Acts 10:1-16

¹At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, ²a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. ³ About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” ⁴And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. ⁵And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. ⁶He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” ⁷When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, ⁸and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

⁹The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. ¹⁰And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance ¹¹and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. ¹²In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. ¹³And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” ¹⁴But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” ¹⁵And the voice came to him again a second time,  “What God has made clean, do not call common.” ¹⁶This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

So far in the Book of Acts, we’ve seen a definite progression beginning with the Gospel in Jerusalem during Pentecost.  It then spread through Judea and into Samaria and even was beginning to go out to the ends of the earth as the disciples were scattered by persecution.  Acts Chapter 9 recorded the conversion of Saul, who was to become the Apostle Paul who would be the Apostle to the Gentiles.  But, before Paul was to begin his evangelistic journeys, Peter was actually the Apostle to break ground in evangelizing Gentiles.

As obvious as it seems that the Gospel should have gone out to the Gentiles to us who are sitting here today, it wasn’t at all obvious to the disciples or to Peter.  It probably should have been as it was hinted at during Christ’s ministry but, you have to remember, centuries of the Old Covenant had seared in the minds of the believers that the Covenant was for a particular culturally and ethnically distinct people.  A person could convert to Judaism but would have to go through many ritual cleansing rites and eventually be circumcised into Covenant membership.  For all intents and purposes, the world at large was barred from participating in worship of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob unless they ceremonially prepared themselves for that worship.  Even though Christ had removed the separation between God and redeemed sinners by the veil of His flesh at His death, it was still natural for the early Christians to still consider ceremonial laws as part of a Christian’s reasonable service and minimum level of participation.

In the fullness of time, then, when God was ready to reveal the fulfillment of the Promise to Abraham that, in him, all the nations would be blessed, He sent an angel to Cornelius’ house in Caesarea while he was praying.  Acts called him devout and one who feared God.  This was a category of Gentile to the Jew.  Such men would attend Synagogue worship and offer alms but could not fully participate in all the ceremonies of the Old Covenant because they were not circumcised.

Cornelius, though, had been blessed to be exposed to the oracles of God and the truths of the Word.  His worship was looking to God for salvation and, I believe, he had regularly prayed to be saved by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  Like Rahab and Ruth before him, this Gentile wanted Israel’s God to be His God and he turned his back on all the false gods of the Roman pantheon to worship to One, Holy and Living God.  Believing in Him, he was known for his devotion and for his generosity to the poor.

God’s Word had made Cornelius a seeker after the Truth but he still had not received the Promise of salvation found in Christ.  He did not know it but God had come looking for him and, with a glorious announcement from an angel, told Cornelius he had heard his prayers  and that his gifts to the poor were remembered on high.  He was commanded to bring the Apostle Peter to his house so he could hear the message of salvation.

God fully intended to save Cornelius and His household but it is important to note that He was sending a Gospel bearer to Cornelius.  He didn’t reveal the Gospel directly to Him apart from the Word or apart from the means of an Evangelist.  Only the Apostles were taught directly by God in Christ.  Apostles were to bear witness in the Gospel of these truths and we are not to expect that God simply reveals Christ directly to men and women apart from those that are sent out today.  As Romans 10 tells us:  “…how can they hear unless someone is sent….”

It takes about 10 hours to walk from Caesarea to Joppa where Peter was staying, so by the time the soldiers arrived where Peter was staying it was about noon the next day after an overnight stay somewhere.

Meanwhile, Peter was praying before lunch and went into a trance.  This was not a normal experience for Peter as this passage indicates the unique experience.

Peter saw a blanket with all the different kinds of animals and insects on it.  All kind of clean and unclean animals were on this blanket.  The command from on high was to kill and eat.

Peter’s response is actually Scriptural.  He quotes Ezekiel 4:14 noting that he has kept himself undefiled from eating unclean animals since he was a youth.  I think he thought he was on safe ground here for doing so.  Perhaps he thought it was a test.

But God’s response says much more than about food when He responds that “…what God has called clean do not call common….”  The unclean animals and the dietary rules were a picture of the separation between Jew and Gentile that had existed.  God was abrogating the dietary laws and laws of separation between Jew and Gentile to herald that the Gospel would be for the Gentiles too.  He had to shock the system of Peter to tell him that He was now saying that, even as these foods were clean, so were the Gentiles.  It wasn’t enough for this to happen once or twice but God had to tell Peter three times so the point could be driven home.

Acts 10:17-23

¹⁷Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate ¹⁸and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. ¹⁹And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. ²⁰Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” ²¹And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” ²²And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” ²³So he invited them in to be his guests.

Now we see why Peter what Peter was being made ready for.  Some commentators have dated this event to the time of a Jewish persecution by the Emperor Caligula.  He had become angry with the Jews and had directed that an idol be place in the Temple of the Lord.  The Jews had convinced the Roman governor to appeal this decision and Caligula died before the appeal could be acted upon.

In any event, the situation with the Romans was always tense.  The Romans were not welcomed visitors by the Jews and the Church, especially, had been harmed by the Jewish leaders sometimes using the Romans against them.

So when two soldiers came to a Jewish home looking for Peter, it must have been quite difficult.  I will also note that when God wants to teach us something He does so in a way that will make us extremely uncomfortable and to set up a situation that would really drive home a point.  He could have caused the Gospel to spread to Egyptian or Arabic Gentiles first but He made a strong point that it was Roman soldiers that would receive it.

Peter was expecting them by now and agrees to go with them but did you also notice that the Roman soldiers stayed with him that night.  The vision was already enough to teach Peter that God was no respecter of men.  Peter no longer considered Gentiles to be unclean.  He no longer separated himself physically from their presence.

Now you might think that God just immediately changed Peter’s revulsion to Gentiles.  I think Galatians 2 reveals differently.  We have a crazy idea that obedience to God is on the basis of an unblemished desire to do the right thing but the truth is that real faith sometimes demands that we walk by faith and not by sight.  We may we be revolted by the thing we are commanded to love but if we wait until warm and fuzzy feeling develop then we will never obey the law of Love.

Acts 10:23-33

The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him. ²⁴And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. ²⁵When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. ²⁶But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” ²⁷And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. ²⁸And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. ²⁹So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

³⁰And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing ³¹and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. ³²Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ ³³So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

I love all the little details that Luke provides us.  We’re told that Cornelius was expecting Peter and had invited over all his relatives and close friends for this meeting.  It wasn’t as if Cornelius could send Peter and e-mail and Peter could just get into his car and zip over to Cornelius house in a few minutes.  It had taken days but Cornelius is waiting anxiously, expectantly.  He’s been Promised by God that he will hear a message about God from Peter.

Now, I wonder right now as I’m saying this how many of you are simply bored by that idea.  What if somebody told you that you were going to receive a message from God in four days.  Would that be exciting for you?  In fact, beloved, were you anxious today to come to worship so you could hear the Word of God and receive what God had intended to speak to you this day through His Word?  Or maybe you consider to be boring the very Words of Life.

Cornelius knew how important this appointment was.  He also knew this wasn’t simply about a very personal relationship.  He wasn’t deceived into thinking that his relatives and friends have religion too and didn’t need this message.  No.  He loved them and so he reasoned correctly that everyone he cared for should be at his home that day to hear the message of salvation.

Peter asked Cornelius to explain why he had asked for him to come and this confirmed to Peter that God was sending him on an errand to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Acts 10:34-48

³⁴So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, ³⁵but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. ³⁶As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ ( he is Lord of all), ³⁷you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: ³⁸how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. ³⁹And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, ⁴⁰but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, ⁴¹ not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. ⁴²And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. ⁴³ To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

⁴⁴While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. ⁴⁵And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. ⁴⁶For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, ⁴⁷ “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

As we’ve been going through the Acts, have any of you noticed how much different the Gospel is presented than what many of us have become accustomed to understanding in recent years.  As we’ve already seen over and over again even in Acts, just because a man grows up with a religious understanding doesn’t mean it’s the Scriptural way.  The Sanhedrin and the Pharisees missed Christ altogether and, because of the way they were taught to understand the Scriptures didn’t bother to conform themselves to the Word when it was explained to them.

So, when I’m showing you the way the Apostles preached the Word of God and “gave their testimony”, I hope you will start to have a better Biblical appreciation for what our testimony of Christ really is.

You see, didn’t Peter have a better story he could tell about his personal life than you?  Didn’t Peter have a better story to tell about how much Jesus meant to him and made his life better?

Of course he did.  But did Peter point to his own life as his “testimony”?  When presenting the Gospel, did Peter talk about how Jesus made him feel?

No.  Just like other times when the Gospel was presented the character that took center stage was Christ.  Peter proclaimed the death and resurrection of Christ for the sins of mankind.  He testified not of himself or his feelings but of a historical person who was the God-man who died for our sins, rose for our justification, and sits at the right hand of God on high.  He testified that everyone who believes upon the name of Christ will be saved from their sins.

That’s a story that only a Christian can tell.  That the type of News that a Christian should tell.  The Muslim can talk about how much Allah makes his life happy.  The Mormon can talk about how wonderful his life is since he believed his false God.

But only the Christian can testify truly concerning Christ and His work.  Only the Christian has the true hope inside of him because that hope is directed that the work of a perfect mediator.  That faith is directed to real events that are the bedrock of our soul.

In short, we need to know what Christ has done not only that we might understand Who it is that we have believed but we need to understand Christ and His work so we can proclaim it properly.  Christ did not simply come to give us all fuzzy feelings that we cannot describe other than to give others the promise that they can have fuzzy feelings too.

And while Peter was preaching this Gospel, God did an amazing thing that day.  He poured out His Spirit with power upon all the Gentile hearers.  He poured it out in view of Peter and the other Jews he had brought as witnesses with him.

With that powerful act, God astonished Peter and the Jews.  He literally took a wrecking ball and knocked down the barriers that had once stood between the unclean Gentiles and clean Jews.  Just as He had promised to Abraham, all the nations of the world would be blessed.  It had finally come to pass.  The Seed of Abraham, Christ, had provided access through the veil of His flesh for all to approach God boldly by trusting in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  The Jew had always had ceremonial access to the house of worship where God had commanded central worship but his conscience could not be cleansed.  Christ cleanses both the consciences of Jews and Gentiles, men and women, slaves and free.  There is now no longer a distinction because God gives His Spirit as an earnest, as a seal that these are mine to everybody who believes.

Acts Chapter 11 records that Peter was taken to task for entering the home of a Gentile and staying with him.  How could he do such a thing.  Peter told the story and then pointed out to them that the Gentiles had received the Spirit.

Acts 11:15-18

¹⁵As I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them just as on us at the beginning. ¹⁶And I remembered the word of the Lord, how he said,  ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ ¹⁷If then God gave the same gift to them as he gave to us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could stand in God’s way?” ¹⁸When they heard these things they fell silent. And they glorified God, saying, “Then to the Gentiles also God has granted repentance that leads to life.”

Indeed, this was the meaning of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to demonstrate the unity that Jew and Gentile had together.  God had spoken to the Jews and let them know:  “I have baptized them with the Holy Spirit to show you they are mine.  They are clean because I say they are clean.”  That is enough for a believer.  That is enough for a man who understands that he has no access to God apart from the veil of Christ’s flesh which removes the barrier of sin and condemnation between God and man for everyone who believes.

1But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest 2and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. 3 Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. 6But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” 7 The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. 8Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. 9And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Saul of Tarsus was on his way to literally destroy the Church in Damascus.  Though his mentor in the Jewish religion had been the famous Gamaliel, he did not have the wisdom of the man and was acting against something ordained of God.  Saul was still breathing out threats and murder against disciples.  I think you have to remember how devastating he was to the Church.  Time and distance might remove us from the events but this persecution went on for some time and imagine the fear that this man would evoke in the minds of a Christian.  Imagine how you would feel about a man who had taken your husband from you and thrown him into prison for believing in Christ.  This Saul was bent on destroying more lives, throwing more in prison, separating more families – leaving widows and orphans in his wake.

Was Saul “seeking” Christ as we sometimes talk about?  Some of us believe that the reason we believe the Gospel is because we were smart enough to go looking for God and looked in the right place.  Saul, in my mind, is a dramatic example that when God comes looking for you that He will find you.  Christ comes to seek and save the lost.  The lost don’t know where they are and cannot find their way to God.  God does not leave the lost but goes looking for them.

In Saul’s case, he was travelling to Damascus in the middle of the day and a light brighter than the sun knocked him literally off of his horse.

A voice from heaven asked him:  “Saul, Saul why are you persecuting Me?”

Does anyone notice anything profound in the way that Christ called out to Saul?  He said to him “Saul, Saul”.  In the Hebrew, repetition is often used for emphasis as in “Holy, holy, holy” or “Amen, Amen” but repetition of a name by a Jew is meant to imply intimacy.  It is meant to imply love and caring for a person.  God cried out “Moses, Moses…” from the burning bush, He called out “Samuel, Samuel…” to a young prophet.  When David cried over the death of his son he cried out “Absolom!  Absolom!”

Before Christ was the man who has been destroying the very lives of His beloved sheep.  But doesn’t 1 John 4:10 testify that the nature of Love is not that we loved God but that He loved us?  Would we not all be lost if it weren’t for the initiating love, the first love that God showed us in having mercy toward us?  I just marvel at the words here because I know that, in myself, Christ could have let me go to destruction to the sins and rebellion in my life but the nature of the Gospel is a God that interrupts our plans for self-destruction.

The other remarkable thing is that Christ told Saul that he was persecuting Him.  He doesn’t ask why Saul was persecuting Christians because Christ so identifies with us that He considers His own person to be assaulted by those who would seek to destroy the Body of Christ.

Well, Saul may have be a fool up until then but he wasn’t stupid.  He fell to his face, knowing full well he was in the presence of Someone powerful and asked:  “Who are You, Lord?”

Now, imagine that you’re the man that gave approval to the death of Stephen even as he testified to seeing the risen Christ.  You’ve been zealous to stop the mouths of these blasphemers – at least that’s what you think they are.  Put yourself in Saul’s sandals for a moment and wonder to yourself how you would react if you heard this:  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.”

