Thank you very much indeed for
your welcome. It's a real privilege, it's a
joy to be back with you again. And it's been a year and I'm
very grateful that you've asked us back and we've been able to
come and I hope that we're going to spend some time getting to
know each other better and enjoying fellowship together and just
having an opportunity to worship together because that's what
we've been reminded of already, that's what we're here to do,
to worship the Lord together. I'm not special, you're probably
not that special either, but the Lord chooses people like
us to worship him. Isn't that an amazing thing?
From all over the globe, from all over the world, from all
over different kinds of circumstances and situations, one here, one
there, a little group together, that we might praise his name. And it's a joy when we find one
another. It's a joy when we encounter
one another and we can say here is a brother, here is a sister
in the Lord that we can share together with. So it's a joy
for me, it's a joy for Jill, my wife, to be with you and we
trust the Lord will bless our time together. Thank you for
reading Psalm 2. Ask of me and I shall give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance. So often we get the impression
when we see the religious activity of the world around about us,
that there is this great burden that is left upon the shoulders
of the church, that we must gather in a people for God. that we must go into the highways
and the byways to the ends of the earth and find these people
that will be convinced, that will be converted, and that will
be brought into our churches in order to worship. And it seems
as if the whole of the energy of the professing church is driven
in order to get converts, to get people into our churches. Ask of me, and I will give thee
the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth for thy possession. These people are the Lord's whom
he is pleased to call. Whomever the Lord is pleased
to ask for, his Father will give to him. The Lord isn't lacking. members. He's not short of a
few people. He has whatever he asks for. And whom does he ask for? He
asks for those that he loves. Those people that he has loved
before town. Those people that he bears that
great affection for, that passion that he longs to show towards
them. And just as a man would not seek
to shower his love upon every woman but that special woman
whom he adores, just as that bride seeks to honour and love
her husband, the two are mutually comparable. They come together
and the joy of their union is found in the distinctiveness
and the particularity of that coming together. The Lord knows
them that are his. And I wanted, if the Lord will
enable this evening, just to think about the ways in which
the Lord is pleased to call that people to himself. The means
that are used, as it were, to accomplish that great end. We're going to read together
in Acts chapter 4, but I'm going to be dotting around in the first
few chapters of Acts and picking up one or two little thoughts
as we go through. Acts chapter 4. Let's read together from verse
1. And as they spake unto the people,
the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them, being grieved that they taught the people and
preached through Jesus the resurrection of the dead. This is Peter and
John that are preaching at the temple. And they laid hands on
them and put them in hold unto the next day, for it was now
even tide. Howbeit many of them which heard
the word believed, and the number of the men was about five thousand. And it came to pass in the morrow
that their rulers and elders and scribes, and Annas the high
priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as
were of the kindred of the high priest, were gathered together
at Jerusalem. When they had set them in the
midst, they asked, By what power or by what name have ye done
this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
We, this day, be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man, by what means he is made whole, be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him, doth this man stand here before you whole. This is
the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other, for there is none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. And when they saw the
boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned
and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
When they had commanded them to go aside out of the council,
they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these
men? For that indeed a notable miracle
hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. They would
if they could, but they could not. We cannot deny it. But that it spread no further
among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak
henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them and
commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of
Jesus. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, whether it be right in the sight of God to
hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when
they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing
how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified
God for that which was done. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. It's an amazing thing the way
the Lord increased the number of disciples in Jerusalem in
these days and weeks after the crucifixion. It is truly amazing,
and I just want to touch upon one or two numbers with you. We're not going to simply dwell
on the numbers, but I want to give you a little bit of perspective
if I can with respect to what was going on in Jerusalem at
that time. In Acts chapter 1 verse 15, we're
told that, or verse 14, Those all continued, this is the disciples
