253: Jim Harper - The Active Role of Heaven

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:13

   Welcome to good Chris Selfian talks. I’m Levi. And I’m Chris. And I’m Brian. Thank you for joining us this week on this podcast. We select one Talk a week to help us get the Bible in our Daily News feed. We post a new episode at the start of each week. With the short intro beforehand to kind of set the stage for the talk you’re about to listen to. And now, let’s talk more about this week’s talk. Welcome to the Good Chris Adelphian Talks Podcast. This is Brother Brian.

2. 0:55

   This week’s talk is a class by Brother Jim Harper. That was given back in 2007 at the Palm Springs Bible School, and the theme of the series is the work of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. And today we’re listening to Class 3, which is called The Active Role of Heaven. Now, the work of the Spirit according to God’s will is a favorite topic of mine, and I don’t believe that we’ve had any classes on this critical subject yet.

3. 1:26

   On the podcast so I wanted to offer this series as a great starting point. Brother Jim takes a very logical look at how the power of the Spirit was experienced by the Apostles, what they were instructed to do with these gifts and the way in which they spoke about it. And all signs point back to it being an extension of the Spirit that Christ was given. By his Father upon his baptism.

4. 1:58

   And how for the apostles It was not a one and done pouring out as mentioned on the day of Pentecost, but an ongoing participation with the glorified Lord Jesus as the director of the Apostles work according to the will of his Father.

5. 2:20

   I would not say that this is anything groundbreaking. But definitely a strong foundation for the how and why of the Spirit being alluded to in John in personal terms such as the Helper, the Comforter. Brother Jim does a great job demonstrating with Scripture how this is essentially A manifestation of Jesus’s own words when he told them that he would be with them until the end and that he.

6. 2:52

   Would give them a mouth and wisdom. So as always, we hope this strengthens your faith and brightens your day. Brother Jim Harper, The Active Role of Heaven. Before I start, brothers and sisters, I just have to say that Bible School committee members have to solve all kinds of problems. And true to form, Brother Jeff has solved the problem getting me through my material on time. You see, he owns a remote like this as well, all right? The active role of heaven, brothers and sisters. And this is something that has that really impressed itself on me as I read through the book of Acts and just saw these things happening over and over again.

7. 3:45

   A couple of questions to give ourselves focus and direction. First of all, how did the glorified Jesus continue to work throughout New Testament times, from his ascension to God onward? And secondly, how did the apostles view their role in the work of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ? All right, and we’ll attempt to address those questions under these two headings.

8. 4:13

   First of all, we’re going to look. God permitting at promises Jesus made to his disciples before his ascension, and how those play out in some of the rest of the New Testament. And then we’re going to, if we have time, look at the testimony of the apostles themselves as to how they perceived things. And so the promises of Jesus, and we begin, perhaps, with one of the best known and and greatest of them, he says, as recorded at the end of Matthew’s Gospel. Go there for and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.

9. 5:02

   And lo, I am with you always. Even to the end of the age. Amen. And I don’t want now, brothers and sisters, for us to digress into ways in which the Lord obviously and clearly works in our own lives, but rather we’re dealing with the work of the Holy Spirit and New Testament times. And these words were first of all addressed to the apostles. And there is a very real sense in which the New Testament times were an age unto themselves.

10. 5:35

    It was an age of Holy Spirit empowerment, and it it it endured for that period of time in the Lord’s work through His apostles. And this is a sweeping promise by Jesus. Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. It’s a sweeping promise to his apostles. And it hardly suggests, at least to my mind, A1 time fulfillment on the day of Pentecost.

11. 6:01

    In his glory, Jesus would actively work with his apostles throughout the rest of New Testament times. The immediate objective has been defined there. The immediate objective of the Lord’s promise was to advance the cause of the Great Commission. In a sense, that was Matthew’s record of the Great Commission. To make disciples of all nations, baptizing them, teaching them the empowerment that Jesus gave on the day of Pentecost began to fulfill the promise.

