Acts (Session 4) Chapters 5-6

okay we're in session four and we're going to undertake two chapters chapters five and six uh in the in the book that is sometimes called the acts of the apostles other people call it the acts of the holy spirit but i think all of that masks the fact that really only two apostles and one deacon that's really featured in this book but the center of the book the focus of the book is of course none other than our coming king the lord jesus christ and he's on every element and every line in one way or another so let's take a look at this the acts of the apostles very unfortunate label in my mind for the very reasons i've just mentioned and chapters one through twelve i'm calling unit one its primary focus as an apostle is peter but it also of course includes a deacon by the name of philip we'll get to that in the next chapter and uh chapters 13 to the end of the book 28 it feature paul the likes of which has never walked the earth since he's just an incredible intellect and a zealot and we all owe him a big debt but so the book of acts itself is fragmentary it's an incomplete book it may surprise you that's in the conceptual sense it's still continuing though as it as ushers in the church the ecclesia the called out ones is what the word really means and uh this is all still continuing the book of acts really completes if you will in chapters two and three of the book of revelation and the book of acts covers about forty years but with revelation two and three it covers the next two thousand and we're in the middle of that of course and so now the purpose that luke had in writing acts is to show how it is god's intention for the millennial kingdom to include a population of believers from both jews and gentiles during this age it's a kingdom book interestingly enough it's really a transition from the kingdom offered to israel to the opening of the door to the church and when the church is complete one god will once again deal with israel and establish the kingdom that has been committed to not only the old testament but in the new and so we're going to see peter and paul as prime characters in this particular book and peter will be the minister to the circumcised that is to israel to the jews and even though god uses peter to open the door to the gentiles in chapter 10 that'll end up becoming paul's primary calling he'll be called to the uncircumcised to the the non-jew the the nations the the what we call gentiles we're going to discover that throughout the book there are seven progress reports that sort of mark they're like markers if you will all the way through in chapter 2 it said the lord added to the number daily those who are being saved a very important verse to really understand the lord adds to the church not you and me not our evangelists they simply do his work but the people who get added are always a miracle of god's initiative and his doing and then there are milestones as it all spreads from jerusalem then to judea galilee and samaria and then it continues to increase increase and spread and we actually end up marking seven different progress reports in the book itself climaxing of course in chapter 28. now a little overview here and we had chapter one of course with the ascension of christ and the marching orders of and the appointment of the of matthias to complete the twelve chapter two is a big chapter for many because that was the feast of pentecost the giving of the holy spirit the baptism of the spirit if you will and peter's first sermon and then we had the lame man healed and peter's second sermon and we noticed those sermons that peter is a changed man if we've studied in the gospels we see him as impulsive shooting from the hip often saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and yet now we see him transformed individually by the holy spirit his sermons are eloquent uh elegant and um right on point and uh and uh now he had the first persecution and is addressed to the sanhedrin last time and so we are now going to be in chapter five and six and then um we'll that will accomplish most of what we're talking about in unit one but chapter five and six is our mission today and uh we're gonna discover who ananias and sapphira were and why and the second persecution and the third persecution the next chapter but we're also going to be dealing with the first deacons and one of those deacons is going to be very exemplary in fact two of those deacons are going to really capture our attention for for a number of reasons so let's uh last time just to pick up the momentum here in chapter four it said in the multitude of them believed were one heart and one soul neither said any of them that ought of the things that he possessed was his own but they all they had all things in common you may recall and they had a very intimate totally unified atmosphere and that's what gave rise to putting things in common it wasn't the other way around and so before one starts doing that they need to already have established a very unique kind of intimacy among themselves this is going to cause some problems later and that's what we're going to be seeing here take place in our forthcoming chapter but continuing chapter four wrap up here it says with the great power he gave gave the apostles witness of resurrection of the lord jesus and great grace was upon them all so that intimacy did bear fruit they were one mind one soul as a group and they were effective not because they pooled their goods but because of that intimacy and so voluntary sharing understand that's voluntary sharing among believers but this also may have been part of the cause of subsequent poverty of the church in jerusalem because jerusalem becomes is under judgment and times that are very very tough and and uh collections on their behalf are spread through paul's epistles as the church rises to try to ameliorate their difficulties there and that ananias and sapphira will be perhaps a result of that we'll explore here shortly so no compulsion rules or regulations but selfless koinonia is really what was called for and there's a big difference so we get neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as where possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the things that were sold and laid them down the apostles feet and distribution was made to unto every man according as he had need that's the way they dealt with the crisis and that's the kind of crisis we're going to be facing too as we recognize that our own horizon is littered with some very serious troubles and within that fabric we'll find koinonia groups that are intimate enough to share what they have with each other but then introduces another character here last time and joseph whose apostles surnamed barnabas joseph barnes which interpreted means the son of consolation the bar being sun and nobus being the consolation he's a levite from the country of