that were in the upper room. These all continued with one
another in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the
mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. Here was a tight-knit
little group that were still worshipping together. The Lord
had been crucified. He had been raised from the dead. These all continued, we're told,
and in those days Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples
and said, the number of names together were about a hundred
and twenty. Men and brethren, this scripture
must neats have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth
of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them
that took Jesus. So there were a hundred and twenty
disciples there in that little group of people. If you turn
over to chapter 2, we discover that on the day of Pentecost,
when Peter stood up and was filled with the Holy Spirit, and there
in verse 41, having preached the gospel, we're told, then
they that gladly received the word were baptized. And the same
day, there were added unto them about 3,000 souls. 3,000 people converted on the back
of one sermon. And then we read together in
the fourth verse of chapter four, how be it many of them which
heard the word believed and the number of the men was about 5,000. So these numbers are cumulative,
we add these numbers together. There were thousands of people
coming to know the Lord, recognising the power that these men had
in their preaching. This incident of the lame man
at the temple had grabbed the attention of the multitude who
were there to worship. And these people were passing
this message on. They were seeing, they were observing,
they were hearing. And the Holy Spirit was moving
in power amongst them to the saving of souls. Many of them
which heard the word believed. So here in Jerusalem, there were
hundreds, there were thousands coming to know the Lord. And
remember, that's only in Jerusalem. That's just in the city of Jerusalem. Now it would be a very full city
because there were many, many people gathered there because
of the festival, because of the time of Pentecost and And the
Jews gathered from throughout Israel and also from the countries
beyond. They came, it was one of their
major feasts. Activities going on through the
preaching of the gospel which were bringing the very same men
and women who had previously been opposed to Christ, previously
been antagonistic, previously crying for his death and crucifixion,
were now being challenged by the preaching of these disciples
and brought by the Holy Spirit to a knowledge of the truth.
There may well have been similar things going on elsewhere. We are told that at least 500
men saw the Lord Jesus Christ on one occasion in Galilee We
don't know anything about that witness. We don't know anything
about that meeting. We only know from Paul's account
later in one of his letters that the Lord was seen, he was speaking
to the Corinthians about the resurrection appearances of the
Lord, and he happens to mention as a throwaway comment, and he
was seen of above 500 men at once in Galilee. That's all we
know. What was happening in the other
parts of the country has a complete veil drawn over it, apart from
that little insight. But the Lord was able to call
out men to witness in Israel and Jerusalem, and
there was a great movement amongst the people. And we can see that
the way in which, and we're going to be thinking just about Jerusalem
here, but the way in which this gathering in of these people
was accomplished was through the preaching of the Word. That was what the disciples were
about. They were preaching the Gospel. It wasn't cleverly designed,
it wasn't professionally orchestrated, it wasn't put out with a big
plan or a strategy, there wasn't a whole load of resource engineered
in order to bring about the ends that these people sought. They
simply went up to the temple and when they got an audience,
They preached the Lord Jesus Christ and the resurrection of
the dead. And when they preached, one,
two, ten, twenty, a hundred, a thousand, the people were being
broken by the Spirit of God. Now I don't give a lot of time
to the teaching and the historical accounts that we hear of revival. I think in many situations those
revivals that we hear about are not spiritual works, they're
works which have been engineered by Certain individuals, I'm not
saying that it can't happen, I'm not saying that there will
not be multiple people converted, but I just always want to reserve
an element of critical analysis or assessment when I hear about
these converts. What I want to know is what was
happening three months later? What was happening six months
later? What was happening a couple of years later? Were these people
still worshipping? Were these people growing and
becoming more deep in their worship and their fellowship? When we
see this kind of power being demonstrated, we know that the
Holy Spirit is involved in it. And it was the preaching of the
gospel, the means of the growth of the church from that little
coterie of 120 that worship, to the 5,000, then to the 3,000,
and the X, or the 3,000, then the 5,000, and the growth that there was in the church.
We see that this was a divine work, a work of power, a work
of God the Holy Spirit. The preaching of the gospel and
the apostles' witness of the things that they had seen and
heard. We cannot but speak, says Peter
and John to the Sanhedrin. We cannot but speak of the things
which we have seen and heard. And here we see the Holy Spirit
provoking in the hearts of these men and women a sense of need
and a sense of desire after the things that Peter and John were
speaking about. These men, when they heard the
gospel preached, they heard it gladly. They heard it with a
passion. They heard it with an appetite.
