Welcome back to
"Books of the Book."
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Before our break, Mark,
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we were taking a
look here in Acts 5.
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And we'd just read this amazing
statement that the counsel
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and specifically the
high priest said in verse 28.
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The high priest says,
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"Did we not strictly command
you not to teach this name."
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As they have all
authority over the apostles.
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Exactly, and it seems
interesting to me that
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they felt that because of
that position of high priest,
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because of their authority
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as counsel members and
rulers of the people that
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that position itself gave them
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all of the
authority that they needed.
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Over the
consciences of men. Exactly.
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Exactly, and we see that
we have to be very careful
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not to ever feel that position
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in it of itself is
what provides authority.
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We should respect
position. That's right.
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And I believe that the
apostles did respect position,
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but when that position
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contradicted
with the Word of God
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and the clear will of God,
their answer was quite clear.
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In verse 29, we
pick up and it says,
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"But Peter and the other
apostles answered and said,
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We ought to obey
God rather than men."
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Now, this is
another bold statement.
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What's bold about
it is, is evidently,
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he's saying "Did we not
strictly command you." Right.
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And he's saying, "Well,
shall we obey your command
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or shall we obey
the command of God."
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And that's pretty much saying
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that you're very
contrary to what God is saying.
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That's right, and to the Jews,
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the high priest
was the voice of God.
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That's right. And so
to call that high priest
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not the voice of
God was serious at time?
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That's right.
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But it does make very clear
that because of the clarity
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and distinction between
what the high priest was saying
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and the clear will of God.
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The apostles
were free to obey God
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and contradict
what the high priest
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was saying and commanding.
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Now they could have
stopped right there.
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But you know,
they had the floor,
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so they might as well
give the gospel again.
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So in verse 30,
continue and say,
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"The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus
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whom you murdered
by hanging on a tree."
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And so they started right here
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and they once
again placed the guilt
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back on these religious leaders,
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helped them once
more to recognize.
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They were trying to-
the high priest was saying,
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"You're trying to put
this man's blood upon us?"
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And instead of
backing down from that
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hey simply say, "Yes, you
are the ones who murdered,"
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bringing it right back to them.
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And the whole reason for
that was so that they could do
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what they did in
the very next verse.
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Verse 31, "Him, God
exalted to His right hand
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to be Prince and a
Savior." Isn't that wonderful.
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"Prince and Savior, to
give repentance to Israel."
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The same Israel that
you are guardians of us
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as high priest and leaders.
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"And forgiveness of sins."
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Here's that hope again
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that Peter and the
apostles always connected
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with their clear, honest
denunciations in many cases.
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That hope of
forgiveness of sins.
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And then verse 32 says,
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"And we are His
witnesses to these things,
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and so also is the Holy Spirit
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whom God has given
to those who obey Him."
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Now, there's a
couple of aspects,
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it's almost the
elements of salvation
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and it's very
short little statement.
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It says "That God exalted
Jesus to be Prince and Savior
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to give repentance to
Israel and forgiveness of sins."
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Now I have to comment on this,
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because you know, we recognize
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that God gives us
the gift of forgiveness.
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But too often we view
the gift of repentance
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as something that is our part
and forgiveness is God's part.
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But according to this passage
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'repentance' which is
that desire of the heart
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and that ultimate turning away
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from the things of
my own selfish heart
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and things of this
world to the things of God.
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And sorrow for sin.
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That's right. Heartfelt.
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The heartfelt
conviction and sorrow for sin
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and that turning
back to do what's right.
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The only way that can
enter into my attitude
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is through the power of God.
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I can't manufacture that.
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And so it's not a situation
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where we have to
clean ourselves up.
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and then we come
and God will forgive us.
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You know I
remember, when I was young,
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we were young together at home.
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And every once in a while
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things would get
really crazy and mom would-
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well she'd have a maid come
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and just to do a
little cleaning, you know.
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And I remember a couple of times
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right before the
maid came mom was so busy.
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She was going around, picking
up doing all these things.
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You know, she
is working all day,
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she is doing, you
know, she is so busy.