I hope that, as you have encountered the Jews throughout the Acts that have become aware of their guilt before the living God for putting the Son of God to death and for fighting against Him how much fear that would strike into the heart.  If that idea doesn’t strike fear in your own heart then pray for a heart that understands the holiness and righteousness of God for as Hebrews 10 testifies:  “…it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

Though Saul deserved judgment and death and knew it and would testify to it throughout his Apostolic career, he did not receive what he deserved from the hand of God but, on the basis of the grace provided in the Cross, Saul was marked out by God be bear the Gospel to the Gentiles.  He was commanded to go to Damascus and wait.   When he got up, he was blind.

I imagine the next few days must have been sleepless.  I imagine his mind must have been clouded with confusion.  The man had the Scriptures memorized.  He was a master of the Scriptures, a Pharisee of Pharisees, and had missed the whole point.  Everything he thought he understood was now falling away as the revelation of Christ was organizing all the Scriptures to be understandable.

Acts 9:10-19

10Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” 11And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, 12and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” 13But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. 14And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.” 15But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. 16For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” 17So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” 18And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; 19and taking food, he was strengthened.

Ananias was praying and was commanded by Christ to go to a specific house and lay hands on Saul to restore his sight.  I find Ananias’ answer to be a bit funny as if Christ needs us to fill in the blanks on information he lacks.  But, here, I think Ananias was expressing wonderment at the command.  This was Saul!  Murderer!  Come here to destroy us.

We may be putting on the mind of Christ as we are being transformed more and more to His image but we still lack faith.

Christ is tender in His mercy toward us and patient with us.  He considers our frame.  “Go!”, Christ commanded Ananias, “he is a chosen instrument of mine….”

That’s all Ananias had to hear.  That’s all any of us should have to understand about men who have been chosen out of this world for belief in the Gospel.  “Saul belongs to me now Ananias.  I’ve called him out of this world just as I’ve called you out.  Just like you, he doesn’t deserve grace but I have chosen him.  Go!”

Now I don’t care how many times I’ve read this, whenever I get to this next part it always moves me.  Ananias walked straight to the house where Saul was praying and expecting him.

Did you notice how Ananias speaks to Saul?  Does he just say:  “Saul, you deserve wrath for what you’ve done but I’m under orders.”

No.  He calls Saul, the murderer, the persecutor of the Church, Brother.  Brother Saul.  Beautiful.  That’s a man that understands the Gospel.  That’s a man that understands that, before God, he’s a beggar at the foot of Cross just like a murderer is.  That’s a man that doesn’t confuse his belief in the Cross as being because he was better or smarter than another man or that God only chooses the decent people in this world so you better clean up your act before you come to the Cross.  No!  The Cross is for the filthy to come because Christ has taken our filthy garments upon Himself on the Cross and given us spotless garments in return.

Acts 9:19-25

For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. 20And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” 21And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?” 22But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

23 When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, 24but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, 25but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

Other portions of Acts and the Epistles reveal that Saul, now an Apostle, spent 3 years in Damascus.  Now, imagine the surprise of the Synagogue leadership who called for a hired gun sent with a commission from the High Priest in Jerusalem to take care of this pesky sect that is proclaiming Jesus as they see a new Saul roll into the Synagogue one day.  It’s always the case of unbelievers that they seem respectable and good believers of God.  They have the outward appearance and words of men that say they are seeking Truth.  And so, with a smile, I imagine they welcomed Saul to the Synagogue one day wondering where he had been.  I imagine they were smiling when they expected Saul to continue to breathe out the lies that the Jewish leaders had used as a way to cover their eyes from the true meaning of the Scriptures.

But their smiles turned to scowls of anger as Saul began proclaiming the Name that he had come to stamp out.  I wonder if some of them thought they had been duped.  They had heard stories about how this man would destroy the Church and so how can this be the same man that is proclaiming the Truth?

Now you read this account about how Saul, just like Stephen before him, and just like Peter and John, and just like Christ before them would open up the Scriptures and demonstrate that the Jewish leaders had completely missed Christ in the Scriptures.  The Jews had missed Christ just as they miss Him today.  You probably cannot think of how something can be so obvious and people will even admit that the Word says something but will still refuse to believe it and, yet again, plot to kill a man for continuing to point it out.

But I see it all the time.  All the time.  It’s never that the Scriptures aren’t plain on a subject but men and women are so comfortable with the twisted meaning of some Scriptures that they become very angry when you try to teach them the Truth.  I’ve noticed that a line is crossed with some men and women.  Once you’ve crossed that line of comfort where the Word demands something of them – to admit that they are sinful like you.  To admit that they are not honoring God’s Word.  Some men and women will call you hateful and they’ll even try to destroy you.  Acts Chapter 10 is not fiction.  It’s real life.  I’ve never been persecuted like Paul but, I can assure you, I’ve seen what standing for the Truth of God’s Word costs.

The people of Damascus eventually plot to kill Saul and he was lowered out of the city wall and went to Jerusalem.  Thou shall not kill.  Right?  Well, when someone is forcing upon you what God’s Word says then anything goes.

Acts 9:26-30

26And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. 27But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. 28So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. 29And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. 30And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

Remember that three years had passed but three years is nothing in the memory of some men.  It was enough for Ananias to know that Saul was Christ’s but, even after 3 years, Saul found it nearly impossible to find Christians to fellowship with.  This was to their discredit.  He tried to explain who he was but memories of imprisonments and murders are not easily overcome.  Beloved, grudges against those in the Church are wicked.  Roots of bitterness will destroy you.  We are commanded to forgive even as Christ has forgiven.

But Barnabas, the encourager, believed the Gospel enough for Saul to be brought to Peter and James where they extended the right hand of fellowship to him and understood that Christ had given Saul a commission.  Galatians reveals he was only there for two weeks but, again, opposition to the Truth is such that Saul was a wanted man – the Jews wanted his head only after a couple of weeks of showing them that their understanding of the Scriptures was wrong.  Are we to imitate Paul even as He imitates Christ?  Paul commanded this of us in his Epistles.  How many of us are willing to stand for what the Scriptures teach and actually tell people when they are abusing the Word of God?  Or are we simply just supposed to get along with all men?

Acts 9:31-43

31So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

32Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda. 33There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. 34And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. 35 And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

36Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. 37In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. 38Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” 39So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. 40But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. 41And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. 42And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. 43And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

God was gracious to grant some peace to the Church but it is not long lived.  I do love this story, though, of Tabitha.  It says simply of her that she was full of good works and charity – known by all the Church in Joppa for her love and service to the Church.  She has died and the Church is mourning for her.

Peter is in the region and disciples come quickly for him, hoping that he can do something if God be so gracious.

What a beautiful story as the widows of the town came to Peter.  It doesn’t say that they said anything.  They just came weeping because they loved Tabitha.  They came weeping and without words showed Peter the coats that Tabitha made for them.  They didn’t have to say anything.  They said everything about Tabitha’s belief in the Gospel by the love and care she showed for the downtrodden.  She loved and cared for those that society would normally cast out.  She clothed widows and demonstrated the love of Christ that she had.

And because she honored Christ by her sacrificial service to others, the great Apostle Peter does something special.  God is gracious to give her back to the Church here.  Notice, though, how it says that Peter presented her to the Church.

Tabitha is honored by the Apostle as he presented Tabitha to the Church as a testimony of her love of Christ.  Testimony that this was a woman who wass to be imitated even as she imitated Christ.  He was pleased to return Tabitha to a Church that loved her so much for the selfless love that she showed the entire Church there.

There are a lot of different things that happened in the stories today but I do hope you at least noticed the stark contrast between light and darkness.  You witnessed the hell-bent attitude of Saul as he went to murder those in the Church but then witnessed Christ knock Him off his horse to save Saul from not only harming His Church further but saving Saul eternally to be an instrument in His hands.

You witnessed Ananias struggling with Christ over laying hands on a murderer but then Christ naming Saul as His own and Ananias calling Saul “Brother.”

You witnessed Saul proclaiming words of life in Damascus and men who preferred the darkness that wanted him dead.

You witnessed Saul rejected by the disciples in Jerusalem for his former life of destruction but then the acceptance of Barnabas, Peter, and James who knew they were no better than Him and bought by a price by a Savior.

Finally, you witnessed Tabitha, taken by death who had demonstrated her hope in the Gospel by the love she poured out in service to her fellow heirs expecting nothing in return.  You witnessed her triumphal presentation before the Church as they received back an honored saint.

You see Tabitha died again years later.  Just like Paul did.  Just like those that persecuted and hated the Gospel did.  The difference at that point and what awaited them was not whether or not Truth was before them but whether or not they believed the report or hated it.

I urge you this day to believe the Gospel.  If you have been hostile to it before then I pray that the scales would fall off of your eyes and that you would see Christ and Him crucified for the sins of those who believe.  If you believe Christ then I urge you to draw nearer to Him and continue to cast off the prejudices and grudges that cause you to doubt portions of His Word.  I urge you to consider the contempt of the world to be a small thing compared to the riches of His Gospel.

We see now the result of opposition to the Gospel.  Saul, empowered by the authority of the Sanhedrin not only gives approval to the execution of Stephen who had just proclaimed the truth about the Resurrection.  Saul is empowered to go throughout Jerusalem looking for believers to cast into prison.

Saul was zealous in this task, husbands taken from wives, mothers from children, men and women murdered as evidenced in Acts 9.  If ever a man was to be hated in the early history of the Christian Church it would be Saul.  He would be the Osama bin Laden – literally a terrorist so bent on his twisted view of who God was that he justified injustice and the taking of human life.

You might have noticed in verse 1 that many believers, except the Apostles, were scattered by this persecution throughout Judea and Samaria.  This is not a mistake.  It’s not an accident in God’s plan.  It’s not plan B.  With God there are no Plan B’s or backup plans because God knows the beginning from the end and guides everything by the invisible hand of Providence.

You see, in Chapter 1 of Acts, Christ had commanded the Apostles to wait for the Spirit but that, eventually, His Church would expand from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the outermost parts of the earth.  Up to this point the Church was thousands strong but it was confined to Jerusalem.  It turns out that God had a plan to expand the Church beyond the borders of Jerusalem but it’s not what we might have expected.

In fact, it is persecution that causes believers to move out from the confines of Jerusalem and the Gospel is spread with them.

There is an un-Biblical notion of what it means to be in God’s perfect will these days.  When someone asks what the Will of God is, they normally think today of what kind of job should I have, should I marry this man, and those kinds of things.  What they are doing, however, is trying to peer into the hidden things where God commands us not to pry.  The hidden things belong to God but the revealed things to us and our children (Deut 29:29).  God commands us not to marry an unbeliever but don’t expect to get divine revelation about the name of your future spouse.

You see Romans 8:28 tells us that God works all things together for the good for those that love Him and are called according to His purposes.  This means that sometimes things that are worked are not very pleasant to believers:  in this case persecution has been used of God to spread out the Church but who benefitted from this?  Those who heard the Gospel when the disciples left Jerusalem.  God does not make a wicked man sin, but our confidence is that even when the wicked hurt us that God is working even their wicked deeds to our ultimate good.

Notice, finally, that Stephen was mourned and buried by the disciples.  Jewish law would have prevented them from doing so because stoned people are considered accursed.  Not only does this show that the Sanhedrin had put to death a righteous man but that this ceremonial aspect of the Law no longer bound those who were in Christ.  A new era had dawned.

Act 8:4-25

The Gospel first expands to Samaria, which used to be the location of the Northern tribes but, following their being conquered by the Assyrians centuries earlier, they lost their tribal identities.  They were despised by the Jews as sort of mongrels with a sub-standard worship that still had pagan elements in it.

Yet, Samaritans weren’t quite as bad as Gentiles.  When it came to those that were considered scum by the Jew it went downhill from Samaritan to God-fearers to Gentiles at the bottom of the food chain.

The Samaritans received the Gospel in large numbers and even a magician by the name of Simon was impressed and became a disciple.  Simon was apparently famous.  He was so well known and respected for his power that the Samaritans called him the “the power of God that which is called Great.”  In other words they were giving him worship and he was an idol to them.

We tend to wink at witchcraft and sorcery and things like palm reading and other aspects of the occult.  These things are condemned in the harshest of terms in the Old Testament and Paul says that those who practice such things will not inherit eternal life.

And so it is great to read that the Samaritans turn in large numbers away from their superstitions and to the living God and salvation in Jesus Christ and even the object of their idolatry seems to be willing to die of himself and become a disciple of Christ.  Acts says he believes and becomes a disciple.

But there is something suspicious about the way he is following.  Luke notes that Simon follows Philip around and is amazed by his power.

Simon’s motives seem to become clearer when the Apostles Peter and John come to lay hands on the Samaritans.  Let me get back to that in a minute.

What is extremely important for you to understand first is why Peter and John came here to perform this act.  What occurs is that Peter and John lay hands on the Samaritan converts and the Holy Spirit comes upon them in power.

This happens in a few places in Acts and there has been some improper teaching on the meaning of this event from Pentecostals that insist there are two classes of Christians:  those who have the baptism of the Holy Spirit and those who do not.  The problem with the Pentecostal view is that the Acts gives its own interpretation to the event and you’ll see this in Acts 10 when Peter is challenged about visiting the House of Cornelius.

In effect, what is happening here is that the boundary markers for God’s Covenant people are being expanded.  In the Old Covenant, God placed His favor on a particular people and, if you did not live among or identify with this national people, you were not of the people of God.  But, in the New Covenant, the Gospel is expanding outward and the boundary markers are being expanded.  No longer will the Samaritan be another variety of scum.  Now, there is no longer Jew nor Samaritan among God’s Covenant people.  And how does the Church recognize this?  Because the Holy Spirit had come upon them in power just like it did for the Jewish disciples.  Do you understand?  The laying on of hands and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit is not an individual thing in the Acts but a corporate event.  Entire people groups receive the Spirit to show that God now includes all people groups in His Covenant people.

