Back to the Scripture, Acts 2. Brother Ron read a few moments
ago. I want to point out something
that I'm sure I've mentioned it before,
but back here in Acts 2, verse 27. Because thou wilt not leave my
soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer, thine holy one, to seek
corruption. Verse 31, he seeing this before
spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not
left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. Usually when I read that, I change
the word hell to the grave, because our Lord did not go to hell. He didn't descend into hell. He went back to the father. He
said, I go to my father and your father. He said to the thief,
today you'll be with me in paradise, not in hell. So immediately,
like the believer whose body goes back to the dust and whose
soul goes to God who gave it, Christ's body laid in the tomb.
And the key here, you and I go back to the dust, in both of
these verses, thou wilt not suffer thy holy one to seek corruption. His body never decayed. His body never decayed. And the
King James is the best translation without question, but the translators
oftentimes in the King James Bible refer to the grave as hell. They use that word hell for the
grave. Uses it back and forward. So
you can read that. Our Lord did not remain in the
grave. He did not remain in the grave.
David did. He went on and said, David is
dead and buried. His sepulchre is with us to this
day. His body is in the tomb, rotted
back to the dust. But the Lord Jesus Christ did
not stay in the grave, he arose and his body never began to decay,
never did. And that's what that is saying. And I know a lot of people have
gone over into the book of Peter and talked about our Lord going
and preaching to the spirits in prison in the days of Noah
while the flood was awaiting, while the ark was being prepared
and And what that is saying in Peter is that our Lord, the same
spirit by which he preached when he was here on the earth, he
preached by that same spirit through Noah in the days of the
ark being prepared. And those people who are now
in judgment, none of them were saved in the days of Noah. Those
who were in hell, those people heard the gospel. They heard
the gospel by Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness, and they heard
the gospel by the same Spirit that preached through Christ,
the Holy Spirit. That same Spirit preached through
Noah. And the same Spirit preaches through God's servants today.
You're hearing the gospel by the same Spirit that preached
through Noah, Isaiah, our Lord, who had the Spirit without measure,
and the apostles and the reformers and everybody who's ever preached.
Any man who preaches the gospel of God's grace preaches it in
the power of the Holy Spirit, or he doesn't preach at all.
You don't want to hear anybody who preaches with another spirit.
That's the reason John said, try the spirit. Well, that's
a great sermon Peter preached at Pentecost. Now, where I want
to take up is verse 40. Now, speaking tonight on the
fellowship of believers, the fellowship of believers. And
Brother Ron has just read that message that Peter preached on
Pentecost. And this is the way he closed
this message with a warning, verse 40. And with many other
words did Peter testify and exhort, Save yourselves. The word save
in the Bible is deliver. Salvation is deliverance. To
be saved is to be delivered. And he's saying deliver yourselves
from this untoward generation. What is an untoward generation? Well, it's a perverse generation. Deliver yourselves from this
perverse generation. The Amplified Version calls it
a wicked generation, a perverse, a crooked generation. And what Peter is saying to these
Jews at Pentecost and to Jewish people from all over the then
known world who had come there for this 50th Sabbath after the
Passover, this seventh Sabbath after the Passover, 50 days to
celebrate Pentecost. He's telling that he preached
Christ to them. Now he said, separate yourselves from the
religion of this generation, from the form and the works and
the will worship. Separate yourselves from them.
