Welcome back to Books of the
Book. We are studying the book
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of Acts and we actually in Acts
chapter 5 looking at the story
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of Ananias and Sapphira, the
swift judgment that was brought
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upon them and the overall act of
hypocrisy. Before the break we
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had said that there's a lot
Jesus has said in the scriptures
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about hypocrisy. We're actually
going to go and look at a place
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in Luke chapter 12 and it says
in Luke chapter 12 and verse 1,
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In the meantime when an
innumerable multitude of people
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had gathered together so that
they trampled one another, he
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began to say to his disciples
first of all, Beware of the
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leaven of the Pharisees
which is hypocrisy. And this is
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interesting. When we talk about
hypocrisy we talked about it
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before the break, the literal
word in the Greek means an actor
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Of course, it's one reason that
I hear a lot of people say that
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they don't go to church. Well I
don't go to church because there
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are too many hypocrites in the
church, people say. Well where
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else would you expect to find
a hypocrite. Because a hypocrite
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is somebody who says one thing
and does another. And if they're
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saying one thing, if they're
a false Christian, you would
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expect them to be in the church
because they're saying one thing
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and doing another. So the idea
of hypocrisy is something that I
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think everybody is aware of. But
Jesus brings something else out
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here when he talks about
hypocrisy. He says, beware of
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the leaven of hypocrisy. And
leaven is a word that you could
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also say yeast. You know, if
somebody's baking break or some
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kind of yeast-raised product it
only takes a little bit of yeast
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into the dough to spread through
that whole lump of dough and
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some of our readers may recall
Paul saying that when he talks
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about how a little leaven
leavens the whole lump. It only
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takes a little bit. Jesus says
that hypocrisy is of that same
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nature; it only takes a little
bit and it spreads everywhere.
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The way that we see that a lot
is when somebody else that we
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know in the church, for example,
somebody else who professes to
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be a Christian is being
unfaithful. Then it's easy for
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us to say well if they're doing
that and they're not doing this,
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they're not really sacrificing,
why should I sacrifice so much?
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I mean, I already sacrifice more
that them, why should I knock
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myself out. And anyway,
there tends to be this comparing
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ourselves among ourselves and
Jesus is speaking here of the
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nature of hypocrisy that when
there's hypocrisy in the church
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it just seems to spread
like wildfire and weaken the
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influence and the
power of the church.
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You know, I'm thinking about
those who first are baptized and
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become members of the church,
they're on fire for the Lord,
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their conversion experience is
powerful and then they come into
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an established church, an
established body of believers,
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and if that established body
of believers has a complacent
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atmosphere, if when it comes
time to go and to witness for
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Christ or be involved in some
evangelistic outreach, people
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say you know I'm busy, I'm sorry
I can't do that, or they don't
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want to invest or be involved
then before long that on-fire
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member begins to see that you
can be a member in good standing
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it could be leaders in
the church who are having this
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complacent type of spirit and
before long they sort of become
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they acclimate they become like
that group. That's what I think
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is being said here. The leaven
of the Pharisees, which is
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hypocrisy, simply means that
hypocrisy has that power in it
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that it will make others have
that same type of incongruent
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life versus the profession.
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Yeah and that's very different
from the spirit of the early
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church where we see the
power being in the early church.
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I think you were going to
talk about that a little bit.
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We talked in a previous program
about chapter 2 where right
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after the initial conversion of
the 3000 on the day of Pentecost
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it says that they continued
steadfastly in the apostles
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doctrine and fellowship and the
breaking of bread and in prayer.
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That's in Acts 2 verse 42. And
the Lord was adding daily to the
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church those who were being
saved. You get this sense that
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the church serving with gladness
and simplicity of heart was
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invested, the people of the
church were totally invested.
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It only is natural that that
would be the case. You know, it
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says the leaven of the Pharisees
was hypocrisy and the Pharisees
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as a general rule were the
adversaries to the church. The
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church represented those who
in the face of opposition were
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standing true. Persecution
caused those who maybe would
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be hypocritical to be washed
away because who would want to
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be professing something that
would require so much sacrifice.
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So there seemed to be a true,
pure faith amongst the church
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and you see that all through the
beginning of the book of Acts
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until you get here to chapter
5. When you get to chapter 5 and
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you have this experience of
Ananias and Sapphira it's a far
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different thing. Here we see
hypocrisy and I believe that's
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part of the reason why we see
God giving such a swift judgment
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here. You know, you look in the
Old Testament and there are many
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different places where we see
swift judgments that were given
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and we may not always understand
all of the reasons, but we
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recognize that the holiness of
God was there blended with the
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mercy of God and he was doing
what was right. I believe we
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need to look at this the same
way. The reality is that God was
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being merciful to this early
church by giving this swift
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judgment, because if Ananias and
Sapphira had gone unchecked and
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others had begun to take of
that same spirit before long the
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power that we see in the book of
Acts would be gone and those who
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felt that they had salvation may
find that they were in danger
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of losing their salvation
because they didn't have a
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saving faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ. You look in verse 11.
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We read, so great fear came upon
all the church and upon all who
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heard these things. You get this
sense that because of this it
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kept hypocrisy from spreading
rampant. But yet as I'm reading
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the story I think to myself,
I wonder what would happen today
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if the same judgment that came
to Ananias and Sapphira came to
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all of us when we had that
hypocritical spirit or when we
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claimed one thing or pledged one
thing and did another. I can't
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help but think that God would
have us to learn something from
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the experience of the past so
that we don't have to go through
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a similar judgment
at the end of time.
