Acts 4:13 to 37

okay welcome back as we're continuing our verse-by-verse Bible study through Acts chapter four and I'm Robert breaker and last time we stopped here all around verse 12 but we'll probably go back to verse 10 and start from there today and last time we looked at the church and what the body of Christ is and how all these Jews that got saved they got saved into the body of Christ and I showed you last time how there were eight thousand it says they got saved where was that it was a verse son oh no five thousand there were five thousand verse before that believed so we're reading in this chapter of our Peters preaching and five thousand people believe when we go back to Acts chapter two verse 41 and here's what happened then you had three thousand who believed acts 2:41 and we read and they that gladly received his word but baptized the same day that we're added unto them about 3,000 Souls for five thousand plus three thousand is eight thousand so that's eight thousand souls that are already believing in who Jesus is and they're believing in that name we're gonna see today just how important it is to believe on the name of Jesus it's all about that name for some reason now we're also gonna kind of read between the drama the lines there's a lot going on in this book of Acts and as I read it I read it over and over and over and over and over and God shows me more and more and more and more and more every time and there's a lot of things going on if you'll just take time and just meditate on what's really taking place here because it's pretty amazing and what's going on well chapter 4 the Pharisees come along and they laid hands on Peter and I guess it was John who was with him in verse 2 they laid hands on verse three they laid hands on them and then they which is by the way kidnapping they basically kidnapped him and so then they go and they um they try to have like a little mock trial with these guys and we read that last time and they asked this question verse 7 when they had set them in the midst they asked them well by what power but what Nate or by what name have you done this and I said last time that they're asking that kind of like this anyway so who gave you this power to go heal people what's his name like ants anyway so you guys got a devil who's the devil that helps you do these miracles because we read in other places of Acts where there's the magician and so he can do tricks and magicians and and we know that it's Devils that do that so it's almost like these religious leaders these lost religious leaders are saying so what demon do you have mr. Peter to go around and heal people well what does Peter say Peter speaks up there in verse eight and then Peter filled with the Holy Ghost said to them you rulers of the people the elders of Israel if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the ax man pits of man by what means he is made whole be it known unto you all Peter says look I'm gonna address you politicians you you false religious leaders but I'm also want everyone here to hear now are those eight thousand there I don't know there certainly were probably a lot of lost people there as well so this might have been in front of eleven twelve thousand people this was a big deal this wasn't just some little thing that happened in some little church somewhere on the corner this was happening in downtown Jerusalem and all Jerusalem was aware of what was going on here and Peter says in verse 10 be it known to you all and to all the people of Israel remember the first couple of chapters all the way out to chapter seven the first chevon chapters are all about the Jews so he says it again be it known unto you and all the people of Israel remember the first seven chapters of Acts are only the Jews you can't take that doctrine there and try to force it to us today with Paul's teachings okay acts 2:38 is not the gospel of salvation for today first Corinthians 15 one through four is but it says being honor to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified whom God raised from the dead even by him that this man stand here before you whole so the man that God healed the lame guy he comes out there he's there too and they're examining this the religious leaders the Pharisees the priests and they're looking at this in there and Peter says look Jesus Christ now notice what he says by the name of Jesus Christ so Peter invokes the name of Jesus the name of Jesus is a compound word J Seuss J is short for Jehovah and Seuss is the Greek for saves well Jehovah is the god of the Old Testament so Peter is telling them like I said you got to read between the lines about the great God and Savior the creator of the universe is the only one that can heal us and resurrect from the dead so you Pharisees you religious leaders you liars and I told you last time that these religious leaders what did they do they were the ones that that went around telling everybody to kill Jesus so they were murderers and they were kidnappers now what we're gonna find there's a long list of their sins because they were corrupt got to be careful when leaders get in power and become corrupt they abused their power what do they do they laid hold on them and they put them in hold verse 3 they put them in a hold so they kidnapped him and against their will kept them somewhere you know in verse 10 it says be known to you to all the people they drove up by the name of Jesus Christ he doesn't just call him Jesus his name he gives him a title but Christ is not a name Christ is a title the title of Jesus is Christ the title is Anointed One that's what Christ means The Anointed One we say Messiah in English that's from the Hebrew word miss man I can't even spell it misiek so I'm not gonna even try but Messiah so Jesus Christ is the Messiah so Peter is sitting here telling these religious leaders he's schooling the lost religious leaders telling them look the very one that the law and the prophets point to has come and you murdered him then you kidnapped me and now you're trying to tell me that I got a demon what you're the murderer you're the liar you're the filthy ones you can't accept that Jesus is the Christ the Messiah you need to be saved verse 12 neither is there salvation in any other for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be safe so again he invokes that name it's all about the name of Jesus in the early book of Acts and having to believe in the name of Jesus so we see here how Peter responds back to the rulers of Israel reminds them of the healing miracle that took place in chapter 3 he said that it was by Jesus's name that he did that stuff the power that he had to heal did not come from himself or a demon or a devil it came from the Christ from the very Messiah that Israel was supposed to be waiting for and you know you read your Bible you go back to the Book of Daniel Daniel made a prophecy of when Messiah the prince would come and he said it's gonna be in 483 and then there was the last week so it's a 490 prophecy but talked about the Messiah coming every Jewish leader read their Bible if they had just looked at the prophecy of Daniel and said okay I'm gonna count the days they would have seen to the birth of Christ exactly they would have