Today, from the book of Acts,
I want to bring you a message from verse 12 down through verse
14. Verse 12, 13, and verse 14. Now, if you've noticed, I've
not tried to take a whole lot at one time. I'm just trying
to take a little bite each time, because each bite that we take
in the Word of God is full. It's full of so much gospel truth. I'm taking the title from what
is said in verse 14, and here's what caught my attention. They continued, these all continued
with one accord. Continuing in the gospel with
one A core, one mind, one heart, one body. Now these apostles
that are mentioned here, we'll read their names again in a moment,
were unanimous in their aims, their goals, and their desire.
And that was, as Paul said, God forbid we should glory save in
the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. He has made to us wisdom, righteousness,
sanctification, and redemption. Their foremost desire was not
only to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ, that their foremost desire
was to carry out the great commission the Lord gave them, that's recorded
in Matthew, and in Mark, and in Luke, and that is to go preach
the gospel in all the world. Go and preach the gospel of which
there's just one. It's the same charge that the
Apostle Paul gave to young Timothy while he sat on death row in
2 Timothy 4 verse 1. He said, I charge thee before
God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will judge the living and
the dead at the appearing of his kingdom, preach the word.
Preach the Word. Preach Christ. Be instant, in
season, out of season. When should we preach the Gospel?
All the time. Whenever God opened the door
for us to go and minister the Gospel, we're to lift up the
Lord Jesus Christ and to point sinners unto Him. Now, back up just for a moment
to verse 11. In Acts chapter 1, you men of
Galilee, these two messengers sent from heaven in white apparel,
said to these poor sinners, why stand you gazing up into heaven,
this same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven? shall so come in like manner
as you've seen him go, as you've seen him go into heaven, they
returned, they returned to Jerusalem from this mount called Olivet. Now, these sinful men just witnessed
one of the most remarkable events ever recorded in human history. Think of it, the bodily ascension
of the Lord Jesus Christ to the very throne of God. The God-man mediator, the real
risen Lord Jesus Christ, took flight upon a cloud, I can't
explain that, and he went to the throne of God, he sat down
on it, wherever that is, he occupies it as the forerunner. When he
by himself purged our sin, he sat down on the right hand of
the throne of God, and the reason he sat down, his work that Father
gave him to do, was accomplished. The Lord Jesus Christ sits on
the absolute throne of absolute sovereignty, ruling and reigning
the affairs of this world with absolute wisdom and power and
right. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven and earth, seas, and all deep places." Now,
how important is his ascension to glory and his occupying the
throne of God for us? How important is it? What does
that really mean to you and me? What does that really mean? Well,
without this, we have no salvation. Without this we have no salvation. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him, seeing that he ever lives to
make intercession for us. You see, his first coming was
glorious and most necessary to establish righteousness for us. as God incarnate, as a God-man
mediator. He honored the very law of God
in every seven, eight hundred of those precepts. He said, I
didn't come to destroy the law, I came to honor the law of God
for my covenant people. Now his first coming, we know,
was glorious and most necessary to establish an everlasting righteousness
for us And that's what I must have to stand before God. I must
have a righteousness of God that's God-given. And thank God that
is provided for us in Christ. We don't go about to establish
a righteousness by our doing. What nonsense. The best I have,
God said, away with its filthy rags. But the Lord Jesus Christ
came here as a God-man mediator to establish righteousness for
us. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord would impute righteousness
without works. So we know that is necessary. His dying, secondly, for our
sin was glorious and most necessary for our atonement. No other way
that sin can be put away but by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. God made Him to be sin for us
who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Here in His love, John said,
not that we loved God, but that He loved us. And that he put
away our sin by the sacrifice of himself. So his first coming
to establish righteousness for us as a God-man mediator, he
freely gives. And then he put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Those two things are most glorious,
are they not? Thirdly, his resurrection from
the dead was glorious and most necessary for our justification. Had he not come out of the grave
that third morning, Everything he said was a lie, and everything
he did was to no profit. But thank God, the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ is so, and necessary for our justification. For he was delivered for our
offenses, and raised again for our justification. But fourthly,
his glorious ascension is absolutely necessary, because an absolute
absolutely verifies that all he said and did was true, was
most successful, and necessary to our salvation and to his eternal
glory. We read a moment ago in Philippians
2, him being found in fashion as a man, humbled himself, became
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore
God also hath highly exalted him, and given Him a name which
is above every name. Neither is there salvation in
any other name than the Lord Jesus Christ. They witnessed
some tremendous things, His glorious ascension, of which they bear
witness and testimony that it is so, that it is true. Now,
Acts chapter 1, Luke verse 12. returned they unto Jerusalem."
