The book of Acts chapter four.
And if you would look with me, verse 12, and we're going to
go down through a few verses here that as Peter and John are
standing before a council, a church council, a religious council,
and they have something that those religious counselors don't
have. They have Christ. They have an understanding about
a song we sing from time to time, Jesus paid it all, all to him
I owe. They had an understanding about
the Old Testament, that it was the message of Christ. They had
the understanding with regard to Genesis to Malachi, that through
this the gospel was preached, and that's exactly what they
used during their entire ministry was the gospel found in Genesis
to Malachi. In this chapter we have noticed
that Peter and probably John, it doesn't have the record of
it, but Peter at least was used to bring out a number of Old
Testament verses of scripture with regard to their discussion
with this council that they've been brought before. Now they've
been brought by force. But as it turns out, we find
that they were there by divine appointment, and probably one
of the best pulpits they ever had was right there with that
Council of 70. And it's recorded for our benefit
to go back and see what they said, hear what they heard, and
then to see that it was Christ and Christ alone that made him
different than those 71 members of the council. Now that council
soon is going to start beating on these disciples. This is the
first time that they have faced real persecution and they are
let go with a warning. But this warning is not going
to last very long. We're going to find out that
this same council is going to find charges and some of the
disciples will even be killed by this 71-member council. In the book of Acts chapter 4
and verse 12, the Apostle Peter brings up such a necessary statement
as he has been in discussion with regard to the one who was
used to raise the lame man. Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ
of God. God hath made him both Lord and
Christ. He brings up this subject that
is flat in the face of these 71 members and flat in the face
of religionists. There is nothing that can add
to the position that we have in Christ. He goes on to say,
Neither is there salvation in any other. There is no salvation
in the law. There's no salvation in the Ten
Commandments. There's no salvation in memorizing
books of the Bible, entire chapters or entire books. There is nothing
in all of the practice that we normally have as religious people
that would bring us to a knowledge of Christ. We find neither is
there salvation in any other, any other thing, any other person.
Even myself, there is no salvation, for there is none other name."
Now, when we use that word name, we find out we're talking about
a person. I can use the name Timothy, and
it's talking about a person, a friend of mine. Use the word
Mike or Adeline. We know immediately that's not
just a word that we use, it's a person that is represented
by that name. And here we find out that Peter
is in discussion, in declaration here, before this 70-member council. There is none other name than
the name that he has just given them. Now he does not charge
them at this point about the murder of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but he is bringing up a point that they're gonna have a lot
of trouble with, and we will have a lot of trouble with unless
the Lord reveals Christ to us. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there's none other name under heaven. Given among
men, it doesn't matter the tribe, it doesn't matter the creed,
it doesn't matter the color, it doesn't matter what we believe,
it doesn't matter. There is none other name under
heaven given among men, whereby if we're ever saved, we'll be
different than this one. All of the religions of the world
are based upon one particular thing. Now they may have lots
of different schisms and things, but there is one specific thing
that every religion is based upon, and that is we are saved
by at least some works. Now, depending on the religion,
we might be saved by half our works, or three quarters of our
works, or seven eighths of our works, or 99% of our works, or
we might get real serious and say we're saved by all our works.
Would my good works outdo my bad works? So here we have the
statement by the Apostle Peter, there is, neither is there salvation
in any other. He's talking to doctors of the
law. They have made their life inquiry
into the law and how to bind people up by it. Neither is there
salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven
given among men in all of God's creation. There is no other person
that will ever be ordained to this position as savior of his
people, whereby we must be saved. Now, verse 13, we have that they,
the council, saw something about Peter and John. Now, when they
saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men. The other day, Nancy and I were
watching one of those English films, and in it, or one of the
weekly stories, in it it brought out emphatically the class separation
in England. Old England, it's still there.
The class separation. Now look at this as a class separation.
