Acts - Lesson 17

We have read about God’s work in the lives of Stephen, Philip, and Saul but this week Luke takes us back to Peter ministering to the growing Church.

Acts 9:31-32 … So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. Now as Peter went here and there among them all, he came down also to the saints who lived at Lydda.

The 12 Apostles were primarily in Jerusalem but here we see that Peter – and presumably other Apostles from time to time – were out in the countryside ministering to the Jewish Christians living outside Jerusalem.

Lydda is to the west of Jerusalem about ½ way to the Mediterranean Sea. It is historically considered to be the birth and burial place (200 years later) of our brother George who was martyred by the Emperor Diocletian. George is famous for killing a crocodile that was making water gathering a sacrificial rite. The pagans were apparently tossing sheep to the crocodile in sacrifice to get water. If that didn’t work then they were tossing young women. George killed the crocodile and this preceded a revival and the pagans became Christians (I should mention that it is hard to separate fact from fiction in stories about George’s life).

Peter went to Lydda and began to minister.

Acts 9: 33-35 … There he found a man named Aeneas, bedridden for eight years, who was paralyzed. And Peter said to him, “Aeneas, Jesus Christ heals you; rise and make your bed.” And immediately he rose. And all the residents of Lydda and Sharon saw him, and they turned to the Lord.

God was continuing to spread revival and confirm the ministry of the Apostles with signs. This area to the west of Jerusalem had a revival as the local people turned to the Lord. Peter then has a request to travel from Lydda to Joppa on the Mediterranean on behalf of a beloved disciple with a very active ministry to widows.

Acts 9:36-43 … Now there was in Joppa a disciple named Tabitha, which, translated, means Dorcas. She was full of good works and acts of charity. In those days she became ill and died, and when they had washed her, they laid her in an upper room. Since Lydda was near Joppa, the disciples, hearing that Peter was there, sent two men to him, urging him, “Please come to us without delay.” So Peter rose and went with them. And when he arrived, they took him to the upper room. All the widows stood beside him weeping and showing tunics and other garments that Dorcas made while she was with them. But Peter put them all outside, and knelt down and prayed; and turning to the body he said, “Tabitha, arise.” And she opened her eyes, and when she saw Peter she sat up. And he gave her his hand and raised her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he presented her alive. And it became known throughout all Joppa, and many believed in the Lord. And he stayed in Joppa for many days with one Simon, a tanner.

The widows were having a “wake” and crying because the one who had ministered to them by helping to clothe them was dead. They had already prepared her body for burial. In Jerusalem the rule was you got buried the day you died but out in the countryside it was common to wait three days in mourning. Jesus waited to visit Lazarus so that he would be buried according to the will of God before his being raised from the dead. Peter got some peace and quiet by moving the crowd out of the room. He called on God for direction, and then simply calls Tabitha by name and tells her to get up. Tabitha is Aramaic and Dorcas is Greek for gazelle. Once again, revival is stimulated. This time the Joppa region is moved by this miracle and Peter says to minister in Joppa with a tanner named Simon.

Tanners were ritually unclean almost all of the time. They handled dead animals frequently in their work. They were needed by the village because of the role that leather played in shoes and clothing but it was a tough job to have if you were Hebrew. The Talmud is a collection of Jewish rabbinical teaching on the Pentateuch or the Law of the Old Testament (collected mostly from 100 BC to AD 300). Jesus addressed some of the errors and distortions present in the Talmud but often it is simply offering detailed interpretations of the Law. One of those interpretations had to do with women who married smelters of copper, collectors of dog dung (needed by tanners), or tanners. These were very smelly and foul occupations. These occupations were so bad that your wife could ask for a divorce, even if you had been a tanner before she married you, by indicating that she thought she could take it but she was wrong and now realizes that she can’t take it.

Now Peter is in the house of a Jew who was routinely unclean and needed to make sacrifices in Jerusalem to atone for touching dead stuff. Joppa is far enough from Jerusalem that Peter likely became ritually unclean by association. So Peter is likely unclean in this unclean house … and he smells really bad too.

Acts 10:1-8 … At Caesarea there was a man named Cornelius, a centurion of what was known as the Italian Cohort, a devout man who feared God with all his household, gave alms generously to the people, and prayed continually to God. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God come in and say to him, “Cornelius.” And he stared at him in terror and said, “What is it, Lord?” And he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have ascended as a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa and bring one Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging with one Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea.” When the angel who spoke to him had departed, he called two of his servants and a devout soldier from among those who attended him, and having related everything to them, he sent them to Joppa.

God (through Scripture) is stressing this conversion in a way that God didn’t stress the conversion of the Samaritans or the Ethiopian so the question you should ask is, “Why?” This is the first uncircumcised potential convert. Cornelius was devout and feared God but it is unlikely that he was observant of all the Jewish laws and in particular that he was uncircumcised.

Cornelius was north of Joppa at Caesarea and sends two servants and a trusted devout soldier to Joppa looking for Peter. God also prepares Peter to meet Cornelius.

Acts 10:9-16 … The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” And the voice came to him again a second time, “What God has made clean, do not call common.” This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

At noon Peter was hungry and God gave him a vision in which He takes away the ritual laws of clean and unclean food. The shadows they represented had been replaced by the fulfillment of the law in Christ. For example, the Baptist John Bunyan (1628 to 1688) points out that we can learn from the dietary laws. He draws the analogy that animals that chew the cud show that we must feed and ruminate on the Word of God. The requirement for a divided hoof is to show we need to be separate from the sins of the world. So to chew the cud with an undivided hoof is to have knowledge of God but to lack any separation from the sins of the world, be sinful, and lack a true saving faith. On the other hand, to have a divided hoof but to not chew the cud is to have a devout religion but no saving knowledge of God’s Word. In both cases, a man or woman is unclean and unsaved. So the requirement for both chewing the cud and a divided hoof foreshadows our salvation in separation from the world by the power of God’s Word. The ritual law had purpose and still has purpose in our edification as we, who are justified in the blood of Christ, seek to obey the moral law as pleasing children of God.

Here God is using the clean and unclean animals to show that He will call those who He determines by His sovereign will to call clean and make part of the Church. Peter doesn’t fully understand at first.

Acts 10:17-23 … Now while Peter was inwardly perplexed as to what the vision that he had seen might mean, behold, the men who were sent by Cornelius, having made inquiry for Simon’s house, stood at the gate and called out to ask whether Simon who was called Peter was lodging there. And while Peter was pondering the vision, the Spirit said to him, “Behold, three men are looking for you. Rise and go down and accompany them without hesitation, for I have sent them.” And Peter went down to the men and said, “I am the one you are looking for. What is the reason for your coming?” And they said, “Cornelius, a centurion, an upright and God-fearing man, who is well spoken of by the whole Jewish nation, was directed by a holy angel to send for you to come to his house and to hear what you have to say.” So he invited them in to be his guests. The next day he rose and went away with them, and some of the brothers from Joppa accompanied him.