Now Jerusalem was a place of much persecution. Jerusalem is
a place where those who were enemies to the Lord Jesus Christ,
that's where they made their home. And they returned unto
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olivet. He ascended to glory from that
Mount Olivet just as it said he would from the Old Testament
prophecies, which is from Jerusalem about a Sabbath day journey. Now, the apostles returned to
Jerusalem because the Lord commanded them to do so. If you look at
Acts chapter 1, Verse 4, And being assembled together with
them, he commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,
but wait for the promise of the Father, which saith he, which
ye have heard of me." So they went back to Jerusalem just as
they were commanded. Now if you want to turn with
me, you can read this. I'm going to turn back to our
study that we finished up a few weeks back in Luke chapter 24. Remember, the Lord said, verse
50, and he led them out as far as Bethany, lifted up his hands,
this is Luke 24, 50, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while
he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into
heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with
great joy and were continually in the temple publicly, not only
in that upper room, but publicly praising and blessing God. They demonstrated they believed
the gospel. Now, the Lord could have told
them to leave town. He could have told them 11 men,
get out of Dodge, get out of Jerusalem, because Jerusalem
is a dangerous place. And it was. The people who crucified
the Lord Jesus Christ were still in Jerusalem. Jerusalem was a
dangerous place for these apostles. But there were many yet in Jerusalem
who were the elect of God, who needed to hear the gospel preached
to them, and at the day of Pentecost, The Lord used the ministry of
Peter to call out many thousands through the preaching of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you want to turn one
page to Acts chapter 2, the Lord had a number of elect, His sheep
there in Jerusalem, who must hear the gospel, who must be
granted faith to believe. Peter said to these men in Acts
2 verse 38, Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized, every
one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of
sin, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the
promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are
far off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And
with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save
yourselves from this untoward, or this ungodly generation. Verse
41, Then they that gladly received the word were baptized, and the
same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. I love what it says down here
in verse 47 of this same chapter. Praising God, having favor with
all the people, and the Lord added to the church daily, such
as should be said. Now, another example of this
is found in the book of Acts, where the gospel was preached
and the Lord was pleased to call out a multitude of people. Look
at Acts chapter 4. Verse 4, "...howbeit many of
them which heard the word believed, and the number of the men was
about five thousand." They heard what? They heard the Word. They heard the Gospel preached.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of the Lord. And
the number of men was about five thousand. So, they went from
120 souls to 8,000. in just a few short days. How do you account for such a
miracle of God's grace? Well, the Lord has a people,
and He's going to call them out. It reminds me of over in Acts
18. Turn over there. Acts chapter
18. Go back to Jerusalem, for I have much people in this city.
They must hear the gospel, and God said, I will call them out.
Now, when Paul went to Corinth, in Acts 18, verse 9, that he
was persecuted for the gospel, but many even in Corinth believed
the gospel. Notice verse 8, and Crispus,
the chief ruler of the synagogue, believed on the Lord with all
his house, and many of the Corinthians, hearing believed and were baptized. And the Lord spake to Paul in
night by a vision, be not afraid but speak and hold not thy peace.
Paul was getting ready to leave town. For I am with thee, I have
no man set on thee to hurt thee, for I have much people in this
city." And he continued there a year and six months, teaching
the word of God among them. So, Paul, you stay in Corinth,
and then he told these eleven men, go back to Jerusalem, and
you stay there and you preach the gospel, I'm going to call
out my elect. I'm going to call out my sheep."
And the Lord uses, it pleases God, through the preaching of
the gospel, to call out His people. Now back to Acts chapter 1, look
at verse 13. And when they were come, and
when they were come in, They went into the upper room. Now,
it may be the same exact room that the Lord, when he told them
to prepare the Passover, remember? He said, there you'll find a
room and a man bearing a picture, and he'll have this upper room.
Go and prepare that we may observe the Passover. It may be the same
room. It may be the same house. I don't know. But the point being,
they did what they were told. They were obedient to the word
of the Lord. They went back to Jerusalem. where abode Peter,
James, and John seemed to be the chief apostles. Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew,
Matthew. When you read Matthew chapter
10, Matthew always calls himself Matthew the Publican. You remember
how the Lord called him out, Matthew, follow me. And then
James, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas, notice
it says here the brother of James, this is not Judas Iscariot. Now
Judas, we have his writing, his letter, the epistle from the
apostle Jude, and that's who is mentioned there, the brother
of James. These all continue with one accord. In verse 13,
we have the names of the eleven remaining apostles that were
given to us here. It's the same as Matthew 10,
verse 1 through 4. There, all that are mentioned
in Matthew are mentioned here as well, with the exception of
Judas, and we're going to see that later in our study next
week. Judas, remember, Judas of Iscariot,
he betrayed the Lord. Judas who went out and hanged
himself for the deed that he did against the Lord. Now, here's what I'm thinking
on verse 13. You think about these men and
their history, their history. And even though the Lord by His
grace is showing us here in naming these men, How the Lord uses
sinful men to accomplish His eternal purpose. These men weren't
holy men. Not in and of themselves. They
were fishermen, they were tax collectors, they were carpenters
and other trade. The Lord is showing us that He
uses sinful men to accomplish His purpose. The Lord is showing
us that salvation is all of grace. The Lord is showing us that salvation
depends upon His faithfulness, not ours. Let me remind you of their history. You remember when the women came
from the grave and they said, he's not here, he's risen from
the dead? We studied in Luke 24, their
words were idle tales and they believed not. How many times
the Lord told them, I'm going to suffer, I'm going to be raised
again. These men did not believe at
first the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then later,
When the Lord appeared to the ten, and Thomas was not there,
and Thomas said, I will not believe unless I put my finger in his
nail-pierced hand and put my hand in his side. I will not
believe. And the Lord graciously appeared
to him, and Thomas later confessed, My Lord and my God. And then
we have Peter. Peter. Simon Peter. Peter said,
Lord, these other John, James, these other men, they're weak
men. They may forsake you, but be sure you know that I'll never
leave you. I'll go to jail with you. I'll
take a stand with you. And the Lord corrected him and
said, Peter, you're so weak you're going to deny me three times.
And certainly he did. He said, I don't know the man.
Are you sure? He cussed a little bit and said,
I don't know who he is. And all
of them, when the Lord was arrested, all of them cut tail and run. and fled and went and hid. Now,
why am I bringing that up? To show us that the Lord uses
common, ordinary, guilty, sinful men to go out and preach the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Yet the Lord, in his grace, finally
brought them together again, and they were firm and steadfast
in the faith, waiting upon the Lord Jesus Christ. These men
were just like us, sinners chosen in eternity in that blessed covenant
of grace. We call that the Bible doctrine
of election. These men, just like us, were
given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that covenant of grace. He
said, all that the Father giveth to me, they will come to me.
These men, like us, who cannot perish in their sin because of
the Lord Jesus Christ, put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. They were still sinners, weren't
they? Peter? Paul? They were still sinners in need
of daily mercy, just like us, men of like passion." Now that
ought to encourage us. God uses nobodies to tell everybody
about the one somebody who can save sinners like us. James said, James is mentioned
here, James writes about Elijah who said he was a man of like
passion. And we read earlier in our study
that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. came to save
sinners. You see, it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not consumed. These men weren't blessed because
of their character or of their conduct, for it was sorry, was
it not? They had a sorry past. But yet the Lord was merciful
and raised them up to go and preach the gospel, and they did.
Now, thanks be unto God, who has given us the victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ, who has given us grace to persevere in
the faith, whoever lives to intercede for us. He said to these men,
it's recorded in Matthew 28, all powers given unto me in heaven
and earth, go therefore and preach the gospel, and remember this,
I'll never leave you, I'll never forsake you, lo, I'm with you
always. These eleven men here and the
twelfth apostle was Saul of Tarsus, yet unknown to these men. They
had no idea. Peter, James, and John, they
probably had heard of Saul of Tarsus being a Pharisee of the
day, but they knew nothing of his apostleship. at that time,
but they were called and sent by the Lord for a very special
time and purpose to carry out the gospel message to this world,
and these men all died in faith. They all died preaching the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and John, I guess, would be the only
exception that was not martyred or executed or had his head removed
for the gospel's sake. John was rather cast out on what
we would call the Alcatraz of his day, and there he basically
whittled away to nothing. But these men, Although they're
sinful, guilty, wicked, were called by God's grace, made a
trophy of His love, an object of His grace, and they all contended
for the faith that was once delivered unto the saints. They all fought
the good fight of faith. They all finished the course
and the race that God gave them, and they all kept the faith.
And they contended for the gospel. contentious in doing so, but
they did contend for the gospel. Now, in closing, verse 14. These
all continued with one accord. They were in harmony, in prayer,
praying for the Lord's mercy, grace, making supplications,
which is requesting, Mercy from the Lord. And they continued
with the women. How many women? I don't know.
And then it mentions the mother. of the body of the Lord Jesus
Christ Mary. And this is the last mention,
the last mention of her name. It says down in verse 15 that
the number of them were about 120 men. These 120 believers
were brought together by the sovereign grace of God that continued with one
accord with one mind, with one heart,
because they were joined together, being in union with the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's why they were in one accord,
because they were in union with the one Lord Jesus Christ. I turn back just a couple pages
to John 17. Let me show you that. They were
all one in mind, soul, body, and heart, and purpose, because
they were in vital union with the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
Lord's prayer for us in John 17, notice verse 21, that they
all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that
they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me, and the glory which thou gavest me, I have given
them, that they may be one, even as we are one. I in them, thou
in me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world
may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou
hast loved me." We are one with Christ. That's why we have the
same mind. are of one accord. Turn back
to Acts chapter 2. Let me show you something else
here. It mentions this again in Acts chapter 2 verse 42. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in breaking of bread and of prayers. And fear came upon every soul.
Many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all them
that believed were together and had all things common, Acts 2.45,
sold their possessions and goods and parted them to all men, and
every man had Every man had need, and they continued daily with
one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, did
eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising
God, having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to
the church daily such as should be saved." Turn to one other
place, Acts chapter 4. Verse 23 and 24, And being let
go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that,
they lifted up their voice with one accord, and said, Thou art
God. which hath made heaven and earth,
and the sea, and all that therein is, who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why doth the heathen rage? And the people
imagined a vain thing. Quoting from Psalm 2, The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ, They were all with
one accord. They continued in prayer, in
worship of their blessed Lord and Savior. They prayed, for strength and wisdom to carry
out the task the Lord had given to them. James later writes about
that thing. He says, if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God to give it to all men liberally, and upbraideth
not, and it shall be given him. They prayed and made known their
hearts' supplication unto the Lord, that is, they spread out
their need and request unto the Lord. We read in Philippians
chapter 6 about this, praying unto the Lord. Be careful for
nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. and the
God of peace, which passeth understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Jesus Christ. Now, what a blessed place to
be brought unto, to be of one accord, one with Christ because
we are one, one with one another because we are one with Christ.
We're of one body, members one another. We're joined together
in him and with one another in Christ our head. We are the body. David writes about it this way,
Behold how good and pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell
together in unity of one heart, one mind, and of one soul. Now if you'll find Ephesians
chapter 4, Ephesians chapter 4, He writes about this here
in verse 1, Ephesians 4. 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 and the bond of peace. For there is one body,
one Spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling,
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all. But to every
one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of
Christ." There is one gospel. What a blessed place to dwell
together in unity, believing what God has said in his word. Now what was the source of their
unity and strength and resolve and steadfastness to continue
in the gospel? What was their strength? Christ
Himself is our strength. They all believed God. They believed the teaching and
doctrine of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were all taught of God.
They all believed the same thing, the same God, the same gospel,
because they were all taught by the Lord. You remember in
John 6, he says, No man can come to Me except the Father which
sent Me. Draw him. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come unto Me." They all believed the
same thing because they were taught of God where He said,
I am the Way, the Truth, the Life. No man come to the Father
but by and through Me. They all believed the same thing
because the same Lord taught them the Gospel. They all had
the same revelation. of the glory of God that shines
in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. They were all of one
accord, they were all saved and justified the same way. Peter
was saved the same way that Cornelius was saved. For the Lord said,
we believe for the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be
saved. They were all begotten of God
by the Word of God, by the Spirit of God. of his own will, beget
he thus with the word of truth." They all went forth preaching
that one gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation. They went forth preaching his
name. Peter, James, and John were not
interested in men knowing their name. They wanted sinners who heard
them preach Christ to know his name. That name which is above
every name. That name which every knee is
going to bow and every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord. And they continued with one accord
and with one mind. Do you see that verse 14? These
all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with
the women. Now, what a blessed state to
be in. to be of one mind and one accord,
being vitally joined to the Lord Jesus Christ, being members one
of another. He is the head, we are the body.
What's true of the head is true of the body. If He's blessed
and He is, we're blessed in Him with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus. Now, may God be pleased to give
us That faith, the faith of God's elect, and may God give us grace
to persevere, to persevere in the faith being preserved by
God. These all continued with one
accord. Now, we're going to see in our
study throughout the book of Acts that God gave them grace
to continue to preach the gospel without compromise.