265: AD Norris - The Apostles, The Acts and their Words

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.

2. 0:33

   And now let’s talk more about this week’s talk. This week’s talk is class one in a series by brother AD Norris that he gave in 1981 at the Texas Bible School called the Acts the Apostles and their Words. There is no separate title for the for the different classes. This is the opening class. I really enjoyed it.

3. 1:04

   It is kind of the verse by verse style of Acts chapter one and two. But I found the insights he brought into those chapters to be really easy to listen to and I think it is kind of great for the podcast form. I don’t think you particularly need your Bible in front of you.

4. 1:20

   I think he is clearly very well prepared. I would bet every word is written of Brother Norris’s talks. It sounds like that and really really enjoyable. He’s been on the show before actually. If you go back and find I think it’s episode 63 but I don’t I didn’t look that up exactly before him. But it’s an introduction by brother James and brother James can’t talks about the benefits of of listening to these much older speakers and then and that’s worth going back and listening to if you’d like.

5. 1:52

   So this is the second episode that that would be that we feature Brother Norris. It was great, great talk, very fun and encouraging to listen to. So I’m excited to share it. Before we pass it over, I did want to just kind of share a programming note that Brother Brian Adams is stepping back a little bit.

6. 2:11

   He won’t be as regular on the podcast. He’s taken on some extra ecclesial duties and has asked to to step back. But you will hear him again and we’re going to keep keep the introduction the same.

7. 2:25

   So we thank Brian for all the work he’s done and will continue to do with the podcast. But it’ll be going back to the old days of just Chris and I every other week for a little while. And this show should always be changing as we keep it going. Thank you again for listening.

8. 2:40

   Thank you so much for your suggestions. We pray, pray that you will keep sending them in. That’s a big help. So here is Brother AD Norris. Bye. Bye.

9. 2:58

   Good morning, brothers and sisters. I have to give notice that it will be necessary to extend the school for the next 11 and three quarter months. To finish all that has to be said and each class will have to last two hours. However, just in case it’s not possible to do that, I’ll give you a selection of the various things that have to be said and hope that the appetite will be wetted. Apostle is not a very common word in Scripture, and it’s most common in the Gospels and the Acts, especially the Acts. It’s found once in Matthew and once in Mark, half a dozen times or so in Luke, not at all in John, some dozens of times in the Acts, and once or more in almost every letter. There’s some four or five that don’t use it. It means a person who is sent.

10. 3:52

    It’s usually simply rendered into English by a variation of the Greek letters apostle instead of apostolos, but just occasionally it’s translated in other ways. It’s almost always used of the special company of 12 whom the Lord appointed, except that after the suicide of Judas, Matthias takes his place, only referred to once and later the apostle Paul specially chosen is given that title.

11. 4:21

    And here and there you find the word used of Barnabas, say, and perhaps another or so once the word is used of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the Apostle and High Priest of our profession in Hebrews chapter 13. In this original form, it represents a selection from the body of the disciples and disciple. 2 is a somewhat specialized word in Scripture.

12. 4:47

    You find it in the Gospels and in the Acts, and then you lose it all together. It’s never used again after that. The Lord Jesus Christ has learners who come to him to be taught, For the word matates means a learner. They are called by that name almost invariably in the Gospels and commonly in the Acts.

13. 5:06

    But by the time the act is over, and by the time the letters are written, the words that seem to take their place are brethren, I suppose, and Saints. The learning period isn’t exactly over, but the instruction is now complete. The available material for the preparation of the Saints of the Lord is there, and perhaps that’s why the word disciple goes and words denoting sanctified people or people in brotherly fellowship one with another take their place.

14. 5:38

    I want to begin by telling retelling A brief story found in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And letting it hang in the air until we find it later again in the act of the apostles themselves. And that’s the story given in Matthew Jackson 19 and Mark, chapter 10, of a certain rich young man who came to Jesus and said, Good master, what good thing must I do that I may inherit eternal life?

15. 6:09

    And he’s told that he knows the commandments. And invites the Lord to tell him which. And the Lord gives him an abbreviated list of some of the most important commandments, And then professes all these things have I observed from my youth up.

