I'd like to read these verses
again. You know, these verses in Acts chapter four describing
the early church has been used in some wrong ways. People have taken
this passage of scripture and says this is talking about the
redistribution of wealth. All the rich ought to give and
make everybody on the same level. And it's been used to teach socialism.
And it's been used to teach. Well, something else I can't
remember, but it's not used. It's not teaching any of those things.
Let's read this passage of scripture again. And when they prayed, the place
was shaping. Where they were assembled together.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they spake
the word of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of
them that ought 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 that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made
to every man according as he had need. When they had prayed. That's the way this begins. when
they had prayed. Well, what did they pray? Look
back in verse 29. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word. Now, here's what they prayed
for. that the apostles, in spite of all their threatenings and
the persecution and the opposition, would preach the word with boldness.
They didn't pray for deliverance from these persecutions. They
simply prayed for the ability to preach the word with boldness. Now, what is it to preach the
word with boldness? You don't speak with ambiguity.
You don't say things that could be taken one way and taken another,
and both sides can be satisfied. This boldness is described beginning
in verse seven of this chapter. And when they had set them in
the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you
done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man by what means he's made whole, Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jehovah." Now,
if he would have said that, it would have been true. But it
would be error. It would be without boldness. He would be saying something
to keep everybody happy. If he would have said in the
name of Jehovah, they'd said, well, meeting over, that's okay.
We're fine with that. We're glad you healed the guy.
But that's not what they said. Verse 10, by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from
the dead, even by him doth this man stand before you whole. This
is the stone which was set at Nod of you builders, which has
become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in
any other. For there's none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John. Now that's boldness. He was speaking
in such a way as no one could mistake what he said. A lot of
times I hear preachers say things like Christ died for those who
would believe. That's true. Christ did die for
those who would believe, but that's compromising it. That's
trying to make it stated in such a way as everybody could be happy
with that. Here's a better way to say it. Christ died for the
elect. He died for his sheep. He died
for those the Father gave him. Scripture speaks that way. And
that's what is meant by bold preaching. It doesn't simply
mean just being forceful. It means that you speak in such
a way as no one can take it two different ways. And that's what
they were doing at this time. And they were preaching boldly,
and they were thrown in jail for this. And what does the early
church pray for them? Verse 29, now, Lord, behold 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. Now, when they had prayed, I
love this, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.
I guess it was like Philippi when the jail was shaken and
it was opened up, the place was shaken. And what this represents
is the mighty power of God. Now that's what happens in the
preaching of the gospel. Somebody says, well, I've never
been here when this place was shaking. Well, neither have I as far as a literal
shaking. But when God speaks to a soul,
almighty power is being displayed. Whether you see it or not, whether
I see it or not, God's mighty power is being displayed. You
see, omnipotence is what this is speaking of. And God, this
is what happens with omnipotence. God makes things that were not
to be. Only God can do that. He makes
things that were not to be. I was born unholy. He made me holy. That's the mighty
creative work. That's the mighty power of God.
If you are a believer, you have been the creation, the creative
work of God. That's the power, the shaking
that takes place. He makes things that are to be
no more. I am a sinner and he made me
to where I do not have sin. That's what justification is.
I do not have sin. Now, this is the mighty power
of God being displayed in the gospel. And this is actually
more powerful than these walls started shaking and we started
having an earthquake. So I said, God must be there.