They heard it with a desire. And we don't have to force-feed
men and women to hear the gospel when that word is being applied
with power by the Holy Spirit. They have an appetite. and they
have a desire after spiritual things. One of the problems that
we sometimes encounter with the preaching of the free will gospel
that often goes forth is that you have to have a very strict
regime which is applied subsequently to keep those individuals coming
along to church. You have to nominate friends
for them. You have to be going to them
and bringing them regularly. There's a system set up in order
to keep them and maintain their interest in the things that they
are being taught. Here it was coming from the hearer. There was an appetite amongst
them and the gospel was given to them and received willingly
by them. So in the 33rd verse of chapter
4 we read, and with great power gave the apostles, chapter 4,
verse 33, and with great power gave the apostles witness of
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all. That is, those who were hearing
and those who were speaking. The grace of God was poured out
in Jerusalem at that time. The power of God was being revealed. The Holy Spirit was at work.
That which God the Father had promised, that which God the
Son had accomplished was now being applied by the Holy Spirit
through that means of the preaching and the witness of the apostles. The message was going forth and
it was having an effect in the lives of these people. The resurrection
was the great message, it was the great fact that had grabbed
these men, these apostles, and had made them bold in the preaching
of Jesus Christ. The resurrection of Christ was
the proof and the vindication of all the words and works of
Jesus Christ. Where was the Lord? He was risen
from the dead. When had that ever happened?
Here was one who was worthy of being preached, worthy of being
proclaimed. You want us to stop? Well, you
judge for yourselves whether we're going to obey men or whether
we're going to obey God. We cannot help but tell. We cannot help but speak of the
things that we have seen and heard. And that's the gospel. Not some constructed, not some
manufactured system. Simply believers. Simply those
who have been touched by the power of the risen Christ. proclaiming the things that they
have seen and heard. So here were the disciples, the
apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they were preaching the word. In Acts chapter 5, verse 42,
if you just turn over a page, and daily in the temple, And
in every house they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. That was the focus. That was
the subject of their ministry. Day by day, wherever they had
the opportunity, they lifted up the name of Jesus Christ. And that's what the church does. That's what ministers of the
gospel do. That's what men and women who
have seen and heard wonderful things from Jesus Christ do. Day by day, it may not be in
the church, it may be in the workplace, it may be in the family,
it may be in the home. There is an awareness in the
lives of men and women that Jesus Christ is alive, that Jesus Christ
is a real person to me, and that changes everything. That relationship
that we have with him means that We can but speak of the things
that we have seen and heard. And you know what? That's the
gospel. That is what it is to minister
to other men and women. Not a big name flying in from
far away, not all the organisation of the orchestra and the band,
not all of the structure that gets put in place, but simply
men and women speaking freely of the things that they have
seen and heard and the Holy Spirit taking and applying that to the
hearts of those who are hearing. Preaching Jesus Christ. preaching
Jesus Christ, setting forth the Lord, his words and his works. The Apostle Paul later will go
on to say that to preach Jesus Christ is to preach him crucified. The Apostles here were emphasising
the resurrection. It's the whole work of Christ and the purpose of His coming
and the way of salvation that has been forged by it. This is
what is the means of the gathering in of sinners to a knowledge
of truth and this is what was happening in Jerusalem in these
days. Men and women were being saved
by the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified and raised from the
dead. I wanted to think as well, just
for a moment or two if I could, about the consequence of what
was happening as a result of these people coming to a knowledge
of the truth. Think about that. We're only
a few gathered here. I don't know that I could get
120 believers all together at one time very readily. Now we're talking about hundreds
and thousands. These people must have been absolutely,
do you use the word gobsmacked? You know that word? They must
have been absolutely staggered about what was happening. He
was being persecuted the day before. Peter and James, they
were in the upper room with doors locked because they were frightened
of what was going to happen. But they went up to the temple
and there was this man and he cried out for help. Give me alms,
I'll do better than that. I don't have silver and gold,