seen exactly that Jesus Christ is their Messiah but they said now we don't want to believe that now there's a question that I have is why wouldn't they believe that Jesus was the Messiah why were they so envious of Christ why did they want to kill Jesus and well I'm not gonna get into that right now but it could be because they knew their religion was a farce I've got here in my Bible something that I read one day and it was a note in my Bible and it kind of made me wonder so let me see if I can find that I went there so I might as well finish and I was reading this in my Bible and I said what what I thought this was so wild alright look I think I found what I wanted to read I'm gonna throw this out here I'm not saying that I believe this or don't believe this but I was reading in the notes in the back of my Bible one day and these notes were put out by a guy named o JV Bernie whoever he has PhD and he says this and I thought this was quite interesting let me read this Alexander geneious died in the year 78 ABC leading to BC leaving two sons the elder high ORAC honest a man of weak character and rest obelus a restless ambitious schemer high rank and Alice re-size named succeeded but in short time Arista Willis had a sufficient following to rest the government from his brothers hands now this is while the Romans were in control of Israel higher canis woulda passed peaceful end of Lydian had not persons interested in having a weak man on the Jewish throne offered him their help prominent among these was anti-pattern governor of Adhamiya the father Herod the Great he encouraged high higher Chronos to resist his brother's usurpation and raised an army to assist him soon the country was plunged in the horrors of Civil War the conflict was at its height when Pompey the German general appeared on the scene he perceived that in the divided condition of the country its conquest would be easy he laid siege to Jerusalem in 65 BC all right 65 before Christ and after C a fierce struggle captured it to the horror of pious Jews the irreverent Gentile forced his way into the Holy of Holies to assert what it was that the Jews worshiped he found it absolutely empty and was not a little Matt mystified at his discovery now when I read that in my notes I kind of went what here's what the Jewish temple looks like all right this is the Jewish temple and it's divided into several parts and in the very back of the Jewish temple is what's called the Holy of Holies this is where the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be all right yeah when Jesus showed up he was born at zero I guess I mean lookin forward from our calendar but there is no such thing as zero so he died at 33 AD they tell us but it's 65 BC according to history a guy showed up who was a Roman he got ahold of this temple and he went into the Holy of Holies he opened it up and he looked in there and he said it was empty now I've always wondered about that if that's true and I don't know that's why I'm not teaching this dogmatically but if it was true wasn't there the entire Jewish religion would have been a farce if that was true and Jesus would have known this so when Jesus showed up and he preached against the Pharisees he knew that they were liars because they didn't even have the Ark of the Covenant they weren't even following the Old Testament law once a year bringing into the Holy of Holies the blood to forgive the people of Israel now again I don't know that I was kind of surprised when I found that in my notes and I was able to read other notes that go way back to Antiochus of epiphanies and how he went in several times and and was able to take over way before that so the Bible says under the law if you know the Old Testament law the Bible says that the priests the religious leaders were supposed to go into that and offer up the blood but only the high priest once a year so no one would ever have gone into this building matter of fact in the Old Testament there's a place where a guy went into the Holy of Holies and God killed him dead he said no one's ever allowed in there except for one man ever and that's the high priest so the high priest was it like a I don't know I'm trying to explain this was it in the time of Jesus that when Jesus showed up he knew that the religious leaders were liars they knew that they were running a scam on the people claiming to offer forgiveness of their sins claiming to be following the law but they did even have the Ark of the Covenant I don't know I'm not going to say that 100% but that's what happened reading through the Bible I think that the Ark of the Covenant was hidden by Jeremiah and since the cap W of Babylon so it probably it's been quite a long time that the Jews hadn't had their their covenant so I'm looking at history and I'm looking at this note this historical note from this guy and who knows if it's true or not but if it is true then Jesus Christ the reason that he was against the religious leaders and called them hypocrites is because they didn't even have the Ark of the Covenant to begin with and they're telling all of Israel come unto us for salvation let us save you because we can save you through the blood because you know they'd offered up the blood into the Holy of Holies but no one could ever see if they did that what if they didn't even have the Ark of the Covenant so that was all a lie well then it starts to make sense so that's why Jesus was so against the religious leaders because there's a lot there are a bunch of liars claiming to be the only true religion but they didn't even have the very thing that they were supposed to have to put the blood on to complete their religion and that would explain if it's true and like I said I don't know why they wanted Jesus killed because they knew he knew their secret he knows the secret that we don't even have the Ark of the Covenant we're lying to the people and telling them that we're offering up for their forgiveness of their sins once a year in that Holy of Holies and we don't even have the place we're supposed to so just a thought but if that's the case then you go over here look at what he's telling these people back to Acts chapter four he says verse twelve neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be safe we must be safe so he's telling these religious leaders look you're not even saved he's saying you look bunch of hypocrites you must be saved you need salvation you lost religious people you're going around telling the people of Israel that you're the ones that God chose to help them find forgiveness of theirs through a blood atonement and you don't even have the thing that you're supposed to offer the blood atonement on so I don't know I'm not saying that that is 100% what was that that was the fact that there was no Ark of the Covenant so there was no sacrifice in there I don't know but I thought it was interesting that in my Bible there was a note about that from some guy so it could be it could be that Jesus came to offer himself for the forgiveness of sins for the people of Israel because the people he put in charge the religious leaders weren't even given the sacrifice like they were supposed to now they would still do the sacrifice out out in the in the front for