Acts chapter 4, we'll continue
on in verse 23 through... I'm going to get my right notes. Acts chapter 4, we'll start in
verse 32 to the end of the chapter and then we'll go a little bit
into the 5th chapter to show by contrast. Acts chapter 4,
and we're once again going to look at the early New Testament
church as she is filled with the grace of God after that glorious
day of Pentecost." Pentecost Day has already taken place.
The Lord filled His presence. the Lord was in presence with
His people as they preached the gospel message in other languages. That's what the word tongue means
in the Greek, in the New Testament. It does not mean what is so commonly
thought of today where people roll around the floor and speak
in gibberish and you can't understand them. The word tongues means
languages, which if you keep it in the context of the Scriptures
and what's going on, it makes perfect sense because the Day
of Pentecost was one of the feast days in the Old Testament when
everybody from all around different countries came to Jerusalem to
celebrate that feast day. So you're going to have people
of different nationalities. So, in order to preach the truth
to somebody who's, you know, from Spain, you're going to need
to speak it in Spanish, right? If you're going to Costa Rica,
you know, wherever. So, that's what happened here. They preached
the gospel. They were filled with the Holy
Ghost. They preached the gospel and now, Peter and John had been
warned by the religious leaders of the day not to preach in the
name of Christ. They didn't like that. They didn't
like to hear the gospel. So they said, don't do it. And
then they released him. They held him for a little while
and then they released him. And then last week, we noted, as
soon as they got released, they went right to the brethren, Peter
and John. They went right to the brethren
and shared what had happened to them. And when they shared
what had happened, then they were in an assembly area like
this. And when Peter and John said, hey, they told us not to
preach in the name of Christ anymore. They want us to run
out of the city. They threatened us. And they told everybody,
and right after they told everybody, they thought the best thing to
do is to gather together with one accord, one mind, one heart,
and pray for the Lord's blessings in the service, the Lord's blessings
on the men who would go out and continue to preach, even though
it was probably going to mean more jail time. So that's where
we're at now in verse 31. And when they had prayed, all
the brethren there in Jerusalem were together in that place,
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. They spake with boldness. And
the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of them that
aught of the things which he possessed was his own, but they
had all things common. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great
grace was upon them all. Neither was there any among them
that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses
sold them and brought the prices of the things which were sold,
laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made
to every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by
the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the
son of consolation, a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus,
having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the
apostles' feet. And that's the end of chapter
4. We'll pretty well go through that, and then we're going to
go into chapter 5 just to show a contrast. A contrast. What we're going to look at this
morning is grace in the heart, produces grace in action grace
in the heart produces Grace in action and this is gonna go ahead
I didn't tell Bruce where I was gonna be preaching from or didn't
tell him where I was gonna be at This is gonna go pretty good
to hand in hand with some of the things that Bruce said this
morning Bible class out of Philippians chapter 2 grace in the heart
equals grace in action First of all, grace in the heart shows
up in the believer's life by several things. And we're just
going to go down verse by verse and look at these. Somebody says
that the Lord has dealt with them. Somebody says that the
Lord has saved them by the grace of God. And that's the only way
the Lord saves sinners is by His grace, not by works, not
by what we've done, not by what we think we can do. Because God
does not need us. He's not a gainer by anything
that we can give Him, because He's God. He has all. He knows
all. He understands all. So, when
God saves His people by His grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ,
this grace shows up. Christ said in the Gospels, by
their fruit. You shall know them by their
fruit. You shall know them. So first
of all, look in verse 31. Grace in the heart shows up in
the believer's life by Well, the first thing that the believer
does is speaks God's Word. Look at verse 31. And when they
had prayed, the place was shaken, where they were assembled together,
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
Word of God with boldness. The Word of God. If somebody
says they understand the things of God or the grace of God, when
they speak about God, they're going to speak according to what
the book says. Now what? Tradition says, not
what the opinions of men are, not what the great theologians
once said, and I'm not saying these men don't know what they're
saying, there's good things, but they're the writings of men.