12. 6:36

    And it happened again and again and again. And this is what impressed itself upon me as I simply read through the book of Acts, set the baggage aside, and said what is it saying to me? Preaching the gospel of salvation, brothers and sisters, to a world that was dying,

13. 6:56

    orchestrated, directed, empowered by the Lord Jesus himself, was the first priority of Holy Spirit activity in New Testament times, and edifying the body of believers quickly became the second important priority. We’ll do our best to explore in and around the first of these today and. God permitting perhaps a bit more of the second of these priorities in our our class tomorrow, but giving eternal life in the power of the Holy Spirit is still to come. Baptisms.

14. 7:34

    There were even multiple baptisms of the apostles, and we’ll look again at one classic pair of these, at least today. But the baptism of the Holy Spirit is still to come. The work of the Holy Spirit of New Testament times was a developmental work. It was not a work of completion.

15. 7:56

    We come to Mark’s Gospel, he said to them. And again, the context is the 11th from verse 14. Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes in his baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be condemned. And there is Mark’s version of the Great Commission, and he goes on to say, Or Mark goes on to record, And they went out and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the word through the accompanying signs. This is going to be a partnership that we read of in the book of Acts and on through the the New Testament. A partnership between these men who were like us, who went forth in the name of Jesus and heaven itself, working with them and empowering them as needed and when needed and where needed. This again in Mark’s account, as the Great Commission hardly the work of one day.

16. 9:01

    The Lord worked with his apostles in an ongoing manner until the purposes were accomplished through them. Now just pause for a moment here, Brothers and sisters, I think we’ve taken on board the kind of thing that you could read in Benjamin Warfield’s book that this was the age of the apostles, and I have deliberately attempted to bring myself away from that kind of terminology.

17. 9:26

    This is the age of the Holy Spirit. Working through miracles, wonders and signs administered by the glorified Lord Jesus Christ through his apostles, who are his hands and are his feet and are his mouth for him, his friends on earth. And they took note that these men had been with Jesus. It’s not an age of the apostles.

18. 9:52

    It’s an age entirely under the control of heaven itself. And so I no longer accept the idea that the apostles possessed from the day of Pentecost forward some miraculous power that they could pass on. And it’s at the end. Brothers and sisters of the the Apostolic Age. The Spirit gifts ended because the apostles died.

19. 10:14

    It worked the other way around. That’s the way life works. When God’s purpose with us is finished, it’s over and we die. And that’s all right. The best is yet to come.

20. 10:30

    And so when the end of the Lord’s purposes with America’s wonders and signs comes to its to its culmination, those things will cease, and the last of the apostles will die. Heaven doesn’t have to say, well, there goes the last of the apostles. What do we do now?

21. 10:52

    No more spirit gifts. No, no, no, no. No works the other way around. It’s the way it worked with John the Baptist. When it was over, it was over and it wasn’t pleasant. And he understood that he must think it increase. I must decrease. He understood that we must understand that. You know, if the Lord’s work with me is done with this period, I won’t see lunch. And that’s okay.

22. 11:17

    That’s okay. The best is yet to come. So the Lord worked through His apostles in an ongoing manner until His purposes were accomplished. Through them the gifts ceased and the the last of the apostles died off. The Lord’s work was done with them. He has much better things in store for them. That’s all for now, and the historical record here in March seems deliberately qualified.

23. 11:45

    The Lord working with them the age of eternal life for all believers. Has not yet come, and so now we want to focus. We want to look at promises Jesus made to His apostles while He was yet with them before the Ascension, before, even in many respects His crucifixion. And then we want to see how these play out in their work through the rest of the New Testament.

24. 12:18

    And we go back to Luke chapter 12. We’ll start with a couple of promises Jesus made in Luke’s gospel, and we’ll go to Acts and see how Luke records the fulfillment, the keeping of these promises. You’ll remember this now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities. Do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour.

25. 12:47

    What you ought to say, or this one again, in Luke chapter 21, you will be brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake, but it will turn out for you as an occasion for testimony.

26. 13:03

    Therefore settle it in your hearts not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer for. I will give you a mouth and wisdom. Which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist. There’s the promise. And the Lord is saying this to them. Be ever before His crucifixion. Oh, what the Lord understood, It’s just absolutely breathtaking.

