Turn with me to the book of Acts
chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. There's so much
going on in this chapter that it's been a little bit difficult
for me to keep it in order because it just keeps going back and
forth. But the Lord intended it that way. And we want to just
kind of follow that. In verses 17 through 27, the
apostles go through quite a bit. they are arrested another time
they're arrested and they're freed by God at night and they're
told or instructed to preach at the temple court and the apostles
again are arrested and they returned and sat before the council the
Jewish Sanhedrin. So we're going to find that as
we follow this through. It is so interesting as we look
at this that these apostles The Lord Jesus Christ, the Old Testament
prophets, they never intended anything but good in their message. That was their goal. And how
many times were all of those people that intended good only,
were rewarded with evil. The ministry of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the people that he raised from death, the people he healed,
that was never honored by the religious people. They found
fault with everything he did. And we're gonna find that wherever
it is, that when the gospel is preached, there's very little
reward for the gospel. There's always words against
it, unless you know the gospel. We notice here, and I'd like
to just back up to verses 15 and 16 here. That there, after
the incident with Ananias and Sapphira, the believers, verse
14, were added to the multitude, both men and women, insomuch
that they brought forth the sick into the streets and laid them
on beds and couches, that the least the shadow of Peter passing
by might overshadow some of them. There came also a multitude out
of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks
and them which were vexed with unclean spirits, and they were
healed every one. Now, we never want to make that
the center, the center of our message, this happening. You
know, this reminds me of a passage over in the book of Exodus. Would
you join me over in the book of Exodus chapter three? In the
book of Exodus chapter three, we find an incident that took
place. Exodus chapter 3 and there verses
1 through 3, our friend Moses, brother Moses was out herding
sheep for his father-in-law and an incident took place. A miracle
happened. A piece of sagebrush was on fire
and it wasn't consumed. It tells us here, now Moses kept
the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he
led the flock to the backside of the desert and came to the
mountain of God even unto Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared
to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush. And
he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush
was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn
aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt." Now,
what is going to be the most important lesson that Moses learns
from this incident? Is it the bush? Is it the fire
that did not consume the bush? Are those the most important
things that happened to Moses that day? If we follow this into
the next couple of verses, we find out that that was only an
attraction for Moses. The most important thing that
happened to him in this incident is he heard the voice of God
and he was given the name of God. I am that I am. So the importance is not the
sight, the importance is not the vision, the importance is
not the bush, the importance is not the fire, the importance
is the voice that's spoken to him. Now, I said that to say
this about those miracles that took place here in the book of
Acts chapter five. There is no question in our mind
that many miracles took place there, but that was not the core. That was not the message. These
people were healed for one reason and one reason only, and that
is to some of them that saw it, it was going to be used as a
burning bush. to attract them, to cause them
to come and hear a little more. Now, not everybody was interested
in hearing that. If we go back to the book of
Acts again, if you would join me over there in the book of
Acts again in chapter five, we read these words that not everyone
was interested in what was going on. In the book of Acts chapter
five, it tells us there in verse 16 or 17, let's get there. Oh, verse 13, there were many that were there,
and of the rest, Durst, no man joined himself to them, but the
people magnified them. So there's a whole group of people
that said, we're not getting involved with that group. Now
it doesn't matter whether they performed a miracle or not. We're
not getting involved in that group. The miracle was not the
number one issue. The preaching of Christ was the
number one issue. This is what they performed these
miracles for. This is what God gave power to
them to do. They were going to gather up
people together, and that is where the message is going to
go. It's not the bush, it's not the fire, and it was the voice
of God. And as we look at this, it was
not the crippled folks. We don't even have their names.
Now, they were healed. And I'm sure they were pleased
about that. And it was not the shadow. It was not the healing. It was not any of these things. It was the message of Christ,
the voice of God. After the final putting together
of the Bible, God does not need these voices of God anymore.
Where do we get our instruction now? Where do we get, do we wait
for God to talk into our ear? No, that Bible you're holding,
that's the only place God speaks to us. We don't have to have
someone come along and whisper in our ear anymore. I heard about
that enough while I was on my trip, especially around family.