This is the inerrant Word of God. This is our rule. This is
what we go by. They speak God's Word, not man's
opinions, not man's abilities. You don't see the apostles talking
about man's free will, not man's choice. not God trying to do
this or that. They prayed as they were led
by the Spirit of God, and God always answers. his own initiated
prayer. Prayer doesn't change God. One
of the main attributes of God is that he changes not. That's
what he told Jacob, therefore you sons of Jacob, I'm the Lord
God, I don't change. I'm the same, what does he say,
I'm the same yesterday, Hebrews, today and forever. And I'm thankful
because if there's one thing in this life It's inconsistency. Something happens today, it might
not happen tomorrow, but He never changes. And that is a comfort
to His people. And they speak His Word. They speak His Word. It's said
they spake the Word of God with boldness. The Word of God. They
spoke of God. He's holy, lofty, and exalted. And the God that you hear most
often today is a God with a small g. He's just up there wringing
His hands, wishing people would do something. No, the God of
this book is on His throne. He's in control. and he knows
exactly what he's doing. I know we've got an election
year coming up, and everybody's jockeying for this and that.
Whatever the results are going to be, it's not going to shock
God. Why? Because he tells us that
the king's hands, kings, presidents, governors, the king's heart is
in his hand and he turns it withersoever he wants to. Matter of fact,
in the Old Testament and through the scriptures, God has taken
down one nation and raised up another, all for his glory and
for his people, for his people. So they spoke. If somebody says
they've got grace in the heart, it'll show up by grace in the
life. They speak from God's Word. Now, I'm not saying you shouldn't
read good writings about this book. You shouldn't read the
writings of other men. But when it comes down to God and His
gospel and the truth, it better be warranted from this book.
This book. They spoke the Word of God. They spoke God's Word and they
spoke the Word of God. God's truth. Sovereign, supreme. He's majestic. He's in charge.
He's in control. He became a man and dwelt among
us. In the beginning was God, says
John 1. Now let's just turn there. Turn to
John 1. Make sure I quote it accurately. John 1. Verse 1,
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and
the Word was God. And the same was in the beginning
with God. And verse 14, And the Word was
made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. Full of grace and truth. He dwelt
among us. Us. Sinners, undeserving sinners,
wretches, worthy of death, hell and judgment. But for reasons
found only in His own will, God's own mind and purpose, He became
sin for His people, the remnant, the church, His bride, His elect.
And He became our substitute and swapped places. You don't
want to know what happened on the cross. He swapped places
with us. He who knew no sin was hung on
the cross. In the gospel narratives, they
really couldn't find anything to charge him with. They brought
false accusations and trumped up a whole bunch of false accusations
and found him guilty. But really, they knew. And even
Pilate said, I find no fault. I find no fault in him. But they
wanted his blood. They wanted him to die. And so
the religious people of the day trumped up charges against him.
And then when he hung on the cross, and he said it's finished,
he swapped places with us. We who could never satisfy God's
righteousness. We who could never do what his
law said to do. became the righteousness of God
in Christ. He looked at Christ and he said,
for that sinner, I lay it on Christ. And Christ's perfect
obedience and righteousness, I give to the sinner. He swapped
places. He swapped places. And everybody
knows I like basketball. Everybody knows I like the March
Madness. And then after this, I won't
watch the NBA stuff. But when there's a guy on the bench,
He's not playing. When he comes in the game, they
call him a substitute. We have a substitution. And what
happens? The substitute gets off the bench,
checks in at the clock, at the timer's table, and comes in for
somebody else. Now that person, he sits down,
you don't ever see him. They might show him, the camera
shows him sitting on the bench, but the guy that comes in, it's
all on his shoulders. He comes in and takes that man's
place, that man's positions, that man's responsibilities.
And what people don't know today, they put all these, the Ten Commandments,
they got them nailed, they got them on boards and they got them
sitting in people's yards, but they don't realize we can't keep
them. They're perfect. We can't keep
them. And in order for anyone to be in heaven, they have to
be perfect. God says, Be ye holy as I am
holy. So salvation is impossible with
you and I by what we do. Is that right? That's right.
