AD Norris – The Apostles, Their Acts and Their Words – Class 2

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This is the 1981 Christadelphian
Bible School and this is the

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second in a series of classes by
a brother, Alfred Norris.

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The subject?
Apostles, their Acts and their.

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Words Good morning, brothers and
sisters.

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The Travis that Stephen had
shown in his disputations with

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the Jews of the Singer of the
Libertines, and the Serenians,

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and the Sedicians and the
Alexandrians.

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Did not forsake him when he was
placed on trial.

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They might almost have expected,
in fact, the result that the

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trial did bring forth.
In that matter.

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For for Stephen to have
withstood the challenging and

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the questions of a group led by
Saul of Tarsus, the disciple of

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Gamaliel, was a clear indication
that they had not much

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opportunity of defeating him in
reasoned discussion.

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They were not able to withstand
the wisdom and the Spirit with

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which he spoke, we are told.
They did with Stephen what they

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did with his Lord.
When his words were too strong

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for them and his might too
great, they resorted to bribery

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and corruption, and they suborn
false witnesses who were to say

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things about Stephen that were
not true in the hope of winning

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a conviction.
They did it about Jesus.

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But at that time, because it was
the will of God that the trial

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of Jesus should take a
particular course, even their

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witnesses could not agree
together. 2 By 2 the confusion

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of Bale of Babel descended upon
their tongues, and they were

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frustrated in their efforts to
have him condemned.

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So finally, with Jesus, they
resorted to a strategy that was

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quite unlawful, by inviting him
quite simply to condemn himself.

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They said, I adjure thee by the
living God that thou tell us art

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thou the Christ, the Son of the
blessed?

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They had no right in law to do
this.

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And if they did it and secured
an admission from the Lord, as

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they did, for he agreed that
they were right, he did make

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such a claim, Then it would have
been their duty to find out

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whether the claim was true,
instead of which they took it

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for granted it was false and
condemned him for having made

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the claim, making themselves the
blustingness instead of him.

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It was much the same with
Stephen.

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They went through the motions of
law.

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They took him before their their
courts to answer certain charges

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spoken by false witnesses, and
all the outward appearances were

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not of a legitimate trial.
And the false witness had said

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he speaks blasphemous words
against Moses and against God.

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Their witness was We have heard
him say that Jesus of Nazareth

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shall destroy this place.
I think they might have heard

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him say something which included
words like that.

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But Stephen wouldn’t have said
what they said, he said, any

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more than Jesus had said the
same things when they said thou

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that destroy us the temple, and
raises it in three days.

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Jesus had never said, in spite
of their accusations, that he

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would destroy the temple and
raise it in three days.

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He had said they would destroy
the temple, and he would raise

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another one in three days.
He said it in John chapter 2, at

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the first cleansing of the
temple.

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Destroy this temple, he said.
And in three days I will raise

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it up.
And he went that when they had

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brought about the destruction of
their own temple by their

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perversity, when God had caused
the veil of the temple to be

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rented twain from top to bottom,
when it was no longer accepted

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by God as its proper place of
worship, nor were their priests

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accepted as his priests.
Then the time would come when

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Jesus would erect another
temple, when the time would

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come, when neither in this
mountain nor yet in Jerusalem

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would men worship the Father.
For God is a spirit.

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And they that worship him must
worship him in spirit and in

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truth.
And when they would flock to him

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sheep from other places, many to
join the one fold of the flock

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of the Lord Jesus Christ, and
worship him wherever the gospel

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was preached.
Jesus had indeed forewarned them

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that the time would come when
they would not be left one stone

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upon another, that should not be
cast down when this temple was

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destroyed by the Romans.
And if that was postponed for 40

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years, it was nevertheless a
true thing that should happen.

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Stephen could well have repeated
that.

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And they could well have
perverted it in what they said,

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and with the zeal for the temple
that they all showed, that would

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have been a good enough ground
to place him on trial, or at

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least a good enough excuse.
And on trial they placed him and

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the high priest said, giving
Stephen the opportunity to

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speak.
Are these things so we will not

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follow him through the detailed
knowledge of the history of

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Israel that he revealed?
Safe to say that.

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The gist of Stevens speech and
answer to their charges was

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this.
God was not bound to any

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particular place of worship.
There had been numerous

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occasions in their own history
when he had shown that when he

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called Abraham when he was yet
in order of the Kaldis, and

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Abraham became God’s man
worshipping God when he was with

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Abraham when he brought in
Kalam, and Abraham was still

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God’s man worshipping God.
When he accepted Abraham, when

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he journeyed to and fro in the
land of Canaan, but as a

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Pilgrim, not as a resident, and
still Abraham could worship God,

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that he was with Joseph.
When Joseph was in in jealousy.

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So to those who took him into
Egypt, and Joseph could worship

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God, those dwelling in a foreign
land, that he was with the

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people when they came out of the
land under the leadership of

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Moses.
When, having rejected Moses once

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in Egypt, who made the judgment
a divider, words very similar to

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those that Jesus used about
himself, Moses made the

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Tabernacle of testimony in the
wilderness.

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Our fathers had that, he said.
But that wasn’t in Jerusalem.

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You couldn’t tell from one day
or another where it would be.

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It wandered all over the place
when camp was pitched, and when

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camp was struck, they were
entitled to demolish it and put

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it together again.
And it was God’s place of

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worship wherever they put it.
Of course it was a destined

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place.
They shouldn’t worship outside

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it or in other places, but still
it didn’t matter where it was,

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and it could be in many places,
even in the land itself.

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Steve could have said, and by
virtue of his words did say.

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In effect, the place of worship
of God had not always been

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Jerusalem.
It was mostly Shiloh in the

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earliest days with high places
around.

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Only when Shiloh was decimated
by the Philistines, after the

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people rebelled and the
Tabernacle was divided into two

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parts, with the building in
Gibeon and the Ark in Kiryati,

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Arim, and then in Jerusalem, did
God begin to make known that

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there was another place he had
in mind.

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And only in David’s days was
Jerusalem designated when its

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citadel was taken away from the
Gentiles.

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But only in Solomon’s days was
the temple built.

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You had to wait a long time,
Stephen seemed to tell them,

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Before Jerusalem became the
capital and before the Temple

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there became the authorized and
the only authorized place of

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worship.
And you’ve had a long history

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since then.
And in fact your temple has

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undergone many vicissitudes
since then.

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It didn’t last very long.
It must have been founded

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something after 1000 BC and it
was thoroughly destroyed.

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A little after 600 BC, it could
only have lasted about 350

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years.
The one you’re worshipping now

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is in quite, quite new.
It was brought into being by

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Haggai and Zechariah in the days
of the returned people going

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back to the land after
Nebuchadnezzar’s days, it was

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very heavily increased and
augmented.

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So it’s almost to become a new
place by Herod the Great.

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But Herod the Great was not very
long ago.

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Was he 40 and six years?
You said yourself to the Lord

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Jesus Christ. 40 and six years
has this temple been in

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building.
So by now we might have got to,

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what, 55 years or something of
the kind?

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That’s the only life this temple
in the form you now see it has

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had.
God can change things.

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If He wills and He does will,
He’s not bound to any particular

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place.
His own nature is not bound to

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any place at all.
And would you turn now?

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See how Stephen elaborates that
point about the last opportunity

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he has of elaborating anything?
I’d be glad if you would.

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I think it.
Would be best if you would turn

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to the prophecy of Isaiah and
find the last chapter in the

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first verses, Isaiah chapter 66.
And I will have before me both

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that passage and the one in the
Acts and invite you to notice

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the way the things developed.
So Isaiah chapter 66.

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And verse one.
Thus saith the Lord, The heaven

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is my throne, and the earth is
my footstool.

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Where is the house that ye build
unto me?

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And where is the place of my
rest?

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For all these things hath mine
hand made, and all those things

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have been saith the Lord.
Now I’m sure your eyes have been

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going on to the rest of that
verse.

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And I’m sure the retentive
memories of Stephen’s judges

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were going on to the rest of
that verse too, when Stephen

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suddenly broke off from reading
that verse and said something

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quite different.
So go on reading that verse.

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Would you in fact start again at
the beginning?

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And I will now read from the
Acts.

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Harvey at the most High Dwelleth
knocked in temples made with

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hands and set the prophet.
Heaven is my throne and earth is

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my footstool.
What house will you build unto

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me, Set the Lord?
Or what is the place of my rest?

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Hath but my hand made all these
things ye stiff, necked, and

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uncircumcised in heart and ears.
You don’t always resist the Holy

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Spirit, as your Father’s did.
So do ye and their minds had

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been hoping to go on with But to
this man will I look even to

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hinders of a contrite spirit,
And that trembleth at my word.

