Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 765
Delivered by, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington.
“But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Acts 15:11.
You who are conversant with Scripture will recollect that these are the words of the Apostle Peter. Paul and Barnabas had been preaching the Gospel among the Gentiles with great success, but “certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed could not get rid of their old Jewish bigotry and vehemently urged that the converted Gentiles ought to be circumcised, or else they could not be saved. They made a great clamor over this and there was no small dissension and disputation. The children of the bondwoman mustered all their forces, while the champions of glorious liberty arrayed themselves for the battle.
Paul and Barnabas, those valiant soldiers of the Cross, stood out stoutly against the ritualistic Brothers and told them that the rite of circumcision did not belong to the Gentiles at all, and ought not to be forced upon them. They would not yield their free principles at the dictation of the Judaizers, but scorned to bow their necks to the yoke of bondage. It was agreed to bring the matter up for decision at Jerusalem before the Apostles and Elders. And when all the Brothers had assembled, there seems to have been a considerable dispute.
Finally, Peter, speaking with his usual boldness and clearness, declared that it would be wrong to put a heavy yoke upon the necks of the Gentiles which neither that generation of Jews nor their fathers had been able to bear. And then he concluded his address by saying, in effect, “Although these people are not circumcised, and ought not to be, yet we believe that there is no difference between the Jew and the Gentile, and by the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” Here Peter was not to be blamed, but to be greatly commended, for he spoke under the influence of the Spirit of God.
I. We shall use the text as concisely as we can for three important purposes. In the first place we shall look upon it AS AN APOSTOLIC CONFESSION OF FAITH. You notice it begins with, “We believe.” We will call it, then, the “Apostle’s Creed” and we may rest assured that it has quite as clear a right to that title as that highly esteemed composition which is commonly called the “Nicene, or Apostle’s Creed.”
Peter is speaking for the rest, and he says, “We believe.” Well, Peter, what do you believe? We are all attentive. Peter’s answer is, “We believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” There is a great deal of talk in our day—foolish, vainglorious, idiotic, senseless talk, as we think, about Apostolic succession. Some persons think they have the direct line from the Apostles running right at their feet, and others believe that those who make the greatest boast about it have the least claim to it.
There are clergymen who imagine that because they happen to be in a Church which is in open alliance with the State, they must necessarily be ministers of the Church of which Christ said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Now we think that their union with the State, is, in itself, a conclusive reply to all such claims to Apostolic succession! And moreover, we remark many fatal points of difference between the Apostles and their professed successors! Whenever did Peter or Paul become State-paid ministers? In what State Church did they enroll themselves?
What tithes did they receive? What rates did they levy? What laws did they make upon the Jews and the Gentiles? Were they rectors or vicars? Prebendary or deans? Canons or curates? Did they buy their livings in the market? Did they sit in the Roman House of Lords dressed in lawn sleeves? Were they styled Right Reverend Fathers in God? Were they appointed by the Prime Minister of the day? Did they put on gowns and read prayers out of a book? Did they christen children and call them regenerate, and bury wicked reprobates in sure and certain hope of a blessed resurrection?
As opposite as light is from darkness were those Apostles from the men who pretend to be their Divinely-appointed successors! When will men cease to thrust their arrogant pretences into our faces? Only when common sense, to say noth-
ing of the religion of our country, shall have rebuked their presumption! One thing is clear from this “Apostle’s Creed” which we have before us—it is clear that the Apostles did not believe in ritualism! Peter—why, they make him out to be the head of the Church! Do they not say that he was the first pope, and so on? I am sure if Peter were here he would grow very angry with them for slandering him so scandalously, for in his Epistle he expressly warned others against being lords over God’s heritage—and you may be sure he did not fall into that sin himself!