All right, please open your Bibles to Acts chapter one. So we are doing a review of the book of Acts, having completed it. Acts, there's a lot of content in there, so we're gonna be trying to get through it in three, at the most, four times as a review. So our goal today is to get through chapter eight, verse three, and that's the transition. Verses one through three of chapter eight are the transition, going from the word of the Lord in Jerusalem the word of Lord going out to Judea and Samaria. And so you'll remember there's this there's this kind of pattern through the book as the word is leaving Jerusalem. It's going out of Zion. The power of Christ the King is going out of Zion. And so it is leaving Jerusalem and it is going to the ends of the earth. And so let's look at the very beginning of the book of Acts. Look at chapter 1 verses 1 through 8. This is the thesis. So this is that dense chunk that lays out for us the outline of the rest of the book and gives us a sense of the purpose of the book. And you need to remember this book is written in the context of having, being the second volume after Luke, right? So we have the book of Luke is the first volume and this is the second volume. Now let's read the first three verses real quickly. The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach." Okay? The former account, the first account, and both are written to Theophilus. So there's the first book, and here's now the next one. And that's what Jesus began both to do and to teach. And the idea is that the book of Acts is what Jesus continued to do and to teach. And he does it through his Holy Spirit and through his apostles and also there's going to be now the building of the church as his body okay so all that Jesus began both to do and to teach until the day in which he was taken up okay that's where Luke ends with the ascension of Christ he's taken up after he through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen So he chose the apostles, the apostles represent him, they're his apostles, they're his authoritative messengers. The Holy Spirit is sent by him and he's, through the Holy Spirit, giving them commandments. And so that work of the Spirit, we're not talking about Pentecost yet, that's going to happen in Acts, it doesn't happen in the book of Luke. And so, we're talking about the work of the Holy Spirit inwardly to sanctify them, to illuminate them, and to give them gifting as apostles, having gifts that are appropriate to their office. There's going to be a greater gifting that comes. So, that's where Luke ends. Verse 3, to whom, now we're talking about to the apostles, he also presented himself alive after his suffering. by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." Okay, so he presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs. Now, those infallible proofs we are talking about the persuasive evidences of his miracles and presence, but if we're talking about them as truly being infallible, we're talking about him proving that from the scriptures. And you remember the road to Emmaus in Luke, right? We have the road to Emmaus where he demonstrates from the Old Testament, from Moses, from the Psalms, from the prophets, right? He does it from the law, the Psalms, and the prophets. He shows them how they all spoke of Christ. Christ shows his disciples, his apostles, he shows how they spoke of Christ. And so those are infallible proofs. And they also are witnesses with their own eyes. And they hear with their own ears. But the infallible proofs are the proofs from the Old Testament scriptures. And they saw him during 40 days. And they heard him speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. So, things pertaining to the kingdom of God. And so, we're going to have the kingdom of God as the focus. Which is why we have Psalms that are about as kingship as the focus early on. Right? Psalm 110 and Psalm 2. And so, those are the emphases here. And at the same time, we are... Remember, the book of Acts has an emphasis on the priestly service and so we're going to see in this first section the ending of the Levitical system and the replacement of the Levi's service to orphans and widows with the diaconate right so we have the old administration and the new administration and the old administration or Old Testament Old Covenant is being replaced with the New Testament, the New Covenant, the new administration. And so we're going to see that and the kingdom of God and the understanding gets worked on so that everybody sees what needs to be done and what God is doing. Now, verse 4. and being assembled together with them, he commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, which he said, You have heard from me. For John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit. not many days from now. That line, baptized with the Holy Spirit, we're talking about the promise of the Father, the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This has to do with gifting. The book of Hebrews lays out the idea of a better ministry, a better administration, and a better set of promises in terms of the power of the things that are given. So we replace the priestly system of the Old Testament with its priesthood, with the priesthood of all believers, and with the administration of things like baptism and the Lord's Supper. We replace the Sorry, we replaced the priesthood with the general priesthood and the priesthood of Christ. We replaced the service with