stressing that
we're not under Law, or the religion based on it, we're under Grace and
the new Law of Love in the power of an Endless Life. Remember that the
whole reason for this letter is that those Churches up in Galatia were
being submarined with err of false teaching which was coming in and was
literally torpedoing them with, "But you can't be saved with faith +
nothing, you also have to keep the Law of Moses." Now let's go back to
Acts chapter 15 look at verse 1. This was written by Luke, and is indeed
the problem. But first we'll look at what is recorded in Acts chapter 3
and starting at verse 22, Peter is here speaking:
Acts 3:22-26
“For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up
unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all
things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass,
that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people.
24 Yea, and all the prophets from Samuel and those that follow after,
as many as have spoken, have likewise foretold of these days. 25 Ye are
the children of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with
our fathers, saying unto Abraham, And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed.
26 Unto you first God, having raised up his Son Jesus, sent him to
bless you, in turning away every one of you from his iniquities.” Now
what we want to look at is found in verse 23 which links us with
Deuteronomy chapter 18 and verse 19, Moses is here speaking, what the
Lord has given him to say:
Deuteronomy 18:18-19
“I will raise them up a Prophet (Jesus) from among their brethren, like unto thee (Moses), and will put my (the LORD, and Holy Spirit) words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him (Jesus took no credit for speaking or doing as the Father told Him or had shown Him by the Holy Spirit).
19 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my
words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” These
are strong words and they mean just exactly what they say. Now from
here we'll look at again in Acts chapter 13 and verses 38-41 with Peter
speaking:
Acts 13:36-41
“For
David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell
on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption: 37 But he,
whom God raised again, saw no corruption. 38 Be it known unto you
therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you
the forgiveness of sins: 39 And by him all that believe are justified
from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of
Moses. 40 Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of
in the prophets; 41 Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I
work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe,
though a man declare it unto you.”
In each passage we can find the same thread of truth, that being that
the law and the prophets spoke of Christ and that Israel is not
justifies by her works or religious religion and its system of legalism
coupled to it, though it came from God through Moses. Granted this has
been said and shown before but we need it repeated to us so we get what
it is saying, we don't get it at the first reading or in subsequent
readings unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to us and even then it may
take a few more times until it sinks in. “Who ever don't hear this
prophet is to be destroyed from among the people.” So who's the prophet?
Christ Jesus is the prophet and He's still speaking God's Word to us.
Now back to Acts chapter 15:
Acts 15:1
"And certain men which came down from Judaea (to Antioch) taught the brethren, (they somehow wiggled their way in to get in position to teach. Remember they were believing Hebrews.) and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses ye cannot be saved. Now,
in verse 5 it's repeated again and we find some Pharisees who had
become believers. Now when we say they had become believers we're not
talking about with Paul's Gospel of I Corinthians 15:1-4 (New Life,
abundance of Life through death). They had become believers of the
Gospel of the Kingdom, or the Gospel of the Circumcision that Peter
preached. (Gal. 2:7-9) And that Gospel for salvation was believing who
Christ said He was plus repentance and water baptism. Now verse 5.
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