Well, maybe it's just an earthquake, but it's a mighty power when
God raises the dead. when the gospel is heard in the
power of God the Holy Spirit. That's what this is speaking
of. The gospel is a thing of power. And don't miss this. And when
they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled
together. That's what church is. That's
what church is. It's the place where God's people
are assembled together. And the Lord promised his presence
where two or three are gathered together in my name. You're here
because you want to hear Christ preached. You want to see something
of his glory. You want some assurance that
he's done something for you. That's what it is to be gathered
together in his name. And he made this promise where
two or three are gathered together in my name. There I am in their
midst. He's here. He's here. He's promised his presence in
that sense. And I want to say this carefully. Public worship is more important
than private worship because really. The only place he promises
his presence is two or three. And the best, I don't know if
this is the right word, but the true private worship you have
is when you're hearing the gospel. That is the most worshipful you
are when you're enabled to hear the gospel and hear who Christ
is. This is very special. They were assembled together. That's the church. It's where
two or three are met together in his name. The writer to the
Hebrews said, forsake not the assembling of yourselves together
as the manner of some is. I'm thankful for sermon audio,
I guess. I guess it's got its good things,
but it's better to be here than to hear a message electronically. It's better to be here. This
is where God promises his special presence. When they were assembled
together, they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. Now, what
happens when people are filled with the Holy Ghost? He gives
us two marks. First, they speak the Word of God. Now, somebody
that's filled with the Holy Ghost is not somebody who starts speaking
in tongues and starts doing miracles and all the kind of things people
think, well, he's filled with the Holy Ghost. No, you're filled
with the Holy Ghost when you speak the Word of God. God's
Word. And they did so with boldness. Now that is what it is to be
filled with the Holy Ghost. You speak the Word of God. You
know, we really believe the Word of God, don't we? We believe
the Bible is the Word of God, the inspired, inerrant Word of
God. We believe it's all of Christ. We believe God is as the Bible
describes Him. We believe man is as the Bible
describes Him. We believe the gospel, the scriptures. Now they spake the word of God
with boldness. Look at verse 32. And the multitude
of them that believed. And I love this description of
the early church. At this time, this was a very
large gathering. 5,000 people had been converted
in two days. And they're described as the multitude of them that
believed. You know, I really do believe
the gospel. I believe that Jesus Christ is God the Son. I believe
that He is all that God requires of me. Do you believe that? I
believe he's everything in salvation. I believe he's all in salvation.
I believe he's all in the Bible. I believe that. I believe he's
altogether glorious and altogether lovely. I believe he's the creator
of the universe. I believe he's the only savior
of sinners. I believe his righteousness is the only righteousness. I
believe. I really do. I believe. The multitude of them
that believed. I want to be in that group, don't
you? That group who believes. And what's it say about them?
And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and
one soul. And this is talking about their
unity. They were of one heart and one
soul. Turn with me for a moment to
Ephesians chapter four. Somebody read this recently. Ephesians
chapter four. Verse 1, I therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord. I want to be his prisoner, don't
you? I therefore, the prisoner of
the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith
you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering,
forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity
of the Spirit, in the bond of peace. Remember they were one
heart and one soul? That's the unity of the spirit. There is one body, now listen
carefully, there's only one church. One body, the body of Christ,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this is the church
that I must be a member of. The General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven. This is
the church that Christ loved. There's one body, the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I go to a lot of
different churches where the gospel is preached, and I'm a
member there. I'm a member here. There's one
church, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, what about
church membership? Do you all have church membership here?
Well, if you're a believer, you're a member. It really is that simple. If you're a believer, you're
a member. Well, don't you have to go? No. If you're a believer,
you're a member. I know some people might not
agree with that, but I don't care. I don't see anything in
the Bible about certain things you not need to do in order to
be a church member. If you're a believer, you are
a church member. You're a member of his body. There's one body.
One body. All these denominations are purely
man-made. Baptist, Methodist, Catholic,
Presbyterian, Protestant, whatever you want to label it, it's all
man-made. There is one body. the body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's where our unity is.
Members of his body. Let's go on reading. There's
one spirit. God, the Holy Spirit. He's the
one who teaches us. You know, that's why believers
all believe the same thing. They've had the same teacher. They've been
born of the same spirit. There's not different beliefs
of believers. No, we have one spirit. God,
the Holy Spirit, who's regenerated us and given us life and taught
us the same thing. even as you are called in one
hope of your calling." Now you're called, every believer is called
by the irresistible, invincible grace of God and there's only
one hope. Now let me tell you what my one hope is. My hope,
the only hope I have of being saved and being accepted by God
is that Christ died for me and put away my sins. and that He
kept the law for me, and that He gave me His righteousness,
and that I'm going to stand before God in judgment, accepted, He's
going to say to me, this individual, well done, thou good and faithful
servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. And the reason
he's going to say that to me is because I had done well, because
if he did well, I did well too, because I was in him. That is
my, that's the only hope. There's one hope, one hope of
his cause. One Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of Scriptures, one faith, the faith of God's elect, one
baptism, baptism by immersion. It could mean that, or it could
mean the baptism of the Holy Spirit, but whatever, there's
only one baptism, the baptism of the Scriptures. There is one
God. The God of the Bible, who is
as he reveals himself to be, who's the father of all, all
who believe, who is above all and through all and in you all.
