OK, turn with me then back to
the Acts of the Apostles chapter 4 and the 23rd verse Acts chapter
4 and verse 23 where we find our text though we're going to
look at all of the passage down to the end of this fourth chapter
of Acts and the text is one no doubt that has been preached
on many times but here we come to it and so we're going to address
it ourselves here this morning and being let go They went to
their own company. They went to their own company.
And the title of the message is, Their Own Company. What a
glorious picture we have in these early chapters of the Acts of
the Apostles, that the promise of Christ was fulfilled. You
know what he promised? He said, if I go away from you,
you're grieving because I'm going away, but if I go away, and unless
I go away, you will not have the Holy Spirit. But if I go
away, I will send the Holy Spirit to you. And oh, how much better
it will be. How much better it will be. How
He will convict men and women of their sins and bring them
to salvation. How He will quicken those who are dead. How He will
lead you into all truth. How you will be led into situations
with the scribes and the Pharisees arrayed against you. And in that
hour, the Holy Spirit will give you the words to speak. And instead
of cursing and denying and running away, you'll be those who have
the power of the Word of God on your lips." And we see that
and such tremendous blessing. There are 8,000 plus, we don't
know how many, those that were added daily to the church who
were being saved. There was this large number of
people in the city of Jerusalem. It was a significant number of
people who had been opposed, who had been fickle, who had
been crying with the mob, crucify him, crucify him, and yet, and
yet, here they are hearing the words of truth and rejoicing
in it. It's a time of tremendous blessing and a time of tremendous
unity. We see that here with these people.
They're unified together, but we know, and we'll come to it
shortly in the coming weeks, it doesn't take long before schisms
begin. What was it that that hymn we
sang at the first, the church is one foundation is Jesus Christ
her Lord and then in the second or third verse I think it is
it says the world with scornful wonder and looks at the church
and sees it by schisms rent asunder by heresies distressed there
is tremendous unity here pictured and oh what a blessing it is
when there's unity but also because of the weakness of the flesh
there are schisms and divisions and separations and splits and
all of these things the flesh is weak and the flesh naturally
tends towards factions and personal preferences and splits but there
are tremendous blessings of true fellowship we saw it in that
Psalm that we read right at the start Psalm 133 behold how good
and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity it
is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down
upon the beard, and even Aaron's beard, that went down to the
skirts of his garments." Fellowship and unity of fellowship is such
a tremendous blessing. To have men and women who are
sinners in this life, sinners, yet so moved by the Spirit of
God, that we're unified together in the truth of God. Ecclesiastes
chapter 4 verse 12 says this, that a three-fold cord is not
easily broken. You know, you've got some weak
string or some thread and it's all you've got. And if you use
that, it will break. So what do you do? Double it
up. It'll be less likely to break. Make it three cords and it'll
be much stronger still. A three-fold cord is not quickly
broken, not easily broken. That's what it's like. You can
go through this life as a Christian on your own, but oh, a three-fold
cord is not easily broken. Psalm 68 verse 6 says this, God,
I think this is one of the most beautiful verses in scripture,
God sets the solitary in families. He's solitary believers, He sets
in families. Families of believers. And when
we use the phrase families, you know, you hear people talk about
their football club being a family and I'm sure to a certain extent
it is. I wouldn't want to denigrate that in any way whatsoever. But
you know, the fellowship of the things of Christ in the gospel
of Christ are so powerful and strong and unifying. When you
have fellowship with them, you know it is family. It is family. You're tied together. Your hearts
are knit together. We used to have at home. They're
not very common these days. I know some of us have got wood
fires, but I don't know whether it works, this illustration,
but we always used to have a coal fire burning in the open grate
at home. And you'd see, and being a boy, Being a boy, I used to
love playing with things like that. It's amazing the house
didn't burn down, especially when my parents were out, the things
I used to do. But anyway, I used to love getting a coal that was
burning really well in the middle of the fire with the tongs and
pick it out and put it on the hearth and see how long it took
for it to go out. Do you see what I'm illustrating?
