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[0:00] The Christian life is a Holy Spirit filled life. It is motivated by who God is and what God has done. The Christian life is a life that is lived through the power and the person of the Holy Spirit.

[0:19] And it is a life of contentment and peace and joy and obedience in Christ.

[0:31] It is joyful obedience. As we look at verse 17, this opening word, but.

[0:44] But it reminds us that we should go back to the previous verses and consider those before we look more at verse 17.

[1:02] To give you the context of this opening verse, we have to look at verses 12 through 16 in chapter 5. Verse 12.

[1:42] So as we come to verse 17. So as we come to verse 17.

[2:11] We see the apostles are doing miracles and they're healing and they are mighty in the power of the Holy Spirit. And so in light of this, the high priest rose up.

[2:27] And all who were with him. And that is the party of the Sadducees. And they were filled with jealousy. Now the high priest and the Sadducees were unbelieving.

[2:40] They were the theological liberals of their day. And Jesus said of the Sadducees in Matthew 22. You are wrong.

[2:51] Because you know neither the scriptures nor the power of God. And the Sadducees rejected as scripture anything that came after the Pentateuch.

[3:05] The first five books of the Bible written by Moses. And it was only those five books that they took to be authoritative in the church. And even more than that.

[3:17] They denied miracles. They denied the working of God. They also denied the future resurrection of the dead.

[3:32] And they denied the existence of angels. So with all these rejections, we find that these people are enraged to see God working through the apostles.

[3:54] You have to remember who the apostles were. These were men who were uneducated. They were not great orators. They were not men who were used to speaking in the temple.

[4:10] And the Sadducees and the high priests were very educated. And so they were filled with jealousy to see God working in the apostles whom they believed were unqualified for God's work.

[4:26] Now when Jesus spoke to them, the Sadducees, in Matthew 22, He told them, And as for the resurrection of the dead, You have not read, or have you not read, What was said by God, I am the God of Abraham and the God of Jacob And the God of Isaac.

[5:00] He is not the God of the dead, But he is the God of the living. And so even more severe is that the Sadducees, In rejecting the supernatural, Rejected what God had done and what God was doing In the Old Testament and in the New Testament.

[5:23] And the Sadducees rejected the idea of a Messiah, And especially a resurrected Messiah.

[5:37] So to the Sadducees, and this is very important, To the Sadducees, death was the end. When you were placed in a tomb, Your body decomposed, And that was it.

[5:52] That was the end of you. There was no going to Abraham's bosom, Like the saints in the Old Testament did. There was no peace. There was no hope. You were just dead.

[6:07] So for the Sadducees, The death of the body was the death of the soul. And so, In rejecting that, The Sadducees rejected the greatest blessing, That God had given them.

[6:25] They rejected Jesus the Messiah. They rejected hope, And life, And peace, And heaven, And God. And then at the end of verse 17, It says, That they were filled with jealousy.

[6:48] Now these men, These Sadducees and the high priest, Were clothed with robes of authority, And yet they were jealous, Of uneducated men.

[7:05] The religious elite, Were filled with jealousy, Because they were supposed to be the closest to God, In all of Israel. And yet they had no power from God.

[7:17] They don't have power to heal, They don't have popularity, They don't have prestige, They don't have the respect of the people, They don't have the love of the people, And more so, They don't have the love of God, And they don't have the spirit, Of God on them.

[7:34] The fact is, That they are losing, Their grip. And when, Men who are not, Filled with the spirit of God, Lose control, When they are power hungry, And they start to lose control, What they do, Is they just squeeze, Tighter, And tighter, Trying to maintain, The slightest grasp, Of what they have, Left.

[8:09] And people who are drunk, With power, Will not, Let go. They will continue, To squeeze, And squeeze, And squeeze, Until they have, A death grip, And they squeeze, The life out of whatever they have.

[8:26] And this is what, The Sadducees, And the high priest, Were doing, Was that they wanted, Control, They wanted power. In the Old Testament, We see the high priest, And the great men of God, Who cared for, The tabernacle, And the temple, Having great respect, From the people, And in general, Being honored by God.

[8:53] And that was because, That, They were supposed to be, Men of, God, For, God, And for, The people of Israel.

[9:04] But in the time, Of the New Testament, They have become, Men of politics. So, At this time, In the New Testament, Ancient Israel, The kingdom, Of David, And Solomon, The grandness, Of, Ancient Israel, Was no more.

