Sunday, December 8, 2024 - 9 a.m. Contemporary Service - The Acts of the Apostles
First B Jackson
2024-12-12

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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The apostles were performing many miraculous signs and wonders. Now, Carl preached last week and he had the difficult task of Ananias and Sapphira. This is what immediately follows that difficult, difficult section. The great example of Barnabas at the end of chapter four and then the example of Ananias and Sapphira in chapter five and the last verse that he covered said, and great fear gripped them all. What a thing to leave for your associate pastor to have to preach on.

The good example and the bad example right together and then we see the gospel going forward. God's will will not be thwarted. It will not be overthrown. Now, there's gonna be external resistance and internal resistance and that's what we saw last week. It was a little bit of the internal.

This is a new thing. The temple was where heaven met Earth and then this new covenant is where our bodies, we are the temple. It's where heaven meets Earth and that is a fearful thing in a lot of ways. We go forward carrying the good news of the gospel but also we are carrying that dead, old self along with us and if you're not doing anything, this, Imma read this. It's an important warning, Ananias and Sapphire.

If we go through periods of special blessing as these early Christians had, personally or in our church, we can expect the enemy or one of his demons to be on the attack. He does not want the church of Jesus to thrive. Jesus is building his church. It's not a duality where there are equal evil and good forces. Jesus wins.

He's gonna win but Satan's not going out without a fight. If you're not attempting anything important for God, if you're not breaking any new ground, you're not witnessing, you're not serving any particularly effective way, then, Satan probably will leave you alone but this church in Acts was not that way. They were really growing. If you're really trying to do something for God, if your church is being effective, if you have a strong missions program, if you have people out witnessing, if you're trying to embody the gospel in social programs that minister the needs of real people and demonstrate the real love of Jesus, then there will be attack and you'll have to be on your guard against him. External and internal and that's what we see over and over in Acts.

God's gospel is good and it will go forward. We wanna be humble and a part of it going forward. When confronted in I think chapter three, Peter said, it's not because of my own power and it's not because of my own godliness. Jesus did this and he meant it, he knew it and if somebody gets sober, somebody gets delivered, Jesus did this and we need to know that it's because of him. Now, the apostles, the ones who were sent out, they were performing many miraculous signs and wonders among the people and all the believers were meeting regularly at the temple in the area known as Solomon's Colony.

Now, great fear gripped them all was just immediately preceding this and when you see all the believers were gathering, they were gathering right here in Solomon's Column. They just on the Temple Mount right across from the temple proper, available and open to everybody, Gentiles, Jews, men, women alike, available for gathering. But no one else dared to join them. The believers gathered but no one else did I heard I heard what happened to those two. It was a time of like, wow, there's something amazing going on there and it scares me more than a little.

I'm gonna stay back but it says no one else dared to join them even though all the people had high regard for them. I love what they're doing. I don't understand it and I don't wanna be on the receiving end of that kind of power negatively, yet more and more people did believe because the gospel does work. The gospel does go forward. God's spirit and God's word proclaimed, go together and people believe and they're brought to the Lord and crowds of both men and women and then they're gathering because they're believers at that point.

So as a result of the apostles work, sick people were brought out into the streets on beds and mats. Now, is is strange. So that Peter's shadow might fall across some of them as he went by. Does that sound like Beatlemania to you all? Apostlemania is happening and it's is is it weird?

Is it weird to y'all? I think it's super weird. Probably because I live in this age, not that that age, but it's weird. It calls attention to itself and they were bringing people from all around. So, let's look at it and say, well, okay, that's weird.

Let's keep reading. What's the next thing it says? So, they brought sick people. They brought them out of the streets. They got them out there so that they could see the apostles.

Now, we do have the example in chapter three of Peter noting someone and seeing him and having him look back and then healing the guy and that led to a little bit of confrontation but it led to a great healing. That guy's jumping up and down. So, that made news. People bring the folks in. It says, crowds came from villages all around Jerusalem.

