87
Acts 15:34-35   TEACHING AND PREACHING GODS WORD

Introduction:

	The church at Jerusalem had written a letter to the church at Antioch 
answering their question about whether or not it was necessary for Gentiles to 
be circumcised and come under the law of Moses in order to be saved.  This 
answer was that it was absolutely  unnecessary for a Gentile to do either.  It 
is unnecessary for a Gentile to be circumcised in order to be saved.  It is also 
unnecessary for a Gentile to come under the law of Moses in order to be saved.  
That was the answer which they put in the letter.  
	Then the church at Jerusalem  sent Judas and Silas out  of their own 
membership to take the letter and go with the brethren back to Antioch.  When 
the group arrived at Antioch, they called the Antioch church together, they read 
the letter to them and verified that this was the letter which the Jerusalem 
church had sent.  

I.  Silas staying at Antioch

	In our previous text, it was said that when Judas and Silas got ready to 
return to Jerusalem, the Antioch church and gave a had a good sendoff for them.  
They, no doubt, expressed their thanks to Judas and  Silas for coming and 
bringing the letter from the Jersusalem church and expressed their thanks to the 
Jerusalem church for the letter.  It appeared in verse 33 that both Judas and 
Silas intended to return to Jerusalem.  
	However, verse 34 says that Silas stayed at Antioch.     V. 34, 
“Notwithstanding it pleased Silas to abide there still.”  From this verse, it 
appears that Silas had a change of mind.  Perhaps someone in the church at 
Antioch urged him to stay and he yielded under their persuasion.  In view of 
what happened later, I cannot help but wonder if was not the Apostle Paul who 
persuaded him to stay.   Paul apparently had come to like this young man and 
thought he had great potential in the Lord’s work.  

II.  Paul and Barnabas also staying at Antioch
 
   	V. 35, “Paul also and Barnabas continued in Antioch...”  One might expect 
that Paul and Barnabas would leave and go out on another missionary trip, but 
they did not do so immediately.  Instead they stayed there at Antioch to help 
strengthen the church at Antioch.  
	(V. 35), “...teaching and preaching the word of the Lord...”  They stayed 
on at Antioch for the purpose of preaching and teaching the word of the Lord 
there at Antioch.  Perhaps you will remember that the church at Antioch had 
started as a result of the persecution of the Jerusalem church.  The Jerusalem 
members scattered far and near and wherever they went the spread the gospel and 
started new churches.  The leaders in most of those new churches were virtually 
untaught in the doctrinal truths and practices which Jesus had taught His 
disciples.  Therefore, shortly after the Antioch church got started the 
Jerusalem church had sent Barnabas to them to help teach them and train them in 
the doctrinal truths of God as had been taught by Jesus.  Perhaps you will also 
remember that Barnabas saw that he needed some help in this matter and he had 
made a trip to Tarsus and enlisted the help of the Apostle Paul.  Paul and 
Barnabas had spent a considerable time teaching and training this young church 
in doctrinal truths before they ever went out on the mission field to preach to 
Gentiles. 
	But now after they had returned from their first missionary trip the 
church had been in such a great disturbance over the doctrinal question of 
whether or not God requires Gentiles to come under the law of Moses to get 
saved, they could see the need of staying with this church for a while and do a 
lot more teaching in doctrinal matters.  
	Here in verse 35 Luke says that they stayed and that one of their primary 
tasks was teaching.  The Greek word which here is translated “teaching” carries 
the idea of instructing and training.  I feel very confident that one of the 
main things they taught was what God requires lost sinners to do in order to get 
saved.  
	I am also confident that in spite of the fact that the letter from 
Jerusalem stated clearly that Gentiles do not have to be circumcised according 
to the law of Moses in order to be saved that there were still a few people in 
the church who still thought that Gentiles must come under the law of Moses in 
some form in order to be saved.  Paul and Barnabas would want to make it clear 
to one and all that it is not necessary for the unsaved to keep the law in any 
way in order to be saved.  Not only is it unnecessary for the unsaved to be 
circumcised under, but they are not required to come under any part of the law 
of Moses.  In Paul’s letter to the Galatian churches, Paul wrote, “I do not 
frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is 
dead in vain,” Gal. 2:21.  If one can get saved by keeping the law  then it was 
unnecessary for Christ to die on the cross.  Paul and Barnabas would want to 
make sure that when they leave on their next missionary trip, they would leave 
behind a people who had been well taught that salvation is not by works of 
righteousness which men do, but it is entirely by the grace of God.    
	I could only wish that Paul and Barnabas were still around today and that 
it would be required that every preacher and Bible teacher in the world sit in 
their classes and hear those two great men of God teach that salvation is not 
gained by keeping the law.  Salvation is not gained by keeping any part of the 
law.  It is not gained even by keeping the Ten Commandments.  As great as the 
Ten Commandments are, they were never given as a means of salvation.  They were 
given to show lost sinners that they are sinners and that they are lost in their 
sin and need to repent of their sins and trust Jesus Christ in order to be 
saved.  There are still far too many people in the world today who are still 
teaching and preaching that you have to keep the Ten Commandments to get saved.  
If that were true, nobody in the world could ever get saved.  Even those who 
teach that you must keep the Ten Commandments do not keep them.  Nobody can keep 
them to perfection.    The Scriptures say, “For whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all,” James 2:10.  How could 
anybody be saved by keeping the law when they cannot and do not keep the 
commandments.   
	I am also confident that Paul and Barnabas taught many other precious 
truths of God in addition to the fact that salvation is by grace.  They 
strengthened the church at Antioch in those truths.  
	But please note that Paul and Barnabas were not only teaching the word of 
the Lord, but Luke says that they were preaching the word of the Lord.  (V. 35), 
“...and preaching the word of the Lord...”  The Greek word which here is 
translated “preaching” means “To announce or proclaim good news.”  This verse 
could be correctly translated by saying that Paul and Barnabas preached the 
gospel.  That is, they preached the gospel message to the unsaved.  They not 
only taught those who were saved, but they preached the good news to the 
unsaved.  They preached that God loves them and that God the Father has sent His 
Only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to the cross of Calvary to die for them so that 
they can be saved.  The good news for the lost sinner is that he does not have 
to go into the fires of hell.  He does not have to go into the Lake of Fire and 
Brimstone.  He does not have to spend eternity suffering for his sin.  He can be 
forgiven of all his sins.  He can be cleansed from every sin.  
	The lost sinner can acknowledge to God that he is an unworthy sinner and 
call upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God and ask Jesus to have mercy on his soul 
and to save his soul.  By trusting Jesus Christ the guilty sinner he can be 
saved and have all his sins forgiven.  If he will trust Jesus Christ to save his 
soul, he will be saved.  He will be born again.  His every sin will be forgiven.  
He will be reborn as a child of God and he will stay a child of God forever.  He 
will never go into the Lake of Fire and Brimstone.  He will go to heaven.  He 
will spend eternity with God in glory.  That is the good news of the gospel.  
That is the kind of good news that the Apostle Paul and Barnabas had preached to 
the unsaved in and around the city of Antioch of Pisidia when they were out on 
the mission field.  .  
	This is the kind of good news that Paul and Barnabas were preaching to the 
church at Antioch of Syria.  This was especially good news to the large Gentile 
population there in the city of Antioch.  Even from the beginning Paul and 
Barnabas were sure that Gentiles do not have to keep the law of Moses in order 
to be saved.  But I think that they preached it with a lot more joy now that the 
church at Jerusalem had confirmed that what they were preaching is the truth of 
God.  
	That is the kind of good news that I preach to you today.  I do not preach 
to you a gospel which assigns to you a task that would be impossible for you to 
do.  I do not preach that you can go to heaven if you will just turn over a new 
leaf and start living right.  I do not preach to you that you will be spared 
from everlasting torment if your good works outweighs your bad works.  I tell 
you that if you will repent of your sin and call upon Jesus Christ and trust Him 
to save your soul, that you will be saved.  That is the truth of God.  That is 
what the word of God teaches.  That is what I preach to you today.  

III.  Others who also taught and preached the word of God at Antioch 

	(V. 35), “... with many others also.”  Paul and Barnabas were not the only 
ones who were preaching this good news in the city of Antioch.  There were other 
preachers right there in the membership of the Antioch church which were also 
going out to the general public and carrying the good news of salvation through 
faith in Jesus Christ.  Luke says that  there were many of them.  He does not 
name any of them, but we can be relatively sure that Silas was one of them.  
Since Silas had decided to stay there in Antioch  and since Silas was also a 
preacher and a prophet of God, we can be sure that he joined with Paul and 
Barnabas and others in carrying the good news of salvation to the unsaved of 
that area.  
	I strongly suspect that the preachers were not the only ones telling the 
good news to the unsaved of the city.  I feel very confident that the entire 
membership of the church at Antioch were so overjoyed to know that Gentiles do 
not have to be circumcised and come under the law of Moses and keep the law that 
they very eagerly went out to all the Gentiles in the area and told them the 
good news.  

IV. Lessons for us from this passage

	We can  certainly take a lesson from this Scripture.  The good news for 
our day is that any lost sinner of any race or nationality can be saved.  The 
lost sinner of any financial status can be saved.  The lost sinner of any social 
rank or status can be saved.  The lost sinner of any educational level can be 
saved.  The lost sinner of any family background can be saved.  That is such 
good news that we all ought to be telling others about it.  
	We can tell our children and grandchildren about it.  We can tell our 
brothers our sisters, our mothers and dads, our aunts and uncles and all our 
cousins about it.  We can tell all our friends and neighbors about it.  We can 
tell the people that we work with at the office or at the plant about it.  
Christian boys and girls can tell the other boys and girls at school about it.  
	Most especially those who are lost in sin and headed for everlasting 
torment can do something about it before it is too late.  The people to whom 
Paul and Barnabas and the others witnessed in that day are not around any more.  
If they heeded the good news of the gospel and trusted in Jesus for salvation as 
Paul and Barnabas and others preached  then they are in heaven right now.  If 
they did not heed the gospel, they are in hell right now along with the rich man 
of Luke chapter sixteen.  Now too late they would say, “Paul, you were right.  
Barnabas, you were right.  You tried to tell me, but I just would not listen.”  
Right now they would welcome the chance to be saved.  If they had a chance to 
sit in this service today, I doubt that they would wait for me to finish this 
message.  They would just get up and come on down and say, “I want to trust 
Jesus Christ right  now and get saved.  I don’t want to wait any longer.”  
	I say to you who are unsaved in this service today, “Can’t you take a 
lesson from this Scripture and come trust Jesus Christ today to be your Savior?”  
	
Conclusion:

	I am going to call for our musicians to come forward and to lead us in 
singing a hymn.  I am going to call upon you who are already saved who wish to 
come forward and present yourself for membership in this church to step right 
out and come now.  I am going to call upon you who are saved and who are 
convinced that there is something way that you need to get your life 
straightened out with God that you come and ask this congregation to pray for 
you.  I am going to ask that if there is anyone present who is convinced that 
God has called you to some kind of special work that you come forward and 
surrender to that call.