You know, religious people have the strangest ideas on how God
talks to people. But the Bible tells us a great
deal about how God talks to people, and that's through the Word,
and nowhere else. If you'll not hear the Word,
you'd not believe though someone rose from the dead. If you'll
not believe Moses and the prophets, you'd not believe though someone
rose from the dead. So this is so important. Once
the canon was put together, there was no longer any need for any
of that. We have the written Word of God.
And there's where we go to for all that we have. This chapter
5, in these incidents, was a means of drawing people to hear the
gospel. And once the canon was put together,
we don't need it. We find the Apostle Paul left
a friend sick on an island. He had no power over it anymore.
Where there were healings, they would cease. And where there
were tongues, they would cease. So we're going to have the completion
of the Bible was going to be the end of that. Notice with
me here in Acts chapter five and verse 13, the Durst no more,
no man joined himself to them, but the people magnified them
and believers were more added to the Lord. Multitudes, both
of men and women, were they added to the hospital. Were they added
to the streets where people were being healed? No, the scripture
says they were added to the Lord. That's where it is. It is to
the Lord. It's not in physical health.
It is not in physical means. It is not in physical wealth.
It is in the Lord. In so much as it tells us what
happened there. And that's my goodness. If you
and I saw something like that, we'd take attention too. But
it's not going to happen in our lifetime. Then it tells us in
verse 17, as we follow this out, that the high priest rose up
and all that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees,
and were filled with indignation and laid their hands on the apostles
and put them in the common prison. Now another miracle takes place
and God Almighty sets these apostles free and tells them exactly what
to do and where to go. He set it free and he says in
verse 20, go stand and speak in the temple to the people all
the words of this life. And that's the life that Christ
gives us. That's the life of a regenerate
person. And that's what we delight in.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, how great thou art. Amazing words to the believers. In the bulletin, I put an article
by Thomas Charles, and it says, God is as glorious in punishing
sin as he is in pardoning sin. Never did God appear more glorious
than when he was pouring out his wrath on the son of his love
for our sins. Justice and mercy, holiness and
love shone there with united and transcendent splendor. The same glory of God that shines
in punishing sin and hell appeared in His punishing on the cross.
The glory of God is demonstrated in the punishing of sin. Our
Savior became sin for us so He could be punished and God receives
the glory for it and the forgiveness of sin. So here we have the story
that's going to be taken on, the words of this life. In verse
25 of this fifth chapter, then came one and told them, saying,
behold, them in whom you put in prison are standing in the
temple and teaching the people. Then went the captain with the
officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the
people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them,
they set them down before the council, and the high priest
asked them, saying, Did not we straightly command you that ye
should not teach in his name? Not one word was said about their
activities in the street with all the sick people that were
coming in. That didn't touch them. They were those who durst
not want to join them. But here we have a whole group
of people saying this is the problem. We commanded you not
to teach in this name. Did you notice that these people
that were in the Sanhedrin court who were present when Jesus Christ
was condemned by them, they knew him full well because they told
Pilate, don't you put on the cross, this is Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews. They knew who Pilate was talking
about. He says, please put up there,
he said he was King of the Jews. But when it came to his name,
they knew who Jesus of Nazareth was. And when it came to this
point in the life, they didn't even mention his name. We tell
you not to preach in this man's name. Let's not bring up his
name anymore. We want to get rid of that part.
We commanded you that you should not teach in this name, and behold,
you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring
this man's blood upon us. Once again, they alluded the
fact of who it was. Do not bring, you intend to bring
this man's blood upon us, and they know full well who it is.
The disciples, then Peter and the other apostles answered and
said, we ought to obey God rather than men. And they go on, and
the God of our fathers. So they begin to preach the message
they've always been preaching. This is what they preached in
the temple court. This is what they were preaching
outside of all the healing that was going on. This is what they
preached on the day of Pentecost. This is their ministry from this
point on. And it tells us there, the God
of our fathers raised up Jesus. So they're not afraid to bring
up this glorious name of Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. who ransomed
us on the cross. They bring his name up in the
front of these people that do not want to be confronted with
this name. What is it, 40, 45 days earlier
than this? We find that they had been dealing
with this very same man and condemned him to death. And he goeth as
it was determined. The God of our fathers, They
make reference to all the Old Testament because at this point,
this is the only book, the books that they had was the Old Testament
books. The God of our fathers, the God whom you say you worship,
the God that you say you depend upon, the God of our fathers,
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of all of the old patriarchs. This is the God that we're talking
about. And this God raised up the person
you don't want to talk about. And they said, he raised up Jesus. Now, they're going to be cut
to the heart. It's going to tell us that right
here in a moment. And that word cut to the heart means to be
sawn asunder. Whoa, that's an interesting term. It means they were indignant
about the answer that was given. They intend to bring this man's
blood on us. Well, they're going to find out
that that man's blood never was poured out for them. But let's
go on here as we look at this. You should not teach in this
name. You intend to bring this man's blood upon us. And the
apostles message was Christ and him crucified. It tells us they're
the God of our fathers. And what did he do? raised up
Jesus. Now why would he have to raise
up Jesus? Because Jesus died on the cross. He had died, he had given his
life a ransom. He was dead when they took him
off the cross. He raised up Jesus. It's not like the miracles that
were going on in the streets of Jerusalem, that sick people
were being healed, but God is dealing with a dead man. This
man gave up the ghost and they did not have to do what they
did to the other two that were crucified with him. They did
not come out there and say, we're going to have to kill him because
we have a very important day coming up and we can't leave
him on the cross till then. They were surprised that he was
so soon dead. He had taken care of his ministry
on the cross. The others were suffering for
their, the penalty for their physical crimes. Jesus Christ
had taken care of the problem of the sin of his people in that
short time of three hours. In three hours he took care of
the eternity of hell-owned by all his people. Now we know that
he was suffering on the way up to the cross. We know that he
was suffering in the Garden of Eden, or Garden of Gethsemane,
forgive me, Garden of Gethsemane. We know he sweat great drops
of blood there. But when it came to the cross, that is truly where
God the Father poured out his wrath upon him. And in that moment,
the most glorious time of God himself was fulfilled when he
poured out his wrath on his son for the sins of his people. Now,
God, as a result of that, can forgive sin. And he does for
every one of his children. He forgave us our sin. He put sin as far as the east
is from the west. He buried it in the deepest sea.
So we have these disciples, these apostles that were called of
God, apostles that were put into position by the Lord Jesus, that
the apostles entered and said, we should obey God rather than
men. And the God of our fathers raised
up Jesus. Now, why did he have to be raised
up? You slew him. Boy, they did not
want to hear this. This is what they want to avoid
at all costs. You slew him. You judged him. Well, we find out from a physical
standpoint, that's exactly the truth. But from a spiritual standpoint,
God Almighty slew his own son. on the cross. You slew him. They were involved in this and
this is something they don't want to be involved in. God of
our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Now they know exactly what that
meant. You put him on a cross. Now you
know what? It doesn't matter whether that
cross was one piece or two pieces. But he was put on a cross. Hung
up between heaven and earth. And God's wrath was poured out
him on that place. He became the lamb and he was
also the high priest that offered the lamb. He was also the fire
that consumed the lamb. Sin was put away by the sacrifice
of himself. Now in verse 31, the same God
is brought up and says, him hath God exalted with his right hand
to be a prince and a savior. As the word comes out, it becomes
more powerful as they begin to speak about Christ and Him crucified. This one is more than just the
man that walked upon the face of the earth. This is more than
what you refer to as Joseph's son. This is the God of heaven. He's exalted to his right hand
because he did exactly what he said he would do and dealt with
sin exactly like he said he would do. He's been exalted to the
right hand to be a prince. With the right hand to be a prince
and a savior for the savory to give repentance to Israel and
the forgiveness of sins and Then it tells us in verse 32 This
is all we are We're witnesses of these things. So is also the
Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him. So the
Holy Ghost is the witness. We are witnesses of these events,
these facts. And you know what? The church
is witnesses of those events and those facts still today.
We can go right back there to Golgotha's Hill. We can still,
by faith, see this one hanging on a cross. We can still see
him hanging on a cross for a definite number of people. And in that
definite number of people, if you are born again, he died for
you. Now, he didn't die for everybody. I'll just have to take this to
the bank. If he did, Heaven is going to be filled with everyone
that was ever born. And Jesus said, few there be
that find it. Many shall be. So he's been exalted
by God way above their ability to exalt, way above the ability
of the natural man to exalt. He's been exalted to be a priest
and a savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. And we are witnesses of these
things. And so is also the Holy Ghost whom God has given to them
that obey him. There in verse 33, verse 32,
31 through 32, the apostles' message
was Christ and Him crucified. They didn't bring up miracles.
They didn't bring up healing. They didn't bring up their works.
They didn't bring up the law. They didn't bring up themselves.
But Christ and Him crucified. The result, it tells us in Acts
chapter 7 and verse 54, excuse me, They're in verse, that's the
next place we're going. It says in verse 33, and when
they heard that, they were cut to the heart and took counsel
to slay them. What does that mean? We're going
to kill them. That's our goal, is to kill them.
Now they're cut to the heart. There's only one place in the
New Testament, another place, where this particular word is
found, and that's over in the book of Acts chapter 7. If you
turn over there with me, eventually we're going to get there. In
Acts chapter 7, we find that Stephen, who was one of those
servants that was selected by the body of people to help with
the needs of widow women, was a preacher of righteousness,
And he's been arrested and here in Acts chapter 7 and verse 54,
after he preached Christ in him crucified, it tells us this is
how they took it. When they heard these things,
they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their
teeth. Now they took advantage of the situation. Over here in
the book of Acts chapter 5, they wished they could have done that,
but God restrained them. He did not allow his apostles,
his disciples, to be slain at that time. They were cut to the
heart. As I mentioned, the word means
to saw asunder or in two, to divide by a saw, to be thoroughly
through mentally, to be rent with vexation. figuratively to
describe intense emotional distress. That's what these, the Sanhedrin
court went through when they brought up this subject of Christ
and Him crucified. They went through extreme, intense,
emotional distress. They were cut to the heart. In
the, you know, there's gonna be two reactions, one of two
reactions every time the gospel is preached. One of two. There's not three, there's not
five, there's one of two. There's either this one that
we read about here, or in Stephen's case, that one, that they're
going to do what God permits them to do. In this case, he
did not permit them to be slain. That was in their heart. They
would have given anything if they could have killed these
apostles. Had him stoned to death, crucified, whatever it took.
But they were not permitted to do that. In Stephen's case, he's
gonna be permitted to be transported to glory by that inglorious activity
of that crowd. They're gonna kill him. That's
going to be one of the two responses to hearing the gospel. You're
either gonna love it or hate it. Now I'm thankful that it
isn't the first time that we hate it, that that settles it.
But this other result of preaching the gospel is found in Acts chapter
2. Would you turn with me to Acts
chapter 2? The gospel is going to have an
effect. The good news is going to have an effect. Christ and
him crucified is going to have an effect. It will have an effect. And one of the effects that it
has is really bringing up anger, hatred, variance, emulations,
all of the other things that come with the sin that we have
in Adam. We cannot handle spiritual deity. The other reaction is found here
in the book of Acts chapter two, verse 37. In Acts chapter two
and verse 37, we find after preaching on the day of Pentecost, when
they heard this, they were pricked in their heart and said to Peter
and to the rest of the apostles, and this is a natural response. This is not the answer. I don't
know how many preachers will use this as a statement about
how to win people to Jesus. This is not an answer. It is a situation or a position
that natural man is in by nature, and that is, what work must I
do? They said here, what shall we
do? Men and brethren, what shall
we do? Well, we find out that there's nothing that we can do
to perform that. You know, the Lord Jesus had
to deal with this too. They were pricked in their heart,
they were pierced, they were agitated violently, especially
the emotion over sorrow. But what shall we do is a natural
response. It is not a spiritual response. When we are given that opportunity
of saying, what shall we do? And someone answers by saying,
this is what you must do. Now you can go online and find
a thousand different ways to handle this situation and nobody
handles it correctly unless they know something about grace. It
is not what shall we do. Now turn with me to the book
of John chapter 6 if you would. John chapter 6. This same thing
was brought up with the Lord Jesus and I'm going to have to
follow his instructions rather than men. I had enough of that
in growing up. I was told what to do. And it was nothing. It couldn't
attract a nightcrawler. Here in the book of John, chapter
six, verse 28 and 29, the same subject is brought up. Then said
they unto him, what shall we do? the most natural response. We
are so accustomed to having works involved in everything that we
do, particularly from a spiritual standpoint, and that's what religion
promotes, is what must we do? Now, the Lord Jesus is going
to give us the correct answer on this, just like the disciples
would give when they were dealing with people. They said, what
shall we do that we might work the works of God? Well, they're
already. in too deep water because there's
nothing we can do to do the works of God. But that's the question
that's brought up. Now, Jesus answered and said
to them, and he leaves off the S on work. Did you notice that?
They want to know the works of God. It tells us there in verse
28. And he said, this is the work
of God. Now, this is God's work. It's
not our work. It's not because we did something
or accomplished something on our own that we were made okay.
This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath
sent. Now, that work of God is giving
us belief to belief. That's the work of God. The Word
of God comes to us with the message of grace. The preacher preaches
the message of grace. And we can ask, what must I do? But a preacher of grace, a person
who knows the gospel, anybody who is a servant of the Most
High King in whatever capacity, they will never tell anybody,
this is what you must do. The work of God is this, that
ye believe on him whom ye have sinned. What do I do? What should you
do when someone says, oh boy, I think I'm lost? Well, get down
on your knees and we'll pray. Nope. Go get alone with God. I'm as far as I can go. Go get
alone with God. Take it up with God. I believe
if we come to that point, God's going to work a work of grace,
but get alone with God. That's where it is. This is the
work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. It's
the work of God. It's the work of grace. Now go
back with me, if you would, to the book of Acts for just a moment.
Acts chapter 5. Verse 34, there is a doctor of the law
on this council. Gamaliel, doctor of the law. Now they're wanting to slay these
apostles, and this is the means by which God prevents that from
happening. He raises up one of their own.
and says, there stood there up one of the council, a Pharisee
named Gamal, doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the
people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space.
And he said unto them, ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves
that ye intend to do as touching these men. And we're not going
to go very much further here. I just want you to know, I want
us to share that God prevented those apostles from facing sure
death by that counsel and he raised up one of them. He's a
Pharisee, most of them are Sadducees. They can't agree on the Holy
Spirit, they can't agree on the resurrection, they can't agree
on anything religious except this, that the disciples are
bad people. But this man is used of God to
stop the process and release them. Now they're gonna get flogged
over it, they're gonna get whipped over it, but they're not gonna
be killed over it, and they're gonna be used to preach the gospel
another day. He stands up, there and says,
I want to repeat two or three points of history about what's
happened in the past. I want you to know what's happened
in the past and how those other guys came to nothing. But he
stopped the process and that counsel listened to him, a liar
and a fat mouth. listened to him and said, we'll
stop this process and we'll let them go after we flogged them.
Well, thanks be unto God for God's providence even among people
that don't know the first thing about the gospel. I appreciate
thanks be unto God that he uses people, means of people that
don't know a thing to bless his people In all kinds of ways,
I'm thankful that there are hewers of wood and drawers of water
for the church. And this is one of those guys,
a doctor of the law stops the proceedings and these folks are
released. Well, what have they done? Preach
the gospel. What did they do prior to being
taken to the council? Preach the gospel. What did they
do up on the hill there at the Temple Mount? Preach the gospel. What did they do in front of
the Sanhedrin court? Preach the gospel. Preach Christ
and Him crucified. and the result was they were
cut to the heart and they were ready to kill him. I'm thankful
for God's grace that there are those that are cut to the heart,
pierced to the heart, and when they hear someone say, this is
the work of God that he will give you belief, we can say thanks
be unto God for that. Grace, grace, how valuable is
grace. Mr. Charles went on to say, does
not God deserve to be loved for the one as well as for the other? Does he not deserve to be loved
whether in whatever and in whatever manner he causes his glorious
justice to appear? That a man never had true grace
who does not love God for punishing sin as well as for pardoning
it. Christ redeemed us from the curse
of the law, and the next one, 1 Peter, he himself bore our
sins in his body on the tree. Nathan, if you'll come.