27. 13:30

    He’s already projected himself in into the the age of of His glory. Brothers and sisters, the Holy Spirit will teach you what you ought to say. I will give you a mouth and wisdom, their equivalent statements. The ad hoc work of the Holy Spirit was in fact the ongoing work of the glorified Jesus.

28. 13:52

    And what I mean by that ad hoc, it came at a time when it was needed for the purpose that it was needed, and then when it was over, it was over. It was toward a specific end that these empowerments would come, and when that was over, it was over and it would come again for a specific end.

29. 14:12

    It was in fact the ongoing work of the glorified Jesus. The Holy Spirit is a personified. The Holy Spirit will teach you in that hour what you ought to say. I will give you a mouth and wisdom. It’s the person of the glorified Jesus who’s behind the personification of the Holy Spirit in in these promises. The empowering of the apostles for the purpose of bearing witness was carried out by Jesus when he saw fit to do it, where he saw fit to do it as he saw fit to do it, And I could add, as only he would know when it was fit to do it, His apostles in turn had to depend day by day by day, on the faithfulness of Jesus to his promise.

30. 15:01

    And so when they got up in the morning, brothers and sisters, I don’t envision them flexing their Holy Spirit muscles and saying let’s rattle off a few words in Cappadocian before we head out for breakfast. I don’t see them having that kind of power, and I don’t. I don’t mean to say that flippantly, because it sounds like it, but if they needed that day the ability to do some miracle, the Lord knew it and he’d provide it when it was necessary.

31. 15:30

    Promise kept and we’ll go to the healing of the lame man and we’ll go to acts for actually the sequel. You remember how after the healing of the lame man that the the crowds rushed to see what has happened. They had been, they had gone on into the temple, and the man was leaping and praising God and and they rushed to see this, and Peter sees the moment. And began his preaching.

32. 16:00

    And we see that the message he preached in Acts three was parallel to the message he he spoke in Acts 2. The the. It’s a replication again of what was preached on Pentecost. You remember that they were arrested. Peter and John were arrested. So I think was the lame man. They were put in prison overnight and the next day all three of them are on the carpet, Peter and John and the man standing there with them.

33. 16:28

    And they are answering to the rulers. It came to pass on the next day, that their rulers, elders and scribes, as well as Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they upset them, Peter and John, in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this?

34. 16:52

    They have been brought before kings and rulers for my name’s sake. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to them. In that very hour I will give you a mouth and wisdom, rulers of the people and elders of Israel. Here’s the mouth. Here’s the wisdom. Let it be known to you, to all, to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And notice the phrasing and Acts is, is, is impeccable. It’s no longer just Jesus of Nazareth. The way Peter began his address in Acts 2 verse 22 and had to bring them to the the realization that God had made that Jesus whom they crucified both Lord and Christ. Now they’re all the stops are pulled out here, Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

35. 17:48

    And he says that to the rulers. You’ve got to understand. He’s no longer just Jesus of Nazareth, the prophet of Galilee. This is Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by Him. This man stands here before you hold nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And there’s the mouth and the wisdom that came under inspiration to Peter in that very hour. A mouth and wisdom.

36. 18:24

    Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they’d been with Jesus.

37. 18:35

    Vitally important, The apostles will begin to be magnified in Jerusalem, and it’s already beginning to happen. And they know that these men had been with Jesus. They are the visible link to Jesus on this earth, and they are his hands, and they are his feet and they are his mouth. And I always love this little expression, uneducated and untrained, Agra Matos and idiotes.

38. 19:05

    I sympathize with that, All right. Uneducated, Ungrammered and idiots. That’s how they viewed them. But transfigured men? Transformed men. Whatever else, the punctuated empowerments that they received from heaven to carry out the Great Commission, brothers and sisters, it had a lasting effect on them as well, and within them developed an indwelling spirit that is also making them full of the Holy Spirit in that respect.

39. 19:41

    But the but the the miraculous empowerments are punctuated events. They realized that they’d been with Jesus, and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. Saying what should we do to these men? For indeed a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem.