each individual but the sacrifice for the nation see that's what this was once a year for the entire nation that wasn't being done so Jesus Christ became the sacrifice for the nation now go back to our study on Hebrews for more on that and you'll see the difference between the sacrifice for the individual and the once yearly sacrifice for the nation so I read that note and I thought well that would be so something wouldn't that be interesting that these Pharisees were pretending to be the religious leaders and yet they didn't even have a religion because the very thing that they were supposed to have the Ark of the Covenant to offer the blood on to do the blood atonement for the sins of the tarnation they didn't even have no wonder now it makes sense why Jesus would have called them hypocrites so here we go he's preaching to these religious leaders and he says Vietnam to you all to the people of Israel it by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified God has raised him from the dead so they're kidnappers are they kidnapped these two to have a little fake trial they're murderers he tells them you guys you killed Jesus they're hypocrites that's what Jesus called them a bunch of hypocrites and now look at what he says here in verse 11 this is the stone which is what said it nought of you builders which has become the head of the corner all right so what Peter is saying here is a quote from an Old Testament first Peter is quoting from Psalms 118 22 so let's go back and again as we read through Acts whenever some he quotes something from an Old Testament verse let's read that whole chapter because it's pertinent to what he's saying Psalms 118 verse 22 look at what the Bible says and that's one chapter before the longest chapter in the whole Bible psalm 119 psalm 118 22 the stone which the builders refused has become the head of the storms of the corner this is a prophetic averse about Jesus Christ now let's read the entire chapter and see what Peter is telling them because these Pharisees would have known this chapter and they would have remembered that verse when he quoted it and they would remembered all the context so what is psalms 118 and does it apply to these false corrupt lying hypocrites religious leaders psalms 118 oh give thanks it to the Lord for he is good because his mercy endures forever yeah we should give thanks to God always let Israel now say that his mercy endures forever let the house of Aaron now say his mercy endures forever the house of Aaron well that's where the Levitical priesthood comes from from the house of air and he was from the tribe of Levi so those religious leaders were all Levites they should say oh his brother disappears forever verse 4 let them now that fear of the Lord say that his mercy endures forever no that's what they didn't have those religious letters didn't fear of the Lord they should have they should have I have called upon the Lord in distress the Lord answered me and sent me in a large place verse 5 verse 6 the Lord is on my side I will not fear what can man do unto me 7 the Lord taketh my part with them that help me therein shall I see my desire upon them that hate me verse 6 is very good what can be in doing to me that's almost like Peter saying hey what are you gonna do to me I haven't done anything wrong I healed the guy what sin is that it's interesting how you go back to the old verses that are quoted and there's so much that seems to apply to what's in the New Testament verse 8 is better to trusted the Lord and to put confidence in man verse 9 it is better to trust in the Lord of the put confidence in Princes so Peter is this Peter trying to insinuate by going back and quoting this passage of Scripture hey remember I'm not going to trust in you I'm trusting in the Lord verse 10 all nations comes to me about but in the of the Lord will I destroy them they compass me about gave a compass me about but in the name of the Lord I will destroy them this is God speaking through through David saying hey the nation's tried to kill me I'm gonna destroy them God says I'm gonna destroy the nation someday first well they compass me about like bees they are quenched as the fire of thorns for in the name of the Lord I will destroy them thou has thrust sore at me that I might fall but the Lord helped me the Lord is my strength and song and has become my salvation David is saying the Lord is my salvation Peter and Acts chapter 4 verse 12 says Jesus Christ is your salvation and you must be safe because there's no salvation outside of the Lord the very lord that David is speaking about in this song verse 15 the voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacle of the righteous the right hand of the Lord of valent Lee the right hand of the Lord has exalted the right hand of Lord of violently I shall not die but live and declare the works of the Lord the Lord hath chasing me sore but he hath not given me over unto death open to me the gates of righteous though I will go into them and I will praise the Lord this gate of the Lord unto which the righteous shall enter I will praise thee for thou hath heard me and art become my salvation then we have verse 22 that he quoted the stone which the builders refused to become the head of the stone of the corner headstone of the corner or 23 this is the Lord's doing it is marvelous in our eyes this is the day which the LORD hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it save now I beseech thee O Lord oh Lord I beseech thee sin now prosperity well that's what they were wanting then we're preaching Christ so that Jesus could come now and set up the Millennial Kingdom blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord God is the Lord which has showed us like bind the sacrifice with cords even the horns of the altar verse 20 thou art my god and I will praise thee that word my god I will exalt thee o give thanks to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endureth forever so quite interesting that Peter is speaking to these religious Pharisees and we know the Holy Spirit is in him speaking and the Holy Spirit says now I'm quoting Psalms 118 22 so your idea should be well read Tom 118 and it's talking about Jesus being salvation and then in verse 12 Paul says in acts 4:12 neither is there salvation in any other there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby you must be saved what is the name name is Jesus but in the old Old Testament back in that Psalm it's talking about the Lord that's why Paul refers to Jesus Christ as the Lord Jesus Christ that's what Peter calls him the Lord so verse 13 now we go back to Acts chapter 4 verse 13 now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant man they marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus so Peter and John weren't the smartest cookies they weren't learning in the sense that Paul was Paul was a lawyer Peter was just a fisherman they didn't know much but they knew enough that they were gonna stand up and say what they knew and they knew that they killed Jesus but that God raised him from the dead and that the only way to be safe is how through the name of Jesus so look what he says there in verse 10 be known to you in to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus verse 12 there's no other name under heaven whereby you must be safe go back to Acts chapter 3 Acts chapter 3 verse 15 this sounds a lot like what he's saying in acts 3:15 and killed the Prince of life whom God has raised from the dead where we are witnesses well he just told him in acts 4:10 that they killed Jesus they crucified Him and God raised him from the dead verse 16 and his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong so this message of Peter is faith in the name of Jesus it's all about believing in the name so again I say it's the new gospel all believing about who Jesus is and that the truth for us today is the gospel of Paul it's all about trusting in what Jesus did now after the rapture it goes back to the Jews and the same message will be preached who Jesus is trusting in his name and suchlike so back to Acts chapter 4 verse 13 so they marveled at these guys because there how could these guys be singing this they're not learning in the scriptures so like I say when you read the book of Acts you have to read between the lines all Peter did was quote one verse in verse 11 but it sounds like the way they took it was Peter wasn't just saying that one verse he was quoting the whole chapter and the whole chapter has to do with the salvation coming of the Messiah coming so it's like these these Pharisees were saying he's not just saying that Jesus died and rose again he's saying that he was the Christ that he was the Messiah that's why in verse 10 it says the name of Jesus Christ remember that Christ is the title so it's so easy to just quickly read through the book of Acts and not catch this but as you scrutinize it as you read it you clearly see that Paul is preaching that Jesus was the Messiah and it gets even clearer as we continue and that the Jews had to believe that they killed their Messiah now verse 14 and beholding the man which was healed standing with him that could say nothing against it alright so they could say nothing against what happened what Peter did in healing this fella they could not deny the miracle that took place all they wanted to know was from what power and from what name verse 7 this is what the Pharisees asked and when they have said them in the midst they asked them but what power about what name have you done this Peter says I did it by the power of Almighty God in the name of Jesus the Christ of Nazareth the Messiah he is the head which the builders rejected that he is salvation now you go back to Acts chapter 4 and verse 15 but when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council that conferred among themselves so these religious leaders all got together and they began to talk I need to go well or murderers or kidnappers we're hypocrites we if this is true we don't even have an Ark of the Covenant if the people ever found out and they knew who we were what we could we'd be in trouble well they should have done right there it says let's just get down on our knees and just accept Jesus Christ and let him come back right there and set up his kingdom what they didn't know they didn't know they they love their power they love their position and they didn't want to give it up so look what they did verse 16 saying so they got they they told them to leave and they got aside in their own little council and they spoke together the religious leaders the politicians saying what shall we do to these men for that indeed of notable miracle have been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it we can't deny that this lame man is now walking around and that he was healed so they said it was a miracle that they that's their confession they confess that we saw a miracle but they didn't believe you see they're not believing in the name it's all about believing in the name the early book of Acts so they chose not to believe but they confess that it took place they said yeah yeah there was a miracle verse 17 but that it spread no farther among the people let us straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name so now what did they do now they go along and they threaten someone while they sound like he's thinking mafia they sound like Don Carlo Nia according to Cory alone E or whatever that guy's name I never watched another Godfather people tell me it's a good movie it's so boring but there they say what are we gonna do well they'll threaten these guys because what are the religious leaders we're the ones in charge here we don't like what they're saying while they're reminding people that we murdered Jesus well we're gonna have to shut them up so did they humble themselves they come to Jesus nope they double down and said that's it we will not let these guys continue it said let us straightly threaten them that they speak hits forth to no man in his name so what do they do they try to suppress their speech and trying to take away free speech now when you see what these religious leaders are doing you clearly see the death of a nation the United States of America we're seeing the same thing take place in our country we are seeing communist progressive a socialist liberals trying to take over our country and they want to suppress our free speech and they threaten us and there they want to murder us and kidnap us but before they can get there they try to tell us what we can and can't say it's the same corrupt crowd that wants power and authority and yet they're corrupt so what do they do well they make threats verse 16 it says that a notable miracle have been done and we can't deny it so verse 17 since we can't fight it well let's threaten them it says but then it spread no farther among the people verse 17 let us straightly straightly threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name don't mention the name of Jesus whatever you do why that's the name they gave the power to heal why would you not want that in force 18 and they called them and commanded them to speak not to speak and they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus all right so they said don't speak take away their free speech and don't talk they tried to control their speech if Americans give in to this communist crap garbage evil that's trying to take over our country there will be a day which a Christian won't have any right to speak and teach the gospel or to preach the Bible that's what they're trying to take away and that's what they're working hard at doing today we're seeing the progressive Democratic Party and all these Maoists trying to do the same thing they're the same wicked religious leaders as the people in the time of Jesus and Peter so they tell them look you can't teach no teaching don't talk don't even teach why to teach why you have to be a certified state trained teacher and so if you'll come to state and let us teach you in college will tell you what you can and can't say political correctness I'm reading the Bible and I'm like what a parallel man we're seeing the same thing today they're trying to shut up Christians with the exact same agenda and they're doing the same thing trying to threaten us take away our speech tell us what we can and can't say so here's what happened verse 18 and they called them okay so they called Peter and John