cyprus and having land that's very prime land by the way sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet and so he was he he put the proceeds in jerusalem which of course was in deep trouble because the city was being judged as i said he was the brother of mary the wealthy mother of john mark so he apparently was mark's uncle if you will so that's he's going to be very prominent later on with some disputes between mark and paul and we'll get to that so in another study of course nobody's consolation or paraclete or comforter if you will so you've been introduced to barnabas but we're going to run into him some in subsequent studies so by the end of last time chapter four we're introduced by into him and he will be with us again he was the first missionary partner of apostle paul when he went to a very difficult area called the galatian area and yet god marvelously blessed the ministry there john mark loses his nerve and drops back paul really resented his his uh dropping out and there was a tension between them that later on gets healed but uh barnabas is the peacemaker that is trying to keep all that together but uh barnum's had been given a large sum of money for this property and he gave it to the church very generous contribution and everyone is talking about it and so that's going to lead to an incident that's going to occupy us in chapter 5. so let's just go into chapter 5 a certain man named ananias with sapphire his wife sold a possession and kept back part of the price his wife also being privy to it and brought a certain part of it and laid it at the apostles feet now what they did isn't wrong it's the way they uh apparently lied about it that is creates the problem once you notice this verse one opens with the adversative conjunction but and as a conjunction but but is an adverse conjunction and it gives it sets the tone of what's coming in contrast to what we've been talking about where they put all this stuff in common and so uh the the church has never been harmed from without it is perpetually harmed and hindered by perils from within when the church is persecuted it grows and they say the the uh but it from the inside through false doctrine or false practices is where it gets injured and this is going to be one of them and jesus himself said whenever jesus came upon an adulteress or a murderer or a sinner of any kind his response was always compassion and forgiveness with one exception and uh the one sin that he invariably used the harshest words by jupiter language against was the sin of hypocrisy and god hates a liar and when ananias and sapphira it appears that was their sin their sin was a lie it wasn't holding back part of the property it was trying to keep the impression that they had given everything when they really hadn't but peter said to ananias in verse 3 why hath satan fill thine heart to lie to the holy ghost and to keep back part of the price of the land while it remained was it not thine own and after it was sold was it not in thine own power why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart thou has not lied unto men but unto god understand their sin was not withholding the money the sin was to create the impression that they were giving the whole everything they had so it's the lie part that's the problem not just it's not the financial part it's the hypocrisy that's at issue here and then i was hearing these words fell down and gave up the ghost and a great fear came on all them that heard these things i imagine so that would get everybody's attention and staff meeting that somebody who lied fell dead that would cause everyone to get a little shook up and it continues for six and the young men rose and wound him up and carried him out and buried him and so peter by the way was probably as surprised as anyone and he had just confronted them with the issue and the guy dies that was god's doing obviously so the error was not the gift but this nor the sale of the land let's understand that the error wasn't was not in giving it to the church the error was playing it one way and presenting it another basically the sin of hypocrisy and and there also may be something deeper going on here verse 3 notes that satan hath filled thine heart to lie so there is something there's a hint of something more than just simple hypocrisy going on here and there is a sin unto death first john 5 16 talks about well continuing in verse 7 here and it was a about the space of three hours after when his wife not knowing what was done came in and peter answered unto her tell me whether he sold the land for so much and she said yeah for so much then peter said unto her how is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the spirit of the lord behold the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door and shall carry thee out that's a great greeting how are you doing here then fell she down straightway at his feet and yielded up the ghost and the young men came in and found her dead and carried her forth and buried her by her husband ananias and sapphira and i i have no reason to suspect that they weren't christians but they certainly lost the reward and they were certainly taken out of the game and so i suspect they were christians and but they did forfeit the rewards we understand that because what your your your justification your salvation is something that 100 done by jesus christ was done on the cross 2000 years ago so she didn't i don't believe they lost their salvation but they certainly forwarded their rewards and they were taken out of any possibility of contributing further in any way to the body so there's going to be a substantial diversity among the awards at the bema seat everybody at the bema seat of christ that we must eat is mentioned in the second corinthians chapter 5 verse 10 and we all have an appointment there and the only people in that in front of that seat will be saved saved people will be there but they'll be rewarded according to the fruit bearing how much fruit did the their lives bear for the body and uh so it's uh it's clear that and i wouldn't be a bit surprised if ananias a fire will be at that seat but they obviously lost a uh probably most of the reward whatever it might be moving on to verse 11 great fear came upon my my i might comment something else by the way in this study we're going to be as candid as we can expressing viewpoints even some that we don't agree with and when we express how what we're what we happen to believe we're not here to try to sell that point of view what we're trying to sell you is to take the bible seriously and to have your views whatever they are stand the test of the scripture and i will share with you as candidly and completely as i can why i hold certain views not to sell you the views but just to help you in your own study and in your own study you may come across views that are contrary to mind that's well and good as