WWUTT 1046 Many Signs and Wonders?

In the early church, there was such a fear of the Lord among both believers and unbelievers that it kept the church pure. The hypocrites were on the outside, just like it's going to be in the Kingdom of God when we understand the text.

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Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

The Apostles’ Signs and Wonders in Solomon’s Portico

Thank you, Becky. We come back to our study of the book of Acts, picking up where we left off last week. I'm going to start here, reading verses 12 through 16. Here is what we read. Now, many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico.

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them.

The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. This is the third time now in the book of Acts that we've had kind of a summary of the events that were going on within the church.

The first time we saw this was at the end of chapter two. We saw it again at the end of chapter three. And here's kind of like a midpoint in chapter five, talking about the work that the church was doing and the work that the apostles were doing, performing great signs and wonders, authenticating that the message that they preached was not of themselves, but was from God.

We even start the section, verse 12, with now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's portico. Now the they here, they were all together in Solomon's portico.

There's a couple of different interpretations of this, and both of them are accurate. The they could be the whole church. So the full number of everyone who were professing believers gathering in Solomon's portico, the professing believers that were there in Jerusalem, could mean that it was the church.

Solomon's portico was very sizable. It was a walkway that was kind of lined with pillars. So people would be in and out of there. This was where a lot of the evangelizing was going on right at the very beginning of the church there in Jerusalem.

It would happen there at Solomon's portico. So they're walking up and down the rows. And because of the of the columns that separated it out, there was kind of a distinct place where the Christians would gather and then everybody who wasn't a Christian wouldn't go there, which is kind of indicated here in this particular section that we read.

So that's one possible interpretation. They were all together in Solomon's portico could be referring to everyone who had become a professing believer, baptized and now part of the church. The other interpretation of they could be the apostles.

It could just mean all 12 apostles gathered there at Solomon's portico. They were not yet scattered about in the Roman Empire. They were still in one place there in Jerusalem in fulfillment of what Jesus had directed them to do.

You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. So we still have a ministry that's going on in Jerusalem before the gospel is spread out from this place. So they're all together in Solomon's portico.

Fear of the Lord and the Exclusion of Hypocrites

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. Once again, here we're either talking about the church, we're talking about the apostles and either interpretation is OK. None of the rest dare join them, the apostles, of course, because there were 12 and there would never be any extra number added to them until you get to the apostle Paul, which is coming up in chapter nine.

And then he effectively is numbered as the 13th apostle. He refers to himself in first Corinthians 15 as to one who is untimely born, the least of the apostles. So so them could be the apostles or it could also be, again, the church.

No one else dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. The way that the Christians were, the way they behaved, the way that they acted, the way that they included one another and they shared what they had with each other so that there was no one in need.

This would have been enough for the rest of the people who were not believers to hold them in high esteem. But what would it mean to say none of the rest dared join them? Well, remember what we just came out of, the story that we had just read last week on Wednesday, it was the story of Ananias and Sapphira.

And remember, because of what happened to them, fear came upon the people. There was fear in the church and there was even fear among the people that were outside of the church. Ananias and Sapphira had a piece of property.

They sold it for a certain amount, but then they lied about how much they sold it for. They told the apostles it was for this amount. Meanwhile, they kept a little bit for themselves. Now, it was their money.

They were free to do with it what they wanted to. They could have said, look, we sold our field for a thousand. We're going to keep five hundred and give five hundred to you. And that would have been fine.

But that's not what they said. They said, we sold the field for five hundred. And that's what they were giving to make it look like they were being as sacrificial as somebody like Barnabas, who was talked about at the end of chapter four as somebody who sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.

He gave everything that he made off the sale of that field to the apostles. And we saw it mentioned that there were other people that were doing the same thing. So Ananias and Sapphira, perhaps to gain some favoritism from the apostles, sold a field and said they were giving the full amount that they sold it for.

But it wasn't true. They had lied. And the penalty for their lie, they died. They died right there on the spot. Ananias first was carried out and buried. And then Sapphira, she came in, told the same lie her husband did.

And she died and was carried out and was buried next to her husband. And fear came upon the church. Verse 11, great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things. So it wasn't just that the Christians had that reverend fear of God in their hearts, but even unbelievers, it says none of the rest dared join them in verse 13.

But the people held them in high esteem. None of the rest of the people joined the church as illegitimate converts. So if they didn't truly believe in Christ, they weren't going to pretend they pretended that they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and then attempt to join the church.

That way, they could benefit off of all of this caring and sharing that was going on. All of these miracles that were being performed. Hey, I want a little bit of this action. I just don't want to follow Jesus.

See, nobody was joining the church with that kind of an attitude. You were either genuinely a believer and you were there. Or if you weren't a believer, you were just kind of watching from the outside.