We have 71 men on this council that believe they are higher
and much higher than these poor fishermen. That's what they're
saying here as we find them here and they perceive that they were
unlearned and ignorant men. They saw them as unlearned and
ignorant. Now, it doesn't say that they
didn't know letters. It just says in our estimation,
these people are really ignorant of the important things and we
are not. According to what they believe
and what we believe, we're light years ahead of them. They are
centered in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're centered
in the whole law of God. You make your choice and find
out what's the most important. Well, we find out in Revelation
of the Holy Spirit, as God reveals his truth to us, there is one
person and one person alone that said, I have come not to destroy
the law, but to fulfill it. And in his person and work, he
fulfilled that law. Our righteousness is dependent
upon him fulfilling that law. He had no spot or wrinkle in
him. He had no sin of any kind. And he fulfilled every point,
every jot, and every tittle of the law. Now, as they come to
this conclusion, they say here, but they marveled. There was
something about these two men that not only did they say that
they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, the
council perceived this, they were unlettered, that is, they
were illiterate, they were rude, they were unlearned, they're
a much lower class than we are. Now, probably, we would find
out that some of those guys, like the Apostle Paul, and he
may have been on that council, he was highborn. He goes over
that in the book of Galatians. He was very high born. Pharisee
of the Pharisees, a son of a Pharisee, had everything that was necessary
lined out and delineated. And then he comes to the conclusion
after the Lord saved him, this is all done. We have these unlearned, unlettered,
These men here that are low born, they're ignorant, they're unlearned. And then it says they marveled
and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. Now, one of the commentators
that I wrote says, well, they just understood that, or remembered
that they had seen these disciples with Jesus. Well, there's no
doubt that that is part of what they're meaning here, but I think
it's much more significant than what we have that saying, that
commentary on it. It's much more significant as
what they're bringing up here about they saw in these men,
some men that were, had been with Jesus. The Sanhedrin court comes to
that conclusion. And it is different than just
saying, we saw them with Jesus. Well, when they were dealing
with the Lord Jesus, most of these disciples were in a hidden
state. They had run away from the Lord as he is coming to the
end. It appears that the Sanhedrin
also remember Jesus. John and Peter have brought his
name up several times here. This man walks because of Jesus
of Nazareth, the Christ. And yet it is not enough, and
these two disciples prove this point by themselves, that it
is not enough just to have been with Jesus. Now, the meaning
that we're going to look at here with regard to their being with
Jesus is much more significant than just these 71 looking at
an observation of these two men and saying, well, we've come
to the conclusion that they've been with Jesus. Well, there's
been hundreds of men and women and boys and girls that have
been with Jesus that didn't know the first thing about the gospel.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of John chapter six.
John chapter six. Now, prior to that, we find out
Judas spent three and a half years of intensive study in the
school of the Lord Jesus Christ. Judas had been there from the
very beginning. Judas had been called from the
very beginning of his ministry. He had 12 disciples, and he already
tells us in the scripture, he knew in his own mind, he knew
as he was practicing, as he was teaching, that one of them is
a demon, a devil. That's Judas Iscariot. It'd be
better if he'd never been born, but he has his place in God's
eternal purpose, and that he is going to betray Jesus Christ
of Nazareth to a group of rabble that come after him. All right?
Judas had been with him, but we find out that didn't help
him at all. Turn with me, as I mentioned
there, to the book of John, if you would. The book of John chapter
6. John chapter 6 and verse 2. John
chapter six and verse two, it says here, and a great multitude
followed him because they saw his miracles, which he did on
them that were diseased. Now we got some followers here
that are following because of the great miracles that he's
done. And then in verse 10 of that same chapter says, and Jesus
said, make the men sit down now that there was much grass in
the place. So the men sat down, the number about 5,000. Verse
11, and Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks,
he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that
were set down, and likewise the fishes, as much as they would
or could eat. Kind of like our breakfast this
morning. They had all they wanted. And then, if you'll look at me
with verse 26, the same group of people, when Jesus Christ
began to teach the gospel, and the gospel is good news. The
gospel is, it's not left up to us to make any choices. I really
appreciated Henry Ford and his first color of his cars. There
was no need to make a choice. You got black. You know, have
you found yourselves at a quandary in a restaurant when they bring
out four or five or six pages of the menu? Why in the world
do we have to sift through all of this? Give us two things and
we'll choose out of that. Well, these. Folks here had seen
the miracles, they'd been fed, and Jesus Christ used this on
purpose as a point of ministry about who He is, what He came
to do, and how He's going to carry it out. He shares in this
passage of Scripture that no man can come to the Son or the
Father except the other member draw him. The Holy Spirit has
his part in this, co-equal in our salvation. And then he drops
down and talks about the very need for having a Savior. And
then in verse 66, we find the results. This is the Savior. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is the results that day with these 60 5,000 men,
plus women and children. It says there, and from that
time, many of his disciples went back and walked no more with
him. Now they spent days with him. They'd been fed by him.