40. 20:00

    And we cannot deny it. We cannot deny it. What did Jesus promised? Your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist, and they wrote the last word on that by saying this. And so Acts 4 verses 8 to 16, brothers and sisters, is both a fulfillment of the promise of Jesus and it’s the language of Holy Spirit.

41. 20:29

    Baptism in the sense of giving miraculous inspiration and empowerment. And we note too that this event occurred sometime after the day of Pentecost. Pentecost did not provide a once and for all baptism of the Holy Spirit in any kind of sense of making. The Apostles repositories of Holy Spirit power. That baptism of continuous Holy Spirit power is yet to come.

42. 21:02

    The Lord Jesus filled his men with Holy Spirit. He inspired them. It’s And remember we said it the first day. The more closely we find ourselves drawing the lines between the New Testament work of the Holy Spirit and the way that God worked through the power of His Holy Spirit and Old Testament times, probably the closer we are to understanding what’s going on.

43. 21:21

    And there in Old Testament times, the inspiration of the prophets was a punctuated phenomenon. Go back to the judgement judges. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. The Spirit of the Lord came upon Samson. They were punctuated events. And Samson did the mighty works. And still it is the soul here.

44. 21:41

    This is not the ultimate, yet this is a developmental work. The work of the apostles was the ongoing work of the glorified Lord Jesus by the power of the Holy Spirit. He’s in control. Another example of that promise kept. And now we come forward to the Apostle Paul. We come to Acts 13 and we go from Jerusalem to Cyprus. And on our way to Cyprus, we’ll stop, brothers and sisters, at Antioch in Syria, up on the northeast corner there of the of the Mediterranean Sea and there in the Ecclesia in Antioch, there were certain prophets and teachers. You can read of this at the beginning of Acts 13. And they are fasting and praying. And I have to believe, brothers and sisters, being the the nerve center that Antioch had become for preaching the gospel, that they are fasting and praying for direction from heaven. What do we do next?

45. 22:34

    Where do we go next? Where do you want us to go to carry the gospel to a perishing world? And then perhaps through the prophet or a prophet. There in Antioch the Holy Spirit says, separate to me, Barnabas and Saul for the work where until I have called them. And so being sent out by the Holy Spirit, that’s the Lord Jesus Accomplishing this by the power of the Holy Spirit.

46. 23:00

    Being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they Barnabas and Saul went down to Salucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus, the active role of heaven. And when they gone through the island to Pappas, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was bar Jesus, who was with the pro consul, Sergeus Paulus, an intelligent man.

47. 23:23

    And he was I I I think we’ll see some evidence of that momentarily. This man called for Barnabas and Saul that was intelligent. We’ll see more evidence. And he sought to hear the word of God, but Elimus the sorcerer, so his name is translated, interpreted. We’ll talk about very briefly the interpretation of tongues, but that’s the same word withstood them seeking to turn the Pro Council away from the faith.

48. 23:56

    So here’s the adversary. We’ve got a variation on the theme. They are now before a ruler, not an adversarial ruler, but in his midst is 1. Who’s the adversary? And we’re going to see again the Lord Jesus taking control of this situation and bringing a wonderful, wonderful result out of it. Then Saul, who’s also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him and said in that very hour.

49. 24:29

    So this promise even applies to the apostle Paul originally given in Luke’s gospel to the to the 12 take away Judas, add Mathias. But it applies to Paul as well in that very hour, and Paul’s experience invites comparison with Peter’s. There is the Greek. And except that we’ve got Saul and Peter. All right, you take a look. Filled with the Holy Spirit, filled with spirit, Holy. Here, brothers and sisters, same Greek word, right down to the verb parsing.

50. 25:02

    Exactly the same. Here we’ll see a similar kind of comparison. And another time in the book of Acts, this is a very, very similar experience to what Peter had before the council. And the just to to fill out this verb parsing. It’s the aoris tense we spoke of. It’s the passive voice. So it’s done to Peter. It’s done to Paul.