Wait a second. What did Jesus say in Acts one? He said to his disciples, wait here in Jerusalem until you are empowered from on high. The Holy Spirit's gonna come upon y'all and when it happens, there will be no doubt, and then you'll be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, the surrounding area around Jerusalem, and in Samaria, and to the uttermost parts, and we see that before the disciples even get out of Jerusalem, they're bringing people from outside of Jerusalem, and they're ministering there already. Crowds came from villages around Jerusalem, bringing their sick and theirs that were possessed by evil spirits, and they were all healed.

That's pretty good results, and that makes me uncomfortable too. I pray for miracles every single day. I pray for healing every single day and I wanna see it happen. I feel like we have seen it happen but they were all healed. That's remarkable and it's wonderful and it is a sign that the new age has dawned that Messiah Jesus has brought about this year of an of this acceptable time of the Lord where grace is available.

So, they were all healed. Now, the high priest and the his officials who were sadducees by the way, were filled with jealousy. So, there's a popularity that has happened and an awe that has happened and then, the folks who are in charge, I mentioned, the last time I preached two weeks ago that the sadducees don't believe in resurrection. Well, there's a resurrected Jesus. They don't believe in the supernatural healing really either and there has been a healing that you cannot deny and now, everybody's getting healed like all it says and so they are filled not with awe or wonder or with anticipation or hope as they should probably have been but they were filled with jealousy.

Remember my list? Oh my goodness, the list. Chapter. Step four, you remember the 12 steps? Step four, this ridiculous list of all of the vices in the New Testament.

Well, jealousy is on there and if you count envy as the same thing, I kinda do. It's on there twice. Right? And they were filled with this ungodly trait and they arrested the apostles and they put them in the public jail. I I don't know why but Luke is so good about including details.

I'm sure that there was a little cell somewhere within the temple closet somewhere they could have stuffed these apostles, closed the door on them, put a guard out there but no. They put them in the public jail. This also shows some measure of some measure that Rome is over them. Yes, but they've been put in charge of dealing with their people and when there's an uprising, they find it very convenient to use the public authorities to take care of their issues. They did that with Jesus.

Remember that? Yeah. They couldn't crucify somebody. It's a Roman execution. Even though Isaiah seven hundred years before said, basically, this is the how this is gonna happen.

They arrested apostles. They put him in the public jail but an angel, angel means messenger, angelos, a messenger of the Lord came at night, opened the gates of the jail, and brought them out and then he told them, y'all go to the temple. It is second person, plural. Y'all go to the temple and y'all give the people this message of life. An angel, a messenger says, the message is the message, y'all got it, carry it to people who don't know.

Carry it to people who ought to know right there at the temple. They should recognize the signs of what's going on. Go to the temple and give the people this message of life. So, at daybreak, the apostles entered the temple as they were told by the messenger of the Lord and immediately they began teaching and when the high priest and his officials arrived, they convened the high council. Do you all remember the high council from a couple weeks ago?

The visual was helpful for me. The full assembler of the elders of Israel and I might have misspoken a couple weeks ago. I said, it was mostly sadducees. It was mostly sadducees but it wasn't all sadducees. There were Pharisees just like any political body, you're gonna have right and left, you're gonna have folks that disagree with each other and they go back and forth.

The sadducees were definitely in charge, high priest, and his officers, most of them, the text says were Sadducees, but we hear from Gamaliel before the end of this chapter who is a Pharisee. So he's on the board too. The full assembly of the elders of Israel. Now, here they are, 71 members. They're convened, sitting in a semi circle from the guy, the head dude is right in the middle of this whole semi circle and then they're in order from smartest to dumbest all the way to the end.

Literally, up to 71, they're counted out. It's like an orchestra. First chair. There they are. 71 of them.