They had seen the miracles that he performed, but it could not
be said that their salvation depended upon them merely being
with Jesus. We read over there in the book
of Acts chapter four that the Sanhedrin court noticed that
these men had been with Jesus. It's much more different kind
of knowledge that we find there with regard to the saints, to
Peter and John. In the book of Luke, chapter
18, we have another passage of scripture here, and there's so
many. Hundreds of people had been with Jesus, and in these
33 plus years, it made no external or internal difference in their
lives. If God has not drawn us, if God
has not acquainted us with God, We can meet him on a street,
not know exactly who he is and go our merry way just like thousands
of people did. In the book of Luke chapter 18,
we have this passage of scripture mentioned here. There's a rich
young ruler and it tells us in verse 18, he wants, I believe
it's verse 18, let me get there. A certain ruler asked him saying,
good master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Who's
he in the presence of? He's in the presence of the Lord.
What did those 71 members of the Sanhedrin court say? They
took note that these men had been with Jesus. Well, here's
a rich young ruler that has been with Jesus. He came to him, inquired
of him. He said, what must I do? What
does it say? Saying, good master, what shall
I do to inherit eternal life? You know, it boils down to this.
Lord, what can you do to give me eternal life? Not what can
I do? And then it tells us in that
same chapter, verse 23. Now, when he heard this, he was
very sorrowful for he was very rich. And you know what he did?
He left. He had been with Jesus. He heard
the words of the Lord, quotations from the Old Testament. And yet
it did not satisfy him because of his own inherent problem,
and that is sin. These that we have read about,
that heard of Jesus, that, as it tells us there, those disciples,
those two disciples, there is three absolute prerequisites
that God requires before we can have true knowledge of Jesus
that can be said by God Almighty They know Jesus. Those 71 members of the Sanhedrin
court said, we perceive that these men have been with Jesus.
Well, it doesn't do anything for the condition that these
men in. And when it comes time, they challenge them and say,
don't you dare ever speak about this man again. Don't you bring
up this subject again. Well, even the knowledge that
they had been with Jesus did not change the condition or the
attitude that they had towards him. But we find that there are
three absolute prerequisites that had been taken care of by
God Almighty with these two with the 11, with anyone that has
ever been saved, these things must be taken care of because
we cannot take care of them ourselves. And then it can be said by God
Almighty, they know Jesus. They have an eternal position
in Christ. They shall be presented spotless
as a result of this. You know, we get in our life,
we find out, as the Lord saves us, we find out that we must
And we can take for granted with Peter and John and the rest of
the disciples that knew the Lord, they were or had been dealt with. We must have sin dealt with. We must have our very nature
dealt with. We must have a relationship with
Adam dealt with. We'll never come into the presence
of God. We'll never know him. if we do
not have him, the one who took care of our sin problem. We are
sinners by nature and we practice it every day. And we find out
that there is only one that can take care of sin. And he put
away sin, Christ put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
He's the only one that can deal with the problem that we have.
We can't even reach that high. We can't get to that point of
dealing with our own sin. It's impossible. We pray, Lord,
forgive me for my sin. We pray, Lord, help me, keep
me from sinning. But the very nature that we have,
the very heart that we're born with, it's impossible for us
to take care of that problem. There must be a substitute taking
care of our problem. And we find out, as we study
the scriptures, as they knew in the Old Testament as well
as the New Testament, and those disciples knew it, particularly
these two that are standing before the Sanhedrin court, they knew
that their sin had been dealt with by the substitute, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Their sin was on Him, and His
righteousness is on them. That just leads us to the next
point that we have here. We must, second thing, we must
have perfect righteousness. We can't enter into glory with
one finger that is not in perfect righteousness. If we're depending
upon one thread of our garment of righteousness that is ours,
we don't have the righteousness of Christ. It must be his absolute
complete, total righteousness of Jesus Christ given to us.
So we have to have that dealt with. The Bible tells us, as
the disciples would quickly declare, our righteousness is as filthy
rags. Our presentation before God is
wanting. We have no ability to come into
his presence and beg for mercy without the righteousness of
Christ. We have to have it. We have sin to deal with. We
can't deal with it. We have a substitute that dealt
with our sin and by faith we believe all that he said about
how he dealt with it. We must have His righteousness.