long as you can defend them from the from the word of god so we're going to be touching on a lot of controversial views where views that good scholars will have a different view of and that's fine we're not here to sell a particular view we're here to sell you a hermeneutic we're here to sell you the idea that the bible in its original is worthy of respect and whatever you views you hold need to bear the test of your understanding of the word of god and so i want to make that very clear to to teach you as best i can i want to share with you the views i have and why i have them not to sell you the views but rather to teach you the methodology when you form your own views because what we're really trying to raise aren't people that parrot our views that's not it we want to raise what we call self-feeders that you're familiar enough with the text and there's resources available to do your own digging and grow in that path that god has called you into and if we can help that if you do that praise god that's what it's about we're not here to sell dogma we're hopefully selling uh the idea of taking the bible seriously our trademark has been for many decades acts 17 11 to be like the bereans in that they receive the word of god with all openness of mind and yet search the scriptures daily to prove where those things be so and for years i used to think that was the hard part searching the scriptures daily to prove the things so when i found out in more recent years the hard part is the first part of that verse to receive the word of god with an openness of mind to blindfold your prejudices set them aside and have your mind open to whatever the holy spirit is teaching you and then to take those things that you're being taught and always check them against the word of god when you see a phenomenology or something that isn't the bible be cautious all kinds of foolishness wave through the body of christ that isn't in the bible always regard that with great suspicion everything that you're really going to embrace should be embraced because it's verified in the word of god your protection against false views is the whole council of god and we'll be talking more about that as we go the whole council well anyway obviously great fear came up on all the church and upon as many as heard these things i can imagine we had a couple people die because they did something hypocritically that would give us all pause because there's some hypocrisy in all of us i'm afraid and we need to have the holy spirit show us that and rooted out but continuing by the hands of the apostles were many signs and wonders wrought among the people and they were all with one accord in solomon's porch and so here's the term church by the way this is the first appearance of the word the word ecclesia here and the called out ones is what it means and when it makes reference to solomon's porch that's a region of the temple uh which has seen a lot of action in recent temples in recent uh recent chapters and so it's just a region up there verse 13 and the rest there's no man join himself to them but the people magnified them and the believers were more added to the lord multitudes both of men and women and which has joined themselves it's meaning the apostles in other words they um they uh they they were part of the group but they barely kept their distance from peter and them because it looked like it could be hazardous duty so moving on verse 15 in so much that they brought forth the sick into the streets laid them on beds and couches that at the least the shadow of peter passing by might overshadow some of them now this is a verse that evokes a lot of controversy in the shadow of peter it doesn't say that the shadow of peter actually healed them many people jump to that conclusion it might have but that's not what it says so i'm not saying it didn't but i'm also pointing out that's what it says that's a view that people held that the shadow of peter might heal them and it's descriptive of an attitude of the people it's not necessarily a declaration of a fact there's a difference so we see it we we embrace it with uh colorful and anticipation uh we're not suggesting that that was magical power some way it might have been but that's not what it says it's really revealing an attitude of the people and that's understandable and so and there came also a multitude out of the cities roundabout under jerusalem bringing sick folks and them which were vexed with unclean spirits and they were healed everyone that's pretty exciting that word everyone surprises me because when you study the gospel you realize that healings there by jesus himself didn't necessarily get everybody certain ones they did because it served god's purpose and so here it is is surprising in my mind they were healed everyone and the church was obedient so therefore the church was spirit-filled since the church was spirit-filled the church was pure and the church was pure and thus the church was powerful so we're seeing a power implied here by luke in the book of acts that is more broadcast if you will more broadly cast than we even see in the gospels in a sense then the high priest rose up and all that were with him which is the sect of the sadducees and were filled with indignation i want you to notice something when jesus was uh on the before the before the crucifixion sort the powerful group in the sanhedrin were the pharisees they dominated but in the book of acts you'll notice that the the liberals the sadducees gain power and so more and more the sanhedrin is dominated not a hundred percent but majority were sadducees so the sadducees are on the upswing here so they have the leverage and you're going to see that be very operative during paul's involvements and so forth but in the second set and they were in the high priest and all that with him were filled with indignation and so now this isn't the total sanhedrin but just the power group that controlled the sanhedrin and so if it was the pharisees that led the persecution against jesus but it was the sadducees that led the persecution against the church so when you think of pharisees realize they were against jesus but the sadducees were against especially the resurrection they were very adverse to the church especially and so uh the healings that are going on here are an embarrassment to them because they denied the supernatural and so continuing verse 18 and they laid hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison but the angel of the lord by night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said go stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life and so i want to pick one word here that you should under note catch it wasn't the angel of the lord that's widely misunderstood there's not a definite article there that's an indefinite article it really should say an angel of the lord when you say the angel of the lord many people jump