That's what they said. Well, salvation is impossible.
Christ said, That's right. With man, it is impossible. Quit working. Quit trying to work your way
to heaven. But with God. It's possible. It's not impossible.
Why? Because God became flesh and dwelt among us and gave to
us what He required of us, He gave to us in Christ, our substitute. Do you believe that? Or you don't
believe that? But that's when God said, when
somebody says, I believe in the grace of God, God's done something
for me, they will speak God's word over our opinions, our thoughts,
what Ann Landers said, what whoever says, as sweet and nice as it
might be, what Norman Vincent Peale, a power of positive thinking. Power of positive thinking isn't
going to get you into glory. Christ's righteousness and Christ's
blood, without which none shall ever be saved. He took our sin,
became our sin, and gave us His spotless righteousness. We speak
of His Word from His book about His darling Son, and again, the
emphasis is on God and His Word, truth, and Christ. That was the
first thing. Grace in the heart produces grace
in action. We speak of Him. Second thing,
Look at verse 32. Now this is amazing. And the
multitude of them, those that were gathered, that believed,
were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of them ought
of the things which he possessed was his own, but they had all
things common. Had all things common. Well,
what's he saying here? One heart and one soul. What
he's saying is that we're a family. We're a family. That is a family
united and unified under the banner of Christ and Him crucified
in His Gospel. Why aren't we? You know, there's
not a whole lot of us here. We are going to be, Lord willing,
adding on another nice section and etc. and we've got babies
coming on the way and some neat things happening. But why not
just shut the doors and go down the street, any direction you
want to, where there's hundreds of cars? Because they're not
preaching the gospel. And they're not preaching the
same thing. And they're not family. Look at what it says here again.
Look at what it says. And the multitude of them that believed were of
one heart and one soul. They had all things common. And,
you know, tomorrow... I hate talking about it. I've
got to go to work. And it's just part of it. You've
got to pay taxes, pay house rent and stuff. And I have some friends
out there that have customers that I've got to know over eight,
nine years, and I enjoy their company, they enjoy my company,
we can talk about things. They're not family. Talk about
the weather, talk about prices, gas, you know, we talk about
something. They don't want to talk about this. Because we're
not unified. Here, what's going on here is
that they were of one heart and one soul, and neither of them
said that anything that they had was their own. They just shared.
They looked out for one another. What do you think about what
families do? They look out for one another. They look forward
to seeing one another. They have the same mind in doctrine,
creed, and generosity. We're all concerned about others'
welfare and seeking out each other's good, knowing that all
we have is from God's hand and is not our own property. Turn
to Philippians chapter 2, where Bruce was at this morning. I
thought this worked out, this fits in very well, parallel passage,
verse 1, 2, and 3. If there be any therefore consolation
in Christ, any comfort of love, any fellowship of the Spirit,
Any bowels and mercies fulfill you, my joy, that you be like-minded,
having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let
nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. You know, churches get divided
and they break off and a lot of it is over stuff that is not
over the Word most of the time at all. It's over who's singing,
who's leading the singing, donuts, cookies, bake sales, stuff that
has nothing to do with the Gospel. And we don't do that stuff here.
We come, the worship service is very simple. We come, sing
a couple of hymns, read the scripture, pray, encourage one another,
preach the Word, encourage one another and go home. If we have 200 people here, it
isn't going to change. I'll have more help, deacons
and elders to help, stuff like that, but it's not going to change.
There's no need in complicating things by having all this other
stuff. We just simply gather together,
just like the New Testament church, and of one heart and one mind.