51. 25:21

    It’s the participle They’re filled at that moment with the Holy Spirit. The Greek is exactly the same, and the language is that of Holy Spirit baptism and ad hoc inspiration in New Testament times when it applies to special empowerment. And so Paul says something that none of us would dare to say. He has sensed this empowerment.

52. 25:56

    He has sensed the connection with heaven. His will is entirely In Sync with that of the Lord Jesus Christ. And when he opens his mouth, it will be the Lord, the Lord’s words that he speaks. And he says to Elimus, the hand of the Lord is upon you. He’s not saying I’m going to put my hands on you.

53. 26:22

    He already has had by inspiration a knowledge of the judgment that Jesus is going to carry out. The hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time and immediately a dark mist fell on him. Paul’s put his neck in the noose here, and Jesus doesn’t let him get hung.

54. 26:50

    Immediately a dark mist fell on him. Fell on him. Remember yesterday? Not. All right. Where did it come from? And he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. Prophecy, the immediate fulfillment of prophecy. Under inspiration Paul prophesied this judgment of Elimus, and Jesus carried out the judgment. Paul was given a mouth and wisdom, and his adversary was not able to contradict or resist, and he went around groping for somebody to lead him by the hand the man made blind. You know, there we are.

55. 27:39

    Isn’t it because he had resisted? The truth just occurred to me? Thank you, brother. Thank you. A dark mist fell on him and it uses Holy Spirit baptism language. Except that this intervention of heaven came in the form of a miraculous judgment rather than a gift that promised life. This is the great thing we see of these events in the New Testament, brothers and sisters. We see Jesus as the Savior of men through the power of the Holy Spirit, and we also see him as the judge of men. And if our friends in the religious world around us want to claim those kind of powers for themselves, show us both sides of the coin, categorically, unequivocally, without any question.

56. 28:27

    Not just the saving power, but the Judgment Power Strike and Anonyzer. So Fire are dead. Would they dare do it? Neither did Peter. He pronounced the judgment and Christ did it. And same here the Council believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord. And it’s this praising that just says to me this man is intelligent because he’s perceived this is not just the preaching of Saul and Barnabas. It’s not just their teaching about the Lord. He has, I think, perceived and gotten right to the heart of the matter.

57. 29:13

    This is the teaching of the Lord that he’s hearing. I will give you a mouth and wisdom. This man, Sergeus Paulus, was an intelligent man, and I think he recognized this truth in some way. These were the words of heaven, that he was hearing another promise, brothers and sisters, going back now again to the Gospels before the Lord’s crucifixion, going to that series of of of chapters, John 14 to 16.

58. 29:43

    And Jesus promises to his apostles, whatever you ask in my name that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. Or in John 16 most assuredly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. And I just want to highlight that that is again one of those Holy Spirit baptism words that we looked at on Monday. But I want for us to also see that this word is going to come back in a moment in exactly this kind of setting in Acts, because Jesus is inviting his apostles to pray, to pray for the help that would come from his Father in Christ’s name. Until now you’ve asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive that.

59. 30:32

    Your joy may be full. And before we go over to Acts, I just want you to notice something. There’s been a changing of the guard here, in a sense. Previously, we looked at promises that Luke recorded in his Gospel, and we look at his fulfillment of those, or his record of the fulfillment and acts.

60. 30:52

    Now we’re going back and looking at promises that Jesus made recorded in John’s Gospel, and Luke will show us the fulfillment and Acts, and the changing of the guard is seamless, such as the integrity of the Gospels In the book of Acts, such as the integrity of the New Testament, though the promise is recorded by John, Luke will show us the keeping of the promise and we come to Jerusalem and we come to Acts chapter 4, and we come to the sequel to the healing of the lame man and the interrogation of the council, who threaten the Peter and John and send them on their way and they come back to their companions. It picks up about verse 23 or thereabouts, and in verse 29, I want you to see what they’re doing. They are praying.

61. 31:46

    Whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. And so they pray. Now, Lord, look on their threats, and give the same word. Grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, and as their profile grows, so brothers and sisters does the threat of persecution from the rulers, and by the grace of God they will remain untouchable. At least the apostles will for some time yet to come. James.