to the conclusion when you see that term in the old testament it can be isn't always but it can be a term referring to a pre-incarnate appearance of christ in the old testament before before bethlehem before he's actually incarnate he shows up as an angel and the term that you find there is the angel of the lord as a way of designating a personage that might be the lord jesus christ when you see it here it's a translational issue it's an angel of the lord it's an angel sent by the lord it's it's certainly that but it's no more than that it's not like it's a a specific head angel or something that's what some people jump to the conclusion when they see that v there it's a translational issue he's one of many and so the term in the old testament has a little more weight because it can imply much more than just another just one of the angels let's continue verse 21 and when they heard that they entered into the temple early in the morning and taught but the high priest came and they that were with them and called a council together and all the senate of the children of israel and sent to the prison to have them brought in other words what owners what's going on here the council the senate the whole group and when the officers came and found them not in the prison they returned and told saying the prison truly found we shut with all safety and the keepers standing without before the doors but when we had had opened we found no man within there shook up here for a number of reasons you need to understand how prisons worked in those days typically if you were in prison you were paying off a debt the reason you're in prison normally is because you were in a trial and you they determined you had a debt you owed a debt to society and they formalized that with a document called your certificate of debt and when you uh finished your your your duration in prison they would right across that certificate paid in full and give it to you that was your proof that you'd served your time and it was your protection against what we call today double jeopardy you couldn't be in prison for that same crime a second time that was your protection because you had your certificate of debt see you paid it now if you let's say you had a five-year prison term and after two years you broke out the three years that you hadn't paid fell on fell upon the jailer that's why we're going to see in philippi the jailer when they left they was ready to commit suicide and they said don't do that we're still here and there's a whole episode that we'll get to in at that time but i want to get used to the idea of the certificate of debt because paul in his letter to the colossians points out the the handwriting of the ordinances against us or our certificate of debt was paid and what they wrote across it in greek was paid in full in one word tetelestai and that's exactly what was that when jesus said it is finished that's what's recording john it's tetelestai paid in full is what it in the greek means and our certificate of debt before the creator of the universe is written paid in full and so that's why these prisoners now in this case it's a little different because they're they weren't there as a result of a trial or a sentence in the usual sense but they're pretty shook because prison uh keepers of prisons were held accountable and so they're sure they they they go there to get them and they find out they're not there now when the high priest and the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things they doubted of them where unto this would grow they're shook up now then came one and told him saying behold the men whom he put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people so interestingly enough they slipped away but they're in the temple teaching they're accessible they're right there in the temple in public it's doing exactly what they were told not to do then with the captain with the officers and brought them without violence for they feared the people lest they should have been fatoned so they arrest them again but they treat them gently because they got the public opinion on their side so they're being arrested but gently because the the officers are anxious not to to have the crowd turn on them and when they had brought them they set them before the council and the high priest asked them saying did we did not we straightly command you that ye should not teach in this name and behold you have filled jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon us well that's a strange thing wouldn't you like them to accuse us of that that we have filled our entire country with this doctrine i mean that they were intending to accuse him they were actually giving them the the strongest accolade they could have wished for of course you filled jerusalem with your doctrine and uh so this is a progress report through the eyes of the enemy and i think those are interesting we see those frequently because in acts 5 it's here it says for you fill jerusalem with your teachings but in john chapter 18 caiaphas himself says it is expedient for one man to die for the people and caiaphas the appointed high priest by the romans was unknowingly prophesied exactly what did happen there was one that did die for all people not just the jews and uh judas even gives us a progress report in matthew 27 he says behold i have betrayed innocent blood now we understand that judas was inhabited and dwelt by the satan himself so we have satan himself declaring that jesus was innocent that was an inadvertent accolade also if you will on the part of judas and so let's continue in verse 29 and then peter and the other apostle sanchez said we ought to obey god rather than men boy that's quite a principle that we need to really pray through because we ourselves are going to be faced many times with the issue what's called civil disobedience where the laws or the the the the uh requirements that are imposed upon us um are contrary to what we know god would have us do and that puts us in a very strange conflict because romans 13 and other passages tell us that we should abide by the laws of the land we're not here you'll notice that there was no attempt in the bible for uh people to try to straighten out the political situation the king was the king he was appointed by god you may hate him he may be bad but he's still appointed by god so there's a duty there a certain to a certain level of obedience keep the peace be peaceable all men and so forth but there is a point at which it is appropriate to stand tall and this is one of them here and we're going to find places in our life as we go forward in a very turbulent world it's going to get more turbulent as the years pass by we know that for a lot of reasons and we're going to be confronted with a similar situation where we're going to have to choose to be very unpopular to be a biblical christian in many many places where it's been very