WWUTT 1047 The Apostles Imprisoned and Freed?

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You will go through some pretty tough things in this life. It's inevitable, it will happen.

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But the Lord will deliver you out of them so that you may testify to his glory and the goodness of his name when we understand the text.

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This is when we understand the text, a daily Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our

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Lord. Please tell others about our ministry at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Acts chapter five and covering a pretty big section today.

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We'll start in verse 17 through verse 42. Remember that everything is going so well in the church.

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At this point in the story, we have seen their numbers being added to daily, the people committing themselves to the apostolic teaching, great signs and wonders being performed among them.

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The sick are being healed and those who have much give to those who are in need. The spirit of love is over the church.

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This has been the envy of those who are outside the church yet will not commit themselves to following Christ.

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There's also a spirit of jealousy that has come upon the temple officials as they look to see what's going on in the church and how the teaching of the apostles is being listened to by the people.

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That's where we're gonna be picking up the story here today in Acts 5 17. But the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the

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Sadducees and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in public prison.

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But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

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And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to preach. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the

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Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison.

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So they returned and reported, we found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors.

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But when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

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And someone came in and told them, look, the men who you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

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Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

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And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet you have filled

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Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

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But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men.

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The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

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God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

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And we are witnesses to these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him.

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When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. But a

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Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

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And he said to them, men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days,

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Theodos rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men about 400 joined him.

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He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, Judas the

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Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered.

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So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone.

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For if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.

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But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing

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God. So they took his advice. And when they had called the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

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Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

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And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the

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Christ is Jesus. What a glorious two thirds of this chapter that we've read here, a beautiful story, which we're gonna divide up into two parts,

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I believe. I'm gonna look at the first section goes from about 17 to 32. And then we'll pick up where Gamaliel stands up and speaks in verse 33 to verse 42.

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And that's the section that we'll look at tomorrow. So first of all, the high priest rises up. That's what we have at the start of verse 17.

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And all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees. That was usually who the high priest came from.

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He came from the Sadducees. They were not the majority in the

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Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were the majority, but the Sanhedrin kind of had all the power and the influence because they were made up of the upper echelon of people there in Jerusalem.

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So they held those high positions of power and those positions were appointed by the

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Romans. The Romans had picked the family that would kind of become the dynasty in that position of high priest.

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So the high priest was from among the Sadducees. These guys were filled with jealousy.

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They arrested the apostles and put them in public prison. But during the night, an angel of the

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Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

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Capital L is probably the way that it looks in your Bible. This life, the greatest life, the abundant life that we have in Christ Jesus, the only life.

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As John Newton had once said, while you are unfit to die, you can have no true enjoyment of life.

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But if we are followers of Christ, then we have been made right in the eyes of a holy

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God. And now we have nothing to fear of death for on the other side of it, we will be with our

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Lord forever in glory. We have been made fit to die so that we may stand with God forever in his eternal kingdom rather than perishing under his judgment.

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So knowing that, knowing that there's nothing in this life that can take us away from the love of God that we have in Christ Jesus, our

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Lord, we can find truly the truest enjoyment in life.

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So therefore, as this angel had said to the apostles to go and preach, the angel said, speak to the people all the words of this life, the testimony of the gospel of Jesus Christ that leads to true life, knowing that in Christ Jesus, we have a savior, one who has died for our sins, shed his blood for us, was buried, rose again from the dead, ascended into heaven, is seated at the right hand of God where he is interceding for us even now.

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This is the very testimony that Peter is gonna preach standing before these temple officials and doing so in obedience to what

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God has told them to say. Verse 21, and when they heard this, when they heard what the angel said, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

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Don't you know that they taught with enthusiasm? We were arrested, we were put in jail, but there's no jail cell that can hold us down as long as the

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Lord is on our side. Nothing can keep the gospel chained up. So in this freedom, you know the apostles were standing in that square, preaching with excitement and enthusiasm of the

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Lord God who saves. There is no prison that is so far away or so dank or so dark or so dungeness.

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I think I'm making up my own word there. There's no prison that can separate us from the love of God.

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God can visit his own even in prison. And if it is his will, he will burst open the prison doors for them and free them.