16. 6:26

    Whereupon Jesus, looking at him, and do not record loving him, says, If thou wouldst be perfect, go and sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor, and the young man goes away sorrowful. Or he has great possession.

17. 6:46

    A man who apparently wanted to be a disciple, though perhaps that wasn’t in the 1st place quite what he wanted, but found the conditions of discipleship at that time at least too hard to be accepted. He was rich. The records tell us that he was young, that also he was a ruler, says Luke. He came and bowed the knee before Jesus, says Mark. And as I said, the Lord loved him when he saw him. What there was to be loved in that man may perhaps only later appear, for his behaviour at that stage was at least short of lovable in some particulars.

18. 7:29

    He seemed to want more, shall we say, a pass on the head than loving. He came to ask the Lord what were the conditions of eternal life, hoping it would appear that the Lord would lay down conditions he was already keeping. All these things have I observed from my youth up. What like I get, He came evaluating goodness in terms of the good things you did, the commandments you kept well, the bad deeds you avoided.

19. 7:57

    All these things have I kept from my youth up. He wanted to judge the Lord in the same way as he judged himself good. Master, what good thing shall I do? And was it seems, not at once deterred by the fact that the Lord wouldn’t accept the title for himself? Why callest thou me good?

20. 8:19

    There is none good but one that is God. And the Lord who had done no evil, and was to do none. Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, yet still would not take to himself a title which he would have to share with God. There is none good but one that is God. God’s goodness is inherent, is inseparable from him. He can never be anything else.

21. 8:50

    He is under no peril of attack. There is no danger attaching to God’s goodness. He would never be anything otherwise. But Jesus had behaved well with the fragile goodness of a man who could be tempted in all points like as we are, who was, as it were, in his behaviour, good from moment to moment, and no bad moment had come, nor would it come, but he could. He was one who must fight his way to goodness by assimilating his mind to the mind of God, and finally laying down his life. Only thus would goodness be his perfectly. So when the Lord would not allow himself to be so described, this young man might perhaps had he been more sensitive, and perhaps laser did when he became more sensitive. Recognize that you don’t measure goodness in a balance. You don’t pour your good deeds into a scale and weigh it and see how much you’ve got.

22. 9:46

    What you do is pour the goodness of God into a scale and see how light is the other pan and how impossible it is for you to weigh it down, and then learn to seek your goodness in another way. So the old man went away, sorrowful, perhaps even resentful, certainly frustrated in whatever it was that brought him there, for the time being at least, and is lost to our sight, yet lost with that question mark hanging invitingly and there, And Jesus, beholding him, loved him. What was to become of a man whom the Lord loved, we wonder. At that time there were 12 apostles. The Lord had selected them carefully from amongst his own disciples, had prayed the whole night through the previous night that his choice might be the right choice, went up to the mountain in prayer.

23. 10:44

    And when it was dawned, he chose his 12 apostles. And if particular attention attaches to the 1st and the last of these, we’re not surprised. The first Simon, Peter, and Judas is carried, which also betrayed him. The latter of these chosen no doubt in the full knowledge of what that man would do when the time came to do it.

24. 11:12

    Have not I chosen you? 12 And one of you is a devil. For Jesus knew from the beginning who it was that believed, not, who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. The other, the first chosen in the knowledge of the hard travail through which that man must pass, before he became the fit vessel to introduce the Gospel to Jews and Samaritans and Gentiles, before he was the man to be trusted, and relied upon the rock layer of the firm foundation upon which the community would be built, A man who would be a great support, a loyal follower.

25. 11:55

    A keen learner, an ardent spokesman, and yet a man who would have his catastrophic failures. Not because he was weaker than any other, we are sure he was stronger than most, but because he ventured into situations where failure was possible and conspicuous. Other disciples did not sink in the waters because they did not walk on them. Other disciples didn’t were not seen to deny Christ because they were not there when the time for denial came. Peter walked on water, and therefore also sank when his faith faltered.