[9:26] And, Israel was under, Roman, Oppression, And they were being, Ruled by Rome, And, In an effort, To survive, As a people, And a religion, The high priest, And the Pharisees, And the Sadducees, And the religious elite, Of the day, Decided, That they were going, To, Try to make a compromise, With Rome, And that they were going, To act in accordance, With, Roman governance, And Roman law, And that they were going, To accept the abuses, Of Rome, So that, Even if they didn't have, All the power that they wanted, Even if they couldn't restore, The kingdom of David, They could at least, Survive as a people, And for them to survive, As a people, In their power,

[10:29] Having, A little bit of money, That was better, Than for them, To be completely destroyed, And this really isn't, Very different, Than, The first lie, That the devil told, Telling Adam and Eve, That they could become like God, And the Sadducees, And the Pharisees, And the high priest, When it all boils down, Wanted, The power, And the authority, And the respect, That only, Could be had by God, Rightly, That only belonged, To him, Truly, Truly, So in verse 18, And, So in verse 18,

[11:30] We see something miraculous, That, We see something miraculous happen, So the, Apostles are arrested, And put in prison, I'm sorry, In verse 19, We see something miraculous happen, That during the night, An angel of the Lord, Opened the prison doors, And brought out the apostles, So do you see the irony in that?

[11:56] The irony, Is that the Sadducees, Who had them put in prison, Didn't believe in angels, And yet God uses an angel, To release the apostles, He is telling, The Sadducees, He is telling the high priest, He is revealing to the apostles, That his hands, Will not be bound by men, God did not have a plan B, He did not have another group of apostles, Rise up, Just because these, Apostles were in prison, What God did, Was he said, That his hand, Would not be stopped, And his purposes, Would prevail, And Jesus said, That the gates of Hades, Would not prevail, Against the church, And if the gates of Hades, At the spiritual realm, Will not prevail, Against the church, Then surely,

[12:57] The hands of weak men, Will also not prevail, Against the church, So he opens, The door of the prison, And the reason, He opens the door, Of the prison, Is found in the next verse, In verse 20, And the angel says, Go and stand in the temple, And speak to the people, All the words, Of this, Life, So now, The Holy Spirit, Isn't just going to work, As he had worked, In verses 11 through 16, Doing healings, And miracles, Now he's going to do, Something even greater, He's going to perform, The greatest act, The greatest miracle, On earth, Which is not healings, And it's not, All these other things, Which are miraculous, And are wonderful,

[13:58] But they are, Temporary, Now, He's going to do, Something eternal, He's going to, Take a, Man, Dead, In sin, And he's going to, Raise him, To newness of life, In Christ, The greatest work, The Holy Spirit does, Is not miracles, It's not healings, It's the regeneration, Of the man, It's the raising, Of the man, From death, To life, In Christ, And so, As the angel says, Go and stand in the temple, And speak to all the people, All the words of this life, This life, Is capitalized, In your Bible, It's a title, Now it refers, To the gospel, But it also refers, To the person, Of Christ, Jesus said,

[14:59] I am the way, The truth, And the life, No one comes to the father, But through me, So here, He is called, The life, And that word, The life, Was also, A term, For early Christians, Before they were called, Christians, In Antioch, They were called, The way, And they were called, The life, And Jesus Christ, Is the epitome, Of life, He is the only one, Who can give life, And give it abundantly, And give it eternally, And so this is such, An appropriate name, For Christ, And verse 21, Gives us the response, Of the apostles, And when they heard this, They entered the temple, At daybreak, And began to teach, And this is the first point, Of the sermon, Of the sermon, Is that obedience,

[16:00] Is speaking, The gospel, You may have heard, A phrase, And this has often been, Attributed to, Many different people, But the phrase goes like this, Preach, The gospel, If necessary, Use, Words, Now, That may sound, Kind of nice, And whimsical, But it's nonsense, The gospel, Is, Words, It is a proclamation, And another way, To phrase this, Instead of, All the words, Of this life, You could say, The message, Of, The life, We have a specific, Message, To proclaim, It's not general, It's very,

[17:01] Specific, And if it doesn't meet, The requirements, Of, The gospel, Proclamation, As, Qualified, In scripture, Then it's not the gospel, Moving on, In verse, 21, And when the high priest, Came, And those who were with him, They called together, The council, All the senate, Of the people of Israel, And they sent, To the prison, To have them brought, But when the officers, Came, They did not, Find them in prison, So they returned, And reported, We found the prison, Securely locked, And the guards, Standing at the doors, That when we opened them, We found, No one inside, Now when the captain, Of the temple, And the chief priest, Heard these words, They were greatly perplexed,