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We know that God can heal us, that he can deliver us from all of our sicknesses and diseases, the trials and tribulations that we go through.

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He can deliver us from these things so that we may enjoy the blessings and the comforts of this life.

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But that is so God would be glorified in the midst of all of these things.

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And even if God, if it should be his will that we would go through these things, these persecutions or even stresses, depression that we might go through because we feel the weight of this life.

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We feel the weight of sin that is upon us in this world or just looking about us and seeing how things can just go to pot real quick since this world has been subjected to futility.

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Everything can fall apart in a moment. It can be happy in one instant and then all be gone in the next.

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Happiness is fleeting. Sometimes it's a rather cheap emotion. It takes one word or one change in our day and suddenly that happiness we had is just gone.

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And it may be the Lord's will that we go through tough trials such as this.

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But even in the midst of these circumstances, it's to make us rely more on God who raises the dead.

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Paul says exactly that thing in 2 Corinthians chapter one. In fact, he says to the

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Corinthians, if we are comforted, it is for your comfort. If we suffer for you, it is for your comfort.

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We are doing these things that you may know the comfort of God through his son,

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Jesus Christ in the gospel that saves us. We know there is nothing in this life that can separate us from God's love.

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Therefore we do not despair. Those things will get troubling and we might fall into depression.

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We don't despair. We don't fall into hopelessness because we know that God has saved us.

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He has forgiven us our sins. We don't stand before God guilty of our sins.

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He has justified us by the blood of Jesus Christ and has given us his righteousness by faith in Jesus.

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So we have nothing to fear of the judgment of God. And there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

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No man can condemn us either. For we stand before God innocent, righteous, made holy, purified in his name.

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So we don't fall into hopelessness or in despair. Even when we go through these difficult trials, it's so we would cling all the more to Christ, knowing that he is the one who is going to deliver us out of this life.

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And the apostles did not despair in this circumstance. But of course here, it was certainly the Lord's will to release them and free them.

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For this was going to be a testimony to the people and even to these aristocrats that the apostles were gonna go and preach to once they were brought before them.

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So here's where we go in the story from here, continuing on in verse 21. Now, when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the

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Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. So the whole council is gathered there.

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It's like, okay, now we're gonna have a trial. We're gonna have the apostles brought before us. We're gonna intimidate them.

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We're strong in number. We already told them, we warned them not to preach in the name that they are preaching in.

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So now maybe they're gonna realize that we're pretty serious about this. When we see how we've all gathered together and we're unified in this.

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But now verse 22, when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported, we found the prison securely locked and the guards were standing at the doors.

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But when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them.

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I mean, surely you would be too. I'm pretty sure we had, how many guys that we locked up in here and these are still iron bars, right?

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Somebody turned the key. Did anyone let them go? Last you saw, they were in this prison cell, right? How is it that they are not here anymore?

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And they wondered what this would come to. Verse 25, and someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

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Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

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So God had freed the apostles from the prison that they were in so that they might go to the people and preach and testify.

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And my friends, we are released from those things, those trials that we go through in this life for that same reason.

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Sometimes the Lord may have you go through a particular trial or sickness or otherwise, but there are other times when you go through that thing and then the

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Lord does free you from it. And he does it for the purpose of you glorifying God that you may testify of his goodness.

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Let's go back to Psalm 51. We were in Psalm 51 not that long ago in our Thursday Bible study.

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And remember something that David prayed here. Now in this particular instance in Psalm 51, David is asking for forgiveness.

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He had sinned greatly before the Lord. This was following his sin against God in the adultery that he committed with Bathsheba and then having her husband

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Uriah the Hittite murdered. And once being found out and his sin was before him and he was convicted over his sin, he asked

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God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within me.

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David says in Psalm 51 10, cast me not away from your presence and take not your

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Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit.

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So this is certainly not the same circumstance that the apostles are going through here in Acts 5 because the apostles did not sin.

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That's not why they were locked up. They were locked up because they were preaching the gospel. David sinned and so he is feeling conviction for that sin, but nevertheless, they're both locked in a prison.

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The apostles were put in a prison of man's design. David was put in a prison of conviction over his own sin and it was necessary for him to feel grief over the thing that he did so that he would repent of it and God would restore him, would create that clean heart in him.