26. 12:27

    But great faith it was. Peter denied the Lord three times, but Peter was alone in the room with the pile in it. When they placed his Lord on trial, the others were far away, fleeing. Peter was a man whom the Lord prayed for, and for whom the Lord’s prayers were effectively answered. Simon.

27. 12:47

    Simon. Satan hath desired to have you all that you may sift you all as weak, But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. There should be no poor Peter in our thinking, no weak, impulsive Peter in the way we speak. No, that’s Peter. Pudding is putting it again in the way we think. Leader amongst disciples was great, and in the Lord’s faith strong speaking words of faith, when no other would speak them, saying, We believe and are sure that thou the Christ, the Son of the living God, when the disciples were forsaking him in their multitudes.

28. 13:33

    And when it looks as though a movement even amongst the 12 was beginning, will ye also go away? Said the Lord, with Judas perhaps as the role of leader in the retreat. Peter it was who, when they reached the coasts of Cesarry of Philippi, near Sedan, on the extreme northern border of the ancient territory, from Dan to be a Sheba alone spoke out.

29. 13:55

    When the Lord said, Whom, Say ye that I am, And answered, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and earned from the Lord the commendation. Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. If it were not patronizing to say so, we would have to say the Lord chose well when he chose Peter. As we follow that man’s life as we shall in some degree, we see he could hardly have chosen better. We leave the Peter of The Walking on the water and the sinking.

30. 14:34

    The Peter of the half shekel in the fish’s mouth, the Peter of the threefold denial, The Peter of the Simon son of Jonas, Lovest thou me more than these of John 21 passed through the travel and the bitter tears of the rejection of the Lord, to the time when the Lord was risen again, when this bold man goes inside the tomb and sees the signs that later would be seen by him to mean that Jesus was risen from the dead.

31. 15:00

    We leave the Peter of the company of 11 who survived the suicide of Judas, and were with the Lord for 40 days when he showed himself alive after his fashion by many infallible proofs. And we come to the occasion we read about in the chapter in Acts, chapter one.

32. 15:19

    There are by now but eleven of the original apostles left. By an inspiration of God that must surely have come even before the outpouring of Pentecost on Pisa, at least he stands up amongst the disciples and denounces the change that must now be made. There are but eleven of them, I said, and there should be 12. How will they define the 12th?

33. 15:46

    He lays down carefully calculated conditions wherefore of these men. Which have companied with us all the days that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, beginning from the baptism of John until the day that he was taken up, promising to heaven, Must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.

34. 16:12

    Jesus did not choose his apostles for their looks or their learning or their virtue. The next apostle was not to be chosen for any such reason either. They were witnesses by virtue of their experience. They had been with him during all his ministry, had known the preaching of John, and had followed him to the day when he was received up out of their sight into heaven.

35. 16:34

    They wanted another man like that. No other could be the kind of witness they were. Nothing less was to be asked of him. So they started with the baptism of John. They went on to the teaching of the Lord. They continued to the death and the resurrection and the ascension. And they said that’s the kind of man we must have. There couldn’t have been many around. We find they put forth too, and it’s an open speculation as to whether they put forth too, because they’re only were two persons eligible in other respects and having the necessary experience, and we’re given the names of those two. They are Joseph called Bar Sabas and also justice. That’s one.

36. 17:21

    And Matthias. And they cast lots to select which one. So the question arises, is that the way to make our choices? Do we put pieces of paper into a hat and the one who draws the longest one get the job? Is that how the Scripture invites us to select the elders for our communities? Is this the biblical method of making appointments? And the answer would be yes, if we’re choosing an apostle, but otherwise no.

37. 17:55

    The apostles were doing something that required that they should take this course. The eligible candidates? They could bring them forward, but the choice of an apostle must be Jesus, not theirs. They were not there to choose Jesus’s man. The Lord had chosen the other 11, and the suicide too. He must choose this one as well.

38. 18:16

    So they prayed, and they said, Lord, that not the hearts of men show which of these two thou hast chosen. It was Jesus Job, not theirs. And so they made a homemade Uriman Thummim, and they made their choice, and the lock fell upon Mathias. As Jesus, man chosen by Jesus.