comfortable it's not going to be comfortable it's not going to be politically correct anymore and we're going to need to understand that there are times and they have to be chosen very carefully and by the leading of the spirit but to stand tall and here that's what peter does just that he says we ought to obey god rather than men here it's crisp and definitive sometimes it's not as crisp or definitive and so believers are commanded to obey civil authority except when it comes in conflict with the direct commandment of god in romans 13 the first seven chapters is a good guide for you to review at your leisure let's continue in verse 30 here the god of our fathers raised up jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a tree you know peter never misses an opportunity to accuse the jews of the the uh execution of the lamb of god and he whom ye slew and hanged on a tree he never mentions jesus christ without blaming them for the crucifixion and he can use him hath god exalted with his right hand to be a prince and a savior for to give repentance to israel and forgiveness of sins so he continues to hammer away israel as a nation their need to repent and so to give repentance to israel and the door by the way is still open to them today and it may shock you to know there is no you you know of course there's no prerequisite condition to the harpots of the gathering of the church it may surprise you to know there is a prerequisite condition to the second coming of christ and do you find that in hosea 5 15 where god says through hosea i go and return to my place that must mean he left it i will go to a tournament place until they acknowledge their offense that singular and specific he says in their affliction they will seek me earnestly and then the following chapter in hosea chapter 6 portrays when nation will petition jesus to come and that petition is a prerequisite condition to the second coming many people don't realize that but understanding that is helpful because it allows us to understand why it is that satan is so intensely against the believing jew obviously anti-semitism is satan inspired and that's why we always try to visit yad forshem when we're in israel the monument of the holocaust to really get across all prejudices is injurious and bad but anti-semitism is satanic it's intense but it's especially intense and will increasingly be so to jews who believe that jesus the messiah because obviously satan believes if he can wipe them out he can wipe out a prerequisite condition to the second coming of christ and thwart the plan of god and so um but anyway the the path for repentance is still open to israel but continue verse 32 and we are his witnesses of these things peter says and so is also the holy ghost whom the god hath given to them that obey him that's interesting it's given to obedience precedes the giving of the holy spirit that's interesting and when they had heard that they were cut to the heart and took counsel to slay them so they were they were reached by his words but their their response was to it to kill him or try to kill him all of them see being a witness does not mean that you win them over but that you simply declare the word of god the burden of the result is the holy spirit's our job is just to be bold and declare he's the one that will bring the fruit and they stood up born in the council now this is a very interesting situation there stood up one in the council a pharisee named gamaliel a doctor of the law had in reputation among all the people and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space gamaliel is a highly venerated guy and we want to understand what we can about him because he's the one that personally tutored paul saul first and paul later of course and he's a very shrewd guy as you'll quickly see is how he handles himself here first he wants the apostles excused so he can talk to the sanhedrin privately he was an outstanding man greatly respected so he had a lot of weight in this community and paul himself identifies him as his teacher and the elder is the way he's known highly venerated he's mentioned twice in the book of acts and both here and in chapter 22 interestingly enough he was the head of a large family he's frequently quoted in the mishnah the mission has a commentary on the talmud and so forth and he's known for his very pragmatic council in other words he he he knew how to he was street smart as we might say and his grandfather may have been hillel the elder who's also a highly venerated so he comes from the a major line of highly venerated hebrew sages as we call them a line of incredibly wise authors of things and so forth now there are traditions in christianity that he before his death in 70 a.d he embraced christianity there is a tradition but we can't find any real adequate documentation that may be just what we it may be just a legend there there are traditions that he became a christian before when he was killed in the in the fall of jerusalem in 70 a.d but um that that we haven't been able to get that uh corroborated anyway but moving on here here's camille he said to them ye men of israel take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching these men see apparently realizes that they run the risk of doing something pretty stupid he says for before these days rose up this which boasting of himself to be somebody to whom a number of men about 400 joined themselves who were slain and and all as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to naught so that was a previous guy that developed the following but it amounted to nothing is his point he went he goes on after this man rose up judas of galilee in the days of the taxing and drew away much people after him he also perished and all even as many as obeyed him were dispersed so he's pointing out that through recent history there have been people rise up that get a little following nothing comes of it okay so he has some interesting he uh if if god is behind it um if god then you don't want to be in his way if god's not behind it'll take care of itself see recognizes there's a risk here that they don't know about and if these are of god you run the risk of being in god's way just be cautious good counsel here good counsel it's too bad they didn't listen more carefully now the stewardess josephus talks about a theodos a magician about 44 a.d who led a band of adherents to the jordan promising to divide it for an easy passing of the river and he was caught and beheaded by the soldiers of the procurator fighters and that's all in just antiquities judas the galilean led an insurrection in the days of the taxing after quirinius in 86. so neither of these are necessarily the ones alluded to in luke's account there were others leading ten thousand other disorders according to josephus so there are a lot of these guys and the ones that happen to mention josephus may or may not be the same