[18:03] Wondering, What this would come to, So the reason, For the perplexion, On the part of the captain, Of the temple, And the chief priest, Is not because, They were, Concerned about, Punishment, From Rome, So, One thing you have to, Realize the historical context, Of this is that, If this had been, A Roman centurion, Who was guarding, The apostles, And they lost them, They would have been, Put to death, But the, Guard of the temple, Would not have been, Put to death, However, They were more worried, About the gospel, Being spread, Than they were, Even being put to death, So they were, Greatly perplexed, And I would argue, That they were, Even more perplexed, Than even Rome,

[19:05] Would have been, Because, Rome, Can destroy, Different groups, That rise up, And they had, They had done this, Many times, Throughout their history, Now, If, The, The, The, Christians, Start proclaiming, The gospel, Rome is concerned, Because they view that, As, Betraying, The state of Rome, And so it's treason, But for the high priest, And the captain, The temple, This is far, More serious, Because this means, That we told, Rome, That we would handle, The apostles, We told them, That we would stomp out, Christianity, And now, They've escaped, And now they've gone, Into the temple, And they're preaching, Now this means, That Rome is going to come down, Even harder on us, And that we're going to be destroyed,

[20:06] We're going to lose everything we have, If we're lucky, We'll be exiled, But more than likely, We'll just all be executed, And we'll lose our religion, And we'll lose everything that we have, And everything that makes us Israel, And we will have no future, So they were greatly perplexed, And the captain, With the officers, In verse 26, Went, And he brought them, But he didn't bring them by force, And this shows us, That not only were they afraid, Of being stoned by the people, But they were being afraid, Of being stoned, Because of how much, They were hated, By the people, The Pharisees, May go and give, Money in the temple, They may give money,

[21:08] To the poor, But the Pharisees, Are not going to be able, To heal, Anyone, They're not going to be able, To do miracles, On behalf of others, They are completely, Powerless, People, And so the crowd, Hated them, The crowd of, The weak, People, The crowd of the ill, The crowd of the poor, Hated, The religious elite, And so in a sense, Their hands were tied, It wasn't God's hands, That were tied, It was the Pharisees, And the Sadducees, And the high priest, And the elite, Of Israel, Whose hands were tied, They knew, They had to handle this, Very gently, Because if they handle it, Wrongly, A mob could rise up, As had often happened, In the history of Israel, A mob could rise up, And could try to overthrow, And stage a coup,

[22:10] And that was the last thing, That the Sadducees, And the high priest, Needed, So when, They, Meaning the temple of the guard, Brought them, In verse 27, Them being the apostles, When, The apostles were brought in, They were set before the council, And the high priest, Questioned, Them, In verse 28, Saying, And we strictly charge you, Not to teach, In this name, Yet, Here you have filled, Jerusalem, With your teaching, And you, Intend, To bring, This man's blood, Upon us, They had already been warned, To not, Preach, Or teach, In the name,

[23:10] Of Christ, And interestingly, The high priest, Will not even use, The name of, Jesus, He just says, This, Name, Now everyone knew, What the name was, It seems, That there was some fear, In the high priest even, That he couldn't even, Utter, The name, Jesus, Because what, What does the name, Of Jesus mean?

[23:42] It means, He who will deliver, His people, From their, Sins, And what does the high, Priest, Love and cling to? Power, Jealousy, Greed, Corruption, Namely, Sin.

[24:02] And so, He seems to want to put, Distance, Between him, And the holiness of Christ. But he says, Yet, Here you are, You have, You have, Filled, Jerusalem, With your teaching.

[24:21] Amazingly, This high priest, Is almost admitting, That even with all of my, Supposed power, Even with all my authority, Even though I can call, Roman officials down, To handle you, Yet, You have filled, Jerusalem, With your teaching.

[24:41] You continue, To disobey, And it doesn't matter, What we do to you. It does not matter, What we do. And then, He brings an insult, To the apostles.

[24:55] He says, And you intend, To bring, This man's, Blood upon us. Again, Not, Speaking, The name of Christ.

[25:05] He calls him, This, Man. Now, The high priest, Now, The high priest, Knew, That he was guilty, He had to have known, At the trial of Christ, It was a, A Sam trial, It was done, By night, And that trial, Was never legally, Supposed to be done, At night.

[25:31] It had to be done, In view of all the people, During the day. And then, There was a lot of, Backhanded, Dealing between the Romans, And the religious elite, Of Israel, In order to get Jesus crucified.

[25:49] Remember, Pilate, Didn't want to kill, Jesus. Who wanted to kill Jesus? The religious, Elite. That's who, And those, Who followed them, Were yelling, Crucify, Crucify, Crucify.

[26:06] It wasn't Rome. And so, He's saying that, You want to charge me, With his death. Acting all offended, As if he's self-righteous, And if he's innocent, Of this crime, Of deicide.