39. 18:42

    And at that point another question crops up. Should they have done it at all? Jesus would in due course select Paul for the work to which he had designed him. Then shouldn’t they have left it till the Lord gave the sign?

40. 18:55

    After all, we hear nothing more about Matthias. He comes into the picture and he leaves again. He’s totally lost to sight. He’s just a name taking a piece of paper and getting at a point. Out of which, as far as we can see, nothing comes. Was that a condemnation of what the apostles did? No, of course it wasn’t.

41. 19:17

    It would be impossible to believe that men making such a choices that in such circumstances, that standing up with the boldness and the reason that Peter showed, is having exceeded their office. It’s our own thinking that tends perhaps to make the apostles no better men than we are. Our own mistakes, which tends to make like to think that even the 12 themselves could make mistakes like ours.

42. 19:39

    That leads us to think of them as doing what they shouldn’t have been doing here. It’s an irrational thought that that record would be set out with no word of condemnation, with every indication that the Lord answered the prayer that was given to him. It’s the way in which this record stands before us that convinces me, and I would think would convince you, that the apostles were doing the right thing when they made that opportunity for the Lord.

43. 20:03

    And the Lord chose Matthias. Oh, it’s true, we don’t hear of Matthias again. That’s a perfectly fair statement. But then of the 12 whom do we hear of again? Peter. John. James, the brother of John, but only because he was slain by the sword for no other reason and nobody else. So Matthias joins the company of eight others, of whom we hear no more as the Acts of the Apostles go their way. It’s no condemnation of their choice of him that he fades from the picture.

44. 20:38

    All the same, the picture does present an intriguing little speculation for us. Two men are put forward and both their names are given. Mathias is 1, he’s the one who’s chosen, and the other is Joseph Barsabas. Justice, it seems, doesn’t it at first sight to lack a certain sense of proportion. Why do you name the two candidates? And knowing now by the time you write your record which one has been selected, Give 3 handles to the name of the man who’s not going to get chosen anyway, and only one for the name of the man who is.

45. 21:14

    Why this elaboration of the name of the second in the election who never takes up the office? Joseph Varsabhas, Justice Luke is a shrewd historian apart from me in an inspired man. He writes in a carefully calculated way, and also under the guidance of the spirits. And we would think there was some reason that may have lain behind that elaboration of the name of the man who wasn’t chosen.

46. 21:42

    Well, perhaps there was. But can I leave that hanging there too for a moment, and continue? We shall return to it, if God be willing.

47. 21:54

    And now the day of Pentecost comes. The Lord has left the earth some seven weeks ago. This is the day when they gather in there in gatherings. This is the day of celebration. And this time the Lord sends down his par from on high. And the trolls speak with tones. And the first, if not the only, fulfillment of the prophecy of joy. It shall come to pass in the last days, that I will pour out of my spirit of all flesh.

48. 22:24

    Your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, and your sons and your daughter shall prophesy came about. These men are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is not 9:00 in the morning. But this is that that was spoken by the prophet Joel. They heard them speak with tongues wherever they came from.

49. 22:47

    They heard them speak with tongues, and they came, if we may turn to the second of the Acts, from these places, at least, Acts chapter 2, verse 8, verse seven. They were all amazed and novel, saying, one to another, Behold, all us, all these which speak Galileans, and how here we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born Spathians and Meads, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judea and Cappadocia, in Pontus and Asia, in frigia and pamphalia in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Tsarinae, and strangers from Rome, Jews and prostates, Cretans and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God, and we’re all amazed and we’re in doubt, saying one to another.

50. 23:36

    What meaneth this? I would think they were all in Jerusalem with a purpose that would not have been frustrated by the fact that they had a different language from the Jewish language. I would think they came there perfectly, were able to get around and do what they came for, and hear what they came to hear, and speak with whom they came to speak in either Aramaic or more probably, Greek.

51. 24:04

    These people who came to Jerusalem at this time, they wouldn’t be bewildered by not knowing the language of the place. So they wouldn’t, I think, have needed for the sake of witness that Peter and the other should speak to them in their own native dialects. But they would have recognized them. They would have known that it was a very surprising thing that these Galileans an indication they did know the language they were talking about, an indication that these Galileans were able to do things that Galileans shouldn’t do, couldn’t do. Galileans were Rustics.

52. 24:39

    They knew their own dialects, They could speak with their own country tongue. But these foreign languages not Galileans. So the wonderlay not in the tongues being needed for understanding, but in the tongues being a sign, a sign that they were doing things that man couldn’t do, left to himself, given the gift from God that no man could have simulated.

53. 25:00

    And they were amazed, and the best of them believed. And the same day they were added unto the Lord about 3000 souls. Peter’s message fully responded to the prayers the Lord had prayed for him. Here was no Peter, bulled up to the last moment, and then fleeing as the others had. Here was a Peter who would see it through, preach him, would have a company, go to prison if need be, and ultimately faced calm with the death that he would have to die.

54. 25:37

    The Lord whom Peter had denied, when the Lord was on trial for his life, and said, I know him not with an oath, I know not the man cursing and swearing, I know not. The man of whom thou speakest was a Peter whom the Lord had spoken to, and said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest are me more than these others. And Peter, don’t say that there was no longer, though all men shall deny thee, yet will not I He was not going to make comparisons anymore.

55. 26:09

    Peter wouldn’t even say he loved Jesus in the word the Lord used. He would choose a lesser word and say, Lord, thou knowest that I am thy friend that would taste the first denial. Then the Lord came back to Peter and said, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Leave the others out of it?

56. 26:32

    Answer yourself, do you love me? And Peter would not budge. The Lord might climb down the ladder of his exaltation to stand a little closer to Peter’s level. But Peter was not climbing up. He’s staying just where he was. He would make no claims. Lord, thou knowest that I am thy friend. So the Lord comes right down and stands by Peter’s side, speaks Peter’s language, and says, Simon, son of Jones, up thou my friend, And Peter was grieved because the Lord said to him, the third time, art thou my friend. The third time was too painful, too reminiscent of I know him not, I know not the man.

57. 27:14

    And the third time I know not the man of whom thou speakers, too painfully reminding of the going out and sobbing that Peter did. When he realized what he’d done, no wonder he was grieved. But there was nothing more he could say, nothing more he would say, Lord, thou knowest all things. Thou knowest that I am thy friend, and the feed my sheep, and the tend my lambs, and the tend my sheep, which the Lord gave to Peter, after each of the successive threefold restorations, took Peter on the path of service that was to take him to his triumphant death.

58. 27:51

    So Peter stood up and preached to the murders of the Lord, and had no hesitation in labeling them for what they were. Hear the closing part of Peter’s speech, Acts, chapter 2, verse 29. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto the patriarch David that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us until this day.

59. 28:19

    Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his lines, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He’s seeing this before speak of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all our witnesses He just quoted Psalm 16.

60. 28:48

    To them thou would not leave my soul in hell, neither would thou suffer thine holy one to seek corruption. And Psalm 16 was written by David, and Peter was concerned to show it couldn’t have been about himself, that he was writing and justice. See what Peter did that day, mil and brethren, the patriarch David.

61. 29:08

    He is both dead and buried. There’s his grave. His suffocory is with us until this day. If they let you look inside it, you’ll see only dust. His flesh did seek corruption. But being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn about his coming, seed men and brethren, there’s another grave. They probably won’t let you look inside it now. They’ll have taken precautions.

62. 29:38

    But we know and they know and you know that there’s nobody in it. And there’s only one reason why this Jesus did God raise up. Where are we? Are witnesses. We’ve looked in, we’ve seen and we know. And so Peter stood before them as the chief of the ambassadors of the Lord Jesus Christ to use the first of the keys. The Lord gave him the keys of the Kingdom of heaven. I were given to thee, and opened the door of salvation to repentant Jews.

63. 30:11

    And with these words he challenged them to repentance. Verse 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has said forth this which ye now see and hear. What David is not ascended into the heavens, but he says Himself. The Lord turned to my Lord, sit down my right hand, until I make thy pose the footstool of thy feet. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly the God hath made that same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.

64. 30:53

    Oh, what a different Peter is this. That place of trial, where rulers were examining the apostles for their faith, suddenly became A cause in which they stood in the dock, waiting to be condemned.

65. 31:11

    God hath made this same Jesus which ye have crucified both Lord and Christ. Not just He is now alive, and we are glad, but he’s now alive. And you killed him. What are you going to do about that?

66. 31:29

    That was Peter’s call to repentance. He did it later. Not very much later either, still in Jerusalem. Well, he said, Ye refused the Prince of life and desired A murderer to be granted unto you. There you had in front of you Jesus of Nazareth and Barrabas. Now Barrabas was a robber and had committed murder during the rebellion. And what did you do?

67. 31:59

    You saw before you Abel, who was to be killed, and Cain, who killed him. And you said, we don’t want Abel, we want Cain. You’ve turned the course of justice and common sense upside down. You desired A murderer. You said, give life to the killer, and you refused. The Prince of life, you said kill the life giver. That was how wicked and stupid you were, said Peter. The Cain and Abel record is a universal record for all time not ask Cain, who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother, and wherefore slew he him, because his own works were even, and his brother’s righteous. The world had allied itself with the cause of Cain, so that, as the Lord said, the blood of all the righteous men shed from the foundation of the world, should be required of this generation. From the blood of Abel, whom Cain slew, to the blood blood of Zacharias, the son of Barakaius, whom he slew between the temple and the altar.

68. 33:11

    And they needed to be told, and they needed to be convicted, and they must forswear the things their fathers had done. They themselves had connived that not this man but Baraba some of them perhaps, had shouted, and turn again.

69. 33:28

    Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? You can say it calmly. When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said, Men and brethren, what shall we do?

70. 33:53

    Or you can say it with the sense it surely must have and say, When they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts, and said, men and brethren, whatever shall we do? What can be done for the likes of us who did so wicked a deed? How can we be restored to God? And just as at an earlier stage men had come to Jesus and said, What shall we do that we may work the works of God? What works must we do?

71. 34:20

    And Jesus had answered, This is the work of God. That ye believe on him, or he has sent. Faith is what you need. So said Peter, now men and brother, and what shall we do? And the answer is not much, physically. To bring about your entry into the way of salvation, you are to repent.

72. 34:44

    You’re to think differently. You’re to turn around and want to go another way. You’re to change your minds. You’re to be back ties. And then of course, means that you’ll have to take the trouble to step down into the water. But it only becomes baptism because God accepts it as such. It’s his baptism. And then, well, the help will come from God, and the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that be afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did Peter testify and exhort, saying, save yourselves from his untoward generation. So that’s what they had to do.

73. 35:26

    Accept the verdict of the picking of their hearts when their conscience was touched, with the horror of what they had done. And with the repentance of that and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus. Which in some ways they would have had already and Peter would have filled up for them. Go down and die to an old life, later, to be described as being crucified with Christ.

74. 35:49

    Instead of calling out, crucify him, saying what the repentant robber had said. We indeed justly, for we received the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. Lord, Remember Me when I comes into thy Kingdom. This is what they must do. And more than 3000 did it. The outcome for a while was a church marked by match, this harmony, unlimited generosity, and giving and joy in fellowship. Verse 41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the same day they were only done to them about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers. And fear came upon every soul.

75. 36:40

    And many wonders and signs were done by the apostles, and all that believed were together, and had all things common. And they sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people.

76. 37:05

    And the Lord added to them day by day those that were being saved. As the revised version puts it. This turns out from that at least this point that the miraculous gifts of the Holy Spirit were not very widespread. Not at that time, perhaps. Not at any time, at least, I mean not placed in many people’s hands.

77. 37:29

    For the speaking with tongues was certainly done by some members of the original company. The multitude was not involved in that. And though thousands repented and were baptized, we find that when that had happened many signs and wonders were done by the apostles hands. And no other miracle worker is named either there or in any chapter until we come to chapter 6, where in very special circumstances similar powers are exercised by Steven and by Philip in Chapter 7, or chapter 8 rather.