It must be perfect righteousness. We must have a perfect standing
before God, and we can only have that as we have the imputed righteousness
of Christ. As we look into the Old Testament,
we find that we're given a robe of righteousness, like a robe,
a covering, imputed to us, covers all things. And then we find
out from the very beginning, God had purpose to do this. God had purpose to save a people.
God had purpose to forgive their sin. God had purpose to give
them his perfect righteousness. And you know, we find out that,
and I'm not sure that these are in numeric order or if they're
not jumbled up, but the last point I wanna make, we, the disciples
had to have this. They had to have the new birth. They could not have been with
Jesus in a spiritual context unless they had been given a
spiritual birth. We will not recognize God as
God without it. We have enmity against God as
we find the scriptures continuously share with us that the attitude
of natural man is enmity with God. We must have that taken
care of. We must have it corrected. Turn
with me if you would to the book of John chapter three, as the
Lord Jesus Christ is dealing with a man by the name of Nicodemus.
He came to Jesus by night. He's not a believer. You know,
it doesn't matter what time we come to Him if we're a believer.
And it doesn't matter the circumstances. We don't have to hide our claim
to Christ. This man was hiding his claim. He knew, he said, you're a good
teacher. We know you can't do these things
except God be with you. But when Jesus explained to him
the truth of what we find the Old Testament shared with us
in just a little different wording, He said, circumcision of the
heart, or new heart. This is the same thing that we
find here in John chapter 3, verse 3. John chapter 3, verse
3, we find the Lord Jesus said this to Nicodemus, and Jesus
answered and said unto him, He didn't even deal with the question
that Nicodemus brought up. He didn't even deal with the
statement, no man can do these miracles that thou doest except
God be with him. He didn't deal with any of that
religious paraphernalia. He dealt with this subject. Jesus answered and said unto
him, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again,
he cannot see the kingdom of God. I am thankful, as we read about
Moses, that he got to go up on the mount and look into the promised
land. Now he couldn't go in because
he's a representation of the law, but he got to look into
the land. And you know, he had a view of
that land from beginning to end that no one else ever had. You
could get up on that mountain and you could not see what Moses
got to see. He saw the Southern border. He
saw the Northern border. He saw the Western border. He
saw the Eastern border. He saw the whole thing. He saw
the greatness of that land as God gave him the ability to see.
And then God took his life. Well, he got to look into that.
And Jesus brings up a point here that we will not accept a man
be born again. You cannot see the kingdom of
God. There is nothing to be seen. We're blind to it. We're blind
to spiritual things. And then if you'll go down there
to verse five, the Lord brings us up again. Nicodemus asks a
question here in verse four that, you know, it's so common. How
can I be born again? Well, that's the question. How
can we? Jesus said in verse five, Jesus
answered, verily, verily, I say unto thee, except the man be
born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. except we be born again. We cannot
enter into the kingdom of God. We can't see it. We can't enter
into the kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water.
Now there's discussion about what that water means. Some believe
that that's the word of God. The water of the word and water
of the spirit of the word must be dealt with. And others say,
well, that's just talking about the first birth, we're born of
water, and then we have the spiritual birth, the second birth, it must
be born of the spirit. Well, I don't think it detracts
from the meaning of either one of those, but the important thing
is to say that Jesus brought up here, he said, except ye be
born of water and of the spirit, ye cannot enter into the kingdom
of God. There's no entering in. So when
those two disciples, when those 11 disciples, when the 70 disciples,
when the church that's mentioned there in the book of Acts, when
the additions that were made, when we find 4,000 people added
at one time to the church there at Jerusalem through the new
birth, we find out that you could, by the grace of God, look upon
them and say, with spiritual significance, These people have
been with Christ. Well, we know that there's some
reasons that we can look at, because if God has taken care
of the sin problem, God has taken care of the righteousness problem,
and God has taken care of the spiritual need problem, then
we have some things that are going to be followed by the person
that God saves, And this signifies to ourselves and to others that
there is some meaning about have been with Christ. To have been with Christ means
to walk with Him in a consenting will. Have you ever had to grab ahold
of one of your kids when they didn't consent? They didn't give a consenting
will? I've witnessed some men that
were taken into custody with not consenting will. Most of our life is practiced
with not having consenting will. but someone who God has given
a new heart to, someone that God has given the new birth to,
someone that God has forgiven of their sins, someone that God
has given new life to, has sins forgiven and righteousness imputed,
it will be evident that they walk with him in a consenting
will. Yes, Lord. Yes, Lord. Be it unto me according to thy
word. I want I plead to consent. Love him as having first loved
us. I love that passage of scripture.