and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus they say you can't do this now what Peter say we see the defiant attitude of Peter Peter says I'm gonna listen to you who do you think you are you bunch of hypocrites that's what Jesus called him he said no I cannot follow you or obey you because you are murderers so you see when a corrupt leader is in charge and he's so corrupt that he is not lawful he's not keeping the law then you have to do right by not obeying him one of the founding fathers of America was Benjamin Franklin he said know this obedience to tyranny is obedience to God what was he saying you can never obey someone who's disobeying Jesus disobeying God you can never obey someone and do something wrong laws should never be passed that make you sin and go against your conscience so here we find Peter giving us an example of when a man tells you that you can't do the ministry the preaching and the teaching of the word of God then you can't obey that man I don't care who he is and so he says here but Peter and John answered and said unto the in verse 19 whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than to unto God judge II verse 24 we cannot but Speak the things which we have seen and heard Peter basically stands up and says I don't care what you say you judge should I do what you say or should I do what God says do I speak what God tells me to say or do I shut up and not say because you say not to said you judge what would you do how that guy says that you judge did you judge you which is better to speak what God says in the sight of man or to say nothing because you said so and by the way you're not God I just love the way the Peter speaks to these people so Peters defiant attitude shows basically saying who should we obey God or man Peter says he cares only about testifying of what he's seen he's like I'm only going to say what I see I'm only going to speak the truth what do they wanted to do lie you cannot lie because the government says so as a Christian you should always tell the truth so it's just it's amazing to see how today we see the government when when corrupt people get in why they want to silence their opposition sometimes they murder them or kidnap them but they begin by threatening them and taking away their free speech and saying well you can't do this you can't do that and the way to get along with them is to lie if Peter says I'm not gonna do it I'm not gonna lie I'm gonna tell the truth and you guys can't do anything about it and he stood up to them what did they do verse 21 so when they had further threatened them they let them go finding nothing how they might punish them alright so what they do they even threaten them even more and then they desire to punish them who is it that wants to punish the guilty party the murderous kidnapper hypocrite liars who are trying to take away free speech who are lying who are threatening who are evil they're trying to punish the good and we see that when evil gets power it wants to punish their good and the right thing to do according to the Bible is to speak the truth and tell the truth and preach the gospel and teach the Word of God so when they had farther further threatened them and let them go finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people for all men glorified God for that which was done so these religious Pharisees they still were afraid of the crowd you know there's eight thousand at least against how many Pharisees maybe 100 200 300 who knows how many there were but the majority saw the truth the minority was against the truth and the minority was in power that's called an oligarchy I've read many years ago Plato's Republic I don't know if you've ever read that it's interesting Plato wasn't saved so I don't like the guy I'm not recommending you read him but he would in that book he would say that governments work in cycles it starts as Republic in a republic laws govern everyone follows the law then it degrades into a democracy a democracy is mob rule in a democracy the people vote on what they want to be the law and if you can sway people into into passing a dishonest or an evil or a wicked law then everyone has to obey it no it shouldn't be that way and then a small group takes power and takes over and that's called the oligarchy and Plato said that an oligarchy always ends up in a dictatorship all right you look in the United States of America was founded as a republic every single day all over the news all over newspapers what are you here and the democracy our democracy the democracy of the United State No America is not a democracy it's a republic but what are they trying to do the Socialists the progressives the the Communists our small group there's more Americans that aren't communists than those there are but the Communists are doing this to try to take over power the holy gark II that the minority so that they can set up a dictatorship so they threaten people they tell people well politically correct you can't say this you can't teach that you can't say this do you see how that works you can never give in to an old you can never give in to the Communists because they're not of God you must have freedom of speech and you must speak what you know is true all right so verse 21 they threatened them even more but they found nothing to punish them shows that they wanted to punish they wanted to punish these men because they were in charge even though they were the minority they wanted to know we're in charge and you can't do what we said they wanted to hurt them but God protected them now verse 22 for the man was about 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing was showed now why does the Bible tell us the age of the man who was healed the layman I don't know but in context you've got these evil wicked corrupt religious leaders wanting to find something any on the early apostles that they could use against them in order to put them in jail to where they could beat them and punish them and imprison them to shut up their influence and - shut up their mouths so if it been a young boy do you think maybe they would have said oh you guys you're just so even while you're abusing young young people isn't it funny that that's always one of the first things that the evil wicked people try to say against a good person well you're a child molester what you know one of the worst things that a person in this world could be is someone that hurts a child so what these evil wicked corrupt religious leaders do is they want to think what's the worst person the worst thing that a person could be and then how could I try to make people think that that's what this person is because if I could get them to think that he's one of them well then they'd never listen to what they have to say and so that's what they do they try to make you people think you're a child molester or you beat up children or you're a woman a wife beater or you're you know anything and so what it is is that the guilty the evil lie about the good and say things that aren't true Christians just tell the truth conservatives need to stand up and tell the truth always because the truth will always prevail alright verse 23 and being let go they went to their own company and reported all of the chief