78. 38:01

    So it does look as though God’s work in salvation did not empower by any means all, perhaps not most. Possibly only a small minority of his servants with the power to work mighty gifts, and the apostles were prominent and 1st amongst them. What else emerges from this is this matter of having all things common they’re selling of their property and their distribution of it to others.

79. 38:28

    A first and devotive attempt in communism. Do I hear you saying? People have said that, but I don’t think it was. That was a very poor church, that congregation in Jerusalem. Maybe they were poor in any case, but they seem to be cut off from public relief at this time. We learned later of the widows who were neglected often, they thought were neglected.

80. 38:53

    In the daily ministrations in chapter six we learned of relief parties and funds and goods being sent from Antioch and elsewhere throughout Asia Minor, too, for the relief of the poor Saints that were in Jerusalem. They needed money badly. There they were, destitute. And so those who had resources couldn’t see their brother in starve, and they sold them, and they gave the money and laid it at the apostle’s feet.

81. 39:17

    That was what they were doing. They were sharing their goods because somebody would have died if they hadn’t, and they got help from her outside, because it was still needed and it kept on being needed. This was no philosophy of communism. This was an urgent and brotherly response to need and it stayed like that throughout the whole period of the New Testament as far as we can tell.

82. 39:41

    So then this company meets together and they need help and they keep on needing it a little bit later. A bit more help is forthcoming, as you will see if we turn to Chapter 4, Chapter 4, verse 36. Now we start earlier, verse 34. Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were possessors of lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles feet, and distribution was made to every man according as he had need. And Joseph’s who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which is being interpreted the son of consolation A Levite, and the country of Cyprus having land sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet. Well, there’s some reason one would think for picking this particular man out.

83. 40:34

    He joins the procession of those who give generously to the cause of seeing to it that the poor are housed and clothed and fed and his name is given to us. And it is well the authorized version, the King James version says Joe says the revised and later version say Joseph. So his first name was Joseph and his second name was Barnabas. Ah, but not originally.

84. 41:00

    We don’t know what his father’s name was. Who by the apostles were surnamed Barnabas. They do what the Lord Jesus did say, with Thomas or with Simon and gave him a new name. And their new name for him was Barnabas. He was previously called Joseph.

85. 41:24

    Well, we’ve met one Joseph already, haven’t we? The men with the three handles to his name. Joseph Barsabas justice, given those names. Surprisingly, when he wasn’t going to be chosen, the man whose only claim to fame was the didn’t become an apostle so far. And now we have Joseph introduced to us again.

86. 41:46

    It doesn’t have to be the same Joseph. It’s quite a common name. And now we have a new name given to him, and we’re told the apostles gave it to him. So it wasn’t these before. Well, one can never prove it, but how attractive is the thought that Joseph, son of Saba, Joseph Barsabas? Who wouldn’t want to claim the word justice for himself? For there is none good but one that is God. He’d be glad to get rid of that name when he became a disciple, I’m sure.

87. 42:16

    So Joseph Barsabas doesn’t get elected to the apostleship, but was considered eminently worthy of the job by the apostles. And the apostles find him out of the same name. Why not the same man? And say not bar Sabbas, but bar Abbas? Not the son of Sabba, but the son of consolation, the son of comfort, the son of excitation, because of his renown for the good deeds he did.

88. 42:46

    He’s doing 1 here. There are plenty more to come before we finally loose sight of Bar Abbas. We have met a very remarkable and wonderful man, and this is where we meet him for the first time. Not saying anything, not claiming anything for himself, not gaining a name of renown for his deeds or his words, but giving something away, letting other people help by what he gives them. So Joseph bar Savas, just as perhaps, becomes Joseph the son of consolation and comfort, and gives his goods for the poor. We shall have once more to put him on the shelf for a little while, for we’re going more or less chronologically through those parts of the acts that we do touch. And now we move on to Chapter 6.

89. 43:38

    In chapter 6, as I’ve intimated already, a problem arose about the distribution of the urgently needed relief. We read verse one, and in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there was a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Grecians and Hebrews, meaning Jews who spoke naturally Greek and Jews who spoke naturally Aramaic, or perhaps even more exactly, Jews coming in from the foreign world, and Jews who lived in Judea or Galilee.

