I think when most people think
of the early church, they think of a church that was big, that
grew fast, and they spake in tongues. That would pretty much
represent what the average person would think of the early church.
But what was the early church? Because if this church is not
like the early church, it's not a church period. That's a very important distinction. And that is why I want to look
at Acts and see the early church, what it was. And I pray that
the Lord will cause this to be a blessing to our congregation. Luke writes in Acts chapter one,
the former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus
began both to do and teach. What a subject. All that Jesus
began both to do and teach. I hope that's the subject of
every sermon that comes from this pulpit. All that Jesus began
both to do and to teach. Until the day, verse two, in
which he was taken up And he ascended back to heaven after
that he had through the Holy Ghost given commandments unto
the apostles whom he had chosen. Now I'd like to briefly look
at those commandments. Turn to Matthew chapter 28. This
is talking about the Great Commission. Matthew chapter 28. He said in verse 18, before he
ascended back to glory, and Jesus came and spake unto them saying,
all power, all authority, all power is given unto me in heaven
and in earth. Now you know what that means?
That means he has all power. You know what else that means?
It means you don't have any. People talk about powerful men.
There's no such thing. He has all power. And the very
breath that's going into your lungs right now is according
to His will. He has complete sovereign authority. I love that. So he says in light
of that, verse 19, go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost, teaching them to observe all things. Whatsoever I have
commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. Now this is a message to be brought
to all nations. This is what everybody needs.
Now look at Mark 16. Look at Mark's account. Verse 15, And he said unto them,
Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. Now I want you to think of that
commission. He tells this band of fishermen, I want you to make
sure that everybody in the world hears the gospel. What a commission. He that believeth, verse 16,
He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth
not shall be damned. And these signs shall follow
them that believe. In my name shall they cast out
devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take
up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not
hurt them. They shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover
them. So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was
received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God. And
they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working
with them. And confirming the word with
signs following. Turn to Luke 24. I'm going to consider these more
at length next week, but right now I just want us to read them.
Luke chapter 24, verse 46, and he said unto them,
thus it's written, and thus it behooved, it was necessary for
Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day,
and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations. Here's that commission again
to go everywhere preaching the gospel, beginning at Jerusalem,
the place where Christ was murdered. John Bunyan preached a message
entitled, The Jerusalem Sinner Saved, beginning at Jerusalem. Now turn to John chapter 21. or verse, chapter 20, I'm sorry,
chapter 20. Chapter 20, verse 21, then said
Jesus to them again, peace be unto you as my father has sent
me, even so send I you. Now, what did the father send
him to do? To save the elect. He made that clear. This is the
will of him that sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
I should lose nothing. But raised up again at the last day, and
he said, I'm sending you in this great endeavor. And when he had
said this, he breathed on them and saith unto them, receive
ye the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted unto them. And whosoever sins you retain,
they are retained. Now, Before somebody thinks,
does that mean the forgiveness of sins is in the power of a
human being? No. I'm thankful it's not. What if, whether or not you were
forgiven would be up to me? That'd be a dangerous thing,
wouldn't it? I'd say, well, I'd forgive you
and make sure they're forgiven, but cross me two or three times
in a row and see what happens. What he's saying in the doctrine
you preach, in the truth you preach, they're going to find,
they're going to people whose sins are going to be forgiven
through that doctrine. And there's going to be people
who reject what you preach and their sins are going to be retained. They're going to die in their
sins. Now this was a message I've read
the four accounts of the final command of Christ. This was a
message that's to be preached to all nations, to every creature. Why? Because this is what the
world needs. This is what I need. This is
what you need. This is what all the world, every
creature needs to hear the gospel. not a better government or better
philosophy, not peace and prosperity, not a new social order and a
more fair and even distribution of wealth, not more education,
not clean water or better housing. That's not what this world needs.
