Sometimes when I'm reading, I
get on a rabbit trail. And this morning, Brother Mike
read a passage of scripture in the book of Romans that got me
on a rabbit trail. Now, I apologize, Mike. I missed
a couple of your other thoughts. But he read in the book of Romans
chapter 3 and verse 25 about Christ, our propitiation. And
that's a word that we don't use a lot today. It's not in common
conversation, but it means to be payment price made. And it talks about being propitiation. Christ paid the payment price. And I was just thinking along
that line, because I visit with some pastors and they have the
idea that Jesus was not very successful. And the reason I
say that is, if he was successful, in about a week and a half he
should have had Judas converted. He is the master soul winner. And yet for three and a half
years, Judas went unconverted had no interest in the gospel.
He was a pretender. And we're going to run into that
in the book of Acts here soon. When we get chapter 5, we're
going to run into a couple of pretenders, Ananias and Sapphira. They're in the same group that
we're going to be reading about today in Acts chapter 4. So the Lord Jesus Christ is very
successful. He has not missed any of his
opportunities. In fact, he must need to go through
Samaria because there was someone there that had their names written
down in the Lamb's Book of Life before the foundation of the
world, and it was necessary for him to go visit with her. And
as a result of that, she was converted. She saw the Messiah. She saw Christ. And she went,
you know what she said? When Messiah comes, he will tell
us all things ever we did. And when she went to her friends
there in town, she says, come see a man that told me everything
ever I did. So she saw the Messiah. And we
pray that that would be the activity of God today. Turn with me, if
you would, to the book of Acts. Acts chapter 4, and I want to
begin reading with verse 23 and just go down through here and
we'll probably finish this chapter today. There's just so much here
we can't get it all out, but we're going to look at getting
some out. In the book of Acts chapter 4, verse 23, the Lord
shares with us through the Spirit of God these words that were
written down, and Luke is attributed as being the secretary, but we
know that the author is the Holy Spirit. He was used to write
things down. And here he says in chapter 4,
verse 23, and being let go, though they'd been arrested. They'd
been arrested for preaching Christ, Him crucified and risen again.
They'd been let go and they go to their own company. They go
to the saints. They go to the church there, a local assembly
of believers, and reported all that the chief priests and elders
had said unto them. probably there was more said
to them than we have recorded. And that's what they share, but
we didn't need any more of it. And when they heard that, they
lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord,
thou art God. which hath made heaven and earth
and the sea, and all that in them is, they believe that with
their heart. And that comes as a result of
God giving us a heart to believe. By faith, we understand that
God created the worlds. by the word of his mouth. We
just, there's no discussion about it. We're not getting into an
argument over it. We don't have to go to some book to discover
that. God reveals that to us. And we just know that God has
made all things according to his will and purpose. And end
of discussion. Now I'll discuss it with anybody,
but we must have common ground and that's the word of God. I'm
not going to a textbook. I'm going to the word of God.
When they heard this, they lifted up their voice. Verse 25, Who
by the mouth of thy servant David hath said? They reached back
to the Old Testament. Why? That's all they had. Didn't
have the New Testament as we do, they just had the Old Testament
and they reached back to the Psalms. Why did the heathen rage
and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together.
to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel predestinated, purposed,
determined before to be done. So everything is being carried
out exactly according to what they determined in the counsel
halls of eternity in the covenant of grace. The script was written
before the foundation of the world. It is being played out
today, but it is being played out exactly as the script is
written. There's no deviation from that.