guys that gail hill is referring to some people tried to look them up and it's not that clear they've been just a lot of guys coming and going and that's really the point here going back to verse 38 so here's gaelia continuing and now i say unto you refrain from these men and let them alone for if this council or this work be of men it will come to naught but if it be of god ye cannot overthrow it lest haply ye be found even to fight against god interesting counsel this guy it's understandable that he's not able to learn it in an academic sense he also had a practical uh sense of judgment here and so saying we don't know from this account that gamalia might lean to the possibility they might be the messiah but in any case it was certainly sound advice and so anyway after he speaks says and to him they agreed and when they had called the apostles and beaten them they commanded that they should not speak in the name of jesus and let them go that was kind of stupid really they shouldn't they haven't really voted you know if you're gonna but uh so they're gonna let him go but they beat him first so so that to me sounds like they heard gamaliel but didn't understand the gravity of what he was saying and so if these guys were is it they should let him go if they were guilty they should have held them and punished them one or the other they didn't vote so to speak and so that's just a sorry subterfuge and in my mind they should have listened to gamaliel more carefully anyway they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name interesting attitude you know joy through suffering that's what the epistle of the philippians is all about that's what jude talks about so and daily in the temple and every house they ceased not to teach and preach jesus christ that's the key word in the book of acts isn't the holy spirit it's the teaching and preaching of the person of jesus christ not a doctrine not a way not a denomination no the person of jesus christ to teach and preach jesus christ praise his holy name and in every house the real domain of the ecclesia in the first century were in the homes and so that is to teach and preach jesus christ so what is the gospel that's a key question it's a person it's jesus christ and that's what we'll all be judged about and so okay so we've been in chapter five we talked about anonymized sapphire and we saw the second persecution here we are now going to take a look at chapter six a very short little chapter about the appointment of the first deacons let's get in chapter six verse one and in those days when the number of disciples was multiplied there arose a murmuring of the grecians against the hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily administration now when it says grecians it doesn't mean greeks by the way this may confuse many people it really refers to hellenistic jews there were jews that obviously were observant orthodox jews in in their in their community there were many jews though that adopted the greek ways they wore greek dress and the adopted greek customs they're still jewish but they were consid consider considered hellenistic jews jews had embraced the greek culture and there was a traditional rivalry between palestinian jews jews with jewish jews and the hellenists so they're all jews but some of them are adopt greek ways and that's what there's a tension between them that's when it says grecians that's what it really is referring to there and see the world outside of palestine i'm using palestine to which is that a the enemy's way of referring to the region that we really should call israel it was for this reason that 285 years before christ was born that the jewish establishment impaneled 70 scholars in alexandria a major city in a major jewish center to translate the jewish scriptures into greek the tanakh what we call the old testament because many jews in in normal commerce spoke greek because that's what alexander the great had enforced so greek became the common language throughout that region not just in greece and many jews grew up knowing greek but they were frustrated because they wanted a copy of their scriptures in the language they understood so that's why they got a group of 70 scholars it was funded by ptolemy philadelphus in in alexandria to translate the the hebrew scriptures into a greek version that they could use more casually and that's called because 70 scholars were involved it's called the septuagint that's fantasy word for 70. the septuiti septuagint their work product is available today we have four different versions of it that are available in most study bibles now the what's interesting is in the new testament when paul and many of these other guys quote the old testament they're quoting not the hebrew the quoting from the greek translation that was the the common handy version of the tanakh or the old testament and it gets commandeered so to speak by the christians during the first century so at 90 a.d at the council of the omnia the the the rabbis are frustrated because they feel that their greek version had been commandeered by the christians so they start going back to and they end up having the masoretes some many centuries later develop the hebrew version that becomes the basis for our old testament translation but so if you're going to do serious study in original language for the old testament you look at the masoretic text on the one hand but you also should take a look at the septuagint which is almost a thousand years older and today we have a third benefit namely the dead sea scrolls which gives us even more light so between the dead sea scrolls and the septuagint and the masoretic you get a pretty good uh uh zeroing in on that that's just a little background there and so that you you'll see that the septuagint often abbreviated manuscripts lxx which is a roman numeral way of saying 70. it's just a commonly accepted abbreviation for what we commonly would call the septuagint version of the old testament in greek and so uh okay so that's just a little background so obviously the jew that spoke greek would lean on that version if you will and it's interesting that israel didn't really speak hebrew after the babylon captivity it spoke a chaldean aramaic a close cousin of hebrew but the hebrew today is a resurrection of the original hebrew that is uh was established in 1948 and there's a whole story behind that but and that was predicted by the way in zephaniah that they would return to pure hebrew and they did and from 48 on and so uh isaiah said can a nation be born in a day it was in may 14th of 1948. so there's a tremendous fulfillment of prophecy that's occurred in our recent past year but anyway hellenistic jews were jews born outside israel and spoke greek they were jewish but they looked down they were looked down upon by the sabras as we would call them today the born jews if you will let's get to the second verse of