And they sent for the apostles to be brought from the jail for trial. Can you imagine them sitting around stroking their beards and considering how we're going to go forward? This problem won't go away. Send them in. But when the temple guards went to the jail, the men were gone.

So, they returned to the council and reported, the jail was securely locked. The guards were standing outside but when we opened the gates, no one was there. Is this almost comical? Yes. It's pretty comical.

When the captain of the temple guard and the leading priest heard this, they were perplexed. Perplexed is something that happens a lot in the book of Acts. So, when I say it's something weird, are you confused by it? Yeah, they were too. They were perplexed.

Where could they be? The God, it's locked. We we know the Roman soldiers could stand to die if they let a prisoner escape. So, how is it that this is the case? They're confused and perplexed.

They're wondering where it would all end. Can you see the the scene? I wish this problem would just go away. We can't ignore it. Now, where are we gonna find them?

They're just not there. Where are we gonna find them? Then, someone arrived with startling news. The man you put in jail are standing in the temple and they're teaching the people. While you're here holed up in the chamber of Hewn Stone making your great pronouncements, these guys are carrying forward the message of the gospel.

So, the captain went with his temple guards and arrested the apostles. They were arrested yesterday. They're arrested again today but without violence. Thank you, Luke. For they were afraid that the people would stone them.

So, who did the messenger of the Lord tell Peter to spread the message to? The people. And the people is who the leaders were afraid of because this movement was happening and people were recognizing it and the church was growing and they were afraid that the people would stone them even though they're the ones in charge. They're not listening to us anymore. We can't beat these guys.

Then, they brought the apostles before the high council. This presumably was in that chamber of hewn stone. It was right there where they meet in their semi circle. This is an 18 hundreds representation. Not even 71 people.

That's a big group of people to have staring at you. Right there, they're making their pronouncements, they're making their decisions. Peter has presented this as something that they should accept over and over and over by this point, and they all had the option of doing so. And there they are, the apostles. I'm going to say all of them were there.

I don't know. 12 of them still. Looks like a small crowd in front of those others. And the high priest confronted them. We gave you strict orders, never again to teach in this man's name.

Our authority says, you cannot do this and you are flouting our authority. He said, and instead, you filled all Jerusalem with your teaching. Where are they gonna be as witnesses? In all Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the outermost parts. You filled all Jerusalem with your teaching about him and you can hear the hatred, Him, that guy and you wanna make us responsible for his death.

Were they responsible for his death? They were responsible for the arrest and the disciples of the apostles the night before. They were responsible for arresting again today and if you read Matthew 27, you'll see that they were responsible for getting the crowd riled up to yell, crucify him, crucify him, and they even said, let his blood be on us and even on our children, right? Yeah. Now, you wanna make us responsible for his death.

They were actually responsible for his death. Now, don't take a lot of comfort in just those bad guy leaders in the path. We are responsible for his death too. You know, I am responsible for the death of Christ. It was necessary because of my own sin and yours.

Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than any human authority. He had already said this to them a previous chapter. We cannot stop talking about what he has done. We cannot stop talking about how he's fulfilled all righteousness. This is civil disobedience.

He's telling them before they even leave, he's telling them, we're not gonna do this like you told us to. The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead and he says our ancestors including himself with them. Sadducees, Pharisees, apostles, the God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead after you killed him. Do you get that? They they are saying, you are responsible for his death and you need to own that.

You need to take that and that is the way that you obey God and are saved. After you killed him by hanging him on a cross which is illegal within Judaism. You use the public authorities to arrest us. You use the public authorities to crucify him. You did have something to do with it and then, afterwards, God put him in the place of honor at his right hand as prince and savior.

He did this so that, here it is again, the people. The people. This message is a good news for all the people. The peoples even. It starts with the people of Israel but it goes forward from the people of Israel to all of the peoples.