This world needs the gospel. Everybody needs to hear the gospel. And the book of Acts is about
the spread of the gospel through the preaching of the apostles
and the early church. Now, what is smorgasbord? I remember when I was growing
up, we had a place in Ashland called the King's Table, and
it was called the smorgasbord. And you had all kinds of different
things to eat, and I was always so excited to go there, and I'd
be miserable when I left. I'd eat so much. Smorgasbord,
just anything you could think of to eat. What a smorgasbord there is of the institutions
which call themselves churches under the umbrella of Christianity. Christianity. I've used the word, you've used
the word many times, Christianity. What is Christianity? Well, it's
one of the seven great religions. So Christianity is, it's one
of the great seven great religions of the world. It ends with eanity. And that reminds me of insanity. And that is the way I would describe
everything that goes under the name of Christianity. Insanity, it bears no resemblance
to the early church, as we shall see. I think of the denominations. How many different denominations
are there under the name of Christianity? all of which claim to have some
more accurate view of the gospel. You think of the different modes
of worship that are advertised. There's conservative traditional
worship, and there's contemporary worship, and the different kinds
of music that are used. Sometimes you'll have pipe organs
in real traditional places, and sometimes you'll have rock and
roll and drums. You'll have seeker-sensitive
churches. You'll have so many different
things under the name of Christianity. You have liberal, conservative,
Calvinistic, Arminian, charismatic, formal. You got mega churches
that are almost like shopping malls. And then you have little
house churches. How much goes under the name
of Christianity? And like I said, when people
claim to be like the early church, what most average religious people
think about the early church is it was big, and it was. It
was big. The Church of Jerusalem, while
it started small, it had over 10,000 members in just a short
time. It was big. It grew fast. Can you imagine
growing that fast that quick? Just within a matter of weeks,
it grew that fast, and they all speak in tongues. And that's
what most people think of when they think of the early church. Now in Acts chapter 17, I love
to think of the apostles spreading the gospel the way they did.
I mean, they spread the gospel like wildfire. And in Acts chapter
17, when they were in Thessalonica, the men in Thessalonica objected
to their preaching saying, these that have turned the world upside
down. Now that was their view of the
early church. These that have turned the world
upside down have come hither also. And these do all contrary
to the decrees of Caesar saying there's another king. One Jesus. That's what they heard. There's
another king. Jesus and they troubled the people
and the rulers of the city when they heard these things. Now, Luke is the man who wrote
the book of Acts and he was a traveling companion with the apostle Paul.
Paul called him the beloved physician. And God used him to write both
the book of Luke and the book of Acts. Now turn with me to
Luke chapter one for a moment. This is where Luke begins with
Theophilus. Verse one. For as much as many have taken
in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things
which are most surely believed among us. And there's some things that
are most surely believed among us. That's what I dealt with
with the high school kids in Vacation Bible School just a
couple of weeks ago. The things that are most surely
believed among us. Even as they, the apostles, delivered
them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses and
ministers of the word, it seemed good to me also, having had perfect
understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto
thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest
know the certainty, the absolute sureness of those things wherein
thou hast been instructed. The things which are most surely
believed among us. Now I can begin real This is
going to be brief, but this is before we get into the way he
introduced Luke. I'll tell you what's most surely
believed among us is the Bible is the word of God. That's most surely believed among
us. If we don't have that, we don't have anything. We have
my opinion and your opinion and so and so's opinion. Who cares?
The thing that are most surely believed among us is that the
Bible is the word of God and God is as the Bible declares
him to be. Man is as the Bible declares
him to be. Salvation is, as the Bible declares
it to be, in Christ. We look to the scriptures alone.
We don't look to creeds or confessions, man-made documents. I could care
less about any of those things. Somebody says, well, they're
good. There's good stuff in them. I look to the word of God alone.
I could care less about any creed or confession of faith. We look
to the scriptures alone. We look to Christ alone as everything
in our salvation. Listen to me, the one reason
I'm saved is because of Christ. That doesn't have anything to
do with me, anything I've done, any work I've performed. It's
solely because He lived for me, He died for me, and He was raised
from the dead for me. And right now He's seated at
the right hand of the Father interceding for me. Who is He
that condemneth? It's Christ that died. I need
no other argument, I need no other plea. Now that's my salvation.