chapter six and the the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said it is not reason that we should leave the word of god and serve tables wherefore brethren looky out among you seven men of honest report full of the holy ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this business so when so the they wanted the apostles to focus on the word of god and study the word of god the routine administration of things like waiting tables other things let's let's get some people that are uh showing these very important qualifications and this is the beginning of deacons and so look out let's pick seven men of honest report full of the holy ghost well that's an interesting requirement don't we wish that everybody we appointed responsible offices were were spirit-filled man and uh full of holy ghost and wisdom whom we may appoint over this bill over this business so this is the beginning of deacons if you will men who serve and uh so there these are impressive credentials nothing trivial or incidental here so let's understand that and and then the paul said we will give ourselves continually to prayer and the ministry of the word and uh so they're they're that's the primary priorities of course it's tragically rare in today's society which is so pace driven many of us i think are guilty of the of of just not giving ourselves continually to prayer and ministry of the word for many of us to have a daily routine of spending an hour in prayer would sound too burdensome for the pace that we live and how tragic that is and how important it is when we conti devote ourselves to prayer to have just silent time to be listening for him and not just badgering him with our want list of current headaches so there's much to be said about being really serious about being devoted to prayer anyway in the same place the whole multitude and they chose notice that knows who chooses the the deacons the whole multitude voted and picked seven it's the group that picked the guys that were conspicuous conspicuously outstanding as being spirit-filled and so forth they chose stephen a man full of faith and of the holy ghost and philip and pro carus and the caner and timmin and parmesan and nicholas a proselyte of antioch he wasn't even jewish he was a prospect to judaism and it's kind of interesting where the the it's the whole congregation not the apostles that made the selection of the deacons i think that's very interesting to understand the first of these that's listed here is a guy well the first one is listen to stephen we're going to see a lot of him in chapter seven philip is also here and i want to highlight that because it i have to admit that i stumbled over that before assuming when it spoke about philip we're talking about philip the apostle no we're going to discover that the philip that is very prominent in this in early chapters of this book of acts was the deacon not the apostle philip the deacon a different guy and he's going to have a very interesting experience that many people are not aware of but we'll try to illuminate that when we get to chapter 8. so we'll have a special surprise there let's get into that and so we're going to hear more of him shortly and uh now pro chris is may have become assistant to john and later the bishop of nicademia uh he was he was the the immanuence for john he maybe it may have been his scribe and so forth and these other guys we don't we have inference but we're not certain about four criteria here they were from among you they're not outsiders appointed here and they're of good report a good witness and the word witness by the way is martyr doesn't mean they die they don't that's the way we usually use the term but the word actually just means they were a witness and full of the spirit and that's the big one and of course full of wisdom sophia which i'll call sanctified common sense there's nothing common about it but we call it we use that term common sense notice who they picked all were grecian jews except nicholas who was a proselyte a converted gentile in other words so they were grecian jews they weren't the local sabras if you will and a sabra is a native born jew in israel interesting that it was the hellenists who felt that they were getting shortchanged and yet all seven picked were non-palestine jews to deal with these menial tasks that were facing them so verse six and when they had set before the apostles and when they had prayed they laid their hands on them notice the sequence there they prayed and then laid hands the laying on of hands is something that we often do prematurely that's been the traditional way of blessing someone into a specific office but we should do that with more caution it turns out and so the word of god increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in jerusalem greatly and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith i think that a little indication is very profound the priests were pharisees typically obviously some of the priests actually converted they actually acknowledged that jesus was indeed the messiah as i searched the scriptures i find a number of places where the priests or the pharisees came to faith i cannot find a single place that a sadducee ever did that doesn't mean they didn't but i can't find any record of it i think that's extremely profound it's more uh likely that someone who's conservative and understands the law will recognize the righteousness of god and recognize the need for a messiah someone who's a liberal who doesn't believe in the supernatural or the resurrection is far more distant and unlikely to really recognize the need for and the achievement of our messiah so i don't see i i don't see in the scripture at least i welcome someone to point me what place if i missed it where a sadducee or what we call a liberal has come to faith and the company of priests have here of course and they actually converted and stephen full of faith and power did great wonders and miracles among the people this is interesting stephen was a deacon an apostle a deacon and yet he did miracles he recorded here and he's going to be our poster child if you will of the final offer of the kingdom uh to israel where instead of receiving it they murder him and so stephen's interesting guy he was called away tables but he demonstrated great spiritual power he is one of the great men of the early church so we want to pay us and he's going to give the sanhedrin a history lesson his address in chapter 7 is this favorite chapter of many of my favorite teachers one of my closest friends for many many years has been hal lindsey and i remember when i was at calvary chapel on a monday night series and i happened to be going through the book of acts when i got to chapter seven who shows up but hal and his wife they come down front and sit in the front row creating quite a stir among the crowd there's there were some over 500 people in those days