The irony here is pretty extreme. Peter is in the house of a Jew whose job involves handling dead animal parts and using dog dung to process the hides into leather. I would have been scared to eat in that house. However, the ethnically gentile are outside and can’t come into the house because it is ethnically Jewish and they would make it unclean. I would have been happy to yell from the gate and stay outside all night but the first barrier is crossed as the gentiles are allowed to spend the night. After all, it isn’t like Peter and everyone in the house aren’t ritually unclean to start with. In Joppa, it was probably the ethic gentiles who had a problem with crossing the threshold. The devout soldier in particular was probably wondering if Cornelius had made a mistake. They all headed for Caesarea the next day and it is a two day trip from Joppa (one night on the road).

Acts 10:24-29 … And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and worshiped him. But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. And he said to them, “You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

Cornelius is not sure why God sent Peter but he falls down in worship. When he saw the angel he called him “Lord” and it likely was an angel as Luke indicates. Then Cornelius inappropriately offers worship to Peter. Cornelius clearly needs discipling but of course as an uncircumcised gentile he wouldn’t be discipled.

The amazing thing is that Peter doesn’t know why he is there. He makes the point that he stepped across the threshold because God told him not to call any person common or unclean and then says, “I ask you then why you sent for me.” It is difficult for us to understand the paradigm shift required in the minds of the Jewish Christians at this point. God chose the Jews. He didn’t choose them because they were better. His choice was an undeserved blessing, unmerited blessing, or simply grace. But the promises go back to the beginning and God kept His remnant through all time and was faithful even in those times of great apostasy to keep his remnant of Jews. So the natural and logical way of thinking for Peter and other Jewish Christians was that God was going to save a remnant of the Jewish nation while the majority perished in their sins. We have read Isaiah and we know what it says but they had read it with blinders on up to this point. Jesus foreshadowed the salvation of the gentiles too but all that was opaque until the Holy Spirit began to make it clear that Israel was who God chose to make Israel.

Cornelius responds in the only way he can by telling Peter the events that led him to send for Peter but without knowing the purpose of sending for him.

Acts 10:30-33 …And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Cornelius is smart. He has figured out that the angel wasn’t the Lord but he calls him a man. Peter has told Cornelius not to worship him and Cornelius recognizes the presence of God. Then Cornelius simply asks Peter to tell him everything that he has been commanded by the Lord.

I think Peter is working this out as he goes along and he really starts with a slightly divided Gospel assuming the devout ethic Gentiles would be blessed on the outside and the devout ethnic Jews would be blessed on the inside. Before he starts to preach he knows God wants to do something in these Gentiles but he isn’t exactly sure what that something is.

Acts 10:34-43 … So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is Lord of all), you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, beginning from Galilee after the baptism that John proclaimed: how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with him. And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

Peter says that God shows no partiality but then immediately tells what God is doing in Israel. Cornelius used the word “Lord” and Peter says that Jesus is the Lord of all. I wonder if he hesitated when he said that. Peter does a little synopsis of current events as a witness of Christ’s resurrection. He states that God had commanded us to preach and testify to “the people” but of course until perhaps the middle of this speech he hadn’t thought that “the people” included the gentiles or he would have been preaching to them or getting somebody to do it. Finally he ends with the Gospel probably wondering what is next. These are two different cultures meeting. He does say, “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins through His name.” I wish I could have seen his face. Somewhere in there he had to be wondering why they hadn’t preached to the gentiles if that was the Gospel.

Acts 10:44-48 … While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit fell on all who heard the word. And the believers from among the circumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out even on the Gentiles. For they were hearing them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, “Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

Well everyone was surprised. The ethic Gentiles never saw it coming. The ethically Jewish never saw it coming even when they had been saying it. Peter realized that He can’t argue with God who had just saved the uncircumcised. Peter then ordered them to give the new Christians the testimony of baptism for what Christ had done for them. They were formerly gentiles but now they were the Children of Abraham (Galatians 3:7). Peter saw that ethically gentile believers were saved just as He had see salvation for those who were ethically Jewish. Just as Peter said, Christ is the one appointed by God to judge the living and the dead and the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in Christ receives forgiveness of sins through his name. Even today!

Memory Verse Psalm 141:3-4

This week’s Fighter Verse (http://www.hopeingod.org/resources/scripture-memory/fighter-verse-program) is as follows:

Psalm 141:3-4 Set a guard, O LORD, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips! Do not let my heart incline to any evil …

Wouldn’t it be great if we could just take a vow of silence and therefore control our tongue? It just doesn’t work that way. There are things we need to say correctly in order to obey God because Scripture teaches us what we must believe about God and what we must do to please God.  James (1:26-27) tells me that if I think I’m religious while letting my tongue run free then my religion is worthless. We are to submit ourselves in obedience to God in acts of charity (agape love) by ministering to the needy while keeping ourselves unstained by the world. I can’t be quiet if I’m going to minister to the needy. To meet physical needs while ignoring spiritual needs is disobedient to the Holy Spirit. It is just as disobedient as saying “be warmed and fed” when it is in our power to help with physical needs (James 2:16). Sometimes the emphasis is on the act and sometimes the emphasis is on the speaking. That is appropriate but the Church is charged with the Great Commission. The Gospel is good news and has content. We must speak to convey content and therefore we pray that God would set a guard over our speaking that we’d never be inclined to any false thought or word. James even cautions us about being teachers of the Word (James 3:1). We all sin and stumble and that is reflected in our thinking and speech. I have always worried more about speaking to 10 on Sunday morning about Scripture than when I was speaking to a thousand on a secular topic. Fidelity to the Word of God and precision in speaking it are naturally good goals but as James says, we stumble and as a teacher of the Word you are judged with greater strictness. Just as you can’t ride the horse without a bit or sail a ship without a rudder we must use our tongue. James reflects the psalmist’s concern when he says the tongue is a world of unrighteousness. We fallen men speak out of the abundance of our heart and must seek to keep our hearts filled with the Holy Spirit to guard our mouth, watch our lips, and keep our hearts from evil. God knows every word before it comes to our tongue (Psalm 139:4) so what better guard could we have? May the Holy Spirit grant us grace to accurately and precisely “confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:11).

Acts - Lesson 16

Luke shifts this week from a focus on Philip to a focus on the conversion of Saul who became Paul.

Acts 9:1-2 … But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

These verses show how much Saul was driven by his hatred of Christians. He was so hateful that he was trying to capture Christians who had left Israel and moved to Syria. They were 120 miles away, not in the land of Israel, and he still wanted them captured and returned to Jerusalem for trial. He wasn’t driving for three hours to go get them he was walking for many days and planned to march them back over 1 to 2 weeks for a likely execution. However, while Saul was heading north to Syria, God took Philip from Samaria in the north and leapfrogs over Saul and puts Philip in the South to fire up the Church in Ethiopia. God is hard to fight. In Acts 26, Paul tells us that during his conversion he heard the Lord say, “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” What Paul saw in Stephen during his martyrdom and in the lives of other believers was likely working on his mind under the hand of the Holy Spirit before the road to Damascus.