It's a lovely thing. Thirdly, the grace in the heart
produces grace in the life by speaking God's Word, speaking
His truth. And we're of one heart and one soul. And we look at
verse 33. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace
was upon them all. Again, we come back to speaking
of Christ. His finished work and resurrection
from the grave. Death has no everlasting hold
upon the child of grace. We are just passing through this
world anyway, so let's not get too attached to it. He rose and
so shall we He was the victor in the war
over sin and one day so shall we He is now Christ is right
now seated at his father's right hand So we have ever so we will
ever be with him. No more pain. No more sorrow. No more interrupted worship We'll
be with and see the one that we love Every time I wake up. Especially
when allergy season comes on, I wake up and I got lines and
puffy. I'm thinking, oh, looking old. We meet family of four people
in town this week. Everybody gets together and I
heard one of my cousins said, you look pretty good. I said,
well, I feel pretty good. Well, then I had another cousin look
at me and goes, wow. And I don't know, he didn't qualify
that. So that wow, as in last time I saw you had more hair
and it wasn't as much gray hair, we're getting older. That's what,
when Adam sinned in the garden, that's what happened. That's
what we talked about out there, one every day. It's closer to
the grave, but we don't fear it, because He, they witnessed
the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all. One man, one older preacher was,
Henry. Henry told me, you know, one of his members was all upset
about dying and death and he says, well, are you dying? No.
Are you getting close to death? I don't think so. He said, don't
worry about it. At that time, God will give you grace, dying
grace. And the believer sees that all the pain and the agonies
and the aggravations that are so easy to get, this world brings
us down. One day, It's not going to be any problems. There's not going to be any issues.
Like you were telling somebody the other day, they said they
couldn't sleep. Unfortunately for us, if you want to go to
sleep, there's one sure way to do it. Get relaxed, do whatever
you want to do, get your jammies on, lay down, and pick up God's
book and start reading and you'll fall asleep. That's how weak
we are. That's how sad our condition is. But one day, there will be interrupted fellowship and worship
time. That'll be sweet. That'll be
sweet. Fourthly, now this is a difficult
area because of the country that we live in. Verse 34 through
37, neither was there any among them that lacked, for as
many as were possessors of houses and lands sold them, and brought
the prices of the things which they sold, and laid them down
at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made to every man according
as he had need." And we'll stop right there, and then they bring
out a specific example, a guy named Barnabas, who you remember
the Lord called later on as a preacher. But grace in the heart produces
grace in the life. How? We speak of His grace and
not our works or our abilities. We speak of His death and resurrection
and His satisfying work. We don't talk about ourselves.
We speak of God and who He is, Christ and who He is, and we
understand what we are in the eyes of God. I know we're something
in front of other people. At the funeral home the other
night, money was brought up in that game that people play, like
I got more than you got, all that kind of stuff. It doesn't
matter. Let the worms of the earth compare
in the grass. Let people talk about how much
they have more than others and stuff like that. It doesn't matter.
In the eyes of God, we're nothing. And we know that. And so we look
to Christ for everything. Melinda and I were talking about
this this morning. You know, for years and years
and years, it seemed like a struggle, the house is so small and this
and that, it doesn't look like this, everything. And then, you
know, after a while, you just do the Scriptures and you realize,
and God teaches you, are you dry at night? Do you have a warm
place to live? That's all that matters. Christ
had no place to lay His head. The foxes, the scripture says,
had dens to go into, but Christ, the Son of Man, had nowhere to
lay His head. There was no place for Him anywhere
in Bethlehem, so He's got to go to a stinking cow barn in
a manger. So a manger is, I know in Christmas,
they got to look real nice, it's a barn. And if you've ever been
in a barn, they stink. That's where He was born. So, this is the area right here,
difficult in this country because what grace in the heart does
for the believer it shows itself in their life and what these
believers did is they disentangled themselves from the things of
this world and this country America We're all about possessions.
You and I, I struggle with this, you struggle with this. We're
all about possessions. That's, unfortunately, that's...
You talk to some of these, the missionaries that we, the missionary,
Jean-Claude, that we support, to the preachers, those young
preachers and old preachers in Africa. They're sending us their
information, and I get the fellowship with them, and I read the emails
and stuff. And they're preachers just like
me, but they've got 20 kids and they're living in a hut. They're
preaching the same message. I asked John Claude, I said,
you know, why don't you bring a couple of those pastures over
here so we could meet them and we'll pay the expenses. He said,
I would never do that. I said, why? He goes, it would
ruin them. I said, what do you mean? He
goes, from coming from a grass hunt to some of these houses
that we have, you know, even a building like this, they would
think, oh my word, these people are millionaires. He says, the
difference would be too much. Because what we throw away in
the trash, that's probably their supper. So, this part right here
is amazing. And don't misunderstand me. We
have to work. We have to pay bills. We have
to pay taxes. We have to support our families.