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And listen to what David says next in Psalm 51 13. Then after God has created a clean heart, after he has restored to David the joy of salvation,

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David says, then I will teach transgressors your ways and sinners will return to you.

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Deliver me from blood guiltiness, oh God. Oh God of my salvation and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.

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Oh Lord, open my lips and my mouth will declare your praise.

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So sometimes we must be convicted over our sin and we must ask for repentance.

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We must ask for forgiveness from our sin and God gives it to us for the purpose of going out and teaching transgressors his ways so that sinners would return to the

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Lord, that they would turn from their sin and turn to Christ. That is why God had us go through that trial and has delivered us from that trial so that it would become our testimony unto the

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Lord that he saves, he forgives sin and he restores that we may sing aloud of his righteousness.

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Listen to what the apostles say here in response to the Pharisees and the

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Sadducees here in Acts chapter five, starting in verse 27. When the officials had brought the apostles, they set them before the council and the high priest questioned them saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name yet here you have filled

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Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us,

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Jesus. You intend to bring his blood upon us. But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey

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God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

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This is still the same high priest. It's still Caiaphas, still the same officials who had

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Jesus before them just a couple of months before and had put him to death. But God had raised him from the dead.

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God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior, Peter says, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

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Look at that. Why did God raise Jesus from the dead? Peter says, to give repentance to Israel.

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As I've shared many times on this program before is I've preached to my own church.

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Even repentance itself is given by God. Man does not will himself to repent.

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Man repents because it was God's will. And in this particular instance, in this circumstance, we see that God has his apostles preaching to Israel to grant to them repentance and the forgiveness of sins so that they might repent and God would give forgiveness.

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And Peter says, we are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit whom

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God has given to those who obey him. The apostles had not sinned, but the

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Sadducees and the chief priests certainly had, and they could not bear to hear about the sinful thing that they had done.

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That's pretty common, right? When a person has committed some great sin, they cannot bear to hear about it.

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They'd rather it just go away. We'd rather not even hear about this thing. So that's what the Sadducees are attempting to do here.

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You are trying to bring Jesus' blood upon us. And the apostles don't need to bring

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Jesus' blood onto their hands. They already have the guilt on their hands for having put

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Jesus to death, but they can be given forgiveness if they would repent before God and believe in the

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Lord Jesus Christ as the son of God. And they indeed would be saved, but the Sadducees would refuse.

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We're gonna pick up the story from there in verse 33 through verse 42 tomorrow, when

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Gamaliel speaks up and we'll see the rest of this particular encounter. If the

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Lord so convicts you of sin today, do not be one to shrink back from that conviction, but repent before the

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Lord that he may restore you and then testify of his goodness. I was in a deep, dark prison.

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I was chained to my sin and the passions of my own flesh, but God has freed me from it by the power of his blood through his son, the

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Lord Jesus Christ, and now testify of his goodness. If there is some sickness that you have gone through, or maybe a depression that you have encountered, or some other trial that you had to endure wasn't necessarily your fault, but something that God had you go through, be one to testify of the goodness of God for having lifted you up out of that and his grace that is upon you day by day.

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The Lord has put us through these things that we may rely more and more upon Christ.

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James said at the start of his letter in James 1, count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and let steadfastness have its full effect that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

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The apostles rejoiced when they left the presence of the council, so may we rejoice also that the

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Lord is delivering us even from the worst trials of this life. If there is a kingdom that awaits us for all who are in Christ, let us pray.

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Our heavenly father, we thank you for this day, and I pray that we would be thankful for this day, for anything that comes our way in the midst of whatever we might have to face today.

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We face those things with joy, we give it unto the Lord. God, if there is any sinful way in us, seek it out.

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May we be convicted of our sins, may we lift it before God, and so be forgiven.

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Help us to walk in your righteousness and share your love with others today. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.

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This is When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. There are lots of great Bible teaching programs on the web, and we thank you for selecting ours, but this is no replacement for regular fellowship with a church family.

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Find a good gospel -teaching Christ -centered church to worship with this weekend, and join us again tomorrow as we continue our