Has nothing to do with me being a preacher. Anything I do or
don't do, it's what He has done in my place. He's everything
in salvation. He's all in salvation. We look
to the grace of God alone. That's what the Bible teaches,
is grace alone. And I can tell what somebody
believes about grace by what they believe about election.
Somebody doesn't believe that God elected a people before time
began to be saved and they all must be saved doesn't believe
grace. It really is that simple. You can't believe in grace and
not believe in electing grace. God's ancient choice of his people
before time began. And we believe in faith alone,
not faith and. I don't gain assurance about
salvation because I believe and fill in the blank. I read the
scriptures, I pray, I witness, I'm growing in grace, I feel
like I'm becoming more holy and less sinful and I'm just really,
no, nothing like that. There's no truth in that. Faith
alone, looking to Christ alone is the only evidence of salvation. We believe in the glory of God
alone. This is all for his glory. That's
the only motive that's acceptable. Now, turn back to Acts chapter
one. Here's how Luke summarizes everything he said in the book
of Luke that we just read the introduction. This former treatise,
this former word, have I made, O Theophilus, Now, Theophilus,
his name means lover of God. And Luke is writing to him and
giving him the gospel. And he said, this former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and to teach. That's my subject matter. All
that Jesus began both to do and to teach. Jesus. I love his name. Jesus. The gospel is not a philosophy
or a lifestyle. It's not a system of various
doctrines or a system of moral ethics and how to live. It's
a person. Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus, the
son of God, Jesus, the son of Mary, Jesus, the son of man. What does his name mean? Jesus. He began to teach of all that
Jesus began both to do and to teach. I love his name. His name
means savior. Matthew 121, thou shalt call
his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. And
that's exactly what I need. I need to be saved from my sins.
That's who he is. He's the savior. Who is Jesus? This is what the
world needs. This is what they need to hear.
Jesus, the King, Jesus, the Lord, not Caesar. Now Caesar represents
The greatest government, I guess, the world has ever known, or
at least it was the most longstanding. It did more things. It has a
greater history. People can argue about that,
but the point is, Caesar's not gonna do anybody good, any good.
No human government, no human institution will do anybody any
good. Only the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, The uncreated,
eternal, second person of the blessed Trinity, the one who
is prophesied in the Old Testament, a virgin shall be with child. You'll call his name Immanuel,
God with us. Unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given. That
son is the eternal son. He was never
born. He was simply given. Now the child was born. God became
flesh. He became all that flesh is. Sin accepted. Unto us a child
is born, but that son was never born. That son is the eternal
son. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor. And the word counselor, when
we think of a counselor, we think of somebody to come and give
us advice. That's not what that word means. What is God's counsel? It's His decrees. It's His sovereign
decrees that must come to pass. He's the counselor. His counsel
is always done, His will. is always done. Whatsoever the
Lord please, that did he in earth and sea and all deep places. He is the one who's described
in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. All things were made by him and
without him was not anything made that was made. He's the one who said all power
is given to me. Note the word all. The former
treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both
to do and to teach. Nothing's to be left out. Nothing
is to be judged as unnecessary or unimportant. We're to give
all that he began both to do and to teach. Teaching them to
observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. The gospel
is made of many truths. Bible's a big book. The gospel
is made of many truths, which make the one truth. And if you
leave out one of them, you no longer have the truth. That's
how important this is. The gospel is made of many truths
concerning the character of God, the sinfulness of man, what Christ
actually accomplished. Many truths. And if I omit, purposely
omit out of the fear of man, one truth, being afraid that
if I preach that truth, somebody will be offended or somebody
will be leave or something, I no longer have the gospel. Paul
said, I've not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. And when Luke is speaking to
Theophilus, he says, I'm telling all that Jesus began both to
do and to preach. This was the work of the early
church to make known to every creature all that Jesus began
both to do and to preach. Now, this is the part I was looking
forward to getting into. What did he do? What did he do? Well, here's the first thing
that comes to my mind, and this is scriptural. He stood as the
surety of everybody the Father gave him before the foundation
of the world. Now, what's a surety? Assurity
is a guarantee of salvation. Before time began, he stood as
my surety. He said, I'm taking full responsibility
for Todd Nyberg's salvation. Everything you require of him,
he said to his father, you look to me for. I will take care of
it. And at that time, God the Father
ceased to look for a thing out of me. He looked wholly to my
surety to do everything. And my surety, as He agreed to
be my surety in time, He came in the flesh. And in the flesh,
He did what only God could do. He raised the dead. He walked
on water. He controlled the weather. Remember
when His disciples said, what manner of man is this that even
the wind and the sea obey Him? He brought matter into existence
that had not been in the universe before. demonstrating creative power,
making something from nothing. He did what only God could do. Somebody says, do you expect
the modern man to believe that? I do. I do. I believe it. He's God. And in the flesh, he
was born in poverty, He lived in obscurity for 30 years as
a carpenter, and then he began his three-year public ministry,
and in the flesh, he did what no man has ever done. He perfectly
kept God's law. He did so as a representative. He did so as a covenant head
for all of his people, as their surety. I love that passage of
scripture in Matthew chapter three, verse 15, where he was
coming to be baptized of John and John said, I have need to
be baptized of thee, are you coming to me? Can you imagine
if the Lord Jesus Christ came to you to be baptized, said I
want you to baptize me? Why, you would feel completely
unqualified to do such a thing. John did, and the Lord said,
suffer it to be so now. He understood John's total, where's
this coming from? Suffer to be so now for thus
it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. Everything he
did, he did as an us. What did he do in the flesh?
He kept God's law perfectly. And he did it for everybody he
came to represent. What did he do in the flesh?
He died. Now, why did he die? You just
said he never sinned, that he kept God's law perfectly. Why
did he die? I never will forget that book
that was written when bad things happened to good people. This
is the only time it ever happened. This is the only time it ever
happened. And he took on this willingly.
Now here's the point, the wages of sin is death. That perfect
righteousness he worked out is placed upon his people. Their sins are placed upon him. He becomes guilty of those sins,
he owns them as his own, and he dies under the wrath of God
because of sin. Now what did he do? He put away
my sin. You see, he did what only God
could do. He offered complete satisfaction
to God. You know the reason hell is eternal
is because God in His holiness and His justice and His righteousness
could never say with regard to me, it's enough, I'm satisfied.
Hell would be eternal, it is eternal for all those who go
there, because God's justice, God's righteousness is never
satisfied, but he did what no man could do, he's satisfied. God. And now God is satisfied
with everybody he did it for. What did he do? He was raised
from the dead. Why was He raised from the dead?
Because He justified everybody He died for. He was delivered
for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. And He ascended back to the Father
and sat down on His right hand to rule and to reign and to make
intercession for all His people. You know right now Jesus Christ
is reigning. He's reigning. His will is always
done. And everybody is in his hand.
He is the first cause behind all things because he has all
power. And I love to think of his reign.
Somebody says, what about all the bad stuff that's happening?