Here the Christian Church is called “The Way”. The Church is also called the Way in Acts at 19:9 & 23; 22:4; and 24:14 & 22. It is a good name because it points back to Jesus’ words to Thomas when Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” The name also brings us to a clear focus on the Atonement in relationship to our existence as Christians.

Hebrews 10:19-23 … Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Jesus is that new and living “Way” through the curtain – which is His flesh – into the Holy Places (the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies). We are justified and we make that confession (that we are justified) because He who promised that we are justified is faithful and God the Father confirmed Christ’s work with the resurrection. Our confidence is in Him and in His ability and not in ourselves and our ability. Consider your memory verse from this past week (John 14:2-3). I can doubt myself but Jesus asks me if I think He would have told me that He was going to prepare a place for me if it were not so. I can doubt myself but I can’t find it in my heart to doubt Him.

In the 1700s there were two lawyers named Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West. They were hardened unbelievers. They were talking one day and agreed that the resurrection of Jesus and the conversion of Saul were two very weak foundations for what they considered to be a “house of cards” known as Christianity. As a result of this discussion, Gilbert West decided to write a book showing that the resurrection was false and Lord Lyttleton said that he would therefore write a book showing that Saul/Paul was not converted as the Bible says he was.

So these two mice went in search of the cat. They met again after working on their books for a while. Both admitted that they were having difficulty and that the evidence was beginning to change their minds but they decided to go back, finish their investigations, and write their books anyway. In the end, Gilbert West wrote “The Resurrection of Jesus Christ” arguing that the resurrection was a fact of history and Lord Lyttleton wrote “The Conversion of St. Paul” arguing that it occurred as the Bible said it occurred.

The reason Paul’s conversion is considered critical to Christianity is because he was used by God in such an exceptional way in Christianity. God used Paul to write most of the didactic (teaching) portions of the New Testament. He wrote our theology. This man who was hunting Christians and killing them wrote our theology. Not only that, but he led the way in preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles.

Like Moses in the Old Testament, Saul/Paul in the New Testament had the best education possible. He was a brilliant scholar and nobody was a better Jew than Saul was. Even his teacher Gamaliel was, and is, famous for the impact and insight in his teachings. Saul viewed the Christian teachings as a plague working its way through Judaism and he was determined to stomp it out.

Luke has Saul’s conversion in three places in the Book of Acts. We’ll eventually get to the other two as Paul gives his testimony but the version here is placed in historical context and is given to us as history.

Acts 9:3-9 … Now as he went on his way, he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven shone around him. And falling to the ground he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. But rise and enter the city, and you will be told what you are to do.” The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul rose from the ground, and although his eyes were opened, he saw nothing. So they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus. And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

He would have been close to death in Damascus after 3 days without food or water. That would be the case even if you consider a shortened timeline with the use of days to mean any portion of a 24 hour period. The “theophany” of Jesus immediately destroyed Saul’s plans and motives. He knew he was wrong in what he had been doing and guilty of killing the followers of Jesus (who he now knew to be God). Jesus makes it clear that to persecute His followers was the same as persecuting Him. Saul had a carefully constructed view of his own righteousness and even a zeal for things of God. In a moment of revelation, he lost his bearings and his foundations. Hehad to be filled to the core with fear and dread for his eternal condition. He thought he was like Phinehas in Numbers 25 who stopped a plague by killing those who were sinning in the face of God. Instead, he sees that he was killing those whom God had blessed. He was not just standing before God while adorned with filthy clothes of his own construction. That would be a sufficiently terrible revelation to put fear and dread in his heart. However, Saul found that he was standing before God adorned with the blood of God’s beloved. Imagine what you would think of your eternal state if you were to find that you were guilty of the blood of Christians. Saul was blinded and likely led to the place he expected to die. I’d say he was expecting eternal punishment. He spent three days fasting both food and water and praying. As an intelligent man, I’d also guess that Saul knew enough of the Gospel he was trying to suppress that he would have spent part of the three days considering the facts of the Gospel. He was an enemy of the Gospel taken captive by the Lord like a prisoner of war.

Acts 9:10-14 … Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem. And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”

Ananias is obedient but he wants to make sure that the Lord is fully informed. We do that in prayer sometimes too. God must smile when we work at making sure He has all the facts straight. However, Ananias understandably mentions that Saul is a bad guy and by implication could take him captive. In a way, Ananias is asking God if he is supposed to turn himself over to Saul to be taken as a criminal to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:15-19a … But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.” So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.

Jesus tells Ananias that He will use Saul to preach His name before Gentiles, kings, and Jews. Without further questioning, Ananias goes to talk to the man who, from the Church’s point of view, is the most destructive and dangerous individual alive. Ananias was quite a man.

This portion of Scripture gives us Saul’s salvation experience as Ananias lays hands on him and prays. I think he was probably well prepared by the Holy Spirit over the three days of his blindness. He would have had plenty of time to meditate on what Christians were teaching, what he had seen, and what Scripture clearly taught. So he had the facts, he learned they were true, and here under the ministry of Ananias he put his faith in Christ and was healed. Ananias is convinced of Saul’s salvation and calls him “brother.” Dr. Luke notes that something like scales fell from his eyes and he was baptized.

In Lyttleton’s book he proposes that there are only three general ways for this story to be false. Paul could be a liar, or virtually out of his mind, or deceived by other people.

If Paul was a liar then Luke would have been relating that lies that Paul had told him. What motive would Paul have had to lie? He had a promising future in Judaism and he traded it all away for nothing but poverty and suffering. The idea that Saul was lying is irrational.  

If Paul was virtually out of his mind and got carried away with the experience then he would not have exhibited the brilliance that he had before salvation again after salvation with his brilliance sanctified by God. He shows a fidelity to Scripture both before and after salvation but a revelation in his understanding after salvation. His reluctance to believe in a resurrection before the Damascus Road experience speaks of someone who is very well grounded in this world and not subject to getting carried away.  He was not someone who was easily led astray and shows no evidence that he was out of touch with reality and in particular the reality of his situation. In the remainder of his life and death he shows no evidence that he was carried away and instead gives a great steadfast testimony to the power of God in his life.

If Paul was deceived by others then who was it and how did they do it? Even if I had access to Lowes, Home Depot, and Best Buy I’d have a hard time pulling off something like that and I couldn’t blind Paul and leave the others with him fine. Or speak to him so he understood while the others didn’t, or make him well in 3 days if I blinded him. There is no reasonable way to think he was deceived.

Lyttleton says, “It follows that what he related to have been the cause of his conversion and to have happened in consequence of it, did all really happen, and therefore the Christian religion is a divine revelation … it must be … accounted for by the power of God.” Lyttleton concluded that it was irrational to believe that the Church was established, and Paul was converted, without any miracle. The Holy Spirit did a work in Lyttleton and his friend West similar to the work He did in the heart of Paul. It was quieter and gentler but it was no less miraculous. We each need to remember the miracle of our salvation and glorify God for the grace He has shown in our life which is the same grace He gave to Paul.