[26:25] But Peter, And the apostles answered, Now, It probably mentions Peter, Her first, Because Jesus said that, You are the rock, On which I will build my church.

[26:36] So, Peter is likely, Foremost among the apostles, As a spokesman. But it's not clear, If they were all speaking, Together with him.

[26:50] But clearly, Whatever the case may be, They were all, Standing behind him, And what he's about to say. And they answer, In unity, We must obey God, Rather than man.

[27:06] The God of our fathers, Raised Jesus, Whom you, Killed, By hanging him, On a tree.

[27:17] Now, Hanging him, On a tree, Is a reference, To Deuteronomy 4, Which says that, Anyone who hangs, On a tree, Is cursed.

[27:32] So, And this is where, It gets really interesting, And we'll come back to, The part about being cursed, In a moment. Move on to verse 31, With me. God exalted him, At his right hand, As leader and savior, To give repentance to Israel, And forgiveness of sins.

[27:51] And we are witnesses, Of these things, And so is the Holy Spirit, Whom God has given, To those who obey him. So right here, From verses 30 to 32, We have, The gospel, Message.

[28:12] It's not a general message, It's a specific message. Jesus was crucified, By hanging on a tree, He was exalted, By, Being risen again, And then by ascending, To the right hand of the father.

[28:29] And this all took place, So that repentance, And forgiveness of sins, Could be given, To Israel. As well as to all people, If they believe in Christ.

[28:51] Now the apostles, Start out, Their argument, Against the high priest, Saying that we must obey, God rather than men. They are, Putting, Their authority, Not in, The fact that they are apostles, They didn't say, We, Are apostles, So we don't have to obey you.

[29:17] No, They're saying that we, Obey God. Because, We have been, Given, A message, To proclaim, We, We, We, Obey, God.

[29:30] If you tell us, That we, Must not speak, This message, We will continue, In defiance, To speak, The message, To proclaim, To herald, This truth, Because it has been given, By, God.

[29:48] Now, The apostles, Were all, Good, Jews, All good Jewish men. They knew, The Torah, They knew the Old Testament, They went to the temple, They prayed, They worshipped, As, As, Jews, That they said, That we, Must obey, God.

[30:19] Because, God, Has revealed himself, To us, In the person, Of Jesus Christ. And he was crucified, For us. And we have, Furthermore, Been given, The Holy Spirit, Who is working, In us, And through us, The power, Doesn't come, From us.

[30:40] We aren't asking people, For prestige, Or respect, Or authority. We, Are simply, Doing as we, Have been commanded.

[30:53] We are men, Under, Authority. So they are, Telling the high priest, We have our, Authority, From God.

[31:10] And in a sense, They are telling him also, Just as we have, Our authority from God, We know, That because, You're asking us, To do something contrary, To what we have been told, To do by God, That your authority, Does not come from God, But comes from yourself, And comes from your traditions.

[31:31] It does not come from God, Nor does it come from scripture. And you twist, The scripture, And you defy God, By telling us, To cease, Our, Proclamation.

[31:48] And in verse 30, The apostles, Speak of, The power, Of God, And the power of God, Through, The person, Of Jesus.

[32:03] And the power, Of the God of Abraham, And the God of Isaac, And the God of Jacob. Now that's very important, Because these are the patriarchs, Of Israel.

[32:15] These are, The greatest names, In all of Judaism. These are men, Who are even more important, Than the high priest. And more important, Than the Sadducees.

[32:32] And so, The apostles, Are telling, The high priest, And the Sadducees, Look, The God of our fathers, Who, Are in Abraham's bosom, Who are resting at peace, With God.

[32:49] The souls of Abraham, And Isaac, And Jacob, Are not destroyed, They are not, Non-existent, But they live, And they rest, In, Abraham's bosom.

[33:05] And, So they're saying that, This God, Our God, Raised, Jesus. Raised him.

[33:16] Now remember, The Sadducees, Don't believe in the resurrection, Of the dead. And here the apostles, Are saying that, Jesus was raised, From the dead. And that's why they say, Whom you killed.

[33:29] They're admitting, He was killed. The Messiah, The Messiah, Was not expected, To be killed. During this, Time, A few years before Jesus came, Many people believed, That the Messiah, Would come in power.

[33:49] That he would come, Reigning on a, White war horse. And that he would, Redeem Israel, Not, Through, Crucifixion, And resurrection, And ascension.

[34:04] But that he would, Redeem, Israel, Through, Political, Maneuvering, And through staging, A coup, Against the Roman government.

[34:14] So they believed, That he would be, A zealot. That he would be, A military leader. That he would be, Some kind of a general. But that he, Would not be, Crucified.