the temple system, and we replaced that with baptism in the Lord's Supper, the Word, and the ordinances of the New Testament. And we replaced the old promises of preservation with the promises of conquest, that the Word will go out and fill the earth. And so we have better promises, better effectiveness that comes from it. So that's what this baptized with the Holy Spirit relates to. And we're going to see Joel 2 get quoted as we go forward, which is about the fulfillment that's occurring at Pentecost. So John baptized with water and it was a true baptism, but it's nothing in comparison to this new administration. And that relates to back when Jesus said, you know, no man born of woman is better than John the Baptist. And yet the least of the ones in the kingdom of God and the new covenant are going to be greater than him. Okay. That's the same sort of comparison and contrast that occurs there. So, verse 6, "...therefore, when they had come together, they asked him, saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" So, remember this is a misunderstanding. They're saying, okay, so you're going to give all this authority to Israel now, and Israel's going to go out and And it's going to conquer in that way. It's going to be able to kind of have this national kingdom that's filling the earth, or what's the deal? And he rebuffs that. And we see this repeatedly throughout the New Testament, the rebuffing of the idea that it's the national Israel that's going to be given power and expand. It's the church, which is the spiritual Israel. That's the invisible church. But it's also the Israel God in the sense of the visible covenant community. and then we're going to see as the nations convert. then Israel will be brought to repentance as a whole, as a national people. Not every single individual, but an overwhelming conversion of the people. And then that is going to be, as it talked about in Romans 11, a regeneration of the earth, right? That's the beginning of a period of time where the promises are more fully seen. And so there's the gospel going out, the nations being converted, and the repentance of Israel in response out of jealousy of the nations enjoying the promises that come from their God. So the answer is verse seven, and he said to them, it is not for you to know times or seasons, which the father has put in his own authority, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you. And you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. Okay, so there's the summary of the book that's gonna happen. And so this receiving of power when the Holy Spirit has come upon them, that's to make it so that they're able to go out. So this is distinct from restoring the kingdom to Israel. And so that's what we get laid out for us there. Now, That's the summary of what the whole book is about and this witnessing. So that verse 8, you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and the end of the earth. That's also an outline of the book. So we're looking at being witnesses in Jerusalem and that ends in chapter 8 verse 3. and then from there the next section going from chapter 8 verse 4 out to chapter 12 all the way to the end of chapter 12. That is being witnesses in Judea and Samaria. And then chapters 13 through 28 is being witnesses to the end of the earth. Acts 9 through 26. We have the Ascension. We have prayer in the upper room of the temple, where there's prayer with one accord. And that phrase, one accord, you see it over and over again. You're going to see it over and over again throughout, especially the beginning of Acts, but this idea that being in one accord. So unity is emphasized, unity of doctrine, agreeing about what is true, the faith. agreeing about the hope right the goal and agreeing about the means love right faith hope and love being in agreement with those things having one accord that is emphasized repeatedly so we have the ascension christ is reigning prayer going to the king and going in the name of the king to the throne of grace to god the father asking for the gifts to be given down. And then there is a section about officers. Okay, so we have the ascension followed by prayer in one accord. And then they choose Matthias to replace Judas. There's 120 that are numbered as officers. These 120 are going to prophesy in tongues when they are at the time of Pentecost in chapter 2. Okay, but these 120 are there, and they select Matthias because he meets the qualifications of an apostle. And those qualifications involve having been with Jesus to be discipled by him and having seen him resurrected. And so they then choose between two people and Matthias is chosen because they do it by lot to avoid that person being chosen by man directly. And so he is numbered with the 11. So there's this 120 that are numbered as officers here, and then there's the 11, and then Matthias is numbered with the 11. And so this idea that you have a role of officers, there's a role of apostles, there's later on going to be a role of members, and they're entering into the church in baptism. to be recognized formally, the external recognition. And so this idea of organization here. So you think about this, Christ is ascended, there's prayer to ask for empowerment and blessing on the ordinances of God, and one of the ordinances is the organization with government and officers. Chapter two, we have Pentecost. So here we are, we have Pentecost is 50 days after first fruits. And so we are seeing