That's not what I'm saying. But the glitter of this world
should not hold lasting value with God's people. Enough is
a feast. He gives to us all we really
need. don't take the things of this life too seriously what
concern uh... they had concern for each other
look at look at what it says here again neither was there
any that lacked among them but neither was there any among them
that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands and houses
they sold them and brought the prices of the things that were
sold and they laid them down at the apostles feet And apostles
and the deacons, they made distribution to every man according as he
has need. And Lynn and I were talking about
this. This doesn't mean that you sell everything and become
destitute. That's not what I'm saying. But I'm not going to
smooth the corners of this passage off for us here this morning.
It is what it is. And they saw the grace of God,
and they experienced the grace of God, and they gave everything,
their life, their soul, everything they had for the furtherance
of his gospel. The thing that's beautiful here
is what beautiful concern they had for each other. And I'll
tell you what peace and happiness simple childlike faith gives
to those who are exercised thereby. And you know what I'm talking
about. When God gives you grace and gives you faith, so no matter
what happens, you just say, I'm right here. He's going to take
care of me. I'm not going to worry. I mean, we all go through
that. I wish I could confess to you
that this happens to me every day. But it's a struggle. But
there are those times when it doesn't matter if I got any more
new customers. It doesn't matter if I lose customers.
It doesn't matter if I'm behind on bills. You see what I'm saying?
There are those times that it's more about His gospel, His people,
and Christ than anything else. I sleep real good those nights.
I rest very well knowing that He's on the throne and He's doing
what's right." Isn't that what we talked about, Scotty? Right.
When you talk to your boss, he understands what you're saying.
It's right. Whatever he does is absolutely right. And boy, that is a large pillow
for your head. And there's nothing that brings
more peace and more happiness than that childlike trust. That childlike trust. They gave
freely, these brethren here, Willingly and over abundantly
and they did so by reason of love not law now you can take
your tithe and your 10% and We talked about this this ties into
the message. I preached a couple weeks ago. You can just take
that and throw it away First of all tithing is is nowhere
in the New Testament It's only mentioned twice and it's mentioned
in a negative aspect Christ was speaking to the Pharisees but
as far as giving It's nowhere in the New Testament. Zero. We've
already looked at it a couple of weeks ago. As a man purposes
in his heart, so let him give. Just give, not grudgingly, because
God loves a cheerful giver. Now, do you have any amounts
tied to that? But church is everywhere. That's why I found out why years
ago our old pastor, our old preacher was asking me how much I made,
because then he also collected the money, so he knew how much
I made, he knew how much I was supposed to give. So when I found
that out, I just started giving cash. It's nobody's business.
Nobody's business but you and the Lord. Is there any amount here? I don't
see any amounts. I don't see any percentages.
Actually, Lynn and I were talking about this, and they had lands and houses. They
sold them and brought the price, and they let it at the Apostles'
feet. They submitted it to the leadership
of the church to distribute it to, because they knew that the
leadership of the church, unlike a lot of them, weren't going
to pocket it and get on the radio and the TV and ask for money
all the time. We said this before, if you can't give, or if you
don't want to give, or if you can't give joyfully, don't. God doesn't need it. He doesn't
need our money. He has everything. So it's so
beautiful here, this just ties in. They gave freely, willingly,
overabundantly. There was no force applied here.
No hyped up oratory. Displayed there was no you must
or God will take it out You know if you don't give God's gonna
take it out in your hide or something like that. No Go back with me
a couple verses verse 33 and great grace Was upon them. What is grace grace is unmerited
favor. You can't earn it And that's the same way with giving
givings of grace Great grace was upon them Then I told a story
about Kara when she was real little. Melinda and I would be
out working in the yard and she would come out with a basket
of bread, jelly, peanut butter. She'd walk out there and tell
us to stop working. She'd lay that blanket down and
we'd have to sit. Was it much? No. But it was done
by love so I wouldn't trade it for anything. a husband and a bride. Christ
is the husband. The church is called the bride.