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She can't possibly get to
it all but now all of a sudden,
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she's going you
know, very intensely
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and I said, "Mom
what are you doing?"
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She said, "Well,
the maid is coming."
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And it seems strange to me.
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That we would clean
up before the maid came.
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But that's
exactly what people do.
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They feel like
they've got to clean up.
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They've got to
stir up that desire.
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Friends, we cannot have
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an interest and
hunger for spiritual things
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and genuine spiritual desire
unless we first come to Jesus.
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And then Jesus gives us
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that conviction,
that gift of repentance.
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And then that leads
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to the beautiful
experience of forgiveness.
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And then it doesn't end there
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because after we
receive that forgiveness.
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It says, we become
witnesses immediately,
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so every Christian is a witness.
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And we receive the Holy Spirit
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which God gives to
those who obey him. Obey him.
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It reminds me of John
14:15 where Jesus said
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"If you love Me,
keep My commandments,
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and I will pray the Father,
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and He will send
you another helper."
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That's right. "The Holy Spirit."
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So when we make the
commitment to follow God.
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He then gives the
Holy Spirit in a fuller way
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than the Holy
Spirit was in our life
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before bringing
conviction to us.
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But we received the
Holy Spirit in a fuller way
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when we make a
commitment to follow him.
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And that's what said here.
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The only way the Holy Spirit
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is going to fall on the
church today in marked measure
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is if we are
surrendered to obedience to God.
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That's right, and I think that's
an important point there, Jim,
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that we were talking
about surrender or commitment.
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Sometimes we read
obedient and get the same thing.
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Those who obey Him,
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oh, I've got to start
obeying and clean my act up.
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But obedience is lot more about
our attitude, our commitment.
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And in this
particular case those who have-
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who choose to follow the
promptings of the Holy Spirit.
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We'll receive the
power of the Holy Spirit.
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We'll receive the
power to follow through.
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And not only they'll
receive the repentance
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that's true sorrow for sin
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and the power to follow
through in your decisions. Amen.
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Yeah, so that is very powerful.
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Now, it's
interesting that once again
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what we see is an
opportunity for repentance here.
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An opportunity for the
Jewish leaders to respond
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and they do respond,
but it says in verse 33.
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"When they heard
this, they were furious
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and plotted to kill them." Wow.
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And so you know,
repeatedly we're finding this
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in the apostles this was a-
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this was kind
of a dangerous job.
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Right, it was a risky
business preaching the gospel.
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And it says that
they were furious.
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Now, my Bible has
a marginal reading,
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they were cut to the quick.
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Once again, this is a word
the Bible is using to taught,
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to explain the
conviction of the Holy Spirit.
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They were convicted,
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but it's really
important for us to understand.
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I guess, sometimes
people get the idea
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that if I'm
convicted by the Holy Spirit.
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Well, it's a Holy
Spirit and he reaches through
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and actually he's
able to convict me.
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Then that's all that's needed,
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I'll automatically
make the right decision,
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but the Holy
Spirit never forces us.
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God never forces our decision.
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He brings the conviction
and leaves the decision to us.
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And as a Holy
Spirit brings conviction
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and urges them to
make the right decision,
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we see that their response
is far from a positive one.
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They are- they
are cut to the quick,
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but they respond by
wanting to kill the apostle,
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silence the message.
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And we have to
be ever so careful.
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You know, in on two notes here.
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When we feel conviction
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sometimes we feel
something that makes us angry.
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We can assume that the preacher
must have said it wrong,
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because it made me mad
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and I don't think
anybody ever got mad at Jesus.
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Well, that's not
true at all. That's right.
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And if we look at scripture,
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that very well may
be my heart responding
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to the Holy Spirit's
conviction- In a wrong way.
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In a wrong way. Negative way.
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And so I need to
be aware of that.
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The other thing is when we are
sharing the truth with others.
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It's so common for us when I-
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we share with a
friend or a loved one
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and they get
upset or angry or hurt.
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Like the rich young
ruler went away sorrowful,
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we assume that we must
have done something wrong.
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But it may very well be
that we allow the Lord to use us
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and something right happened.