[34:29] That he would not be, As they saw it, Defeated. So the apostles, Are admitting, Yes, He died. But, Through, The power, Of God.

[34:45] He rose again. Furthermore, In verse 31, God, Exalted him, At his right hand, As leader, And savior.

[35:00] So the apostles, Are telling the high priest, High priest, You were high priest, Of nothing. You disobey, God. You have forfeited, Your right.

[35:13] To be looked upon, As some holy man, Of God. No, We have a, Perfect, High priest, In Jesus Christ.

[35:24] We have a, Savior, In Jesus Christ. You, Oh, High priest, With all your, Political maneuvering, You are not, The savior of Israel, You are the, Destroyer of, Of Israel.

[35:37] You bring our people, To death, Both spiritually, And physically, But Jesus Christ, And his holy spirit, Raises, The dead.

[35:49] Yes, Even the dead, Of Israel, To newness, In life, In Christ. And that, The high priest, Cannot do. He has no power. So, God has exalted, Christ, To his right hand.

[36:08] He has given him, All authority, To be, The leader, The high priest, And the savior. Why? To give, Repentance, To Israel, And forgiveness, Of sins.

[36:22] My friends, This, Is, The gospel. This, Is the greatness, Of, The gospel. Israel, Israel, Who committed, Deicide, Israel, Who crucified, The king of glory, Who hung him, On a tree, And who doesn't, Want to take responsibility, For doing that, That Israel, Who committed, The sin of all sins, God, Is offering, Forgiveness, And not only, Is he offering, Forgiveness, And repentance, To Israel, But he is doing it, Through, The one, Whom Israel, Crucified, Israel, Who, Was the enemy, Of God, God, Is now, Saying, That I will, Redeem, Israel, Even, Though, Israel, Turn,

[37:23] Their back, On God, God says, I will not, Turn my back, On you, That I will, Redeem you, I will grant you, Repentance, And forgiveness, Of sins, That, Is, The gospel, That those, Those, Who, Are most, Unworthy, Of forgiveness, And most, Unworthy, Of receiving, Repentance, Would be, Granted, Repentance, And forgiveness, That, Is, The gospel, It is, A very, Specific, Message, Verse, 32, It begins, And we are witnesses, To these things, Witnesses, Now that, That word, Should make you think, Of what John wrote, In first John, In the opening paragraph,

[38:24] Of what he wrote, He wrote, That, Which was from, The beginning, That, Being Christ, The person, Of Christ, From the beginning, Because he was, Not created, But he existed, He is pre-existent, Before all eternity, Which we have heard, Which we have seen, With our eyes, Which we, Looked upon, And have touched, With our hands, Concerning the word of life, And who is the word of life, The word of life, Is Christ, So John here, Is speaking, Of Christ, And his ministry, And being, A personal, Participant, In, That, Ministry, And he says, The life, Was made manifest, So Jesus came down, From heaven, Made manifest, And we have seen it, And testify to it, And proclaim to you,

[39:25] The eternal life, Which was with, The father, And was manifest, To us, That which we have seen, And heard, We proclaim, Also, To you, So that you too, May have fellowship, With us, And indeed, Our fellowship, Is with the father, And with his son, Jesus Christ, And we are writing, These things, So that our joy, May be complete, The apostles, The apostles, The apostles, The apostles, The apostles, Are witnesses, To these things, So that they can, Proclaim them, With sincerity, And genuineness, So that they can, Persevere, Through trials, Because, Having a personal, Experience, Of Christ, Is what is going, To help you,

[40:26] To move on, And to move forward, In the Christian life, Despite the trials, That come to you, The only thing, That is going, To keep you, Going forward, To keep you moving on, To keep you, From giving up, The only thing, The only motivator, Is having a personal, Experience of Christ, You need to ask yourself, To be honest, To be honest, To be honest, To be honest, To be honest, To be honest, And really, And really spend time, With this question, Do, I have, A personal, Experience, With, Christ, Is he real, To me, And, Is he, Real in my life, Is his work, In my life, A reality, Or is it not, And that's what, You need to ask yourself, Moving on to verse 32, And we are witnesses, To these things, And so is the Holy Spirit, The Holy Spirit,

[41:29] Is the proof, Of, The resurrection, He is the proof, Of the ascension, He is the proof, Of Pentecost, He is the proof, Of the miraculous healings, Of the apostles, He is the proof, Of the evangelism, Validity, Of the gospel, Message, So the Holy Spirit, Acts, As a witness, And he is, A much, More powerful witness, Than the apostles, The apostles, They can kill, The apostles, Can be put to death, The message, Which comes, Through the power, Of the Holy Spirit, Cannot, Be crucified, It cannot be beheaded, It cannot be destroyed, It cannot be weakened, But it lives, And it lives, Through the person, Of the Holy Spirit, In the Christian, So when we see, All the multitude, Of the multitude, Of people coming to Christ,