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You’re not like that, said
Stephen.

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Savor those words if you like,
but you’re the very opposite.

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You stiff necked and
uncircumcised in heart and ears.

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You do always resist the Holy
Spirit as your father’s did.

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So do ye.
Can you wonder at their

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reaction?
And they were pricked in their

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heart.
Oh, no, they weren’t.

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There had been on the day of
Pentecost, some Jews had, and

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3000 had been baptized.
Their consciences have been

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touched, but not now.
Now they were outraged.

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Stephen was not only attacking
their building as they thought,

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he was attacking them.
They didn’t deserve to have a

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temple.
Stephen was saying.

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They deserve to be cast out and
replaced by another people.

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He seemed to be hinting.
And so they were cut to the

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heart, cut to the quick.
We would say, wouldn’t we?

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We would take the expression
that we use when you take a pair

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of scissors and you cut a nail
and you go too deep and the

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sudden pain strikes you and
you’re angry with yourself.

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And Stephen was doing that to
them.

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They were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed on him with their

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teeth, and the men became wild
beasts.

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And they dragged him from their
place of judgement, and took him

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to the place where, against all
Roman law, they committed the

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ACT to be executing him on the
testimony of false witnesses and

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in response to the anger of
their hearts.

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And they stoned him, and the
young men laid their garments.

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At the feet of another young
man, whose name was Saul, whom

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Stephen had defeated an
argument, who now became the

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leader of Stephen’s
executioners, and Stephen died

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under the rain of stones.
They had seen his face as he

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made his final declaration of
faith.

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They beheld his faith as though
it was the face of an Angel.

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They heard his words as they put
him to death.

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Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
Lord lay not this sin to their

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charge.
And Saul was watching, and Saul

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was listening, and words were
spoken there.

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Which could this man Saul have
heard before?

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Even if he hadn’t, he wouldn’t
forget them as they were spoken

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then.
Lord, lay not this sin to their

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charge.
Lord Jesus received my spirit.

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Saul was a young man.
That he was a man in the

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position of authority that he
did hold suggests that his youth

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00:12:54,920 –> 00:12:57,120
must have taken to the age of 30
or so.

220
00:12:59,120 –> 00:13:01,400
And if that was the nature of
his youth, which fits in very

221
00:13:01,400 –> 00:13:04,240
well with his describing himself
in the later stages of his

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00:13:04,240 –> 00:13:08,520
preaching as an old man some 40
years of experience lying

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00:13:08,520 –> 00:13:14,800
between, then he would only have
been some four or five years at

224
00:13:14,800 –> 00:13:16,760
the most, perhaps only two or
three.

225
00:13:17,440 –> 00:13:23,440
Junior to his master, Paul was
about the same age as Jesus of

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00:13:23,440 –> 00:13:26,280
Nazareth, a little younger, but
not much.

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00:13:28,760 –> 00:13:30,880
He had been brought up in
Jerusalem at the feet of

228
00:13:30,880 –> 00:13:34,720
Gamaliel.
His formative years as a Rabbi

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00:13:34,720 –> 00:13:41,480
to be were spent in Jerusalem.
It is at least possible, and the

230
00:13:41,480 –> 00:13:45,600
best very likely, that he lived
in Jerusalem, while the Lord was

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00:13:45,600 –> 00:13:51,000
preaching in Judea and in
Galilee, and in Samaria and in

232
00:13:51,000 –> 00:13:55,400
Decapolis.
It is certain that if he were in

233
00:13:55,400 –> 00:13:58,240
that position, he must have
heard about the activities of

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00:13:58,240 –> 00:14:03,320
the Lord, must have known about
the conspiracies against him,

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00:14:04,520 –> 00:14:07,960
and must the view of his present
attitude have joined in them in

236
00:14:07,960 –> 00:14:11,920
spirit, have been one of those
hostile to the Lord’s teaching.

237
00:14:13,120 –> 00:14:15,720
Might, even though perhaps he
hadn’t yet attained that

238
00:14:15,720 –> 00:14:19,280
seniority, have been amongst
those who were consenting to his

239
00:14:19,280 –> 00:14:21,760
death when the Lord was placed
on trial.

240
00:14:22,160 –> 00:14:23,880
In the High priests judgement
hall.

241
00:14:25,960 –> 00:14:27,640
But at least he must have known
about him.

242
00:14:30,240 –> 00:14:35,920
And there was a certain young
man, a rich young man who came

243
00:14:35,920 –> 00:14:39,480
to Jesus and said, good master,
what good thing must I do that I

244
00:14:39,480 –> 00:14:42,640
may inherit eternal life?
We considered him yesterday and

245
00:14:42,640 –> 00:14:46,440
put him on the shelf.
For a while now, we take him

246
00:14:46,440 –> 00:14:48,480
down and examine him a little
more closely.

247
00:14:49,640 –> 00:14:52,560
He was young.
Well, he would still not be old

248
00:14:52,640 –> 00:14:53,920
three or four years later, would
he?

249
00:14:55,600 –> 00:15:00,040
He was rich.
Paul had enjoyed all things, and

250
00:15:00,040 –> 00:15:02,760
had counted that done that he
might win Christ when he lost

251
00:15:02,760 –> 00:15:04,640
them, and he had known how to
abound.

252
00:15:04,720 –> 00:15:10,120
He must have been rich too.
He was a ruler, Pauline

253
00:15:10,120 –> 00:15:12,000
consenting to his desk to
destroy that.

254
00:15:12,000 –> 00:15:15,120
He too was amongst the ruling
category, perhaps the Sanhedrin

255
00:15:15,120 –> 00:15:19,000
member.
He counted himself a righteous

256
00:15:19,000 –> 00:15:20,840
man.
All these things that I kept

257
00:15:20,840 –> 00:15:24,440
from my youth up.
Paul, defending himself, later

258
00:15:24,440 –> 00:15:29,000
said my manner of life from my
youth up the same praise.

259
00:15:29,840 –> 00:15:32,840
Know all the people he was
amongst.

260
00:15:32,840 –> 00:15:36,480
The company of those who he
later described as being

261
00:15:36,480 –> 00:15:39,680
ignorant of God’s righteousness
and going about to establish his

262
00:15:39,680 –> 00:15:42,840
own righteousness did not submit
himself to the righteousness of

263
00:15:42,840 –> 00:15:48,560
God and went away sorrowful.
We don’t know that the one who

264
00:15:48,560 –> 00:15:50,680
went away sorrowful went also
away angry.

265
00:15:50,680 –> 00:15:55,320
But he might have done.
We don’t know at what point Saul

266
00:15:55,320 –> 00:15:58,840
of Tasas, of whom we rehear
Forsook so far, the traditions

267
00:15:58,840 –> 00:16:02,200
of the Gamaliel who taught him.
As to become a persecutor of the

268
00:16:02,200 –> 00:16:03,000
faith.
But he did.

269
00:16:03,000 –> 00:16:07,240
Gamaliel wasn’t like that.
Although Paul so revered the

270
00:16:07,240 –> 00:16:10,560
memory of this man in his
unregenerate days, that man had

271
00:16:10,560 –> 00:16:14,160
counselled against persecution.
I said Let these men.

272
00:16:14,160 –> 00:16:16,200
Go.
Don’t do them any harm.

273
00:16:16,360 –> 00:16:18,960
If this is the will of God, you
won’t be able to stop it, and

274
00:16:18,960 –> 00:16:20,720
you might be found fighting
against God.

275
00:16:20,880 –> 00:16:23,440
This man, Saul, fought against
God quite cheerfully and

276
00:16:23,440 –> 00:16:25,760
deliberately.
Something had happened to make

277
00:16:25,760 –> 00:16:29,160
him estranged from the teaching
of Gamaliel, and if it was that,

278
00:16:29,160 –> 00:16:32,480
being rejected by the law when a
rich young man came to him.

279
00:16:33,600 –> 00:16:36,720
Exacerbated by the manner in
which Stephen had hopelessly

280
00:16:36,720 –> 00:16:39,200
defeated him in argument that
might account for his

281
00:16:39,200 –> 00:16:43,400
bitterness.
The Lord had loved that rich

282
00:16:43,400 –> 00:16:46,640
young man.
We are about to consider

283
00:16:46,640 –> 00:16:50,040
something of the career of one
who wrote about himself when it

284
00:16:50,040 –> 00:16:53,000
pleased God who called me from
my mother’s womb.

285
00:16:53,840 –> 00:16:57,880
He was a marked young man.
This Paul was before he was

286
00:16:57,880 –> 00:17:02,040
born, like Jeremiah when he was
born, God watched him through

287
00:17:02,040 –> 00:17:05,560
his career and guided him to the
point when something would

288
00:17:05,560 –> 00:17:08,720
happen to him that would make
him a disciple of the Lord.