We love him because he first loved us. It is the love of Christ
towards His people that gives us some love towards God. So
we love Him because He first loved us. We love Him and we're
joined to Him in one spirit. It's wonderful to know that the
Holy Spirit indwells the saint and the Holy Spirit is God, the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. We're conjoined,
we're welded, we're grafted, we're made one. We have Him as
the head. So we have now, God can say,
I see you've been with him. Must have love for his word and
his people. A person that those 71 members
of the Sanhedrin court could say, well, you know, we've been
with him too, but they hated his word and they hated the position
that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ. But to the saint, we
must have a love for his word and a love for his people. That's
a requirement. And that comes by the new birth.
And that comes, and we can be, God can say, they have been with
Jesus. That's why they can say and do. We have this very knowledge.
We must be bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. Jesus, husbands
love your wives even as Christ has loved the church and gave
himself for it. What outstanding love he has
for the church and that's why God can say they have been with
Jesus. They were with Him in eternity
when their names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life.
They were with Him in His life. They were with Him at the cross.
They were with Him in the grave. They were with Him in the resurrection.
And they're with Him at the right hand of the Father. They are,
God can say, they have been with Jesus. To be with Jesus means
we quit arguing with Him or His Word. How evident that is among natural
religious people is to argue with the plain Word of God and
come up with the most contrary arguments or doctrines from the
Word that have misused and miscued the Word of God. But those who
have been with Him, those He knows, those who have been born
again, they quit arguing with God. They are not in charge any
longer. And it means to be completely
agree with him on sin. Yes, Lord. I'm the sinner. I love what that publican had
to say. God be merciful to me, the sinner. We're going to agree with him
on the Bible as his word. It's been apparent in the last
two or three or four months, how many people are looking at
outward things to prove the Bible is right. They look at the solar
system and to prove the Bible is right. They look at this creation
or that creation to prove what the Bible's right. That's backwards. That is totally backwards. That
is not a sign that you've been with Jesus. That's a sign you
could care less what the Bible has to say. The Bible is the
authority. And you know what? God's people
have been given faith to believe that God has done all things,
created all things. It is not up for bargaining.
It is not up for choice. It is either that way or no way.
By faith, we understand that the things were made by God out
of things that did not exist. And that means our spiritual
being too. A person dead in trespasses and
sin, no spiritual life whatsoever, and he gives us life. And all
the others that we have, we're in his hands. We agree with God
when we know him and we have been with him, we agree with
him that the atonement was effectual. That when Jesus Christ went to
the cross, he knew exactly what he was doing. He did it on purpose,
and he knew who he was doing it for. And there is no one that
is on the left-hand side that Jesus Christ ever died for. I
don't know you. Well, he knows the church intimately. and he has caused them to know
that they have been with Jesus. But those without Christ, those
he did not die for on the cross, they will be on the left-hand
side. Now, it doesn't add to our pride, it adds to our humility. You know, as we look at that
judgment of the right-hand and left-hand, the sheep and the
goats, we find that those who were on the left-hand side had
a great deal of pride. We have done. We have cast out. We have preached. We've led many
to Jesus. And on the right hand side, those
guys, the church, were humbled before him because they said,
when did we do all of that? When were we involved in that?
We're not. So the atonement is for, as Jesus
said himself, the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
And if we don't have that, we cannot say, I have been with
Jesus. We have his instructions on this
matter. If we've been with Jesus, ever
been with Jesus, really been with Jesus, we don't have a problem
with the will of man being dead. It's a revelation coming straight
from God's word. The will is dead. There is nothing
capable of the will of any spiritual thing. Now, this morning, as
we gathered in there, I had a will to have about everything that
was there. Brother Hawker said his grandchildren,
every time he has a meal with them, prove the doctrine of election.
His grandchildren get their plate, they get their utensils, and
they go get some of this, and they go get some of this. They
leave all the green stuff alone. That's proven. That's just demonstration
of election. God chose when he desired to
choose. Now we find out. There is not
a problem in the church with the will of man dead. And when
we come to that conclusion, it is because we have been with
Jesus. We have been with him in eternity.
We have been part of his knowledge in eternity, been part of his
purpose in eternity. And he reveals those truths to
us. The nature of man has fallen. And it's worse than we thought. It doesn't take very much study
in the word of God to find out it is worse than I thought. Read
the third chapter of the book of Acts, excuse me, the book
of Romans. It's worse than I thought. Every
thought and every imagination is what we read over in the book
of Genesis, was only wicked continually. It is worse than I thought. And
so we find out that if we have been with Jesus, we find out
that the nature of man has fallen. It fell in Adam and it could
only be recouped, ever be rescued, ever been brought out of that
condition by the Lord Jesus Christ. And those that have been with
Jesus know this vital truth. They also know what Jonah said
from the great fish's belly. This is a mantra that we go through
life with. Salvation is of the Lord. When people have been with Jesus,
they have this conclusion in their mind that their salvation
is of the Lord. It's not, well, over there in
the book of Daniel. Even the king was told, you have
been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Well, just think
about us. You've been weighed in the balance
and found wanting. Who can only take care of that
is the person Christ Jesus. Salvation is of the Lord. And
we find out that he is sovereign over all, even calamities. I know people that don't want
to even talk about a tornado that tears up a house was ordained
of God. That's the devil. No, it's not.
It's of the Lord. Everything that has happened
has been for ordained of God. Now, someone asked me why and
I say that's not in my pay grade. I do know this. that all things
work together for the good of them that love God to those who
are called according to his purpose. Now, it doesn't say that those
goats is going to be good for them, but it does say that it's
good for all the sheep. We have to take that to the bank.
The Bible teaching does not disgrace, does not disagree with God. Can't be then, you must not be
known to have been with God. If you cannot have these great
truths embedded in your heart, welded to your being, these great
truths of the gospel, then have I been with Jesus? Have I been
his student? Have I been raised by him? Have
I been taught of him? Have I been living in him? What's the problem? Because we
find out hundreds and hundreds of people walked with him, been
with him, and in the end say, this is too difficult, we're
gonna leave. Your word is too difficult. I'm
very rich and I can't give up. Well, that's not what Jesus gave
me. He's just showing that man's a sinner. Well, even the believers. Before we're
going to close here in just a moment, would you turn with me to the
book of John? John chapter 12. John chapter 12, and this is
where we find, no doubt, many of the Sanhedrin court found
themselves, but they were able to say, by inspiration, these
men have been with Jesus. Much more significant than just
knowing Him, or being with Him for three and a half years, or
being with Him and watching Him die on the cross. In the book
of John chapter 12 and verse 42, it says, nevertheless, among
the chief rulers also, many believed on Him. But because of the Pharisees,
They did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the
synagogue. Now, can you hear Peter saying that? Well, I can't
confess him because I'll have to be kicked out of synagogue.
He's standing in the face of the most powerful group of men
in Judaism at that time and boldly declared unto them, you have
murdered the Christ. He is the only savior. And he
said, boldly, there's none of the name under heaven given among
men whereby you must be saved. So he's not one of these Guys
that are going, oh, I can't say anything, I can't say anything.
What does it say there? And many believe, chief rulers,
many believe, but because of the Pharisees, who are on that
ruling class. I know there's some Sadducees
there, might've been a majority of Sadducees, and Pharisees,
and ultimately they all believe the same thing. But because of
the Pharisees, They did not confess him, lest they should be put
out of the synagogue. And then if you, one more time,
Acts chapter 15, and with this we'll close. Acts chapter 15.
Acts chapter 15, and there in verse five. This is just, I read this and
I say, oh my goodness. It says here, but there arose
up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed. Oh,
hallelujah, a bunch of Pharisees got saved. Well, look at their
thoughts here now. That it was needful to circumcise
them and to command them to keep the law of Moses. Now that doesn't
sound very much like they believed on Jesus. They're believing on
their continuous work, circumcision, the law, and everything else.
They had not been with Jesus. Those two disciples go down in
our word, the book of Acts, chapter four. It goes down for us to
read and reread and reread. They noticed that these men had
been with Jesus. It was more than just a mental
knowledge of being with Jesus. Truly, these men had been with
Him, understood some of what He had to say, and were not afraid
to say, I don't understand that, but it's still the truth. They
understood God. They understood the Lord Jesus
Christ when He declared that mankind by nature is fallen,
and Jesus Christ is the only Savior. So, I pray, may we have
been with Jesus. Brother Mike, if you'll come.