We're not allowed to interject our own thoughts or purposes
in this. It is carried out according to the script that God the Father,
God the Son, God the Holy Spirit gave before the foundation of
the world. Every step that Jesus Christ took while he was upon
this earth. It was predetermined that he
would take that step Every one of them. Nothing was amiss. Nothing was by chance. Everything
was carried out according to purpose that was laid out before
the foundation of the world. And this whole scene is played
out for that reason. And we find out that they agree
with this because it tells us, and now Lord behold their threatenings
and grant thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy
word. by stretching forth thy hand
to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy
holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken, where they were assembled together, and
they were filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word
with boldness. So God works out His purpose
with these people, and they understand that God is working out their
purpose with these people, and they're in one accord. It tells
us there that they were in one accord, verse 33, and with great
power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of Jesus
Christ. How important, how valuable that
was. And it is today, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. That tells us, that signifies
to us, that informs us, that blesses us with the fact that
Jesus Christ was absolutely successful in everything He did. And particularly
in His death, His burial, and in His resurrection, that He
put away sin forever. for all the church. He put away
sin forever. So the resurrection is going
to be a common thing through the book of Acts. And we're going
to find it in all of the books of the New Testament. And you
know what? The disciples of the Old Testament, the saints of
the Old Testament, look forward to that also. They look forward
to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. What does it tell us
in the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15? How that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures, was buried, and rose
again according to the scriptures. So in the Old Testament is filled
with passages that share with us about the resurrection. So
it's not a mystery to those of the Old Testament, the Messiah
coming, the Messiah dying, the Messiah buried, the Messiah rose
again the third day. So what a blessing it is. Now,
we notice in this passage of Scripture that they had all things
common. It says there in verse 34, And then it says, And laid them
down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every
man according to his need. And Joses, who by the apostles
was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son
of Consolation, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land
sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles'
feet. Well, we notice going back there that they had all things
common. Verse 32, they had all things
common. And what a pure blessing of grace
is observed in this verse of Scripture because the verses,
this verse shares with us that believers have one heart and
one mind and one soul and that is toward God. God's people have
been given the information about God when they're given the new
birth. Now, we learn more about that. It is a seed that is left in
us when God saves us by His grace, and when we hear the truth about
God, and we are the truth about the gospel, and we are the truth
about God's salvation, and we hear the truth about sin, and
we hear the truth about heaven, and we hear the truth about hell,
our spirit will be in absolute agreement with the Word of God.
Now, we may not have known some things when God saved us, but
when we are given the Word of God, we say, that's what I see. That's what it is. That's fulfilling
of what God's blessing to me about the Word of God is. We
must keep in mind that without the outpouring of the Spirit,
there's no heart of stone that can be made into a heart of flesh.
Without God's work, there is no heart of stone. that can be
made into the heart of flesh. That's the action of God. And
that's what we have here when these people are in, see all
and have all things common. The Holy Spirit has put them
in that condition that all things are common. And what are they
things common about? Well, we read over in the book
of Luke. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Luke. We
have the same author, the same secretary that we have here in
the book of Acts. In the book of Luke, chapter
1, verse 1, we have this. Luke, the apostle. Luke, the believer. Luke, the
one cent. Luke, the member of the church. The saint. Saint Luke. It says
here, for as much as many have taken into hand to set forth
in order a declaration of those things, what? Which are most
surely believed among us. These are the things that are
most surely believed among us. And if we have the new birth,
this is going to be an important verse of scripture. What we find
in the scriptures is these are the things that are most surely
believed among us. They're not left out here with
the hope that we believe them. They are given to us in such
a way that when God gives us the ability to hear His Word
on whatever subject it is, and if it's the Word of God, we can
agree wholly with it, and we'll have all things common with other
believers over that very same thing. Now, turn with me, if
you would, to the book of Zephaniah. Zephaniah. One of those little
minor Old Testament books that are just jammed full of the gospel.
They are minor in content, not in content, in the amount. They're
minor in amount, but they're not minor in content. And in
the book of Zephaniah chapter three, Zephaniah chapter three,
verse nine, would you notice this with me? Zephaniah, as we
think about those whose hearts had been given a heart of flesh,
God had taken the heart of stone. Now, it doesn't mean that we
have a rock in our chest. He's talking figuratively about
our heart by nature. It fell in Adam, and there's
not any good part about it. It's desperately wicked. It is
hard as flint. It is impregnable by any conversation
to be changed. We have not the ability of doing
that. Even though preachers today may
say, I have the ability of winning you to Jesus, the only person
that has the ability of winning us to Jesus is the Holy Spirit.
through the preaching of His wonderful word, the gospel. Nobody
else can do that for us. We're wasting our time trying
to get a conversion out of somebody. Spend your time praying for them.
Spend your time talking to them about the gospel, and leave God
with the rest of it. That's what we have to do. Here
in the book of Zephaniah, it tells us, beginning in chapter
3, verse 9, For then will I turn to the people a pure language,
that they may all call upon the name of the Lord to serve him
with one consent. How blessed it is to serve God
with one consent, that we would be in agreement about how to
serve the Lord. You know, the Lord is going to
share with us several times, particularly in the New Testament,
but it was throughout the Old Testament, too. All you have
to do is go to Judges chapter 13 and verse 1 and say that the
children of Israel did, again, did evil in the sight of the
Lord. There was a lot of people that didn't know the first thing
about God, and their name was Israel, the children of Israel.
But when we get to the New Testament, we find that there was constant
warning given by faithful preachers of the gospel about those who
would creep in unawares with nonsense about the gospel. they
would come in unawares. And some of them would come in
awares. Some of them would come in like wolves in sheep's clothing. And then we get over to the book
of Jude and the book of 1st, 2nd, 3rd John and the book of
Philippians, all of those passages of scripture that are a warning.
But how wonderful it is for God's people to dwell together in unity. And that's what we have here.
One concern, to serve him with one consent. For beyond the rivers
of Ethiopia, my supplicants, my suppliants, even the daughter
of my disperse shall bring mine offering. And in that day shall
thou not be ashamed for all thy doings. wherewith thou hast transgressed
against me, for then I will take away out of the midst of thee
from that rejoice in thy pride, and thou shalt no more be haughty
because of my holy mountain. And I also will leave in the
midst of thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust
in the name of the Lord. And the remnant of Israel shall
not do iniquity, nor speak lies, neither shall a deceitful tongue
be found in their mouth. For they shall feed and lie down,
and none shall make them afraid." What a blessing God gives to
His people. They can sit down. those two
disciples, plus the rest of the disciples, plus the whole host
that was there, and heard what Pilate had done to Jesus, what
the others had done, and what they'd done to the disciples.
And that's not going to cease. That's not over. They're not
finished with persecution by any means. We're going to follow
persecution throughout the book of Acts. Time and time again
are the saints going to be persecuted. But we find when they gather
together, they have all things common because they all agree
that this all fell out for the furtherance of the gospel. It's
not just random. It's purposed for the furtherance
of the gospel. "...shall serve him with one
consent, and no natural work can accomplish this, only the
mighty arm of Jehovah." I'm reminded in Isaiah 63, would you turn
over there? There's a, who is this that cometh
from Edom with dyed garments from Basra? Well, turn with me
to the book of Isaiah, would you? Chapter 63, Isaiah chapter
63, and we notice these words. The question is asked, who is
this? And it goes on to tell us this,
this that is glorious in his apparel. The question is asked,
who is this? Isaiah chapter 63 verse one,
who is this that cometh from Edom with dyed garments from
Basra? This that is glorious in his
apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength. Who is this? To some people, he's a nobody.
We're told, I remember growing up, you may be the only Jesus
that people know. That sounds good, doesn't it?
But nobody knew Jesus in Jesus when he was here, except those
who revealed the Lord Jesus. We are very poor testimonies
about Jesus. We have one testimony and that's
the gospel. That's our testimony. So, goes
on to tell us here, I, this is the answer, I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Who is this? I that speak in righteousness
mighty to save, wherefore art thou red in thine apparel and
thine garments, like him that treadeth in the wine vat? I have
trodden, answer, I have trodden alone, and the people that was
none with me, for I will tread them in mine anger and trample
them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments,
and I will stain all my raiment, and who is that for? That's for
the church. I heard you just yesterday about
people in that day when they shall look upon them whom they
pierced. You know, you and I both know
what we were taught about that. Everybody's going to look on
him and whom they pierced. The church is the only ones that
pierced Christ. The lost never pierced him. He
didn't have one sin of theirs put upon him. He was pierced
for the church. He was hung up for the church.
He was made a mockery for the church. He gave his life a ransom
for the church. And not one of those people that
stood around him or anybody that ends up in hell ever had one
sin put upon him. He was not pierced one scintilla. them. So the church will look
upon him whom they pierced, and they will be thankful for grace."
We're the guilty party, and we're thankful for His grace. So he
goes on to say here, Verse 4, For the day of vengeance is in
my heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. And I looked,
and there was none to help. Can you imagine Almighty God
looking down from heaven to see if there were any that did seek
after God? And His commentary on that is
not one. So what is required? What is
necessary? If there's going to be one person
saying, what is necessary? It tells us here, I looked and
there was none to help and I wondered and there was none to uphold.
Therefore, my own arm brought salvation unto me, and my fury
it upheld me. And I will tread down the people
in my anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring
down the strength of the earth. And I will mention the lovingkindness
of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord, according to all
that the Lord hath bestowed upon us. And the great goodness toward
the house of Israel, which he hath bestowed on them according
to his mercies and according to the multitude of his loving
kindness. And if that isn't a statement
about God's free and sovereign grace towards Israel, the church,
that's just full of it. So who is this that cometh? The Savior cometh. And he looked
out and he said, there's none to help. There's none to help, so I will
cause salvation by my own arm. And as a result of that, we find
a group of people in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago that had all
things common. Because they agreed with the
Word of God about God, about sin, about heaven, about hell,
about themselves, about their position, about God's sovereignty,
about everything the Scriptures have to declare. And if they
didn't agree with it at the moment, it wasn't something they said,
I don't believe that. It was something they waited
for God to reveal it to them. And He will reveal His truth
to His people. In the book of the Psalms, would
you turn with me to the book of the Psalms, as we think about
what was going on in Jerusalem, and it was so precious. You know how precious it is?
As precious as it still is, to gather together with the saints,
to be in agreement about the gospel, to be in agreement about
God, to bow humbly before Him as Lord God Almighty, to understand
for just a second that the things that happened in our life fell
out for the glory of God and for His purpose, and He brought
us to the exactly right place for us to hear the gospel. Now,
it may have been a pinch to us at the time, but it was a glorious
statement of grace when He revealed Himself to us. Thank you for
your grace. Well, here in the Psalms, Psalm
133, Psalm 133, we read this, about the fellowship. Psalm 133,
verse 1, a song of degrees of David. David was the secretary,
but we find out even here in the book of Acts, he spoke by
the Holy Spirit. It was not his coming up with
some good words. Now, he may have written many
good words to many of his people, but this was good words written
by the Holy Spirit. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together
in unity. What a statement. And then he
goes on to say, here's an example. Here's an example. It is like
the precious ointment. upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, even Aaron's beard." Now, keep your finger
right here for a moment and turn with me back to the book of Exodus,
Exodus chapter 30. In Exodus chapter 30 we have what
this Great oil was made of that anointed Aaron. In Exodus chapter
30 verse 23. Do you like the smell of cinnamon?
Oh, I do. Mom used to have that cinnamon
sticks and every once in a while we'd talk her out of one. Now
I wish it tasted like it smelled. It's kind of like vanilla. But here we have this prescription
for what went into the anointing oil. And I don't think it takes
us very long to find out that this anointing oil was very pleasant
to smell. It tells us here in the book
of Exodus chapter 30 verse 23, take thou also unto thee principal
spices of pure myrrh, 500 shekels, and of sweet cinnamon, half so
much, even 250 shekels, and sweet calamus. Did you notice the sweet,
the sweet? What a pleasant smell it was. this ingredients that were put
together in this. And casea, 500 shekels, after
the shekel of the sanctuary, and then mix it with olive oil,
oil, olive, and hen. So I don't know all of the amounts
that were made, but I can have an idea about what it smelled
like. It was so pleasant. It was so
desirous. It was so good. It was just,
oh my. And once it was put onto Aaron,
anointed him, how long did he have that good smell about him?
A long time. It went into his hair. It dripped
down over his robe. And even down to the very bottom
of his robe, it was, and as he walked around and performed his
duties, people knew where he was, because they could smell
him, and it was so pleasant. You know, we think about that
woman with an alabaster box of ointment, the anointed, the head
of the Lord Jesus, and he said, she's done it for my burial.
I think about all those people that were around him in those
last hours that he was on this earth before he was hung up between
heaven and earth on that cross, and how many people smelled that. Can you imagine the high priest,
pilot, wondering, what is this? It's not brought out, but you
couldn't help but think about it. What is this smell that I
smell? And then those soldiers who nailed
Him to the cross, what is this? What a sweet smell I smell. And as they hung Him between
heaven and earth on the cross, two men, one on the right hand
and one on the left hand. Now, spiritually speaking, one
understood a little more later about what that smell was. That's
the smell of God Almighty. So we have here this wonderful
spices mixed together with olive oil. And then as we read over
there, going back to the book of the Psalms, Psalm 133. Psalm 133. Now, this is in reference
to how pleasant it is for brethren
to dwell together in unity." What a sweet savor that is, because
it goes on to tell us here, that's that unity of brethren. like
we read about in Acts chapter 4, that unity that they had all
things common, that unity that believers loved one another and
cared for one another and took care of one another and prayed
for one another and did what was necessary to one another
to help one another. That was a sweet smell that was
smelled even in a great turbulent time when they were going to
be harassed more soon. They're going to be taken out
and beaten. They're not just going to be threatened. They're going to
be beaten. But notice here, it's like the precious ointment upon
the head that ran down upon the beard, Aaron's beard. Now that
word even is not in the original. It was added. It's in italics.