but what I do have, I'll give to you. In the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he did. And the people were amazed. And
Peter and John began to speak to them. And they were converted
in their hundreds and their thousands. Now what does Peter do? He's
looking out and these people are coming under conviction of
the Holy Spirit. They're coming into an awareness
of their sins. They are crying out for forgiveness
from Jesus Christ. These men were believing and
women were believing the things that Peter was saying and suddenly,
there was this great transformation. Suddenly, Jerusalem was ablaze. These men were going out and
preaching and hundreds and thousands were being converted. They probably
thought that the whole of Jerusalem was going to be converted. They
probably thought that this, starting at Jerusalem, Judea to the ends
of the earth, was going to be a huge wave that would go But
what would we see? We look and we think about what
happens here in Jerusalem. Thousands are being added, an
amazing turnaround from the low of the crucifixion where it looked
as if, what was it those two on the road to Emmaus said, we
thought that he was going to be the one that would save his
people. That's what we thought. Now we
find that from that depth of despair and depression these
people are beginning to see something of the reality of what the work
of Jesus Christ was intended to accomplish. Not the establishment
of a national kingdom but the bringing together of a spiritual
church. And immediately there is a need
for practical ways of outworking that faith for the good of those
that were hearing the word. There was a need to care for
the people. There was a concern for the physical
well-being of the people. And here we see that the gospel
does come with an active participation. They were looking at the needs
of one another and seeking for opportunities to help one another. Where there were those who were
coming under the sound of the gospel and being converted who
were in need of help, then there was a provision of that need
given by those who had the wherewithal to supply that need. There was
practical evidence of a care and concern and a love for one
another immediately demonstrated in this new church. There were
people coming to a knowledge of the truth and when that knowledge
was received they were putting that knowledge into effect by
caring for one another. Some of the disciples were being
imprisoned. There was trouble brewing with
the priesthood and the leaders of the Jews. They were being
beaten. They were being threatened. There
was trouble in that group itself. There was deceitfulness, Ananias
and Sapphira. There was strife, there were
problems that occurred because of the way in which different
groups were working together. We ought not to underestimate
some of the practical consequences of this great number of people
coming together, being converted, and joining in worship together. Wherever you get people together,
you're going to get problems. And that's true whether it's
a few people or a big number. If you've got a few people, then
maybe it's just a few problems, but then you've only got a few
people to deal with them. If you've got a lot of people,
you'll have a lot of problems. That's something that when the
Lord does work and brings people amongst us, and maybe people
are converted or maybe people want to join us, then they'll
bring problems too, and that's worth remembering. We've had
the opportunity to see a few and new families come into our
own congregation back in Teesdale. But they bring their baggage
with them, they bring their history, they bring their experiences,
they bring their way of doing things. And we suddenly discover
that you're having to work with people and you're having to bite
your tongue sometimes and you're having just to be aware of the
problems that can occur. In the midst of the great blessings
which these people were seeing, there were also terrible persecution. Where there was the generosity
of some, there was also murmuring and complaint. The devil always
gets in. The devil will seek opportunity
every time to do harm and hurt to the people of God. And where
there is good, there will also be the trouble that he causes. So it was here, we discover that
there were problems amongst the women, the widows, some ladies
had a problem and at the beginning of chapter 6 in Acts, just if
you look there, so we were told in the 42nd verse of chapter
5, daily in the temple and in every house they ceased not to
teach and preach Jesus Christ. You know, if we stopped speaking
about this subject now, that would be wonderful. But then
immediately in chapter six we are told, and in those days,
that is daily in the temple, they ceased not to preach Jesus
Christ. And in those days, when the number of the disciples was
multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews
because their widows were neglected. in the daily ministration. You
know, we don't know what the cause of that problem was, and
I think that's good that we don't know. There was a murmuring between
these two groups. It tells us there were groups.
There were those who were called the Grecians, those that were
called the Hebrews. There were the widows. So here we have a
certain number. What was the problem of these
widows? Was it that they weren't getting
enough? Maybe. Or maybe it was that they
were not getting sufficient share of work to do. Maybe we sometimes
think that they weren't getting their fair share of food perhaps,
but that's not necessarily the case from the words. The words
could be there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews
because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. They
weren't getting the same opportunity to work as these other women. The Grecians thought to themselves,
you know what, these Hebrews, because they're Hebrews, are
getting all the good jobs. And we, Grecians, because we
are Greek, we are being marginalised. A wee bit of racism coming in
here. You see, the problems that people have will be exacerbated
because of differences and the devil will use whatever he can
Thirdly, terrible, terrible things going on, but it was the cause
of murmuring, dispute between the Greeks and the Hebrews. Cultural,
widows, women talking, comparing. Here we see the elements of division. Hurt feelings, sensitive spirits,
schism arising. So here we have, in the same
days, thousands being converted and immediately trouble brewing
amongst those converts. There will always be a cause
for trouble. Doesn't matter how big or how
small that cause is. You used to know a man who said,
if you're looking for a reason, put your hand in your pocket,
you'll find one. And that's what happens. There
will always be a cause. You'll always find something
that will disturb you. And it will be legitimate to
some degree, to some extent, in the minds of someone. And
Satan will always seek to disrupt the body of Christ, the body
of his church, to distract the labourers. What had the apostles
to do with the widows who were complaining about the ministration,
the daily ministrations? What good was the apostle getting
involved in that when he should be preaching the gospel, preaching
the Lord Jesus Christ? And here was murmuring. The priests
would have loved this. Yes, here we are. Look, they're
fighting amongst themselves. Is that the group that you want
to identify with? The church was being brought
into disrepute. I'm pleased that this message
is here in these early chapters of Acts. I'm pleased that we're
shown that the preaching of the gospel went out with great power,
that the Holy Spirit brought all these people to a knowledge
of the truth, that the church was being blessed and rejoicing
and worshipping God and there was an energy and an enthusiasm
there. I'm pleased that that's there
and I'm pleased that we've also got this message of the trouble
that was immediately present with them, because it is the
same pattern that follows all the time. Wherever the church
is, there will be those who will murmur and complain, and there
may be some legitimacy to their complaints or whatever, but here
we see that the apostles knew this trouble as well as the blessing. Now what we find flows from that
is a distinction that is made between the practical duties
and the spiritual responsibilities of the apostles. There was to
be chosen out, we discover 12 men, men of good, or not necessarily
12, I'm sorry, there were seven chosen, there were to be chosen
out men of good report that they would be able to exercise themselves
in the practical needs of this bludgeoning, this growing congregation. Men of honest report, men full
of the Holy Ghost and wisdom. Believers in good standing who
showed themselves able in order to serve the good of the church. Seven were chosen I think that
here as well is a little lesson for us as the Church of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Why was it seven? I think, I
suggest, because seven were needed. And that's the simple reason.
You don't need to have seven. If you need 10, you have 10.
If you need two, you have two. And it shows that the church
has the right and the ability to do what is needful to serve
the problems that it has and the issues that arise at particular
times. So we don't necessarily have
to take a pattern of numbers, even of titles, from the New
Testament Scriptures, that we simply see here is a way in which
this church dealt with the issues that were arising amongst them.
These men were set aside in order to make the appropriate actions
and apply the work. There's something very refreshing
there, and I think it's something that we should remember. The
management of the church affairs was a very organic thing. As
the need arose, there was the help supplied. There was the
provision made. As the need required, the men
were brought forward to do and address the task. The apostles
did not appoint a group to look around for work to do. The work was there and men and
women were brought to do the work that was required. The strength is never in the
organisation. The strength is in the people
that are engaged. It's not that you have to have have a way of doing it that must
be replicated in every situation. As the Lord brings a group of
people together, as the needs of that group are manifested,
so he will provide for the needs of that group. And that is the
organic growth that we see here represented in these early chapters. The calibre of the people, the
spirit of the men was that which was important. And where you
have got good men, regardless of what they're called, regardless
of the number, regardless of the structure in which they operate,
where you've got good men, you will get good, wholesome activity. We'll never have a true church
because of the right organisation. Some people say the Baptists
have got the best way of doing things. Baloney! Some people
will say, Presbyterianism is the structure that we should
follow. No! Nor Anglicanism, nor Methodism,
nor any of the other isms that there are. These are simply ways
that people have dealt with issues for problems at different times.
And if we simply replicate them, then what you discover is that
you create a monument You create a structure which doesn't have
the ability to react and respond to the needs that are arising
in the congregation. The simplicity of the little
fellowship, ministering, preaching, upholding the Lord, and dealing
with the issues that arise within it from time to time is the pattern
here in the New Testament. There was an awareness of the
primacy of the need for the preaching of the word. And then there were
those who were set aside to deal with the issues that were also
arising. What was the result of the growth
that took place? As the word of God increased,
there was more growth. As the word of God went out,
he accomplished the ends of his purpose. Now we don't want to
miss the point here. The role of the church is not
to build physical structures. It's not to put bricks on the
ground and rafters in the air. It's not to be involved in putting
together a big facade and having great resources or great structures
presented. It is the purpose of the church
is to build the spiritual body of Christ. It is to send out
the Word in order that those who are God's chosen people will
be discovered, will be gathered in by the preaching of the Word,
and will be brought into unity with the Lord's people in a particular
place. We're not expecting to convert
Nowra. We're not expecting to convert
New South Wales. We're not expecting to convert
Australia or the world. We are expecting that the Lord,
as we preach the gospel faithfully, will bring in such as should
be saved. And there will be a growth in
the church in one place or another as the faithful preaching of
the gospel goes forth. The role of the church is not
to create wealth but to make members rich in spiritual things. There are churches that are,
they've got portfolios of shares and property, they've got bank
accounts that are bulging and money gets channeled in one direction
and another direction and there's committees set up to look after
this work and we find that the whole structure just balloons
into some sort of huge business organisation. That's not the
role of the church. The church is to be the people
of God in a local situation, preaching the word as faithfully
as they can and labouring together for the good of one another.
There is to be treasure, but it's not treasure upon earth.
it is treasure in heaven. The role of the church is not
to influence the authorities. The disciples didn't go to the
chief priests or the Sanhedrin and say, you know that we've
got 8,120 people whose votes we can muster and we can deliver
these 8,120 if we sort out the trouble between
the Greeks and the Hebrews, we can deliver them and we can support
whatever issue might be arising. That's not how it worked. They
had no interest in what the authorities were doing, what the structure
of the world was doing. weren't even concerned about
the persecution of their own people. They didn't want to affect
the policies, the social issues of their day. They didn't want
to improve the general living standards of their congregation. But rather it was to call men
out of those systems. It was to call men away from
those organisations. It was to place the sight, the
eyes of men, not on these mundane things of the world, but rather
on the glories of heaven and on the Lord Jesus Christ. They
preached the Lord Jesus Christ and they were not taken up with
the affairs of the world. We call men out of the world
and we equip them and we prepare them to meet their God. That's the role of the church
and we need to be careful that we don't become embroiled in
the doing good, wholesome work, good causes that so distract
the churches that they fail in their principal purpose of preaching
Jesus Christ crucified and raised and become social workers and
become missionary organisations and become groups that are involved
in any number and every kind of activity. It diffuses their
energy, it distracts their attention and it blunts their force in
the community. We preach Jesus Christ crucified. That's the message. That will
be a blessing to your soul. It will be a blessing to the
souls of those whom the Lord is pleased to call out from this
dying society. The intervention of Satan, the
murmuring that took place, it did not disrupt the work. It
was not allowed to disrupt the work. But it spurred on those
apostles, those preachers, to greater gains. And there's the
issue. When there is a pooling Is it
going to be the pulling together or will it be the pulling apart? Are we prepared as the Lord's
people to engage in this work together, to press on together
in the great objective which he has committed to us? The spread
and the success of the gospel was enlarged in the providence
of God by the things that happened to that church. They would not
have designed it to be that the persecution would cause the gospel
to go out in greater numbers. God's way of doing it, but they
in their persecution were not distracted to be stopped from
that work, but rather took that message with them wherever they
were chased and harried and hounded to. In Matthew chapter 16 verse
18, the Lord says to His people, Upon this rock I will build my
church. That is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He is the foundation stone. He is the rock. Upon this rock
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail
against it. And that goes for Nauru. That goes for this place. Upon
the rock of Jesus Christ The church will be built. It will
be built. There's no question about that.
There's no ifs, buts, or maybes. It will be built. And we are
the instruments in the hand of God that he uses to accomplish
that purpose. The gates of hell will not prevail
against that work. So now you see what happens.
The number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. It's all in Jerusalem that this
is going on. Let us not be overly concerned
about what's happening elsewhere. Let's not become too distracted
about what's going on in Galilee. We don't know what's happening
in Galilee. Something was, 500 people at
once saw the Lord Jesus Christ. At once. That's a goodly number. We don't know what's going on
in Galilee at this time. I don't know what's happening
in Samaria. I don't know what's going on in Egypt. But I do know
that they need to hear the gospel in Egypt. So we will endeavor
to preach the gospel to Egypt as well. That's all we need to
worry about. How are we going to get the message
out? How are we going to preach this
message so that men and women will hear it? How are we going
to maintain a witness in our society today? This is Jerusalem. Barely a month ago, Jesus Christ
was crucified in Jerusalem. The apostles were scourged. They
were treated with contempt by the Sanhedrin. The Jewish church
was opposed to them, trying to stamp them out, trying to crush
the gospel, to hinder all progress of it. They put it in the dust,
and they stepped on it, and they dug it in as hard as they could.