Christ having been resurrected, and there is this time period where they're waiting. Jesus is there 40 days after he's resurrected. This is a very short time after that, after he's ascended, 40 days after he's resurrected, he's ascended. And this is a very short time after that. And so we have Pentecost coming and all 120 are filled with the Spirit in verse 4. What happens is they have tongues of fire on them and the Holy Spirit gives them utterance to speak in other tongues. It's important to remember that these other tongues are a sign of judgment. And so we remember that the kingdom is not being restored to Israel immediately and judgment is coming to Israel. Because Jerusalem's going to be destroyed in 70 AD with the destruction of the Old Testament system, the Old Covenant system. And that's a part of displaying that Christ's work is complete. Remember that Daniel chapter 9 prophesies the destruction of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, as a part of what happens when you have the completion of Scripture and the completion of sin offering. And so there's an end to the need for offering, and that's explained further in the book of Hebrews. And we look at what's happening here, and the coming with tongues is explained as a sign of judgment. And that's also explained in 1 Corinthians, when Paul explains tongues as a sign of judgment. And it has to do with this idea that, you know, you hear people preaching in your own language, you can understand it. people preaching in another language, you can't understand it. And so preaching in other languages is this sign of judgment. And you look at what happened with Babel, right? And the idea of languages and the scattering of people is a judgment to weaken Babel in the book of Genesis. And so we have here this idea that the tongues are coming, and it's in order to reverse what happened at Babel, but it's a judgment on Jerusalem. Now there are Jews from every nation that are there. You remember, you can become a Jew. Being Jewish is not an ethnic thing in the sense of being religiously Jewish. And you could become a part of the Jewish nation if you converted in and if you covenanted, if you were circumcised. And then by the third generation, your children could vote. And so there was this citizenship that was obtainable immediately, and then the granting of the franchise to your descendants. And so that system, it was not a racial system. People often treat the Old Testament Jewish separation as though it's racial. It's not. It's religious. And that is something that is maintained in the New Testament, a distinction between people based upon religion that we're supposed to marry in the Lord, right? And so this is an issue that comes up. But there are people from every nation here, and they're there for Pentecost, and they're there for the religious worship that's a part of that. And they hear these tongues, and then as a result you have Jews from every nation being converted. Now, this begins, this Pentecost period begins, with something I've already pointed out to you from chapter one, and it's going to keep coming up. And it's, look at chapter two, verse one. When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. The one accord. So, they're there, they bring this powerful judgment by the power of God with the divided tongues of fire. All 120 of those officers before, they're all filled with the Spirit, and they speak utterances given by the Holy Spirit. So, this tongues is a type of prophecy. It's prophetic. It's not gibberish, it's not nonsense, it's speaking words in another language. And that comes by the power of the Holy Spirit and people that are there from all over the world hear things and they go, wow, that's my language. And so the Jews from every nation, they're amazed. And so some of them, however, mock what is being done and they hear people speaking in languages that they don't understand and they mock them as drunk. Now sometimes, remember, people will come through here and they'll say, this is a miracle of hearing. People just hear the words in their own language. That's not the case. It doesn't sound like someone's drunk when someone speaks your own language. It sounds like someone's drunk when they're speaking a language you don't understand. You think, are you just uttering nonsense words? And so speaking a real language that you do not understand can sound sort of comical and sound like someone might be drunk. And that is what is happening. And some people are saying they're just drunk. But at the same time, they've got all these people testifying to, well, no, this is my language. I'm hearing my language. And so it's an unreasonable response. Peter then gives his Pentecost sermon. He stands up with the 11. He raises his voice and he's trying to get a hold of them. He's trying to get their attention. Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and heed my words. So then he quotes from Joel chapter 2. verses 28 to 32, and it talks about the last days, those days, the day of the Lord. And so we talked, we went through this before, we talked about when is this. So the last days, these are the days that are occurring right there. He's saying this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. He's saying what's happening right now is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. The last days, right there, looking at the 30s AD, So the last days has the pouring out of the Spirit of God. Okay, now this language of pouring is important. You compare pouring with sprinkling. Pouring is an increase from sprinkling. When you sprinkle, there's smaller amounts of moisture, and pouring is the increasing. And so this pouring as an increase is what is going on, and so the Spirit is being given out in greater abundance. And so we talk about how we have the New Covenant era, a better priesthood, a better administration, right, better religious ordinances, and better gifting, better promises. This is the promise. This is the promise of the Father. The promise of the Father is the pouring out of the Spirit to give these powers. And so there's all of this prophesying that's occurring. And so this is before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And so what's being talked about is a preparation for the destruction that's going to come on Jerusalem in 70 AD. So this is the ending of the old covenant period and the starting of the new covenant period. And we have the day of destruction coming on Jerusalem in 70 AD. He then goes and says they need to repent. He quotes Psalm 16, Psalm 110. He quotes Psalm 132. He is going through and talking about the death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ and the sending out of the Spirit and power. And he's telling them, look, God predestined, look at verse 23, Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, right? Jesus Christ was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the earth. This was the plan of God, that the people of God would reject and betray the Messiah. And so this happens, and as a result, the rejection of Jesus results in the salvation of the world and then the salvation of the world is going to result in ultimately the repentance of Israel. And so that's going to be a resurrection of sorts for the world. And so he tells them, verse 38, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. for the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call." Now, this emphasizes repentance, so rejecting unbelief and believing the gospel, taking visible membership in the church through baptism, and the idea that there's a gifting from the Holy Spirit that comes to be able to do the work. And then we are reminded that this is a promise that's for those Jewish believers, for their children, right? Just as in the Old Testament, it's for the people who make profession and for their children. And so they are to be baptized just as the children in the Old Covenant were to be circumcised. And then for all who are far off. And so the inclusion of the Gentiles is what's being dealt with here. So this is the New Covenant. The New Covenant does not have a throwing out of the children. Now, what happens is 3,000 souls get saved. They're added to them. At least make profession. There's this baptism that occurs. And they continued steadfastly. Verse 42 is a key verse. Verse 42. Acts 2, verse 42. They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So we have this apostles doctrine. The doctrine is key. It's the truth that sets men free. It's the truth that justifies. It's the truth that sanctifies. It's the truth that preserves all the other stuff. The fellowship, the working together, the gathering together. So there's this being united, this covenanting together, this sharing together. So the doctrine and the being united together And these people were already baptized, and so they're maintaining that fellowship that they've covenanted into. The breaking of bread is talking about the Lord's Supper in this context, and so it's the renewing of covenant to maintain that. And then in, prayers. And so there is this public praying and the singing of psalms together. Now, in between that and we have verses 46 to 47, which is about how you deal with things outside of the church and its formal assembling, You have the church in terms of how it maintains itself, and they keep coming together. to serve each other and having common possession, liberality. So look at verse 44. Now all who believe were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need. So this is the idea of they get together. That's what the fellowship looks like. They're looking for opportunity to get together and they use their things to bless each other. get together in order to serve. They're not getting together ordinarily to look to be served. They're getting together to serve. And that's what the powering of the Holy Spirit is for, is for you to be able to serve. So then, when they are privately dealing with each other, this is the daily, the other one has to do with their kind of church existence, their covenanted existence, which involves the Sabbath assembly. But verse 46 talks about the daily. So, continuing daily with one accord, the temple and breaking bread from house to house they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart praising God and having favor with all the people and the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved the church assembly is not about evangelism the church assembly is about discipleship and it's about worship okay and it's for the government of that that body The evangelism is occurring in this daily activity, and the adding of people is through that. The individuals are going out and evangelizing. And so they're continuing daily with one accord. So this idea of daily fellowship Now that doesn't mean you have to have a specific, okay, everybody's gonna get to my house at 5 p.m. every day. There's