[42:31] In chapter 5, Verses 12, Through 16, We are seeing, More proof, Of the power, Of the Holy Spirit, Because he is saying, It doesn't matter, What happens, To the apostles, It doesn't matter, What happens, To the leadership, Of the church, Because there is always, Going to be, Someone, There is always, Going to be, A light, In the darkness, That will shine, The light, Of the gospel, And the Holy Spirit, As we see, At the end, Of verse 32, Is given, To those, Who obey, Him, Meaning God, The Holy Spirit, Was given, To the apostles, Because they, Obeyed, God, And the Holy Spirit, Was withheld, From the religious elite, Because they, Disobeyed God, Look at the actions,

[43:33] Of the apostles, They go up to people, And they tell them, Riches, And silver, And gold, I do not have, But what I have, I give to you, And then they tell them, Rise, In the name of Christ, And the person gets up, And they walk, After being lame, For 30 years, And yet the power, Is withheld, From those, Who are prideful, And full of jealousy, And violence, In verse 33, We go back to the, High priests, And the Sadducees, And by now, You should be seeing, That there is a pattern here, You have, The work of darkness, Found in the Sadducees, And the high priest, And what they are doing, And the working against God, And you see that, Contrasted, With,

[44:33] The working of God, And the working of, Light, And grace, And the gospel, Through the apostles, And what they say, And what they do, So verse 33, When they heard this, That is the Sadducees, And the high priest, They were enraged, And wanted to kill them, But, But, A Pharisee, In the council, In Galileo, A teacher of the law, Held in honor, By all people, Stood up, And gave orders, To put the men, Outside for a little while, So this man, Gamaliel, He was the teacher, Of, Saul of Tarsus, You may, Also know him, Know him as the apostle Paul, Who was a great persecutor, Of the church, Before he was converted, But Gamaliel,

[45:35] Gives these, Orders to the, To the council, And they, They take heed, Of his advice, And Gamaliel says to them, In verse 35, Men of Israel, Take care, What you are about to do, With these men, For before these days, Theodos rose up, Claiming to be somebody, And a number of men, About 400 joined him, He was killed, And all who followed him, Were dispersed, And came to nothing, Now this man, Theodos, Mentioned in verse 36, He was a, A Jewish magician, Who, For some reason or other, Had the interesting idea, That he would divide, The Jordan, The Jordan river, I don't know, I don't know, If he thought he was, The reincarnation of Moses,

[46:36] Or if he was just mad, But, This man, Was a danger, Both to the, To the Jews, And to the Romans, And, And he was, Eventually beheaded, Dead, But this man, Theodos, Rose up, Claiming, To me somebody, And a number of men, About 400 joined him, And he was killed, And all who followed him dispersed, So in this first example, That Gamaliel is giving, He's expecting, That, These Christians, Are going to be no different, Than the followers of Thetis, And that, That Jesus was just a magician, Just, Someone who claimed, To be somebody,

[47:37] But was really no one, And having a number of men, And we've seen this before, Having a number of men, Did miraculous things, But it all came to nothing, And this is what Gamaliel, Is expecting, And as I mentioned previously, Israel, Especially, Right before the time, Of the New Testament, There was a period of about, 400 years, Where there was no, Prophetic word of God, And when there is, No prophetic word of God, There's a growing darkness, And a growing dimness, And when there's a growing darkness, And a growing dimness, There is, A zealousy, That arises, There is, A zealous behavior, There is, People who are, Acting in all sorts of ways, That are just maddening, Because of desperation, And so people,

[48:38] Cling, To, Whatever type of messiah, They can get their hands on, If you claim, That you can do great things, If you claim, If you even, Make the claim, You don't even have to, Prove it, But if you just make the claim, That you can overthrow Rome, And restore the kingdom, We'll follow you, We will follow you, And that was, The desperation, Of the time before the New Testament, And that's why that period of history, Was so dark, So Gamaliel, Is expecting, Nothing more than that, From Christmas, And then in verse 37, He gives his, Second example, Of Judas the Galilean, Who rose up, In the days of the census, That was, About 6 BC, Which was, In the census he's referring to, Is likely the one, That Herod, Proclaimed, During the birth of Christ, That every man,