Acts 9:19b-22 …For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. And immediately he proclaimed Jesus in the synagogues, saying, “He is the Son of God.” And all who heard him were amazed and said, “Is not this the man who made havoc in Jerusalem of those who called upon this name? And has he not come here for this purpose, to bring them bound before the chief priests?”

We need to watch the timeline here. Luke is stitching some things together and we know that there is a break of 3 years. So I’m breaking at the end of verse 21 and then we have a three year span before verse 22 picks up Saul’s story. Saul immediately proclaims Jesus as the Son of God or Messiah and amazes all who heard him. I imagine he made Ananias both amazed and relieved. Saul’s life was totally rearranged by God. It would have been amazing beyond description to see a man like Saul get saved and live out his life in the Church in Damascus as a tent maker but God has even more amazing things in mind.

Galatians 1:15-19 … But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and who called me by his grace, was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among the Gentiles, I did not immediately consult with anyone; nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus. Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas and remained with him fifteen days. But I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord’s brother.

Paul was not discipled in Jerusalem but went to the desert for a long time (perhaps most of three years), returned to Damascus, resumed preaching there and then after a total of three years went to Jerusalem.

Acts 9:22-25 … But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ. When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul. They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.

Ironically, much like Stephen, Saul was able to reason from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Christ that the Jews had been waiting for. And, much like Stephen, Saul was the target of an assassination attempt. But he escaped and headed for Jerusalem.

Acts 9:26-30 … And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus. So he went in and out among them at Jerusalem, preaching boldly in the name of the Lord. And he spoke and disputed against the Hellenists. But they were seeking to kill him. And when the brothers learned this, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him off to Tarsus.

In Galatians, Paul tells us that he only met with Peter and James. It is unclear why. Perhaps they were ministering elsewhere. I think I would be ministering elsewhere if someone with Paul’s credentials showed up and wanted to chat. Barnabas, the “son of encouragement” takes Paul in. That is a start of a long relationship. Paul is still explaining his conversion. Note that Paul didn’t have a dream or vision. Paul physically saw the Lord and of course it was the last thing he saw for 3 days. It was a theophany and not a dream or vision.

Paul was being used by God in preaching and, once again, he is the target of a murder plot so he is sent off to his home town of Tarsus.

Acts 9:31 … So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

I’ll briefly cover the history after Acts up through the Great Persecution and the Emperor Constantine when the organized persecution ended. However, you can see here that the persecution of the Church early in our history was an on again and off again affair. It was bad sometimes and not so bad at other times all in the sovereignty of God.

Acts - Lesson 15

Last week we went over the story of Simon Magus. He was a particularly bad person for the first century church. His disciples continued his heresy and Simon was worshiped along with his wife after their deaths. The Holy Spirit is God. The Holy Spirit is a He and not an it. This makes it clear how wrong Simon was in his attempt to purchase the Holy Spirit to add to his repertoire for controlling people. Philip (Deacon #2) responded to God’s correction. God the Holy Spirit didn’t confirm the conversions in Samaria. Philip called for John and Peter because Philip knew that something was wrong and then Simon was revealed as a professor of faith (he had a confession of faith) without being a possessor of faith. The first clash with the Gnostics had occurred. Then those that God was saving were baptized and the revival started in earnest.

I think that most of us, if we were Philip, would not want to leave Samaria after the revival finally got started. I would have been able to come up with lots of reasons to stay in Samaria. God even sends Philip into the desert where it might be hard to find people to evangelize.

Acts 8:26-29 … Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.”

Philip doesn’t argue with God about sending him out to a desert road. Philip just goes along assuming that God knows what He wants done. That is a good assumption. It is an assumption that we would be wise to make every moment of every day.

The Ethiopians have had a long history with the Jews. The Queen of Sheba had visited Solomon and the story in Ethiopia is that the Queen conceived by Solomon and that the line of kings in Ethiopia are all Solomon’s descendents. The Ethiopian Church actually claims to be holding the Ark of the Covenant having received it for safe keeping during the fall of Jerusalem. Whatever they have is under heavy guard and they are not showing it to anyone. In any case, Ethiopia is a bit of a special nation in both Old Testament and New Testament.

So there is no crowd. There is no opportunity for a crowd. There is only one Ethiopian and his entourage. The Ethiopian isn’t going to be counted by many people as a gentile convert because he is a “God Fearer” in Jewish categories and is working to worship as a Jewish convert. The Samarians were counted as half Jewish and 100% heretic and therefore they were not really counted as gentile converts either. I think you could count this Ethiopian as the first gentile convert but most people count Cornelius and we’ll come to him and his household soon. So you can score conversion anyway you want to if you are waiting for a gentile conversion.

I think it is good to remember that conversions are always personal. It is never just business as usual. Every Christian is a personal conversion. After all the glorious crowds in the earlier chapter, here we see God send a deacon with a gift of evangelism for one man. He sends Philip for the one lost sheep.

We reject spontaneous generation. If you had as many cans of tuna as you wanted, and they were all properly canned, then how many would you open before you found a living fish inside? Would a billion do it to get one new organism? You have all you need to make a fish inside but we don’t worry about new organisms inside. Why don’t we worry? We don’t worry because it is dead. We may worry about saprophytic organisms getting inside and making it spoil. But saprophytic organisms eat dead stuff and recycle it. You don’t worry about cans of tuna bursting to life spontaneously because you reject spontaneous generation.

In a like manner, with a massive amount of Scripture, you must realize that your salvation was a resurrection. You were not a case of spontaneous regeneration. God’s work in your life was just as personal as God’s work in this Ethiopian’s life. God has no accidents and makes no mistakes. Your salvation was personal. Each believer is a one-on-one miracle of God’s saving grace and we should each thank Him and praise Him forever. Blessed is His name.

Somehow Philip caught up with the chariot. The Ethiopian was seated reading so I’d assume he had a driver or was stopped on the road. It was customary in that day to read aloud so Philip was able to hear what he was reading.

Acts 8:30-35 … So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage of the Scripture that he was reading was this: “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter and like a lamb before its shearer is silent, so he opens not his mouth. In his humiliation justice was denied him. Who can describe his generation? For his life is taken away from the earth.” And the eunuch said to Philip, “About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus.

The version of Scripture (according to scholars) sounds like Isaiah 53:7-8 in the Septuagint. The version being used might explain why the Ethiopian doesn’t seem to know about Jesus and all the things that had been happening in Jerusalem even though he was coming from Jerusalem. The Ethiopian may not have spoken either Hebrew or Aramaic. However, the Septuagint was a Greek translation of the Old Testament and it had been available for some time when Philip came upon the Ethiopian in his chariot.