62. 32:22

    No, ultimately he’s slain by Herod, but the Apostolic College will remain largely intact up until the time of the Jerusalem conference. With their center in Jerusalem, they will remain untouchable in in in most regards, not entirely, but in most regards. While even the persecution of Sol of Tarsus will drive others out, the apostles remain untouchable in many, many respects, and will perhaps try to come back and and comment on that if if time allows.

63. 32:57

    But here’s what they’re doing. They’re they’re asking grant to your servants that with all boldness is there men like us. They’ve just been threatened, and they realize that along with the power to speak the word, they need to have the reassurances of heaven that give them the boldness to do this. And so grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal marvelous echo of the healing of the lame man there.

64. 33:28

    When Peter stretched out his hand to help that man up, that was the hand of Jesus at that moment. Lifting that man up by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus, whatever you ask in my name. And we’re getting an interpretation of this now.

65. 33:53

    We’re getting an interpretation of this now. Preaching in the name of Jesus in Jerusalem was dangerous work. The apostles needed boldness. They asked for boldness. They were given boldness. This prayer in the name of Jesus was not so much a formula of words, brothers and sisters, as it was a request for help as the apostles preached salvation in the name of the glorified Savior.

66. 34:24

    Or to put it another way, prayer in the name of Jesus is prayer dedicated to his service. When I began to realize that, thinking these things through, I’ve had perhaps to examine my own prayers a bit more carefully, Are they truly, genuinely from my heart? Prayers dedicated to his service that I can legitimately offer in his name.

67. 34:59

    Not just prayers that incorporate his name and the phrasing. We’ll come back to that promise kept. And so they said grant, Lord. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Now this is Peter and John and their companions who almost certainly must have include included the rest of the Apostles and perhaps some others. But they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the word of God with boldness.

68. 35:33

    And this is Holy Spirit baptism language. I’m going to ask you to to to bear with me on this for another moment. They spoke the word of God with boldness and that is going to play out now through Acts 5 and over into to to the end of Acts 5.

69. 35:57

    Boldness came with the inspirations, the Holy Spirit baptisms strengthening them to continue preaching in Jerusalem, and the results, brothers and sisters, of Acts 4 versus 29 to 31 and the the following verses into chapter five were nothing less than a replication of Pentecost. There was a Theophony on the day of Pentecost. There was the rushing mighty wind and the tongues as a fire.

70. 36:29

    And now there is Earthquake. Let’s make no mistake about it. When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. There were the inspirations that came. Here’s Acts Two Day of Pentecost. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Here’s Acts 4 after Pentecost, they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

71. 36:53

    And it is not just the same in English. There’s the Greek. You find a way to fit a file card edgewise between those. It’s exactly the same, exactly the same phrasing. There’s the word filled. Again, there is the parsing of the verb. It is aorist. It is passive. It is indicative. In both cases, as simple as statement of past action performed on the apostles, as you can have. I don’t understand, but I’m not a language expert and as I said yesterday, just a simple physics teacher, in fact a retread engineer.

72. 37:33

    All right, so I don’t understand things of language. You tell me how those are different. Our theology makes them different. Our theology says this is the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and this is something different. And I thought that brothers and sisters, I don’t see that. I just don’t see it. The baptism of the Holy Spirit. Yes, it came on Pentecost.

73. 37:54

    Jesus said categorically that it would. But hasn’t it again happened? I believe it has, because I believe all of those events, as we saw from a totally different direction yesterday, were incipient events for the promulgation of the gospel, the Great Commission, and ultimately for the edifying of believers. But the best has yet to come,

74. 38:21

    and the outcome’s the same. They began to speak the Word with other tongues. They spoke the word of God with boldness. And on Friday, God willing, will attempt to make some connections here between speaking with other tongues and speaking the word of God. Because I believe on the day of Pentecost, this is very much what was was embodied in what they spoke with tongues to the Jewish people who understood, who understood what they were hearing. Before we proceed, they often need the same inspiration, the same outcome, the same.

