I'm going to pick up here in
verse 37 and continue reading because this is where I'm going
to bring my message from. Now when they heard this, heard these words, he says, you
men of Israel hear these words. Now when they heard this, heard that they had crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ. They were pricked in their heart,
and said unto Peter, and to the rest of the apostles, Men, brethren,
what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent,
and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.
For the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of
the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you,
and to your children, and to all that are far off, that's
us, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with
many of the words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves
from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received
his word were baptized. And the same day were added about
three thousand souls, and they continued steadfastly in the
apostles' doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and in
prayers. And fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together,
and had all things common, and sold their possessions and goods,
and parted to all, as every man had need. And they, continuing
daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from
house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness
of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And
the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be said.
It says there in verse 41, Then they gladly received his word,
gladly receiving the word of God. When the gospel comes in
power, when it comes in power to a person's heart, to a person's
soul, it pricks their heart. And Peter stood here and preached
the gospel to these people. You men of Israel, hear these
words. How that Jesus of Nazareth, and he began to preach about
Christ being approved of God. Done many miracles and signs
and wonders to prove that he was who he said he was. And then
he charged them with the sin of crucifying the Son of God.
And I tell you, when the gospel comes in power to a soul's heart,
it quicks it. It does something to the heart.
And then they're brought to repentance. That's why they said when they
heard this, when they heard about Christ being at the right hand
of God, sitting there with all power and authority, and that
He crucified Him, God raised Him up. They were pricked in
their heart. And the first thing they wanted to know, what are
we going to do? What are we going to do? What in the world is going
to happen? If we crucify the Son of God,
and we're that wicked, what in the world are we going to do?
And that's what happens when the gospel comes. It pricks the
heart, and they're brought to repentance. Then Peter said unto
them, verse 38, Repent! And repentance, beloved, is a
change of mind, a change of attitude, a change of heart. And it's a
change. The first thing you see is a
change about themselves. What are we going to do? First thing, they realized that
they was in trouble. We're the ones that's wrong here.
God's right, we're wrong. Christ is the right hand of God,
and now here we are. And they were brought to repentance. Oh, their mind changed about
God and the relationship to Christ. And they, beloved, obey the Lord
Jesus Christ, and it says, repent and be baptized, every one of
you, in the name of Christ, in the name of the Lord Jesus. And,
beloved, they obey Christ and are baptized in His name, in
His authority, to confess Him. You see, they acknowledge His
position. He's at the right hand of God. He's got all the power. He's got all the authority. He's
the only Savior. And they know He's at God's right
hand. They know He's the Lord. They know He's the Christ. They
acknowledge His authority. And they're given the responsibility
for His death. And then it says here in this,
"...you receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." And then the Holy
Ghost comes to them. He's the one that taught them,
made them feel this great need of Christ. And then He's given
unto them. He comes. Our Lord Jesus said,
I'll send a comforter to you. And the Holy Ghost comes. And
He's given to them to teach them, to instruct them in the things
of Christ, to keep them believing, keep them clinging to Christ,
to guide them. to direct their steps and to
guard them against error, to guard them from their own weakness
of the flesh and inabilities, and to comfort them during their
trials and during their heartaches and during their troubles, and
then also to bring thanks to their remembrance. How many times
have you been in a conversation and something, things just start
coming to you. That's the Holy Ghost does that
for you. And this is the portrait of a believer. The beginning.
A lot of people say it's the beginning of the church. But
here's a portrait of New Testament believers. What happens when
God saves a sinner, a New Testament believer. And it says there in
verse 41, Then they gladly received his word. Verse 41. Gladly received his word. To
receive it means to take it to your own heart. Take it to your
own heart. Lay it to your heart. to accept
it for what it is. To value it is to welcome it
and say, this is so gladly received. I accept this. I believe this. I put value upon this. Now, you
keep Acts 2 and look over in Acts 13 with me just a moment. Acts 13 and verse 46. That's why he says, you know, Good news from a far country
is that's cold water to a thirsty soul. When you're thirsty and
you're hungry, I tell you, and you hear that good news, it's
like the best water you've ever drunk for a thirsty soul. And
here in Acts 13, 44, it says this, 46, excuse me. Then Paul
and Barnabas watched bowl and said it was necessary that the
word of God should first have been spoken to you, but seeing
you put it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting
life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. What they're saying is, is that
we don't believe God's word. We're not going to receive that
testimony you've got. We're not going to receive what
you've got to say about Christ. For so hath the Lord commanded
us, saying, I'll set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that
thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth. And
what's this? And when the Gentiles heard this, They were glad. They were glad and they glorified
the Lord, the Lord. Oh, bless God that he sent the
word to me. Bless God that he sent a preacher
to me. Bless God that he brought the
gospel to me. And all beloved, they glorified
the word of the Lord, and as many as were ordained to eternal
life, every one of them believed. That's what he said over here. They gladly received the word
of God. Look back over here in our text
with us. Oh beloved, and I'll tell you, watch this, they receive
it. Do you receive the word of God to be what it is? Do you
accept it? Do you receive it? Do you value
it? There are those of you here that say, man, this is it! This
is my hope, this is my belief, this is my faith, this is the
only thing I've got, is I've got God's Word. And I believe
it to say, I receive it, I accept it, I have a value on it. And
then look what it says, in verse 38, then Peter said, let them
repent and be baptized. Not only did they repent, they
had this great change of mind. They changed their mind about
themselves, changed their mind about God, changed their mind
about sin. These fellas was at the cross
and they was the same ones, many of them was, that says crucifying.
He saved others, he can't save himself. There was lots of them
there that was mocking him, wagging their heads on him. What happened
to them this day that they went from despising Christ, and mocking
Christ, and ridiculing Christ, and scoffing at Christ, to now,
beloved, their hearts being changed, to they say, oh, I want to repent. I've changed my mind, I'm guilty
of this. What changed their mind about
Christ? He's Lord, He's on His throne.
What changed their mind about God? What changed their mind
about the Scriptures when Peter started preaching from the Old
Testament in the Psalms? Says David when he was talking
there, he was talking about Christ? What changed their mind? Huh? The Spirit of God does. When
you hear the Gospels, what I'm telling you. And then watch what
it says. And be baptized. I mean, they were baptized, it
says there. In verse 41 in the... And then they gladly received
this word and were baptized the same day. You know, I mean, the day they
could, the day they threw up their hands and surrendered,
they says, we'll be baptized right now. They didn't stand
around and wait and scratch their head, am I a believer or am I
not a believer? Do I trust Christ or do I not trust Christ? They
knew it. They said, I believe. I received
this. I'm in trouble here. And oh,
they repented. They confessed. And they said,
you know what? I want to be baptized right now. I want you to take me right now
and immerse me in water. And you know what immersion in
water, what baptism is, beloved, is what it's saying is that And
over in 1 Peter it says it's an answer of a good conscience
towards God. Water does not save you. But
our Lord Jesus himself was baptized to fulfill all righteousness,
that he so identified with us. And so identified with our state
and our condition that he himself took part in baptism to show
himself identifying with us and himself being obedient to God
and being baptized to fulfill all righteousness that which
what we do. Righteousness is fulfilled in
him if we get baptized. And what baptism is, you take
a man and you put him under the water. That shows He's dead. He's dead. If I held you underwater,
you'd drown. You'd die. And what you're doing
is you put you under the water. You're saying, I'm dead with
Christ. Is He put in the grave? I'm put in the grave. As He was
raised up by the glory of the Father, I've been raised up by
the glory of the Father. I've been quickened unto life. And you walk out of that water,
and you go to walk, and you say, I'm going to walk in doodness
of life from here on, just like Christ. That's what it means. And all this was an outward expression. This baptism was an outward expression
of a changed attitude. It was an open confession of
the Lord Jesus Christ. what it was to these men and
what it is to everybody else that really truly understands
what they're doing. It's a public declaration when
you're baptized and when you believe Christ, it's a public
declaration of identifying with those who are His people, His
disciples. These apostles who are despised,
I want to be identified with them. This Christ that was crucified,
I want to be identified with. These people who confess faith
in Christ, I want to be identified with. These people who preach to me, I want to be identified
with. I want to publicly be identified
with those people. And 3,000 souls, it says, did
this. Now, I don't believe this happened
all in one day. Personally, I don't. I don't
believe, I don't believe. You know how, you know what it'd
been like to baptize 3,000 souls at one time? It would have took,
oh, it would have took a long time. But I believe it was over
a period of time. I believe it was over a period
of time. But, oh, beloved, 3,000 souls did this. And you notice
in the Scriptures they call them souls. And that's why Christ
purchased, He purchased our souls. And they received the message
and were baptized. And beloved, let me show you
something else about this New Testament believer, this person
who pricked in their hearts and repents and is baptized and gladly
received the Word. Do you gladly receive His Word? Watch what happens. They are
learners. They want to be taught. They
are willing to be taught. Look in verse 42. And they continue
steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine. I want to learn. I want somebody to teach me. That's why that Ethiopian eunuch,
you know, he's riding along reading the Bible. He's reading Isaiah
53, and he says, Phillips walked up to him and walked along beside
his chair and said, you understand what you're reading? He said,
how can I accept some man God be? Jumped up in that chair and
began to teach him. He was teachable. And oh, beloved,
and it says here they continue. They didn't get baptized and
then decide, you know, I've just got to go somewhere else and
do something else. You know, I'm fixed up for eternity now.
I've got my insurance policy. I've been baptized. I'm all right. I'm good for eternity. I've been taken care of. Now I can go do what I want to,
go where I want to and all that. No matter what happens, I'm going
to end up in glory. No, no, no, no. They didn't get
baptized and go somewhere else. They continued. And I'll tell you what, and I
believe this, and I was looking at a message the other day that
Tom Hardy put up of a transcribed message of Brother Henry. And
he says, God's people do not quit. And they do not. And I'll tell you this, whatever
you preach, that's what people will practice. You preach backsliding,
people will backslide. You preach walking on fire, people
will walk on fire. You preach laying on a bed of
nails, people will lay on a bed of nails. You preach that water
washes away your sins, and people will get in water and say, well,
my sins are taken care of by the water. Whatever you preach,
people's going to believe. And that's why it says here,
they continued. Continued what? In what? In the
apostles' doctrine. Once the apostles talked to him,
we just heard what Simon Peter said. He started out with Christ. You men of Israel hear these
words. How that Jesus of Nazareth, the man approved of God. By many miracles he raised the
dead, he cleansed the lepers, he gave sight to the blind, he
fed multitudes, walked on the water, stilled storms, saying
people, people were touching by the hem of her garment, be
healed of diseases. And he said, God approved of
him by these miracles, these signs and these wonders, and
you Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, and here He was, and you
just refused to have Him. You refused to believe Him. You
refused to have anything do it. And you, yourself, took Him and
crucified Him with your wicked hands. But He said, let me tell
you something. But death wasn't able to hold
Him. It just wasn't even possible.
It was impossible for death to hold Him. Because God said he
wouldn't leave his soul in hell, suffering to see corruption.
And he said he rested in hope. And, oh, beloved, and God raised
this Saint Jesus, raised him from the dead, and made him both
Lord and Christ. Whoa! Now, that's the apostles'
doctrine. Start out with Christ! being
crucified as a man coming into this world, being crucified,
being raised, and then sending him at God's right hand. And
all beloved, that's what they've done. They knew these men were
chosen of Christ. They knew they were appointed
to be His messengers. And many of these people had
been with Christ. Many of them had seen His miracles
and heard His teaching. But these men, these apostles,
were chosen And there ain't no more apostles. Believe me, there
ain't no more apostles. They were chosen for a particular
time, for a particular people, for a particular place. And they
were chosen to have a particular place and position in this world
and in the church and for God's glory. And when there's gone,
there's gone. And God gave them such power
and such authority. It's just incredible, the power
and authority that He gave. Let me show you over here in
2 Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 12. You know, that's what
they said fastly, and that's what we do. You know, they have
what they call the Apostle's doctrine, the Apostle's Creed. And you have this Apostle's Creed,
and beloved, and that's what we do. That's why Paul said,
I'm determined to know nothing among you, save Christ and crucify.
God used these men like He never used anybody else. And look what
it says there, where Paul is talking about himself among the
Corinthians. He said, Truly the signs of an
apostle were wrought among you in all patience, and signs, and
wonders, and mighty deeds. Nobody else could do that. Nobody else could do that. When
Peter was walking through the streets of Jerusalem, Then lay
people in the beds, and lay them out on the sides of the street,
lay them out on the worst, so when Peter walked by them, he'd
shout and go over, and they'd be healed just by a shout. Nobody else in Jerusalem could
do that. Eustacus fell down dead, and Paul wrestled over and laid
down on him and said, don't you worry, I've got this life still
in me. Nobody else can do that. And that's why these people knew
that these men had authority. Knew that God was with them.
And it says there in verse 43 of Acts chapter 2, And fear came
upon every soul. Many wonders and signs were done
by the apostles. Were done by them. And oh beloved,
isn't it, it says here, And they continued, in verse 42, steadfastly
in the apostles' doctrine. And you know what the apostles
were teaching at this time? They didn't have the New Testament.
The only thing they had to deal with was the Old Testament. They
started in Genesis. I'm just as sure as God's on
His throne, they started in Genesis and started there. And I'm sure
they went through Exodus, talked about Christ and God bringing
up His people, God saving His people, saving them by power,
saving them up by blood, taught the Passover lamb, I'm sure they've
done that. And they brought their doctrine,
and they brought their truth, they brought everything they
had from Genesis to Malachi. And they ended up saying in Malachi,
it says, The sun shall rise with healing in his wings, and the
message of the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, and he shall
sit as a refiner, as a fooler, And then when the Lord starts
gathering His church, He'll gather them as His jewels, and He remembers
everyone that thought upon His name. And oh, beloved, they brought
their doctrine from Genesis to Malachi. And let me tell you
something about this, beloved. These people who were converted
here, they based their experience on the Word of God. They gladly
received the Word. They did not base their experiences
on anything but the Word and what was taught them. They tested their experience
by the Word of God. And that's, you know, and that's
what we all do. Our experiences, if we can't
find them the Word, we ain't got one. Every time we hear the
gospel preached, one of the brethren, it might have been you, Bruce,
that said, I don't remember who said it last week, but they said this.
They say, you know, that the gospel makes you weak and strong
at the same time. Saves you and lose you at the
same time. Brings you down and lifts you
up at the same time. Cuts you and comforts you at the same
time. Huh? It's a miracle is what it is. I mean, you know, when you hear
the gospel, you know, You know that you say, yes, that's me,
that's what I believe, that's it, that's what's happening to
me. They didn't jump up and down and clap their hands and say,
hallelujah, I'm saved, let's go run in the aisles. No, these
men were very thoughtful and very deliberate and very considerate. They didn't say, well, I have
goosebumps. They didn't say, well, I felt chill run up down
my back. They didn't say, I saw a great
light coming down from heaven like Paul did. They just heard
the gospel and they said, oh, what are we going to do? Repent
and be baptized, calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And oh, beloved, and they based their experience on God's word.
And look what else it says about them. And they continued in the
apostles doctrine and fellowship. You know what fellowship is?
Common participation in God. That's what fellowship is, a
common participation, a union, a communion, a fellowship. And
you keep this, let me show you over in 1 John 1. Keep James,
keep Acts now, and look over in 1 John 1 with me, just a moment. 1 John 1, talking about fellowship. And these people had a common
participation in God Himself, in Christ Himself. That's what
fellowship means. You know, you can't fellowship
with somebody that's not like you. You can have company, you
can talk, and you can visit. But to have that participation,
to have that union, only God's people have that. And here it
says in 1 John 1 verse 3, That which we have seen and heard
declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with
us." That means communion, participation with us. And what's this? With
us, who is us? The Father, and the Son, and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because truly our fellowship,
our participation, our communion, our union is with the Father
and with His Son, Jesus Christ. So you have fellowship with us,
because this is where our fellowship sat. That's why they had fellowship. And then look what else it said
about them. Back over here in Acts 2. They continued fastly
in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and breaking bread. That means, beloved, they took
the Lord's table. They took the Lord's supper.
Our Lord says that He'd break the bread. He said, take eat.
They broke bread together. And I believe back then, I don't
know if they, you know, some people do this, they bake a big
thing of unleavened bread and they pass it around and everybody
breaks a piece off. Or the apostles would break the
bread and pass it out to them. But here they were, you know,
and they had this breaking of bread. They observed the Lord's
table and they didn't, nobody wasn't telling them, you know,
now listen, you're not worthy. You've got to see if you're living
right. If you've got sin in your life,
you better not do this. Not what they said. No, no. These folks, they knew that they
knew God. They knew they knew Christ. And oh, look there in
verse 44, just a moment. And this is what they're talking
about. Fellowship. Common participation. And all that believed were together
and had all things common. I mean, they had this fellowship,
this union, this participation. And then look in verse 43 here.
Oh, these believers, look what happens to them then. And fear
came upon every soul. What does this fear mean here?
They had reverence. They had reverence and power. Fear came upon every soul. I
mean, they had this feeling of awe and reverence of the message
of God, of the Holy Ghost, and what God had done for them. They
understood that God done this. This is the work of God, that
this gospel came in power. And oh, they had a reverence
and an awe for the Word, and a reverence and an awe for God.
And then these men had power, and many signs and wonders were
done by the apostles. Miracles, mighty acts, healing.
The first thing you're confronted with when Peter and John were
going up to the temple to pray. This is a lame man. The first
thing you see is a man who had been lame for 38 years, sitting
there begging. Peter never laid hands on him
or nothing. He said, I ain't got nothing to give you. But
I said, well, I'll tell you what I can give you. What I can give to you,
I can give you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rise up
and walk. And that fellow jumped up and
the scripture says he has ankle bones. And that fellow went to jumping
up and down. He hadn't even walked in years,
now he's jumping up and down. And that's the first healing.
And God used that to open the door to all these things that's
going on right now. And oh beloved, and then not
only were there these believers, these people who got converted,
Not only did they have a fear and a reverence for God, and
a fear and awe and reverence for the truth and for the scriptures,
but look what it says here. And they were generous. Look
down at verse 45. Acts 2, 45. And sold their possessions
and goods and parted to them, to all, as
every man had need. Oh, my! They were generous. They sold the possessions. Gave
as every man had need. You see, it says back there in
verse 44, "...and all that believed together had all things in common."
Now, what do they mean, they had all things in common while
they'd done this? Well, they had sin in common. They had sin
in common. They had the love of God in common,
in their hearts. They had faith in common. They had to receive in the word
of God in common. Being taught in common. Believing
the gospel in common. But here it says, when they sold
their possessions in good and pardoned the everyman as they
had need. Gave as there was a need. I want you to see that. Now,
this wasn't communism. It's not communism. You know,
communism is a political position. And Mary and I are ambivalent.
A couple of years ago, we went to Jamestown Colony. You know,
supposed to have been the first colony in America, lost colony.
We went to where the Jamestown was supposed to be. And they
was doing archeological digs there and everything like that.
And we walked around. And the first winner that we
had in America, they know, they tried communism. They made everybody
bring everything into one house and people come in there and
get what they needed out of the house. Well, the folks who knew
that everybody else was going to raise a big garden, why should
I raise a big lot of potatoes? That fellow over there got a
field full of them. Why should I raise a bunch of corn? That
fellow over there got a field full of them. Next thing you know, about
half of them didn't raise anything, trusting in the ones who did.
And what happened was, halfway through the winter, food was
gone, and a lot of them starved to death. Now this is my communism here.
They gave. They gave. And what it is, beloved, communism
is a forced sharing, making all to share alike, making everybody
to have everything exactly the same. That's communism. Everybody's
got to have everything exactly the same. And this wasn't socialism
either. This wasn't socialism either.
You know what socialism is? It believes in owning your own
thing. That's what socialism believes.
You know, what's yours is yours. But here's what we're going to
do with this. We're going to take. Here's this fellow who's got
a hundred dollars. This fellow here's only got ten.
So we're going to take more from this fellow who's got a hundred
and give a little more to this fellow who's only got ten. We're
going to take ten from him and give it over here to this fellow.
He ain't done nothing to earn it, but we're going to take it
from him and give it to them. It belongs to him, but we're
going to, and what it is, beloved, take from those with the most.
And who sets the measure of how much you're supposed to give
is made by somebody else, not you. If he wanted to give ten
dollars of his hundred to this fellow over here, if he wanted
to do that, that's fine. But for me to say, you've got to
do it, that's socialism. And then taking from those who
have the most and taking it at a higher rate to give to those
who have less. And what is the state then takes
and distributes to those who have less? Now, neither one of
these things are done willingly, but it's done by force. These
people were not forced to give. Why did they do this? Why did
they start selling their stuff? Well, most of them had more than
they needed. No, they wouldn't have sold it.
But I came, but anyway, sold their possessions and goods.
And these people weren't forced to give. They were doing it out
of love. They saw people in need. They saw poor people. They saw
people in the church that didn't have anything. They saw widows
that didn't have nothing. They didn't have Social Security.
They didn't have welfare. They didn't have food stamps.
And they were generous, and God gave to them. So what they do,
they saw a need, and they met that need. And oh, beloved, they saw a need.
And let me show you over in Acts 20, 35. Let's look at this real
quick. You know, that's why the Lord says, you know, beware of
covetousness. Beware of covetousness. For a
man's life consists not in the abundance of what he possesses.
Our life is not in what we possess. Our life is life itself. It's living. What would a man
give in exchange for his life? Job lost all of his possessions,
but he still had God. He still had Christ. He still
had fellowship. He still had a Redeemer. And
our life doesn't consist in our houses, in our cars, in our lands,
in our money. Our life consists in Christ and
the Gospel. And all these other things are
just superfluous that God gives us. And if He gives them to us
to do something good with them, and if we don't do good with
them, we've got no use for them. I read the other day about the
Rothschilds. Way back in the mid-1800s, earlier,
you know, the Rothschilds is one of the wealthiest people
in the world. Have been for centuries. I mean, boy, they are filthy,
filthy, filthy rich. And a poor fellow told the old
man Rothschild, the first one who started making money, asking,
says, don't you think you ought to teach your sons? That there's
more important things in life than making money? He says, no! No, I'm not going to teach my
sons that. He says, there's nothing more
important than making money. And when that's the most important
thing to do, you give your whole life to doing that. And he said,
I'm going to make money, I'm going to teach my sons how to
make money, and I'm going to teach my grandsons how to make
money. And I'll bet you a dollar and
a half to a count of Catholics, I was a betting man, that that
man's been in hell all these centuries, all these decades. And he's like that rich man in
hell, saying, Oh! Would you send somebody down
here? And then his sons are with him. But here are these folks,
they know Christ, they know the gospel. God opens their heart
and He opens their hands. Look what happens here in verse
35. Acts 20, 35, And I have showed you all things, how that soul
laboring you ought to support the weak, and to remember the
words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessing
to give than it is to receive. And in fact, you know, Paul,
you go through Acts and over in 1 Corinthians, Paul took up,
they took up offerings whenever they'd go to other cities and
things to the poor people to distribute them to the poor.
And now let's go back over to Acts chapter 5, excuse me, Acts
chapter 2. Oh, not only were these people
generous, these converts, these people generous and wanted to
be learned and baptized and sold and gave and were generous. And
they done it as men had need. If men don't have a need, you
know, you can't do anything for them. And here it is, not only
that, but they were worshiping and joyful. Look what it says
there in verse 46. And they continued daily with
one accord in the temple. Oh my, they were all in one accord. And they continued daily in the
temple. Oh my, they had unity of purpose. Ain't we got unity of purpose
here at Lent Anna Grace Church, us as a body of believers? Ain't
we got unity of purpose to honor Christ, to glorify Christ, to
believe the gospel, to preach the gospel, to support the gospel? And all beloved to love Christ
and honor Christ. And they continued daily in the
temple. These folks were serious about their religion. I mean,
they were dead serious about it. And they gathered in the
temple. They gathered in Solemnus Port. That was a court of the
Gentiles. And then look what it says. And all they went from
house to house. They enjoyed one another's fellowship
and company. And watch what it says also.
And eat their meat with gladness. I mean, they sat down and ate.
They loved it. They were glad. Oh, look, I told
you this before. Old John Bunyan went to a woman's
house to eat. And she set out this old woman's
house, and all she had was some bread and some water. She broke
that bread and sat down and had that water. And old Mr. Bunyan
was there, and she says, Lord, thank you. Bread? for this bread, and this water,
and besides this, I have Christ too." That's what they, they
sat down and they ate their food with gladness. Oh, their hearts
were filled with joy that our God gave gold. Give us this day,
this day, and oh, they trusted God and they rejoiced in just
having a meal. Oh, and look what it says, and they had singleness
of heart. Heart, this was one heart. One
heart. How many of us here have got
this single heart? I mean, it's just like we all
have one heart. We really truly do. God's people
do. Glad, generous hearts, single
hearts. That singleness of heart also
means liberality of heart. And look what else happens to
them. They were praising God. They were praising God, blessing
God, giving thanks to God. You don't hear them saying anything
about what I've done, how dedicated I've been, how
generous I've been, how faithful I've been. They bless God. They praise God. And then it says, having favor
with all the people. Having favor with what people?
The Lord's people. And then look what it says. And
the Lord added to the church, daily, such as should be saved.
Oh, the Lord done this. The Lord added to this body of
believers. The Lord added to these dear
saints of God. Daily, such as should be saved. You know God's doing that right
now? There's people being converted all over this world right now.
There's 48 people. I was noticing when I got the
sermon audio download this month, Forty-eight people in China downloaded
some of my messages off our website. In China. And they don't even
want you to mention Christ or anything over there. But oh,
beloved, but I'll tell you, notice that these folks didn't talk
about the great work they were doing. They didn't say, boy,
we're building a great church for the Lord. These apostles
and these brethren did start saying, boy, we really are skilled
in winning souls to Jesus. We know how to win them. Two
men came to visit me this week, stopped here, and they both found
us on Sermon Audio. One of them was a strong Grace
believer and goes to a Grace church down in Tullahoma. And
the other fellow is just learning Grace. and just coming to it. And they stopped by the other
day. And one of them, the one that's just learning, and God's
starting to teach him some things, he started out as a jack house
soul winner. And you can't get no worse than
blasphemous and more heresy than that. I mean, they're the kind
of people when the woman come in to make up the bed in the
motel, they'll have her wanting to cry before she got the sheets
off the bed. They got on an elevator, and
they were going up one floor, and they had somebody convert
it before they got to the second floor. Now they bragged about stuff
like that. They'd take a bus load, and they'd go to some place,
and they'd walk the streets, and next thing you know, he told
me exactly how they'd done it. He told me about the last time
he'd done it. He says he went in the man's home, and he says,
Brother So-and-so, would you like to win this one to Jesus?
He told me how I went to win this fellow to Jesus. Then he
got back and he said, my heart just spoke to me. He says, that
can't be right. This can't be true. It's so superficial. But these fellows wasn't bragging
about how they won souls. Look what it says, the Lord added. Verse 47, the Lord added. Salvation's
on the Lord. Salvation's on the Lord. The Lord's doing this work. This
is God's work. That's what they told us. But
what? How'd you fellas do this? We're here. God gave us this
message. And I'll tell you, God's the
one who done this work. And God saves people. Let me
tell you something. There were all these people there.
God saves every man individually. Every one of those people were
saved individually. Whether there was ten together
or whether there was a hundred together, God dealt with every
single one of them individually. Every one of them came to repentance.
Every one of them was baptized. Every one of them singly was
part of God. Every one of them was following
in the apostles' doctrine. They all were singular. And God
saves people individually. And people become Christians,
believers, by believing Christ for themselves. for themselves. You trust Christ for yourself. And I tell you, they come one
at a time. They come to Christ one at a time. They come to the
truth one at a time. And when they come, they came
into the church. They identified with the church.
They identified with the Lord's people. That's why I said, added
to the church. Now watch this. Such as should,
should, should be saved. God saves those who should be
saved. Who should be saved? Those He gave His Son for, those
Christ died for, those who believe the gospel. Do you believe the
gospel? Do you believe Christ? Is what
I said to you this morning, You say, boy, that's it. I believe
that. Did you gladly receive the word
today? If you did, you come back tonight. Let's bury you, too. Our Father, in the blessed, holy,
glorious name of your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, thank you
for the gospel. Thank you for the truth. Thank
You for the salvation of Your people. Thank You that You open
hearts, that You bring about repentance, that You give faith. And I pray, Lord Jesus, that
You would bring glory to Yourself
and continue to save sinners in our midst. Continue to bring
people to Yourself. Oh, Father, tear down Bring down
imaginations. Bring down every high thought
that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. Bring every
thought into obedience to the righteousness of Christ. Oh God,
help us please to glorify you. We thank you for Houston and
thank you for what you've done for him. Thank you for what you've
done for that family, other families here that you've saved, the children. We're so thankful. Lord, we rejoice
as much in their salvation as we would our own children. And
we'll wait on you to save them to your own glory and at your
own time. In Christ's name, amen. Amen.