Part of the challenge of being instant in season and out of season in preaching the Gospel is being able to use whatever Scripture is in play to preach Christ when the Holy Spirit is moving. I was never a good basketball player. I would think about other stuff and the other team and get distracted from what my team was doing. It was a bigger problem playing right field in baseball but even in basketball it was a problem. However, there was this one guy from the mountains that was 6 feet tall and could slam dunk two handed standing flat footed under the basket. He would come down the lane, jump, and level off at about 10 feet in the air. I would run under the basket. If he was guarded then he would pass it to me and I had a lay-up. If they guarded me then he would take the shot. All I had to do was pay attention to this one guy for as long as we were on offence and I looked OK. We need to remember in evangelism that it isn’t just us and the person in front of us. We need to watch for the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit isn’t waiting for us to display our skills. Just pay attention to Him and remember that the team is simple and the opponent is outnumbered. The Holy Spirit is in charge and you don’t know exactly what He’ll do but you do know He’ll go with you. Philip knew this and went to the desert where nobody was, found a chariot of a guy who was obviously not Jewish, and shared the Gospel based on the verses that the Holy Spirit had this guy reading. It was a simple plan but that makes it brilliant for people like us because we need simple. Just beyond the quoted Scripture we find even more prophecy from Isaiah regarding the atonement.

Isaiah 53:10-11 … Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

You can see why this was such an easy set of verses to use to explain the Gospel to the Ethiopian. Jesus was sacrificed by God and as a result saw offspring (the believers) and was resurrected (His days were prolonged). Out of His suffering and anguish He made many (the believers) to be accounted righteous and He bore their (the believers) iniquities. Our sins are imputed to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us. This is the heart of the Gospel.

We don’t know how far the Ethiopian and Philip read in Isaiah. However, as I said when we studied Isaiah, I’m convinced that he got from Chapter 53 through to Chapter 56. Just knowing that the Ethiopian heard these verses is such a blessing to me. However, the verses speak directly to each of us.

Isaiah 56:3-8 … Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the LORD say, “The LORD will surely separate me from his people”; and let not the eunuch say, “Behold, I am a dry tree.” For thus says the LORD: “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered.”

The Ethiopian would likely have been told he could never enter into the assembly at the Temple (Deuteronomy 23:1) because of his being a eunuch. So he would have always been a second class citizen regardless of his piety. However, God promises to give him a heritage.

Notice the mention of the Sabbath here in these verses. Most of you have probably thought about the fact that we worship on the first day of the week (Sunday) instead of the Sabbath day (Saturday). This change was a first century change and it stresses one thing that we really need to remember about the shadow of the Sabbath and the reality. The picture of setting aside your work and resting in God is a picture of the atonement. It is a testimony of the atonement. The irony is that some groups try to establish Sabbath observance as a work that is necessary to please God. So they take the very thing that is made to testify to the completeness of Jesus sacrifice in which we bring no works of our own and trust in His righteousness alone and try to make it a work of satisfaction required by God. It would be laughable if it were not so tragic. We need a day of rest and we need a day focused on God but this is not a work to earn God’s pleasure because Christ’s work was perfect and we are commanded to strive to enter into the rest His work provides (Hebrews 3:7-4:13). Jesus also quoted from these verses as He purged the temple. I pray we would seek to purge sin from our lives, not to add one bit to the justification purchased by Christ but rather to please our Father who has shown us such an amazing grace. You have a living sacrifice to make to God (Romans 12:1) and you have an offering too. The author of Hebrews says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).

Acts 8:36-40 … And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

As a Baptist I’m happy to point out that the Ethiopian did not suggest that he be sprinkled with water from some vessel in his chariot. In the desert no one who wants to stay alive travels without water. They obviously needed more than a sprinkle of water. So He and Philip went down into the water and then came up out of the water. Sounds like immersion to me and, as mentioned in the first century text known as the Didache, they used flowing (living) water.

Remember from last week that he Samaritans had to have Peter and John visit because the Holy Spirit wasn’t confirming the water baptisms. That was the odd case and it needed to be pointed out. This is a normal case. The Ethiopian received the Holy Spirit and Luke doesn’t need to point that out because you can’t get saved without being baptized in the Holy Spirit. You can live a life in which you are not filled with the Holy Spirit and God’s command to you is to keep on being filled continuously with the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). Consequently to live a life in which you are not filled with the Holy Spirit isn’t normal either.

This was the testimony of the Ethiopian that his sins were covered by the work of Christ. He had just had the atonement preached to him from Isaiah by Philip and he knew why he was baptized. This was not just a ritual cleansing, although, he was now found righteous in Christ. The punishment for your sins, demanded by a Holy God, was poured out on Christ like a flood as Peter says;

1 Peter 3:20-21 … because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ,

Jesus was resurrected showing that the demands of God were met and we can appeal to God for a clear or good conscience as a result.

Acts - Lesson 14

Prior to his salvation, Saul did bad things and he caused others to do bad things. It is beautiful to see Stephen praying for Saul under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God, who is rich in mercy, gave Paul to us as an example to encourage us to pray for the riches of God’s grace for the lost.

Acts 8:1-3 … And Saul approved of his execution. And there arose on that day a great persecution against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. Devout men buried Stephen and made great lamentation over him. But Saul was ravaging the church, and entering house after house, he dragged off men and women and committed them to prison.

Saul was instrumental in this persecution that arose against the church. The apostles were not scattered and were likely hidden in Jerusalem by the Christians and the Holy Spirit for a time. This isn’t a random scattering and the original text uses a word that is more like planted. It was a stressful time and it was a real persecution but God was in control and the Church actually began to grow in the gentile community as a result. Stephen was buried and mourned but Saul was actively trying to destroy the Church. The Jewish religious leaders had united behind the idea of destroying the Church. So Saul actively sought out Christians to punish. He followed them to where they were and had them arrested.  

Acts 8:4-8 … Now those who were scattered went about preaching the word. Philip went down to the city of Samaria and proclaimed to them the Christ. And the crowds with one accord paid attention to what was being said by Philip when they heard him and saw the signs that he did. For unclean spirits, crying out with a loud voice, came out of many who had them, and many who were paralyzed or lame were healed. So there was much joy in that city.

Now, during this time of scattering, Luke begins to tell us about “Deacon Number 2” or Philip. Philip was later known as Philip the evangelist. He would preach to whoever the Holy Spirit told him to preach to. He went to Samaria. The Samaritans were not a popular people with the Jews. The Jews were not popular people with the Samaritans. The Samaritans had intermarried with foreigners and they set up a temple on the wrong mountain and then they rejected all of Scripture except the first 5 books of the Bible. This was primarily so that they wouldn’t need to read Scripture teaching that having a temple outside Jerusalem violated a prohibition from God. But Philip didn’t care about that and he was surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Philip evangelized them and God confirmed his ministry with signs and wonders. I would love to know where the Woman at the well was in all of this but I figure she was in the middle of it somewhere.

So Saul was trying to destroy the Church but God was going to build the Church and Saul wasn’t big enough to stop Him.

Acts 8:9-13 … But there was a man named Simon, who had previously practiced magic in the city and amazed the people of Samaria, saying that he himself was somebody great. They all paid attention to him, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is the power of God that is called Great.” And they paid attention to him because for a long time he had amazed them with his magic. But when they believed Philip as he preached good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Even Simon himself believed, and after being baptized he continued with Philip. And seeing signs and great miracles performed, he was amazed.

This is almost surely the Simon Magus who is mentioned in other extra-biblical texts from the first century. In these materials from outside the Bible, Simon Magus is considered an enemy of the Church and a proponent of Gnosticism. This heresy undermined the atonement by teaching that salvation was not by the merits of Christ but rather from a special knowledge about God of course dispensed only by a select few. The deity of Christ is disputed by Gnostics as well because they are dualists thinking that matter is bad and spirit is good. Justin Martyr (died c. A.D. 165) was a Samaritan and confirmed that almost all Samaritans considered Simon the highest god (the “great power,” Acts 8:10). Irenaeus (died c. A.D. 180) had to work hard defending the Church against the Gnosticism and he identifies Simon as one sources of these heresies. It would be hard to imagine that Luke would present this history in this way if this was any other Simon or that the early Church leaders like Justin Martyr or Irenaeus would confuse some other Simon with Luke’s Simon. Therefore, I’m going to make the assumption that Simon Magus is this biblical Simon.

Simon was a magician and used his knowledge and skills to manipulate people and he was obviously very good at it. He was perceived has having great spiritual power but in reality he didn’t have God’s power. Seeing Philip do real signs and wonders amazed Simon and interested him. In Simon, I think we have our first confession of faith without possession of faith. Simon learned the facts as presented by Philip and he accepted them to be true because he saw signs and wonders but he didn’t have a saving faith in Christ. As I’ve said before, knowing the Gospel and believing it is true only qualifies you to be a demon. Simon never moved to his knees and appropriated the gracious blood of Jesus. History seems to indicate that he had other ideas for using Christianity and apparently wanted to add this power to his repertoire. He was a rich, powerful, and revered man who wanted to have knowledge that kept him in his position of power. So he believed that the Gospel was a true source of power in an intellectual sense and he continued spending time with Philip while gathering information.

Acts 8:14-17 … Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit.

Something was wrong in Samaria. This really seems to be a unique event because we know that the Holy Spirit is present in believers. Philip knew that the Holy Spirit was present in believers but these folks making professions of faith had a problem. God the Holy Spirit was not confirming their salvations. Some people want to stretch this verse to teach a double baptism (water and Holy Spirit) but this is history so you really don’t want to use history to make doctrine not found in the didactic (i.e., teaching) portions of Scripture. The context indicates a problem in Samaria with the veneration of Simon by the population. There was a stop in the proceedings and Philip in submission to the Apostles called for Peter and John. God needed a visible separation of this part of the Church from Simon. Otherwise, Simon would have an unacceptable position of leadership as someone who didn’t accept and receive the atonement. Simon was going to become an opponent of the Church and teach Gnosticism because it is so easy to use for gain. The mythology of the Gnostics makes it inconceivable that the Most High God could be incarnate. Simon’s heart becomes apparent in his request.

Acts 8:18-25 … Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. Repent, therefore, of this wickedness of yours, and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity.” And Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that nothing of what you have said may come upon me.”  Now when they had testified and spoken the word of the Lord, they returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans.

Simon’s heart is revealed when he asks Peter and John to sell him the ability to control the Holy Spirit. This is a man who wants to manipulate God for his own profit. He will prove it in history by becoming an opponent of the Church and a proponent of Gnosticism.

Peter says to Simon, “May your silver perish with you” and says that Simon has neither part nor lot in the manifestation of the Holy Spirit because of his heart. Peter tells him to repent because he is in bitterness and bound by iniquity. Notice that rather than crying out to God, Simon asks for Peter to pray for him. He was scared but he wasn’t repentant. If you will not repent then asking someone to pray for you is just a stalling tactic.

The Holy Spirit diminished Simon’s position in the Samaritan community before He began to bless the Samaritans. The Church in Samaria needed Simon identified for what he was. He was a goat and not a sheep. The Holy Spirit pulled the goat Simon out of the Church but the Holy Spirit drives Philip to find and share with the Ethiopian who was faithful.

Acts - Lesson 13

A deaconal (as Boice uses the word) or servant ministry is an attitude that doesn’t say, “Lord you can’t wash my feet” but rather says “Lord let me wash their feet”. As we study the speech that Stephen, full of grace and power, delivered there are some aspects that are conspicuous because of their absence. Even in his speech before a crowd that was not going to listen and was extraordinarily hostile, Stephen washes the feet of the Apostles. He bears the anger of the crowd without ever saying, “Well I’m just saying what the Apostles said so go ask Peter.” He witnesses to the role of Christ as the Messiah or Holy One but doesn’t pass responsibility for the message to anyone but God. He recognized the truth of God and so he didn’t need to bring any man into it. He was faithful to “wash feet” rather than to just watch the Apostles wash feet. He was here doing the heavy lifting.

After Abraham, Stephen uses Joseph as an illustration of Christ. Stephen draws that parallel to illustrate that Joseph was abused by the patriarchs and Christ was abused by the current generation. Then he moves on to Moses as an illustration.

Acts 7:17-22 … “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.

God’s providence in the birth of a child gave them Moses in a time when the children were being killed. God’s providence in the birth of a child gave them Jesus in a time when the children were being killed. Moses was well qualified to be a leader of the Jews but it didn’t work out because the people were rebellious and violent.

Acts 7:23-29 ... “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.

So here we see the Lord’s anointed thrust aside. At the time, Moses didn’t understand what God would do with his life but the men listening to Stephen were hearing about the sinful rebellious attitude of their fathers. Moses was the leadership that God had said was beautiful in His sight and who was trained and powerful in word and deed. Those in slavery were too blind to see their deliverer when he was standing in front of them.

Acts 7:30-34 … “Now when forty years had passed, an angel appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush. When Moses saw it, he was amazed at the sight, and as he drew near to look, there came the voice of the Lord: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham and of Isaac and of Jacob.’ And Moses trembled and did not dare to look. Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off the sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their groaning, and I have come down to deliver them. And now come, I will send you to Egypt.’

As Stephen builds the picture of Christ, it is important to see that God the Father sent Moses and God the Father sent Jesus. God saw the affliction of His people in bondage and He delivered them. Because the Messiah was so central to the thinking of the common man and woman (remember the woman at the well?) of the day, and because Christ claimed to be Christ, these points were burning their way into the brains of those listening.

Stephen also makes a point that would have connected with the Jewish Leadership when he quotes Scripture indicating that a mountain in the wilderness was holy. They had the Temple and believed it was holy but you can’t box God in or fence Him in. Only by grace do we have access to all that the Holy Spirit brings. We can’t force His hand and when He “lifts” then we begin to see (if His grace permits) just how impoverished we are in all our efforts.

Acts 7:35-38 “This Moses, whom they rejected, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge?’—this man God sent as both ruler and redeemer by the hand of the angel who appeared to him in the bush. This man led them out, performing wonders and signs in Egypt and at the Red Sea and in the wilderness for forty years. This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.’ This is the one who was in the congregation in the wilderness with the angel who spoke to him at Mount Sinai, and with our fathers. He received living oracles to give to us.

The man they had rejected freed them. He performed signs and wonders. Moses even prophesied that God would send Christ as a “prophet like me from your brothers” and give living oracles or revelation that brings life to the hearer. The psalms are full of thanksgiving for the Words from God. Even the first psalm says that God’s Word gives life.

Acts 7:39-43 … Our fathers refused to obey him, but thrust him aside, and in their hearts they turned to Egypt, saying to Aaron, ‘Make for us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who led us out from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And they made a calf in those days, and offered a sacrifice to the idol and were rejoicing in the works of their hands. But God turned away and gave them over to worship the host of heaven, as it is written in the book of the prophets: “‘Did you bring to me slain beasts and sacrifices, during the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel? You took up the tent of Moloch and the star of your god Rephan, the images that you made to worship; and I will send you into exile beyond Babylon.’

This shows that the prophecy of Amos 5 points out the way in which they made themselves liable for God’s judgment. They had a tendency toward idolatry and have loved idols rather than God. They have again rejected the one that God sent. We tend to rejoice in the works of our hands and believe that those things of our creation will go before us and ensure success. As we attribute our success and joy to the works of our hands we commit idolatry. Stephen keeps driving home the point that where the Spirit is by definition holy and the Jews think they have Him in the Most Holy Place in a literal box. Their tradition is that God is in a box in Jerusalem but it doesn’t fit the facts.

Acts 7:44-50 … “Our fathers had the tent of witness in the wilderness, just as he who spoke to Moses directed him to make it, according to the pattern that he had seen. Our fathers in turn brought it in with Joshua when they dispossessed the nations that God drove out before our fathers. So it was until the days of David, who found favor in the sight of God and asked to find a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. But it was Solomon who built a house for him. Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?’

The tent of witness was in the wilderness and not Jerusalem. Once again, holy existed where God was. They didn’t even have the temple until God gave David’s son Solomon permission to build this place to worship. But Stephen points out that God doesn’t live in a house made by hands. The original charges against Stephen (vs 13) were that “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law.” Stephen has shown by biblical history that a Holy place is where God is. So the Temple isn’t necessarily holy. The Temple is only holy if God is present. Those who had this great affection for the Temple as a result (apparently) of separation from the Temple in other lands had in essence turned it into an idol. Even the law can be an idol if your lack of understanding leads you to reject the Messiah. Even the law giver Moses was rejected by the nation.

Acts 7: 51-53 … “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.”

Well in our day we’ve heard about “seeker sensitive” presentations. However, Jesus didn’t use them and neither did Stephen. He is glowing with the Holy Spirit. He is radiant and he summarizes explicitly what he proved implicitly using biblical history. The listeners are uncircumcised in heart and ears, they resist God like their ancestors, they killed the Messiah just like their father’s killed the prophets, and they had the law but didn’t keep it. Conviction of sin in a reprobate heart does not yield a pretty product. As we share the Gospel we don’t worry about that but remember that a wise man’s eyes are in his head and we can recognize what is happening around us.

Acts 7:54 … Now when they heard these things they were enraged, and they ground their teeth at him.

The crowd really did understand what Stephen had said and they were enraged by what he had said. They couldn’t really argue because all he had done was repeat history. Stephen had a remarkable grasp of the relationship of Old Testament prophecy and history to Jesus. The examples of Abraham, Joseph, and Moses were great examples and his exposition of the history was tremendous. When your read what Stephen said then you are encouraged to read and digest the Old Testament.  

Acts 7:55-56 … But he, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. And he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”

Stephen is glowing with the Holy Spirit and God opens up his eyes and he sees Jesus, standing rather than sitting, at the right hand of God. Jesus is standing! Scripture often says that Jesus is seated at the right hand of God (Ephesians 1:20, 2:6; Colossians 3:1; Hebrews 8:1; 12:2) and interceding for us but here He is standing to receive the first martyr. I’m sure He was also standing in special intercession for Stephen the first of many martyrs. This deacon goes to martyrdom before the apostles do while literally radiant – on fire – with the Holy Spirit.

Acts 7:57-60 … But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him. Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The conviction was so great that the mob cried out and stopped up their ears as they rushed him. He was stoned while the young man named Saul looked on. Luke knew Saul really well and would record the history of his conversion and ministry. I noticed something the other day about what Paul said. He said, in his testimony, that, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost. But I received mercy for this reason, that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ might display his perfect patience as an example to those who were to believe in him for eternal life. To the King of the ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:15–17). Stephen prays for Saul under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. God has Stephen praying for Saul before he is Paul when he is, by his own words, the foremost sinner. I remember from time to time thinking that Paul’s statement was hyperbole. Paul, in Scripture, corrects my way of thinking. It is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance that Paul was the foremost sinner of his day. His heart was stone cold dead. But God, who is rich in mercy, gave Paul to us as an example to encourage us to pray for the lost. And he gave us Stephen to remind us who we are to be in Christ and to remind us to pray so that things will be different than they otherwise would be.

Acts - Lesson 12

The Church was growing but not without some struggles. Things were not perfect and the Apostles had challenges.

Acts 6:1-7 … Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution. And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. And the word of God continued to increase, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests became obedient to the faith.

As a result of a problem with the distribution of care to the Greek Jewish widows and the local Jewish widows the Apostles need to make a change. They needed men to make sure that the distribution was fair. The Greek Jews were viewed as outsiders by the locals and apparently at least thought they were not being treated fairly.

Note that the Apostles were 12 in number and remember that includes the Apostle Matthias who replaced Judas.  

These are the first deacons. The word for “distribution” in “daily distribution” is διακονία [diakonia, noun] and the word for serve in “serve tables” is διακονέω [diakoneo, verb]. So these guys were the servants or deacons. The root may have come from a word meaning to run errands like a “gopher” in our language. They were in positions of responsibility in the role of servants taking over something that the Apostles simply didn’t have the calling to supervise.

  1.      Stephen. Luke says he was a man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.” We will see him again in this and the next chapter.

  2.      Philip. We will see him again in Acts 8. Later in the book he is called an “evangelist” (Acts 21:8), the only person in Acts to be so named.

  3.      Procorus. We know nothing more about Procorus from the Bible, but tradition says he became a bishop of Nicomedia and was martyred at Antioch.

  4.      Nicanor. We know nothing about this man from the New Testament.

  5.      Timon. Nor of Timon.

  6.      Parmenas. Nor of Parmenas.

  7.      Nicolas. He was from Antioch and had been a convert to Judaism.

They were elected by the Church and they were ordained by the laying on of hands of the leadership and the Church was blessed and continued to grow. These guys were very active and some will show up again later. For example, Stephen appears in the next chapter of Acts and Philip ministers to the Ethiopian Eunuch in Chapter 8.

I like the way in which the Apostles describe the problem and the solution. They say that they can’t serve tables but they will serve the Word. They can’t deacon the tables but they will deacon the Word. And this pleased the whole gathering. We see two general areas of ministry or service and that is in the Word including prayer as well as service to people’s physical needs.

Boice identifies so principles of Church leadership in these verses.

1)    Division of Responsibility (by spiritual gifting)

2)    Plurality of Leadership (elders and bishops … plural, not singular in Scripture)

3)    Spiritual Qualifications (Lead by the Holy Spirit and with mature wisdom)

4)    Deaconal (Servant) Ministry (an attitude that doesn’t say, “Lord you can’t wash my feet” but rather says “Lord let me wash their feet”

Acts 6:8-10 … And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen. But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking.

Here is a deacon, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit ministering with power and irritating those who were opposed to Christianity. The “freedmen” were Jews freed from slavery in Cyrene in North Africa, then Cilicia was Asia Minor (North Western Turkey) and included Paul’s hometown of Tarsus, and Asia (Western Turkey). It is interesting that those individuals were not from Jerusalem and they decided to oppose Stephen. Perhaps with the conversion of a great many of the priests in 6:7 these Jews from outside Jerusalem felt threatened in a home that was not as they had imagined it. However, Stephen had the wisdom and the Holy Spirit so they were ineffective in arguing with him.

Acts 6:11-15 … Then they secretly instigated men who said, “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God.” And they stirred up the people and the elders and the scribes, and they came upon him and seized him and brought him before the council, and they set up false witnesses who said, “This man never ceases to speak words against this holy place and the law, for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and will change the customs that Moses delivered to us.” And gazing at him, all who sat in the council saw that his face was like the face of an angel.

When they couldn’t survive a discussion with Stephen they redirected their efforts towards stirring up the unsaved in Jerusalem by spreading lies about Stephen. Then they used false witnesses as he was taken before the council. Think of trying to teach Scripture or preach the Gospel without addressing the futility of temple sacrifices and the ritual law. While we don’t know exactly what Stephen taught or preached day by day we do know that Jesus had said he would destroy the Temple. The clock was ticking on that. This may have been the root of the foreign Jew’s problem with Christianity. They had been separated from the Temple for so long that they really bristled up at the idea of the Temple as a shadow and that Jesus, as the living Temple, had walked on earth and fulfilled prophecy.

In any case, they worked secretly because they couldn’t face him directly and they were distorting his views. And in the mean time, the Holy Spirit was making his face glow like an angel. God was pouring grace out on this man in this moment.

Stephen’s speech is quite different from what we’ve read previously.

First, he doesn’t defend himself. It really doesn’t address the charges against him. Peter went after the charges but Stephen, under the anointing of the Holy Spirit, addresses the Jews. In a way he prepares us for the transition to the Gentiles in his extended presentation to the Jews.

Second, he doesn’t really quote very much Scripture. Peter was quoting and explaining. Stephen mostly does a biblical history of the Jews and confronts them with their sins.

Thirdly, while Peter preached about Jesus from beginning to end, Stephen, addressing these Jews, presents their history, and then mentions Jesus as “the Righteous One” only at the end. On Peter’s day, everyone was getting saved (Acts 3:26) but on Stephen’s day, these guys were not getting saved and they were heaping up sins for the day of God’s judgment. Both Peter and Stephen shared what needed to be shared. Both gave the right message at the right time but the Holy Spirits purposes differed.

Acts 7:1-7 … And the high priest said, “Are these things so?” And Stephen said: “Brothers and fathers, hear me. The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, and said to him, ‘Go out from your land and from your kindred and go into the land that I will show you.’ Then he went out from the land of the Chaldeans and lived in Haran. And after his father died, God removed him from there into this land in which you are now living. Yet he gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot’s length, but promised to give it to him as a possession and to his offspring after him, though he had no child. And God spoke to this effect—that his offspring would be sojourners in a land belonging to others, who would enslave them and afflict them four hundred years. ‘But I will judge the nation that they serve,’ said God, ‘and after that they shall come out and worship me in this place.’

You can see here how historical Stephen is going to be. He wants to drive home the blessed position that the Jews have in history as a result of a long line of God’s gracious promises manifested in godly men. Abraham had the promise but he was a sojourner in that way similar to Jesus. The audience that Stephen was addressing should have been the fulfillment of God’s promises. They were supposed to be worshiping God in this place as a result of God’s mercy in taking them out of Egypt. But they should not have settled for temporal blessings.

Abraham had the grace to trust God’s word. The Book of Hebrews says, “By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:9–10).” Abraham looked forward to God’s fulfillment and these guys were convicted because they were fighting against God’s fulfillment and for the old Temple. We should never let the blessings of this world take our eyes off of God’s promise.

Acts 7:8-16 … And he gave him the covenant of circumcision. And so Abraham became the father of Isaac, and circumcised him on the eighth day, and Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob of the twelve patriarchs. “And the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him and rescued him out of all his afflictions and gave him favor and wisdom before Pharaoh, king of Egypt, who made him ruler over Egypt and over all his household. Now there came a famine throughout all Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction, and our fathers could find no food. But when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers on their first visit. And on the second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers, and Joseph’s family became known to Pharaoh. And Joseph sent and summoned Jacob his father and all his kindred, seventy-five persons in all. And Jacob went down into Egypt, and he died, he and our fathers, and they were carried back to Shechem and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

Joseph is an illustration of Christ in the Old Testament and these Jews hearing with Jewish ears are hearing of the sins of the patriarchs and knowing that Stephen is drawing a parallel. Joseph was abused by the patriarchs. They abused Christ. Joseph saved the patriarchs from a throne and now salvation is in Christ in His throne. The patriarchs died believing that God would fulfill His promises so they were not buried in Egypt. Stephen was preaching to a crowd of angry Jews and these points were hitting home. Abraham’s faithful sojourning in the Promised Land and his faithfulness in looking forward to God’s promises being fulfilled were convicting. They had rejected the promise. Like the patriarchs had tried to eliminate Joseph and found him to be the savior, they had tried to eliminate Jesus and now He is being proclaimed as savior.

When I was at the University of Arizona I took a class in historical speeches because I didn’t like public speaking and I needed another speech credit to graduate. The instructor was funny but made fun of preaching styles by imitating sort of a backwoods preacher off and on during the semester. So our last assignment was to pick a speech and write a term paper on it. I had put up with this guy all semester so I picked Stephen’s speech and tried to address the questions we were supposed to answer for the paper. It seemed to unhinge the instructor. I only saw him once more at the final. He ran in and ran out. He said he didn’t know how to grade my paper because – since the speech was found in the Book of Books – it was already judged to be good so how could we judge it. That was some answer from a smart-alecky instructor who had made fun of preachers for a semester. Conviction by the Holy Spirit is a good thing but it doesn’t produce a pretty sight in the lives of unregenerate men.