Now this is that being of one heart, one soul. Isn't it glorious
that we believe the exact same thing? Christ is all in salvation. And anyone who believes that
way, you just love them. You love them. You're on their side.
That's the group you want to be. birds of a feather flock
together. That's the place I want to be,
with God's people who believe His gospel. Now go back to our
tapes in Acts chapter 4. Verse 32, neither said any of
them, that ought of the things which he possessed was his own,
but they had all things common, no personal possessions. And
all of this was voluntary. Now, like I said, this is a part
where people have said the early church was socialistic. They
didn't have personal property. Everything was put in a common
pot. Everybody sold everything and
everybody was just made to live off that. Now, they did do that. they did do that. And can you
imagine what it would be like here if everybody took all their
money and laid it at my feet, and there was a common pot, and
everybody would be divvied out what they want. Do you have any
idea how many people would join this church? We'd have Who knows how many
members, because you don't have to work. You just join up and
you get money. And that happened because Paul
said to the church at Thessalonica, who evidently some of the people
had this idea, he said, if a man won't work, you need to let him
eat. I love that. If a man won't work, you need
to let him eat. You're not going to be given
anything. And I'm sure people tried to take advantage of this, but
these people did this not because somebody told them to. Because
they wanted to. And this church at Jerusalem
was, ended up being very poverty stricken. Because how many times
you read where Paul wanted to take up a collection for the
poor saints in Jerusalem, and this kind of way of doing things
will end up in failure if there's no personal property, everybody
puts everything into one pot, but still don't you admire their
spirit? They thought the Lord was coming
back soon. Why do I need this stuff? Why do I need this? And
they just laid it at the apostles' feet. So if y'all feel like you
wanna lay something down at my feet, okay. Y'all know better
than that. But this group is now, look,
they were of one heart, one soul. Nothing they had was their own,
but they had all things common. They became part of that group,
our, our Father. We, and we know that all things
work together for good to them that love God. They became part
of that group of the us. If God be for us, who can be
against us. And they had all things in common. That's what I started to title
this message. They had all things in common. Now the word common means and
remember this is what church is. They had all things common. This is what church is. This
is not just talking about redistribution of wealth or talking about a
socialistic view of things. They had all things common and
that word means literally that which is general to all as opposed
to that which is peculiar to the few. You hear me? That which is general to all.
Every true church member has all of this in common. First
of all, we read where Jude spake of the common salvation. The common salvation. Now, If
you and I are saved by the grace of God, we have the common salvation. God saves everybody the same
way. He elects them. Christ kept the law for them.
Christ came as their representative. Christ died for their sins. God,
the Holy Spirit, gives them life. They're given faith. They're
given repentance. They're given the new birth.
And you know, this new birth, there's as great a power involved
in mere you being born again as there was in the resurrection
of Christ from the dead. You can read about that in the
lighter part of Ephesians chapter one. All believers have all things
in common. You know, My testimony, my personal
testimony is this. It was interesting in Florida. I said this and it scared Clay
because that's what he was preaching on, but I only gave it 30 seconds.
I didn't know it. But I said, here's the only testimony
I know anything about. When Christ kept the law, I did.
It's my personal testimony. When Christ kept the law, I did.
When he died, I died. When he was raised, I was raised.
As he's now seated at the right hand of the Father, I'm right
there with him. Is that all there is to your testimony? Yep, that's
it. And I don't want it to be any other way. That is my personal
testimony. And that's all believers have
all things in common. Paul spoke and taught us of the
common faith. We all have this in common. We
look to Christ Jesus alone as our only ground of salvation. Amen. Amen. That's what all believers
have in common. They have the same faith, the
faith of God's elect, Acknowledging of the truth, which is after
godliness. We all believe that he is all. We really believe
that. We believe he's all in the scriptures.