He's reigning. He's in absolute control. And
he's going to make everything beautiful in his time. He's reigning
and he's interceding for his people as their great high priest. Now, Luke said, the former treatise
have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to
do and teach. We talk of his doing and we talk
of his doctrine. the doctrine of Christ, the teaching
of Christ. That is the purpose of the church,
the early church and the church that's right now. Paul calls
the church in 1 Timothy 3, verse 15, the pillar and the ground
of the truth. He spoke of all that Jesus began
both to do and to teach. Now, I could spend so much time
talking about all that he taught, I mean, just got a whole lot
that could be said about that, but I'm gonna limit myself to
one thing. Would you turn with me to Luke
chapter 18? We don't have enough time to
talk about all that Jesus began to teach, do we? But really,
it all is centered around this one thing. In Luke chapter 18,
beginning in verse nine, and he spake this parable unto certain
which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised
others. Now, anytime you find someone
who trusts themselves that they're righteous, they're always going
to be somebody who looks down on and despises and judges others. It's always that way. That's
what self-righteousness does. What is self-righteousness? If
you have any personal righteousness of yourself, you are self-righteous. It really is that simple. If
you have any righteousness of your own, you are self-righteous
and you're always going to find somebody that you think you're
better than and say, I must be saved. At least I'm better than
that person. That is the self-righteous person. And he spoke this parable
to them. Now, let me say this. This is
the common sin of all mankind. Somebody says, I can't stand
to be around a judgmental, self-righteous jerk. I can't either, but I'm
one of them. And you are too. You are too. That's our nature. So don't forget
that. When he's speaking to the self-righteous,
don't think he's speaking to those jerks who think they're
wise. No, he's speaking to you. He's speaking to me. Verse 10. Two men went up into the temple
to pray. The one a Pharisee, a very religious,
strictly moral man, and the other a publican, The most despised
profession there was, a man who collected taxes for the Roman
government against the Jews and padded his own pocket with them.
Now, what if you had somebody who was working for the government,
taking taxes from you, and doubling the cost, and you'd be put in
jail if you didn't pay it and you knew he was padding his pockets
with that? Think how you would despise that man. This is the
publican. Verse 11, the Pharisee stood
and prayed thus with himself. I love that line. He thought
he was praying to God, but he wasn't. He was praying to himself. God, I thank thee. For your mercy, for your grace,
for the forgiveness of sins, no, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. Extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican. Now before I go on reading, he
was a liar. All the things that he said he
was not, He was. He didn't see it, but just because
you didn't see it, that doesn't make it not so. He was all those
things he said he was not. Me and you, me and you are as bad as the devil himself
in and of ourselves. And all God's got to do is take
his hand away, and you'll find out it's true. I thank you, not for grace, not
for Christ, but that I'm not as other men are. And then he
says in verse 12, I fast twice in the week. I don't read anywhere
in the word of God where God commands you to fast twice a
week. This man did. See, that's what religion does.
It makes rules. It makes rules. Wow, do you admire
a man that fasts twice in the week? It makes rules. Man-made
religious rules. And I give tithes of all that
I possess. You get around a religious person,
you're gonna find out what they do, aren't you? You're gonna
find out how much they give. This guy lets everybody know.
Yeah, I know he was praying this out loud so everybody could hear.
Verse 13, and the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as
his eyes unto heaven. But he smote upon his breast,
saying, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. I know it says A,
but the definite article is used in the original. God, be merciful. And this wasn't
a general prayer for mercy. The word is literally, be propitious. be a sin removing sacrifice for
me. There's nothing I can do about
my sin and I need you to do something about it. And he smote upon his
breast. This man believed himself to
be the worst man alive. Where am I there? Where are you? Well, we know where he was. He
believed himself to be the most sinful man alive. And look what the Lord says about
this man. I tell you, this man went down
to his house justified. This man who believed
himself and he really was the chief of sinners. He had committed
horrible crimes. He was a sinful man. He had swindled
people. He took advantage of people. Hard to tell how many people's
retirement or whatever he destroyed by ripping them off. And yet
Christ says he's justified. Now don't forget what justification
means. Justification means not guilty. If you're justified,
you've never done anything wrong. And you've always done that which
is perfectly right. Now, the Lord doesn't give an
explanation as to how this could be, does he? He simply says this
man, this self-condemned wicked man, went down to his house justified
rather than the other. And it takes the whole Bible
and the whole gospel and the whole person and work of Christ
to show how this can be. This is his teaching, how God
can be just and justify somebody like me or you, and it's through
Christ's work on the cross. And that is his teaching. Martin Luther made this statement,
and I would agree with him. He said, a church stands or falls
by what it believes regarding justification. You know, most
religious people say, I believe in justification, but they think
the cause of justification is their faith. You don't believe
in justification at all, if that's what you believe. Now, what is
the teaching of Christ? How that publican can stand justified
before God. That is his doctrine. That's what he taught, how that
can be. And I, in closing, turn back
to Acts. I've always thought about this,
but I didn't quite know what it means, but I believe I do
now. The former treatise have I made,
O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began. He began both to do and to teach. Now, everything that happens
in history is what he's doing. We read in Acts chapter 1 verse
8, but you shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has
come upon you, and you shall be witnesses unto me, both in
Jerusalem, and in Judea, and in Samaria, and the utter parts
of the earth." Now, after he ascended up to glory, having
finished the work the Father gave him to do, the book of Acts
is the history of what he's doing. Not just what he's done, but
what he's doing. Well, what is he doing? Well, he told the disciples,
you receive the power of the Holy Ghost to preach me. Acts
chapter 2 is about what he's doing. Peter preaches a message
and 3,000 people are brought to a saving knowledge of the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's doing. You go
into Acts chapter 3 and Peter and James heal that impotent
man who his ankle bones didn't have any strength. It had been
that way from his youth. That's what the Lord Jesus is doing.
And they got mad at Peter and James and they brought him before
the Sanhedrin. They said, don't preach in this
name. And the scripture says, when
they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they took knowledge of him, but
they've been with Jesus. You see, that's what he's doing.
And then we read in Acts chapter five of Peter bringing another
message and another 5,000 people being saved. That's what Jesus
is doing. And then you go on into Acts
chapter 7 when Stephen is writing that, or is preaching that great
message in Acts chapter 7. Afterwards, he's martyred. They throw stones at him until
he's dead. They said, away with this man,
they kill him. Well, that's what Jesus is doing.
And when we read in Acts chapter 7, what they did, they laid their
coats before they stoned him at the feet of a young man named
Saul. Saul yet breathing out slaughtering
and persecution of the church. Saul of Tarsus. In Acts chapter
8, we read where Philip preached the gospel to the eunuch and
he was saved by the grace of God. That's what Jesus is doing.
And then in Acts chapter nine we read of the conversion of
Saul of Tarsus. He hated Jesus Christ with a
complete passion and the Lord knocked him off his high horse
and saved him. That's what Jesus is doing. And anything that goes on now
that is saving, whatever we're talking about, is what Jesus
is doing. He talked about what he began
both to do and to teach. Now he accomplished the work
But did you notice in Mark chapter 16 where it says the Lord was
working with them? Working with them in the preaching
of the gospel. And right now, he's working with
his word. I can't give you life, I can't
give myself life. I can't make you believe, I can't
make myself believe, but he can. He can take someone who's opposed
to this message, doesn't agree with it, and he can turn your
life upside down, turn you inside out, and make you bow the knee
to King Jesus. That's what he is doing. And that's what the early church
was about. All that Jesus began both to
do and to teach. May the Lord enable this church
to have one purpose. Now, I want to remind you of
this. Why are you here? Is it to be successful? Is it
to amass wealth? If you're a believer, You're
here for one purpose, the preaching of the gospel of Christ. That's
the only purpose. There are no other purposes.
And may God enable us to be like the early church in the spread
of the gospel of Christ. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for all that
Jesus began both to do and to teach. We thank you for his doing
as our savior. We thank you for his teaching,
the doctrine of thy son. And Lord, we ask that in Christ's
name, you would give us a zeal for your glory to preach the
gospel of thy son. And Lord, give us a love for,
and a desire for all men that makes us want to every creature,
every man, woman, boy, and girl in the world to hear the gospel
of thy grace. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that you would do supernatural, glorious, powerful things in
the preaching of your gospel. Enable us to be witnesses of
thy son. Lord, we confess that we're not
worthy. We confess that we're so sinful,
but Lord, You save sinners and you cause sinners to be heralds
of your gospel. And we ask that you would indeed
do that in us. In Christ's name we pray, amen.