289
00:17:10,119 –> 00:17:11,240
Conjecture.
Yes, of course.

290
00:17:11,240 –> 00:17:14,400
It’s conjecture.
But sanctified conjecture I

291
00:17:14,400 –> 00:17:17,040
think, fitting in with the
characters of the people

292
00:17:17,040 –> 00:17:21,599
concerned, giving us a a
pleasant detective research in

293
00:17:21,599 –> 00:17:25,079
the words of the scriptures,
leading us to an appreciation of

294
00:17:25,079 –> 00:17:26,839
this man whom we are now to
consider.

295
00:17:27,079 –> 00:17:29,720
Which is perhaps heightened
rather than diminished by it.

296
00:17:30,480 –> 00:17:32,680
A little excitement to which the
word of God leads us.

297
00:17:35,000 –> 00:17:37,320
But now Saul is conniving at a
murder.

298
00:17:38,800 –> 00:17:41,920
Now he is witnessing an
execution he has provoked.

299
00:17:42,840 –> 00:17:49,160
Consenting to a lynch law.
And Stephen has said, Lord Jesus

300
00:17:49,160 –> 00:17:54,480
received my spirit, Lord, lay
not this sin to their charge.

301
00:17:55,920 –> 00:18:00,240
And if Saul was that rich young
man, if Saul was, whether that

302
00:18:00,240 –> 00:18:03,200
rich young man or not, in
Jerusalem at the time, which he

303
00:18:03,200 –> 00:18:05,920
so easily could have been, he
had heard words like that

304
00:18:05,920 –> 00:18:10,880
before, For from his cross, or
while being knelt to the cross,

305
00:18:11,080 –> 00:18:15,440
the Lord had said.
Father, forgive them, for they

306
00:18:15,440 –> 00:18:19,040
know not what they do.
And what is the difference

307
00:18:19,040 –> 00:18:21,160
between that?
And Lord lay not this sin to

308
00:18:21,160 –> 00:18:24,960
their charge.
Stephen was engaged in an act of

309
00:18:24,960 –> 00:18:28,000
memory, reminding the people of
words that many of them might

310
00:18:28,000 –> 00:18:30,640
have heard before, saying what
Jesus said when they were

311
00:18:30,640 –> 00:18:33,680
killing him.
It would be the hardest to

312
00:18:33,680 –> 00:18:37,560
forget that if you heard it
before, it wouldn’t be easy in

313
00:18:37,560 –> 00:18:39,920
any case.
And then?

314
00:18:40,560 –> 00:18:44,400
As the Lord was about to expire,
he said, Father, into thy hands

315
00:18:44,400 –> 00:18:48,320
I commend my spirit.
And now Stephen is saying to

316
00:18:48,320 –> 00:18:51,160
him, Lord Jesus receive my
spirit.

317
00:18:53,280 –> 00:18:57,360
We who hear both those sets of
words look back upon the dying

318
00:18:57,360 –> 00:18:59,320
of the Lord Jesus Christ.
See the?

319
00:18:59,320 –> 00:19:02,200
Horror of the great darkness
which has come upon him, know

320
00:19:02,200 –> 00:19:04,680
that he has been rung from his
lips.

321
00:19:04,680 –> 00:19:08,160
The words My God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me?

322
00:19:08,640 –> 00:19:11,400
And see him enduring his
suffering alone, as a criminal

323
00:19:11,400 –> 00:19:14,680
would have had to.
And yet we see the faithful,

324
00:19:14,960 –> 00:19:18,280
though pinioned hands of the
Lord, stretching out into the

325
00:19:18,280 –> 00:19:20,480
places above and saying, in
effect, Father, I know you’re

326
00:19:20,480 –> 00:19:23,480
there.
You won’t let me down.

327
00:19:23,480 –> 00:19:26,520
I die in faith, Father.
Into thy hands I commend my

328
00:19:26,520 –> 00:19:32,320
spirit.
And now we find Stephen, almost

329
00:19:32,320 –> 00:19:36,160
as it were, reminding the Lord,
Lord, you put your trust in your

330
00:19:36,160 –> 00:19:39,760
Father, and he hurt you.
Do the same for me now, Will

331
00:19:39,760 –> 00:19:45,280
you, Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit?

332
00:19:47,880 –> 00:19:53,000
And he fell asleep.
What strange words to use.

333
00:19:53,240 –> 00:19:57,520
I know it’s a technical term for
dying, particularly dying when

334
00:19:57,520 –> 00:20:01,000
you’re going to rise again, as
Stephen so surely will.

335
00:20:01,560 –> 00:20:04,360
But Luke’s worth putting.
It mingles together the horror

336
00:20:04,360 –> 00:20:08,600
of that place of execution.
And the bloody death that

337
00:20:08,600 –> 00:20:13,600
Stephen died with the innocence
of a child saying it’s prayers

338
00:20:13,600 –> 00:20:17,640
and going to sleep.
He’s just said his prayers.

339
00:20:18,880 –> 00:20:22,520
Lord Jesus received my spirit.
Lord, no not listen to their

340
00:20:22,520 –> 00:20:24,200
charge.
And then it’s almost as though

341
00:20:24,400 –> 00:20:27,600
he climbed into his comfortable
cotton, puts the coverlet over

342
00:20:27,600 –> 00:20:31,400
him and falls asleep in peace.
When he had said this, he fell

343
00:20:31,400 –> 00:20:36,080
asleep.
So wonderfully does Luke.

344
00:20:36,680 –> 00:20:41,640
Picture for us the innocence,
the calmness, the confidence,

345
00:20:42,080 –> 00:20:48,040
almost the joy of this man.
And Saul was consenting unto his

346
00:20:48,040 –> 00:20:52,680
death.
Those words could not have been

347
00:20:52,680 –> 00:20:54,760
exposed from his mind by
anything.

348
00:20:56,280 –> 00:20:59,760
They were there, and so was that
sight.

349
00:21:02,760 –> 00:21:06,520
However, the immediate result
was quite other than Saul’s

350
00:21:06,520 –> 00:21:11,800
conversion, it resulted in
heightened, redoubled activities

351
00:21:12,880 –> 00:21:16,160
in a bitter persecution, such as
the communities in Jerusalem and

352
00:21:16,160 –> 00:21:21,440
elsewhere had never known they
that were scattered abroad.

353
00:21:22,320 –> 00:21:27,160
We read in chapter 8.
And Saul was consenting unto his

354
00:21:27,160 –> 00:21:28,840
death.
And at that time there was a

355
00:21:28,840 –> 00:21:32,160
great persecution against the
church that was at Jerusalem,

356
00:21:32,400 –> 00:21:34,840
And they were all scattered
abroad throughout the regions of

357
00:21:34,840 –> 00:21:38,880
Judea and Samaria, except the
apostles and devout men, carried

358
00:21:38,880 –> 00:21:42,720
Stephen to his burial and made
great lamentation over him.

359
00:21:43,000 –> 00:21:46,400
As for Saul, he made havoc of
the church, entering into every

360
00:21:46,400 –> 00:21:49,400
house, and hailing men and women
committed them to prison.

361
00:21:49,520 –> 00:21:51,360
They therefore that were
scattered abroad.

362
00:21:53,320 –> 00:21:57,080
Saul ran amok.
He would have wiped out the

363
00:21:57,080 –> 00:22:00,440
church if he could.
He himself says that many people

364
00:22:00,440 –> 00:22:02,480
were held to prison and to death
by his deeds.

365
00:22:04,680 –> 00:22:07,800
But the effect was not quite
what Saul was working for,

366
00:22:09,040 –> 00:22:11,400
though that was scattered
abroad, we are told, went

367
00:22:11,400 –> 00:22:16,080
everywhere preaching the word.
So a gospel hitherto confined to

368
00:22:16,080 –> 00:22:19,280
the environs of Jerusalem,
spread outwards through Judea

369
00:22:19,880 –> 00:22:22,800
and into Samaria, as the Lord
had said.

370
00:22:22,800 –> 00:22:26,080
They were beginning to act.
He should be my witnesses in

371
00:22:26,080 –> 00:22:29,920
Jerusalem and in Samaria and to
the uttermost parts of the

372
00:22:29,920 –> 00:22:32,680
world.
Now they had got as far as

373
00:22:32,680 –> 00:22:36,000
Samaria before another three
chapters have gone, they will

374
00:22:36,000 –> 00:22:39,120
have gone further still into
strictly Gentile territory, and

375
00:22:39,120 –> 00:22:42,680
after that there will be no
limit to where they will go and

376
00:22:42,680 –> 00:22:44,400
Saul.
Humanly speaking, started it

377
00:22:44,400 –> 00:22:47,840
all.
Started it all by trying to stop

378
00:22:47,840 –> 00:22:51,400
it all.
Saul’s first missionary work was

379
00:22:51,400 –> 00:22:55,360
done against his own will, by
scattering aboard the preachers,

380
00:22:56,080 –> 00:23:00,040
by blowing the seed into the
winds and letting the seed

381
00:23:00,040 –> 00:23:01,480
settle to the ground and take
root.