The coal, when it's with the others, burns brightly, but you
put it on its own, its enthusiasm dwindles. It's not burning so
brightly and it isn't too long before it goes out. But you put
it back in with the others and it catches fire again. Fellowship
in the things of the Gospel. The coal burns brightly when
it's close to the other burning coals. Now God gives us, He gives
His people, His Son. He gives us the gift of His Son.
We know Him. He gives us the mind of Christ.
He gives us His Spirit to reveal the things of His Son to us.
He gives us His truth in the Word of God. And these are tremendous
things. And if you were shipwrecked on
a desert island and you had your Bible or the memory of your Bible,
you would stay alive spiritually. But bless God, He also gives
us fellowship together, however large, however small, as we walk
through this life. And this passage in Acts 4, 23
down to the end of the Apostles and the early church, it illustrates
this so well. Remember the context. They'd
been promised the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit was anointing
the preaching of the message of the gospel because that's
what they went out with. What did the apostles preach?
Jesus and the resurrection. We read about it again and again
in the Acts of the Apostles. They preached Jesus and the resurrection
and they'd gone out and at the hour of prayer Peter and John
had gone up to the temple not because they were still in temple
worship mode but because people went there and it was an opportunity
to preach the gospel and they found that man at the gate who'd
been begging since he was born since he was a child he'd been
begging there at the gate he was lame in both his legs he
couldn't stand up And you know the chorus, he held out his palms
and he asked them for alms and this is what Peter did say, silver
and gold have I none but such as I have give I thee in the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. an amazing
miracle happened. He went walking and leaping and
praising God. An amazing miracle. And that
miracle attested to the fact that the gospel that Peter then
preached to those people was the Word of God. And he preached
about sin and about repentance and about the one who alone could
save men and women from their sins, that the one whom they,
a few days earlier, a few weeks earlier, had crucified was actually
the Son of God. God come in the flesh to represent
people, to bear their sins, to establish righteousness, and
they were cut to the heart. As they were on the day of Pentecost,
they were cut to the heart. And there were 3,000 on that
day. And on this day, there were 5,000
of them, we read about, who came to know salvation and to know
peace with God. and of course the rulers didn't
like it because it was upsetting the political order of Jerusalem
so they put them in prison and they hauled them up before the
council that clique of a council and they interrogated them and
they threatened them and they said to them don't you dare go
out again and speak in this name by what name have you done this
not this is amazing not something tremendous is happening here
but what do you think you're doing causing all of this trouble
don't you dare go out and preach again in his name and Peter said
to them and John said to them whatever you say you suit yourselves
it's that's up to you but we cannot but speak the things that
we've seen and heard and so they had to go out and they were brought
before this council and they gave an answer and the scribes
and the Pharisees and the rulers could say nothing against them
in the will and the sovereign purposes of God oh sometimes
we see them in what we would call dire straits but here we
see them the rulers can say nothing against it for evidently a powerful
miracle had been done and so they let them go they let them
go. They threatened them and they
let them go. And being let go, verse 23, they went to their
own company and reported all that had happened to them. They
went to this company of 8,000 plus souls. What was it that
made these people their own company? What is it that makes the fellowship
of Christians your own company? What is it that knits them together,
binds them together? See, look over at verse 32. Turn
over the page to verse 32. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and of one soul. You see that? The
multitude that believed, what knit them together was, they
were of one heart and of one soul. You know, they may have
had all sorts of personal differences, they may have had all sorts of
different interests, but they were of one heart and one soul. Do you know what Aristotle is
quoted as saying, Aristotle the Greek philosopher said this,
that a friend is one soul dwelling in two bodies. I like that, that's
good. A friend is one soul dwelling
in two bodies. So it is in marriage. One soul
dwelling in two bodies, united together. So it was in the Church
of Jerusalem. They were of one soul and of
one mind. So what about us? What could
we say unites us together? What was it that united them
together, knit them together? And let's apply it to us. Well,
I've got three things. Firstly, they were united in
belief. Secondly, they were united in
prayer. And thirdly, they were united
in welfare, in care for one another. First of all, united in belief,
because I tell you, you can't have the other two without this
one. This is the foundation. They were united in belief. Amos
chapter 3 and verse 3, the prophet says this, can two walk together
except they be agreed? They can't, can they? The obvious
answer is no, of course they can't. Can two walk together?