He did this so that the people of Israel would repent of their sins and be forgiven and some of them have and some of them haven't and you, Sadducees and Pharisees who sit on this board, it looks like you haven't yet but the gospel is being presented right now. We are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit who is given by God. Do you agree he's given by God? Yeah, they would have agreed that God gave his Holy Spirit to people, individuals at times. It's in the scripture.

He did it to David. He did it various times in the past. He removed his spirit from people sometimes even from places sometimes. We're witness of these things and so is the Holy Spirit who is given by God to those who obey him. Oh my goodness.

Now, they would think, we're the people in charge here. We're the ones who speak for God here. We agree on what he has said together and then we make a pronouncement and that is what God has said but what Peter says is, God gives his spirit to whoever obeys him. Whoever humbles himself before them accepts the way that he's made which is Jesus. They've made it evident over and over and over again.

We're witnesses these things and so is the Holy Spirit who's given by God to those who obey him. And when they, that's the sadducees and the Pharisees, the Sanhedrin, when the Sanhedrin heard this, the high council was furious and they decided to kill them. That seems abrupt. That's one way of dealing with the problem. Didn't work for Jesus at all.

God gives the spirit to those who obey him. That's what they heard and that made them very very angry. Threatened their position. It threatened their understanding of the scriptures and it was a resurrected Jesus. Sadducees have a real problem with this.

It throws a real kink in your theology. If you don't believe in resurrection and somebody raises from the dead. But one member, one member of Pharisee named Gamaliel. Now, Gamaliel, you'll hear his name again later on in Acts and so I'll save that because we got a lot going on this morning till we get to him again, but one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, not a not a sadducee, so he doesn't have a problem with resurrection, and if Jesus proves that, finally we beat those guys, you know, but it's still a threat to his power too. He's an expert in the religious law.

He's respected by all the people which is good. Maybe, maybe, maybe he's a centrist. If it's all the people, it's the folks from both parties that kinda give Gamaliel a chance. So remember his name. Gamaliel stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside.

He called for an executive session outside the council chamber for a while. Y'all get out of here. We're gonna confer among ourselves and then he said to his colleagues, men of Israel, take care what you're planning to do to these men. This sounds like wisdom already. Be careful how you treat them.

They already knew they couldn't beat them in public because that would start a riot. They didn't want a riot. You remember some time ago that there was this fellow Theodus? Theodus who presented to be someone great and about 400 people joined him. Now, compare that to 3,000 on the first day, 5,000 the next time we hear about it and many are being added every single day.

400 people joined him but he was killed and all of his followers went their various ways. Now, if you stand that up against Jesus, Jesus was killed and whether you believe he was resurrected or not, it's not going away right now. After Theodus was killed, all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. We were worried about that not long ago.

After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee and Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him but he was killed too and all his followers were scattered. So, it worked for Theodus and it worked for Judas the Galilean. It didn't quite we we haven't seen whether it worked or not for Jesus but it seems to be growing and let's go. My advice is this, Gamaliel says, leave these men alone.

Let them go. If they're planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. But if it's from God, you're not going to be able to overthrow them. He's saying what we've already seen happening in Acts. If it's from God, you won't be able to overthrow them.

Don't get too big for your britches. Consider this, You may even find yourself fighting against God. That sounds like a very wise person. He's rising above politics and he's saying, my advice is we let this ride for a while and we see what happens. Let them go.

Let him go. We don't wanna find ourselves fighting against God and the others it says accepted his advice. Now, what was it about his advice? His advice was let him go. I love that his advice was let him go and the next sentence says, so they called in the apostles and had them flogged.

Persecution. They called them in, beat them anyway. They're inside here, right here. It's not out in public where people see it. They're gonna go out bruising and batter but that's alright.

Just beat em up and order em again. Never to speak in the name of Jesus. Just the way it says in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus.

Don't do this. He was a thorn in our side. I cannot stand that he's still causing us issues. Don't do it anymore but they did it so they get arrested again. They pray for boldness.