You might have envied what it was that was going on inside the church. But the Holy Spirit just did not regenerate the heart of that individual. And because of the fear of the Lord, based on what they had heard that had happened to Ananias and Sapphira, they didn't dare join the church and fake their way in.

Now, coming up later on, we would have fierce wolves that would arise even from among those who were within the church. It was because that fear of God was no longer there. As the fear of God had come upon the church there in Jerusalem because of this thing that had happened, the people were either all in or they were all out.

But eventually, as the church continues to grow and it spreads out in other areas, you'll see that genuineness of faith right at the very beginning. But then the enemy is going to try to creep in and break up what it is that the Holy Spirit has done in this work through these believers.

And Satan, by his divisive tactics, will raise up wolves from even among those that say that they're part of the body of Christ, but we're actually wolves in sheep's clothing. Jesus said, beware those persons, those who appear to you as sheep, but inside, inwardly, they are ravenous wolves.

The Apostle Paul will even warn the church in Ephesus coming up in Acts 20. He will say that fierce wolves will arise from among you. He's even talking to the elders of the Ephesian church from the elders.

There would be those who were not genuine converts and under the influence of Satan would attempt to lead the people of God astray. But at least for the time being here for the church that exists in Jerusalem, that isn't happening because the fear of God, this holy fear that is upon those in the church and out of the church, keeps those who are in the church genuine.

And those who are disingenuous don't even try. They don't even bother. They do not. They do not dare to join them. But nevertheless, the people hold them in high esteem. They're still looking at the church going, that's a great thing.

But for the time being, the fear of God is keeping the hypocrites out of the church. You know, even in the case of Ananias and Sapphira, who were truly hypocrites, they were trying to serve both God and money.

And Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 624, you cannot serve both God and money. They were trying to even, you know, split it in half, 50 to God, 50 to myself. And for their hypocrisy, they were put to death.

But the devil never would have been so successful with Ananias and Sapphira if they weren't already so consenting. This was the attitude of their hearts. They still wanted to hold on to the world, but they wanted the stuff that was going on within the church as well.

Yeah, I really want to serve God, but I still want to be in the world. They wanted to have one foot in heaven's gate and one foot in hell's gate, essentially one foot in the world, one foot in God's kingdom.

And you cannot do that. One foot in the world is you're still going to perish with the world when the world is judged. And so just as this judgment had come upon Ananias and Sapphira, so we should also have that reverent fear of God to know that we cannot serve both God and money.

You cannot love the things of this world and also love God at the same time. For James warns, you adulterous person, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? You can't have it both ways.

I want a little bit of the world and and more of God. You know, maybe I can split it 80 20. No, you can't do it that way either. It's all of God as the first and greatest commandment goes. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.

And you have nothing to fear of the judgment of God as it would have come upon somebody like Ananias and Sapphira. There are there is no place for hypocrites in the kingdom of God. So therefore, in the youth of the church that we're observing here in Acts chapter five, there's no place for hypocrites in the church either.

Of course, that's still the case. But in this particular instance, you have such a purity that is going on in the church. It's probably more pure than your church or my church. There are going to be hypocrites in the church.

You're a hypocrite and I'm a hypocrite. It is only by the grace of God that we can declare a righteousness that is not our own. It is the righteousness of Christ that has been given to us. And through sanctification, we desire to become more and more like him.

We must not try to find ways that we can still keep a little bit of the world and and have our heaven, too, for that's hypocrisy. And there will be no hypocrites in the eternal kingdom of God. Consider the story that Jesus gave in Matthew 24, who then is the faithful and wise servant whom the master has set over his household to give them their food at the proper time.

Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. So the master has called the servant to care for the house. And that's what the servant does. He doesn't even do it halfway. He works to please his master.

And when the master comes, he's going to find his servant diligently working. And that's what I desire. That's what I want for myself, that if Christ is coming today, what he's going to find when he comes is a man who is diligently working and serving the church.

And I must commit my mind and my heart to God every day to be sure that I am giving that wholehearted service to his church every day. Of course, I'm speaking as a pastor, but even you who who is not a pastor, you still have a calling to service in the church.

Actually, just preach this to my church yesterday when we were going through Ephesians, chapter four, verses 11 through 16. All of us are called to ministry. We may have a varied grace that has been given to us by God, some called to more responsibility than others have been called to.

All of us have the same grace in the sense that we're all justified by faith in Jesus Christ. But there is a a varied grace that has been given to us in respect to our individual callings. So there is a gift of God that has been given to you in his spirit for the service of the church, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith in Christ Jesus.

So you have a ministry to do and I have a ministry to do. But even for you, there still must be that desire for ministry every day that you're giving yourself wholeheartedly unto God, that everything you do in your job, which you might have a secular job that you do.

