Class 1 - Infallible Proof
Original URL Sunday, January 4, 2026
Transcript
The class on the early church. So I pointed out, I did a Wednesday night class and I talked about this book. I brought the book in to give to Rich, but of course Rich is not coming. It's called The Faith. It's not really a book about faith at all. It's a book about the history of Christianity. And if you're on the Wednesday night class, you'll remember that I talked about how the first 16 pages were just fine. They were a repetition of what went on in the gospels. And that wasn't anything earth shattering, but it wasn't anything questionable. And then we get to page 17, which is the page about the resurrection. And everything changes when the author starts talking about the resurrection. It was fascinating to me to think of, because once you really think about it, why the resurrection changes everything. And why this church that he writes, this big book, it's a big, you know, intense book, I ended up not getting past about page 19, about the history of Christianity and where it goes. But as we pointed out in that Wednesday night class, where it goes doesn't really matter. Because the foundation stone is changed. Because the foundation stone is the resurrection and the understanding of the resurrection. And who was raised and why they were raised from the dead. And if you get that wrong, then your foundation stone is wrong and everything else goes in a different direction. That's what he actually pointed out a couple weeks ago on the Christmas exaltation. So, again, the reason why the resurrection is a problem, for many people, you wouldn't think, it seems fairly simple and straightforward. God raised a man from the dead who did no sin. And so death couldn't hold him. And so through him, our sins are forgiven. The problem with that is, if Jesus is just like us, then Jesus didn't do what we could not do in living a perfect sinless life in obedience to his father. Jesus did what we have not done. Now, we all understand that we are born with a sinful propensity and that as soon as we sin, we become slaves to sin. We understand all that. We understand that many times we reach a point of understanding at 12, 13 years old. We make that first mistake just like Adam and Eve did and now we are slaves to sin. But if what Jesus accomplished in his life as a man is something that we could have accomplished, then his accomplishment negates us. We no longer have standing before God because one who was perfect stands before God. Now, God in his grace and mercy has provided that our sins can be forgiven through him, but our sins can never be forgiven of ourselves. Now, if Jesus is not a man, then what he did can be wonderful and marvelous and we can be very thankful, but we can't be held accountable for it because he is not like us. And the natural inclination of every human individual who sins is it has to be a little bit about me. That is that mind that you and I, we all have in our head that says I have to have some standing in some way. I can't have no standing. Now, amongst each other, we can have a standing. Brother Jason is a better man than I am. We all know that, we don't have to debate it. But before God, he's just as big a sinner as I am. He doesn't have any better standing or worse standing. Remember, we taught that lesson with John the Baptist. Remember John the Baptist and the story of John the Baptist, the baptism of John the Baptist. If you don't, I'll give you a quick update. Before John meets Jesus, John says there is one coming who is mightier than I. Remember he says whose shoe latchets I cannot untie, right? The shoe latchets are about judgment. He says this is a guy I can't judge. Then he meets Jesus and then he says there is one coming who shoe latchets I am not worthy to untie. And he removes the statement who is mightier than I. So why does he remove that statement? Not because he doesn't believe Jesus is mightier than he, because Jesus obviously is. The reason he removes the statement is because what happens at the baptism teaches John that in the eyes of God, he is no better than anybody else. So John can no longer say there comes one who is mightier than I, because he is no more mighty than anybody else in the eyes of God. Now how does John come to that conclusion? It happens at the baptism of Jesus because of the way the baptism takes place. The way a baptism takes place with John and Jesus is the same as it takes place for the rest of us. You come making a public confession of your sins and then you are baptized in the waters for the remission of your sins. Jesus comes to John, there's a problem. John obviously says I need to be baptized by you and Jesus says thus it becomes us to fulfill all righteousness. So the right thing is for me to be baptized. And John says okay, what happens next? You say oh, he lowers me to the waters of baptism. No, that's not what happens next. What happens next is John says to Jesus, do you make a public confession of your sins? And then Jesus gives an answer. He can only give one answer, otherwise he's sitting, right? The only answer he can give is John, I have no sins. That changes everything. Just as it changes everything with the resurrection, just as it changes everything for any person who wants to put on Jesus Christ. John, I have no sins. And John still goes through with the baptism and now John has to understand what does it mean when he says I have no sins. That's when John goes back to Isaiah 53. And if you ever want an explanation, if you ever start to get confused, I forget how the atonement works, just go back and read Isaiah 53. Read it nice and slow, see what it says because it is a perfect exposition on how the atonement works, right? You have to be able to see the white space, you have to be able to see between the lines, so when it says he has no iniquity, or yeah, is that what it is? I can't remember the exact phrasing. He has no iniquity, I believe. It means he had done no sin. And so it talks about, he bore our sins in his body. That's what the atonement is all about. That's what John learned. And so John learned it, and so John said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's what every individual has to the realization, every individual has to come to in their lives. That's what Jesus talks about when he says you must be born again. There is not a little bit of me. There is Jesus Christ. We can do all things through Christ. We are dead in our sins and alive in Christ. That's the option, there's no other option. There's no little bit of Chris Clarke. There's no little bit of Jim Sullivan. Now we carry that with us because of our natural inclination. But the goal, the drive, and the understanding that we have is that we must be dead in Christ. That is what we're striving for. If we say I can't accept that, I have a mind in my head, I have right thoughts, I'm gonna trust in this, as soon as you do that, you're gonna create something to make it easier. And what obviously Christianity created was that God died and then God raised himself from the dead. A very wonderful, nice thing that God did in dying for us on the cross. Unfortunately, not unfortunately, but that's not what actually happened. But if God died on the cross, then I don't have to look at that individual and say, oh, I should have been him. I should have been, and I was not. It becomes I could not instead of I did not. And that's the