They so persecuted that little group that these men were frightened
for the sakes of their lives and yet within days the Lord
was pleased to just blow the whole thing apart. Who knows
what the Lord will be pleased to do with just the smallest
group. Who knows but the time will come
when we will see fruit for the labour. We will see the Lord
doing great things amongst us as the preaching of the gospel
goes forth. It is the gospel that is the
means of producing faith. It is the gospel that will bring
profit. It is the gospel that will gather
in the elect of God. Here we see the church of Jesus
Christ. embracing the doctrine of scripture,
cheerfully submitting themselves to the ordinances of the gospel. And we're told that a large number
of the priests, look at verse 4, chapter 4, verse 4 again, Howbeit many of them that heard
the word believed, and the number of the men that was, I'm sorry,
and the number of the men was about 5,000. It's also a reference,
I think it's verse seven, sorry, chapter six, verse seven. And the word of God increased,
and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith."
Here we see that this message that was sent forth, this preaching
of the gospel, It gathered in not only the common people but
those who had been the most aggressive and vigorous against the truth
that had been preached. Now I know that we all have come
from different backgrounds and circumstances and we've encountered
issues and troubles along the way and we've had people that
have stood against us and seemed implacable for the truth that
we've wanted to declare and maintain. It's not in the ability of the
man to convince his opponent. It's in the power of the Holy
Spirit to change and convert the heart. Here, while the very
priests who had been participants in the arrest in the judgment
and in the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the very men
coming to a knowledge of the truth. These are the ones who
were obedient to the faith. It is a testament to the power
of efficacious grace. We believe in efficacious grace. Efficacious just means that it
does what it says on the can. It accomplishes exactly what
God sent it to do. It achieves the purpose. It is
effective. It is efficacious. And grace,
when it goes forth, as great grace was upon all these people,
it brought those men and women to the truth, even the very priests
that had been so implacably opposed. And that's the power of the gospel.
That is what the gospel does. It saves sinners. It saves sinners
and it builds up sinners. It makes the Lord's people to
glory in Him and it fits men and women for worship and for
His presence. This church, this group of individuals,
these people were just sinners. We can tell that because even
when they were converted there were still murmurers and complainants
and deceivers amongst them. but they were men and women who
were saved by the efficacious grace of God. In a few days,
Stephen would be taken. One of these men that they had
chosen to sort out the problems in the church, he would be taken
and he would be slain. Have you ever wondered what age
Stephen was? I've wondered, was he an old
man? Was he a young man? I don't know. I don't know what
age he was. He was a faithful man. He was a man who loved the
Lord, a man in whom the Holy Spirit dwelt, a man of good report,
and he gave his life for the gospel. In a few days he would
be dead, and there would be a man standing there, complicit in
his execution. Holding the coats, he didn't
actually trouble himself to pick up the stones that drew the blood
that broke the bones that brought this man Stephen to his death.
He didn't have to throw the stones. He was the organiser. He was
the executive. He was the man who was bringing
all this persecution to bear on the church. They called him
Saul of Tarsus. In a few more days, this man,
absolutely intent in destroying this new work, in bringing down
this church, in undermining the gospel, in extracting its power
from it, would himself be converted on the road to Damascus and made
one of the finest expositors and preachers and missionaries
and evangelists of the whole Christian era. This man would
become Paul, and he would say, I am not ashamed of the gospel
of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone
that believeth, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. A man
who knew the power of efficacious grace, a man who knew that God
could take one individual, stop him in his tracks, open his eyes
and reveal himself to her, and not all the powers of hell would
be able to withstand the manifestation of the love and the grace of
God. Friends, that's the God that
we serve. He is the same, he has not changed. We are but few, they were but
few. They preached faithfully the
word of God, they had their problems. power of God was manifested amongst
them. And that's the same calling upon
which we are engaged. May the Lord bless this witness
here, this work, these people. And we are all just men and women,
just sinners saved by grace. But as the Lord is pleased to
employ such as we are, he accomplishes all that his good will desires. He is the one who brings salvation
to his people, he is the one who reveals grace in the hearts
of sinners. May the Lord be pleased to bless
these few thoughts and encourage us in them. Amen.