You know, every time I look, when I'm doing these things in
Bible study in the Old Testament, I'm always looking, the gospel
is here. The gospel is here. Everything is the gospel. We
believe Christ is all in the scriptures. We believe he is
all in our salvation, that all that God requires of us, he looks
to Christ for. We have all things common. That's what church is. It's to
have all things common. We all believe that heaven will
be being like him and beholding his glory. That's it. I'm going to see my
old friends. Well, I hope to, but that's not what
I'm thinking about. I'm thinking about being like Christ, not
a sinner anymore. Perfect in God's sight and beholding
his glory. If I'm a believer and you're
a believer, we have all things common, common salvation, common
faith. And what is mine is yours. What is mine is yours. Not what
yours is mine. That's socialism. What yours
is mine. I'm gonna take it from you and
we're gonna. No, but this is my attitude. What is mine is
yours. That's the attitude of a believer. Now go and read verse 33. Remember
this is church. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace
was upon them. Now, here is the message of the
church. And I love the way it says they
with great power. Bear witness. To the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is our message. What is the what
is the gospel without the resurrection of Christ? It's meaningless. But oh, what does the resurrection
of Christ have to say? I love that passage of scripture
in Philippians chapter 3, where he says, oh, that I may win Christ
and be found in him, not having my own righteousness, which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I might know
him and the power of his resurrection. Now, I've heard people say, I
want to have the power of his resurrected life in my life,
and they don't even know what he means when he says this. I
want to know something about the justifying power of his resurrection.
He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. I want to know something about
the redeeming power of his resurrection, in whom we have redemption through
his blood, even the forgiveness of sins. I want to know something
about the satisfying power of the resurrection. What do I mean
by that? God, the Holy God, is satisfied
with this sinner because of the resurrection of Christ. Oh, the
peace there is of knowing that when he was raised from the dead,
I was raised in him. The power of his resurrection
with great Power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of
Christ. The justifying power, the redeeming
power, the assuring power. Saving faith is described like
this. If you believe, it's Romans 10, nine. I'll get it here. I've got it written down in my
notes and I can't quote it. Turn to Romans chapter 10. I don't
know why it's falling out of my head. Romans chapter 10, verse 9. If thou shalt confess with thy
mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God
hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Now do you
confess the Lord Jesus? He's the Lord. He's the absolute
sovereign of the universe. And I believe in my heart that
God raised him from the dead. And I know why he did it. Because
he completely satisfied God, all sin was paid for, and God
raised him from the dead. I pray that God will give us,
let's go on reading, verse 33. With great power gave the apostles
witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And look at this
next phrase. Great grace was upon them. Now the only kind
of grace there is is great grace. Amen. Great grace. It's all great. It's saving. I've heard preachers
talk about common grace and there's no such thing as common grace.
It's all great grace. Let me tell you these three things
about grace. Great grace. God's grace. God's grace is always
sovereign. What do I mean by that? That
means if you have grace, it's simply because he gave it to
you. He decided to do it. That's the only reason you have
it. You didn't do anything to get it. You weren't saved by
your works. You were saved because he was pleased to give you his
grace. That's what sovereign grace is.
It means your works have nothing to do with it. How about you?
Do you know that that's the truth concerning you, that he simply
gave you his grace? His grace is always sovereign.
It's always free. You don't pay anything to get
it. It's a negation of grace if your works have anything to
do with it. It's always free and it's always saving. God never offers you grace. He doesn't offer you the forgiveness
of sins. He doesn't offer you salvation.
Grace is God taking you and saving you. He's not leaving you to
yourself. He saved you by his grace. But God, who is rich in
mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were
dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ. By grace
are you saved. Great grace. was upon them."