not a set time. The idea is you're ordering your life so that you are daily working with other believers for the extension of the kingdom and for your own growth and for the benefit of other believers. And so that's how you see things result in substantial growth, in your own sanctification, but also in terms of the church growing. So they're continuing daily with one accord. So they're continuing daily with one accord. They're maintaining unity in the bond of peace. They're maintaining unity in the bond of peace. And they're working together. They have breaking of bread, so there's hospitality. So there's daily fellowship, there's hospitality. And hospitality is with gladness and simplicity. So they're thankful for what they've got, and there's simplicity about it. It's not this kind of political, manipulative hospitality. It's this effort to bless and to sincerely give. They're not the miser who's saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, eat. I'm really happy for you to enjoy my delicacies. And in his heart, is angry that you're eating his stuff right it's not that and it's not this sort of political rejection of the poor and only wanting to have hospitality with the powerful it's a it's a a hospitality from house to house that involves a thankfulness a gladness and a simplicity of heart And so that's how you see this raise up in power of the church. And then there's the praising of God. And that's talking about praising of God, not in the public worship, but household worship. This idea of a part of hospitality is having people that come over, they share in your food, and then they also share in your household worship. And so there is this giving of physical blessing and spiritual blessing in hospitality. So from there, they have favor with all the people. And so when they are loving their neighbor as themselves, and they're giving hospitality, seeking to give this blessing when they're working together, that integrity And the sincerity of what they're doing leads to their testimony being powerful so that people join with them. And the Lord added to the church daily those who are being saved. So that's how evangelism works. Hospitality is a powerful bridge into the world. And so this is also how we live together. So this is a really key section. Verses 40 through 47 of chapter 2 is extremely important. for understanding the life of the church when it's healthy and for the life of a Christian when he's healthy. So we move into chapter 3 and what we have here is healing of the man at the Solomon's portico in the temple. There's preaching there and Then there is an arrest that occurs. So there's a major sermon that occurs. So there's three major sermons in the first section that we're looking at. The first one was the Pentecost sermon. The second one is here in Acts chapter 3 about healing. And then we're going to have the speech in front of the, well there's some speeches in front of the Sanhedrin, but then there's also, forgive me, the speech of Stephen, the sermon of Stephen before he's killed. And so those are the three major ones, two by Peter and one by Stephen. Now, the healing that occurs is important as going into the temple and there's this idea of the apostolic power doing this healing. Healing is associated with the priesthood. Healing miracles are associated with the priesthood. And so Luke is full of healing miracles. And that's also true in Acts. And this has to do with the reality that the Levitical system is being replaced. And so the diaconate being a part of what's established early on is important for that, to realize that the old covenant system is being replaced by the new covenant system. And instead of the Levites, as those who are doing that diaconal work, we're going to have the deacons. And this begins that breaking away section as a confrontation between two governing authorities, the apostles, represent Jesus Christ and the old high priest who is being replaced by the high priest Jesus Christ the priesthood after the order of Melchizedek which we sang about in Psalm 110. So chapter 4 Peter and John are arrested they speak before the Sanhedrin and they're told to stop preaching and they disobey. Acts chapter 4 verses 19 and 20 Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." There's the apostolic witness, right? Having seen and heard Jesus. So they're saying, look, we're not going to listen to you, we're going to listen to God, and you need to think about this. Is it better for us to listen to you or to listen to God? If you and God disagree, maybe you should stop and think about that just a bit. So then, The apostles Peter and John are let go and there's a quote there from Psalm 2. There is a praying that is occurring. And there is this continued sharing in things. There's this continuation of this hospitality, this generosity, the communion of the saints at the end of chapter 4. And we get introduced to Barnabas. And so Barnabas is important in this thematic of the ending of the Levites and the beginning of the diaconal system. Look at verse 36. Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the Apostles, which is translated Son of Encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles' feet." So he's no longer taking the money and putting it in the temple to give to the temple. He's now giving it to the Apostles, and he's a Levite, and that's supposed to kind of raise that issue. Where does the tithe go now? Where do free will offerings go now? Chapter five. We have Ananias and Sapphira who bring dishonor on this system. They sell possessions and they give part of it to the apostles. And that's not the problem. The problem is they lie about it. They say, oh, this is the whole thing. And so they get killed for lying to the Holy Ghost. And that's supposed to help to display the importance of holiness. And so when you look at holiness as an idea, this importance of separation, Look at chapter 5, verse 12. And through the hand of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. Remember the one accord theme? The unity, the having the same faith, the same hope, the same love. So you have the same doctrine, faith. You have the same hope and goal, the view of the good and how to get there. in terms of the overarching role of history, what's going to happen, what's been promised, and then love, the means in detail, how do we apply the law of God, how do we seek the good. So faith, hope, and love, that's what's one accord. And they ate with one accord in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them. But the people esteemed them highly. They weren't willing to join them, but they esteemed them. They weren't willing to join them because it was a holiness, a separation. And when the death of Ananias and Sapphira occurs, that's not directly church discipline, but it relates to this idea of removing. And so there's a sign there, a valuable sign of the idea of covenant death that occurs in excommunication. And so church discipline helps to maintain this separation. And so this separation, this holiness of the church is important. that holiness of the church in terms of a purity is maintained. And the result is that you have all sorts of healing, okay? Verse 14, and believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches. that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. So you have holiness and healing and the relationship of them. Holiness makes the Church powerful. Separation from the world makes the Church powerful. And the result is that there's a powerful witness and there's a powerful ability to heal. When the Church is just like the world, there's nothing here to heal. It's different from the world. And so this idea of healing. Now, in the early Church, there was a controversy between the Donatists and Augustine. You know, I have great respect for Augustine, but What happened is there was this discussion about whether the church should focus on purity or on healing. And I think that that's a wrong, it's a false dichotomy. And so Augustine famously talked about how the church is not this place for perfect people. It's not a place where you get to focus on purity. Rather, it's a hospital. You're bringing in those who are wounded and harmed. And that's true. But if the hospital doesn't provide any care, it's different from the places outside of the walls of the hospital, then the hospital has no effectiveness. And so the Donatists, the problem with the Donatists side is they, some of the Donatists were saying things like, if somebody apostatized during the persecution, right? There's Roman persecution, and there's an officer who does something that they're not really holding the line, they should have held the line on. They maybe threw incense in to escape being hurt or maybe to sacrifice it to the genie of Caesar. Or maybe they allowed some books to be burned. In some cases, it was not even letting the scriptures be burned or even Christian books be burned, but giving some sort of a manuscript and handing it to Romans and saying, you can burn these. And the Romans wouldn't know the difference as to whether they were actually Christian documents or not. And that idea that you are giving the appearance of it. So some of the Donatists said, if anybody did any of these things, they should never be allowed to come back into the church. Or they would say, if anybody ever did any of these things, they should never be allowed to be an officer again. Neither of those things is lawful. That's taking purity past what the law of God says. When somebody repents of sin, no matter how bad the sin, you let them back in the church. If an officer has repented of sin and has displayed for a long period of time the attributes that an officer should have, they should be allowed after a testimony of prolonged period to be able to display those qualities of an officer to be able to reenter that office. If there's a need for that or if there's not better candidates, they're not required to have it back. So that idea of holiness and healing, they're not in contrast. So Augustine and the Donatists, there's a false dichotomy there and it's an important controversy in the church. And this right here, this text helps to display holiness allows for the healing. holiness allows for the healing. And so there's the miraculous healings that occur, but those are helping to display that. And these miraculous healings that are in the book of Acts are emphasized also point to the reality of the mercy ministry of the church and the healing power of the new covenant ordinances. And so following this holiness and healing emphasis, we have this imprisonment again. There's another persecution that occurs, the imprisonment of Peter. And so the imprisonment that occurs there results in another confrontation, another trial. And so we have chapter 5, verse 29, and we have a more clear, even than the last time, statement. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. So any command that's contrary to or in addition to what God has commanded, we have no obligation to obey it. God alone is Lord of the conscience and has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men. We ought to obey God rather than men." Now after that trial there is this question. Gamaliel wants to talk without them there. He says, look, maybe this is God's work, maybe it's not. Let's just leave them alone. Let's not be found fighting against God. And everybody goes, oh, that's so prudent and practical and pragmatic. And God uses the pragmatic evil of other people for the good of the church. This is not an example to us that we should be pragmatic and not be concerned to differentiate. This is not the Bible saying that you should be like Gamaliel and be a pluralist, right? It is just saying This is what happened, and Gamaliel was used to be able to preserve the church from persecution for some time. Not ultimately, not for that long, but in that particular case. And so that's his famous line in chapter 5, verse 39. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God. And everybody claps and is very pious. But that's not great advice. If something is of God, you should be able to figure it out from the Bible. And if it's not of God, you should be able to figure that out from the Bible. And so, you should fight against the things that are not of God, and you should fight in favor of the things that are for God, and there's no neutrality. There is no neutrality. You are for Christ, or you are against it. There is no neutrality. Chapter 6. The deacons are instituted to replace the Levites. And when the deacons are instituted to replace the Levites, we have this emphasis over and over again. One of the themes that I should have mentioned when we were going through Peter's two earlier sermons is this idea of a new Moses, a better Moses. Jesus is the better Moses. And so he is giving the law in more detail. He's giving power in more detail. He's the better high priest. And so we've had that contrast. But then we have this idea of signs and wonders. There's also this idea of power and wisdom or gifting and wisdom. And so we see over and over again this idea of the power and the wisdom. So verse 3 talks about the Holy Spirit and wisdom. Verse 5, faith and the Holy Spirit. Think about wisdom and faith and how they relate. Holy Spirit, Holy Spirit. Then we have in verse 8, being full of faith and power. Faith and faith and wisdom, those are all the same. But power and the Holy Spirit are related. And then we have wisdom and the spirit. The idea of the spirit giving power. Chapter 7, there's favor and wisdom. So this idea of being given gifts or favor in terms of being given a gifting power and wisdom, the doctrine, the faith. Chapter 7, verse 22, wisdom of the Egyptians. is talked about in the idea of being mighty in words and deeds. So that mighty versus the wisdom. And so there's this continual theme there that's being used to talk about the idea of the doctrine and the power. And so in chapter six, the being able to have a diaconal ministry You know, the mercy ministry is giving material blessing and doing things of power because of the doctrine. Mercy ministry is in the name of Christ. It presupposes the doctrine. Mercy ministry presupposes the doctrine. And so we have the establishment of the mercy ministry and the diaconate in the church, and we avoid having those who are teaching the doctrine being taken up in their time with the administration of those things, and so there's a setting up of the diaconal ministry. Then from there, It causes the things to be even better and it resolves a problem in the church. The other thing I want to point out is that there's also the congregation nominates, the congregation elects, and the officers lays hands on. That's the process. Nomination by the heads of household, election by the heads of household, laying hands on by the existing officers. That's what you see. And so that's the order. It's a dual key system. You cannot put an officer in without the agreement of the heads of house and of the existing officers. Neither one is sufficient. Either one can remove. Chapter seven. Stephen, who is one of these angels, sorry, Stephen, who is one of these deacons, is taken and there's a There's an accusation of blasphemy at the end of chapter six. And so he gives a defense in which he lays out kind of going from Abraham and the patriarchs to going into Moses and explaining what God did in the 40 years sections and he talks about from there the tabernacle and the idea of Israel not having properly obeyed God in the past and the rejection of of Jesus is worse than the rejection of angels and that again should remind you the book of Hebrews which talks about that so we have this theme of Moses and of angels and that Jesus is better as a messenger than the angels and better than Moses as a mediator of the covenant and that he's better than the old high priest right so the book of Hebrews which focuses on the priestly administration the book of Acts and Luke written for this focus on the priestly element are you see all that stuff relating to each other so The people hear this, they're cut to the heart, but not in a good way. They get really mad, and Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, he gazes into heaven, he saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at Him with one accord. So there that one accord is used in a different way. and won a court of evil. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul, and they stoned Stephen as he was calling on God and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Then he knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, Lord, do not charge them with this sin. And when they had said this, he fell asleep." When he had said this, he fell asleep. So he dies. Now his prayer is answered, Stephen's prayer is answered, in that Saul repents. Right? So there's this emphasis now on Saul as we begin to move out of Jerusalem. Chapter 8, verses 1 through 3. Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church, which was at Jerusalem. And they were all scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havoc of the church, entering every house and dragging off many women, committing them to prison. So we're introduced to Saul, persecution of Stephen, and the scattering of the church. And so persecution and scattering, they are fleeing as the Lord Jesus Christ commanded. When you are persecuted, you're commanded to flee if you don't have the power to defend. Or in this case, it wasn't reasonable to care about defending Jerusalem because they already knew from prophecy, from Jesus Christ, that Jerusalem was going to be destroyed. So staying, trying to defend it and take the place over, that was not what they were commanded to do. They were not to defend themselves Purim-style. There, they were supposed to get out. And they were leaving that place to the Lord Jesus Christ to deal with. And so it will be judged and it will be destroyed in 70 AD. And that happened. And so there's this scattering and that fleeing out. And look, everybody leaves except for the apostles. And so they go. and they're preaching the gospel as they go. Verse four, therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. And so they're giving the gospel. And so that is the effect, as the people are going out, the non-apostles are going out, and they are spreading the gospel. So we see the word begin to go fill Samaria and Judea. So that's the summary of the beginning there. And there's a lot in there. We spent a lot of time going through it initially. But hopefully I've covered the main things. Any comments, questions, or objections from the voting members? Mr. Nye? Thank you for your teaching on the recent. I had a question about the last point that you made regarding the fleeing from Jerusalem and the I guess, the obedience to that thing. So I suppose, providentially, that the persecution does subside at some point. Because, I mean, later on, you see churches existing in Jerusalem. And I'm not sure about the extent to which they were on the ground or not. But you have the Council of Apostles. Peter's there. And then you have other prophets, James. And then you have a church that's existing there. So I wanted to know, I guess, this doesn't seem like a permanent flee from the city. Would you agree with that? Yes, the question is, Do I agree that this was not a permanent fleeing from the city since there are churches that come in there later? And the answer is yes, I agree. Okay, so with, so I guess how we can see this is you can have temporary flee from persecution. that is obedient to the Lord, that's not being foolish and staying in a place. And when conditions get better, you can return. I'm just, this is obvious, as I'm saying, but I'm just processing that a lot. Sure. So, Mr. Nye, you're saying the When there's persecution, there can be temporary fleeing and then returning back after. Yes, that was common in the Reformation. It's common in the Bible. It's clearly the case in the book of Acts that you have temporary fleeing in times of persecution and the ability to come back. But my point about not defending Jerusalem was not to make a statement that this was their ultimate evacuation from Jerusalem and they're never coming back. My point was saying there's a combination of reasons to leave here. One, they're under persecution, they have insufficient power to defend themselves. Two, you look at Jerusalem and you say it's not worth defending as a long-term home because there's prophecy that there's a judgment that needs to come in the very near future within the time of this generation. And so For two reasons, it makes no sense to seek to risk your life to defend your place there. Which also goes into, why is everybody selling their property in Jerusalem? They're selling it off and giving it to the church because of the fact that they have no expectation of it lasting past that generation. So they are unrooting themselves from Jerusalem in preparation for its destruction. OK. Great. Anything else? Let's pray. Father, we ask that you would bless the preaching of your word. We thank you for the book of Acts and for this section in the beginning, the first seven chapters and part of chapter eight. We ask that you would help us to store up the Word in our hearts, to remember the Book of Acts well, and to be able to think about it in an orderly way, in a good way, having spent all this time going through it, but also now reviewing the material and seeing how much we have gone through and how much material there is, how much density of material there really is in these few pages. To think about all of what we just covered is in roughly seven pages of material. and I ask that you would give us great wisdom and cause us to bear much fruit from this wisdom. We pray this in Christ's name.