Can two pretend that they're having Christian fellowship in
the things of Christ except they be agreed in those things of
Christ? Of course not. They get out of sync. You know
how it is with the yoke of oxen ploughing. If the one's pulling
when the other one's not pulling, it gets out of sync. You can
see this on our trains in and out of London. If you get the
little three carriage units out to Wellingarden City, they're
getting on in age. And I was noticing the other
day I was on one. you get one bit of it that's pulling when
the other bit isn't. When they stick two of them together, you've
got, and so for a while, it can't get going, because they're not
pulling together, they're not in sync. And so is the picture. Can two walk together except
they be agreed? Now the early church was united
in belief and doctrine. It was united in what it, you
know, people say, oh, if you want unity, don't bother about
what you believe. Just let's come together and
put all those things to one side for a while. We'll work those
out later. No, they're absolutely foundational. You see, what united
them was not sport. They weren't all Chelsea supporters
or Liverpool supporters or something like that, whatever the equivalent
was. It wasn't that they were all members of the Labour Party
or the Conservative Party. It wasn't politics. It wasn't
love of the arts and they'd been to the latest concert or the
latest gig or whatever. It wasn't that. It wasn't doing
business together that united them. Not at all. It was belief
that united them together. And we see so much today of attempting
to force Christian unity, which is false Christian unity, superficial
Christian unity, by burying key disagreements over belief. Now,
do we have to agree about absolutely everything? Do we have to agree
about absolutely every last detail? No, of course not. That's impractical. Look at history. There are people
of great faith. There are people who I would
quote as men who are greatly to be honoured because of the
contribution that they made to the knowledge of the truth and
their writings. But there are aspects. I mean, I have the greatest
respect for Charles Spurgeon. But I don't like the fact that
he keeps referring to Sunday as the Sabbath day, as so many
of them did. That's my personal opinion. I
have the tremendous, greatest respect for that man's knowledge
of the truth and his preaching and his power. Anything that
I might ever attempt to do pales into insignificance. But nevertheless,
I don't agree with him about the Sabbath day. I think he was
mistaken on that. No doubt I'm mistaken on lots
and lots of things. So, no, we don't have to agree on absolutely
everything, but there is a core of irreducible truth. There's
a core below which you cannot go. And do you know what it centers
on? If you want to know what it, what does it really come
down to? Put your finger right, you know, you know when you've,
you've got a pain somewhere, and the doctor's going, does
that hurt? No, no, no, no, no. Ouch! Ooh, that's the one right
there. It must be broken there, you know? Let's put our finger
on the point. The point is this, particular
redemption, sovereign grace and particular redemption, that Christ
died for the people the Father gave to him before the foundation
of the world. You can go and appear to agree
with Jehovah's Witnesses, Catholics, Anglicans, Methodists, all sorts
of people all around the world, but you talk about that. Oh,
boy, you'll put your finger on the spot. Particular redemption
in sovereign grace that Christ died for those whom the Father
gave to him before the foundation of the world that he brings every
one of them to glory. That's the truth. That's the
thing. That's the irreducible truth. Look at Luke's gospel.
You know, Luke wrote the Acts of the Apostles. We'll turn back
to his gospel in chapter 1 and verse 1, the very first verse.
Because you know, in Acts 1, verse 1, he talks about the former
treaties meaning his gospel Luke's gospel and so he starts out and
you know he wrote it to a man called Theophilus we see in verse
3 of Luke 1 he's writing to most excellent Theophilus but in verse
1 he says for as much as many have taken in hand to set forth
in order a declaration of those things which this is the phrase
are most surely believed among us These are the things. They're
the things that are most surely believed among us. Most surely
believed among us. Now, how did they get to believe
those things? How do we get to believe those
things that are most surely believed among us? Well, I'll refer to
it again. Romans chapter 10. You know that
Romans chapter 10 says this, Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. That's quoting the Old Testament.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
And he says, but how shall they call on him in whom they have
not believed? You know, you must believe on
someone. To call is not just to shout the name. To call is
to depend upon. How shall they depend upon? How
shall they call dependingly on one whom they have not believed?