Now, if I'm a believer and you're a believer, we know something
about great grace. Verse 34, neither was there any among them
that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses
sold it. and brought the prices of the
things that were sold and laid them down at the apostles' feet,
and distribution was made unto every man according as he had
need." Now, I guarantee you a lot of people joined that church
because of that. They thought, this is a free ticket. I won't
have to work. I can get in this. It's a common
pot. I can have all I need. No doubt it was abused in that
sense, but I really believe that this is not so much talking about
material things as spiritual. Everyone in this church lacked
nothing. All that is needed for me to
be in heaven, I have right now. Every member of this church lacked
nothing. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and you are complete in Him. All that's needed for me to be
in heaven right now I have. Right now. Good to go. How can you say that? Because
it's so. I won't be any more holy in heaven
than I am right now. The only difference between now
and heaven is that I won't have this sinful nature anymore. It'll
be gone. It'll be stripped away. And I'll
be standing in his presence, perfect and complete. And I don't
lack righteousness. I don't, I love that song, the
Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. I shall not lack. I have all
that is needed. 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 to the apostles' feet. And lay down at the apostles'
feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he
had need. Now, here's where I am. I don't lack anything. And I
have great need. How about you? I don't like anything. I'm perfect
in Christ. And yet I am someone who needs
everything given to me according to my needs. Then verse 35, they
laid them down in the apostles feet and distribution was made
into every man according as he had need. Now, that's just talking
about material things. Well, maybe it is, but I know
this, I'm poor right now. I'm poor. I don't have anything
to bring to the table. I don't have anything to recommend
me to God, not a thing. And it's supposed to be that
way. Blessed are the poor in spirit. That's the first beatitude,
to be poor in spirit. I'm poor. I don't have anything
to recommend myself to God right now. Nothing. I'm poor. And I have great needs. I need God to extend his favor
toward me. I need God to elect me. I need
Christ to be my representative. I need Christ to keep the law
for me. I need Christ to die and pay for my sins and be raised
from the dead as my justification. I need God the Holy Spirit to
invincibly and irresistibly come upon me and give me a new heart.
I need to be preserved and kept by the power of God through faith
unto salvation. I'm needy. I'm needy. I'm poor and I'm needy. and everyone was given distribution
according as they had need. You know, I never want to leave
Luke chapter nine, verse 11. He healed them that had need
of healing. I don't want to be like the church
at Laodicea, saying I'm rich, increased in goods, and have
need of nothing. No, I'm poor. I have nothing,
and I have great needs. And I'm not just using rhetoric. That's me, and that is the attitude
of every single believer. They have this in common. They're
poor, they have nothing to bring, and they have great needs. Now,
as I said, this church that everybody sold everything they had, put
it in a pot, They believed that the coming of Christ was imminent. Remember, the acts of the apostles. As we go through this book, there's
a lot of acts that are wrong acts. I don't think what they
did was right, really, as far as selling everything. And look
at the poverty they went through because of it. But the very first
act was wrong when they made Matthias an apostle. And the
scripture points out that there are only 12 apostles, not 13,
Paul was the apostle that took Judas's place. That's clear in
the scripture. And so their very first act was
a wrong act. But this is still all inspired
and it's given to teach us. It's given to teach us about
the redistribution of wealth and everybody selling everything
you have and putting it in a common pot and everybody living off
that. They did that. They really did.
And I admire their love and their zeal in doing that. But as I
said, this church was always poverty stricken after this.
And Paul talked once again about telling all the Gentile churches
to make a contribution and take up some money for the poor saints
in Jerusalem. These are the poor saints. And
we see how they got that way. But you know what? Don't you
admire them? I admire them. Church. This is what church is. It's folks who really have all
things in common. They believe the same thing. They're of one soul, one heart,
and one mind. When someone is not saved, They
have a soul and a body, but they don't have a spirit. The spirit
died in the fall of Adam. They have a soul and a body,
but no spirit. But when God saves somebody,
they have a soul, a body, and a spirit. All of the church is
like that. and having the same spirit, that's
where this unity comes from. It's God the Holy Spirit. You
see, you're made whole when God saves you. Before he saves you,
you've got a body and a soul, but you don't have a spirit.
You don't have a spiritual nature. You don't have a nature that
loves God. You don't have a nature that believes the gospel. You're
just body and soul. But oh, when God saves a man,
they're given a new spirit, a new heart that was not there before.
And that's where this unity comes from being of one heart and one
soul because you've been saved and given a new heart. I hope
that's been a blessing. Let's pray together. Lord, we so much want to be a
part of your body, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
church of the living God. And Lord, we're so amazed that
you would be pleased to reveal yourself to us. Oh, Lord, we give thanks. Lord,
how we thank you for the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. the General Assembly and Church
of the Firstborn whose names are written in heaven and the
spirits of just men made perfect. Oh Lord, enable us to demonstrate
this unity of heart and soul caused by having the same nature,
the new nature. And Lord, enable us as the early
church to preach your gospel with boldness. In Christ's name we pray, amen.