75. 38:57

    The apostles are involved in both cases, so that’s the same. And may I also say, brothers and sisters, that the greater spiritual lesson in both Acts 2 and Acts 4 is the same. Even Acts 2, the Spirit filled the whole house where they were sitting. And as we said on Monday, that’s Old Testament temple language. And so they are now, in a sense, the house in which God dwells by His spirit.

76. 39:23

    You take a look at Acts 4. Starting at verse 23, you’ll be able to find at least a handful of details that also tell us that this Harkins back to the dedication of the temple. In Second Chronicles chapter five and Second Chronicles chapter 6, you’ll see those details. This again is telling us that these men are the House of God in whom God wishes to dwell. So even the spiritual lessons are the same in Acts 2 and Acts 4I fail in my simplicity to see how they are different in what they have to to, to to mean and to and to teach us and the apostles prayer.

77. 40:02

    Lord grant to your servants continued to be answered. God continued to stretch out his hand, granting signs and wonders to be done in the name of the glorified Jesus. The active role of heaven continued and continued and continued. We go on to Acts 5. Through the hands of the apostles. I like the phrasing there. I particularly like the choice of the preposition. It isn’t just by the hands of the apostles. It’s through the hands who’s doing it. Through the hands of the apostles. I believe it’s the glorified Lord Jesus Christ that this is his work and they are his men and they are recognized. They have been with Jesus through the hands of the apostles.

78. 40:56

    Many signs and wonders were done among the people and they were with one accord in Solomon’s porch. Anytime we see this one Greek word 1 accord in the early chapters of Acts, it’s a reference to the apostles. Brothers and sisters, you go back and look at Acts 1 long about verse 1415. Look at Acts 2 verse one.

79. 41:17

    Look at the antecedents. Look at the antecedent here through the hands of the apostles. Many signs and wonders were done among the people, and they were all with one accord in Solomon sports. And in a sense it plays off against what we saw on Acts 1. Judas was not with one accord with them, and he went to his own place. And when the day of Pentecost comes, Matthias and the Eleven are in one place with one accord. These are the ones that that Luke is showing us that are being magnified to carry forth the work of the Great Commission.

80. 41:55

    So through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. They were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch, yet none of the rest dared join them. But the people esteemed them highly. And if you read 1/2 a dozen different expositors on verse 13, you’ll get a half a dozen different ideas as to what that means. None of them, right.

81. 42:22

    That’s an arrogant statement. That is an arrogant statement, brothers and sisters. And I may just as well be wrong, but I believe what that’s saying is this was scary work, and it was the work that Christ granted the gift of boldness to his apostles to carry out. And the rest of the ecclesia does not have to join them in this work.

82. 42:51

    It’s going to be bad enough when Saul of Tarsus has to track down moving targets for them to have been stationary targets standing there with the rest of the apostles. The apostles are untouchable for a couple of reasons. The people esteemed them highly, and you remember how they, even the rulers, were afraid to take Jesus for the very same reason they have to do it secretly. All right.

83. 43:20

    And there’s another reason because Saul of Tarsus, who would ultimately spearhead the purge of Christians in Jerusalem, had a mentor and his name was Camellia. And very shortly Camellia is going to say, leave these men alone, Leave these men alone. And so Paul may have honored the the edict of his mentor, but I think he was bound and determined to prove him wrong as he went after the the other believers in Jerusalem. This was dangerous work and none of them dared join with the apostles there in Solomon’s court to do this at Solomon’s porch.

84. 43:57

    And they didn’t have to. Christ was working through them. That doesn’t mean that the lovely old sister who learned the truth from the apostles didn’t tell their neighbor, didn’t tell their relatives, didn’t tell their friends. I’m sure the truth went forward that way, as it does today. But they didn’t have to stand up there with the apostles in Solomon’s Porch and be counted as those amongst the preachers who are growing in their magnitude, because the Lord is magnifying them. And with that growth of magnitude comes the dangers as well.

85. 44:33

    The people esteemed them highly, and believers were added to the to the, to the, to the body. Preaching was the work of the apostles who asked for and received having special gift of boldness. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women. And that’s the language of Pentecost all over again.