And how shall they believe without hearing? And how shall they hear
unless somebody tells them, unless a preacher comes to them. And
how shall they preach unless they're anointed of God and sent
to go and give that message? That's the way that we come to
a common knowledge of the truth. It's through the word sent and
preached by somebody anointed and blessed of God to take his
message and to speak it in the ears of people, and they hear
it, and they believe it, and they trust, and they call upon
the name of the Lord, and they're saved. In that calling they experience
the salvation, which is in the message that was preached. And
faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. It's through
the Word of God. John chapter 645 says this, Jesus
said, it is written in the prophets, note even Jesus, especially Jesus,
quoted the Scriptures, because he is the Word of God. It is
written in the Prophets, and they shall all be taught of God.
Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the
Father cometh to me. Everyone that has heard and learned
of the Father comes to him. They shall all be taught of God.
Now what are the things? What are the foundational things?
What did they believe in common? I've got seven things here. I
think it's seven, yes. seven things here they believe
first of all that God is God that he is the sovereign omnipotent
one that he is the source of life and light and truth and
holiness and justice God is God you know so many people who say
they believe in God don't believe that God is God they believe
in a God who's standing on the sidelines wringing his hands
trying to make things happen and constantly frustrated by
man. And if only we could put man
right, God would be able to do everything that he wanted to
do, but he can't do because man constantly frustrates him. Not
true. God is God. Look what verse 28
of our passage in Acts 4 says. You know, they said that in their
prayer, they're praying that there was opposition to Jesus.
whom you have anointed and both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles, the Romans and the people of Israel were gathered
together. They were all arrayed against Him to do whatever they
wanted to do and you couldn't stop them. It doesn't say that,
does it? Verse 28, they were all arrayed against Christ to
do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. You see, God is God. My friends, as we walk through
this life, I say this to myself, the situations in which we act
as if we don't believe that God is God. You know, we act as if
we don't believe God is God. Oh, look what's happened now.
It's all in the hands of God. And for His child, for His children,
He causes all things to work together for good to those who
love God, who are the called according to His purpose. And
however bitter and difficult they may seem at the time, we'll
know in eternity that every way He led me, all the way my Savior
leads me. What can I ask beside, I think
the hymn goes, something like that. He leads us through trials
and difficulties and problems and ups and downs, but all for
the good of his people because he's sovereign over all things
they believed in a sovereign God they were not afraid of what
was happening because they knew it was all in the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God secondly They believed the
Scriptures are the inspired Word of God. That's clear from everything
they did, the way they used the Scriptures, the way they quoted
the Scriptures. That these were just not the random collection
of writings of old, of ancient men, but that these were the
inspired Word of God. As the Catechism says, holy men
were born along by the Holy Spirit. And in their own characteristic
style, they wrote that which the Holy Spirit determined they
should write. And they knew, as Paul was later to write in
2 Timothy 3.15, that these words are those which are able to make
you wise unto salvation. Thirdly, they knew that everybody,
everybody, by nature, by practice, in every respect, is a sinner
in need of salvation. Because the God of the universe,
this God who is God, is sovereign and is just and is holy. that
this God cannot look upon sin, cannot pardon sin, cannot sweep
sin under the carpet. All are sinners in need of salvation
from judgment. They knew this. They knew that,
left to themselves, they faced a just eternity of damnation
and separation from the God who is holy and just because He cannot
look upon sin. He's of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. but they knew this because they'd
experienced it, and they'd seen, and they'd touched, and they'd
felt, and they'd witnessed that Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth,
who had been crucified, is God incarnate. That means God in
flesh. God come in the flesh. 1 John
chapter 4, verse 2 the epistle of John says this test the spirits
whether they be of God and then he gives a test you know test
what he's saying is test the messages you hear to see whether
it's from God because there's lots of messages of religion
around and about there and he says this is the test every spirit
that I'm going to have to turn to it otherwise I'll quote it
the wrong way around but it's about Jesus coming in the flesh
let me just turn over there Chapter 4. Hereby know ye the
Spirit of God. Chapter 4, verse 2. Every spirit
that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God.