90. 44:17

    Home born Jews and Jews from afar. Jews of the land and the dispersion. The Diaspora. Fellow Jews grouped together against the Gentiles, no doubt. But when they got together and there weren’t any Gentiles around, not always getting on very well, they had their language relations problems even then, and either the Grecian widows were being neglected or the Grecians thought they were. Somebody had hard feelings against the others. A rift was developing within the congregation in Jerusalem, and they brought the message to the apostles. And the apostles said at first sight with a seeming, but I’m sure quite unreal appearance of arrogance. It is not meat that we should leave the world of God and surf tables.

91. 45:08

    We will give ourselves to the word of God and prayer. Look out for yourselves. 7 Men of honest report. I’m sure they were too busy to be able to spend time on such minor matters of administration. Just as Jethro said to Moses he ought to be too busy to do that kind of thing, but should delegate the job. They were right to delegate, right perhaps to convey responsibility, and proved very right by what happened for that congregation in which Grecians were the aggrieved. And if there was a grievance, the aramed speaking. Hebrews were the aggressors.

92. 45:44

    Chose seven people with Greek names to resolve the problem. Isn’t that remarkable? And they sought out 12, seven. I mean Stephen, a man full of faith under the Holy Spirit, and Phillip, and Trochorus, and Dicarno, and Timon, and Parmenos, and Nicholas a proselyte, Nicholas a proselyte of Antioch. They chose those seven, and they brought them to the apostles, and the apostles laid their hands on them, and they got on with the job.

93. 46:08

    But a marvellous act of generosity. It was to say, we will wait the dice. We will load the dice in favor of those who are dear grief persons. They will then have surely no cause to complain. The seven people with Greek names were given their job and did their job, we presume, and we don’t know what the answer is.

94. 46:26

    We don’t need to know. That’s of no importance to us at all. But they must have done it well. And they didn’t stop when they’d done it.

95. 46:36

    They had gone before the apostles and received the Commission. The apostles had laid their hands on them. By what means we do not know. But at least two of them, Stephen and Philip, as I’ve said, subsequently became workers of miracles. There’s no evidence that they were before. The company of those who could work miracles had to that extent apparently been increased, and neither Stephen, nor Philip, nor the others, perhaps that we don’t care about them, wasted the opportunities which this gave them.

96. 47:03

    Stephen is first in the field, as we learn into a state, and Stephen, full of faith and power, did great wonders and miracles among the people. Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which is called the Synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Seradians, that the Alexandrians, and of them of Siddithia and Asia, disputing with Steven, and they were not able to withstand the wisdom with which he spoke.

97. 47:30

    The outcome of that we’ll hope to consider tomorrow. But just notice what that synagogue was. All those synagogues were. If there were more than one involved, it included amongst its members Libertines, which means, one would think, freed slaves. It include people who came from Sirenia, North Africa, part of the modern Libya, Alexandria, Egypt, the city of Learning, where there was even then a university November of Asia.

98. 48:04

    Well, that’s the southwestern part of Asia Minor as we now know it. And Silesia, where’s that Silesia? Can you picture it? The map of Asia Minor like that? And your way around Palestine down there and here a bump in the map. That’s Solicia, Southwest Asia Minor. And what was its capital city? Anyone know?

99. 48:33

    Tarsus is right. So Stephen was in dispute with those who included members of the Jewish community exiled in Solicia, whose capital city was Tarsus. And when events ran their dreadful course, and Steven was lynched the end of the chapter, and they laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man whose name was sore.

100. 49:01

     Saul of Tarsus, a citizen of no mean city, was chief amongst the witnesses who murdered Steven. Would not Saul of Tarsus have been chief amongst the protagonists who stood in all his arrogant gemelial, taught for his sake, wisdom, and watched Stephen locked down his argument like 9 pins, and they were not able to withstand the wisdom with which he spake.

101. 49:30

     That’s how we first meet Saul, the defeated Judaizer, the man who couldn’t stand up to a common Greek speaking Christian and hated him for it and saw that he was murdered.

102. 49:58

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103. 50:27

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104. 50:43

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