June 17, 2007
Scripture:
Scripture:
Ministry:
A verse comes to mind from the thoughts we had while I was giving thanks. In Luke 22, we see the Lord in Gethsemane; in v. 42: “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” The cup is a symbol of his portion to drink when He went to Calvary, filled with all the wretchedness of man. Looking into that cup, no doubt, had that effect on the One who was so perfect. “Father, if thou be willing.” I want to connect that with II Peter 3:9: “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us–ward,” and this is what I wanted to connect to: “The Lord is … not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” “If thou be willing … not my will.” “The Lord is not willing that any should perish” even at the cost of His own Son having to drink the “wormwood and the gall.” We’ve sought to remember that this morning.
EG Hymn 245 – Happy they who trust in Jesus, Prayer We’ll continue in Acts; we’re on chapter 5. Before we begin, I have a question: Who is the enemy of God? Satan is; we see that right from the garden of Eden. Here in Acts, we see the body of Christ has been formed; the Holy Spirit has been given. But Satan is going to try to stop this good work. Read vv. 1–4. The last chapter ended by telling us that some Christians were selling what they had and giving the money to the apostles. Now Ananias and his wife Sapphira sold their land (say, for $500) and brought some of the money ($400) to Peter. That was not wrong; they didn’t have to give any of the money. But when Ananias brought the money to Peter, he told him that it was all the money they got from the land; that was not true. Read vv. 5 & 6. Ananias, probably convicted in his heart, fell over dead. God did not want sin in the church. Read vv. 9–11. Then Sapphira came in a few hours later; she didn’t know what had happened. Peter asked her if they had sold the land for the amount they gave, and she said yes. But then she fell and died too. This is quite an example. Why did Ananias and Sapphira lie? It was pride; they wanted people to think that they had given everything. Thousands of people had been saved; if they got away with lying, it might have spread and done damage among the Christians. Instead, a fear of God came over all the people.
Now read vv. 12–16. More people continued to be saved and many were being healed; the church was being a bright witness, but again Satan attempted to stop it. Read vv 17 & 18. The high priest and Sadducees weren’t happy with what the apostles were doing, so they put them into prison. But, vv. 19 & 20, God was not going to let His plan be stopped. He sent an angel to open the gates. Throughout the Bible and even today, angels were sent to help God’s people. We probably don’t realize how much angels help us. In vv. 21–23, the disciples went to the temple and preached to the people. When the senate sent for them the next morning, they were gone! Read vv. 24–29. When they found the apostles in the temple, they brought them in and asked, “Didn’t we tell you not to preach?” Peter replied, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” That is something we need to decide at some point in our lives: who are we going to obey? The chapter goes on; the council decided to kill the apostles when, v. 34, a man named Gamaliel stopped them. He reminded the men that other leaders had tried to lead the people away, but had failed. If this is another one of those, he said, it won’t work. But if it is from God, we can’t fight against it. So they were let go, vv. 41 & 42; and they went out and continued to preach the Word of God. This chapter shows us that even when Satan tries to stop God’s plans, God can protect and lead those who are going on for Him.
I Peter 1:8–12 We have seen the trial of your faith (v. 7), the joy of your faith (v. 8), and the end of your faith (v. 9). The end of your faith is salvation, which is where faith begins, except this time it is the salvation of your body. Peter tells us, in v. 10, that this is not really new: the prophets spoke about it in the Old Testament. If you didn’t have the New Testament, it would probably be much harder to see it, but it is there. And we are spoken of in the Old Testament, when they wrote about the “grace that should come unto you [us].” What we read in the Old Testament is so clear to us, because it makes sense when seen through the gospels. But these prophets wrote about them without knowing what they meant. Even the early New Testament saints, like the disciples or the two going to Emmaus, didn’t understand them.
V. 11 tells us that part of the prophesies are about the suffering and glory of Christ. We know that the suffering was while He was here on earth, but the glory will come when He reigns over the earth. The Lord talked about that kingdom while here in earth, but there was a second part to it—the mysteries of the kingdom—that we are part of right now.
When you write a textbook, you put the content in a logical order, building on what you have already said. But God didn’t do it that way when it comes to the prophets; He put a little here and a little there. We have to do exactly what the scripture says: “Search.” The prophets did the same after they had written it. At their time, what they wrote had yet to happen; most of it has taken place now but there is still some future. What has happened has been “according to the scriptures,” and the future is sure to be the same. What we read in the prophets are just the figures; we have to go to the gospels to get the facts. But it is the Psalms that have the feelings. We also find the foretellings in the Old Testament and the fruits in the New Testament. The sufferings of Christ are no small thing in the Bible. But overlying all that is “the glory that should follow.” All glory will be to Him in that future day; not a knee will not bend to Him and not a tongue will not confess Him as Lord. How blessed to be among those who do it willingly!
And the prophets were told that what they were writing was “not unto themselves, but unto us” (v. 12). We can see that a number of times in Daniel 12. This all fits into what Peter has been saying. It was Jewish prophets that wrote the prophesies; Peter is saying that although they were written so many years ago, they still are for us today. And these things are things that angels desire to look into (end of v. 12). They cannot see God, so they were intensely interested when their Creator became incarnate and they could lay eyes on Him. All of the activities of God are of keen interest to angels. In general, angels were more active, or at least visible, to the Old Testament Jews. We now have the Holy Spirit, something they did not have permanently. Angels were used to give the prophesies in many cases and also Revelation. The end of v. 12 marks a division in the chapter; v. 13 begins with a wherefore. Now that we have this line-up of blessings, what do we do about it?
EG Hymn 335 – I am so glad that our Father in Heaven Prayer