big difference. That's why this thing goes completely out of whack, right from the resurrection. That's why the resurrection, by the way, is the cornerstone of our faith. Because without the resurrection, as Paul said, you are still dead in your sins, and you are to be the most pitied or the most miserable. And so what this author then goes into, like I say, now he's on another track than truth. And so right after that, he talks about the early church. And what he says about the early church was that the early church was in complete and total chaos. It had to be. It had no building, it had no hierarchy, it had no book, it had no liturgy, it had no practice, it had no direction, it had none of those things. And so what this church becomes is an amalgamation of everything good and everything bad in the human condition. Now he says that, that's not me saying that, he says that. Well, the question is, is that what the early church really was? And yes, the early church didn't have some of those things. There was no, there was the temple, but they didn't have their own separate church. There was the Old Testament, but they didn't have the New Testament yet. Of course, they just had three and a half years with the Lord Jesus Christ and all of his teachings, and you don't just forget that, it's right there. The other thing they had was the power of the Holy Spirit. Both the power to heal and take the message, but also by the resurrection, and what the resurrection represents, the scriptures open up to those that believe. Absolutely opens up, the spirit word comes along when you have the foundational basic first principles of scripture. If you don't have that, what this book is, is a very, very good book. It teaches tremendous moral lessons, it's got the story of an incredible individual, it's got some beautiful poetry, it's got a lot in it that is worthy of reading, but it doesn't come alive, it's just a book. With the foundational principles, first and foremost of resurrection, of what we understand about our own nature, of what we understand about the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, all those things bring this book to life. And open it up for those who believe, and those who follow those teachings to come to life. And you see that in the apostles, right? Think of Peter, when we look at Peter during the period of Christ's ministry, we never see Peter quoting scripture, right? Peter's worried about his relationship with Christ, and he's worried about am I the greatest, and he's worried about safety, and all the kind of stuff that Peter was talking about. You never hear him going and saying, you know, it says this over here, it says that over there. The very first speech he gives, in Acts chapter two, you know who he quotes? Joel. Do you know what's the only place in all of scripture that Joel is quoting? Is Peter quoting it in Acts chapter two during Pentecost. Your son shall dream dreams, that quote. Why? Because the scriptures came alive. They were filled with the Holy Spirit, yes. The resurrection and its understanding and everything involved in it brings the word of God to life. I, by the grace of God, like I can speak for Chris as well, can tell you, and Bob and probably many of us, we had a completely, this was a completely different book for a long, long time. And then we realized, or we were blessed, I was incredibly blessed to meet some marvelous people sitting in this room right now that said to me, let me tell you about that book and what it really means. And this book came to life, and it has been my passion and your passion ever since. Do we deserve this? Of course not. Are we chosen because of something that we possess? No, in actual fact, we're chosen because God takes the least of the world to confound the strong. So what I want to point out this morning, what I want to go through this morning is let's see how this word comes to life in the early church. Any questions or comments? I said I wouldn't allow it, but I was kidding. Any questions or comments? Chris, please use your microphone. If we could just circle back, and this is for my benefit of my understanding, but perhaps someone else would help their understanding as well. But speaking of Jesus's baptism, you recreated a conversation perhaps between John the Baptist and the Lord. But for the fact that he was both son of man and son of God, and he was in, to use biblical theology, unclean flesh, his need to fulfill all righteousness, was it could have been just the fact that even though he was sinless, he recognized that he was the son of man as well, and for that reason alone, he would need to be baptized. What I'm thinking of is Philippians where finding himself in the form of God, he took on the role of a servant. And so was that at birth, was it at age five, was it at age 12, was it at his baptism that he's coming to that acquiescence to become a servant? I just want to throw that out there, not to challenge anything you're saying, just to explain. Yeah, I know what you mean, yeah. So I would say twofold. One, he knew he was a servant, he even said it at 12, but his declaration of who he was came at his baptism. That's when his public ministry starts, that's when he goes out. And yes, he was the son of God, and yet he was in all points like as we are, except he did no sin. So when he gets to his baptism, even though, yes, he has the same inclinations as we have, just like when we had our public confession, we had our examination, when we made a public confession of our sins, we didn't say, well, I don't actually sin, but I've been born with human nature. It's like, no, no, no, the sins that you are confessing is not the inclinations that you were born into, it's the sins that you have committed. And so he would have had to have answered, I have no sins. Does he have the same nature than us? Was he tempted in all ways like as we are? Absolutely. And if he wasn't, then I have an out, right? If he wasn't tempted in all points like as we are, if he didn't have the ability to sin, and did he have a special relationship with his father? Absolutely, he had a special relationship with his father. But if it becomes about his special relationship with his father and not his inclination, then you've had a better, more special relationship with God than I have. Therefore, are your sins more or less? He has to be a sinless man in order for him to be raised from the dead and in order for him to bear our sins because it was one man, Adam, that created that same scenario that we find ourselves in. So it had to be one man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who changes the rules. And he changes the rules by being obedient unto his father. Like it says in Isaiah 53 again, it says that God saw the travail of his soul. That means that he saw what he was going through in order to remain the individual he had to be. That it had to be both his obedience to his father and his love for his brethren that kept him from doing his own will. So I hope that answers it at least to an extent. But again, it's always good to go back. Isaiah 53 is just one of the most amazing chapters in all of scripture. Anyway, any other questions? All right. Acts chapter one, verse one. I'm fairly sure Steve didn't go here. If he did, I apologize, but he's home tired. It says in Acts chapter one, verse one, the fomatrices I have made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach until the day in which he was taken up. After that, he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. So Luke is writing the Acts of the Apostles. He starts it off exactly the way he starts off his gospel because this is just an extension of the gospels. We understand that that's what he's saying. And he says that Jesus began both to do and to teach. And so the gospel of Luke, just like the gospel of Matthew, Mark, and John, but in Acts, is all about Jesus because faith is all about Jesus. He is at the core of all, right? Again, it goes back to the idea of it can be just a little bit about me. No, it's about Jesus. And Luke is emphasizing that right from the very beginning of Acts of the Apostles. Of all that Jesus, doesn't say Jesus and his disciples began to do and to teach. And we know his disciples are gonna take up the mantle. We'll be talking about that, I don't know if we'll get to it today, it's already five past 10, when they're at the gate, beautiful. They go to pray in the ninth hour. But it's, again, it's Jesus began both to do and teach until that day that he was taken up. Of course, that is the ascension. But notice it says there, after that he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments onto the apostles whom he had chosen. Why does it say, well, the question that popped into my head was why does it say that he gave them through the Holy Spirit? He gave them these commandments. So in what way role does the Holy Spirit play in Jesus talking to his disciples over those 40 years and giving them commandments? Well, I think there's two things to consider. First of all, there is the resurrection, the physical resurrection. You say, well, that's not spiritual. Well, it is spiritual because this is not something that happens every day. You don't watch a man die on the cross and get buried and then three days later he shows up in the room, perfectly fine, thank you very much. This is not an everyday occurrence. It never happens. Never, never, never, never, never. And he died the worst possible death you could die. Not that there's good ones. But once you're dead, you're dead. And now three days later, he has been dead for three days, right? He hasn't been convalescing for three days. He hasn't been getting salve and penicillin and chicken soup for three days. He'd been dead in the grave for three days. And then he shows up in the upper room and he's still got the wounds on his hands and on his feet and yet he is perfectly fine. That's a pretty powerful lesson. But it's a powerful lesson for those that sorrow, right? We can hear it and we can appreciate it, but we are not first person witnesses of the resurrection. So how does the Lord speak to us in a powerful way if we can't see it like he said to Thomas, stick your figure in right here, stick it in. Put it in my side. We don't have that. What we have is this. What we have is the word coming to life. And we have this today. They had this 100 years ago, 1,000 years ago, 2,000 years ago, everything that Jesus had said is now going to come to life before his disciples. It says in the next verse, yeah. To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion. Well, I believe the whole reason they mentioned, that's an interesting word, that word passion. You hear about those movie, The Passion of the Christ, which I don't recommend to anybody. It's a tough movie to watch. But when I think of passion, I think of commitment. I think of something somebody really wants to do. This word passion reflects both Christ's commitment and also what he went through. He was committed. Remember how it talks about he set his face like a flint to go to Jerusalem. He understood that this is what had to happen. Did he struggle with it? Of course he struggled with it. Like we mentioned in Isaiah 53, he saw the travail of his soul, he struggled with it. Not my will, but thy be done, but if you got another way in your pocket, I'm all for it, you can count me in. But it says he showed himself after his passions. And so after everything that he did, everything he went through, there he was. With many infallible proofs, again, they saw the infallible proofs of the holes in his hands and his feet and in his side. We don't see that. But what infallible proofs do we see? Well, it makes me think of the two on the road to Emmaus. Because the two on the road to Emmaus were completely lost. And then this stranger starts to open up and explain to them everything that the Christ has to go through, just as it says in the Old Testament, everything he has to go through for this to happen. And then they say, and then he makes the appearance, now he's there, now they see him resurrected and everything comes to life. And they say, didn't our hearts burn when he spoke to us? It's no different for us. That's the point that Stephen was making in his class in November. Yes, it would be remarkable to have the ability to heal the sick or to raise the dead. But the power of this word is spiritual. And it is real. And it does transform. When it says he saw the travail of his soul, right? And he was satisfied. Next thing it says in Isaiah is, by his knowledge shall my righteous servant, that's Christ, justify many. Justify. That word justify does not mean validate because we are dead in our sins. That word justify means to make right. Not to declare right, because we could never be declared right. Because it says there, for he shall bear our iniquities. He's gotta bear our iniquities for us to be justified. We are made right in the sacrifice of Christ. And we are raised to new life through the resurrection. That's what Isaiah 53 is talking about. And that's what the infallible proofs are. They are infallible to you and me, as long as we don't lose track of what it says here. And so we can carry those with us as we go through the trial. No matter how many times we fail, those infallible truths never change. The promises never change. The future hope we carry every single day. And we see the political turmoil that's created and we say, I can't imagine how we're going to get from here to there. Right, and we have our prophecy friends that love to say, oh, this is how it's gonna unfold, it's gonna do this and then this and then this. And you go, I just don't see it. But I see this, it's gonna happen. There's no doubt about it, it's going to happen. How it unfolds, others know better than I. But I can watch and I can put my trust in what this says because I know that what this says is true. It's infallible proofs that you and I have been given. That we would have never seen of ourselves because of who we are. But by the grace of God, that has been opened up to us. Any comments about that? Okay, so right from X, you have the structure of what's going to make the church. And it doesn't matter what the building is, it doesn't matter who you are, it doesn't have to be nobility, it doesn't matter how much money you have, none of those things make any difference. The infallible proofs that create that early church were all started by the resurrection and what it means and how this book is going to guide them moving forward. Verse four, and being assembled together with them commanded them that they should not depart, what time did we get? Quarter past that ready, wow. Should not depart from Jerusalem but wait for the promise of the Father which saith he ye have heard of me for John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. And that of course is speaking about Pentecost. But the one thing that I grabbed here and I guess we'll end here because I don't want to overshoot the time is this question about but wait for the promise of the Father that you will have the Holy Spirit. And I thought well what specific promise are they talking about? Now there's many references in the gospels and the reason I want to point this out is because again, the gospels are there were hidden before the resurrection. So the disciples whom Jesus was teaching, remember how many times we read where it said they just didn't understand. They just didn't get it. They kept talking about who's gonna be the greatest. They're just not getting it. But they were right there. And now it says don't depart but wait for the promise of the Father. The Father's already promised you this. So I thought okay which one is it? So in Matthew 20 verse 20 it says this. And Jesus is talking to his disciples about when you are being persecuted for preaching the truth. For it is not ye that speak but the spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. So there's a promise from Jesus that when you find yourself in the travails of persecution or when you find yourself by the way giving an exhortation. Paul and I talked about this not that long ago. Putting yourselves in the hand of the Father. And you know sometimes you're working on an invitation and you're petrified that it's not gonna come across. And I don't know about you but I always say a prayer right before I get up and exhort and say please make this clear so people understand it because I know if it's up to me I'll mess it up. But you put yourself in the hands of the Father. But I don't think that's specifically what Jesus is talking about. But it is promised. In Luke 11 verse 13 Jesus says this. If ye then being evil know how to give good gifts onto your children how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. So here he's talking about you know you have that nature but you know how to give your children right gifts. Obviously the Father knows how to give you the Holy Spirit. So that's another reference to the Father giving the Holy Spirit but I don't think that's it either. I think the one that Jesus is referring to is finding the Gospel of John and it says this. And he says this in the temple in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost at the height of the feast at the very height of the feast Jesus stands up and calls out and says he that believeth on me as the scripture hath saith out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water but this spake he of the Spirit which they that believeth on him should receive for the Holy Spirit was not yet given because that Jesus had not been glorified. He had not yet been raised from the dead. But when he's raised from the dead that Spirit will be given to those that believe and it will come out of them like living water flowing out of their belly. That's what we have every Sunday. That's what we have on these incredible websites that have one remarkable Christadelphian talk after another that expounds and expands the depth of what we believe all in this book. And we all know that feeling when we hear a good one because we wanna tell other people oh you know what you gotta listen to? Listen to the resurrection of Lazarus by the brother in Australia. Outstanding class. Listen to the mind of Christ. Four class study on the mind of Christ by I can't remember his name now. Outstanding class. There are classes upon classes upon classes. For you and I there are exaltations Sunday after Sunday after Sunday. Sunday school classes. Midweek classes. Our midweek classes if you are not part of the midweek class you are selling yourself short. What Brian and those that have worked on this class for a long time have put together is an incredible series of talks. Both from young people just learning how to give talks to older brethren who have given talks for years to brethren who are pouring out their soul on a Wednesday night. We had that brother give an incredible class on the death of his son. Do yourself a favor. Tap into the Wednesday night class. It's really good. And is every week an expositional masterpiece? No. But every week is a faithful masterpiece. I don't know that we've ever had a poor week. So there's my little pitch for the Wednesday night class.Class 2 - The Beautiful Gate
Original URL Sunday, January 11, 2026
Transcript
There's one thing I want to reiterate from our last class just to make sure that you keep it in mind. Actually, there's a few things. First and foremost, keep in mind as we look at these things the key role of the resurrection in the events that take place. What we're going to talk to you about mostly today is what happens after the Pentecost miracle. Remember the Pentecost miracle which we covered in, we're not going to look at the miracle itself because we covered it in a Wednesday class a few months ago, which I'm sure you all remember as if it was yesterday. But the miracle was the one where they are given the power of the Holy Spirit to speak in different languages and the people that come to Pentecost hear them and recognize that a miracle is taking place because whether they're Parthians or Corinthians or whatever, they can hear it in their native language and in their native tongue and they're very moved by it. But I want you to keep in mind the power of the resurrection because their response, as we're going to see, is very different than the response that had taken place with so many of the miracles in Jesus' ministry. So we want to understand why their response was so different. A couple other things that we were emphasizing last week, Jesus is at the center of everything. He has to be. We are not at the center. That's the whole point of the resurrection. Jesus is at the center. Jesus is the one who's raised from the dead. He's the one that has made everything possible when it comes to the resurrection. We talked also about the fact that the resurrection is the cornerstone of true faith and it is a sure cornerstone. It is a sure cornerstone. It is perfectly balanced and straight. You can build upon it. I'm not a builder by any stretch of the imagination, but you start with a perfect cornerstone and then everything builds upon that so that your structure is straight and square and strong. Without a straight, square cornerstone, then everything is crooked. And once you go off on crooked, then you are in the wrong direction, as we pointed out from that book that I'm only mentioning. Because on the way in this morning, Ben said, I think it's incredible that you keep mentioning a book you only read 17 pages of. That's great. I actually read 21. We talked also about the fact that understanding and belief in the resurrection opens up the Holy Spirit to offer unlimited understanding of God's word. The resurrection is what opens up the word. Once you understand and believe in the resurrection and what it represents, what the atonement is, what Isaiah 53 is talking about, once you have that tool in your arsenal, the scriptures open up. And we were pointing out the fact that Peter, during Jesus' ministry, very seldom, you'd never see Peter quoting scripture. And yet, no sooner did we get to the Pentecost than Peter is quoting, you know, the prophet Joel and several others in a lot of his early speeches. The scriptures have come alive to him because of what took place at the resurrection, just as it does with us when we come to understand what it means. And the other thing, of course, we talked about, again, just quickly going back to that book, is the idea that the early church was not in chaos. It appears to be in chaos if you look at it from the wrong structure. And that's what the author is the example of, looking at it from the wrong structure. The early church was actually very focused and very united. They knew what they were doing and why they were doing it and how they were going to go about it. So those are things to keep in mind. So what we're going to do this morning, by the grace of God, is we're going to look at the reaction to the people of the Pentecost miracle. And then what Peter says to them, and then their response to what Peter says, because it all focuses back to the power of the resurrection and the power of witness of the resurrection. When we had looked at Peter in that other class, we didn't spend a lot of time with people's reaction. We looked mainly just at the Pentecost miracle. So that's what we're going to look at this morning. I know I have the gate beautiful because when I first started this, that's what I thought I was going to talk about. We might get to the beautiful gate in Acts chapter 3, we'll see. That's a funny thing to do. Okay. This is the climax, if you will, of everything that takes place in Acts chapter 2 with Pentecost. And it says this, and this is in verse 40 of Acts chapter 2. And with many other words, did he testify in exhort saying, save yourself from this untoward generation. Then they that gladly received his word were baptized and the same day were added onto them about 3,000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. So what was the condition of that early church by the end of Pentecost? Well, they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine. So there's your doctrine and fellowship. So there is your community in the breaking of bread. So there is your liturgy and in prayers, there is your connection to the Almighty. So contrary to, you know, if you look at it from a different perspective, if you just look at the words and what it says, clearly they knew what they were doing. I mean, obviously Peter knew what he was doing because they had baptized 3 ,000 souls. That's a lot of people in one day. How many did they have prior? Who knows the number? How many did they have before Pentecost, after Jesus has been raised from the dead and they all got together? How many disciples were there? 120. Now they're adding 3,000. 120 comes from Acts chapter 1 verse 15. And here Paul uses a word that I want to consider for a minute, that word untoward generation. Untoward is one of those words that you have to actually look up, at least I actually have to look up to know what exactly does untoward mean. Well, it's really interesting what it means because what it means is crooked, which is perfect to what we've been talking about, this crooked generation. Remember the foundation stone. If the foundation stone is not straight, you're going to have a crooked building. Our foundation stone is straight. What the generation was doing was building upon a crooked foundation stone. That's how they pervert, if you will, Christ's ministry, his death, his resurrection, all that. So Peter says, save yourselves from these untoward generation, or this crooked generation. Makes you think back of Isaiah 53 when it says, you know, who will report on this generation, which of course refers to John the Baptist, who called it the generation of vipers. And now Peter is answering on this generation as well. And then they that gladly received his words were baptimes. Well, think about who this gladly group was, right? This is the same group, because we see it, this is the same group that cried crucify him, crucify him, and now they gladly received the word and were baptized. How did they get there? That's our destination, if you will, for today. How do these people who, you know, 50 days before were crying, 53 days before, if you will, however you want to do the math, were crying crucify him, crucify him, and now they can gladly receive the word and be baptized, and 3,000 of them were saved. So it's a remarkable story. So let's go back sort of at the beginning. This is right after they see the miracle of Pentecost, and this is what it says about those that heard the disciples speaking in their tongues. It says they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying once another, what meanest this? And then, of course, others mocking said, these men are full of new wine. So they were amazed and in doubt. That word in doubt means confused. They were confused. Now we understand why they were amazed, a miracle had just occurred, because they had seen other miracles. Remember, these people had seen Christ. They had seen miracles, and yet right now they were amazed by this miracle, but they're also confused. And remember, they weren't strangers to Christ. Peter says this to them in verse 22. He says, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, so they had miracles, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know. So these were miracles, but they knew miracles. And here with this miracle, they are amazed and confused. So why were they amazed and confused? Well, think about the situation. They've now had 50 days to pass over to Pentecost. They've now had 50 days to consider what happened. The event has taken place. The guy that they cried crucify him has been crucified. And they've had 50 days now to think about what that meant. But they've also had 50 days where, you know what, that's gone now. That guy was crucified. Right or wrong, we can debate whether what we did was right or wrong, but he's dead and buried now. So time to move on. And of course, what happens with the miracle is you can't move on, because he's not dead and buried. And if Jesus was there, do you ever ask yourself this question? Why does Jesus go to heaven? Why doesn't Jesus resurrected go around and start preaching that he has been raised from the dead? He's certainly a much more powerful, much more convincing speaker than Peter or John or you or I. Why go to the witnesses? Why not Jesus himself? And the reason is this, because if Jesus went around and started saying, here I am, then people would say, well, then he didn't really die. Right? They would say, oh, he must have been alive when they took him down from that cross and he came back. They wouldn't believe. But now what you have is you have 50 days later, you have this miracle that takes place and it takes place and the people say, it's not us, it's the guy that was raised from the dead. He was resurrected from the dead. And Peter is going to explain to them that the scriptures say directly, that the scriptures speak to this very, very thing. And that becomes an incredibly powerful witness and an incredible condemnation to those that did what they did, that they have to face it. If Jesus was there, they would just say, see, we didn't do a good job of killing him. Even if he tried to prove to them that he was immortal, they wouldn't believe it. But now they're stuck. They're stuck because all of a sudden the miracle is being performed just like before. The man is gone and the witnesses themselves are saying, why do you think it's us? It's not us. He told you this was going to happen. And here's where the scripture says it. And it becomes an incredibly powerful message. So until Peter explains to them what this is all about, they're confused because as far as they're concerned, that guy's dead. So they're amazed. How does it continue? The guy died. They knew he was a miracle worker, but he died. And now all of a sudden this miracle happens. What is it all about? So they're confused. Now those that mocked, they weren't confused. We talked about idle words. Was it last week, I think? We talked about idle words. Oh, actually, no, it was Jim Harper in the Wednesday Night Class. They used that great lesson about idle words if you heard the Wednesday Night Class. It's those people that say things that make you idle. What a great lesson that is. And that's just what they're doing here. That's just what the mockers are doing here. They don't want to face what the miracle means. And so they discredit the people that perform it. Oh, these guys are drunk. Well, I'll tell you, I have been drunk in my life. And I have spoken in tongues when I was drunk. However, it didn't come out as perfect parthium or perfect whatever. That's not the way it works. And that's not the way this works. And obviously, Peter says, it's 9 o'clock in the morning. These guys aren't drunk. In other words, you're not going to get away with that. But notice, again, strongly that the fact that Peter says, you know what you did. This happened among you. And he goes on to say, again, that's interesting. He goes on to say this. Men and brethren, now he's going to move. Peter in his speech is going to move on to the great King David. Let me freely speak on to you of the patriarch David. Now, I cut a little bit out because I wanted to save some space. But remember, he says, who is dead and buried, and his sepulcher is right here. He's dead, the great David, the King. Who is dead? Knowing that God had sworn an oath onto him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh. There's the whole point about Christ. Christ was in all points like as we are. You can't take that away. If you take that away, then you are not connected to Christ. If you're not connected to Christ, then he didn't bear your sins in his body on the tree. According to the flesh, he was of the line of David through Mary, obviously. He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ. So he's saying, this is not something out of the blue. David himself, the great King who wrote all the Psalms, who we all put our faith and trust in and say he was our great King, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. And he says, whereof we all are witnesses. Their witness becomes exceedingly powerful. Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted and having received to the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, that's the same spirit that we're using, he has shed forth this, this miracle of Pentecost, which ye now see and hear. It's all the same. David talked about it. Joel talked about it. Remember, prior to this, he quotes from Joel about your people shall dream dreams and all of that. This is nothing different than what the scripture already says. And it's happening right before you. This very miracle of this man that could never happen if he's just dead, because it's all through him. But because he's not dead, that's the power of the witness. Make sense? Any comments or thoughts on that? If you do, feel more than free to speak up. Verse 36, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly. That word assuredly means beyond a shadow of a doubt. You can mock it, you can try to hide from it, but the reality is there. You can know assuredly, you can know assuredly that all those things that were written are true. And think of who he's talking to. He's talking to those that said, crucify him. The very people you expect more than anybody else that would have no opportunity at redemption. And yet he's saying to him, you can trust that this is true. That God had made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And look at their response. Now, when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart. That word pricked means literally pierced. They were pierced in their heart. In other words, we can't talk our way out of this one. This is a truth that we can't hide from. That's what that is talking about. They were pricked in their hearts like, wow, we did this. What sort of opportunity do we have? Where do we go from here? Given the fact of what we did and given the fact that what we did didn't work, we still have to face our sins. And so they said to Peter and to the rest of the apostles, what shall we do? That's actually a wonderful moment in Acts chapter 2, that these people reach the point of facing and addressing what really happened, the very thing they wouldn't do 50 days before. And now because of the witness, now they have to stop. Now they do stop and say, what do we do now? And they turn to Peter and the apostles. What do we do? And Peter said unto them, repent and be baptized. Repent and be baptized? I've heard that before. Wasn't that what John was doing? Correct. It's all the same. It's all part of the same process. Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins that ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent and be baptized. It is still an opportunity for you, because he's alive and well, thank you very much. Even though you tried to crucify him, you tried to take the problem and bury it, he's still there. So it's still an opportunity to you. Can you believe it? Can you believe you still have an opportunity for this? Powerful, powerful stuff. For the promise is on to you and to your children and to all that are far off, even as many as the Lord God shall call. What promise? Well, of course, there are many promises, the covenants of promise. There's many promises in the Old Testament, where God talks about converting, changing, and bringing people back. I think the main promise he's speaking of here, and they knew their Bibles, know it stands up to God, was this promise. I know that's a lot of words. I apologize for that, but I couldn't figure out how to make it any less. This is the promise that Jeremiah speaks of, and look at how closely it associates itself. There's one in Ezekiel that's close as well, but this one really associates itself with what's going on right now. He says, behold, I will gather them out of all countries. Remember, that's exactly what Pentecost was, right? These people came from all kinds of different countries. Plus, people came back in, obviously, after the diaspora, they came back to Israel, but right now at Pentecost, you have people from all countries that are gathered together. Whether I have driven them in mine anger and in my fury and in the great wrath, hear his anger and his fury and his wrath, and I will bring them again onto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely that's just what was going on in Israel. Safely, yeah, fairly safe with the Romans. And they shall be my people and I will be the God and I will give them one heart and one way. That's exactly what they were saying in the disciples. Not confusion, not chaos, one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them to do them good. Of course, this also speaks to the final resurrection as well. But I will put my fear in their hearts, pricked in their hearts, that they shall not depart from me and yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good. And that's exactly what they're being offered. And I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and my whole soul. For thus the Lord, thus saith the Lord, like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I have promised. Now think of the contrast. Here they are pricked in their hearts. And Peter says, just like he promised you. And it's all right there. And it's all about the goodness that God has done. In the raising of this man from the dead, everything is brought to fruition because of the resurrection. It's the power of the resurrection and the power of the witness of the resurrection. In verse, finally in verse 44, he says this. What time do we have? Oh, 10 o'clock, we can't get to the gate. And all that believed were together and had all things common. One message, one people, one in Christ. And sold their possessions and goods and part of them to all men as every man had need. And they continuing daily with one accord in the temple and the breaking of bread from house to house, they eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. That's the 3,000 plus the 120, 3,120 if my math is correct. Praising God and having favor with all people and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. Just an incredible miracle, an incredible act of love, compassion, forgiveness, understanding. I think I told you guys about somebody I was speaking to a number of years ago and she said, if God knew the things that I had done, you know he could never forgive me. And I said, did you cry crucify him? Like what? Did you know the people that cried crucify him were forgiven? Jesus said right on the cross, right? Father forgive them for they don't know what they do. And the father does, right here in Acts chapter two. They're forgiven. It's just incredible. Any thoughts or comments before we go to Acts chapter three? I'll take that as a no. Okay, so obviously we know in Acts chapter three we get to the story of the man at the beautiful gate. Beginning verse one it says, now Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer, being the ninth hour. I always, you know, whenever you see something just sort of thrown in there, you always wanna stop and go, I wonder why that's specifically put in there. When it says in Acts chapter six, that Jesus crossed the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberius, why is it put there? Just as an example, they come up all the time. And a certain man laying from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple, which is called beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the temple. Well, first of all, this expression about being the ninth hour. Anybody know what else took place at the ninth hour? At the ninth hour, Jesus said, it is finished. He had done everything that needed to be done for redemption to occur. And now at that same ninth hour, they head to the temple in prayer and they're gonna start spreading the message for people to see. Now they've obviously already done it at Pentecost, but this is that first sort of public act out where they go where it's literally going to come across as almost like Jesus was doing it. In fact, there is a connection with this miracle we're gonna see in a minute. At least I'm gonna suggest there's a connection that will bring you right back to Jesus' miracles because it's just a continuation, obviously, of the kingdom message. So I think that's why it mentions the ninth hour. That's just my personal opinion on it. But then it says there was a certain man laying from his mother's womb. So this man was born lame. And every day they carried him and they put him by the gate beautiful. So does that make you think of anybody what it mentions lame from his mother's womb? The man born blind, very good Kathy. Blind from birth, this man was lame from birth. So what does it mean to be lame from birth? What's the message there? What difference does it make if he was lame from birth or he was lame from the time he was a teenager, he's still lame and he's still being carried into the temple? And the message, of course, is what Jesus says in John chapter nine. When they say to him, so did this man sin or his parents that he was born blind? And Jesus says no, so that the father may be glorified. In other words, this is not about sin, right? Many people came to Jesus saying have mercy upon me. And Jesus says what difference does it make whether I say get up and walk or your sins are forgiven? Well, in this case with this man it's not about your sins being forgiven because he's been that way since birth. So he didn't commit any sins. The story is the same by the way with the man whose son is possessed, right? Remember when Jesus was at the Mount of Transfiguration he comes down and this guy's got his son who's possessed and the disciples couldn't heal him. And Jesus says to the guy how long has he been like this? Why does Jesus ask that question? And the man responds and says since he was a small child. Now Jesus knows it's not about sin. And the guy doesn't ask for forgiveness by the way. This man's son is possessed. And if you're the father of a son that's possessed your natural inclination is to say I must have done something because this kid's crazy. That's not what the man asked for. The man says have compassion upon us. And that's the man by the way that Jesus says if you believe it'll happen. And the man gives that incredible answer. Where he says Lord I believe. Help me with my unbelief. That's an amazing statement about belief. That belief is not just like I grew up you either have it or you don't have it. It's a process. We are in the process of belief even today. And of course the child is healed. But it's not about sin. It's about compassion. Remember Jesus says this is about prayer and fasting. Now why does he say prayer and fasting? Well first of all fasting. Fasting is neglecting the needs of the body. Neglecting the flesh, that's what fasting is. So when you say Jesus says this is about prayer and fasting but Jesus wasn't fasting, he wasn't. So how could he do it? Well he was fasting. He fasted his entire life. He never met the needs of the flesh. Yes he ate food but he never gave into that will. So he was always in a fast, a lifelong fast. In prayer, prayer is about the love of God. Yes you can ask for forgiveness in prayer but you can also say to God please help me. The other woman that was like that was the Canaanite woman. The Canaanite woman said son of David have mercy on me and Jesus wouldn't talk to her. And then the woman says help me. Okay now I can help you. It's not about sin because you're not a Jew. It's about compassion. So this man's blame from his womb and he's put at the gate of the temple which is called beautiful. But here's the interesting thing about it. As far as historians and others know, there is no gate that was referred to as beautiful. This is the only place where it is. So the debate becomes well what gate are they talking about? So many, oops, did I do that thing? Many archeologists and historians et cetera suggest that it is this gate. Anybody know what the name of this gate is? Say that again. The Nikonor gate, very good. That is the Nikonor gate. So the Nikonor gate is the gate that leads from the court of the women into the court of the priests. And it was a spectacular gate. Very ornate, very large, very beautiful. And so most people say well if you're gonna talk about a beautiful gate in the temple then you gotta talk about this gate. Those are the stairs by the way that the priests during Feast of Tabernacles I think would say one of the Psalms as they went up every single stair to go into the court of the priests. Over there on the left by the way that's where the treasury is. So the woman that put in the widow's mic was over there. And so many, many people suggest that this is the gate that the layman was put at. However, we know a guy that suggests that this is not the gate that the man was put at. This is not the beautiful gate. And his argument is pretty solid because he said first of all he was a lame man. And this is well inside the temple. And generally speaking a lame man would not be allowed all the way into there. Now he was probably a Jew but he was lame. He was unclean. And this is well inside the temple so he probably couldn't have been put there. The second reason is even more powerful which is this. He was begging. If you are begging you go somewhere where all the people are. And this gate literally those stairs lead into where the priest can go. Nobody else can go in that door. You're also in this smaller area which is the court of the women there will be people there. But there's a lot more people outside this area. If you are begging you wanna be on one of the outside gates and get the people that everybody is coming in. The Jews, the gentiles, the proselytes, everybody. And so our brother suggests it was this gate. He says it is the double gate that he was at. And he's had this, our brother's name is our brother Lee Rippmeyer. He's an imminent archeologist. He's done many works on the temple. And he's actually been inside that gate. He says the Muslims allowed him. He got a special right to go into that area. And he says inside that area, not the gate itself, but inside the walls, the ceiling were painted in remarkable mosaics. He says it's a beautiful gate. He said and it makes more sense. It is the outside gate of the southern portion of the temple. Now the southern portion leads down into the old city. Many, many, many, many people would have gone through into the temple through this gate, through the south gate. And so he said, so you put the layman where all the people are. And he said, so he believes quite strongly. In fact, in the comment sections, there were all kinds of different people suggesting a different gate. And he answered virtually every one of them and said, yeah, no, here's what's wrong with that idea. Trust me, it's the southern gate. This is another angle of the southern wall and the southern gate. And I picked this angle for one interesting reason. So if the layman is on those stairs at the southern gate, you see that street over there, it says Siloam Street. Anybody have an idea why that says Siloam Street? Leads to the pool of Siloam. Leads to the pool of Siloam, correct. Thank you, Stephen. Thank you for attending today, I appreciate it. It leads down to the pool of Siloam. The street goes straight down that hill. It's like a stairway that leads all the way down and at the bottom of the hill is the pool of Siloam. Anybody know what takes place at the pool of Siloam? Anybody at all? Who's healed at the pool of Siloam? Healed is not actually the right word, actually. Man. The man born blind is healed at the pool of Siloam and there's the street. And here's the interesting part of it. The layman was on the stairs. Born lame, put there every single day. The man born blind, well, whether he was on the stairs or in one of these little neighborhoods off to the side, my personal inclination is to say he's in one of the neighborhoods because they talk about his neighbors. But they were both right there, probably feet apart from each other. One man, a blind man, born blind, that nobody knew. We did that study before, but the only person that saw the blind man, other people would come by and throw money down and they did not recognize him. Even his neighbors, after he was given his sight, said, I'm not sure if that was him. Even after the man born blind said to them, yes, I am he, they still weren't sure because nobody paid attention to the blind man. Everybody knows the lame man. When the miracle occurs, everybody knows that's the guy that was outside every single day. Everybody knows the lame man. Nobody knows the blind man and they're feet apart. One has been lame from birth and the other has been blind from birth. So they're incredibly complimentary and yet spectacularly different. And they're both right there. And of course, they're probably not alone. This is probably a very active place for begging because again, everybody's going through those gates. Your vast majority of the people that are coming in, that's where they're going. When you see homeless people out on the streets, they're not on the corner of your side street, they're downtown, right? Because that's where the people are. Same thing here. So I just think that's a fascinating connection between the two. That's that road down to the Pool of Siloam. What Jesus said, I don't like to say healed because he was given blindness from birth in order to bring glory and honor to God. It wasn't like a sickness or anything else like that. Same thing with the lame man, by the way. And it's interesting too, just, you know what? We'll actually finish with this before we get into the words and everything else. It's interesting to consider. So the man born blind, everybody thought was cursed, right? Even the disciples said, who sinned? The man or his parents that this man was born blind. Because everybody said, oh, that man's been cursed by God. That's part of why nobody knew him, by the way. Because he was considered extremely unclean, like bad news because of what God had done to him. Was it the same way with the lame man? It's not said that way in Acts chapter three that somehow this man was obviously put this way by God as a punishment. That doesn't come up at all. And I think it is different. I think, first of all, they're probably different characters. The lame man appears to be much more gregarious, if you will, than the blind man. But I think there's a difference between being born blind and being born lame. And the difference is this. If you are born blind, I don't have to look you in the eye. In fact, I don't want to. With the lame man, you had to look him in the eye. In fact, Peter makes a point of looking at him directly in the eye. And I think that changes everything. Because to look somebody straight is to see them. The blind man, you didn't have to see at all. You could walk by, you'd have pity on him and throw some money down and walk away and have nothing else to do with him. The lame man, because he was just lame, he could see, he could talk, he could interact, all those things. Now I have to face them. And so he was real. The blind man was not. The blind man was two-dimensional. This man, this lame man was three-dimensional. So I don't think he was considered by most people to be cursed by God. I think he was just considered to have been born with a deformity. Now that's just my opinion. Just looking at the story itself. So anybody have any other thoughts or comments on that? All right, we'll pick up next week on Peter and John showing up at those stairs at the ninth hour and the interaction that they have and the way the people respond next week.Class 3 - Blooming
Original URL Sunday, January 18, 2026