priests and elders had said unto them so the exact opposite of what they were told to do by their religious leaders they did the opposite they didn't shut up they didn't allow their free speech to be token taken rather they said everything they witnessed what they saw and they said this is what they did truth will always prevail never allow anyone to silence your speech ever especially a political organization always stand up for what's right and say what's right and now verse 24 when they heard that that they lifted up their voice to God with one Accord and said Lord thou art God which hath made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them okay so here we go when they heard that whose the day that heard that well these eight thousand believers other believers in Christ the early church when they heard what happened to Peter and John they lifted up their voice and they said truly God you are the creator god what were they saying they're saying you're the Lord you're the Creator you're the Messiah you're God manifest in the flesh and you loved us enough mister creator to come down and die in our place and you rose again and now you're ready to come back in your kingdom and we believe that you are God the Creator so in that amazing that they they accepted who Jesus was what is his name Jehovah saved Jehovah is the creator of the universe so they they're trusting and who he is they're not trusting yet and what he did for them they're trusting in who he is as the creator of heaven and earth now verse 25 goodbye the mouth of the sir of thy servant David hath said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things this is a quote of Psalms chapter 2 so let's go to Psalms chapter 2 they're quoting Psalms chapter 2 verse 1 now who is quoting this the early church the early church only had at that time the Old Testament so they're going through and reading the Old Testament day after day after day after day after day and they're finding Jesus Christ in the Old Testament and they're saying man it's all about him and the Pharisees they can't see it Pharisees don't see Jesus as the Messiah they don't want to see it but he says as one of the heathen rage and the people imagine imagine vain thing well here it is in Psalms chapter 2 verse 1 why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing the kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying well that's the next verse in verse 26 I believe in Acts chapter 4 so it's the two verses that are quoted verse 3 let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us well see how this applies to to what we're reading in acts let us break their bands what do they try to do these religious leader religious leaders are trying to put bands in or put chords up tie them up try to chain them down make them slaves to them no we're free Christ we break free from your evil you will not cover and over us you you corrupt political liars we have the true religious leader its Christ first for he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall have them in derision who's sitting in heaven God Jesus Christ then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure so the wrath of God is going to come upon these people who don't accept Jesus these corrupt people they're not going to get away with their corruption someday they will pay and then it says here verse six yet have I set my king upon his mind holy hill of Zion I will declare the decree the Lord has said unto me thou art my son this day have I begotten thee ask me and I shall give thee even for light inheritance and the other most parts of the earth for that possession thou shalt break then with the rod of iron dust shalt dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel be wise now therefore are ye Kings be instructed you judges of the earth serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling kiss the son lest he be angry and he perish from the way when his wrath is kindled a little blessed are all day that put their trust in him trust in him so their to trust in Jesus waiting for that Kingdom to come well the leaders rejected so the kingdom's way out here now but we got safe today because of it and it's a great thing that we Gentiles can be saved today so back to Acts chapter 4 in verse 25 who by the mouth of sermon David said why did the heathen rage and the people imagine vain things that Psalms 2:1 the kings of the earth stood up the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ that sounds an awful lot about like verse two but I looked at this and I thought to myself huh-huh acts 426 the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers work together together against the Lord and His Christ and I myself huh that sounds like Psalms 59 so let's go to Psalms 59 the rulers of this world at that time or who Rome so what happened to Jesus the religious leaders went to Pilate and Herod who are the religious leaders of the time are the secular leaders the kings of the earth at the time at that area and they join together to kill Jesus so the Jewish religious leaders got together with the leaders of the world the kings of the earth the kings at that time and they killed Christ Psalms 59 and well let's see kings of the earth or let's see first oh let's see first one deliver me from my enemies of God and defend them that rise up against me deliver me from the workers of iniquity and save me from bloody men for lo they lie in wait for my soul the mighty are gathered against me not for my transgression nor for my soul here's Jesus speaking through David about those that are against him the mighty are gathered against him and we just ran in there where he says the kings of the earth are against him so that made me think of this verse where it says they're against him let's just go ahead and read the whole chapter they run it propel themselves without my fault awake to help me and behold now therefore O Lord God of hosts the God of Israel awake to visit all the heathen be not merciful to thy wicked transgressors sail off they return an evening they make a noise like a dog and go around about the city behold they belch out with their mouths words in their lips for who said they death here but Thou O Lord shalt laugh at that they also have all the heathen in derision sounds a lot like Psalm chapter 2 because of his strength will I wait upon thee for God is my defense the God of my mercy shall prevent me God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies slay them not less my people forget scatter them by thy power and bring them down Oh Lord our shield for the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips let them even be taken in their pride and for cursing and lying which they speak sounds like he's talking about those leaders and their leaders of Israel who are the hypocrites and the liars and the bad people 13 consume them in Wrath consume them that they may not be and let them know that God that God rule within Jacob unto the ends of the earth to say law and in evening let them return and let them make a noise like a dog and go round about the city let them wander up and down for me and grudge if they be not satisfied but I will sing of that power yet I will single out of thy mercy in the