But even the work that you do in that job is wholeheartedly unto the Lord. You give praise to God even for a secular job that you have been called to do, for you are serving the Lord Christ, as it says in Colossians chapter three.

So we're all called to this work of ministry in some way, in some way, shape or form. And in anything that we do, we give all the glory unto God. May the Lord find us as faithful servants when he comes.

Truly, I say to you, Jesus says, Matthew 24, 47, he will set him over all his possessions. The master will give everything unto the faithful servant. You feel like you're lacking in anything in this world?

The Lord has given you everything that you need and will give you abundantly more in his kingdom than we could ever ask or imagine. As it stands, we have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, as stated in Ephesians chapter one.

If we endure to the end, we will gather to sit with him on his throne. But Jesus goes on to say, Matthew 24, 48, if that wicked servant says to himself, my master is delayed. So now we're contrasting the faithful and wise servant with the wicked servant who says my master is delayed and he begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards.

The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him. And at an hour, he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites in that place. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

There is no place in the kingdom of God for the hypocrites. Those who love God and love his people will serve diligently in his house. And those that do not love God, but they they feign their love of God.

They don't demonstrate the love of God and the love that they extend to God's people. Well, they're hypocrites. And the Lord searches mind and heart. And he knows those who are genuinely his and those who are not.

And those who are hypocrites will be cut into pieces and be cast into the outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Some will mourn, realizing they knew the right answer and they did not follow it.

And others will gnash their teeth in anger and hatred, believing God owed me this. But instead, he's put me in this awful place and their hatred of God will be for all eternity. So we must not be hypocritical in the service that we do in the body of Christ.

We must love God and we must love others genuinely. As Paul even instructs in Romans chapter 12, let love be genuine. And the Lord knows. He knows if our love is genuine or if we're just putting on an act.

We're just doing the Christian dance, but we don't truly believe what it is that we say we believe. But here we have this purity in the early church that we've been reading about in Acts chapter 5. And the fear of the Lord came upon all those in the church, that they would they would be genuinely loving of God and of one another.

And even the fear of God upon those out of the church, that they realize I'm not a follower of Jesus. I like what they've got going on in there. That looks pretty neat. But if I come in there and I put on the same show that this this Ananias and Sapphira couple were putting on, the Lord is going to judge me and I'm going to die.

So there is a genuineness that exists at the church, this purity at this particular time. We should certainly aspire to this, by the way. We should desire to have this kind of purity. And as we're instructed in First Thessalonians 5 .14, we should admonish the idol.

Those who are not doing their work in the body of Christ, admonish them, correcting them with goodwill that their love would also be genuine. More than ever, believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women.

Acts 5 .14 men and women being added to the body of Christ so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats. That is, Peter came by. At least his shadow might fall on some of them.

Now, that doesn't mean that there's any kind of miraculous power in a shadow. But all this is meaning to illustrate is that the Holy Spirit of God was so present with Peter that even coming into his general vicinity, he could heal a person just by being in his presence, because this was the will of God for Peter as the church was growing.

The sick are coming. They are being healed. The people are being added to the church and not just in Jerusalem. But verse 16 says the people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed.

More than ever, believers were added to the Lord. Multitudes of both men and women. May the love that we have for God and the love that we have for one another be so genuine to be observed by others outside the church that even they envy what it is that we have as Christians, as brothers and sisters in the Lord, for in that a door will be open to share the gospel.

Hearts will be softened to see that kind of genuine love displayed among believers and that they may repent of their sin so that they may come to Christ and become a part of that church, a part of that body where this love of Christ is being displayed.

We have our doctrine. Certainly, we should teach right and sound doctrine, but we should also practice that sound doctrine. That's called orthopraxy. Right doctrine is called orthodoxy, putting that doctrine into practice and showing the love of God that has been poured into our hearts.

That's orthopraxy. We must have that as well. A love that is genuine for our fellow man, believers and unbelievers. May the door be open for us to share the gospel so that others may know the love of Christ and live.

Prayer for Faithful Service and Genuine Love

Let us pray. Our heavenly father, we thank you for the church that you have called us to that we serve and minister with. And may we not be ashamed of the gospel or ashamed of your body, but be proud to be a part of it, knowing that we are growing one another in this faith until the day that Christ returns when we will all be presented before him in splendor.

Keep us steadfast. Let there be nothing, no scheme of Satan at all that would woo us back into the trappings of this world. But instead, we're looking for the treasures of the eternal kingdom that is above.

We pray this in Jesus name.

Amen. Thank you for listening to When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. If you'd like to support this ministry, visit our website www .wutt .com and click on the Give tab in the top right corner of the page.

Join us again tomorrow as we continue our Bible study, When We Understand the Text.