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That's right. It's interesting
also, Jim, the initial thought
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that I have is wow the church
the numbers the membership
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would be cut in probably
more than half if that kind of
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judgment was visited and yet
that's not what happened here.
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It says the believers, in verse
14, were increasingly added to
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the Lord, multitudes of both men
and women. So the church grew
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as a result of this judgment.
I like the point that you make
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that this was a merciful
move from God because here's the
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thing. When we're talking about
hypocrisy, hypocrisy is not
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Christianity. There is no way,
shape or form of hypocrisy that
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is Christianity. So Jesus said
that hypocrisy is like leaven,
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it spreads and the implication
is if you allow it it's going to
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spread everywhere and if
it spreads everywhere it will
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make the church completely
impotent, no power in the church
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One thing that that makes me
think of is what we see in the
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early church primarily is
the spread of the gospel and the
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implication would be this: If
we allow hypocrisy in the church
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then we're going to see that
the spread of the gospel will be
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severely hindered. I hate to see
it but what do we see today in
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the church. I mean, the idea of
witnessing among Christians is
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now relegated to two or three
people who are specially gifted
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to do that and the rest of
us just kind of go and take our
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place in the pews. We see that
with much hypocrisy there is
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little mission anymore. I
suppose more could be said, but
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it's interesting as we see what
the result was of this judgment
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in verse 12. We looked at verse
14 but in verse 12 it says, and
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through the hands of the
apostles many signs and wonders
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were done among the people and
they were all with one accord in
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Solomon's porch yet none of the
rest dared join them. But the
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people esteemed them highly. In
other words, after this judgment
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those who knew that they
were not willing or ready to
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wholeheartedly commit didn't
even feign it, didn't even
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attempt it, didn't even try it,
didn't even think about saying
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well I'll join the church
and I'll get rid of some of my
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divided heart later. No, they
didn't even dare join because
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they didn't want to be in the
shoes of Ananias and Sapphira.
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That's exactly right. Wow! That
probably kept the church pure.
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At least for a period of
time it kept the church pure.
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You know what. We have a little
more time so I'd like to read
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this next passage here as we
continue in verse 14 and high
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light something there from
verses 14 to 16. It says, And
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believers were increasingly
added to the Lord, multitudes
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of both men and women so that
they brought the sick out into
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the streets and laid them on
beds and couches that at least
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the shadow of Peter passing by
might fall on some of them. Also
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a multitude gathered from the
surrounding cities to Jerusalem
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bringing sick people and those
who were tormented by unclean
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spirits and they were all healed
Wow! this is some miraculous
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healing we see here in the early
church. Even the shadow of Peter
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brings about this type of
healing. Sometimes we wonder
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well do we just not have faith
in the church today, because we
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don't see the same type
of frequency and intensity of
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supernatural phenomena and
miracles that we saw here in
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the early church. I'd like to
suggest that while there may be
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some measure of truth to that
I believe it's also true that
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God was establishing the
credibility of this early church
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He was making clear, marked
manifestations of the Spirit of
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God to establish this church
that was just beginning at 120
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and just beginning to grow
and because of these miraculous
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signs and wonders that attended
the preaching of the apostles,
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we see the church
growing in great numbers.
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That's right. And it makes me
think of Jesus' command in Mark
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chapter 16. As he's giving his
great commission he says in Mark
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16 and verse 15, Go into all the
world and preach the gospel to
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every creature. He who believes
and is baptized will be saved,
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but he who does not believe will
be condemned. And these signs
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will follow those who believe.
In my name they will cast out
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demons, they will speak with
new tongues, they will take up
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serpents and if they drink
anything deadly it will by no
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means hurt them. They will lay
hands on the sick and they will
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recover. So very clearly Jesus
said these signs are going to
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follow those who believe. But
I think you make a good point
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about the establishing of the
early faith. First of all, we're
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very eager to see the miracles,
the healings, but keep in mind
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that if we're going to have the
level of miracles and healings
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we're also going to have the
Ananias and Sapphira judgments.
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I don't hear too many people
clamoring about that saying I
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wish we had more Ananias and
Sapphiras dying in the church.
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But the idea is that the Lord
had to push the gospel message
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forward and there were special
manifestations of his power.
00:12:05.77\00:12:09.04
It's not the only place we see
it. If we go back to the exodus
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movement, for example. When the
Lord brought his people out of
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Egypt we see that movement
beginning with a number of
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powerful miracles and the
deliverance of his people from
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Egypt and the pouring out of
the plagues upon Egypt, of the
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parting of the Red Sea.
But those miracles became less
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frequent. Not that they
went away, but they became less
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frequent once the movement was
established. And in the same way
00:12:32.44\00:12:37.12
there are miracles in the church
today but they are less frequent
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and you know one thought that
I have is that we have a lot
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less... we take less risks
today. The other thing is that
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there are also false signs that
Jesus said would take place.
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Miracles aren't always an
evidence of the power of God.
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Yeah. I have a scripture
I'd like to share on that in
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Matthew chapter 7. Remember
Jesus said, many will say to me
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in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in your name,
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cast out demons in your name and
done many wonders in your name.
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And then I will declare to them,
I never knew you. Depart from me
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you who practice lawlessness.
So apparently if we really want
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to know the truth of a miracle
we have to compare it to the
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teaching of the word and make
sure that those things.. because
00:13:22.58\00:13:25.81
there will be false miracles,
those who do things by powers
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other than the power of God.
So let's keep our anchor in the
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word of God. Well, that's
all the time we have for today.
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We are looking forward
to seeing you next time on
00:13:36.61\00:13:39.78
Books of the Book as
we study the book of Acts.
00:13:39.81\00:13:42.94