Separate yourselves from the lifestyle of this generation.
which consists of the lust of the eye and the lust of the flesh
and the pride of life. Separate yourselves from the
materialism and greed of this generation which war against
the soul. Deliver yourselves from this
generation. Come out from among them and
be different, saith the Lord. In verse 41, this they did. That's where we'll pick it up,
verse 41. Now this, they did, and in the next seven verses,
you'll see the results of this message, the Spirit of God saving
these people and delivering them out of that perverse, wicked,
ungodly, untoward generation. All right, first of all, verse
41, he says, And then they gladly received
his word. They that gladly received his
word. And you know, one of the ancient
translations adds this word. It says they gladly received
his word, the word Peter preached, and believed it. They gladly
received his word and believed. When Peter preached about the
Lord Jesus Christ, God's grace to sinners in our Savior. His death, His resurrection,
His ascension, His mediator glory. God hath made this same Jesus,
whom you crucified, Lord in Christ. They received that word. And
they believed it. They received it. How did they
receive it? Look at this word, gladly. They
gladly received it. They received it readily. They
received it willingly, gladly. They rejoiced and were comforted
in this gospel. They were happy that the Lord
God had sent his Son to redeem sinners. They gladly received
the Word. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of thy power. Gladly received his Word. And
then it says, verse 41 says, and they were baptized. and they
were baptized. First, they heard the gospel.
Now, this order is always established. First, they heard the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They heard this gospel of Peter
and Paul, who he is and what he did and why he did it and
where he is now. They heard that gospel and they
gladly received the word and believed it. And then they confessed
Christ in baptism. And then God added them to the
church. Now, you cannot change that order.
And this is one of the problems that has arisen through the years
in these different denominations about taking people into the
church, you know, and sprinkling infants all sorts of reversals
of the order here. And you can see the order set
forth here. Peter preached. He preached Christ. He preached
the gospel. And these people heard it. And they gladly, willingly
received it. They received it in their hearts
and believed it. And then they were baptized. And they were added to the church.
They became a part of the fellowship, the believer's fellowship. Now
this baptism, hold that place there and turn to Romans 6 a
minute. You see, this is the way that people in the New Testament
confessed Christ. This is the way they made a public
declaration of their faith in Christ Jesus, by baptism. And see, what Peter had preached
to these people is the death of Christ and the burial of Christ. Though he didn't see corruption,
didn't remain in the grave, he was buried. And God raised him
from the dead. God raised him from the dead
and exalted him to his right hand. And that's baptism. Now watch this in Romans 6, verse
3. Know ye not that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore, we are buried with him by baptism into death, that
like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of
the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For
if we have been planted, buried together in the likeness of his
death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection. That's what baptism is. So when
these people heard this gospel, they heard it, and they believed
it, they received it in their hearts, they received it gladly,
and then they confessed their identification with Christ, our
Lord who was crucified, who died, who was buried, planted in the
ground, and arose again. And that's what baptism is, declaring
that I'm crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live. Yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. I'm crucified with him, buried
with him, risen with him, and seated with him at the right
hand of God. And that's what baptism, that's the only way
baptism can be performed, scripturally, is burial. Put the person out
of sight, buried. bring the person up, they're
risen. And that's the way these people confessed Christ, that's
the way all of them, and that's the order, you can't change it. They heard, they didn't just
hear foolishness, they heard Christ. And they understood what
this man was buried, he died, he buried, he barely rose again.
And they believed him, and they confessed Christ, and God added
them to the church. All right, verse 42, and they
continued. They continued. The word continued
is to persevere. Persevere. They continued. They
persevered. In good days and bad days. In
prosperity or poverty. In youth to old age. They held
fast their profession. They didn't vary, they continued.
They continued. You know, that's a word that
I looked up this morning in the concordance, the word continue.
It's used frequently in the Word of God. In John 8, our Lord said
this, if you continue in my Word, then are you my disciples indeed,
if you continue. In John 15, he said, as the Father
hath loved me, So have I loved you. Continue. Persevere. Ye in my love. In Acts 14.22,
I want you to turn to this one. Acts 14.22, Paul is exhorting
believers to continue in the gospel. Don't quit. Don't become
indifferent. Don't become swayed, don't let
these slip through your fingers, don't become swayed away from the gospel.
Fellowship of Believers, Acts 14, 22, listen. Confirming the
souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith
and that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom
of God. Believer will not, cannot, must
not quit the gospel. Can't do it. These people continued. Colossians. Listen to Colossians
1. Colossians 1. Listen to what
Paul says here. Colossians 1, verse 21. And you that were sometime alienated,
enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled
in the body of his flesh through death to present you holy and
unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. Present you, if you
continue in the faith, grounded, settled, be not moved away for
whatever He not moved away, continued. All right, read on. Over here
in Acts 2, my text again, the fellowship of believers. Verse
42 said, they continued steadfastly. Now, every word in this Bible
is meaningful. That word steadfastly, you who
have Hebrew and Greek concordances, now take the time to look up
these words. But the word steadfastly is used frequently, and it has
these meanings. They continued steadfastly in
the apostles' doctrine. And this is what it means. It
means to earnest, to be earnest in your continuance, earnest. It means secondly, to be diligent,
faithful. It means thirdly to literally
give oneself to this goal as a servant. That's what steadfastly
means. These people heard this gospel,
received it, reached out and received it gladly, confessed
Christ in baptism and continued earnestly, diligently, faithfully,
gave themselves as servants to four things. Verse 42, in the
Apostle's doctrine. In the Apostle's doctrine. Now,
my friends, we have no new gospel. We have no new revelations. Our
gospel, our hope, our confidence is in the Apostle's doctrine.
in our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Apostle's doctrine. They
got their doctrine from him. Paul said, I wasn't taught the
gospel by men. I received the gospel from the
Savior. He is the author of the gospel.
He is the messenger of the gospel. He is the subject of the gospel. And the doctrine is called the
doctrine of Christ. Turn to Hebrews 2, just a moment. Hebrews 2. They continued all
in the apostles doctrine. Don't lay hold of something new.
Don't reach out and swallow something that's just come along. Our gospel is a first century
gospel. It's further back than that.
It's for the foundation of the world. It's the gospel of Moses
and Abraham and Isaiah and David Hebrews 2 verse 1, Therefore
we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have
heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word
spoken by angels was steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience
received a just recompense of reward, how shall we escape if
we neglect so great salvation, which at first began to be spoken
by our Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard it? These people continued in the
apostles' doctrine. They continued in the hope of
the gospel, in the hearing of the gospel, in the helping of
those who preach the gospel. Let me read you a scripture in
2 John. This is what it is. It's the
old gospel testimony of Christ. 2 John, verse 9. Whosoever transgresseth and abideth
not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. He that abideth
in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the
Son. If there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine of
Christ, don't receive him into your house and don't bid him
Godspeed. And that's what they continued
in, the doctrine of Christ. What we're preaching right here,
this is not Baptist doctrine, or Reformation doctrine, or Protestant
doctrine, it's the doctrine of Christ. That's right, it's the
Word of God. It's Christ died for our sins
according to the Scripture, was buried and rose again according
to the Scripture. We want nothing new, and nothing
recent, and nothing of this modern generation. We want the old ancient
Gospel, the same Gospel. Another thing, they continued,
listen, steadfastly, faithfully, diligently, earnestly in the
apostles' doctrine and in fellowship. They continued in fellowship
with the apostles and with one another. In Philippians chapter
2, I want you to turn there a minute, in fellowship with one another. In fellowship. Philippians 2. Verse 1, this is the fellowship
of believers. If there be therefore any consolation
in Christ, is that true? Is there comfort in Christ? If any comfort of His love, if
any fellowship of the Spirit, is that real? Fellowship of the
Spirit? If any bowels, any innermost
being of compassion and mercy, then you fulfill ye my joy, that
you be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord,
of one mind. Cultivate this unity of spirit. Cultivate this fellowship. Go
out of your way to help this fellowship and let nothing be
done through strife or personal glory, seeking our own way and
will, But in lowliness of mind, humility, let each esteem the
other better than themselves. Not equal, better. Look not on
your own things, but on the things of others. And let this mind
be in you, which was in Christ. This humility, who being in the
form of God, Thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made
himself of no reputation. Took upon himself the form of
a servant. These people continued in the
doctrine, but that's not all. That's not all. They continued
in the doctrine of Christ. They believed the truth. They
stood for the truth, but they continued in fellowship. They
made it their business to help the fellowship, and to build
the fellowship, and strengthen the fellowship, and make themselves
kind, and agreeable, and warm, and friendly, and affectionate
to other people. They didn't wait on people to
come to them, they went to them. They didn't look on their own
things, their own way, they looked on the things of others for the
benefit of the fellowship. They continued this way. It wasn't
high and low and up and down, hot and cold. They continued
in the fellowship. And thirdly, they continued in
the breaking of bread. The Lord's table is meant here.
They continued in breaking bread. They often observed the table.
And I tell you why they more often probably than we do today
observe the Lord's table. These Jews came out of feasts
and festivals ritualism and farm and sacrifices and ceremonies
and all these things. They had a time to do all things
and a sacrifice morning, noon and night. And all this was through
and over and fulfilled in Christ. And they lived by faith in Christ
alone, who was their Sabbath, sacrifice, atonement, feast and
all things. And so they observed the Lord's
table frequently. They took the bread and the wine.
That's all God had given them. Only ordinances in the new kingdom
and the new church and the new way. Baptism and the Lord's table. And both picturing His death
so frequently, they observed this table. And when this table
was served, they made it their business to be there. They were
diligent about the ordinance, and you ought to be too. When
you see in the bulletin this church is observing the Lord's
table, nothing ought to keep you from being
there. That's right. Be there. These people have continued
in breaking the bread. Make it a point to be there,
to worship the Lord around His table, to say, this is the body
of my Lord broken for me. This is the blood of the Lord
Jesus shed for my sins. It ought to be important. It
was to them. The doctrine was important. The fellowship was
important. The Lord's table was important. And prayer. See that
fourth thing? And in prayer. Now, prayers,
if we're not careful, prayer instead of a means will
become an end, and that's dangerous. And this is plural, this is prayers,
they continue in prayers. We're not heard for our much
speaking, the length of our prayers. We're not heard for the eloquence
or accuracy or theological doctrines of our prayers. Prayer is not
a ritual, prayer is not a form, prayer is not a duty. Prayer
is a conversation. Prayer is a communion between
the believer and his God. Prayer is exercised in private,
praying without ceasing, in an attitude and spirit of communion
with God, fellowship with God, conversation with God. Prayer
is exercised in family gatherings to give thanks at the table,
to pray one for another, in special times to offer up prayer. Prayers offered in the meeting
of believers, as men gather and women gather in a meeting of
believers, and prayers offered up, communion with God. Prayers exercised in the worship
services as Ronnie led this congregation in prayer tonight. And they continued. Prayerlessness indicates godlessness. John Bunyan said, I'd sooner
expect a natural man to live without breathing as I would
a spiritual man to live without prayer. Prayerlessness indicates an absence
of grace because a believer in whom the Spirit of God dwells
will often commune with the Lord. about everything, in everything
give thanks, in everything let your supplication be made known
to God with thanksgiving. They continued. Boy, they gladly
received the Word, believed it, confessed Christ, added to the
church, cast their lot with the believers, and then they continued. They never left. Never left. Verse 43, watch this. And fear
came upon every soul. Fear. Many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles. Turn to Hebrews chapter 2, just
a moment. Again. I stopped there at that
third verse. I'm going to read 3 and 4 now. You see, Many wonders and signs
were done by the apostles, such as what? Healing the sick, preaching
the gospel in other languages, making the lame to walk. This
was promised to them by the Lord. You remember when he said to
his disciples, you go into all the world and preach the gospel
to every creature? He that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And these signs shall follow you. In my name you'll
cast out devils and speak with new tongues. Take up serpents. If you drink any deadly thing
it will not hurt you. Lay hands on the sick and they
shall recover. That's what's happening here
in the book of Acts. That's what we're reading about. And many
signs and wonders were done by the apostles and fear came over
the whole place. Jerusalem. Hebrews 2. Verse 3, how shall we escape
if we neglect so great salvation which at the first began to be
spoken by the Lord and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him,
the apostles, God also bearing them witness. Bearing who witness? These apostles. You see, these
apostles performing these miracles, this was a necessity. It was
necessary then for confirmation of their message and confirmation
of their ministry. You say, well, do we need confirmation
today? Only the Word. That's all we
need. They needed the miracle. God
bearing them witness with signs and wonders, listen, and different
miracles and gifts of the Holy Ghost according to His will. All right? And fear came upon
Jerusalem. Fear came upon every soul. And
that's a, in Jerusalem, it was a frightening thing. But the
apostles, the fear that came upon the believers that heard
the apostles was a reverence and an awe of God. Not a slavish
fear. Now watch verse 44. And all that believed were together. All that believed were together.
What does that mean, they were together? In one place? No, there were 3,000 of them.
You know what you read, 3,000 were converted? There's no place
big enough to hold them all over there. But they were together. It doesn't mean in one place
or in one house, there's too many of them. You can write this
word in there, they agreed together. They were together. They were
in perfect agreement. They were one heart and one mind
and one judgment as to this gospel. They were together. One on one
preaching one thing and somebody else preaching something else.
They were together. In the believers fellowship,
believers to gather in agreement on the doctrines there of one
heart and one mind and one soul according to the principles of
the gospel and the walk of believers. They agreed on how a believer
ought to walk and talk and conduct himself. They agreed. They were
of one heart and affection and agreement toward one another. And the next line says, and they
had all things common. This is a believer's fellowship. They had all things common. Turn to Acts 4, 32. They had
all things common. Acts 4, 32. And the multitude of them that
believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither said any of
them that all of the things which he possessed were his own, that
any of the things which he possessed was his own. They had all things
common. They shared what God had given
them. What they had, their brethren were welcome to it. If they had
plenty and they saw that a brother was in need, they shared with
him. They didn't say, this is mine, you can't have it. They
said, this is ours, if you need it, you're welcome to it. They were together. They had
all things common. Nobody said, this is mine, selfishly. He said, this is ours. God gave
it to me and I'll share it with you. In verse 45, now this was
done, I want to give you a little light on this. This next verse,
verse 44 applies to any generation, anytime. Believers are together
and they have all things common. They share, they help others,
they're generous as you are. But here's something here in
verse 45 that happened. And many of them sold their possessions
and their goods. They sold their land and their
houses. And they parted them to all men as every man had need. John Gill gave me a little help
on this. Remember when this was. Our Lord
had died, buried, rose again, ascended to glory. About 40 A.D. 70 A.D. Jerusalem was destroyed, annihilated. Titus, the Roman emperor. And
these Jews in Jerusalem here, these people were informed, they
knew that the destruction of their city and their nation was
at hand just a short time later. So they sold their estates beforehand,
they sold their land and their property and they put the material
together for the support of the gospel for the carrying of the
gospel to the Gentiles and for the relief of the people who
suffered for the gospel. Cast out of their houses and
families and homes because of the gospel. And that's what this
is saying here. Many of them sold their possessions
and their goods and parted them to all men as every man had need. This is what Ananias and Sapphira
were trying to get in on. You remember that they sold their
property and they came and told the Apostle Peter they sold it
for so much and brought it all to be used for the church and
for the gospel. And Peter said, why have you
lied to the Holy Ghost and kept back some of the money yourself? And God slew them. And Peter
said to them, he said, it was yours. You didn't have to sell
it. It wasn't a precedent. It wasn't
a commandment. It wasn't a responsibility. You
didn't have to sell it. And when you did, you lied about
what you did with it. And there's the sin. And so this
is not a precedent set for us today. This is not proposed or
commanded by the apostle. Help others, yes. Share with
others, yes. But don't act foolishly. and
sell your property. Give it away. Don't act foolishly
and sell your house. And sell your business. And give
it away. Because then you'll become a
burden. You see that? You'll become a
burden to your family and to your friends. Bella said one
time, if God gives you a well, share the water, but don't sell
the well. Then you're out of business.
You understand what we're saying? If God gives you a well with
plenty of water, share it, distribute it, give it to all, do it with
a free hand. But don't sell the well, because
if you do, you go out of the water business and you can't
help anybody. And this was done by these people
at this time, at this critical time. because they knew that
time was short. The city was going to be destroyed,
the nation of Israel was going to be dispersed, scattered abroad,
driven out of their homes, driven off their property for what they
believed, so they just disposed of it and distributed it among
one another. And that's what that's talking
about there. And it's not a precedent set
for us today. It's not proposed for you today.
What's not commanded of you today, what's commanded of you and me
is to give, help others, share. As God prospers us and enables
us, let your hand always be open. Sow your seed on the water. Cast
your seed on the water. Be not weary in well-doing. All
right, verse 46. And they continued, and they
continuing daily with one accord in the temple. Now, have you
wondered about that? John, why are these people going
back to the temple? The sacrifices are over. The
Pharisees at the temple have nothing for them, no message,
no Bible study, no gospel. The holy days are over, the feast
days are over, the atonement is done. Why are they going back
to the temple? Preach the gospel. Witness to
other people. Acts 3, look at the next chapter. Peter and John went up together
to the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour,
3 o'clock in the afternoon. And a certain man lame from his
mother's womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of
the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered
in. And who's seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple
to ask alms? He asked alms. Fastening his
eyes on him with John said look on us and he gave heed unto them
expecting to receive something and Peter said Silver and gold
have I none but such as I have give I thee in the name of Jesus
of Nazareth rise up And that man walked and Peter preached
to that's the reason these people kept going back to the temple
their relatives were there their friends were there their families
were there their Neighbors were there and they kept going back
preaching to him everywhere Paul went he went to the temple first
That's right. I can show you another acts 14
listen to this It's acts chapter 14 Verse 1
listen came to pass in Iconium that they went both together
into the synagogue of the Jews and And so spake that a great
multitude, both of the Jews and also the Greeks, believed. But
the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles, made their minds
evil, affected against the brethren. They kept going back to the temple
to tell other people about Christ. He's the fulfillment of all these
things. That's right. My Lord went to the temple, remember,
and preached. All right, let's finish up here.
It says, and they went to the temple and breaking bread from
house to house. There's two things here. Lord's
table and going to share their meals with each other. Fellowship
meals. You do a lot of that. It's good. They ate the Lord's table from
house to house and they ate fellowship meals. And they did eat their
meat. They ate their meat with gladness
of heart, with great thanksgiving to God for His mercies in Christ. Thanksgiving for daily food.
We're so undeserving. They ate their meat, their food
with gladness and singleness of heart. No deceit, no hypocrisy. Sincerity, simplicity. That word,
singleness of heart, is simplicity and sincerity before God and
one another. And verse 47, and in all this,
they praised God, praised Him for spiritual blessings, praised
Him for material blessings. He loved us, He chose us, He
redeemed us, He justified us, He called us, He taught us, He
keeps us. They praised God and they had
favor with all the people. They had favor, goodwill, goodwill
among all the people. And the Lord saved some people. He added to the church daily,
such as should be saved. I hope that's a blessing, the
fellowship of believers. That's saying number 187. Number 187, here's John Fawcett's
great hymn, Bless me the tie that binds our hearts in Christian
love. The fellowship, that's what we're
talking about, of kindred minds. We'd like to that above. All
right, 187. Let's stand while we sing.