And I read one commentary says that kind of distracts from this. It's Aaron's beard, the high
priest's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments.
As the dew of Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains
of Zion. You know, every once in a while
we wake up and go out and start a car and there's dew on the
windshield. We know what dew's about. I remember my dad going
through a field before he would bale. It had to have a little
dew on it or you'd lose all the leaves. It's that moisture that's
naturally there. God provides it. as the dew of
Hermon, as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. For
there the Lord commanded the blessings, even life forevermore."
We cannot extract it all out of that passage of Scripture.
What a fellowship we have with God Almighty. And it is a sweet
savor. It's sweet to our heart. It's
sweet to our mind. It's sweet to us. And when we
are around people that have like sweetness, you know, we often
have said, I've only met you yesterday, but I feel like I've
known you all my life. What a blessing is the fellowship
of the saints. And we have it over there in
the book of Acts, the sweet aroma. It was that one anointed for
a lifetime. It started on the head and quickly
moved down the rest of the body. You know what? The anointing
of the Holy Spirit upon the Lord Jesus Christ as the head goes
down on the body, which is the church. We have been anointed
with that holy oil. We have been anointed with that
scent that comes from God and God alone. The head has it, but
it's going to drip down to the body, even to the completeness
of our righteousness. What a sweet aroma! How blessed
it is! You know, as we turn over here
to the book of Galatians chapter 5, would you turn there with
me? Galatians chapter 5. What a blessing it is and I once
again This is the fruit of someone else It's not our fruit by nature. It is the fruit of someone else
Yesterday I saw a bunch of cherry trees and blossom Boy those trees
are going to produce some fruit Lord willing if it doesn't freeze It's not my fruit It's the fruit
of the tree. Here in the book of Galatians
chapter 5, we read about this as Paul was in discussion with
that church at Galatia about going after another gospel, which
is not another gospel. Having legalism is not another
gospel. Bowing down to the law is not
another gospel. Bowing down to circumcision is
not the gospel. It's another gospel. All of that
stuff is just another gospel, and it is not the gospel of God's
free and sovereign grace in Christ Jesus. If it's of grace, it's
not of works, but if it's of works, it's not of grace. There's
no grace in it. Doesn't matter whether we have
one scintilla of an ounce, it's still not grace. All right, here
we find in the book of Galatians chapter 5, it says here, but
the fruit of the Spirit. Here's the fruit of the Spirit.
This is what the Spirit produces in the church. And there we can
see it evident among that church in Acts chapter 4. They had what? Love, peace, longsuffering, gentleness,
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Now notice this last line of
verse 23. Now if you go to the works of
the flesh, just the previous three verses, there most of those
are against the law. Boy, adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, most of those are against
the law. But here we have with this fruit
of the Spirit, against such there is no law. What a blessing God
gives to His people, the fruit of the Spirit. Now, we may say,
boy, I just don't have as much longsuffering as I should have
or could have or might have. You know, in God's eyes, we find
in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews that He never brought
up one failing in any of those people that are written about
in the 11th chapter of the book of Hebrews. And they all had
great failings. That's how God looks at us. And
God looks at His church. God looks at His people. They
have all longsuffering. Why? Because they have the longsuffering
of God. They have all love. Why? Because
they have the love of God. They have all joy. Why? Because
they have the joy of God. They have all peace. Why? Because they have the peace of
God, which passes all understanding. God has given us the great gifts
of the Holy Spirit in such a capacity that we may not realize it because
we're just like Paul sometimes, oh, wretched man that I am. But
thanks be unto God, he gives that to every one of his children,
and they have it to capacity. And sometimes he lets us discover
some of it, doesn't he? Boy, I was so upset with that
guy, I could have just throttled him. But by the grace of God,
I had some long suffering. Because most of the time, they're
exactly where we were before we ever heard the gospel. The results of grace, the sweet
aroma of grace, the results of grace. Go back with me to the
book of Acts, if you would, chapter 4. Acts chapter 4 as we look at just a little more of
this chapter. Acts chapter 4, verse 34. The results of grace, and we
can say this truly as God provides to all His people, neither was
there any among them that lacked. Isn't that a statement about
grace? No one lacked, everybody. A lot of people, oh, I just hope
I get the rewards I do when I get to heaven. Well, praise God,
you're not. We're not in this for rewards.