86. 44:59

    It’s a language of Pentecost all over again. The apostles seem brothers and sisters, at least from a miraculous empowerment point of view. The apostles seem to have had continuous access to God and His Holy Spirit power. Whatever you ask, He will give in my name, and we’ve seen the context now of how that works out in the preaching of salvation.

87. 45:32

    There is no other name given under heaven amongst men whereby we must be saved. The apostles have had access continuously to God and his Holy Spirit power, rather than continuous possession of miraculous power. Their work was a work of ongoing partnership with God, in which their will and the will of God became fully aligned.

88. 45:56

    They were all with one accord with God, and God was exceedingly active and evident in fulfilling his role in the partnership. In fact, he is the initiator of these roles. And so they brought the sick onto the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. There’s no Holy Spirit power in Peter’s shadow, any more than there will be in Paul’s handkerchiefs and aprons and Acts. 19 So who knows and has the wisdom to heal these people when Peter’s shadow falls on them, or when the handkerchiefs and aprons come to the afflicted in in Asia? It’s the work of heaven, brothers and sisters, in my estimation, it’s the work of the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits.

89. 47:07

    And they were all healed by stretching out your hand to heal whatever you ask in my name. And when they, that is the high priest and Council, had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they departed.

90. 47:32

    And now Gamalia has given his advice. Leave these men alone. So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing. Comparing Acts, brothers and sisters with John, it’s evident that prayer in the name of Jesus was petition related to serving God. In the name of Jesus more than it was a formula of words. They let them go, and so they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.

91. 48:10

    What did Jesus said about the promise? That your joy may be full and this causes us brothers and sisters, to stop and entirely redefine what joy means?

92. 48:28

    We have a wonderful time here at Bible school. We can have a wonderful time in many of the things we do in life. But here is joy that transcends. And they were suffering shame for the name of Jesus and daily in the temple and in every house. They, the apostles, did not cease.

93. 48:54

    Here’s the wonderful answer to that prayer. Lord, grant your servants, and he does and daily in the temple and in every house. They did not cease teaching and preaching. Jesus is the Christ. Come what may come whatever the the the rulers might bring against them. Boldness indeed.

94. 49:14

    Boldness indeed. And our time is gone. You’ll have to look in your own notes, brothers and sisters, to see how the apostles themselves will bear testimony to the way that they were instruments in the hands of the Lord Jesus and all the work that they did. There’s some comprehensive statements, but let’s just turn to page 12 and we’ll we’ll bring it to a conclusion here. Brothers and sisters, page 312.

95. 49:44

    The summary, Jeff, you just didn’t use that remote control fast enough today. I don’t know. Here we are. Every day in the life of an apostle was an adventure in faith.

96. 50:04

    Peter, Paul, and the rest ventured forth prayerfully to serve in the name of Jesus, relying on the fact that God would grant the power when needed to advance the cause of the Great Commission. The entire New Testament period can be characterized as an ongoing, dynamic partnership between God and Christ in heaven and the Friends of Jesus on earth. They took note that these men had been with Jesus, and it’s for the purpose of offering the gospel of salvation to a perishing world.

97. 50:49

    Pentecost was simply day one of the process, The day on which the New Covenant was first offered to Israel as an Old Covenant had been offered to their fathers at Mount Sinai on the first Pentecost of their history.

98. 51:20

    Thank you for listening to the good Christadelphian Talks Podcast. We hope this talk helped you in your walk. If you would like to hear more, please subscribe for new episodes and leave a review, an Apple podcast, or whichever service you are using to help more people find the show when they search for it.

99. 51:35

    If you enjoyed this particular talk, please share it with someone who you think might enjoy it as well. For show notes on the talk you just listened to, visit our show page at Anchor dot FM GCT or check the Show Notes section of your podcast player. Please share your thoughts on the talk from this week on our Facebook or Instagram pages where we are at good Kristadelphian talks on Twitter where we are at GCT under Score Podcast, or leave a comment on our YouTube channel where these talks are posted as well.

100. 52:05

     If you know of a great talk, we want to know about it too. Send a suggestion to our e-mail at [email protected] or message us on any of our social media accounts. Thank you for listening. God bless and talk to you next week.