Right? That's the test. Every spirit,
every preacher that says Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is
of God. You say, well, that's an easy
test to pass, isn't it? I mean, there hasn't been a Pope
that's lived that didn't believe that. Every Pope in Rome said,
oh yes, Jesus Christ came in the flesh. Does that make him?
Does that make him God's messenger? on earth? Absolutely not. So
what does it mean? What does that verse mean that
says every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in
the flesh is of God? I'll tell you what it means.
It means this, it's every spirit that says God, God, The second
person of the Trinity became man. He's come in the flesh.
Why did he come in the flesh? To represent. To stand in the
place of. To stand the surety. To be the
substitute of his people. To save them from their sins.
That's what it means that he came specifically to represent
those people whom the Father gave to him from before the foundation
of the world. That's the test. What think ye
of Christ? This is what Jesus said to the
Pharisees. What think ye of Christ? Who is he? Whose son is he? Is
he God? That was the question that he
was asking the Pharisees. What think ye of Christ? Oh,
they had this belief, this unifying belief about the Lord Jesus Christ,
who he is, what he came to do, and the fact that he has accomplished
salvation as a substitute. that everything he did was for
the salvation of his people, that everything he did was so
that his people did it in him. So when he obeyed the law, if
you're his, if you're in him, if by faith you know that you're
his, you know that you obeyed the law in him. So when it comes
to the day of reckoning, when it comes to the day the books
are opened, God looks at the account of Christ and in his
book of life it is there that you are fit for heaven because
he did it. in your place and you did it
in him and when he looks at your sins he doesn't see your sins
there to be paid he sees them paid for because Christ bore
those sins those sins specifically in his body with all of their
guilt and he paid the price of those sins and he cried out all
my sins are ever before me my sins are crushing me Christ has
accomplished salvation and how do we know what was it that they
preach these apostles they preach Jesus and the Resurrection. And why did He rise from the
dead? Because death couldn't hold Him. Because it couldn't
hold Him because He paid the price. He paid the price and
the resurrection was the vindication of the fact that He paid the
price. They believed He was risen. 500 of them together had seen
that He was risen. It couldn't be denied. Nobody
could produce a body to show that it wasn't true. Christ rose
from the dead. He accomplished salvation completely. Sixth point. They believed that
salvation is the gift of God. They weren't persuading men to
believe. They weren't trying with words
of wisdom and eloquence to persuade men and women to believe. They
knew that salvation was the gift of God. They knew that if anybody
believed it was because the Holy Spirit opened their eyes and
showed them the truth and showed them grace. They knew it was
sovereign grace alone. not the ability of man's will.
It's not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God
who shows mercy. That's what it was. They knew
that was the glory of God. From Exodus 33, Moses said, show
me your glory. I will be compassionate on whom
I will be compassionate. I will have grace on whom I will
have grace and mercy on whom I will have mercy. It is God
who has the initiative. It is God who has the power from
beginning to end in salvation not of him who wills not of him
who runs but of God who shows mercy and so we sing with that
hymn writer whilst on others thou art calling do not pass
me by that's the cry of a sinner whilst on others thou art calling
do not pass me by and then the seventh point this grace of God
they believe this this grace of God is so free It's so free,
this free sovereign grace, because it's got to be free because it's
grace. By definition, grace is free. It's so free that everyone
who needs it receives it. Do you know that? I don't believe
that God brings any person to a state of needing grace that
he doesn't intend to save and hasn't already saved in Christ.
I'm absolutely sure that's the case. What do I mean by needing
it? Fancying the idea? No. Thinking
I'll turn over a leaf and become a Christian for a while and give
that a try? Not at all. Someone who needs grace is someone
who has utterly despaired of themselves. Someone like that
prodigal son who came to an end of himself in the pig's will.
and realize that in my Father's house even the servants have
bread and enough to eat. I will return. I will go to my
Father in my need, not with anything of myself, in my need and I will
go and plead with my Father. Father, make me as one of your
servants because I am sinful. I have sinned against you and
against heaven. Oh Father, show me your grace and your mercy.
And everyone whom he gives that need to receives that grace of
God. and all these things that they
believed in common, all of these people, all of these believers
together, had experienced it first-hand. It was their own
individual experience. It wasn't just the experience
of the apostles, and the inner circle, if you like, and those
500 that had seen Jesus risen. It was the experience of all,
by faith in Christ, through the working of the Holy Spirit. They
believed these things. This was the irreducible core
that they believed. Now then, let's apply it to us.
We want to embark on evangelism. But would we do it with those?
See, wouldn't it be good to have reinforcements from different
organizations and people all around? Wouldn't that be good?
Not if they don't agree on these fundamentals. Absolutely not.
Would we embark on evangelism with those who deny sovereign
grace and particular redemption? Absolutely not. We cannot do
it. We couldn't do it. Not without
denying that which has saved us, and that which unites us
together. You know, to join in, it just
denies that this is the basis of it. And yet, it's the irreducible
minimum. Without this, there is no salvation.
There is no assurance. So secondly then, they were united
in belief, and then secondly, they were united in prayer. Look
at verse 24. And when they heard all that
the apostles had reported to them about what the chief priests
and elders had said, when they heard that, they lifted up their
voice to God with one accord and they prayed. They prayed.
Their prayer reflected their common belief. Their prayer reflected
that which they knew in their heads and experienced in their
hearts. Just follow with me as I read down to verse 30. And
when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one
accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and
earth and the sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth
of thy servant David has said, why did the heathen rage and
the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood
up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. Now, we'll just stop for a moment
there. You see, what they're saying is, who they're praying
to, the God of all heaven, who has spoken in his word. Verses
25 and 26, Psalm 2. Why do the heathen rage? And
the people imagine a vain thing against the Lord. They were so
steeped in the Scriptures that this was immediately what they
referred to. Look at all of these threatenings. Ah, it's only what
your word has already said by the mouth of David, by the mouth
of your servant David. You've already said this would
happen, that these people would rise up, the kings of the earth
would rise up, the rulers would gather together against the Lord
and against his Christ. for of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together
this is what they've just been through for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done and now Lord
we know that this is the situation we know this is the backdrop
we understand why these things are happening but now in this
situation Lord this is their petition verse 29 behold their
threatenings God can see their threatenings. "...and grant unto
thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word by stretching
forth thine hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be
done by the name of thy holy child Jesus." In other words,
give us boldness to preach and authenticate that which we're
preaching by the signs of the apostles. That was their prayer.
It was based on their common belief. Do you know, it often
puzzles me when people are trying to generate false unity or unity
at all costs. Do you know what the type of
meeting is that they most usually start with? They say, well we
can't agree about doctrine and we can't agree about salvation
and whether you're saved this way or that way or another way
and we can't agree about all these other things but let's
get together and have a prayer meeting and then we can push
all of our differences to one side. Well, I'm sorry you can't.
The prayer is based on the common belief. The prayer only means
anything in the context of a common belief. I remember situations
in the past, sitting in prayer meetings where a spiritualist
lady had liberty to start mouthing off her spiritualist beliefs
in what was supposed to be a Christian prayer meeting. Sorry, we're
not going down that path at all. Prayer is not a unifier where
there's disunity of doctrine. Prayer is the common voice that
comes out of a common belief of doctrine. It comes out of
that united belief. It's based on Scripture. It's
asking in accordance with my words, is what Jesus says. In
his name. John 14 verse 13. Asking in his
name. It's not just saying, cause me
to win a million pounds on the lottery in the name of Jesus.
Of course not. That's blasphemy. Absolutely not. That's ridiculous.
Asking in His name is asking in accord with His will, and
His Word, and the Scriptures, and the truth of God, and the
purposes of God, to save a people for His glory. It's acknowledging
and depending on God's sovereignty. It's knowing His promises. Isaiah
65, 24, Before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet
speaking, I will hear." Zephaniah 3 verse 9, For then will I turn
to the people a pure language that they may all call upon the
name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent. You see? This
is it. The prayer is based on a common
belief and a common understanding. And it's asking one petition.
Did you notice their one petition? They knew the context but their
one petition was boldness to speak. boldness to declare the
truth, verse 29. Why? Because of the weakness
of the flesh, because of the tendency of the flesh to fear
what man might do to us and not realize that we're in the hands
of the living God who controls all things. Knowing that without
Christ they could do nothing, but with Him, nothing could stop
them. Absolutely nothing could stop
them. There would be no closed doors. If God had opened a door,
it didn't matter what man might do no man can shut that door
and they would go and so they're saying give us boldness in this
situation we know all things are in your hands but give us
boldness to speak your word they knew they knew what Isaiah had
said O arm of the Lord Awake as in the ancient days, and he
goes on to quote all of those situations, the crossing of the
Red Sea, the salvation out of Egypt, all of those wonderful
things that God had done to demonstrate His power and His glory. And
they're saying, O arm of the Lord, awake and do that again.
And that's a justified prayer for us to pray. O arm of the
Lord, awake as in the ancient days, as in these days, and be
glorified. And verse 31, the place was shaken. The place was shaken, but now
you say, oh, that's dramatic. Oh, that we might, I hope this
place doesn't get shaken. I think the roof might drop in
on it. This, this, that would not be a good thing for this
place to be too shaken. Yes, there was a dramatic result.
These were dramatic days. But, you know, their request
was granted and they preached Jesus and the resurrection. Look
at verse 31. Verse 31. The place was shaken
where they were assembled together and they were all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness."
You see, the request was granted immediately. And verse 33, "...and
with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all." Now we have
a couple of minutes left, so I must hurry to finish. The third
point. You see, it wasn't just in the head, it wasn't just in
the heart in terms of prayer, but it was very practically expressed
as well because they were united in welfare. They were united
in care for one another. You can read these verses 34
to 37 about how they that had possessions and houses sold them
and distributed so that nobody lacked anything. Everybody had
what they needed. Many souls but one body. Remember? That's what a friend is according
to Aristotle. One soul in two bodies. Many souls, but one body. Each part caring for the others.
We haven't got time now, but if you read 1 Corinthians chapter
12, which is after the communion chapter, talking about the gifts
of the Spirit. And Paul there likens the church
to a human body, where the head is Christ. the head of a.. and
then all the parts are needed and do their thing and the hand
is not the eye but the eye can't do what it does without the hand
to manipulate the parts it's working with and the head can't
imagine going from A to B unless the foot gets up and takes it
from A to B and so it is the church, the fellowship of believers
is like a body of many differing parts and the one supplies the
needs of the other and when the foot hurts the rest of the body
hurts with it and and ministers to its need. And there were people
like Barnabas raised up, Joseph, whose surname was Barnabas, which
is interpreted the son of consolation. The son of consolation. We read
lots about him. Having land, he sold it and brought
the money and laid it at the Apostles' feet. Oh, to be like
a Barnabas, a son of consolation. We're not talking about a pattern
for communism here. I know I've said this many times
before. This is not about being prodigal in stewardship. For
example, I could say, oh, there's a good lesson there. Right, it's
not a good time to put the house on the market, but I'm going
to sell the house and we're going to go and live in a tent. I mean,
I don't think my wife would be too pleased with that idea. I
don't think it would do her much good. Those of you with children,
you know, selling the house, we're just going to sleep in
the bus shelter from now on. What does Paul say to Timothy? Any
man that doesn't care for his own household, he's worse than
an infidel. So this isn't a pattern for being
profligate and prodigal in stewardship of the things that the Lord has
given us, but it is this. It's a pattern which says whatever
we've been given We view it all, our life and everything He's
given us, as nothing more than a loan from God for the good
of His body. How did they do it? Was it duty
works? I'm sure it wasn't. It was felt
in the heart. They were looking unto Jesus.
That mind of Christ was in them. That mind of Christ which had
set aside such glory for the good of His people. And so, they
went to their own company. And their company together were
united in belief, in prayer and welfare. There were 8,000 plus
of them. What about 2 or 3? Well, 2 or
3 are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst. 8,000 or 2 or 3. Well, however
many God brings together. Fellowship. Unity in the things
of Christ. Amen. Our closing hymn is 830.