382
00:23:01,480 –> 00:23:04,680
That was Saul’s work, humanly
speaking.

383
00:23:07,120 –> 00:23:11,600
Why he had lost.
It seems all thought that he

384
00:23:11,600 –> 00:23:17,960
might be found fighting against
God, lost it or shouted it down.

385
00:23:20,160 –> 00:23:22,760
What do you do when something is
nagging at your conscience and

386
00:23:22,760 –> 00:23:24,400
you don’t intend to take any
notice?

387
00:23:25,920 –> 00:23:28,480
Or you turn up the sound of the
high five, or switch on the

388
00:23:28,480 –> 00:23:30,680
telly?
Or you take an aspirin and go to

389
00:23:30,680 –> 00:23:32,400
bed?
You do anything to get the

390
00:23:32,400 –> 00:23:35,520
thought out of your mind.
And if the noise still keeps on

391
00:23:35,520 –> 00:23:38,360
digging in, then you go to
somebody else and start talking

392
00:23:38,360 –> 00:23:41,400
about something different.
You shut it down.

393
00:23:42,400 –> 00:23:46,840
That’s what you do, don’t you?
And it doesn’t work.

394
00:23:48,680 –> 00:23:52,600
And it didn’t work with Saul and
when he got to his.

395
00:23:52,600 –> 00:23:54,480
Worst point.
So he got to the point where he

396
00:23:54,480 –> 00:23:58,800
was now ripe for the change
asking of the chief priests.

397
00:23:58,800 –> 00:24:02,520
We are told in Chapter 9,
Letters to Damascus that going

398
00:24:02,520 –> 00:24:05,960
right outside normal Jewish
territory and going into a city

399
00:24:05,960 –> 00:24:07,560
where.
One would think the Jewish writ

400
00:24:07,560 –> 00:24:10,640
did not run, but Damascus was
one of the cities of the

401
00:24:10,640 –> 00:24:12,800
Decapolis and perhaps that was
why it did run.

402
00:24:13,320 –> 00:24:16,160
Asking of the high priest
letters, he went to Damascus,

403
00:24:16,320 –> 00:24:19,360
intending to hail more men and
women, if he found any of this

404
00:24:19,360 –> 00:24:22,280
way, to bring them to the death,
to trial in Jerusalem, and then

405
00:24:22,280 –> 00:24:25,160
to whatever might follow.
And he was well on his way to

406
00:24:25,160 –> 00:24:27,080
doing that when approaching
Damascus.

407
00:24:27,080 –> 00:24:30,400
He was stricken down.
You know the passage Acts,

408
00:24:30,400 –> 00:24:39,400
Chapter 9, verse three.
And as he journeyed, it came to

409
00:24:39,400 –> 00:24:43,040
pass.
As he drew nigh to Damascus, and

410
00:24:43,040 –> 00:24:47,600
suddenly thou shined down about
him a light from heaven, and he

411
00:24:47,600 –> 00:24:51,520
fell to the earth, and heard a
voice saying to him, Saul, Saul,

412
00:24:51,960 –> 00:24:56,040
why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord?

413
00:24:57,200 –> 00:24:59,720
And the Lord, said, I am Jesus,
whom thou persecutest?

414
00:25:00,560 –> 00:25:03,200
It is hard for thee to kick
against the pricks.

415
00:25:04,200 –> 00:25:07,400
And he trembling and astonished,
said, Lord, what wilt thou have

416
00:25:07,400 –> 00:25:10,240
me to do?
And the Lord said unto him,

417
00:25:10,240 –> 00:25:13,040
Arise, and go into the city, and
it shall be told thee what thou

418
00:25:13,080 –> 00:25:15,880
must do.
And the men that journey with

419
00:25:15,880 –> 00:25:20,920
him stood speechless, hearing a
voice, but seeing no man, and

420
00:25:20,920 –> 00:25:23,280
saw the roast from the earth.
And when his eyes were opened,

421
00:25:23,360 –> 00:25:26,280
he saw no man.
But they led him by the hand,

422
00:25:26,280 –> 00:25:29,000
and brought him into Damascus.
And he was three days without

423
00:25:29,000 –> 00:25:30,760
sight and did neither eat nor
drink.

424
00:25:34,280 –> 00:25:37,160
He was going out to Damascus,
breathing threatenings and

425
00:25:37,160 –> 00:25:39,000
slaughter the most, one has told
us.

426
00:25:39,640 –> 00:25:43,080
He had a set purpose for which
he would not be deflected to go

427
00:25:43,080 –> 00:25:46,040
to the purse the disciples might
dust, I have gone, and bring

428
00:25:46,040 –> 00:25:48,600
them to what he would perversely
have called justice.

429
00:25:50,920 –> 00:25:56,920
And he was strapped down, And
the voice said, Saul, Saul, why

430
00:25:56,920 –> 00:26:01,920
persecutest thou me?
It is hard for thee to kick

431
00:26:01,920 –> 00:26:07,120
against the Goad.
Why persecutest thou me?

432
00:26:09,520 –> 00:26:12,960
He doesn’t just bring home to
Saul that he is committing a far

433
00:26:12,960 –> 00:26:16,360
worse offence than merely
hurting men, but he is going

434
00:26:16,360 –> 00:26:19,800
against someone who is now at
the right hand of God in heaven.

435
00:26:19,800 –> 00:26:24,760
It does that, but it does more.
It perhaps revealed to him, as

436
00:26:24,760 –> 00:26:29,040
it must surely reveal to us,
that when anyone does anything

437
00:26:29,960 –> 00:26:32,680
against the servants of God, or
indeed against the will of the

438
00:26:32,680 –> 00:26:36,080
Lord, it hurts.
Hurts in the heavenly places,

439
00:26:37,360 –> 00:26:41,640
hurts the Lord himself.
Saul, you’re persecuting me.

440
00:26:43,400 –> 00:26:45,240
You had those stones thrown at
me.

441
00:26:47,280 –> 00:26:51,640
You are crucifying me afresh.
You’re travelling under foot,

442
00:26:51,640 –> 00:26:53,360
the Son of God.
You are counting the blood of

443
00:26:53,360 –> 00:26:55,400
the covenant wherewith you might
have been sanctified.

444
00:26:56,240 –> 00:27:01,000
An unholy thing.
That’s what men do to Jesus when

445
00:27:01,000 –> 00:27:04,880
they turn against him and hurt
his disciples or reject His

446
00:27:04,880 –> 00:27:08,800
words.
That’s what we would do to our

447
00:27:08,800 –> 00:27:14,440
Lord were we to reject His ways
or go astray, or be ruthless

448
00:27:14,440 –> 00:27:18,360
with those who trust in him.
We will be persecuting him.

449
00:27:18,520 –> 00:27:20,400
We will be trampling under foot
the Son of God.

450
00:27:20,520 –> 00:27:23,400
We will be counting the blood of
the UN covenant, the covenant

451
00:27:23,400 –> 00:27:25,960
whereby we were sanctified, an
unholy thing.

452
00:27:25,960 –> 00:27:31,600
We will be hurting our Lord.
You remember how the Lord said I

453
00:27:31,600 –> 00:27:35,800
was sick and in prison, and you
came not unto me?

454
00:27:37,320 –> 00:27:39,480
I was naked, and you gave me no
clothes.

455
00:27:40,880 –> 00:27:42,640
I was hungry.
You gave me no food.

456
00:27:44,560 –> 00:27:46,920
And you picture the Lord
beholding A disciple, being

457
00:27:46,920 –> 00:27:49,800
neglected by other disciples,
and given no clothing in the

458
00:27:49,800 –> 00:27:53,000
cold.
And the Lord shivers You picture

459
00:27:53,000 –> 00:27:55,920
the disciple being hungry and
devoid of the means of daily

460
00:27:55,920 –> 00:27:57,240
living, and no food is given
him.

461
00:27:57,240 –> 00:28:02,920
And the Lord Pines he that
hurteth you and despise of you,

462
00:28:04,080 –> 00:28:07,120
he despiseth me, said the Lord.
Not just he is doing a thing as

463
00:28:07,120 –> 00:28:11,400
bad as that, but I feel it.
So says our Lord.

464
00:28:12,560 –> 00:28:18,760
So he said to Saul, Saul, Saul,
why persecute astound me?