Well, let’s get back to Simon then.  Remember Simon is following this Philip around because he’s amazed at his power.  Simon was powerful after all but the miracles that Philip could perform made him realize that he better hang it up.  But then Peter and John roll into town and he witnesses them lay hands upon people and they receive the Spirit with power and now his true colors seem to emerge.

That’s the power that Simon wants and so he does what a man who is seeking power in that time would naturally do.  He asked if he could buy that power from Peter and John.  In fact, because of this verse, whenever someone purchases a religious office it is still called simony to this day in reference to this event.

But Peter rebukes Simon in the harshest of terms telling him that his attitude reveals that he is far from the Kingdom of God.  I wish that the false teachers on the Trinity Broadcast Network or other prominent Church leaders that teach that the Gospel is about prosperity would read this passage and have their eyes opened to the dreadful warning that Peter gives to Simon.

The Gospel is not about us receiving power.  The Gospel is not about us being exulted.  The Gospel is not about us receiving riches or wealth.  The Gospel isn’t about us receiving adoration for the great things we can command or how we can pack out a stadium and overawe with our power.  This is the way of the world.  This is idolatry.

The Way of the Cross is humiliation.  It is being made aware of our sin before a Holy God and His power to make our hearts alive to run to the Cross and cling with all our might like beggars.  Beggars are what we are before God.  We bring nothing to Him and get no glory for our salvation.  The riches we inherit are the inheritance of Salvation and eternal life.  Our citizenship is with another country and not becoming in love with the country and possessions that we have now.

Simon repented in tears to Peter and John.  It is my prayer that his repentance was born of genuine faith.  Even sinners like Simon can be saved by the power of Christ.

Acts 8:26-40

Some time later, we’re not sure when, Philip is commanded to take a southern path from Jerusalem to Gaza.  Did you notice how it said:  “This is a desert place?”  It’s not the smartest path to be taken but Philip obeys.

Do you remember what I talked about God working all things together for the good?  Anyone who has walked in the desert knows it’s miserable but Philip just so happens to encounter a Eunuch who just so happens to be taking that path and just so happens to be reading Isaiah 53!

Do you ever just stop and marvel that God saved you?  Do you ever just stop and marvel that one day you were doing something else and, out of the blue, the Gospel found you?  Do you ever just stop to praise God that His Gospel saved you even though you know very well He could have saved someone much nicer, much smarter, and much better than you?

This Eunuch was reading out loud and, of course, Philip recognizes this passage.  There is more to this.  It is the prophecy of Isaiah about the Christ.  It is not about how Christ came as a powerful man.  It is not how Christ was adored for His power the same way we just saw Simon desiring.  It is about Christ, who deserved service, who deserved adoration, became a sacrifice and underwent the worst kind of humiliation, scorn, and agony for those of us who deserve that from Almighty God:

Let us meditate as we too consider again what was read and explained to the Eunuch:

7He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

8By oppression and judgment he was taken away;

and as for his generation, who considered

that he was cut off out of the land of the living,

stricken for the transgression of my people?

9And they made his grave with the wicked

and with a rich man in his death,

although he had done no violence,

and there was no deceit in his mouth.

10Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt,

he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;

the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

11Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,

make many to be accounted righteous,

and he shall bear their iniquities.

“Do you understand what you are reading?” asked Philip.

“How can I unless someone explains it to me?” invited the Eunuch.

Oh, how my heart just beats with excitement as I think about this.  The Eunuch was searching for Truth in the Scriptures and here now was a Preacher with Good News!  Not with promise of Power but with news of a Savior.  He told Him of Jesus Christ, the Word who became flesh.  He told him of a life lived in poverty and no place to call home, no place to lay his head.  Despised and rejected even by his home town and family.  He told him of Christ being nailed to a Cross and becoming a Curse for us.  So humiliated was He that only one disciple and some women dared to be near Him at His death.  So afflicted for our sins that He cried out in agony:  “My God, My God Why Have you forsaken Me?!”

And such a perfect Savior that when He cried “It is Finished!” that He had once and for all paid the debt for sin.  He had once and for all taken away the wrath of God for all who believe.  He told of the Son of God who rose again in Power to secure our Eternal life and the promise of resurrection for us all to live with Him.  He told of His ascension into heaven where He lives to intercede for all who believe.

The Ethiopian’s heart must have been pounding out of his chest at this point.  Can this be for me?  Can I believe and be saved?  What is that?  In the middle of the desert they happened to come upon water!

I don’t think the text expresses the pleading of the Eunuch.  “Look, water, is there anything preventing me from being baptized?  I believe this report.  I want to cling to this News.  I want to become a disciple of Jesus Christ.  Is there anything preventing me?”

This man is a Eunuch.  If Philip was a representative of the Law then the Eunuch would have no part of this because the Law barred Eunuchs from the people of God.

But Christ had torn down those barriers and Philip was a bearer of the Gospel that allowed the unclean to come near!

No!  Nothing prevented him!  He was baptized and went away rejoicing.  And why not rejoice?  He was lost and now was found.  He was blind and could now see.  He was in the middle of a desert and God had found Him and sent His Gospel to save Him.

Beloved, the Gospel has come to you this day.  God has given you much grace that you hear it today again as you have heard it before.  Have you believed it?   Be amazed again at the grace of God toward you that you would believe upon Jesus Christ for the salvation of your souls.  Believe and be saved.

At the same time, however, I think we’ve bought into the idea today that the reason why men either do or do not accept the Gospel is related to whether or not someone presents God with a positive message.  We like to compute size with success and that God’s Truth is always glorified by numbers.  The more people, the better.  By this reasoning, the largest Churches in America would always be teaching the right kind of Truth because they’ve got the most people in them.  If Truth is expressed by numbers then the more people = the more Truth.

Yet, I would submit to you, that it is no mistake that the largest Churches in America, that call themselves Christians, are large especially because their message is only positive.  Their message flatters men.  They catch more flies with honey and , if the maxim is always true, then they must be doing something right.

What is so strange about the fact that many of us buy into this idea is that the idea is repeatedly rejected in the Word of God itself.

In the Book of Exodus, Moses returns from the mountain and finds the entire camp has broken out in a frenzy of worship for a golden calf.  Aaron was just giving the people what they want.  In John 6, Christ had thousands of followers and, in a single hour, preached Truth to them and lost nearly every disciple.  As his disciples told Him that His words were very hard to bear, He asked them if they too would leave?  Peter responded with the words of those who truly desire to follow after Christ:  Lord to whom shall we go, for you alone have words of eternal life?

Indeed, Christ alone has the Words of eternal life but they are very hard words to those of us who want to constantly receive sweet words.  The Word of God is a bitter pill sometimes.  And so as Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin, let us be reminded that Truth demands true words.  Truth demands that God’s Word be preached according to what the Gospel preaches.

Stephen was hauled before the Sanhredin at the close of Acts 6 under the false charge that he blasphemed God and spoke against the Temple and Moses.  Acts 7 opens with him being asked about the charges and then a masterful teaching from the Scriptures that not only shows that Stephen is innocent of the charges but that the Sanhedrin themselves are under trial.

Acts 7:1-8

1And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” 2And Stephen said:

“Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ 4 Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. 5Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. 6And God spoke to this effect-that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. 7′But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’ 8And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs.

Stephen opens by calling the men brothers and fathers.  He shows respect and demonstrates that they are in the seat of authority over the Jewish people.

He also shows his understanding of this common covenant they share and points out that Abraham met and worshipped God first outside of Jerusalem when he was brought from Ur of the Chaldees down to the Promised land.  He never inherited that land or the full promise of becoming a mighty nation or blessing all the nations but looked forward, in hope, trusting the God who had given him one son of Promise.  Stephen also notes that Abraham was told that his descendants would be held captive in Egypt for about 400 years.  Here, Stephen is showing that God is not confined to the Temple or Jerusalem because God was with Abraham and with His people even when they were sojourners – even when they were outside of the Promised Land and well before they took Jerusalem during the reign of David.

Acts 7:9-16

9″And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him 10and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. 11Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. 12 But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. 13And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. 14And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. 15And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, 16and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Notice what Stephen points out next.  He’s building a case, not only to show how much He loves God and His Word, but to demonstrate that Israel and its rulers have been stiff-necked and rebellious throughout their history.  Here, we recall that Joseph was one of God’s first prophets and his brothers, the fathers of the twelve tribes, persecuted him by selling him into slavery.  Our minds are given toward thinking in terms of individuals.  If we hear about our grandfather doing something when he was young we don’t associate that with the family.  To the Jewish mind, however, these men represented tribes.  The tribes are named after them.  In one sense, it is a picture of the tribes of Israel persecuting the prophets.

Stephen then transitions to Moses.  He’s already demonstrating that he’s not a blasphemer and he’s building his case that worship is not confined to the Temple and he turns his attention to defending against that charge that he speaks against Moses.  Here, you have to realize that they’re not accusing him of calling Moses names but stating that he speaks against Moses is to say that He denies the importance of the Law.  Stephen tells first of Moses birth and rescue from death by being brought out of the water by Pharaoh’s daughter.  But Moses knew he was to deliver his people and loved his people more than the riches of Pharaoh’s court.

At one point he struck down a slavemaster who was brutalizing an Israelite and, the next day, came upon two Israelites quarreling.  The two men didn’t accept his mediation.  They rejected his work as it were.  Again, these quarreling men are symbols of the nation at large that rejects Moses.  He fled to Midian for 40 years and returned after God visited him in a bush and sent him to deliver His people.

Now, did the Fathers, the Israelites welcome Moses with open arms?  Did they obey Moses?  Did they do what he revealed from God?  Remember, the Israelites in the desert represent Isreal:

Acts 7:35-43

35″This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’-this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. 36 This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. 37This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ 38This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us. 39Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, 40saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 41And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. 42But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices,

during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?

43You took up the tent of Moloch

and the star of your god Rephan,

the images that you made to worship;

and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

Once again, we see Israel pictured as rejecting Moses.  They not only rejected the person of Moses but they rejected the God he served.  For forty years they were rebellious.  For forty years they were devout worshippers but they were devout worshippers of false Gods and refused to listen to Moses.  They refused to listen to the Law.

At this point, you should be getting a sense of who is really on trial in this presentation.  While Stephen is defending himself, he’s really building a case against the current nation – represented by the Sanhedrin – who sit in the seat of judgment according to the Law but are not obeying Moses at all.  The irony in this trial is that Stephen is the wrong person to be put on trial for speaking against Moses.  The whole trial, with false charges by false witnesses, is a mockery of the Law of Moses.  The Sanhedrin, like their fathers in the desert, are those that speak against Moses, speak against the Law, and do not serve the living God even as they claim to know Him.

Stephen has definitively put away the charges that he blasphemes God or that he speaks against Moses.  He finally wraps up his defense to show that he does not speak against the Temple:

Acts 7:44-50

44″Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. 45Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, 46 who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.[c] 47But it was Solomon who built a house for him. 48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49 “‘Heaven is my throne,

and the earth is my footstool.

What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord,

or what is the place of my rest?

50Did not my hand make all these things?’

Stephen demonstrates the idolatry of these men’s hearts who place all the significance of worshipping the living God in a house built by hands.  God doesn’t dwell in tents and God doesn’t dwell in beautiful temples.  Christ revealed to the woman at the well that a time is coming, and has now come, when men will not have to go to a central location to worship Him because God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.

But the Spirit was far from the Sanhedrin’s understanding.  They were obsessed with physical location.  They cared not for the Truth but only for their distortion of it.

Stephen has obliterated these false charges but knows the score.  He knows that the Sanhedrin is not interested in honoring Moses.  He know they are like their fathers throughout history.  The defendant now becomes the Prosecuting attorney and reveals that the real people on trial for this mockery are the Sanhedrin themselves:

Acts 7:51-53

51 “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. 52 Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, 53you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Well, if you catch more flies with honey than vinegar then Stephen didn’t get the memo.  The Truth, beloved, is that Truth has to be spoken plainly and the sin of men has to be made plain to them.  They are guilty of the blood of the Son just like their fathers before them were guilty of the blood of the Prophets.  These men can repent of their sins and turn to Christ but they want nothing of it.

Acts 7:54

54Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

They are beside themselves with hatred and fury.  They have become wild beasts.  The darkening of the mind shows them to be the fools and beasts that they are even though they have the respect of the people.  Even though they ought to be the wise and the Godly, they are foolish servants of the devil.  Stephen will get no justice, just the hatred of an angry mob that was supposed to be a court.

But Stephen, standing alone in the presence of his enemies, is not left alone that day.  Stephen is not left to the despair of no hope.  As darkness is about to fall upon him, as the world and all its power comes crashing down on him, the Lord is gracious to open his eyes to heavenly realities:

Acts 7:55-60

55But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” 57But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together[d] at him. 58Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” 60And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

You see, Jesus called the Holy Spirit another Paraclete because the first Paraclete is Christ Himself.  The idea of Paraclete in the ancient world is someone who comes along side of you when you are under trial.

Stephen looks to heaven and what is Christ doing:  He’s standing!  In Hebrews, Christ is said to be sitting at the right hand of the majesty on high but here He is standing.

Why?  Because the Judge of all the earth is seated when He renders Judgment but our Paraclete on high is also the Judge.  Even as the world is condemning Stephen, Christ reveals to Stephen that He is His Paraclete – His attorney.  Christ will plead His case.  He will receive nothing but false judgment from this false court but Christ represents Him on high to acquit Him on the final judgment.

This is quite enough for the Sanhedrin.  To those that hate Christ and hate the idea that He is God, their transformation to beasts is complete.  Like little children they clap their hands over their ears, yelling, and drag him out of the court to stone Stephen to death.

Stephen, with confidence in the finished work of His Savior, commits his soul to His God.  But not before he prays for the forgiveness of the men who stone him in ignorance.  Thank God for your prayer, Stephen.  Thank God for your faith under pain and trial.  God heard that prayer as a young man named Saul was present at that stoning and received that forgiveness.