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And the conviction
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of the Holy Spirit
has come upon them.
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So we need to recognize that,
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when we're looking at
conviction. That's Right.
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Now, right here in this
passage right after it says,
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they're furious and
they plotted to kill them.
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Fortunately, as we keep reading,
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there is a voice of
reason there in the council
00:09:06.92\00:09:09.53
because a Pharisee named
Gamaliel it says in verse 34.
00:09:09.56\00:09:14.19
A teacher of the law held
in respect by all the people,
00:09:14.22\00:09:18.00
commanded them
to put the apostles
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outside for a little while.
00:09:19.44\00:09:21.38
And then he began
to talk to the people.
00:09:21.41\00:09:23.31
He essentially said, you know,
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we've had this kind
of thing happened before,
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where different ones
have risen up and claims to,
00:09:27.28\00:09:30.58
you know, have the truth
00:09:30.61\00:09:31.98
and be able to lead
us down the right path.
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And they start a little uprising
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and then it died out
and nothing worked out.
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And we need to be careful
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and he makes that
point very clear in verse 38.
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"And now I say to you
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keep away from these
men and let them alone
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for if this plan
or this work is of men
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it will come to nothing.
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But if it is of God
you cannot over throw it.
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Lest you even be
found to fight against God."
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And I don't know
exactly where Gamaliel went
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in terms of how
he responded to this.
00:10:02.65\00:10:04.18
But I can say that
this particular response
00:10:04.21\00:10:08.35
was a helpful
response for the apostle sake.
00:10:08.38\00:10:11.39
And I believe that
God was orchestrating this
00:10:11.42\00:10:14.27
in order to preserve them
to carry the gospel further.
00:10:14.30\00:10:17.17
That's right.
And as we read this.
00:10:17.20\00:10:18.82
I can't help to think, you know,
we need to be careful not to,
00:10:18.85\00:10:23.89
too quickly approve something
that perhaps God has condemned.
00:10:23.92\00:10:29.77
Or too quickly condemn something
00:10:29.80\00:10:31.88
for fear that God may
have approved it. That's right.
00:10:31.91\00:10:34.15
We need to be thoughtful
00:10:34.18\00:10:35.55
and make sure that it
agrees with scripture.
00:10:35.58\00:10:37.10
Yeah, sometimes we got to let
00:10:37.13\00:10:38.50
both grow
together until the harvest.
00:10:38.53\00:10:39.90
That's right, the
wheat and the tares.
00:10:39.93\00:10:42.01
And so yeah, he gives
very good counsel there
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and
unfortunately for the apostles
00:10:44.67\00:10:46.90
it says in verse 40
00:10:46.93\00:10:48.30
"And they agreed with him
00:10:48.33\00:10:49.76
and when they had called for
the apostles and beaten them.
00:10:49.79\00:10:53.18
They commanded that
they should not speak
00:10:53.21\00:10:55.11
in the name of
Jesus and let them go.
00:10:55.14\00:10:58.50
So they departed from
the presence of the council,
00:10:58.53\00:11:02.01
rejoicing that they were
counted worthy to escape."
00:11:02.04\00:11:05.29
No, it didn't say that, does it?
00:11:05.32\00:11:08.03
"They were counted worthy
to suffer shame for his name.
00:11:08.06\00:11:11.45
And they daily in
temple, and in every house,
00:11:11.48\00:11:13.08
they did not cease teaching
and preaching Jesus Christ."
00:11:13.11\00:11:15.76
So it's
interesting here that you know,
00:11:15.79\00:11:18.07
sometimes we look
at the deliverances.
00:11:18.10\00:11:20.21
Amidst, you look
at the mighty miracles
00:11:20.24\00:11:22.23
and say, wow, that
we want to be apostles,
00:11:22.26\00:11:24.23
but we don't take
into accounts sometimes
00:11:24.26\00:11:26.29
that in the midst of it all,
00:11:26.32\00:11:27.69
God still allowed them
to suffer. That's right.
00:11:27.72\00:11:29.43
And sometimes
severely, they were beaten
00:11:29.46\00:11:31.45
and it's interesting
that when they get out.