in that situation and they came for two nights it happened that hal had some taping to do in orange county on those monday afternoons so but he made a point that he and his wife would come and and sit through my teaching of the the uh act seven i found out from hell that is one of his favorite chapters and you'll see why when we get to chapter seven but uh and so but it's interesting here we notice in verse eight here that these deacons were at one when one were the apostles and having signed gifts they had what we call the sign gifts gifts that were given supernaturally as assigned by the holy spirit and that wasn't limited just to the apostles the deacons apparently also had those experiences and there arose certain of the synagogue which is called the synagogue of the libertines and cyrenians and alexandrians and some of them of cilicia in asia disputing with stephen so he he's drawn a crowd of non-locals if you will that are disputing with him and because he's a strong witness the gospel he incurs the hatred of the sadducees these are all sadducees here and so false witnesses were sought they bribed some guys to come before the council to get stephen in trouble they had to do something about this guy because he's creating a real stir he's doing miracles and and teaching people so and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spake so when they encountered him they couldn't handle him he was ahead of them he did a better job then they suborn men in other words they bribed some guys which said we have heard him speak blasphemous words against moses and against god those are lies and he is going to outdo them about moses and god before the sanhedrin before this is over before in the next chapter and so stephen was effective in his speeches and uh these were not true statements by these these are false witnesses that are being brought against him it continues verse 12 and they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes and came upon him and caught him and brought him to the council and set up false witnesses which said this man ceases not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law those are bald-faced lies and stephen is going to nail him on these things we have heard him say that this jesus of nazareth shall destroy this place and shall change the customs which moses delivered us and so there are two accusations that they're leveling here falsely destroy this place now that that's false anyway as if location has you know the spirituality has a location and to destroy destroy the temple and destroy the law both are lies and all that sat in the council looking steadfastly on him saw his face as what has had been the face of an angel can you see this guy radiant there can you see this guy just shining with the holy spirit and so now stephen's speech constitutes the bulk of the next chapter and so but we can just take a quick peek ahead in that chapter uh and when when peter when stephen is being stoned he sees jesus standing standing is the role of the priesthood jesus is the role of the priest of the order of melchizedek we know from psalm 110 right so so stephen's speech will be discussed in the next session but we're going to he becomes the first martyr and that's backwards by the way he was a martyr because not because he died but because he was a witness the word martyr actually means witness it's come to me and a dead witness but okay uh it means to be a good witness right to the end it's a better way of saying it and so when we get to chapter seven we'll see this when they heard these things they were cut to the heart and they gnashed on him with their teeth and don't be confused by that that's a hebraism that doesn't necessarily mean anything other than extreme anguish extreme disappointment and it's not necessarily so terriological and so many people get misunderstand the implications of that but he being full of the holy ghost looked up and steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of god and jesus standing on the right hand of god wow and uh standing as as in the role of the priest there's no remember in the tabernacle no chairs the priests stood when they officiated and jesus is seen standing twice in both verse 55 and 56. behold i see the heavens open and the son of man standing at the right hands of god so this is repeated and they heard this before jesus in the trial remember when jesus was on trial he says the next time you see me you're going to see me in glory he said in in matthew 27 and and so on and the son of man that's also a very unusual designation that jesus uses himself this is the only place that it's used by someone other than jesus and that's stephen using it and it's a very appropriate title of jesus christ especially for luke from luke's point of view being a doctor and interested in his humanity now we do know who was in the sanhedrin is not mentioned here but that was saul the guy that held the coats of the people while while stephen was stoned now saul hurt will hear what goes on in chapter seven and i think that will be ringing in his ears when we get to chapter nine at the damascus road experience that is yet to come anyway they cried out with a loud voice stopped their ears and ran upon him with one accord they cast him out of the city and stoned him and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name was saul i don't think he was a casual bystander i think he was part of the ins guy in sensing them to this action saul we're going to hear a lot about him from chapter 12 and follow and so uh i think he was one of the some of the accusers there and saul never forgave himself for this he grieves in his letters of this incident ii timothy and others he he makes a frequent reference he considered himself the chief among sinners later on in this thing and they stoned stephen calling upon god saying lord jesus received my spirit he kneeled down and cried with a loud voice lord lay not this sin to their charge and when he had said this he fell asleep interesting to compare jesus and stephen jesus when he died said father forgive them for they know not what they do stephen said the equivalent thing lord lay not this sin to their charge jesus said father unto thy hands i commend my spirit lord and stephen said lord jesus receive my spirit you see the very very interesting parallels here between jesus and stephen and the word stephen by the way means crown not a diadem a royal crown been on a ward kind of crown called a stephanos that's a very interesting that is his name and i don't think anything in the word of god is accidental okay so next time in our next session we're going to explore chapter seven which is one of the most favor our favorite uh chapters in the book of acts for some very surprising reasons

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Length: 60min 44sec (3644 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 15 2020