Well, why would you get a reward? Well, I talked to somebody last
week about the Lord. Why would you get a reward about
that? You're just doing what you're responsible to do. You
know, there's no such thing as rewards in heaven. Christ is
our exceeding great reward. That's it. All of the things
pale according to that. And being faithful to God is
going to bring a reward? My goodness, what about the times
we're unfaithful? Is He going to take a notch off? No. So we have here, neither
was there any among them that lack the ground is even at the
cross for as many as were possessors of lands and houses sold them
and brought the prices to the things that were told. And they
laid them at the apostles feet and so forth. And, you know,
we have here in verse 36 and verse 37, the object of grace,
a man from Cyprus, long ways away from Jerusalem. And that day in particular, an
island of Cyprus, a man who was a Levite. Man, he was of the
priestly tribe. He had something, didn't he?
Boy, he'd come down to Jerusalem for the Passover, and I'm a Levite.
Most of you are not. Most of you are just pagans.
But I have that special Adorning of being a Levi just read about
Aaron. I'm related to him Well, he came
to Jerusalem Probably on a pilgrimage probably came to be there for
the Passover Probably was there on the day of Pentecost Probably
was around there watched all that. He might have been there
when Christ was crucified. We don't know. I But this man,
God worked a work of grace in. He's an object of grace. All
of the stuff that he counted before was of no count now. As the Apostle Paul said, it
was all done. I never find Barnabas ever bring
up again that he was a Levite. I never find Barnabas again bringing
up the importance that he stood or had there in Jerusalem and
how far, oh, I've traveled so far. I've given up so much to
be here my foot. He'd given up nothing. When we
counted how much we've given up for Christ, we've given nothing. How much did he give for us?
His blood, his life, a ransom for many. Goes on to tell us
here that this man, he was the apostles surnamed. He was surnamed
by the apostles. He was given a last name by the
apostles. Now his name was Joses. When
I read that, I says, no, who's that? You read the rest of the
verses. Oh my goodness. He's an important
character in the rest of the Bible, the book of Acts. He was
surnamed Barnabas, which means Son of Consolation. Remember that man in the temple
that said, I've been promised to see the Consolation of Israel. I've been promised. Here he is
called the Son of Consolation. And that's what the disciples
called him, the Son of Consolation, a Levite and of the country of
Cyprus. What a statement about, what
an object of grace we have here. Do you know what? Just travel
with me just briefly over to the ninth chapter of the book
of Acts, if you would. Acts chapter 9, and there in
verse 27, the object of grace. We have a wicked, wicked, wicked,
mean, ornery, selfish, self-centered man come to Jerusalem and say,
I'd like to be part of your church. Ah, Saul of Tarsus. What a wicked,
wretched man. You know, I can just hear people
in the church at Jerusalem say, well, he's certainly a reprobate.
No hope for him, look at that. Well, the Lord was gracious and
on the road to Damascus revealed Christ to him. He saw the Lord
on the road to Damascus. And the Lord gave him salvation
as in Christ Jesus. And he began to preach Christ
instantly. And here he comes to Jerusalem,
verse 26, and when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he has said to
join himself to the disciples, but they were all afraid of him
and believe not, he was a disciple. What a statement. And then Barnabas,
son of consolation, named by the apostles, son of consolation.
Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared
unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way. How did he know
that? He sat down with him, had a cup
of coffee, fellowshiped. found out he believed the same
Christ that he did. Barnabas took him and brought
him to the apostles and declared unto him how he had seen the
Lord in the way and that he had spoken to him and how he had
preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. And he was
with them going in and out at Jerusalem. By the word of Barnabas. Let me talk to you about this
guy. He's one of us. And you know what? Saul went
in and out with them and fellowship with them. And again, they had
all things common. We're going to stop there for
today and we'll pick up the latter part of this fourth chapter because
it goes right into the fifth chapter. And if you'd like to
read ahead, chapter five. Brother Mike, if you'll come
at this time.