00:11:31.48\00:11:33.29
I mean they
rejoice and we may say,
00:11:33.32\00:11:35.57
well, of course, they rejoiced,
that they would let go.
00:11:35.60\00:11:37.44
No, they rejoiced,
00:11:37.47\00:11:38.84
that they were
counted worthy to suffer.
00:11:38.87\00:11:40.46
And I think of
statements and scripture
00:11:40.49\00:11:41.92
and the
scripture is full of them,
00:11:41.95\00:11:43.32
then James says in his letter.
00:11:43.35\00:11:46.17
In James 1:2-3, "My
brother encountered all joy
00:11:46.20\00:11:51.42
when you fall
into various trials
00:11:51.45\00:11:52.91
because these trials
produce your character."
00:11:52.94\00:11:56.13
They refine your character
00:11:56.16\00:11:57.53
and there're so
many places in scriptures
00:11:57.56\00:11:59.45
they'll speak to us
00:11:59.48\00:12:00.85
of how trials are part
of God's refining process
00:12:00.88\00:12:04.65
and we ought to rejoice
00:12:04.68\00:12:06.31
that we are found
worthy to suffer for Jesus.
00:12:06.34\00:12:09.09
He will never let the suffering
be more than we can bear.
00:12:09.12\00:12:11.51
It's always for
our good. That's right.
00:12:11.54\00:12:13.73
And another thing about
this particular suffering
00:12:13.76\00:12:16.48
after they beat them
00:12:16.51\00:12:17.88
and they talked
about being counted worthy.
00:12:17.91\00:12:19.42
Notice what it says,
00:12:19.45\00:12:20.82
"They were counted
worthy to suffer shame." Shame.
00:12:20.85\00:12:24.17
Shame, so it wasn't just that
they suffered physical lashes,
00:12:24.20\00:12:29.58
but they suffered shame.
00:12:29.61\00:12:31.28
They were not well respected.
00:12:31.31\00:12:32.93
They lost their credibility,
they lost their approval of man.
00:12:32.96\00:12:37.24
They lost their reputation.
00:12:37.27\00:12:39.29
And sometimes we
seem to think that,
00:12:39.32\00:12:41.45
you know, we should be
able to have both worlds.
00:12:41.48\00:12:44.47
Be an active godly
Christian and at the same time
00:12:44.50\00:12:47.89
be looked upon,
loved by the world.
00:12:47.92\00:12:50.58
And that's simply not the case.
00:12:50.61\00:12:52.04
They were counted
worthy to suffer shame
00:12:52.07\00:12:54.05
and they rejoiced in that fact.
00:12:54.08\00:12:56.24
You look at verse 42
and it really is amazing,
00:12:56.27\00:12:59.95
it says, "And
daily in the temple,
00:12:59.98\00:13:01.73
and in every house,
they did not cease teaching
00:13:01.76\00:13:04.47
and preaching
Jesus as the Christ."
00:13:04.50\00:13:07.19
So despite all the suffering
it only stirred them to do more.
00:13:07.22\00:13:11.15
Sometimes we think that
well, when things get hard.
00:13:11.18\00:13:13.77
When people get discouraged
is because people are,
00:13:13.80\00:13:16.07
you know,
giving them opposition.
00:13:16.10\00:13:18.06
More often than not, the
reason people stop working
00:13:18.09\00:13:20.41
for the Lord is not
because of opposition,
00:13:20.44\00:13:23.07
but it's because of
complacency and prosperity.
00:13:23.10\00:13:26.48
They found
that, that persecution
00:13:26.51\00:13:28.14
God allowed it to keep them pure
00:13:28.17\00:13:30.09
and they actually
built in character
00:13:30.12\00:13:32.05
and were stronger
for God as we saw.
00:13:32.08\00:13:34.68
Well, we've run
out of time once again.
00:13:34.71\00:13:37.53
But we invite you back next
time for "Books of the Book"
00:13:37.56\00:13:40.71
where we'll dive back
in to the Book of Acts.
00:13:40.74\00:13:42.96