morning and thou has been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble under the O my strength will I sing for God is my defence and God the God of my mercy so a lot of times is you reading through the book of Acts it sounds like bits and pieces of Psalms showing that the early church would have read their Bible and have known what it said so we go back there to verse 27 acts 4:27 another truth against thy Holy Child Jesus whom thou has loved 26 let's go back to verse 26 the kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ so we read some passages in Psalms 2 and it Psalms 59 about them rising up and who was it the kings the rulers so the religious leaders and the leaders of the day the secular leaders were against Christ verse 27 for of a truth against thy holy child Christ whom thou hast anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together so as I just stated the religious leaders joined together with the Gentile leaders and they all crucified Jesus Christ now what is gonna happen why why did they do that verse 24 to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done verse 29 now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak thy word all right so here's what's going on here this is a prayer they're praying and he says then now Lord so in verse 29 he begins praying he says and now lord please look from heaven at the threatenings that they're doing toward us and we just ask you Lord to fix this situation so it's kind of neat that as we're reading through here we're seeing what's taking place and we're seeing a prayer they're praying a prayer and they're praying Lord behold the threatenings of those evil people that are against us and grant unto us thy servants Lord that with all boldness we may speak that word lord help us to disobey what they said and not be quiet and not quit teaching but give us boldness to even more preach and speak thy word verse 30 by stretching forth thy hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by thy name and of the Holy Child Jesus so they're saying more play supposed to do more miracles so that Israel might believe remember Acts I mean 1st Corinthians 1:22 Jews seek after a sign we're still til we get to about chapter 7 8 somewhere in there still only dealing with Jews Jews need signs to believe so they're praying lord please help us in your name to be able to do these signs of the Jews my belief now verse 31 verse 31 and when they had prayed the place was shaking where they were assembled together with the Holy Ghost and they spoke the Word of God with boldness so they prayed for boldness in verse 29 and God gave them boldness in verse 31 and they are filled with the Holy Ghost now once you're saved you get the Holy Ghost and he stays in you but you can be filled that means you you get more or less but it never leaves you it's it's hard to explain what it is to be filled with the Holy Ghost but you've got the Holy Ghost when you're safe so it doesn't go and leave and go and they even go on LI it's there but to be filled means you just it's like you're filling a balloon the balloon has air in it you got more you got less but it always has air in it so they're filled with the Holy Ghost but what happened the place was shaken where they were assembled together sounds like an earthquake sort of if there was an earthquake at that time could you imagine these guys they would have felt it religious leaders are all sitting together after they got John and Peter to go away and there they're sitting there going well we told that guy man we're gonna we punished him we threatened him he's an idiot he knows what he's talking about telling us that Jesus is the Messiah what a jerk Nelson what's going on Oh earthquake you know how many more signs can they get so anyway it says they were all together they had just prayed for boldness and then what happened verse 31 they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and they spake the Word of God with boldness but you know what it does not say that they spake with tongues they didn't they spoke the Word of God with boldness and Hebrew it doesn't say and they spoke in tongues it doesn't say that it says they spoke the Word of God what does that mean that means they would have quoted more Old Testament Scriptures like Psalms - like Psalms 59 like Psalms 104 get what all the other chapters are the talking about Jesus Psalm 22 and other things now verse 32 the multi livin of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul neither said any of them that thought of the things which they had possessed was his own but they had all things common all right so they are all together in their belief would have been these eight thousand eight thousand and eleven really because there were eleven apostles or twelve ur I don't know there's over 8,000 people and this is one of the verses that Karl Marx uses as the foundation of communism and it says then they had all things in common and what did they do like 35 and they laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need and so Karl Marx said well here's what we ought to do we ought to just take everything from everybody put it all in a pile and give everybody how much they have need for well that is not what the Bible just said it does not say that we take from everybody what does it say they were all of one heart one soul neither said any of them aught of the things which he was of his own but they had all things common so what did they do they laid them down at the Apostles feet they of their own free will said what I have means nothing to me I'm gonna give it all to the church why did they do that because they thought the Messiah was going to come back and they wouldn't have mean of anything so the whole mindset of the communism our communism being a calm you is that Jesus about to come and take care of us as we read through the book of Acts and we read the Apostles of Paul we see capitalism we don't see communism Paul was in a capitalist society and as we read through Paul we find Paul going to different churches and taking up offerings and he was taking these offerings and he was taking it to other churches and giving it to them as they had a need but he wasn't telling them you must give this it was people of their own free will giving communism takes away your free will every communist country they say we're the government we're in charge and you give us everything and they will give you what we think you need and guess who is the richest people in communism the leaders because they're corrupt and they take everything you get that they take everything they steal their there they're thieves basically and they don't give to people as they have needed they give them very little while they themselves keep the most of it so communism is one of the worst ever political ideals in the history of the world and it murders people all communist regimes start out by threatening by taking away free speech by lying by punishing people by telling people you can't do this those who resist are kidnapped and murdered so we don't want communism so what we have here we have communism we have the early church together living in a commune in which the people of their own free will come together and