And I've told you before, when people get married, you know,
and I marry people and I want to counsel and stuff. I'm not
a very good counselor. I don't counsel. You love one
another, yeah. Take care of one another, yeah.
Continue to come here in the gospel, yeah. Support the ministry
the best you can or missionaries, whatever, yeah. How to live in
the home, I'm not going to tell you. None of my business. what
to do, what car to buy, where to go. It's none of my business.
I'm not a counselor. I'm not a psychiatrist. Just
call me anytime you want to. I'll help you whenever I can.
But I've never seen a couple say that they were married. Are
you all married? Oh, let me go get the marriage
certificate. Oh, that marriage is in trouble. Why do you stay
with him? Why do you stay with her? Because
you want to. Because you love one another.
Nobody's sitting over there. I think I know everybody in here.
Nobody had a shotgun wedding. It was close, but it wasn't...
yeah, okay. Uh-uh. Look at what they did.
They laid it down at the apostles' feet. They submitted. And they
said, Just do what you want to do. Now, we've got this closed. We've got two situations here.
This guy named Barnabas, who in Acts chapter 13, the Lord
was going to call him to be a pastor. Okay? But for some reason, he's
brought out here as an example. The apostles, his surname was
Barnabas, which being by interpretation a son of consolation, he's a
Levite in the country of Cyprus. He had land, sold it, and brought
the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Now, we have
two examples given. One, grace in the heart produced
grace in action. In the next example, the first
couple of verses in chapter 5, we see no grace in the heart,
and we see what they did. Okay? Barnabas. Grace in the heart. And in the
next one we're going to see a hypocrite. Hypocrisy in the heart. Grace
in the heart. Barnabas. Who was later to be called a
minister of the gospel or a pastor and elder and that's and you
want to look at that later It's Acts chapter 13 verse 2. He gave of
himself He gave of his time his labor his money his life. He
untangled himself in the affairs of this world He willingly submitted
to the Apostles and their judgment of this disbursement of his goods
In that without conditions Without conditions. That's what I love
about grace. Without conditions, because Christ has met all the
conditions. Prenuptial agreements, there's no such thing. Not in
grace. Nope. You want to be with somebody,
because you want to be with somebody. You want to be there, because you want
to be there. You want to do the things you want to do, because
you want to do them. The believer is ruled by love,
not law. Take those Ten Commandments,
Christ fulfilled them. If he didn't, you're going to
have to, and we can't. So we're in trouble. Matter of fact, Christ said the
law was summed up in two, didn't he? Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, soul, mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.
All of them hang on those two. Love, love, love. That's what
he was saying. So you got Barnabas. God saved him. He just acted
like a believer. Now look at Ananias and Sapphira,
husband and wife. But a certain man named Ananias
with Sapphira, his wife, sold the possession and they kept
back part of it, of the price. And his wife also privy to it. They went back and they said,
okay, Barnabas has gotten recognized. He's gotten noticed. He's gotten
accolades. He's gotten praise of men. And
Barnabas just said, I'm just going to do it. No strings attached.
Do what you want to. But Ananias is a fighter sitting
there going, hmm, maybe if we do something like this, maybe
we can get elevated in the church, whatever the reason might be.