465
00:28:21,760 –> 00:28:23,880
He’s hard to lead to kick
against the pricks.

466
00:28:25,640 –> 00:28:27,480
I’m sure every other donkey
feels the same.

467
00:28:28,840 –> 00:28:32,160
You stop in your tracks and you
are goaded on by the nail in the

468
00:28:32,160 –> 00:28:35,120
sharp stick, and you still stay
doggedly where you are, and it

469
00:28:35,120 –> 00:28:38,040
hurts the donkey.
Saul, you donkey, why don’t you

470
00:28:38,040 –> 00:28:41,440
turn round and go the right way?
So the Lord is saying to him as

471
00:28:41,440 –> 00:28:44,560
explicitly as that, stop kicking
against the goat.

472
00:28:45,000 –> 00:28:47,160
Go the way, then you know you
must go.

473
00:28:50,160 –> 00:28:52,280
It wasn’t.
So much a sudden conversion as a

474
00:28:52,280 –> 00:28:56,280
sudden yielding to conversion
that Saul underwent on that

475
00:28:56,280 –> 00:28:58,720
Damascus Rd.
He had inside his heart,

476
00:28:58,720 –> 00:29:01,240
suspected all along that things
were not right.

477
00:29:01,240 –> 00:29:04,240
The way he was going.
There was still that haunting

478
00:29:04,240 –> 00:29:08,120
face, as it had been the face of
an Angel that couldn’t be

479
00:29:08,120 –> 00:29:10,080
expunged from the eyes of his
mind.

480
00:29:11,960 –> 00:29:13,600
There was still those words of
Stephen.

481
00:29:14,600 –> 00:29:19,040
I see the Lord Jesus standing at
the right hand of God, and now

482
00:29:19,040 –> 00:29:20,840
something from above is talking
to him.

483
00:29:20,960 –> 00:29:26,040
Who art thou, Lord?
And there was still that calm

484
00:29:26,040 –> 00:29:30,040
falling asleep, of the man who
had said, Lord Jesus received my

485
00:29:30,040 –> 00:29:34,920
spirit.
Lord, lay not this sin to their

486
00:29:34,920 –> 00:29:39,760
charge.
And the man ripe for conversion

487
00:29:39,760 –> 00:29:44,680
collapsed, abandoned all his
rebellions, allowed himself to

488
00:29:44,680 –> 00:29:49,560
be led by the hand experience,
the blindness which the Lord had

489
00:29:49,560 –> 00:29:51,880
said, came to all people who
rejected him.

490
00:29:52,120 –> 00:29:58,560
Fools and blind they were.
Yet they said, they saw and was

491
00:29:58,560 –> 00:30:02,600
met by a man who had every
reason to be afraid of him, who

492
00:30:02,600 –> 00:30:06,280
had heard by many of this man
how he had destroyed the people

493
00:30:06,280 –> 00:30:10,520
of God, but responded with
chastened bravery to the

494
00:30:10,520 –> 00:30:14,240
commandment of the Lord, and
went to greet the chosen vessel.

495
00:30:16,280 –> 00:30:21,440
Brother Saul, he said in
anticipation received thy sight.

496
00:30:22,840 –> 00:30:28,160
And then arise, why carry us?
Thou wash away thy sins, calling

497
00:30:28,160 –> 00:30:32,760
upon the name of the Lord?
And Saul did that.

498
00:30:35,440 –> 00:30:38,320
And what a change there was in
the confession of this man at

499
00:30:38,320 –> 00:30:42,280
that stage.
Hitherto it had been all these

500
00:30:42,280 –> 00:30:46,760
things have I observed from my
youth up, he could later say

501
00:30:46,760 –> 00:30:50,800
about his former way of life and
thinking my manner of life from

502
00:30:50,800 –> 00:30:54,280
my youth up know.
All the people I was.

503
00:30:54,640 –> 00:30:57,840
What was he?
A Hebrew of the Hebrews.

504
00:30:58,400 –> 00:31:00,280
A Hebrew child of Hebrew
parents.

505
00:31:00,280 –> 00:31:03,760
A true born Hebrew.
A Pharisee of the Pharisees.

506
00:31:03,960 –> 00:31:08,320
A faithful Pharisee with a
Pharisaic father of the tribe of

507
00:31:08,320 –> 00:31:12,920
Benjamin circumcised the 8th
day, touching the righteousness

508
00:31:12,920 –> 00:31:17,160
which is of the law blameless,
all those things Was this I

509
00:31:17,160 –> 00:31:20,720
profited in the Jews religion of
many my equals not just a

510
00:31:20,720 –> 00:31:23,320
Pharisee of the Pharisees, but a
super Pharisee better than the

511
00:31:23,320 –> 00:31:25,480
others.
He could stand side by side with

512
00:31:25,480 –> 00:31:28,320
his fellow Pharisees and think
the publicans profiting in the

513
00:31:28,320 –> 00:31:30,320
deuter religion above many mine
equals.

514
00:31:30,320 –> 00:31:37,160
That’s what this Saul was.
And from all that fragile fabric

515
00:31:37,160 –> 00:31:41,760
of righteousness he retreated.
So it crumbled into the dust,

516
00:31:41,760 –> 00:31:45,280
shattered and confessed his
sins.

517
00:31:46,120 –> 00:31:51,040
And now why, Tarius, thou arise
and be baptized, and call upon

518
00:31:51,040 –> 00:31:54,680
the name of the Lord, and wash
away thy sins, said Ananias to

519
00:31:54,680 –> 00:31:58,360
him.
And he did.

520
00:32:00,600 –> 00:32:06,000
And Saul the persecutor became
Saul the disciple, still Saul.

521
00:32:06,280 –> 00:32:09,040
I’ve called him Paul once or
twice today, but that name

522
00:32:09,040 –> 00:32:12,040
doesn’t belong to him as a
Christian name as yet.

523
00:32:13,080 –> 00:32:16,120
That’s yet to come.
He still saw until we reached

524
00:32:16,120 –> 00:32:21,480
Chapter 13.
And Saul had the same courage in

525
00:32:21,480 –> 00:32:26,040
his new convictions as he had
had personality in his old he

526
00:32:26,040 –> 00:32:29,080
said about the new job, with the
same zeal he had shown about the

527
00:32:29,080 –> 00:32:31,360
old job and straight.
Away in the synagogues of

528
00:32:31,360 –> 00:32:34,120
Damascus preached Jesus that he
is Christ and the Son of God.

529
00:32:36,760 –> 00:32:39,400
It’s not quite easy to
reconstruct for sure the events

530
00:32:39,400 –> 00:32:42,840
in Damascus.
Appeal of something over three

531
00:32:42,840 –> 00:32:46,120
years is spanned by them.
He preaches there.

532
00:32:46,120 –> 00:32:48,280
He goes to Arabia.
He goes back to Damascus and

533
00:32:48,280 –> 00:32:50,520
preaches again.
So he tells us that in the

534
00:32:50,560 –> 00:32:54,520
letter to the Galatians.
But after his second episode in

535
00:32:54,520 –> 00:32:58,080
Damascus, it becomes plain that
Damascus is now too hot to hold

536
00:32:58,080 –> 00:33:01,360
him.
He begins an experience of the

537
00:33:01,360 –> 00:33:04,400
hostility of his former allies
that was to last in the rest of

538
00:33:04,400 –> 00:33:06,720
his life, and human speaking
custom his life too.

539
00:33:08,200 –> 00:33:11,840
His fellow Jews hated him, now
with a devouring of consuming

540
00:33:12,000 –> 00:33:14,800
and implacable hatred.
The leaders of the people would

541
00:33:14,800 –> 00:33:17,400
stop at nothing to destroy Saul,
as they had stopped at nothing

542
00:33:17,400 –> 00:33:20,840
to destroy his master in the
years to come.

543
00:33:20,840 –> 00:33:25,560
Saul’s life would never be safe,
humanly speaking, so long as the

544
00:33:25,560 –> 00:33:28,120
Jews of Jerusalem and those who
followed them had their say.

545
00:33:29,440 –> 00:33:32,240
And he experienced the first
taste of that in Damascus when

546
00:33:32,440 –> 00:33:34,960
the polygons, his life and the
God around the city was so

547
00:33:34,960 –> 00:33:37,400
serious.
That the only way to get him out

548
00:33:37,400 –> 00:33:40,000
was to bundle him up into a
basket and let him down from the

549
00:33:40,000 –> 00:33:43,560
wall like so much laundry.
Very humiliating for a proud

550
00:33:43,560 –> 00:33:46,680
Pharisee.
Saul remembers it almost with

551
00:33:46,680 –> 00:33:49,240
humiliation, when he writes to
the Corinthians in the second

552
00:33:49,240 –> 00:33:51,960
letter, and says almost as an
afterthought, after detailing

553
00:33:51,960 –> 00:33:55,640
his persecutions.
And in Damascus, the governor

554
00:33:55,640 –> 00:33:58,480
under Aretas, The king, was
there, and I was let down in a

555
00:33:58,480 –> 00:34:02,600
basket from the walls almost to
saying, Imagine that me in the

556
00:34:02,600 –> 00:34:08,560
frame of mind I had then.
And he went to Jerusalem, so the

557
00:34:08,560 –> 00:34:11,280
chapter tells us.
And there he was faced with a

558
00:34:11,280 –> 00:34:14,639
double problem, that as soon as
his fellow Jewish unbelievers

559
00:34:14,639 –> 00:34:18,199
got to know about it, his life
would be not worth a moment’s

560
00:34:18,199 –> 00:34:20,960
purchase again.
And that he wasn’t too well

561
00:34:20,960 –> 00:34:22,960
received by the believers
themselves.

562
00:34:23,159 –> 00:34:27,320
He was falling very nicely
between 2 stools, this converted

563
00:34:27,320 –> 00:34:29,159
soul.
The Jews now hated him.

564
00:34:29,360 –> 00:34:32,000
The disciples didn’t trust him.
You can’t really blame them.

565
00:34:32,880 –> 00:34:34,360
They’d had plenty of reason to
mistrust him.

566
00:34:34,360 –> 00:34:36,080
They’d suffered grievously at
his hand.

567
00:34:36,080 –> 00:34:40,400
They’d loved Stephen.
So what was to be done?

568
00:34:41,679 –> 00:34:47,120
Well, you know, don’t you?
Acts Chapter 9, verse 26.

569
00:34:48,760 –> 00:34:51,679
And when Saul was come to
Jerusalem, he are saved to join

570
00:34:51,679 –> 00:34:54,840
himself to the disciples.
And they were all afraid of him,

571
00:34:54,840 –> 00:34:59,320
not believing that he was a
disciple, but Barnabas.

572
00:35:00,720 –> 00:35:04,360
But Barnabas took him.
And brought him to the apostles,

573
00:35:04,360 –> 00:35:07,360
and declared unto them how he
had seen the Lord in the way,

574
00:35:08,280 –> 00:35:11,880
and that he had spoken to him.
And how he had preached boldly

575
00:35:11,880 –> 00:35:13,600
at Damascus in the name of
Jesus.

576
00:35:15,640 –> 00:35:18,720
Barnabas filling the role that
we’re coming to expect of him.

577
00:35:20,320 –> 00:35:23,000
Called by the apostles, the Son
of Consolation.

578
00:35:23,960 –> 00:35:26,320
The man always ready with the
helping hand.

579
00:35:27,360 –> 00:35:30,160
The man who sold his goods and
brought the money to feed the

580
00:35:30,160 –> 00:35:32,880
poor.
The man who now takes the

581
00:35:32,880 –> 00:35:35,840
outcast, who nobody loves and
brings him to the apostles, and

582
00:35:36,520 –> 00:35:39,840
by his own trust in this man
inspires their trust.

583
00:35:39,840 –> 00:35:42,360
And now they do believe that
he’s a disciple.

584
00:35:42,960 –> 00:35:45,400
We haven’t seen the last of
Barnabas in that kind of

585
00:35:45,400 –> 00:35:49,200
capacity, not by any means.
But I hope we’re beginning to

586
00:35:49,200 –> 00:35:52,800
warm, warm to him.
He’s a marvelous man, this

587
00:35:52,800 –> 00:35:57,680
Barnabas, so the disciples.
Receive him, and Saul has a free

588
00:35:57,680 –> 00:36:00,120
passport to go where he will
amongst the believers.

589
00:36:00,280 –> 00:36:01,800
He engages in their work with
them.

590
00:36:01,800 –> 00:36:03,160
They gross and know and like
him.

591
00:36:03,320 –> 00:36:05,800
And he preaches again in
Jerusalem, but that can’t go on

592
00:36:05,800 –> 00:36:07,680
for long.
Verse 28.

593
00:36:08,440 –> 00:36:11,200
And he was with them coming in
and going out at Jerusalem.

594
00:36:11,360 –> 00:36:14,640
And he spoke boldly in the name
of the Lord Jesus, and disputed

595
00:36:14,640 –> 00:36:18,760
against the Grecians.
But they went about to slay him,

596
00:36:20,120 –> 00:36:22,680
which, when the Brethren knew,
they brought him down to

597
00:36:22,680 –> 00:36:25,960
Caesarea and sent him forth to
Tarsus.

598
00:36:27,920 –> 00:36:31,720
They took him to the coast.
The most natural assumption

599
00:36:31,720 –> 00:36:34,560
there is that Saul being sent
away from the scene of their

600
00:36:34,560 –> 00:36:37,720
hostilities to his own hometown
of Tarsus, would have gone

601
00:36:37,720 –> 00:36:40,440
straight across by sea in a
roughly normally direction.

602
00:36:41,240 –> 00:36:43,840
Most maps draw it as though he
did, and he might have done 2

603
00:36:44,200 –> 00:36:47,320
though his own later words about
preaching the gospel in Syria

604
00:36:47,320 –> 00:36:50,680
and Synesia see us that perhaps
he might have gone round by land

605
00:36:50,680 –> 00:36:53,520
and done a bit of preaching on
the way, Not very much you would

606
00:36:53,520 –> 00:36:55,200
see him because the developments
come later.

607
00:36:55,200 –> 00:36:59,120
But amongst Jews it seems Paul
might have started preaching the

608
00:36:59,120 –> 00:37:04,000
word.
I saw it as a new disciple, and

609
00:37:04,000 –> 00:37:07,280
there we lose him for a little.
He retires into obscurity, and

610
00:37:07,280 –> 00:37:11,720
Moses is back in Midian, as was
the Moses of the Old Testament

611
00:37:11,720 –> 00:37:15,040
times in the House of rural his
father-in-law for 40 years now.

612
00:37:15,040 –> 00:37:17,880
For a short time, we don’t.
Know how long Saul goes into

613
00:37:17,880 –> 00:37:21,280
obscurity.
It was no doubt a good thing in

614
00:37:21,280 –> 00:37:23,640
the purpose of God, that his
preparation should continue in

615
00:37:23,640 –> 00:37:26,040
this way.
But he would be called when the

616
00:37:26,040 –> 00:37:33,640
time came and the time did come.
There were, however, important

617
00:37:33,640 –> 00:37:35,480
developments before that could
happen.

618
00:37:35,480 –> 00:37:39,920
So far, the apostles have begun.
They have preached in Jerusalem.

619
00:37:41,720 –> 00:37:46,120
It has spread through Judea
Philip going back to Chapter 8

620
00:37:46,120 –> 00:37:49,240
for a moment, one of those seven
appointed to adjudicate over the

621
00:37:49,240 –> 00:37:52,560
matter of the widow’s relief.
Had gone as far as Samaria, and

622
00:37:52,560 –> 00:37:56,320
had preached the word there to a
city of Samaria, perhaps Syca,

623
00:37:56,320 –> 00:37:58,800
where the woman of Samaria had
been, and where the Lord had

624
00:37:58,800 –> 00:38:01,960
first said, They that worship
God must worship him in spirit

625
00:38:01,960 –> 00:38:04,480
and in truth.
It might be in that company,

626
00:38:04,480 –> 00:38:07,200
where some men had already
believed in Jesus, that the

627
00:38:07,200 –> 00:38:11,120
gospel took its new foothold.
When Philip went N to a city of

628
00:38:11,120 –> 00:38:15,840
Samaria, and when he got there
marvelous works were done by

629
00:38:15,840 –> 00:38:19,960
Philip, the apostles in
Jerusalem got to know about it.

630
00:38:20,680 –> 00:38:24,920
And what did they do?
There’s a legend about the

631
00:38:24,920 –> 00:38:27,320
apostles of the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the sooner it is

632
00:38:27,320 –> 00:38:30,560
laid the better.
And that legend is that they

633
00:38:30,560 –> 00:38:34,800
were reluctant men, that they
were parochial Jews at heart,

634
00:38:34,800 –> 00:38:37,760
that they didn’t want to preach
outside the Jewish community,

635
00:38:38,000 –> 00:38:39,840
that they had to be pushed and
shrugged before they would.

636
00:38:39,960 –> 00:38:43,760
And it’s just not true.
What they were is men of

637
00:38:43,760 –> 00:38:47,520
responsibility.
They heard the Lord Jesus Christ

638
00:38:47,520 –> 00:38:49,920
say Quite.
Plainly in the Mark mark record

639
00:38:50,160 –> 00:38:52,760
go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel to every

640
00:38:52,760 –> 00:38:54,800
creature, and they want them in
to rebel against that.

641
00:38:56,240 –> 00:38:59,320
They heard the Lord Jesus Christ
say in the Matthew 28 record

642
00:38:59,680 –> 00:39:03,120
that they should go and make
disciples of all nations and

643
00:39:03,120 –> 00:39:04,640
they want them in to rebel
against that.

644
00:39:05,440 –> 00:39:08,760
They’ve heard the Lord well.
The Lord say in Luke chapter 24

645
00:39:08,960 –> 00:39:11,960
that repentance and remission of
sin should be preached in His

646
00:39:11,960 –> 00:39:14,880
name amongst all nations
beginning at Jerusalem, and they

647
00:39:14,880 –> 00:39:17,040
wouldn’t go against that.
And they have been.

648
00:39:17,040 –> 00:39:19,960
Told by the Lord in Acts chapter
one, that the gospel must be

649
00:39:19,960 –> 00:39:23,800
preached from Judea, by his
witnesses, from Jerusalem to

650
00:39:23,800 –> 00:39:27,440
Judea to Samaria, and as I have
said, to the uttermost parts of

651
00:39:27,440 –> 00:39:30,720
the earth.
The Jerusalem beginning had

652
00:39:30,720 –> 00:39:34,600
taken place.
They would move to the other

653
00:39:34,600 –> 00:39:36,360
areas when the signs were given
to them.

654
00:39:36,360 –> 00:39:38,720
That now was the time, and this
was the way to move.

655
00:39:40,120 –> 00:39:43,280
Philip started the next one in
Samaria and what did they do?

656
00:39:43,560 –> 00:39:47,320
They sent Peter and John.
With the obvious intention of

657
00:39:47,320 –> 00:39:49,880
trying to find out whether Peter
and John were satisfied with

658
00:39:49,880 –> 00:39:52,360
what they saw.
This was an authentic work of

659
00:39:52,360 –> 00:39:55,680
God, and Peter and John were so
very satisfied that they clearly

660
00:39:55,680 –> 00:39:58,320
went back with a very good
report, and the gospel was

661
00:39:58,320 –> 00:40:00,200
confirmed with preaching in
Samaria.

662
00:40:00,320 –> 00:40:03,480
Spirit gifts were bestowed as a
sign that this was God’s work,

663
00:40:04,160 –> 00:40:07,840
but there was further yet to go.
Samaritans were a kind of

664
00:40:07,840 –> 00:40:11,080
halfway house.
Neither quite Jews nor quite

665
00:40:11,080 –> 00:40:13,680
Gentiles.
Probably descendants of those

666
00:40:13,680 –> 00:40:16,040
who were brought in by Isa
Haddon, the Egyptian, the

667
00:40:16,320 –> 00:40:19,240
Assyrian king, when the
Israelites were deported from

668
00:40:19,240 –> 00:40:21,920
the Northern Kingdom to populate
their cities, and who

669
00:40:21,920 –> 00:40:24,440
compromised very nicely by
serving the Lord and worshipping

670
00:40:24,440 –> 00:40:27,360
their own gods.
That’s the kind of people,

671
00:40:27,360 –> 00:40:30,480
perhaps, through whom these
Samaritans were descended.

672
00:40:30,800 –> 00:40:32,800
The Jews didn’t trust them, but
still they weren’t quite

673
00:40:32,800 –> 00:40:34,440
Gentiles.
They did hold the Pentateu.

674
00:40:34,440 –> 00:40:37,560
They did believe in at least the
earliest part of the word of

675
00:40:37,560 –> 00:40:38,920
God.
So.

676
00:40:39,520 –> 00:40:42,160
Pure Gentiles.
They’ve not come in on any scale

677
00:40:42,160 –> 00:40:45,200
as yet.
That was to be the next move,

678
00:40:46,280 –> 00:40:48,080
and that takes us to Acts
Chapter 10.

679
00:40:52,440 –> 00:40:55,840
There was a certain man in
Caesarea called Cornelius, a

680
00:40:55,840 –> 00:40:59,720
centurion of the band called the
Italian Italian band, a devout

681
00:40:59,720 –> 00:41:02,480
man, and one that feared God
with all his house, which gave

682
00:41:02,480 –> 00:41:04,960
much arms to the people and
prayed to God all way.

683
00:41:06,120 –> 00:41:07,760
Obviously he was quite all
right, wasn’t he, this

684
00:41:07,760 –> 00:41:09,480
Cornelius?
He didn’t need anything more,

685
00:41:09,480 –> 00:41:11,320
did he?
He was a righteous man.

686
00:41:11,320 –> 00:41:13,320
He lived well, He gave alms, he
prayed to God.

687
00:41:13,560 –> 00:41:16,840
Obviously salvation was well.
It was being given to him on a

688
00:41:16,840 –> 00:41:18,880
plate, wasn’t it?
So good was this man.

689
00:41:20,320 –> 00:41:26,400
No, not that.
Send men to Joppa, where there

690
00:41:26,400 –> 00:41:29,080
is one Simon Peter lodging with
one Simon of Tanner.

691
00:41:29,280 –> 00:41:31,640
He will tell thee what thou
oughtest to do.

692
00:41:33,080 –> 00:41:37,000
He hadn’t started.
He was just fruitful material

693
00:41:37,000 –> 00:41:39,640
for salvation.
But he needed, like everybody

694
00:41:39,640 –> 00:41:42,840
else, to go through the right
procedure to know about the

695
00:41:42,840 –> 00:41:45,360
Lord, to see his need of the
Lord’s death, to be aware of his

696
00:41:45,360 –> 00:41:48,560
own nature, to take the gesture
of obedience and become a

697
00:41:48,560 –> 00:41:50,520
disciple.
Profiting then from what the

698
00:41:50,520 –> 00:41:53,200
Lord had done, Peter will tell
you, sent for him.

699
00:41:54,520 –> 00:41:59,160
Meanwhile, in the Providence of
God, Peter in Joppa was pacing

700
00:41:59,160 –> 00:42:02,880
the housetop.
He was waiting for his meal, of

701
00:42:02,880 –> 00:42:05,240
course, but he was.
On the House stop.

702
00:42:05,480 –> 00:42:09,160
And he fell into a vision, and
he saw sheep let down from

703
00:42:09,160 –> 00:42:11,640
heaven with all manner of
unclean beasts and birds and

704
00:42:11,640 –> 00:42:15,240
creeping things in it.
And the voice came saying,

705
00:42:15,240 –> 00:42:18,520
Arise, Peter slay and eat.
And the Jew in Peter came to the

706
00:42:18,520 –> 00:42:21,320
surface as it would in the
dream, wouldn’t it you you’d say

707
00:42:21,320 –> 00:42:23,720
the way you feel in the dream,
there’ll be no inhibitions

708
00:42:23,720 –> 00:42:26,080
there.
And he said, Lord, nothing

709
00:42:26,080 –> 00:42:28,760
common or uncleaner than any
time past my lips.

710
00:42:30,080 –> 00:42:32,480
And the vision came three times,
and each time with the words

711
00:42:32,600 –> 00:42:35,120
What God hath 10s that call not
thou common?

712
00:42:36,880 –> 00:42:40,440
And Peter stood on the housetop
and wondered and pondered, until

713
00:42:40,440 –> 00:42:42,920
they called him down to meet the
friends who’ve just arrived.

714
00:42:43,680 –> 00:42:46,480
Gentile friends, important
gentile friends.

715
00:42:46,640 –> 00:42:49,560
The chief officer of Cornelius
household, Cornelius was not

716
00:42:49,560 –> 00:42:51,400
doing anything.
By hearts he sent the right

717
00:42:51,400 –> 00:42:53,960
people for the job, the most
imposing people he could send.

718
00:42:57,480 –> 00:42:59,920
I wonder where Peter was
thinking in his mind when he

719
00:42:59,920 –> 00:43:04,160
placed him on a housetop.
Joppa was the place from which

720
00:43:04,160 –> 00:43:08,000
Jonah had set sail in the ship
of Tashish.

721
00:43:09,120 –> 00:43:11,560
He was indeed trying to get away
from it all, but it was a place

722
00:43:11,560 –> 00:43:14,600
where you could get away from it
all, a good place for exporting

723
00:43:14,600 –> 00:43:17,480
your feelings or your person or
your views or your teaching or

724
00:43:17,480 –> 00:43:20,800
your gospel.
Peter had been to Samaria.

725
00:43:20,800 –> 00:43:23,360
He’d gone out through litter and
he’d arrived at Joppa.

726
00:43:23,960 –> 00:43:25,800
Or was he waiting for a ship to
take him overseas?

727
00:43:25,800 –> 00:43:29,160
Was he wanting God to tell him
how he could use that second key

728
00:43:29,160 –> 00:43:30,880
to open the door to the
Gentiles?

729
00:43:31,280 –> 00:43:33,320
I will give unto thee the keys
of the Kingdom of heaven.

730
00:43:34,880 –> 00:43:37,400
Well, if he was, he wasn’t
directed that way, but he got

731
00:43:37,400 –> 00:43:42,440
his directions nevertheless.
Go with these men to see Zarya

732
00:43:43,640 –> 00:43:48,320
and talk to them.
It was a strange meeting of

733
00:43:48,320 –> 00:43:49,600
persons.
That wasn’t it.

734
00:43:51,160 –> 00:43:54,760
A possibly retired centurion in
genteel surroundings.

735
00:43:55,480 –> 00:44:01,640
Gentile by thinking elegant,
rich, socially high in the

736
00:44:01,640 –> 00:44:07,160
scale.
Oh Cornelius says the message to

737
00:44:07,160 –> 00:44:10,800
him in his dream.
Just send a messenger or more

738
00:44:10,800 –> 00:44:13,360
than one.
Sent somebody anyway and goes to

739
00:44:13,360 –> 00:44:16,760
the leather workers place.
Don’t mind about the smell, just

740
00:44:16,760 –> 00:44:19,520
go there and fetch it.
An ex fisherman.

741
00:44:20,880 –> 00:44:25,040
And he will tell you what to do
and think of the humility of

742
00:44:25,040 –> 00:44:30,960
that man who sent his best
servants to go to a tannery and

743
00:44:31,160 –> 00:44:33,880
ignoring what a tannery
inevitably would smell like, or

744
00:44:33,880 –> 00:44:38,880
the house where the tunnel
lives, fetch A fisherman and

745
00:44:38,880 –> 00:44:42,480
take him home, and almost
worship him when he got there.

746
00:44:44,680 –> 00:44:47,360
There was no I thought he would
come and strike his hand up on

747
00:44:47,360 –> 00:44:50,160
the place.
As the leper Neyman had said

748
00:44:50,160 –> 00:44:53,800
before, he learned better ways.
Cornelius, for all his fine

749
00:44:53,800 –> 00:44:55,680
clothes, knew the leprosy
beneath and didn’t have to be

750
00:44:55,680 –> 00:45:01,160
told he would do whatever it was
the Prophet told him to do when

751
00:45:01,160 –> 00:45:05,160
Peter came.
Peter, on his part, has his

752
00:45:05,160 –> 00:45:06,800
problems.
He might smell of fish and he

753
00:45:06,800 –> 00:45:09,600
might smell of leather, but at
least he was a disciple of the

754
00:45:09,600 –> 00:45:13,560
Lord and he was a Jew, and
things unclean didn’t pass his

755
00:45:13,560 –> 00:45:15,200
lips.
And now he was going and talking

756
00:45:15,200 –> 00:45:18,440
to Gentiles.
You know, he said, beginning a

757
00:45:18,440 –> 00:45:21,560
rather tactless but highly
proper speech to Cornelius.

758
00:45:22,040 –> 00:45:26,480
You know how it is an unlawful
thing for a man that is a Jew to

759
00:45:26,480 –> 00:45:29,720
keep company with a Gentile.
But God has told me that I

760
00:45:29,720 –> 00:45:31,760
should not call any man common
or unclean.

761
00:45:32,040 –> 00:45:33,320
You know what I think about you,
don’t you?

762
00:45:33,320 –> 00:45:35,480
He said.
You know what kind of people we

763
00:45:35,480 –> 00:45:37,840
Jews think you Gentiles are.
I would have told you so if I

764
00:45:37,840 –> 00:45:41,240
hadn’t been forbidden.
But as it is now, I know I’ve

765
00:45:41,240 –> 00:45:43,440
got to come and preach to you.
That was a part of Peter’s

766
00:45:43,440 –> 00:45:46,640
experience too, learning the
ways of the Lord by humbling

767
00:45:46,640 –> 00:45:49,960
himself too, and recognising the
Gentiles to a people.

768
00:45:51,160 –> 00:45:54,400
There’s to be no longer in the
ambit of the gospel, the

769
00:45:54,400 –> 00:45:56,400
distinction between clean and
unclean meats.

770
00:45:56,400 –> 00:45:59,560
There wasn’t to be that either.
Literally, in due time, there is

771
00:45:59,560 –> 00:46:02,680
to be now a recognition that in
Christ there is neither Jew nor

772
00:46:02,680 –> 00:46:04,840
Greek, There’s neither bond nor
free.

773
00:46:05,040 –> 00:46:08,200
There’s neither male nor female.
You’re all one in Christ Jesus,

774
00:46:08,480 –> 00:46:12,960
and he preached, and Cornelius
and his household listened.

775
00:46:14,800 –> 00:46:17,120
And there’s no reason to think
that Peter had any reluctance

776
00:46:17,120 –> 00:46:19,200
then to accept the consequences
of what he was doing.

777
00:46:19,400 –> 00:46:21,360
But those that were with him,
perhaps were different.

778
00:46:22,040 –> 00:46:26,160
Several people had gone with him
to Cornelius household, and at

779
00:46:26,160 –> 00:46:29,400
that point there came the gift
from heaven.

780
00:46:30,320 –> 00:46:33,080
At that point those men,
prematurely, as it were, began

781
00:46:33,080 –> 00:46:35,760
to speak with tongues, and
Peter, possibly relieved that

782
00:46:35,760 –> 00:46:39,240
the need to argue, was taken out
of his lips, said, who can

783
00:46:39,240 –> 00:46:42,160
forbid water?
That these should not be

784
00:46:42,160 –> 00:46:44,840
baptized, which have received
the Holy Spirit as well as we.

785
00:46:46,800 –> 00:46:50,480
And they were baptized to the
great joy of the household, to

786
00:46:51,120 –> 00:46:54,000
the deep satisfaction of Peter,
who had now used his second key

787
00:46:54,000 –> 00:46:56,960
with effect.
And the apostles at Jerusalem,

788
00:46:56,960 –> 00:47:00,440
what did they think?
Well, I suppose this is one of

789
00:47:00,440 –> 00:47:03,800
the stones on which the legend
of the apostles of reluctant men

790
00:47:03,800 –> 00:47:05,920
is built.
Chapter 11, verse one.

791
00:47:07,680 –> 00:47:10,080
And the apostles and brethren
that were at Judea, they heard

792
00:47:10,080 –> 00:47:12,720
that the Gentiles also had
received the word of God.

793
00:47:12,840 –> 00:47:15,520
And when Peter was coming to
Jerusalem, there that were of

794
00:47:15,520 –> 00:47:18,960
the circumcision contended with
him saying, Thou wentest into

795
00:47:18,960 –> 00:47:20,840
Milan, circumcised, and delete
with them.

796
00:47:22,720 –> 00:47:24,960
Now of course in Jerusalem there
would be apostles, and there

797
00:47:24,960 –> 00:47:26,600
would be other members of the
Ecclesia.

798
00:47:26,880 –> 00:47:29,400
And no doubt the apostles were
better instructed than some of

799
00:47:29,400 –> 00:47:31,600
the other members were.
And there might have been some

800
00:47:31,600 –> 00:47:34,640
Jewish converts who really were
filled with distaste of what

801
00:47:34,640 –> 00:47:38,240
Peter had done.
But the apostles wanted to know.

802
00:47:38,240 –> 00:47:40,880
They needed to find out.
They would not take steps in the

803
00:47:40,880 –> 00:47:42,160
dark.
They would do as they knew.

804
00:47:42,160 –> 00:47:44,560
The Lord wanted them to do so.
Peter had better account for

805
00:47:44,560 –> 00:47:47,280
himself.
And Peter did.

806
00:47:48,320 –> 00:47:51,800
Told about his visions, told
about his preaching, told about

807
00:47:51,800 –> 00:47:55,680
the pouring out of the gifts
from heaven, and who was I that

808
00:47:55,680 –> 00:48:00,040
I should withstand God, he said.
And their reaction was that of

809
00:48:00,040 –> 00:48:02,920
generous minded men who really
wanted this to happen, but

810
00:48:02,920 –> 00:48:05,480
wanted to be sure.
And when they heard this, they

811
00:48:05,480 –> 00:48:10,120
glorified God, saying, Then hath
God also unto the Gentiles

812
00:48:10,120 –> 00:48:16,480
granted repentance unto life?
Fellow Gentiles, aren’t you

813
00:48:16,480 –> 00:48:16,800
glad?