say man just take what I got we'll all share and that's a wonderful thing but you must have the Holy Spirit first if you get a bunch of lost people together like that it doesn't always work because the sinful lost nature of man is but I want more and then there'll be a war so communism doesn't work we're not communists capitalism works you go work for what you have now if I have more than you and you need something and you're my brother in Christ well then of my own free will I'll help you that's how it works you don't have a right to come and take what I have or go to some government somewhere and say would you take everything he has and give me some of it go get a job go get a working going taking place and it's so rewarding to work and then get something because you earned it it's not rewarding to just sit around and wait for a handout it doesn't it's not good because you can always have more by working then you can sitting around and a handout and communism never gives you enough that's why every communist regime that's ever taken over a country and in the world has always fallen because the people get tired of it and say this just don't work the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and we want something let us go work for ourselves we don't want you government because you don't give us enough so anyway enough about that so they things which they possess was their own but they had all things in common verse 33 with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all so God's grace was upon them for them doing right for speaking out against corruption and saying the opposite of what they were told to say because they were told shut up and don't talk about Jesus and Jesus said no you go tell everyone about me so they said we'd rather obey God than me verse 34 neither was there anything among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of houses or lands sold them and bought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down at the Apostles feet and distribution was made into every man according as he had need again it was a willful giving it was not a forced taking away communism is a force taking away from everybody and that's not what the Bible teaches yeah that's what Karl Marx saw when he read this verse he says oh I like that well we should just take everything from everybody and then just distribute it to everybody and yet in his mind he's thinking if I'm in charge I'll keep a little bit more for me and that's how communism works the guy in charge gets the most and gets the biggest piece of the pie I mean picture like this you're on a deserted island with ten people and all of a sudden you get a pie you say I'm in charge here I'm the guy that gets to decide who gets the piece of pie so what I'm going to do I'm going to cut this pie up in a pieces or however many people there are and then and purpose cuts it to where he gets the biggest piece and then he gives everybody a piece and they say but they're no fair you got a bigger piece ago shut up I'm in charge here that's communism in a nutshell the guy in charge it's the biggest piece who wants that it's not fair it's not fair at all so anyway so they willingly came and laid them down with Apostles feet numbers 36 and Joseph who by the apostles was surnamed burn or not Barnabas which is being interpreted the son of consolation a Levite and of the country of Cyprus heavy land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the Apostles feet so I find this so amazing here we have a guy who's a Levite why is the Bible say he's a Levite all the religious leaders a priest of Israel the priests came from the tribe of Levi if you were from the tribe of Levi you were called a Levite the priesthood was called the Levitical priesthood so we're reading in the Bible of something that took place under the ministry of Peter Peter and John go to the temple they heal a guy ate a 5,000 people see that and belief so religious leaders come along and say no we'll have none of it and they punish him and persecute them and and tell them they can't talk about Jesus say yeah whatever we're gonna do anyway and they go and they start a great Church in the area there's 8,000 people all together living in a commune sharing things and they're all having a great time but the Bible says at the end of this chapter oh no by the way one of the Levi's got saved so let's add one here all these other people in the book of Acts so far that believed in the name of Jesus there's eight thousand of them it doesn't tell us what tribe they were from but this last part of this verse it says by the way guy was a Levite when I look at that I said well wonder why it's giving us that information then I said yeah that's right because the religious leaders were Levitical priests so it's almost like it's saying of the ruling class only one of them got converted the rest of them said I'd rather go to hell they live like that I'm happy being a ruler I'm happy in my ruling class I'm happy doing what I did and I don't want anything to do with that Jesus again power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely so at least one of those corrupt people was converted I think that's interesting how the Bible tells us that all right so well close there in verse 37 but verse 37 is very important because it's a contrast to verse 1 of chapter 5 chapter 5 begins but so it tells us say it contrasts verse 36 and 37 of this Barnabas or this Levite and how he sold everything he had to give it to the church and then it gives a contrast of this other guy named Ananias and how he has sold everything to give it to the church but yet he lied he kept back some of it so he wanted to be looked at as somebody who was a great Christian that gave everything when he didn't give everything and what happens to him well pretty scary and we'll get to that next time but I hope that's been a blessing to you I hope you can see what we're reading here please remember that the book of Acts is a transitional book and we're seeing the transition from the juice to the Gentiles and we're still only in those chapters which it's only Jews dealing with Jews but the takeaway from this chapter is watch out for leaders watch out for those who are in charge watch out for politicians those who say that they have the power because if they ever get to the point to where they're so corrupt and so conceited and prideful at which they think they can tell you what to do and they try to threaten you or take away your free speech or tell you you can't talk about Jesus and they try to to be evil towards you that's when you do it even more that's when you say okay if that's what you say that here's what I'm gonna do the Bible says and he's just preached and preached don't ever let man keep you from witnessing about Jesus Christ that's the takeaway from this chapter more than anything else and also how they should have believed that Jesus was their Messiah all right we'll see you next time god bless

Channel: Robert Breaker

Views: 7,629

Rating: 4.8688526 out of 5

Keywords: Bible Study, Acts of the Apostles, King James Bible, Verse by Verse Bible Study, Acts

Id: -lgjxacvXHg

Length: 62min 6sec (3726 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 27 2018