They kept back part of it. And his wife, they also wore
it together and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles'
feet. But Peter said, Ananias, why
has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Ghost and to
keep back part of the price of the land? While it remains, was
it not thine heart? And after it was sold, was it
not in thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this
thing in thine own heart? Thou hast not lied unto men,
but unto God." What's going on here? Motive. God sees the heart. I don't see the heart. I don't
know why you do what you do. But God's people are going to
be gracious. What he's saying here is not how much. but it's the motive. They kept
back because they wanted to get something. Grace in the heart
produces grace in the action, no strings attached. Hypocrisy in the heart does it
to be seen of men, to get position, to get a title. That's why the
business world, I'd leave it out there. Sales and all that
kind of stuff and the things that I got to do a job. I leave
it out there because it does not apply I'm not your boss I'm
not going to you know, as you see I'm saying no Christ is the
head of the church and Ananias and Sapphira on the other hand
They wanted recognition and praise of men. They thought they could
do such as they did without God seeing right through them but
God God will be worshiped honored and served from a willing heart
and And He was saved by grace alone, not by any of our efforts,
or any of our coercion, and not by the works of the flesh, or
to be seen of men, or for the applause of men, or for the advancement
of self. And Ananias, hearing these words,
fell down and gave up the ghost. And a great fear came upon all
of them that heard these things. And the young men arose, wound
him up, and carried him out, and buried him. And this was
about the space of three hours. And after, when his wife, she
came in, not knowing what was done, came in and Peter had answered
her, tell me whether you sold the land for so much. And she
said, yeah. She lied to Peter. He knew what
was going on. He says Peter said unto her how
is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord
behold? The feet of them which have buried thy husband are at
the door and shall carry thee out Then fell she down straightway
at his feet Yield up the ghost and the young men came in and
found her dead and carried her forth Buried her by her husband
and great fear came upon all the church and upon as many as
heard these things God will be worshiped in the manner which
He prescribes, freely and willingly." We close, turn to Psalms 110.
You know, you don't have to be a genius to look at the classifieds
and all that other kind of stuff. And a lot of churches go through
preachers right and left. And there's reasons for that.
A lot of it has to do with the preachers themselves, wanting
more money and this and that, all that kind of stuff. But the people... You know, we want
somebody to tell us this, we want somebody to tell us that.
And the main problem is, first of all, the gospel is not being
preached, grace is not being adhered to or believed, and people
do what they do, they're not willing. They don't want to waste
their Sunday, they'd better be watching the PGA, they'd rather
be doing something else. Let them do it. I'm not saying
we should have compassion. I'm not saying at all. Speak
to your neighbors. Speak to your family. Speak to
your friends. Tell them about the gospel. Tell them about Christ,
because that's what's going to grace in the heart. You're going
to speak His Word. But forcing people? No. God's people do what they
do willingly. And I remember when the Lord
was starting to deal with me, we were looking for a preacher.
We couldn't find a preacher. We knew some. We called them
in. We couldn't find them. I didn't want to do it. And then after the Lord called
me, I thought, oh, now I've got to do this and do that. And I
remember Melinda saying, that's not your responsibility. You
don't have to keep us. You don't have to make sure that
person is there. You don't have to go browbeat them and give
them the evil eye when they don't show up or the offerings or whatever.
And I thought, that's right. All I have to do, one main thing,
is stand up here on my hind feet and preach the gospel. And if
you're God's, I believe He's all-powerful and He can conform
you to His image, like He said He's going to do. And actually,
it's better off if I keep my hands off and preach the Word. Psalms 110 and verse 3, thy people,
God's people, Because not all are God's people, and never have
been, never intended to be. But thy people shall be willing
when? In the day of thy power. When God's power comes upon you
in grace, through the preaching of the gospel, and you believe
and trust in Him, and desire to worship Him, and live for
Him, and desire to be baptized, and then gather together in a
family, Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power." That's what we're seeing in Acts. That's what we're seeing in Acts.
So I close, have you been made willing by His free and sovereign
grace to worship Him? Then if so, your life will show
forth fruit which will glorify Him. And you will praise the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you won't need me to tell
you how to do it. And you won't need to go to see counselors
every time something bad happens. You'll turn to Him and look to
Him. And you will... Families, you
know, families get together and share their burdens and talk
to one another. How are you doing? How are you feeling? Are you
okay? Do you need any help? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Or no, I'm okay.
How about you? Willingly. Willingly. Grace. I love the word. No wonder John
Newton wrote that. Amazing grace. Amazing. How sweet the sound. Sweet. Never tired of it. Never tired
of preaching it. I hope. And never tired of hearing
it. Bruce, would you close us please? And Father, we realize that people
think too little of you. The Lord was so thankful.