They're bold. They're arrested again. They get delivered by an angel. They're preaching while the people are deciding what to do about them. It is comical that the message of the gospel is going to go forward.

So, they did eventually let him go. They did follow his advice after they beat him. So, the apostles left the high council rejoicing. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. That sounds like the fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, doesn't it?

It's not something that we long for like I hope none of y'all have a martyrdom complex. I hope I never have a martyrdom complex where I'm looking for persecution but I hope I'm carrying the gospel forward in my life and in my mouth and in the way that I am so that it'll be so perplexing and so confusing that there are gonna be those who accept the good news of the gospel and then the people who don't understand it and are resisting against it will be so offended that they have to do something about it. The fellowship of the sufferings of Christ. This is the New Living Translation of first Peter four twelve through 16. Dear friends, don't be surprised at the fiery trials you're going through as if some strange thing were happening to you.

Instead, y'all be very glad for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering. The Via Dolorosa. So that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing his glory when it's revealed to all of the world. If you're insulted because you bear the name of Christ, that's what they were told not to do. Don't do it in Jesus name.

Don't do it in Jesus name. Don't do it in Jesus name. If you're insulted because you bear the name of Christ, you will be blessed for the glorious spirit of God rests upon you. If you suffer however, it must not be for murder, for stealing, for making trouble, or even into prying into other people's affairs, a meddler. But it's no shame to suffer for being a Christian.

Praise God for the privilege of being called by his name and it says they left rejoicing. The fellowship of the sufferings of Christ, if you skip a couple of verses down, I think it's sixteen nineteen says this, for if you are suffering in a manner that pleases God, keep on doing what is right. Trust your lives to the God who created you for he will never fail you and that actually calls back to Jesus where it says, when he was on that cross and he was being reviled, he did not have any insults in his mouth but he entrusted himself to the one who judges rightly. May we be doing exactly that. The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God accounted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus and this is one of those summary statements that I just love.

We've had a lot of them actually in Acts. They it summarizes itself. Boom. Boom. Boom.

At least once a chapter, sometimes twice. And every day, and in the temple, and from house to house, they continue to teach and preach this message. Jesus is the Messiah. What we're celebrating at Christmas is the coming of Messiah, the anointed one, the only one. Now, if I went back and grabbed a couple of those other summary statements, but you will receive power when Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and you will be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.

That one is in chapter one. And all the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship and that sharing meals including the Lord's supper and to prayer. Acts three, Jesus. I mean, Peter speaking about Jesus to this high council said, when God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you, people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your own sinful ways. The exclusivity of the gospel in chapter four stands out.

For Jesus is the one who is referred to in the scriptures where it says, the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which mankind, men, people must be saved. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. Just like he said he was and then Acts five forty two says this, every day in the temple and from house to house, I have it memorized probably New King James.

They did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Amen. We don't have the elements of the Lord's supper up here. It is ready. It's coming this way.

Can I invite the band back up? How about that? And can I pray for you while the band's coming back up? And we're getting the elements out here. Lord God Almighty, may we stay very very close to your word and to one another.

Lord God Almighty, would you forgive us of our sins? Right here, right now, before we take this communion, the Lord's Supper. It's for everyone who has believed. Whether they've known it for eighty years and put their trust in you long long ago or whether it's been just during these last few minutes that they've said, you know what, I'm seeing what is written and I'm believing that Jesus is who he said he was. Lord, for everyone who believes in the name of Jesus, for everyone who seeks as these two gals earlier were baptized, to follow after him and renounce evil.

To walk away from their own way and the world's way, but to follow after you. For every single one of us, Lord, I pray that you would bless this representation of your body and your blood, the bread that we're gonna distribute here in a minute that about the way you walked out your life in perfection with no sin, in submission to the spirit, obeying the will of the father that gave you a special relationship Lord, that you could hand off that perfect record to anyone who puts their faith in you. Would you bless this, Lord, as we distribute it? Amen.