[49:38] Had to return to, To his hometown, That who, Who rose up, In the days of the census, And drew, Away some people after him, Again, Gamaliel, Is intentionally, And very likely, Belittling, The, What had actually happened, He's giving the, The sense that, Judas the Galilean, Really wasn't that effective, And he too perished, And all who followed him, Were scattered, Now this, Judas the Galilean, Led a revolt, And he was eventually, Put down by that revolt, And so, Gamaliel, Isn't expecting, Anything different, And so, Gamaliel says, In, The present case, I tell you, Keep away,

[50:40] From these men, And let them alone, Don't have anything, To do with these men, These men, Are dangerous, And these men, Will get you in trouble, With Rome, Don't do anything, Stay away, And just watch, Them dissolve, And then he says, For if, This plan, Or this undertaking, Is of men, It will fail, Theodos, And Judas, Were men, Merely men, And they didn't have, The power of God, With them, And so their movement, Failed, It wasn't from God, It wasn't of God, It had nothing to do, With God, But then, But then Gamaliel,

[51:43] Says something most interesting, In verse 39, But if it is, Of God, You will not, Be able to overthrow them, You, Might, You might, Even be found, Opposing, God, So they took his advice, That is an amazing, Statement, If this is from God, And, If it is from God, You might even be found, Opposing God, So be careful, Let me ask you a question, Were the high priest, And the Pharisees, And the Sadducees, And the people crying out, In the crowd, Crucify, Crucify, Were they being careful?

[52:44] No, The Gamaliel, Was, Now, This may, This may, Have been from God, His reaction, May have been, Godly, It may have been, Desiring to honor God, But, In the instance of Christ, And whether we are for, Or against him, There can be no middle ground, There can be no waiting, So Gamaliel, Is, Unfortunately, He's unfortunately, Very much like, Those who would say, You have almost persuaded me, Almost, And so he's hesitant, And he's probably acting, In a somewhat, Politically motivated manner, But he isn't,

[53:47] Speaking with gospel, Power, And he's not, On the side of God, At least not fully, Now God may be using him, But it doesn't seem clear, That he is aware of that, In verse 40, And when they called in the apostles, They beat them, And charged them, Not to speak, In the name of Jesus, And let them go, Then they left, The presence of the council, Rejoicing, That they were counted, Worthy to suffer, Dishonor, For the name, And this is my third point, Is that joy, Is needed, For, Obedience,

[54:48] What a strange, Thing, What a peculiar, Thing, To be rejoicing, After being beaten, And once again, Disciplined, By, The council, Now I say, It's a strange, Thing, But for the apostles, It was no strange thing, And we learn that, Very much from Paul, And he said, Even though I'm poured out, As a drink offering, And he says this, In Philippians 2, He says, Even though I'm poured out, As a drink offering, I rejoice, I rejoice, I rejoice with you all, Likewise, And this isn't, Um, This isn't Paul's opinion, This is a command, Likewise, You also should, Be glad,

[55:49] And rejoice with me, And rejoice with me, Jesus said, That his grace was sufficient, And his power, And his power was made, Perfect, In weakness, In 2nd Corinthians, 4, Paul, He just, He puts it beautifully, He puts the Christian, Life, Beautifully, And in such, A wonderful, Perspective, And I'm using Paul here, As an example, Even though he's not, Among the apostles, In this, Um, Chapter, Uh, Paul will often time, Just give the most beautiful, And profound, And sincere, And just, Raw, Emotional, Uh, Pictures, Into what the Christian life, Is supposed to be,

[56:51] And he says, We are afflicted, In every way, But not crushed, Perplexed, But not driven to despair, Persecuted, But not, Forsaken, Struck down, But not destroyed, And then, In second Corinthians, Again, He goes through these, Like, Long list of, Hardships, Imprisonment, Countless beatings, Often beaten near death, Five times, Flogged, Three times, Beaten with rods, One time, Stoned, Three times, Sipwrecked, In danger from robbers, In danger from his own people, In danger from the Gentiles, In danger in the country, In danger in the town, In danger, By false brothers, In thirst and hunger without food, Cold, And exposed to all the elements, But even so,

[57:52] Paul is boasting, In the riches and the goodness, That is in Christ, And so, Amazingly, And this is what the apostles, Could have said, And this is what every Christian, Ought to be able to say, Is that when we, See our trials, In this life, We, Declare, For this light, Momentary affliction, This light, Burden, Is preparing us, For eternal, Weight, Of glory, Beyond all comparison, As we look, As we look not to the things, That are seen, But to the things, That are unseen, For the things, That are seen, Are transient, But the things, That are unseen, Are eternal, We live, With, Jesus, Through his spirit, And we live, For Jesus, In proclaiming,