Beloved, if you are Christ’s and your trust in Him for your salvation then draw strength from this thought.  A day is coming when the whole world will be brought before the bar of God’s Judgment on high and every deed will be laid bare.  Christ Himself will judge.  Here is the glorious part on that day for Christ’s own.

When the Judge gets to you, if you have faith in Christ, the Judge will ask for you to give a defense.  He will then rise from that seat of Judgment and come to stand next to you as your Paraclete.  The Judge of all the earth will be your Attorney.

And, in the blood of Christ, the verdict will be to enter the rest provided for His own!

Today’s episode in Acts follows the preaching of the Word to the Sanhedrin by the Apostles.  You’ll recall, from last week, that the Sanhedrin openly rejected the call of the Gospel and scourged the Apostles for teaching it.  This does not stop the preaching of the Word.

As you also recall from Matthew 28:18-20, Christ commanded the Apostles to make disciples of all the nations.  They were commanded to baptize them in order to mark them out of the world as disciples.  They were also commanded to teach Christ’s disciples everything He commanded them.  This is the nature of the Great Commission:  making disciples and then baptizing and teaching those disciples.  This is how the Church grows.

But, in today’s episode, a problem has arisen within that work.  Recall that the disciples had been generous within Jerusalem to provide for the needs of all of the members within.  They ensured that there was no want.

Now, in our lives, we don’t think much about our physical needs.  In the ancient world, a person spent about 90% of their labor on a daily basis just to ensure that they would be able to put food on the table that day.  In fact, it’s still like that in much of the world and those here from the Philippines can attest to the poverty that many in the world experience and how little they make so that almost all their income goes in providing food just for the day.  So it was in those times.

And, in the ancient world as today, widows and orphans were the least able to provide for themselves.  If a woman became a widow, she not only faced the sorrow of losing her husband but also faced the real possibility of starvation.  James calls real religion the caring of orphans and widows because the caring for the truly downtrodden is a reflection of our love for our Heavenly Father.  Those that lose the knowledge of God in their minds and become darkened in their thinking stop caring about humanity, which is created in His divine image.  They will do things for others that they can receive advantage from but widows and orphans can offer us nothing except their need for us to love them and to provide for them and only a true religion with hearts born from above will love God’s image in them enough to care.

Well, the Church was caring for widows but, unfortunately, they were overlooking the Greek-speaking widows in the congregation.  The text does not indicate if this was done out of pride or to be exclusive.  We all know how difficult language and cultural barriers are.  It may be that those responsible for the distribution lacked the ability to communicate or the spiritual maturity for the task.  The bottom line is that there was a problem.  Widows were being neglected.  The Church had a responsibility for this mercy ministry.  The Apostles respond but it’s not quite what some of us would think is the case:  “²So the twelve summoned the congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not desirable for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables.”

Now, if you only see with eyes of the flesh, that response seems uncaring or arrogant.  It seems as if the Apostles are saying that they’re too important to be bothered with serving tables.  If you’re thinking that then I would suggest you have much to learn about the way the Apostles showed tremendous humility and would have no problem at all serving others and denying themselves.

I would also suggest that the reason it seems foreign to many of us is that we actually don’t think that the ministry of the Word is central to what the work of an Elder in Christ’s Church is.

If I were to ask you, right now, what is the most important part of our worship of God every week, what would you answer?  Is it the singing?  Is it the prayer?  What is the most important thing?

Don’t raise your hand but did any of you think it was the preaching of the Word?

I fear that Churches have drifted so far from the centrality of the preaching of the Gospel every week that they would think of many other qualities in a Pastor first before they would judge his qualifications to properly divide the Word of Truth and preach the Word toward the building up of the Church.  After all, didn’t God give us Apostles and teachers so they could be administrators?  Didn’t He give us Pastors so they could be in charge of every Church activity and give guidance on how it’s supposed to be organized?

Ephesians 4 teaches:  “¹¹And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,  ¹²for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;  ¹³until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”

Apostles, and Pastors, were given to the Church by God to build us up on the Word.  There is a reason why Pastors are called ministers and it is because they are supposed to be ministering the Word of God to us.  The Word is preached to build us up in the faith so that we go forward in joy and gratitude of the Gospel to love our neighbor.  We are equipped for the work of service by the Word but the Pastor’s mission is to focus, first and foremost, on the ministry of the Word and not on other areas of service.

If we actually took stock of how critical being built up in the Word was; if we actually took stock of how important the building up toward the unity of faith was, then we would completely understand the Apostles when they said it’s not good that they would forsake preparing the spiritual food that the congregation gets during Worship and leave that to go serve tables.  In other words, the priority for the minister of the Word is the spiritual food that is provided.  The spiritual food is more fundamental and more important.  That’s why Christ turned away thousands that were simply following Him for the physical food He could multiply but had no interest in the spiritual bread and drink He offered in the ministry of His teaching.

But many in the Church have become like the thousands that forsook Christ and will evaluate a Church or a Pastor on his ability to meet their physical needs:  good advice, Church programs, etc but care little about whether the Pastor can rightly divide the Word of Truth.  By way of admitting sin in my own past, I used to be a Worship Leader for a Church in California.  I thought the most important aspect of worship every week was when we were singing and then I sort of viewed the Preaching as the price I had to pay for enjoying the rest of the service and I took no delight in listening to the Word.  Part of that was because the minister didn’t preach the Gospel but part of that, to my shame, was because I thought as a man of the flesh does:  feed me with things I can touch or feel good about but I’m not interested in the spiritual benefits that the Word would teach me.

So the Apostles understand that they would be neglecting the preparation of spiritual bread that they prepared for their congregation every week.  They needed to spend time in study and prayer to prepare that spiritual bread but they also didn’t just neglect the problem altogether.

Their solution was to have the congregation choose seven men who were full of the Spirit and of wisdom to serve in the extremely important task of this service.  These seven men were the first deacons in the Church even though they are not called this.

You can think of it this way:  the seven deacons provided for the physical needs of the congregation in order to free the Pastors of the congregation to spend the time necessary to provide for the spiritual food for the congregation.  The Church absolutely needed both.

Notice that the men had to be of good reputation, and full of the Spirit and wisdom.  In other words, they had to be mature Christians.  They had to have the fruit in their lives of men who have demonstrated Godliness and gifting from God.  They didn’t simply ask for volunteers for the task and then lay hands on any warm body that had a pulse.

You see, this work of caring for the physical needs has very important spiritual aspects.  It requires wisdom and discernment.  It requires maturity.  By noting that the feeding of the Word of God is important, you should not get the impression that caring for the physical needs of a congregation is somehow not honorable.

It is in the physical hands of service that men and women often experience what the love of God and the results of a heart transformed by the Gospel really looks like.  It is the caring of details and the sweat of the brow that love is manifested.  Love is not a fuzzy feeling or an emotion but is acted out in very real ways.  It is acted out in often very physical ways.

A woman was recently honored in Scotland for her service to the Gospel and especially to the poor there.  She received one of the highest honors that she could receive.  When asked about this award, however, she said that, when it came to taking care of the poor, she was put to shame by her husband.  Her husband had the ability to serve the poor without flinching.  He could walk through the most disgusting human filth and not gag or turn his face away from a man or woman that reeked of excrement, urine, and vomit but needed his physical help.

He was asked how he could do this and responded simply:  “Whenever I go to help a man or woman in need, I always think of my Savior who had to wade through the most disgusting filth of my sin in order to save me from the wrath of God and it makes any physical filth I experience seem easy by comparison.”

When I hear things like this, I’m put to shame.  I’m being made wise to the Gospel and by the Spirit but I know that there is much sin left to kill within me.  Service of others is not an easy thing and it requires dying to self as only a person who has walked with Christ for some time can do.

These men were chosen because they had the Spiritual maturity to see what Christ had done for them and the eyes and the hands and the wisdom to serve the needs of the congregation as difficult or disgusting as that might be at times.  It is maturity that allows the unpleasant to be done without complaint.  It is with maturity that a man put into service for God’s Kingdom is able to consider the humiliation of service a high privilege.

One of these men, Stephen, stood out from the seven.  He not only performed his duties of mercy for the members of the congregation but performed miracles and even contended for the Gospel with a group of men called the Synagogue of the Freedman who were from parts of Asia.

As we’ve been reading through Acts, you’ve noticed with me how things are starting to get tense about the Gospel.  Men were annoyed in Acts 4, men were beaten in Acts 5, and now things are getting even more intense.

Stephen would reason with these men from the Scriptures and teach them about the death and resurrection of Christ.  What is interesting is that the text states that they could not cope with his wisdom and the Spirit he was teaching.  In other words, they couldn’t argue with him about what the Word of God taught because he was absolutely correct.

Now, what would a reasonable response be if you had to accept what the Word of God taught?  I don’t know about you but I would submit to the Word of God.  At least I hope I would.  That’s what someone with the fear of God would do.

But this is not the normal response for most men.  Most people get angry when they are challenged with the Word of God – unless God graciously opens their eyes and they submit to it.  Otherwise they’ll get angry and they’ll do everything they can to shut you up.  The last thing a man wants to hear when he’s got a tradition he’s hanging on to is to be convinced by God that he needs to let go of a tradition.

Have you ever heard somebody say this:  “The Jews have the Old Testament but the Christians have the New Testament”?

If you ever hear it again then tell the person that said it that it’s not true.

What Stephen and this Synagogue were arguing over was the proper interpretation of the Old Testament and whether it pointed to Christ.  What Christ was put to death for was His understanding of the Old Testament because it clashed with the traditional understanding by the Scribes and Pharisees.  Christianity “owns” both the Old and New Testaments because both testify of and to Christ and His work.

Well, this fraternity didn’t like that Stephen wouldn’t stop teaching of the death and resurrection of Christ so what better way to shut a man up than to make up false charges about him and haul him in front of the Sanhedrin.  In effect, Stephen was charged with the same thing that Christ Himself was charged with:  teaching blasphemy about the Word and about Moses.  In fact, just like Christ, they even brought forward false witnesses against Stephen.  Please keep a mental note of the fact that this court was completely unjust and allowed false witnesses as Stephen was forced to stand alone before the court and give an answer to the Sanhedrin.  I want you to remember that next week as Stephen is tried for this false crime and has no attorney present to represent him.

I hope you’re starting to get a sense for the wickedness of man and why man needs the Gospel so very much and what the consequences to our thinking are when we deny this Gospel.  This portion ends with a very simple statement that Stephen’s face literally shined like an angel in their midst.  I mean, come on, how many different ways can a group of people actually be blind to facts!  Shouldn’t that cause someone to pause and reconsider for just a moment when you see a fellow with a face like an angel?  But this is the nature men that will see things and still be blind to them.  Never accept the fantasy that someone who does not believe the Gospel would believe if God performed a miracle for them.  If a man doesn’t believe God and His Word then we have seen evidence after evidence that evidence itself isn’t enough to convert a man.

Indeed, Beloved, let us never forget to be continually thankful to God that our eyes have been opened to the Gospel of Christ.  This passage is a good reminder to us that we shouldn’t be surprised when men speak false things against us for Christ’s sake.  But this passage ought to also remind us what a tremendous blessing that we can read the things of God and see them.

Or perhaps you still refuse to see.  Perhaps you too have a tradition that you’re holding on to from the world or from the Church.  Maybe the idea that the Word should be central in the Church offends you.  Believe the Gospel that Christ died and rose again for an undeserved sinner such as you if you would believe in His righteousness and stop trusting in your own.  Be ye transformed by His Word and continually pray to Him that you might learn to love the things of God that are found in His Word and consider all other things that get in the way of its power to build up as rubbish in comparison.

Acts 5

I want you all to stop and think for a moment. I want you to think of Almighty God for a moment and think about how you might describe to another person what you think about Him. Don’t say it out loud. I want you to simply think to yourself for about 30 seconds. Think about God and list those things you think about when you consider Who He is. I’ll pause while you consider this.

Please keep your list of ideas to yourself but I want to ask you each as you sit in your pew, did fear ever enter your mind when you thought of God? Did you give the fear of the Lord even a fleeting thought?

Fear?

Are any of you asking yourself that now? Fear, unfortunately seems like a very strange thing to use to describe our relationship to God today. In fact, when you interview young people today, the concept of fearing God is completely foreign to them. Youth activities are organized to make God cool. God needs to be fun. Experiences need to be exciting. Fear would just turn kids off, right?

Not simply youth activities though. Adults in most Churches today expect the same ideas. To the ideas of fun, cool, and exciting, maybe most adults would think of God as useful, as relevant, or maybe as a helper in a time of need.

What do most of the e-mails that you receive that tell you about God teach? God is this cosmic nice guy who writes you a love letter telling you how much He’s always loved you and maybe you could arrange some time in your schedule later to plan a date with Him. Or maybe God is pictured as walking with you in the sand and you look back and He’s only there for the hard times. It’s those times that He carries you but He’s a nice companion the rest of the time. Some have even said that He’s a dance partner during the good times.

Are these e-mails, though, the beginning of our understanding of God? Is this what the Scriptures teach us about God – that we need to understand how much He wants to be our best friend? Is this the beginning of understanding for a believer?

Here is what the Scriptures testify to concerning wisdom from the beginning of the Book of Proverbs:

5A wise man will hear and increase in learning,

And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,

6To understand a proverb and a figure,

The words of the wise and their riddles.

7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.

8Hear, my son, your father’s instruction

And do not forsake your mother’s teaching;

What is the beginning of knowledge? What is the beginning of Godly wisdom? The fear of the LORD.

Oh, but surely what this is talking about is respect and reverence and not fear? God isn’t supposed to frighten us in any way?

Don’t be so sure. I know this is a hard truth for many to embrace but, beloved, if you have any love for God on the basis of what He has done in redeeming you from sin and death, don’t you desire to really know Him? Don’t you desire to know what He says about Himself? Stop for a moment sometimes and think: Just because I read this in an e-mail about God and it made me feel really good, does that mean that what the e-mail said about God is true? Think about this for a moment too: Is everything I believe about God that I’ve thought in the past true?

If we’re not willing to measure what we believe about God with His Word then how does that make us any different than the Pharisees and Sadducees who we keep reading about that had their own ideas about God that made them feel good but were not according to God’s Word? Again, friends, let the Word transform you and do not ignore the Word simply because it’s not as fun as you would like it to be.

It’s not as if I get up here every week taking great delight in the idea that the Word of God will make men and women uncomfortable. It makes me uncomfortable too but I’m bound to teach what it teaches and it doesn’t flatter men. I realize there are Churches on this island today where you could be that will flatter you and always leave you feeling good about yourself and content that you need not change anything.

I’m not teaching you about this to be obnoxious or because I think you need it more than I do. I’m teaching you about this because it’s in the Word of God and we need this if we desire to grow in wisdom. The way of wisdom is hard. Humility requires humiliation sometimes and a hard look at our sin and a painful look at how we create idols in our minds so we can destroy those idols and grow in our devotion of God.

As this episode opens up we recall that a believer named Joseph, a levite, had sold his field – probably his life’s inheritance – and laid it at the feet of the Apostles to give to the Church as any had need. Joseph was such a loving and encouraging soul that everyone just started calling him by his spiritual qualities: Son of Encouragement – Barnabas.

As Acts 5 continues the story, we read of Ananias and Sapphira who desired the same kind of esteem among the brethren. They resolved to sell their land and give the money to the Church and tell the Church that they had given the Church everything from the sale of the land. The only problem is that they sold the land and gave only a part of the money from the sale but held the rest back. That would have been fine if they told the Church they were giving part of the money to the Church but they lied to the Church and told them they were giving everything.

You might get the impression from Acts 2 and Acts 4 that God had commanded the disciples to sell everything they had and hold everything in common. The text does not say that. It only points out that this is what many of the disciples were doing. Not all of them but the main point is that there was no need or want in the Church. Nobody was starving or without shelter because the disciples took care of one another.

I suppose it’s inevitable that someone is sitting right now thinking that this is a story that the Church would use to make people feel guilty so that they give everything they have to God. But listen to what Peter says to Ananias: “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control?” In other words, Ananias, nobody commanded you to do this. You could have given as much or as little as you desired. God desires a cheerful giver.

One might also get the false impression in this episode that the most terrible aspect is that Ananias lied to the men of the Church in promising this thing. But the terrible sin in this episode is revealed by Peter: “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land? 4″While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.”

Ananias has just stained the Church of Christ by this action. Christ calls His Church His Body. Ananias and Sapphira conceived a thing to lie to the entire Church in order to receive the approval of men and then hid the rest of the money, as it were, from sight.

But who saw this?

God. The Holy Spirit.

Did they really think that God didn’t know what they were doing? But isn’t this the nature of sin that we pretend as if God is not watching and God doesn’t know and that the thing we have done is not known by Him? We live our lives as if the things we hide from others are hidden from God.

And when we do such things, we lie to the Holy Spirit. We lie as if He does not exist. We lie as if God is not true, is not living, does not see.

We know it is wrong to gossip and we talk about other men or other women in this Church. We complain about them. We would stop in an instant if they walked into the room but, when we are talking in private, we destroy them with our tongues as if God cannot hear. We think that because the person we gossip about cannot hear that God does not hear and so we lie to the Holy Spirit when we smile to the person’s face and destroy them among others behind their back.

Don’t we fear God? Do we have any understanding or wisdom? Do we believe that God will judge every deed and every idle thought?

Ao as we continue in this story, some of us might be shocked that Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead for this sin. After all, I wonder if you could imagine a footprints in the sand plaque that read: “And here’s the footprint when I lied to God and He put me to death for it.” I don’t think that would sell too well.

But, beloved, this was a gracious thing that the Lord did for the Church. For all we know it might have been a gracious thing for Ananias and Sapphira. Paul talks about believers who “fall asleep” because of their sin. Sometimes the Lord graciously takes a person’s life so they won’t be tempted to sin even more before His face. After all, if a man believes upon Christ then even the sins that we commit will be covered by His blood but God doesn’t desire a child to keep slapping Him in the face.

But this episode served a very gracious purpose to the Church at large as well. We continue in verse 11:

11And great fear came over the whole church, and over all who heard of these things

12At the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon’s portico.

13But none of the rest dared to associate with them; however, the people held them in high esteem.

14And all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to their number,

Great fear filled the Church. Fear filled the believers of the Church and, as the Proverbs testified, it opened their eyes to Wisdom. They began on the path to understanding the Holy One. They began to have greater understanding that God was powerful and almighty. They began to hold Him in the fear and reverence that He deserves. Perhaps some of them were given to thinking they ought to give into temptation. Perhaps some of them were deceived into thinking that they could stop attending worship. Perhaps some of them were getting bored with the long sermons or with how tedious it is to worship a God they couldn’t see.

We’re so accustomed to God giving us so many good things in life that we deceive ourselves into thinking we deserve good things even though we are wicked and even when we are purposefully disobeying His Word. Most of the time in the Scriptures, God doesn’t strike people dead when they do things that He would have every right to do so. And people become complacent. They become foolish because they do not fear God.

But occasionally God reminds His people that He’s not to be trifled with. He reminds them that He is God. He reminds them to stop lying to the Holy Spirit. He reminds them to stop lying about who He is and that He’s mighty and powerful and awesome and terrible. He reminds them that nobody can look upon Him and live. This reminder is a gracious thing. It is a loving thing. It wakes men up. It wakes the Church up. It restores the relationship so that the creature begins anew in worshipping the Creator as He really is.

You see, later in this passage, not everybody receives the same gracious sign, which causes the Church to fear the Lord. Not everybody in this chapter ends up growing in the knowledge of this gracious truth.

The Sanhedring throw the Apostles in prison again for preaching in Jesus’ name and an angel let them out and they go right back into the Temple and preach Jesus’ name again. They haul the Apostles before the Sanhedrin and the high priest is angry at them: “27When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, 28saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

Who does this guy think he’s kidding? He knows very well that he and the other members of the Sanhedrin demanded Christ’s blood. He’s lying with no fear of God. What’s worse is that He’s lying about putting the Son of God to death. What kind of fool would do that? One who has no fear of God.

But the Gospel has to continue to proclaim the Truth to men who are lying to the Holy Spirit. You see, if we had spiritual eyes to see we would think to ourselves that it would be better for the High Priest to believe in Christ and be struck dead at that moment for lying to the Holy Spirit but, at least if He believed in Christ, he would have been saved from further sin.

But Peter teaches the Gospel to the Sanhedren again boldly. He doesn’t let up and says: “29But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30″The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. 31″He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. 32″And we are witnesses [c]of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

Does the Sanhedrin respond with the fear of God? Do they repent? They’re called to obey the Gospel. They’re called to fear the Lord and worship His Son and bow down.

But because there is no fear of the Lord in them, they are fools. Because they are fools they see the world in upside down terms. Here is their response to the Gospel: “33But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.”

You see, more clearly, how the Gospel ends up costing the Apostles. If a man has no fear of the Lord then they cannot stand to hear that Christ was put to death at the hands of lawless men and that they need to believe in Him. They will not only hate that message but will get so angry at that News that they’ll try to kill you if you keep proclaiming it.

Why? Because they do not fear the Lord. Because they lie to themselves and lie to the Holy Spirit about Who God really is.

Let us, then, never grow weary of the Truth. Let us not grow weary of the Gospel. Let us constantly be reminded, afresh, that God is greatly to be praised because He is greatly to be feared.

Today’s passage continues the drama we witnessed last week in the healing of a lame man.  Crowds of people came running over to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ proclaimed.  The event pointed to His power over death and that, even though these men deserved judgment for putting the Son of God to death, God had prepared Christ’s sacrifice for sin before the foundation of the world.  “Turn and Repent!”, Peter had commanded and thousands of men believed in the work of Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and life everlasting.  The Church was now over 5000 strong.

One of the profound things that I tend to think about often is how men’s responses to the News of Christ’s victory over the grave is different.  You see, the Gospel is an announcement of a historical event and a historical person.  The Cross of Christ is proclaimed – that a man named Jesus of Nazareth did, indeed, hang on a Cross and bore the Sins of all who would believe in His work to atone for Sin and He rose again from the dead, just as He foretold.  Here in this passage, Peter and John are giving fresh evidence of Christ’s victory over sin and death by healing a man born lame and pointing to the power of Christ Who now reigns on high.  Everything points to factual data.  Everything points to factual evidence.

But some do not believe.

The Apostle Paul teaches us about this in Romans 10:14-15 where he testifies of the Gospel going forward with news of a great victory:

¹⁵How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “HOW BEAUTIFUL ARE THE FEET OF THOSE WHO BRING GOOD NEWS OF GOOD THINGS!”   ¹⁶However, they did not all heed the good news; for Isaiah says, “LORD, WHO HAS BELIEVED OUR REPORT?”

In the ancient world they did not have e-mail or telephones.  They didn’t even have newspapers.  News of events was often sent by young men who would run to the towns and announce the news of a great victory.  You can imagine the scene as a town in Israel is waiting anxiously to hear how a battle turned out as David was out fighting the Philistines and vastly outnumbered.  Men would be posted on towers and look hard in the horizon.

What’s that small dust cloud?  It’s a runner.

“A runner approaches!”, says the man on the tower.

“How does he run?”, asks the crowd.

If the battle is lost, perhaps the man is running with his head down in a sad gait.  Who wants to run to tell the News of a defeat?

But the feet of the man with Good News!  Oh, he’s flying.

“Victory!  Oh, how beautiful are the feet of him who brings Good News!”

“Victory!”

“Christ, has conquered Sin and Death!  Death where is your sting?!  Where is your victory?!”

The runner flies into the town with this wonderful News of Victory.

But who has believed the report?

What kind of people would greet the runners with Good News as if the report just isn’t true.

The famous French Rationalist, Didero, was famous for writing:  “I should, without hesitation, believe any respectable individual who might bring me the intelligence of any army having obtained a victory over its opponent, etc.; but should the whole population of Paris assure me that a dead man rose from his grave, I would not believe a word of it.”

In fact, beloved, that is exactly what has happened in today’s story as the leaders of the Temple walk up to Peter and John and demand to know why Peter and John are teaching in the Temple and teaching about that obnoxious man, Jesus, that they just put to death not so long ago.

Notice that they are Sadducees.   The Sadducees were the ruling party among the Sanhedrin.  The High Priests came from this party and they wielded tremendous influence.   Christ had warned the Apostles, during His teaching ministry to beware the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees (Matt 16:6).

Both had ideas that were poisonous to the Gospel but for different reasons.  We think the Pharisees were the only troublemakers but unbelief comes from many different angles.  In the case of the Pharisees, unbelief came not from a lack of belief or zeal about the supernatural or religion but that they believed the wrong things about these things.

The Sadducees, though, were like our modern day men today who don’t believe in such nonsense stories about men being raised from the dead.  The Law has its place to give men and women moral stories about how to conduct their lives but it is this life that is most important.  Things like the Resurrection are just not true if you’re a Sadducee.

They demand to know by whose authority that Peter and John were teaching.  By this, they really wanted to know what School they went to.  They wanted to know what Rabbi they followed.  Like today, before you’re going to be heard by the intelligentsia, it’s less important to know that you’ve been married for 20 years and are giving advice to young men and women about marriage but much more important that you have a Master’s Degree in counseling from some God-hating institution that believes men are collections of genes.

Men back then, like today, didn’t teach on their own authority but would simply quote “the experts”, the Rabbis.  Teaching of the Scriptures sounded something like:  “Rabbi Gamaliel teaches this….”

But Peter and John don’t have academic credentials.  They’re fishermen from Galilee, a backwater town of uneducated tradesman.  These men would be scorned for their lack of sophistication and education and they have to give account for how it is they are teaching.

But these backwater men had sat at the foot of Jesus of Nazareth for 3 years.  These men had been breathed on and anointed by Christ to preach His name with power.  And so, filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter puts the Sanhedrin on trial.

Peter announces that this lame man standing before you was healed in the name of Jesus.  The man that they put to death is exactly Who He said He was.  They announce the fact of His victory over the grave.  He is the Stone that the builders rejected that has become the Chief Cornerstone.

You see the builders had been these Jewish leaders and they rejected the Stone.  They rejected the Rock of Salvation.  They rejected the Rock that had sustained Israel in the desert for 40 years.  Just like rebellious Israel, they raised their hands against almighty God in unbelief.

But Christ is the cornerstone.  They rejected Him and cast him out but had rejected the cornerstone upon which the Church and the people of God would be built.  This cornerstone would save all who trust in it but will crush all who reject it.

Peter announces boldly to them in verse 12:  “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

What Name did Peter heal in?

What Name did Peter preach in?

The Name that is above all Names.  The King and King and Lord of Lords.

Christ announced in Matthew 28 that all authority in heaven and earth had been given Him and that Peter and John and the Apostles were to make disciples of all the nations.

There is no other option for men for salvation.

There was no other option for the Sanhedrin that day.

For the first time, though, in Acts we don’t read of men being converted to the Gospel by the News of Christ’s victory.  The same News went out but the Sanhedrin didn’t believe the report.  Instead they told Peter and John to stop teaching in this Name.

What is so strange to us all is that they are amazed at the boldness and power of Peter’s preaching.  They even have to acknowledge that a man was healed who had been lame for 40 years.

But the evidence wasn’t going to convert them.  You see, don’t ever think that the evidence of your heart or the objective evidence of Christ’s resurrection and victory over the grave is going to be enough to convert a man.  You can only proclaim the News.  You can only tell the Story.  But some will simply not believe the report.  They might even accept the evidence but they won’t believe.  Pray for such men for great judgment awaits those that will be crushed by their rejection of the Son.

Peter and John were told by the Sanhedrin not to bear this News any longer.  That they could not do.

Paul teaches us in Romans 13 how we are supposed to submit to our earthly authorities because God places such men in authority.  But, here, the Sanhedrin had no authority to dictate to the Church what they may or may not do.  A higher authority, Jesus Christ, had told them to preach this News.

In fact, as Peter asks the Sanhedrin this question:  “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge…” there is a certain edge to it.  This is because the Sanhedrin should have been giving heed to God’s Apostles.  The men with real spiritual authority from God were in their midst and they were disobeying the Gospel call.

Since the Sanhedrin could do nothing more, legally, with them they sent them out of the Temple.  Peter and John returned to the Disciples who all rejoiced not only that men had been converted to the Gospel but, strangely enough, they rejoiced that men had rejected the Gospel.  You see, it is not our business to convert men.  It is our business to proclaim the Gospel to all men faithfully and God does the conversion.  But when we are proclaiming boldly in Jesus’ name and men hate us for it then we are commanded to rejoice just as the disciples did here.

They even quote Psalm 2 that teaches about the Nations raging in opposition to God’s rule.  Whenever we sing the Psalms at night with the kids, Anna always wants to sing “Why do heathen nations rage” which is the first line of Psalm 2 from one of our Psalters.  Peter proclaims boldly that even though the Roman Government and the Sanhedrin had decided together to scheme against God they were no match for His power.  Psalm 2 even records that God sits on high and laughs that the governments of this world think they can just come together and decide to throw off His rule.

On the human level, the Sanhedrin was convinced that Peter and John had been stopped but, from on high, God would get the last laugh.

Again, beloved, this message of the Gospel is really quite simple.  It’s not a matter of whether or not we have facts or evidence.  It’s a matter of whether or not somebody is going to believe our report.  When we go forward today, I hope you do not lose heart and continue to share the simple News of the hope that you have within you.  Jesus Christ died on a Cross for sinners and rose again in victory over the grave.  All who trust in Him are saved from their Sins.  That is the hope that you have within you.  That is the News that men will either receive with joy as they ought or will simply dismiss as a fairy tale.  Either way, the Gospel is borne forward by you and preached weekly in His Church.  Christ will have the victory no matter what the nations decide to do with the News or with those who have hope in that News.

We’re reading through the Acts of the Apostles as the gospel is spread from Jerusalem to Judea and Samaria and to the outermost parts of the world even as Christ commanded at the beginning of Acts.

Last time we left the Acts, Peter had concluded a powerful Gospel message on the day of Pentecost during which the men of Israel were convicted of their sin and the Gospel of the resurrection of Jesus Christ converted 3000 in to the New Testament Church.

Today is another episode and you’ll notice some striking parallels in the Gospel presentation after the healing of a lame man.

What I want you all to focus upon today as we proceed through this account is the manner in which Peter presents the Gospel to men.  What you’ll find in this episode is a close connection to the way he presented the Gospel in Acts Chapter 2.  It’s the same way the Gospel is presented throughout the Acts of the Apostles.  It is done with great boldness and conviction of sin and impending judgment with the announcement of Christ’s resurrection as the solution to that judgment.  The reason we need to focus on this is because we should be examining our own ideas about how the Gospel goes forward and asking ourselves:  “Is this what I think the Gospel is?”

Unfortunately, today, the Gospel is often presented as a worried God who desires to love all men if they would simply love Him in return.  This is not the message of Peter.  God is not in heaven waiting on men to respond but His ambassadors go forward with power to announce Christ’s Lordship and the need that all men repent of their wickedness.

The idea that men are wicked and need of repentance, though, is a foreign concept today – even among Christians who are supposed to understand that Christ came to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the World.  In fact, most men view the problems of evil as coming from the outside.  Man thinks the problem is society or things we eat or drink that defile us or make us evil.  In fact, it is from within the heart that wickedness is found.  It is the heart of man that is the problem.  It is his rebellion against an almighty God that is the problem.  Christ’s Gospel goes forward to overthrow that rebellious heart that men might be restored to their Creator.

As the story opens, Peter and John are going to the Temple as was their habit and they encounter a beggar.  In this culture, crippled men would not be able to conduct a trade so it was common for the families of these men to leave them in a place where they might beg for money to sustain themselves.  From the story, it is plain that this beggar has been dropped off at the temple for years and years because everybody knows this man.  Here is the poor man on yet another day begging for the coins of men who are going to the Temple.  These men would be going into the Temple with their consciences filled with the guilt of sins committed and would likely take pity on this man as his eyes are downcast and he’s holding out his hand for coins.

But today is a different day.  Peter and John see the man and, being led by the Spirit, they walk up to the man.  His eyes are downcast as his hand is extended in poverty.

“Look at us!” commands Peter.  The man needs to look up because Peter is about to command the man to do something.

The man looked up expecting to receive some coins but, Oh, how much more was he about to receive!

⁶But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene–walk!”

Now, I can imagine that, just for a moment, the man became downcast as he heard Peter tell him he had no gold and silver to give him.  No money to put bread on the table that day.

But then the name that is above every other name was spoken with authority by a man commanded to heal by that name:  “In the name of Jesus of Nazareth – walk!”

Now, I want you to notice something.  Peter didn’t ask the man if he was worthy of this.  He didn’t ask the man if he was ready to be healed.  He didn’t ask the man for anything.  The man was a beggar.  Peter simply commanded the man to walk by the power of Jesus.

Have you ever seen a person who has been in a wheelchair all their lives?  How their muscles are atrophied and tight?  There is no strength in their legs for this.

But this is no match for the power of God that calls things that are not as if they are.  Even as the command was going forward, the legs of the man were strengthened and Peter literally pulled the man to his feet.  Bones became dense, tendons were lengthened and improved, muscles were formed, and a man who had been lame from birth could walk again.  Praise God!

Isn’t it easy to simply stop at that fact and think it remarkable that the man could walk again?  But what good would it be if that man could walk again and still be an unbeliever and perish in his sins?  No, in fact, the name of Jesus and what He represented as the substitute for man had also been spoken into that man’s heart.  Verse 16 reveals that, at the moment of his healing, not only was this man given new legs but he was given a new heart by the power of Jesus name and He believed in the Savior.  When you see acts of healing in the Scriptures, they’re never performed merely to heal the body, which eventually perishes, but the healing of the soul is the most glorious result.

I love this next part as verse 8 tells us:  “With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

Can you imagine the scene as a downcast man, with a miserable life, alienated from God, not only has his legs strengthened but, God in His mercy, visits this man with the Gospel that day?  Of course he was leaping and praising God.  How could you contain yourself when you’ve been redeemed with such a great salvation?  Or maybe you’ve forgotten what God has done for you so it is foreign after all.

But not for this man.  This man could not contain the joy of his salvation and makes so much noise that everybody in the Temple area is drawn in a crowd around him as he’s following Peter and John into the Temple.

The Book of Acts records that everybody rushed over to see this powerful work of God.  They knew this was the beggar they had seen for years.  There was no mistake that something powerful had happened.  Nobody was mocking this event as many had mocked the Apostles on the day of Pentecost.  They pressed in around Peter and John wondering what this could mean.

Now the primary reason for the healing is revealed.  You see, we like to think of miracles a personal events but miracles are intended to point away from the person that receives healing and call attention to the mighty works of God.  Peter notices the crowd and verse 12 tells us:  ¹²But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people, “Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

Isn’t it interesting that, today, those that claim the power to heal are always calling attention to their own anointing?  If you talk to a Word of Faith person, won’t they repeatedly tell you that the reason why someone can heal or receives healing is based on the power of their faith or their piety?  Peter absolutely destroys such a notion.  He tells the men around him.  Why are you looking at us as if we have power?  Why would you think it is because we’re such good or faithful people that are able to heal men born lame?  He wants to point them to Jesus and so he continues in verse 13:

¹³“The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.

¹⁴“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,

¹⁵but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.

We see again something remarkable about the Gospel presentation of Peter that we are not used to expecting if we are simply looking for nice soothing words about how much God loves everyone.  Peter is convicting these onlookers of the death of the Son of God.  He’s reminding them that they disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked instead for a murderer to be released to them.  He’s reminding them that they put to death the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead and that they are witnesses to it all.

This is the Gospel, the Good News, the announcement of the death and resurrection of Christ but it contains a sharp edge of judgment for these men because they were responsible for rejecting this Man who they should have bowed down to and worshipped.  It is really quite impossible, in fact, for a person to understand the Gospel if they don’t understand their Sin.  What is the Good News, in fact, except to understand that there is a need to be delivered from something Bad?  Is that bad thing simply an unhappy life?  No.  It is much more profound and frightening to men that they need to understand that they stand under the judgment of God.

Some might think it hateful to speak of God’s wrath for sin but I say the opposite.  The hateful thing to do is to lie to men and tell them that there is no wrath but peace with God apart from Christ.  They need to understand the wrath and the judgment or they’ll never understand what Christ had to die for to put away.

And so Peter does not shy away from this hard truth but proclaims the fact of Christ’s death and resurrection and their conspiracy to contribute to that terrible act.  In fact, beloved, we all bear responsibility for His death for it is for Sin that Christ had to die.

Peter continues:  ¹⁶“And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.

¹⁷“And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.

¹⁸“But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

¹⁹“Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;

²⁰and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,

The Gospel never stops at a simply a reminder of the Sin of mankind but points out that Christ then came to reconcile men.

Peter points out that it is the faith of the lame man that not only strengthened the man but saved his soul as well.  This Name above all Names is the Christ who can not only heal but save men utterly.

And so Peter points out that God knows that these men acted ignorantly when they put His Son to death and that it was the Cross itself, a wicked act in the hands of men, that God used to pay the penalty for sin.  The place of the Curse becomes the place for Blessing.  God had prepared this sacrifice well beforehand that Christ would offer Himself on the Cross and suffer for sin.  He has fulfilled this role and Sin is atoned.  The wrath of God for sin is completely dealt with in Christ for those that believe.

And so the call goes out again to them:  “Repent and return, that your sins my be wiped away!”  This is why Christ was sent.  He was appointed for this errand.  He was marked out to be scorned by you that He might save you by the scorn and by bearing the Sins of all who place their trust in Him.

You see, in the end, the Gospel is really quite simple but, because we are so full of ourselves we need to be reminded of its message.

You are desperately wicked.  There is no good inside of you.  The purpose of this life is not to look deep within your heart to find truth within you.  The reason why you say and do and think wicked things is because it flows out of your heart.  You are deceived if you think that good is within you.  You are deceived if you think that God looks at your heart and sees something good in it apart from Christ.  You are in need of perfection in this life.

But, thanks be to God, perfection has been provided in the life and work of Jesus Christ.  His heart was good.  His intentions were pure.

And He went to the Cross, scorned by the World that thought its heart was fine.  He went to the Cross because men were convinced that they were good on the inside and could please God by their own attitudes, by the sincerity of their hearts and by the sincerity of their deeds.  Christ was hated then and is hated today because men are insulted that something is wrong with them and that God doesn’t see how good they are without any need for someone else.

But Christ died for men like us that are self-deceived.  He paid the penalty for the wickedness that is in our hearts as a result of Sin in this world.  He paid the penalty for the sin that you and I deserve to spend eternity in Hell paying for.  He cried out in agony as His Father turned His face away from Him so that we would never have to experience that.

And so the Gospel requires that we turn away from looking within ourselves and stop trusting in our own goodness.  It requires that we turn and fix our eyes upon the Cross.  The simple announcement is that Christ has come in the flesh and died on the Cross for Sin and was resurrected on the third day and ascended on high to reign forever.  All those who stop trusting in themselves and look to Christ will surely be saved from their sins.

Having just read a lengthy and powerful section that demonstrates the power of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, I think it’s probably worth noting very plainly that the Gospel is a powerful message.  For some of you that might go without saying and taken for granted.  It shouldn’t be taken for granted though.  The power of the Gospel to save men, in fact to convert men by its preaching, is central to the Gospel itself.

I fear that, today, many people don’t actually see the power to save as coming from the Gospel but see the power to save as coming from within.  Many of the most popular preachers on TV and in books today are proclaiming a message that man’s problem is not tapping into something that God has made available to every man inside of them.  The power of salvation, they say, is found in our sincerity or in our experience of God.  The idea that the power to save comes from outside of us is now a foreign idea to many.  The reason it is foreign is that it is not being taught like it used to be.  Preachers no longer talk about Christ and His work – instead it’s our sincerity that becomes the work that improves our condition.

Even the words we use about the Gospel can communicate whether or not we believe salvation rests on the inside of us or comes from the outside of us as an announcement.  Too often, men talk about an invitation to believe.  An invitation, though, is something you get to a special event and you have the option to accept or refuse.  We might not say it out loud but many probably believe that the invitation is given because God will just spend eternity in misery if we don’t make Him whole by accepting Him.

But God is not made whole by us.  No, we are made complete by Him. 

What if the Gospel was not an invitation at all but a command?  What if the Gospel had within it the power of salvation to actually convert the hearts of men?  What if the God who said  “Let there be light” and there was light was able to raise dead men to life by the preaching of the Word? 

Honestly, I don’t think there’s any if about it. 

Romans 1:16 calls the Gospel the power of God for salvation.  There’s a reason why we preach the Gospel to the world:  because the Gospel saves and if men had it within themselves to save by coming to God then we would not need to go to them as ambassadors of Christ.  The Gospel is much more than helping men come to a self-realization that God loves them.  Christ didn’t have to die on a Cross for the message that you just need to wake up and realize that God loves you.

Peter continues in his powerful presentation of the Gospel here by reminding all the Jews present of an obvious fact:  Jesus the Nazarene was attested to them by God with miracles and wonders and signs that God performed in their midst.  These men were without excuse for not believing Christ because, as Nicodemus noted, no man could have done the things that Christ did unless He came from God.  This was so plainly taught in the Scriptures that these men were blameworthy for not believing that He came from the Father just as He said.  It wasn’t as if they were being asked to have a blind faith like the Mormons who accept tales of Joseph Smith’s encounter with an angel.  Christians have a faith based in the evidence of Christ’s power and that ultimate power was displayed in a historically recorded event known as the Resurrection.

But, in spite of the evidence, these men were blind.  They were blind in their sin and Christ Himself had regularly condemned them for their blindness and unbelief.  It’s not that they needed to have a blind faith but their problem was that they were blind so they had no faith.  Jesus even told Nicodemus that a man cannot see the Kingdom of God unless he is born again in John 3.  These men were dead in their sins and, even though Christ was clearly manifest, they fought tooth and nail against Him.

Christ did everything that the Scriptures foretold the Son would do and they missed it.  Instead of embracing His feet and calling Him Lord they actually put Him to death.  Notice in verse 23 he condemns them for what they did to Christ:  “…you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death….” 

Many in attendance were probably Pharisees that had long schemed how they could trip up Jesus or how they could put Him to death.  Many more were those who had stood in a crowd and called that a robber be released and yelled to crucify Christ.

But it wasn’t just these men who had sent Christ to the Cross, it was God Himself.  Christ did not go as a helpless victim but He gave Himself up freely.  Christ was “…delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God….”  God was not pacing back and forth in heaven, biting His nails, and wondering how things could have gone wrong.  No.  God had foreordained that this would happen.

But even as God ordains all that comes to pass, this did not relieve these wicked men from their responsibility.  God is able to use the wicked deeds of men for His purposes even while He does not tempt them to sin.  Men act according to their own desires – their wicked desires – but God uses it for His glory.  God ordained things so that Christ literally died at the very hour that God had planned He would while these men were completely blameworthy because they planned his death according to their own desires.  God did not have to plant sinful desires within them or twist their arms:  they put the Son of God to death willingly.

But, Peter continues in verses 24-32, Christ did not remain dead.  “You failed to kill the Son of God like you planned.  Oh, you murdered Him but little did you know that the Son of God could not be held captive by death.”

Peter quotes David in Psalm 16 who proclaims: 

‘I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE;

FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN.

    26′THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED;

MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE;

27BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES,

NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY.

28′YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE;

YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.’

Peter uses a very obvious object lesson here by pointing to the very tomb of David.  Obviously, Peter declares, David couldn’t be talking about himself not decaying because his tomb is nearby.  Everyone knows that David is in the grave.

But not Christ.  Christ is risen from the dead.  Christ was not abandoned to Hades nor did His flesh suffer decay.  This Jesus, that you crucified, God raised up again just as Christ foretold.  You thought this Man to be deceived.  You thought this man false but God vindicated Him and proved Him to be the Son of God by raising Him from the dead just as He foretold He would.  All of us standing here proclaiming the mighty works of God in your tongue are witnesses to the resurrection of the Son of God from the dead.

Try to put yourself in the shoes of the hearers of this news.  Remember that they put Jesus to death and were deceived into thinking they were pleasing God while they were doing so.  Can you just imagine that the hair on the back of their necks is starting to stand on end as they begin to feel the weight of their guilt?  If you think that’s bad, wait until Peter really nails them with the Ascension of Christ that we talked about two weeks ago.

In verse 33 Peter proclaims the Ascension of Christ to the right hand of God in heaven where the resurrected Jesus assumes His place of power and majesty on high.  Christ had promised His disciples at His ascension that, after He went to the Father, He would send the promise of the Holy Spirit to them.  Just as He promised, the Spirit has been poured out on His disciples.  Men of Israel have witnessed this power, which attests to Christ’s place of power and glory on high.

He quotes David again with a Psalm that would have scared the life out of the Pharisees.  It’s the same Psalm that Christ Himself had quoted to them in Matt 22:44. 

THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, “SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET.”

It’s from Psalm 110 and Christ asked the Pharisees:  “Who is David talking about?” 

Of course it was Christ but, in their hard-heartedness the Pharisees only wanted to kill Christ for claiming to be God.

Do you understand that?  The Pharisees and, indeed, the men present had put Christ to death for claiming to be God.

And they thought they were honoring God for doing so.

But here is the bad news for these men in verse 36:  “Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ – this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Verse 37 says very simply that when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart.

What pierced them?

The Gospel did.  The power of the Gospel cut them to the heart.  The Word that is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword laid out the plain truth:  These men were guilty of putting the Son of God to death on a Cross.

Guilty!  Deserving of judgment!  Deserving of condemnation!  God had every right to destroy them, to judge them for their great sin.

But God was rich in mercy toward them.  Even as Christ was in agony at the hands of these wicked men – men just like you and just like me – He prayed for them:  “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”

That prayer was about to be answered for them.

They asked:  “Men and brethren, what must we do.”

We’re guilty of treason against God.  We know we’re toast.  How can we escape the wrath of a Holy God.  Tell us, please, what must we do?

³⁸Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.   ³⁹“For the promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

What?

Are you serious?

That’s it?

Repent and be baptized in the name of Christ and this great offense will be taken away?

God intends to bless me?

God intends to save me by the work of this Man?

This is the truly mind-boggling thing about this News they receive.  It is the mind-boggling thing about the Gospel:  Sinful men intended to kill the Son of God and they succeeded.  They were under the judgment of God for killing the Son of God.  But the very act that condemned them is the work that saved them!

It is Christ’s death on a Cross that saved these men!  It was His work for them and not any work they could do in return to make up for their wicked deeds that covers overed their wicked deeds.

It was His resurrection on a Cross that pointed to the acceptance of that sacrifice for their great sin that paved the way for their eternal life.

It was His ascending on high where He interceded for them powerfully and prayed that these men be saved by the power of the Gospel and, so, the power of the Gospel went forward and cut them to the heart.  It opened their eyes so they could see their sin.  It opened their eyes so they could see the Son of God who had died on a Cross.

And now, the Man they once hated because they were dead, they now loved because they had been made alive by the power of the Gospel.  The man they once hated because they were blind, they now loved because they could see.  Though they were once under condemnation for putting the Son of God to death, they now ran to the very Cross of offense and held onto it for dear life because only in that sacrifice of Christ would they have any hope of forgiveness.  The place of the Curse was the place where the Curse was taking away.  The stone of stumbling that would have crushed them became the very Rock of salvation.

Do you understand the great power and beauty of the Cross?  God, in His foreordained plan uses that which man wants to kill and to hate and to call a curse to turn it around to bless them, to love them, and bring eternal life.  It’s glorious.

That powerful Gospel went forward that day and, by the grace of God, men who had once hated the Son of God and been blinded to His power were now awakened in newness of life.  3000 souls were added that day to the Church.

Beloved, the Gospel truly is the power of God for salvation.  The Power of that Gospel is in its command.  Indeed it is a command that Paul declares in Acts 17:30-31:  “30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, 31because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

 Even as the Gospel is going forward as a command, though, the glorious thing about it is that the power of God is going with the command.  It is bringing dead men and women to life as the News of Christ’s death and resurrection is announced.

We need not fear then that we are not persuasive.  We need not fear that we are not perfect.  We need not fear that men might have objections.  Of course men will deny God and His Son but we have the power of the Gospel to proclaim.  We ought to trust in its power and not our power to persuade men but trust the power of the Gospel to convert men.  We are simply happy bearers of the message and allow the power of God to do the rest.

The question for you and me, though, is always:  Have we believed the report?  Are we still blind and deaf to the things that God has done by sending Christ to die on a Cross?  Are we still offended by the idea of judgment and that God is just in condemning men who reject the Savior?

Do we believe the report that Christ has risen from the dead and reigns on high?

Indeed, may the power of the Gospel cut us all to the heart.  May the Gospel convince us in a fresh way that we do not deserve the grace shown us.  May the Gospel remind us that we too would have rejected the Son had He not died on a Cross and interceded for us that we too would hear the News of His victory and dominion on high.  May we all continue to put away the vain idea that we contributed anything to God by our belief.  Instead, He has done all the work,  He has put away the offense all by Himself and we only cling to the promise that He saves those that trust in that work by faith.

Over the next two Sundays, we’re going to be studying the historic outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples at an event called Pentecost and then the subsequent presentation of the Gospel and the breaking out of the New Testament Church.  Not only is the event an important event in the Redemptive History of the Scriptures that has tremendous impact for all of us, but the Gospel presentation by Peter is a powerful presentation of the nature of the Gospel and how it converts dead hearts into living, beating, believing hearts that embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

You will recall that Christ was crucified on the day before the Passover.  This, the Jews insisted would occur so their plot to kill the Son of God would be complete before they fulfilled this most important religious observance in the religious life of the Jews.

According to the Law, the Passover was always celebrated on the fourteenth day of the first month of the year.  The Jewish calendar was a lunar calendar so the months of the year alternated between 29 and 30 days depending on when the new moon would fall.  About every 3 years, a thirteenth month called Elul was added to the calendar to keep the seasons from getting too messed up, which is why the Jewish Passover doesn’t always fall at the same time every year but is either March or April according to our calendar that has the same number of months every year.

The Israelites used the lunar month, so the Passover was always on a full moon.   Associated with Passover in Deut 16:9-12 was the presentation of the first ripe sheaf of grain (Lev. 23:9).    On the day following the seventh Sabbath after that presentation (Lev. 23:15, 16) was the one-day “Feast of Weeks” (v. 10), called “Pentecost” in the New Testament because of this fifty-day calculation.  Pentecost gets its name from fifty because 7 Sabbaths and a day would follow the Passover, which is 50 days.  This feast day was a day that devout Jews were expected to attend every year.

Now, something you and I need to remember about the Scriptures is that people didn’t have automobiles in those days.  One of the reasons why the region of Israel is not terribly large is because it would be quite impossible for men to journey to a central place for worship every year if the nation was enormous.  Even though the country is still relatively small, it was no small task for men to walk to these major feasts that they were required to attend three times a year.  In fact, due to the journey and the hardship of it, the Scriptures only required the men to go up to these regular feasts to represent their families.

I lived, from 1980-1986, in Fort Worth, TX.  My best friend across the street was the son of a Palestinian Christian.  His father had been forced at gunpoint to leave Israel in 1946 as the Israelites took land that had belonged to his family for countless generations.  My friend’s father, Samir, recounted an interesting tale to me one day that he told about his older brother and his father as he grew up near Jerusalem.

Samir’s brother had purchased an automobile, the first in the family to own one and so he invited his father to join him for a trip in the car.  They got in the car at the base of the mountain leading up to Jerusalem and he drove to the top where the temple had been located at the time of Christ.  It took them 15 minutes.

The brother turned to his father and asked him what he thought.  The father was very troubled.  “A trip to Jerusalem should take 3 days.  Take me back down the mountain,” he replied.

We find this strange but the pace of men was much different before transportation.  There was a joy in the journey of pilgrimage with other men.  In the Scriptures there are even Songs of Ascent as men approached the Temple Mount.  Men would travel for weeks to journey to the Temple for the Passover and there was much joy and hospitality as residents of Jerusalem would open their homes to house the thousands of pilgrims from Judea and even the known civilized world where devout Jews were dispersed.

It is very significant, then, that these men that were at the Pentecost were undoubtedly the same men who had been present during the Passover 7 weeks earlier as they would not have made a trip home but would have stayed in Jerusalem to await this feast.  This will become more significant next week.

As the passage opens, in response to Jesus’ command in Acts 1:4 to await the coming of the Spirit, the apostles were waiting patiently and prayerfully in Jerusalem for the gift of the Holy Spirit.  Christ had ascended only shortly earlier but now the day of waiting is completed and a new era dawns.  The passage indicates that they were all together in one place and these included not only the Apostles but all 120 of Christ’s disciples who were assembled together.

Suddenly there was a sound of a violent wind.  It demonstrated heavenly power as it suddenly descended upon the house and shook it so violently and loudly that men outside gathered around to figure out what had happened.

Fire appeared that separated and rested upon each one of them in fulfillment of John the Baptist’s description of Jesus’ power in Matt 3:11 that Christ would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  Fire is a regular symbol in the Old Testament of God’s presence.

All present were filled with the Holy Spirt and began to speak in other tongues, literally other spoken languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.  The filling of the Spirit occurred once and for all – it did not come and go but stayed.  The outpouring of the Spirit is not repetitious but the Spirit stays with the person who has been filled.  In the Acts, the Spirit reaches out in ever-widening circles to the Samaritans in Acts 8:17, the Gentiles in Acts 10:44-46 and then the disciples of John the Baptist in Acts 19:1-6.   This fulfills Christ’s command to witness to Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth in Acts 1:8.

One significant point of this event of spoken languages at Pentecost should not be overlooked.  Genesis 11:1-9 records a time where all the men on the earth spoke the same language and, in the pride of their human accomplishment and ability, exalted themselves and began to build a tower that they reasoned would reach to God.  In judgment of the pride and sin of men, God confused the language of mankind.  Here in the Pentecost, the Holy Spirit enabled the disciples to speak the languages of the known world.  The power of the Holy Spirit overcame the disunity that sin brought to the world by human pride and united all men present at Pentecost to hear the disciples praising and telling of the mighty works of God.  Not only did the Holy Spirit unite men to understand the same message that is confused by the tongues of the earth but it directed men away from worship of themselves and telling of their own deeds to the proper worship of God and His mighty works.

As I noted earlier, devout men from all over the known world were dwelling in Jerusalem and were nearby the house.  It was about 9 am in the morning and thousands were gathered to celebrate the Pentecost near the Temple.  They heard the loud noise and walked over to investigate what had occurred. 

As they arrived on the scene the men from around Jerusalem were utterly amazed as they each heard the disciples praising God in their native tongues.  Several nations and their languages were mentioned that represented every major tongue of the known world where Jewish believers were dispersed.

Either the men recognized the clothing or some other feature of the disciples but they knew they were Galileans.  Galileans were not known for being educated and culture but were what we might call “hicks”.  Galileans were looked down upon much like mainland Japanese people are known to look down on some other prefectures.  There is amazement that, somehow, these Galileans are speaking in their native tongue.  How can this be?

Verse 12 and 13 records two very different reactions to this amazing event:  “12And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” 13But others were mocking and saying, “They are full of sweet wine.”

This is the constant response in the history of Scriptures when God’s power is on display.  There are always men who will be amazed by the power of God and then seek an explanation from others to find out what things mean.  How is it possible, after all, for a bunch of uneducated men who have obviously never ventured outside the boundaries of Judea to be proclaiming the mighty works of God in all the known tongues of the earth?

But then there’s also a really dumb response that is so typical of unbelief.  Some men just make fun of this event and say that all of these people speaking in other languages and extolling God are just drunk with wine.

Does that make any sense?  I mean, really, we could understand if the disciples were jumping up and down and speaking in some sort of babbling language that men might think them drunk but how does being drunk give all these disciples the ability to speak in the known languages of the earth?  It’s just silly.  It’s almost as silly as their disbelief that was on display at that moment.  It’s almost as silly and unforgivable as the Pharisees who witnessed Jesus perform wonders that Nicodemus had to conclude could only be done by someone who came from God.  But unbelievers always mock the things of God.  It’s almost as if a fireworks show is going on and they’re looking the other way with their ears plugged and then start mocking people who are describing how beautiful the show is.

Peter stepped forward at this point in boldness.  This was the same Peter who only weeks before had been afraid to admit to a servant girl that he knew Christ.  Now he’s in the middle of thousands of men who had likely shouted to crucify Christ and is about to give witness to the risen Lord who has just ascended on High with the Father.

True to His Word, Christ had sent the Holy Spirit with power to His disciples.  Before the Pentecost, Peter had loved Christ but, in his flesh, he was not strong enough to withstand the persecution that comes from the world that stands against God and His holiness and even may kill those that name Jesus Christ.  Prior to Pentecost, Peter could express devotion on his own strength only to find he lacked it when he needed it.

But disciples of Christ do not have the strength within themselves to witness to the true Gospel.  It must be given from above and the Pentecost is a demonstration of the power of the Holy Spirit that comes alongside Peter and empowers him to witness to Christ.

You see when Christ promised the Spirit, He promised He would send another Paraclete in John 14:16.  That is sometimes translated helper or comforter but the idea of a paraclete in the ancient world was more like a family lawyer – person who was very close to the family and would represent the family and it’s interests when a member was being accused.  The Spirit is said to witness to our Spirit that we are Sons of God.  The Spirit strengthens and stands beside us and confirms to us that we are Sons of God and that nobody may bring a charge against us and that He who has power over death and life is with us when we proclaim Him among men.

So Peter stands up and commands the crowd:  “”Men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my words.   15″For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the [b]third hour of the day;”.

Notice how Peter commands the assembly to pay attention.  He tells them to heed his words.  We’ll speak more of this next week but Peter is not inviting men to pay attention or to listen, he is commanding their attention.  You see, he had been ordained by God to proclaim the Gospel as are all faithful ministers of the Word.  When they are proclaiming the Word of God as it is meant to be proclaimed then those that ignore the words are ignoring God Himself and are judged for it.  The authority that Peter speaks with is backed up by the authority of God’s Word and so he does not merely invite men to stick around and listen if they are interested in the message but commands it.

First of all, he rebukes the mockers by telling them they’re not drunk.  After all, he says, it’s only 9 in the morning.  He then begins a sermon that we will begin today and conclude next week.

In verses 16-21 he quotes the prophet Joel.  Joel had predicted the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and Peter boldly proclaims that the prophecy has just been fulfilled in their midst.  He teaches that the era of the last days has come.  Peter is proclaiming Christ’s gospel and visibly demonstrating to them that he is filled with the Holy Spirit and power.

Notice in this prophecy that all believers, regardless of age, gender or place in society receive the blessing of the Holy Spirit:  sons, daughters, young men, old men, salves, men and women both!

The Holy Spirit has gone forward to be in all who believe upon Christ.  It is not a privilege that only the few that receive a “second blessing” receive.  It is not the privilege of the super holy and sanctified.  All who believe upon the name of Christ receive the promise of the Holy Spirit to be their Paraclete against the world and the devil.  All receive the Holy Spirit to have the comfort of knowing that, when they sin that the devil may want to convince you that you are not worthy of salvation because, as Paul notes in Romans 7, you keep doing the very things you know you should not be doing.  But the Spirit then witnesses and reminds us in our spirits that we are sons of God and we cry out “Abba! Father” and know that we are, indeed Christ’s because we are reminded of the Cross.  We are reminded that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord is saved!

Indeed, Christ has died and risen and when that Good News is heralded, it is heralded with authority.   The question for you this day is whether or not you are one who just comes to the event of the news of God’s power with curiosity and interest with ears willing to hear and embrace the risen Messiah.  Or, instead, are you a mocker?  Is the news of the resurrection of a man silly?  Do you suppose we’re all just out of our minds or, perhaps even drunk at such an early hour and are simply babbling.  The power of God in the Gospel is in your midst.  It demands your attention and your response.  Believe upon it.  Call upon the name of the Lord for He is worthy, He has all authority, and He demands it.  And as you repent from your sins and turn to Christ you will, indeed, be saved from your sins.

Some of you might be familiar with the Shakespeare tragedy entitled Romeo and Juliet.  During one of their night time encounters at her balcony where they suddenly fall madly in love with each other they finally must part company and this dialogue ensues:

Juliet says to Romeo:

‘Tis almost morning, I would have thee gone-

And yet no farther than a wan-ton’s bird,

That lets it hop a little from his hand,

Like a poor prisoner in his twisted gyves,

And with a silken thread plucks it back again,

So loving-jealous of his liberty.

Romeo replies:

I would I were thy bird.

Juliet concludes:

Sweet, so would I,

Yet I should kill thee with much cherishing.

Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow,

That I shall say good night till it be morrow.

Of course the fact that the romance of Romeo and Juliet has become the norm from what love is could be a critique of modern culture in itself but that’s not why I picked the portion.  I picked it because part of that exchange has become accepted by many to be some sort of Proverb.  That modern proverb is this:  “Parting is such sweet sorrow.”

I was commenting on this to a couple of military families last week when I started mentioning the message for today and we all agreed that it’s a dumb phrase.  It makes for a good romance story where fantasy doesn’t count for anything but, in real life, parting is not sweet at all.  It’s painful.

I still vividly recall holding James in my arms in January 2003 at 0500 in the morning in the dark near an awaiting bus that was going to drive me to the airport to fly to Kuwait for Operation Iraqi Freedom.  James was 7 months old and I wondered if he would remember me when I returned.  I didn’t know how long that would be.  I kissed him and said:  “Don’t forget me James” and started to break down.  I then turned to my beautiful wife and hugged her and kissed her.  Such a fleeting moment.  Nothing sweet about it.  Only pain.  Only sorrow.  The only thing that impelled me toward the bus was duty.

All the men and women in this congregation have had to leave loved ones at times or have even had to bury those they love.  There is nothing sappy or sentimental about parting from loved ones.  The physical presence of the ones we love is very important to us.  I haven’t lived under the same roof as my Mother for almost 22 years except for periodic visits but I still miss her presence.  Our separation is never sweet and I never rejoice when I depart from her.

So, these two passages that describe the same event about Christ’s Ascension into Heaven are very interesting.  Why?  Because in Luke 24:51-53 it states that:  “51While He was blessing them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven.

 52And they, after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy,

 53and were continually in the temple praising God.”

Did you notice something about this?  Christ has just departed from them.  He will be with them no more in bodily presence.  When Peter and John had first heard that Christ might be alive from the women that visited His tomb they ran to the tomb in excitement.  What tremendous joy to have Christ again in their presence but now He has finally ascended into heaven and, “…after worshiping Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy“.

Great joy?

That’s odd.

Why would they be joyful?  Where they callous and didn’t care about the departure of their Savior?  Obviously not.  In the parallel passage in the Book of Acts it speaks of them gazing intently into heaven.  Perhaps they were hoping that Christ might come down again.  But then angels came to them and reminded them of a Truth that Christ had promised to them:  “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

This was why they left rejoicing.

Jesus had promised the apostles that he would be with them to the end of time in Matthew 28:20 as we learned last week.  The angels remind the Apostles of the fact that Christ is with them always and they have continuity with him.  “This Jesus who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.”

Remember what Christ said elsewhere in Luke 21:27 that men would see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.  The angels remind the Apostles that just as Christ has ascended into heaven, so he will come back.  Jesus will return physically, in the same glorified body that He went to heaven with.  He remains true to his word the he will direct the increase of his church and prepare a place for his followers.

We really need to understand the ascension not as some sort of space travel but the next step in Christ’s mission after the Resurrection of Jesus’ return from death to the height of glory.  Sometimes those that study the Scriptures talk about the humiliation of Christ and the exaltation of Christ.  You can think of the trace of his ministry as the Son of God first emptied Himself and was born into a poor estate and then went through a life of sorrow to eventually bear sin and death and take away the sins of all who believe.  His humiliation ended with His death but then He rose again and began His exaltation until this culminating moment where we witness Him ascending on high to return to His Father’s side in glory where He reigns forever.

Jesus foretold of the Ascension in John 6:62, 14:2, 12; 16:5, 10, 17, 28; 17:5; 20:17) and Luke has described it for us at the end of Luke and the beginning of Acts.

Paul teaches us in Ephesians 4:8-10:

8Therefore it says,

         “WHEN HE ASCENDED ON HIGH,

         HE LED CAPTIVE A HOST OF CAPTIVES,

         AND HE GAVE GIFTS TO MEN.”

 9(Now this expression, “He ascended,” what does it mean except that He also had descended into (D)the lower parts of the earth?

 10He who descended is Himself also He who ascended far above all the heavens, so that He might fill all things.)   

Paul expresses that this ascension on high emphasizes Christ’s Lordship over all.

As we’ve been studying the Book of Hebrews with the men on Saturday morning, we’ve repeatedly noted how the author of Hebrews continually emphasizes that Christ is on high interceding for us and that He applies His sacrifice for us continually as an encouragement for all of us who are faint-hearted.

Jesus Christ is the Lord of the universe and this is a source of enormous encouragement for all believers.

Christ’s Ascension was, from one standpoint, the restoration of the glory that the Son had before He came in human flesh.  From another standpoint His ascension also represented a glorifying of human nature in a way that had never happened before.  Finally, in a third way, His ascension represented the start of a reign that had not existed in the form it had before.  The Son of God had always reigned eternally with the other members of the Godhead but now a human nature was united to the Divine nature in the person of Christ and reigned in glory.

Three facts are established by the Ascension:

The first fact of the ascension is Christ has all glory and honor.  He reigns on high and sits at the right hand of the Father.  To sit at the Father’s right hand is to occupy the position of ruler on God’s behalf.  1 Corinthians 15:27 states:  “27For HE HAS PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET But when He says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection to Him.”

1 Peter 3:22 states:  “22who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him.”

The second fact of the ascension is that Christ is spiritually present everywhere.  In the heavenly sanctuary of the heavenly Zion (Heb 9:24; 12:22-24), Jesus is accessible to all who call on His Name.  He is powerful to help them anywhere in the world.  He is no longer confined to the boundaries of Judea where He can only be present with His closest disciples but is very near to all.

Heb 4:16 says:  “16Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

The third fact of the ascension of Christ is the importance of His heavenly ministry for you and for me and for all who believe upon Him.  Christ, who reigns in heaven, prays for His people.  Romans 8: 33-35

33Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies;

 34who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was [d]raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us.

 35Who will separate us from the love of [e]Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?

Christ has secured salvation by His death and resurrection for all who believe upon Him.  That promise is backed up by the power of God’s Word.  Nobody, and I mean nobody, has the power to separate us from that love.  What is more, Christ is in heaven praying for those who believe upon Him.  He prays for us that we would not be separated from Him and that prayer is answered.  He who reigns on High sits at the right Hand of God and is God Himself.  Do you suppose that those that Christ prays for are not saved to the uttermost?!  What confidence we have that Christ prays for us.

Christ doesn’t merely sit in heaven and have sympathy for us and worry that things might not turn out right.  He’s not praying as we might with concern that things may not work out.  Christ’s prayer intervenes in our lives.  It sustains us.  It keeps us.  It fixes us. Because He has status and He has authority to keep us by His prayers for us.  In His power over everything, He now lavishes His love upon us and the benefits of the suffering that He won for us.  He applies His perfect once-and-for-all sacrifice for us so that every sin we commit is paid for on the Cross.  This is truly amazing.  This is amazing Grace because the work that saves us is not our own but it is the work that Christ did both to die and rise for us and even now, right now, it is the work of Christ in heaven as He intercedes for you to bless and keep you until that day that you are presented spotless and holy to Him as the Bride of Christ with the rest of His Church.

Indeed, beloved, we have been blessed from above with every rich spiritual blessing in the heavenlies.  Our great Savior and High Priest has ascended into heaven and reigns on high.  As we remember back a few weeks ago we recall the sorrow and pain of our dear Savior who set His face toward the Cross to take the scorn and the shame and the wrath that you and I deserved.  The Son of God who deserved all worship was treated with contempt by humanity who killed God on a Cross in their utter act of hatred toward His holiness.  But, in the grace of God, He used the wicked intentions of men to put to death our Sin.  He used this act to put away the Curse for those that believe upon Christ’s work.

Then, even as we remember mourning over our sin that put our Savior to death we recall the glorious news that Christ had risen again.  Glorious news that the sacrifice was accepted by the Father.  Christ lives!

And now, Beloved, we rejoice even more.  We understand, perhaps, why the disciples would want to hug Jesus for a long time.  Oh, He’s alive!  We walked with this man for 3 years and forsook everything for Him for He alone has words of eternal life.

But then, as they looked heavenward with tears in their eyes and gazed long into the sky thinking:  “Parting is such a sorrow…”, the angels reminded them even as they remind us again.

Christ reigns on high!  He has returned to the right hand of the Father and ever lives to reign and draw men unto Him by the power of the Gospel.  He is seated at the right hand of the Father and keeps all of His sheep in His hand and no one can snatch them out of His most powerful hands.

And so our sorrow turns to joy.  We bow down to worship the King who has been restored to His majesty on high.  And we rejoice!