[58:53] The truth, Because, We, Have joy, In Christ, We have profound, Joy, In Christ, This joy, Cannot be taken away, This joy, Cannot be watered down, We have a contentment, In who God is, We are content, With his will, Because we know, That when, We grumble, And the apostles, They, Could have grumbled, People could even make the argument, That they had the right, To complain, But we know, That when we grumble, Against God, What we grumble against, In who we grumble against, Is God the father, Who elected us, And God the son, Who died for us, And God the holy spirit, Who preserves us,

[59:54] And raised us, To life, And we know that we, When we complain against his will, And when we complain against him, We complain against his good hand, Because his hand, Only has good things for us, Even if those things, Were to give us hardship, Even if those things, Were to be painful, Those, Things are good, Because just as Romans 8, 28 says, That all things work, For good, For those who love God, And so, The apostles were, Rejoicing, And counted it worthy, Or counted, Worthy to suffer, Dishonor for the name, Not dishonor for their own name, Not dishonor for, Who they might be as apostles, But for the name, The name of Christ, Because there is power,

[60:55] In the name of Christ, And we cling, To the meaning of that name, That we have a Messiah, In Christ, Who frees us from our sin, And we have, Boundless, Rejoicing, We have a cup of rejoicing, That overflows, And overflows, And overflows, And it does never end, And so every day, In verse 42, Every day, In the temple, In the temple, Why?

[61:33] Because that's, Where the dead people were, And they needed to be, Raised up, To life, To life in Christ, So they go to the temple, And they go from house to house, And you see, The point is, They want everyone to know, Everyone to know the good news, The good news, Of what Christ has done, In their life, And the good news, Of what Christ, Can do in their life, And what he can do, In everyone's life, So they're going from the temple, And they're going from house to house, Continually, And they did not cease, Teaching and preaching, That Christ, Is, Jesus, Because they had joy, In what Christ had done, Because they understood, What he had done, They were obedient, And they walked, In obedient joy,

[62:34] All the days, Of their life, And when the hardship came, And it will come, For the Christian, They looked at it, As a light burden, And they knew, It was from God, And they trusted God, And they believed, That God, Had good for them, And not only, Had good for them, That had, Their best interest in mind, And so, When we look at the apostles, Look at what they had, What did the apostles have?

[63:10] They had imprisonment, They had poverty, They had persecution, And what did the apostles do, In that imprisonment, In that poverty, And in that persecution, They rejoiced, And why did they rejoice?

[63:31] Because they had power, They had power from on high, From the Holy Spirit, Dwelling in them, With them all the time, He wasn't ever going to leave them alone, And they walked in that power, And they lived in that power, And they proclaimed in that power, So if you're a Christian, Today, We are so different, We are so different, From the apostles, Many of us, We have popularity, We have luxury, And we have power, And the church is like that today, And, But the church is so weak, Because it's so lacking, In the power of the Holy Spirit, A lot of churches, Don't proclaim the message anymore, They think it's outdated,

[64:31] They think, Oh people have heard it a thousand times, We don't need to proclaim it, But I tell you, That that's the very reason, Why we have to proclaim, The message, Just as boldly, As the apostles did, And just in every other arena, Like the apostles did, We go and we proclaim, The message, We go forth, In hardship, But we go forth, So we go forth, Proclaiming the power, Of the Holy Spirit, And if you are not a Christian, I would urge you, To read the book of Acts, We have been going through, These chapters in the book of Acts, And there isn't a chapter, Where the Holy Spirit, Isn't at work, And when he's at work, It's obvious, And it's miraculous, And if you can't see, The Holy Spirit working in this book, And if you can't see, The Holy Spirit working, In the lives of Christians, You're blind,

[65:33] You're blind, And you're acting, Insane, Because this is so obvious, The power and the miracles, Of the Holy Spirit, Through the apostles, And through men and women of God, Who have been raised, From death, To life in Christ, Is so obvious, That even a blind man could see it, You have no excuse, If you are not a Christian, Not to see the power of God working, Gamaliel, Saw a little bit of the power of God working, And yet, He was not in Christ, And the Pharisees, Saw the power of God working, And they were not in Christ, And yet, They could not testify otherwise, They could not say, That the Spirit does not move, They could not say, That there is nothing going on, It was obvious,

[66:34] It was obvious, And it ought to be obvious, To all of us, Because God, What He has done, In Christ, And who He is, And that He is our loving Father, God, God deserves us, To just be, In praise, And on our knees, And just, Weeping, And rejoicing, Over who He is, And what He has done, And what He is going to do, Even more, As He continues to build up the church, And so, I want to leave you with that, Rejoice, In, God, Rejoice, In who He is, Rejoice, In the work of the Holy Spirit, What He is doing, Because He is still, Working, There are still people, Coming to Christ,

[67:35]  And He is still powerful, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen,