Chapter 6, beginning in verse number 1, the Bible reads,
And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied,
there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews,
because their widows were neglected in the daily administrations.
The first thing we see here is that this was a growing, thriving church.
This is the early church in Jerusalem.
And if you remember the last few chapters,
we've seen them undergoing persecution,
they've been thrown in jail, they've been beaten,
and that's how we pretty much finished up chapter 5,
with them being beaten and threatened,
and yet they cease not, daily in the temple and at every house,
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
Well, during that time, the number of the disciples is multiplied greatly.
So in spite of all the persecution, in spite of all the opposition,
because they're continually out soul winning,
they're out preaching the gospel,
they're getting all kinds of people saved,
and their numbers being greatly multiplied.
And, you know, a church should always be growing.
We should always be outreaching people, winning people to Christ,
there should always be new people coming in.
It shouldn't just be the same people, the same group,
just looking at each other every week, over and over again.
We should be outwitting people to Christ and growing and multiplying,
or something's wrong.
You know, if we're not out getting people saved,
if we're not bringing new people in, something's wrong.
And the early church was filled with the spirit,
they were doing all the right things, and therefore the church was growing.
It says in verse number 2,
Then the Twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them,
and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God,
and serve tables.
Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report.
We'll get to that in a moment, but basically here was the problem.
Part of the function of the church here,
because they had such a large church with thousands of people in it,
was to take care of the widows, those that were in need,
those who were widows indeed, as the Bible says in 1 Timothy 5,
where it lays out what that constitutes.
They needed help, they needed food,
they needed care packages brought to them.
And what happened was, some of the widows that were the Grecians
started getting angry at the Hebrew widows,
feeling like they were being neglected,
or that the apostles weren't really taking care of all the church's business
like they should.
And so the apostles, you know, the Twelve, that's what it's referring to,
they called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said,
It's not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
What they're saying here is, look,
we need to focus on the main thing of our ministry here,
which is preaching God's Word.
And we get that from chapter 5, verse 42.
Daily in the temple and in every house,
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
So we don't want to leave off preaching the Gospel,
getting people saved, preaching to the church,
to edify the church, prayer, these spiritual concerns,
just to do a menial, physical task that we can give to someone else.
So basically, the work was just too much for them
to where if they were really going to get everything done
that they needed to get done as far as taking care of the widows,
they were going to have to neglect some soul winning,
they were going to have to neglect some preaching,
they were going to have to neglect some of their prayer and Bible reading,
and they don't want to do that.
And so they're saying, We're spread too thin here.
So because of that, we're going to give some other men,
we're going to choose seven men to basically be deacons.
They're going to help out with some of the day-to-day work of the church here.
They're going to take care of the widows,
they're going to take care of the daily administration.
That way, he said in verse number four,
But we will give ourselves continually to prayer
and to the ministry of the Word.
Now, look if you would at 1 Timothy chapter number,
I'm sorry, 2 Timothy chapter number four.
2 Timothy four toward the end of the New Testament here.
We see in 2 Timothy chapter number four,
Paul is preaching unto Timothy who is a young pastor,
and he's pastoring this church at Ephesus,
and he's been Paul's protege in the ministry,
Paul has trained him and taught him everything,
and Paul's given him some advice in chapter four verse two of 2 Timothy.
He says, Preach the word, be instant, in season, out of season,
reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine,
for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine,
but after their own lust shall they eat to themselves,
teachers having itching ears,
and they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables.
So the first thing he's doing is he's giving him some advice on his preaching.
He's saying, look, people aren't going to like it,
there will come a time when people will turn away their ears from the truth,
but in season or out of season, you've got to be instant,
you've got to approve, rebuke, and exhort where it's needed.
Preach the word.
But look what he says in verse number five,
but watch thou in all things, endure afflictions.
He's saying, go through the persecution,
you're going to have to handle it.
And he says this, do the work of an evangelist.
So right here, Paul is telling this pastor Timothy,
yes, preach the word, yes, edify the body of believers,
yes, reprove, rebuke, exhort,
but he says you also need to do the work of an evangelist.
An evangelist is somebody who preaches the gospel,
somebody who's going out winning people to Christ.
And he's telling Timothy, do the work of an evangelist
make full proof of thy ministry.
So these are some of the important duties of a pastor,
to preach God's word, to preach to the flock right here,
and also to go out and do the work of an evangelist.
This is part of what it means to be a pastor.
Prayer, studying the Bible, preaching, winning souls,
these are all important things in a pastor's life.
And back in Acts chapter 6, if you want to turn back there,
the apostles were afraid that some of the menial,
everyday things were going to take away from that.
That's why they needed some other help.
Part of the reason why is because they're pastoring
a church with thousands and thousands of people in it.
So it got to where they're spread too deep.
Now, I don't find myself running out of time
going to all the widows in our church.
Because obviously our church is a newer church,
it's a smaller church.
It's not of the size that's here.
Now, the deacons here that are chosen,
he lists off seven here.
Look at verse 5.
It says,
And it says,
And a great company of the priests
were obedient to the faith.
So when we see that when these seven deacons are chosen,
one of the qualifications here
is that they're filled with the Holy Ghost.
He said they need to be filled with the Holy Ghost and wisdom
who made a point over this business.
Now, what was the business?
Taking care of the deacons, the daily ministration,
the daily day-to-day work of the church,
and yet they had to be filled with the Holy Ghost.
Why?
Because what you need to understand
is that when we're talking about church,
everything about church, what we do here, is important.
Amen.
Everything's important.
And even somebody who's just doing a menial task here
of just serving food, of just organizing the food,
of just taking care of day-to-day menial tasks,
what the apostles here referred to as just waiting tables,
he said, but it's important because it's God's house.
And so we're not just going to hire anybody
to just do this menial task
because even waiting the table in God's house is important.
Any cleaning that's done in God's house is important.
I mean, anything that has to do with the church here,
you know, playing the piano, playing the organ,
leading the singing,
all these things are important responsibilities.
And so even just for a menial task, he said,
you need to choose the right people here to be deacons,
men that are filled with the Holy Ghost,
men that are filled with wisdom.
Now, some people say, well, you know,
why doesn't your church have deacons?
Well, you know, when we get to where we're running
thousands of people, we will have deacons.
Now, this church is running several thousand.
I mean, do the math.
They have 3,000 added to the church in Acts chapter 2,
and then the numbers multiply.
You know, we don't know what it was multiplied by,
but it's multiplied.
It's a huge church.
And how many deacons did they have?
Seven.
Now, seven deacons for a church of many thousand.
You have many churches that have, like, 100 people.
You'll need to have, like, seven deacons, okay?
And the problem with that is
that a lot of times the deacons that are chosen
do not meet the biblical qualifications.
First of all, in 1 Timothy chapter number 3,
you don't have to turn there,
but there's a list of the qualifications for the deacons.
The Bible says that the deacons
must be the husband of one life.
The Bible says that the deacons should be not given to wine.
They should hold the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience.
He said, let these also first be proved,
and then let them use the opposite of a deacon,
being found blameless.
Now, those are the qualifications
that are often emphasized.
In most churches, the deacons will all be
the husband of one life.
The deacons will all be men who are not into drinking,
you know, and they'll kind of go by that,
but really, they kind of miss the primary qualification
there in Acts 6,
that they have to be filled with the Holy Ghost,
filled with the Holy Spirit.
He said, well, how do we know
if they're filled with the Holy Ghost?
Well, in Acts 4.31, it says,
and when they had prayed,
the place where they were assembled together was shaken.
He said, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the word of God with boldness.
So if you have a weak man
who does not preach the word of God with boldness,
who is not doing the work of an evangelist,
he is not winning souls,
then he's not qualified to be a deacon.
And unfortunately, many times in churches,
the deacons are the deadest church member
who does not do any soul-winning,
and when he gets up to preach,
he can't preach his way out of the wet paper bag,
because he's not filled with the Holy Spirit.
And that's not right today.
We need to have deacons that are scriptural deacons
that need to be filled with the Spirit.
Now, the other thing is
that these deacons that are listed here,
look at Stephen.
Look at verse number 8.
It says,
and Stephen, full of faith and power,
did great wonders and miracles among the people.
Now, up in verse 5,
Stephen gets kind of a special mention.
It says,
and the same pleased the whole multitude.
They chose Stephen,
you know, right out of the gate,
first choice,
a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost.
And Philip,
now Philip,
we're going to read about in chapter 8.
He's known as Philip the Evangelist.
And Philip is out soul-winning,
getting all kinds of people saved in Samaria.
Then, of course,
Philip's going to go down
and talk to the Ethiopian eunuch
and win him to Christ.
So these guys
were some of the most on-fire church members here.
They're out winning souls.
They're out just leading the way
on preaching, on evangelism.
That's the kind of deacons
that are scriptural deacons.
So when faith-forward Baptist church
gets to the side,
where it would be necessary
for us to have deacons,
this is the kind of men
that we will be choosing.
And no one else.
They'll be the men who lead on soul-winning.
They lead on preaching.
They're bold men.
They're filled with the Holy Spirit.
Not just,
well, they're just handling financial matters
and they're just handling day-to-day stuff.
So it doesn't really matter
if they know how to preach.
Yes, it does matter.
Because biblically,
these are men who's,
they've had hands laid on them.
They've been ordained
to the ministry
and they're going to be out
preaching God's Word.
That's who they need to be
if they're going to be
in the leadership of the church,
which consists of two officers,
the bishop and the deacons.
And that's it.
And so it's really important here
that we see it.
But the other thing
that I want you to see
is that these men here
that are deacons,
to me it's clear,
reading the passage,
that they're full-time employees.
I mean, these aren't just guys
who have a job doing something else
and just show up for a few hours
for some kind of a deacon's meeting.
And today many churches
are patterned after
the U.S. government
instead of being patterned
after the Bible.
So they basically have like
the pastors like the president.
And then the deacons
are like a congress.
And they basically vote.
You know the one I'm saying is true.
They're like a legislative body.
They basically vote,
make decisions,
and they're always laymen.
And you've even heard people say,
well, the deacon,
they're out working their job,
they own businesses,
they work, and so forth.
Well, if they have a job
doing something else,
then how could they be a deacon
doing the daily work
of the church every day
to take the load off the pastor?
In this case,
it was the apostles
running the church.
So yeah, it doesn't really
make a lot of sense.
The deacon is a worker.
Okay.
Now, obviously,
before you have deacons,
you'd have a pastor
that's probably full-time
doing that.
And then you'd add deacons
as the load becomes
too much for him.
Until then,
it's not really needed.
That's why they waited
until they had a church
of some size
before they had ordained deacons
to help out with it.
But here's what I think
is interesting.
In this passage,
we see what the pastor
and the deacons
should be spending their time on.
What should the pastor
be spending his time on
according to this passage
and according to the other
passage of 1 Timothy 3?
It said the ministry
of the word, right?
That's the main thing
he should be spending time on.
If we get the context
from Acts 542,
that's going to include
soul-winning.
Because right out of the gate
in Acts 542,
daily in the temple
and in every house,
they cease not to teach
and preach Jesus Christ.
The they there
is the apostles, okay?
And these guys
are out-winning souls
to Christ.
Then they start getting
drawn away into other things.
We see that when
the ministry of the word
is going to include,
obviously, yes,
preparing sermons,
obviously studying the word,
preaching three times a week,
but also going out
and preaching the gospel
and winning souls door to door.
But see,
I wonder how many pastors today
have left the word of God
to serve tables today.
And there are so many churches
where the main thing
ceases to be the main thing.
And instead of the pastor
giving himself to prayer
and the ministry of the word,
and instead of the deacons
taking care of the necessary
administration,
taking care of the widows,
taking care of the day-to-day
business,
but also out-winning souls
and preaching,
as we see Stephen and Phillip
doing,
and they get caught up
in all kinds of other things
that are just a time drain
that is not really
the work of God.
The biggest example I get here,
and this offends people,
but it doesn't matter,
it's true,
the Christian school.
Because if you stop
and think about it here,
look around at the churches
that have a Christian school,
and it's the major ministry
of that church.
If you look at a church
that has a Christian school,
if you look at how many
man-hours of the full-time
employees of that church
are spent on the Christian
school, it's probably 80%
of the man-hours.
I know, for example,
that when I went to First
Baptist Church in Hammond,
there were over 500 employees
of the schools,
and I think about 50 employees
of the church.
And so that right there
shows that there were
10 times as many workers,
10 times the budget,
10 times the money,
10 times the facilities,
10 times the energy
going toward the Christian
school.
And people today will try
to tell you that a Christian
school is commanded by God
in the Bible,
Christian school.
Well, let me ask you this.
If it's such a big ministry
that it takes up 90%
of the resources,
90% of the facility,
90% of the money,
and 90% of the workforce,
why is it not mentioned
in the Bible?
Why didn't they say here,
hey, we're too busy running
this Christian school.
Can you help these widows?
We're too busy teaching science
and history and English and math
to little kids
while their moms are out working
and doing everything else
and have them dropped off here
at a spiritual daycare center.
Why don't we see it
in the Bible?
And you say, well,
times change.
Well, for some people,
times change.
And some of us are old-fashioned
Bible-believing Christians
who believe that there's
nothing new under the sun
and that it's my job as a man
to go out and work
and toil and pay the bills
and that my wife's job
is to marry,
bear children,
and guide the house
and to raise the children
at home.
And that it's both my job
and my wife's job
to teach our children
knowledge and wisdom
and understanding,
both biblical
and also just practical.
You know, there's more to life,
obviously, than just knowing
biblical truths.
You need to know basic math.
You're going to need
to know English.
You're going to need
to know science.
You're going to need
to know history.
You're going to need
to have basic knowledge
and learning.
Why is that not mentioned
in Acts 6?
In a discussion about
the division of labor
in the local church.
Is that not what
this chapter's about?
It's about dividing the labor.
What should the pastor
be doing?
What should the deacons
be doing?
What is the work of the church?
And no mention
of a Christian school.
No mention of operating
a daycare center.
No mention of any of it.
Because the focus
in the New Testament church
here was preaching the gospel
and preaching the Bible
and prayer and spiritual things,
not raising someone else's kids
for them in our money.
And people say,
well, you know,
the school is just a part
of the local church.
Well, then why is
it mentioned here?
In a discussion
about the day-to-day business.
Well, the school's
part of the local church.
Well, then why do you have
to pay money to go there?
Do you have to pay money
to go to church?
No, church is free.
Buy the truth and sell it up.
And so we've been
caught up in the world system.
And so we have a Christian
school system that's basically
just patterned after
the public school system.
That's who they look to
as the standard.
And which came first,
the chicken or the egg?
Which came first,
the public school
or the Christian school?
Because back in the 1950s,
there were public schools
in every city in America
and every kid practically
was in them.
But there weren't
Christian schools.
The schools were rare
in the 1950s.
And not until the 1960s
we had the Christian school movement
where all of a sudden
all the churches started schools
because the public school
got so weird that they started
pulling their kids out
of the public school
and staying in the
Christian school.
And look, I'm not a
poor public school either.
I'm for parents rearing
their own children.
Isn't that a concept?
You know, and you say,
well, how are they going to learn?
You quiz my children.
You put a standardized test
in front of any of my children.
They'll be grade levels ahead
of any of the kids
that the world has to offer.
The world has to offer, period.
They're educated.
They know math.
They know science.
They know history.
I'll put them up against
high schoolers for their knowledge.
And they're just little kids.
And I'm not even kidding
when I say that.
They have all kinds of knowledge.
And you say,
well, I'm just not
a very educated person
so I don't think I would
have the ability
to teach algebra.
Well, here's the thing.
You start out
when they're a little kid
and do you know your ABCs?
Because that's the first thing
you're going to be teaching them
is just the alphabet.
Do you know how to read?
You don't start out
with your four-year-old
and say, okay, you know,
I've got to brush up on
my geometry.
The only geometry
you're going to teach
that four-year-old is
circle, square, and triangle.
And you probably
are pretty good with that.
And the thing is,
you can learn with them.
Just stay a couple
of lessons ahead of them.
Learn as you go.
Teach them as you go.
And so if you start
when they're young, you know,
and it'll probably be good
for you too
because as you get
into the high school,
maybe you'll do better
in algebra this time around.
You know, 20 years later,
maybe you'll do better
with geometry and everything
when you're teaching it to them.
The Bible says,
thou therefore that teacheth
another teacheth thou
not thyself also.
You know, you teach your,
when you teach something,
you're learning too.
The one who's doing the work
is the one who's doing
the learning.
And when you're
training someone else,
you're actually getting
better at it too.
You're learning too.
And so yes, you do have
the ability to
teach your children.
The government and others
have an agenda to take
the children out of the home
in order to attack
the structure of the family
and weaken the family unit
where the family is just
something that we just kind of
visit for a few hours each day.
We just kind of visit the home,
have dinner, watch TV,
and go to bed
and get up and go off
to some other institution
where we're being brainwashed
by the public school system.
And you say,
well, that's why we have
a Christian school.
But a Christian school
is not biblical.
Doesn't that matter anymore
that we would run the church
according to God's word?
You're going to tell me
that this gigantic monstrosity
financially, manpower-wise,
is biblical when it's
never mentioned?
The word school
is never mentioned.
Except the school of Tyrannus
who was an unsaved man
who rejected God's word.
That's an act.
And then you'll find
the school of...
Yeah, that's all.
Actually, that's the only time
school is mentioned
in the whole Bible.
All 66 books.
The school of Tyrannosaurus Rex.
You know?
And that's what they teach
your kids, by the way.
Tyrannosaurus, millions
and billions of years ago.
That's the only school
in the Bible.
Some Tyrannosaurus guy
who disputed with God's word
and did not believe it.
That's the only school
in the Bible.
I challenge you to show me
the word school.
Say, you're against education.
Hey, I'm for education.
I'm against school.
You know what school means?
Who knows what a school of fish is?
Right?
That's what school means.
I'm against school.
And you say,
are you against assemblies?
No, I'm for this assembly
right here, the local church.
And I'm for the assembly
that's called mom, dad,
and children,
called the family.
Those are the assemblies
that God came up with.
Church, family, nation.
Those are God's institutions.
And I'm just a back to basics.
It's called being a fundamentalist,
going back to the fundamentals.
Prayer, Bible reading,
ministry of the word.
And that's what I want
to spend my time on.
I don't want to spend my time
raising your children.
Raising yourself.
Amen.
And I'll raise mine
and you raise yours
and raise them according
to God's word.
We don't need to put them
all down here and set up
a bunch of desks and tables
and I'm going to go around
wiping their nose.
That's your job.
And so let's get off that subject.
But you got to admit, folks,
Acts chapter 6 is discussing
what we're going to do
with our manpower.
What are we going to do
with our deacons?
What are we going to have
the pastor doing?
And it's pretty clear
that we don't see a lot
of the things that we see today
of operating a daycare,
running a Christian school,
all these other things.
And just other things.
Music is important, too.
The Bible talks a lot
about music.
But we don't want that
to just become the main thing
of our church.
It's just a music center.
We want to keep it focused
on the things that God said
it should be focused on,
which is prayer
and the ministry of the word.
Prayer and Bible.
That ought to be
the focus right there.
So let's keep reading here.
We're going to read a little bit
about these men,
Stephen and others,
but mainly Stephen.
So we saw the list of deacons
there in verse number 5.
It said,
whom they said before
the apostles, verse 6,
and when they had prayed,
they laid their hands on them.
And the word of God increased.
So as a result of higher
these guys, notice,
more people were added
to the church.
God's word is being preached
more.
More people are being saved.
They're knocking on more doors.
And it says,
the disciples multiplied
in Jerusalem greatly,
and a great company
of the priests
were obedient to the faith.
These are a lot
of the Levitical priests
that were in the temple.
A lot of them got saved.
So this is a great time
for the church.
The church is really thriving.
It's really growing there.
It says in verse 8,
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 Cyrenians and Alexandrians,
and of them of Cilicia
and of Asia,
disputing with Stephen.
So basically,
Stephen is just this powerful man.
He's doing all this preaching.
Tons of people are getting saved.
Well, a lot of people
start to get upset about that.
So this group of the synagogue,
the Libertines,
and some other people,
they come and start
disputing with them.
They start arguing with them.
They start trying
to prove him wrong,
and they couldn't do it.
They could not resist
the wisdom of his word.
They could not prove him wrong.
He had the Bible
to back up everything,
and so he defeats them
on everything
that they tried to get him with.
It says they're disputing
with Stephen in verse 9.
Verse 10 says,
and they were not able
to resist the wisdom
and the spirit
by which he spayed.
I mean,
they were no match for him.
They're trying to catch him
and trip him up,
kind of like they did
to Jesus.
They couldn't trip
up Stephen either,
because you know what?
Stephen wasn't Jesus,
but he had the word of God,
but he had the spirit of God,
and it wasn't Stephen's wisdom.
It was the spirit
by which he spayed.
It was the Holy Spirit.
It was God's word
that had the power,
and man's wisdom
was no match for God's word,
preached with the power
of the Holy Ghost.
So it says in verse 11,
because they couldn't
catch him and trip him up
and prove him wrong
and dispute with him,
here's their next attempt.
It says in verse 11,
then they suborned men,
which said,
we have heard him speak
blasphemous words
against Moses and against God.
And they stirred up
the people and the elders
and the scribes
and came upon him
and caught him
and brought him to the council
and set up false witnesses.
So are these people
telling the truth?
No.
Here's what they're
going to lie and say,
which said,
verse 13,
this man ceaseth not
to speak blasphemous words
against this holy place
and the law.
For we have heard him say,
now is this true
what they're about to say?
No, they're false witnesses,
they're lying.
We've heard him say
that this Jesus of Nazareth
shall destroy this place
and shall change the customs
which Moses delivered us.
And all that sat on the council
looking steadfastly on him
saw his face as it had been
the face of an angel.
Now this is the same
type of thing
that they tried to lie
about Jesus, do you remember?
They pretty much
said the same thing.
They bring up
these false witnesses
saying this man said
he's going to destroy
the temple and change
the customs that were
delivered by Moses.
Go to John chapter 2.
You see,
the most effective lie
is the one that contains
some kernel of truth in it,
right?
Because if you just
tell an off-the-wall lie,
nobody's going to believe you.
But the best counterfeit
is something that's
similar to the real thing.
And so let's see
what Jesus actually said.
Jesus Christ,
after he had cleansed
the temple,
this is when they were
buying and selling things
in the temple,
he goes in there,
first he makes a whip,
so it's premeditated.
He didn't just fly
off the handle.
He went somewhere
and crafted a whip,
went in there and started
flipping over the money
changers tables,
dumping out their money,
and he drove them
out of the temple
with a whip, okay?
And when he drove them out,
he said to them in verse 16,
he said unto them
that soul does,
take these things hence.
Make not my father's house
and house of merchandise.
Nothing wrong with merchandise.
But he said take it hence.
Give it out of here.
It doesn't belong
in God's house.
It belongs in a place
of business.
Now look,
we're all involved in business.
That's how we make a living.
You know,
whatever business you're in,
maybe you drive a taxi cab,
you know,
maybe you're an electrician.
Wherever you work,
you're involved
in some business.
That's fine,
but just keep your business
out of church.
Don't try to bring your business
into God's house
and sell things here
and buy things here.
This is not the place
for business.
This is a place for God's word
to be preached.
It's a house of prayer
not a house of merchandise.
And so the disciples,
whenever he said that to them,
remembered that it was written,
the zeal of my house
hath eaten me up.
Verse 18.
Then answered the Jews
and said unto them,
what signs showest thou unto us,
seeing that thou doest
these things?
Jesus answered and said unto them,
destroy this temple
and in three days
I will raise it up.
Now did he say,
I'm going to destroy this temple?
No.
He just said,
destroy this temple
and in three days
I'll raise it up.
Then said the Jews,
forty and six years
was this temple and building
and wilt thou rear it up
in three days?
But he spake
of the temple of his body.
When therefore
he was risen from the dead,
his disciples remembered
that he had said this unto them
and they believed the scripture
and the word
which Jesus had said.
Go back to Luke 21.
Just go back a few pages
to Luke 21.
Let's see what else
Jesus had said
that could be construed
as him saying
that he's going to come
and destroy the temple
and change all of Moses'
customs and so forth.
It says in verse number 5
of Luke 21,
and as some spake
of the temple
how it was adorned
with godly stones and gifts,
he said,
as for these things
would ye behold,
the days will come
into which there shall not
be left one stone
upon another.
One upon another
that shall not be
thrown down.
Now look,
did he say
that he was going
to destroy it?
Did he say he was
going to throw down
all the stones?
He's basically just
telling them
what's going to happen.
He just says,
look, did you know
that someday
every stone that's
in this temple
will be thrown down
and this temple
will be gone
and destroyed?
Now look,
did that come true?
Can you show me
this temple today?
No.
It's been gone.
It's been destroyed.
It doesn't exist today.
In Jerusalem,
this temple is gone.
There's not one stone
left standing
upon another.
So Jesus was right.
Now,
a lot of times
the world
tries to twist
your words.
You'll just tell them
something's going to happen
and it's like
they'll blame you,
like you're going
to do it.
You know,
like for example,
remember when I
preached my sermon
that Barack Obama
is going to hell?
And I even said,
I even said,
I hope he dies
sooner rather than later.
I hope he gets brain cancer,
you know,
so he can die
like Ted Kennedy.
And you're like,
oh, you're threatening
the president?
I didn't say,
I'm going to give him
brain cancer.
I'm not going to strap
a cell phone to his head
or something
to get him brain cancer.
I'm not going to radiate him
with a naked body scanner
while he sleeps
in the White House.
You know,
I'm not,
how can I give him cancer?
How can I send
Barack Obama to hell?
I don't have the power
to do either of those things,
okay?
Or for example,
you know,
you'll preach
what the Bible says,
judgment upon people.
You know,
that people are going to hell
and it's like,
you're sending,
I'm not sending
anybody to hell.
I'm not killing anybody.
I'm not a violent person.
I've never laid hands
on anybody
in violence.
And yet,
you just preach God's word
and you just preach the truth
and you just tell the truth.
Or like,
for example,
if you say,
hey,
murderers should be
put to death,
according to the Bible.
It's like,
oh,
you're going to go out
and kill.
I can write the Bible.
But yet,
I'll preach
what the Bible says,
where it says,
you know,
if a man also lied with mankind
as he lied with a woman,
even both of them
have committed
abomination,
they shall surely be
put to death.
Their blood
shall be upon them.
And I'll say,
hey,
according to the Bible,
homosexuals should be
put to death.
That's what it says
in Leviticus 2013.
No one can deny
that's what it says.
And even these phony
new Bibles,
the New International Version,
the ESV,
the RSV,
are going to be put to death
in Leviticus 2013.
And yet,
for me getting up
and preaching that,
they're saying,
well,
you're going to go out
and kill these homos.
No,
I'm not,
because it's not my job.
It's the government's job
to put people to death.
I'm not this vigilante
that's going out,
just taking the law
into my own hands.
I've never been.
I've never advocated that.
But I am going to stand up
and have the backbone
to preach what
nobody else seems to have
the backbone to preach,
which the Bible says
that they're worthy of death,
that the death penalty
is what God appropriated
for them.
And what they do is,
according to the Bible,
vile,
disgusting,
filthy,
and I'm going to call
a spade a spade.
It's the same thing.
Jesus here,
do you see Jesus?
I mean,
aside from chasing people
with a whip one time,
where do you see Jesus
putting anybody to death?
You know,
where do you see Jesus
ripping apart that temple
and destroying it?
Where do you see Jesus
doing these things?
And yet,
he's blamed
that he's going to be
the one to do it.
You know?
And so,
a lot of times,
you'll just twist it
a little bit,
and that's how
they'll lie about you.
Usually,
when people lie about you,
there's some kernel of truth
in what they're lying.
Because that's usually
the most effective lie.
They'll take something
that you said
and just twist it
a little bit.
You know,
Jesus did say
that that particular temple
was going to be destroyed.
Jesus did say,
destroy this temple,
and in three days,
I'll raise it up.
But see how they
twisted that to say,
well, you know,
Jesus said
he's going to destroy it.
Here's the other thing
that they twisted.
Matthew chapter 5.
The other thing
that they lied about was,
you know,
number one,
they said,
hey,
he said he's going
to destroy this temple.
That wasn't true,
was it?
We looked at Jesus' words.
He never said,
I'm going to destroy
this temple.
But they lied.
Well,
here's the other lie
that they told.
They said that he's going
to change the customs
that were delivered
to us by Moses.
You know,
he's going to change
what we are,
religion.
Well,
Matthew chapter 17.
This is what Jesus
said about that.
He said,
think not that I am come
to destroy the law
of the prophets.
I am not come to destroy,
but to fulfill.
Christ,
verily I say unto you,
till heaven and earth
pass,
one jot or one tittle
shall in them
know wise pass
from the law
till all be fulfilled.
Whosoever,
therefore,
shall break
one of these
least commandments
and shall teach men so,
he shall be called
the least
in the kingdom of heaven,
but whosoever
shall teach them,
the same should be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
So,
here right away,
Jesus is saying,
I don't want you to
misconstrue what I'm saying
that I'm telling you
that the Old Testament
commandments do not
have to be obeyed.
He said,
if people teach
not to obey
the least of the
Old Testament commandments,
he says,
he'll be called
the least in the
kingdom of heaven,
but whosoever shall do
and teach them,
the same should be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.
He said,
I am come to destroy
your so-called Christianity.
He's going to tell you
to throw out
all the Old Testament commandments.
They say,
well,
we're New Testament believers.
We only obey
the New Testament commandments,
but that is a lie.
That's false.
There are certain things
that have been changed.
Certain things were
fulfilled by Jesus Christ,
and he spells out
what those are
in Colossians,
chapter two.
He spells out
what those are
in Hebrews,
chapter nine,
and he tells us,
you know,
the meats,
the drinks,
were imposed on them
until the time of reformation,
until the fullness of time
when Jesus Christ came
and fulfilled the law,
did not destroy the law,
fulfilled the law.
But as far as what God
preached in the Old Testament
was right and wrong,
those things still apply.
And there's a false doctrine
out there that says,
well,
if a commandment is not
repeated in the New Testament,
we don't need to obey.
You know,
everything that we need to
obey was repeated
in the New Testament.
You know,
people would like that
because the Old Testament
is this long
and the New Testament
is this long, okay?
And so there's all kinds of
hundreds and hundreds
of commandments
in the Old Testament
that you'd be throwing out
by saying it.
And here's what I always
say to people
when they say that.
I say,
okay,
well then,
can I marry my sister now?
Because that's not repeated
in the New Testament.
There's nowhere
in the New Testament
that says,
don't marry your sister.
But the Old Testament
tells you not to marry
your sister, right?
There are all kinds
of commands
that a man should not
wear a woman's garment,
that a woman should not
wear that which
pertains to a man, right?
But people will say,
well,
that's Old Testament.
Let's throw that out.
Okay,
well then,
men can wear dresses now
and women can wear pants
and dress like men
and men can wear dresses
like ladies
and, you know,
you can marry your sister
and all these,
you know,
does that make any sense to you?
But how many other
commands can we list
about nakedness
that are given in the
Old Testament?
Those aren't repeated
in the New Testament.
Does that mean
nakedness is now okay?
You know,
if we look at the
Old Testament,
we see commandments
about, you know,
not lying with an animal.
You know,
does that have to be
repeated again today?
No.
And so we've got to be
careful who we're listening to.
Pastor Least,
down at least Baptist,
is telling us that
all the Old Testament,
you know,
we're not under the law,
we're under grace.
That's talking about salvation.
That's right.
Paul said,
I am under the law to Christ.
He said,
when it comes to salvation,
we are not under law
but under grace.
He says,
we're saved by grace,
by the deeds of the law
there shall no flesh
be justified in his sight.
But Paul said,
when he's talking about
becoming all things to all men,
he said,
you know,
unto the Jew,
I became as a Jew.
Under the Greek,
I became as a Greek.
He said,
I've become all things to all men
that I might by all means
save some of them.
But he said this,
he said,
under those without law,
he said,
I was as one without law.
He's talking about outside
the Jewish law.
But he said,
hey,
I wasn't outside the law to Christ.
I wasn't outside Christ's law.
I still have to obey Christ.
And guess what?
Christ is the author
of the whole Bible,
not just the New Testament.
Amen.
Jesus Christ is the Word
and in the beginning
was the Word.
He was with God
and the Word was God.
All things were made by him.
Jesus Christ,
the Creator,
according to Colossians chapter 2,
Jesus Christ the Creator,
according to many other places,
and John chapter 1,
for example,
and so we ought not
throw out the Old Testament commandments.
Jesus was not throwing out
the Old Testament commandments,
but as 1 Peter chapter 1 said,
he was building upon
the foundation
of the law and the prophets
and that Jesus Christ
was the chief cornerstone
of that building
and he was building
upon the foundation of Moses.
Not contradicting Moses.
Jesus didn't contradict Moses.
He fulfilled Moses.
He didn't contradict
David's prophecies
in the book of Psalms.
He fulfilled them.
And so we need to be careful
that we don't speak
blasphemous words
by throwing out the Old Testament
what they accused Stephen of doing
and what they accused Jesus of doing.
Jesus was not guilty of that.
Stephen was not guilty of that.
Now in Acts chapter 7,
we're going to see that very clearly
because Stephen is going
to stand up and preach
and he's going to preach
through the Old Testament
starting with Abraham.
He's going to go through
the stories about Abraham.
He's going to go all the way up
until Solomon's building the temple.
And he's showing that basically
he is just picking up the torch
from where these great men of God
left off in the Old Testament
from Abraham to Solomon.
But he said not only that,
just as in their day,
you know, the Jews by and large
rejected the prophets
that were sent unto them,
rejected Moses.
They worshiped Rem-Phan
and worshiped Molech in the wilderness
when Moses was preaching to them
the word of God.
Only a small group would assemble
at the congregation,
the tabernacle of the congregation
with Moses, those who sought the Lord,
and the majority was worshiping false gods
even at that time,
even in the wilderness.
Throughout the book of Judges,
they continually worshiped other gods.
When all these different prophets came to them,
all these deliverers came to them,
they hearkened not to God's word
and he said,
you know what,
it's the same way right now.
Stephen is saying,
hey, I'm preaching to you right now
and you're resisting the truth,
you're resisting the Holy Ghost.
And so in New Testament,
Christianity is not a destruction
of the Old Testament
or some kind of a repealing
of the Old Testament.
No, it's the fulfillment
of the Old Testament.
And so if God is telling us
not to lie in the Old Testament,
we shouldn't lie today.
You say, well,
that's just because it's repeated.
Some things are repeated,
but whether it's repeated or not,
God only has to say something once
for it to be right or wrong.
People say, well,
that's just one verse.
Well, you know,
one's enough.
You know,
you'll show somebody a verse
that clearly says that Jesus is God,
they'll say it's one verse.
Well, how many do we need?
And there's not one.
There's plenty of verses that say that.
But there's only one verse
that I can think of
that tells you not to cross-dress.
But that's enough for me
to dress like a man
for the rest of my life
every day.
You know,
and it's just,
I'm glad that God didn't just
rehash all those weird laws
in the New Testament.
You know what I mean?
It's not a very wholesome chapter
to read in Leviticus 18
and Leviticus 20.
You know,
I'm glad he didn't rehash
all that again.
You know,
I'm sick of preaching about it,
to be honest.
I wish I could never preach
about it again.
But we live in a society
where it's so prevalent,
you have to keep just ringing
that bell over and over again
because it's so prevalent.
But thank God,
it must not have been
as prevalent
in Jesus' day.
He, you know,
and thank God
he didn't have to rehash it all.
And by the way,
the apostles even said,
hey, we're giving you
certain commandments
in Acts chapter 15.
He said,
we're giving you certain
commandments because he said,
Moses has those who read him
every Sabbath in the synagogues.
They're saying,
look,
we don't have to re-preach
everything that Moses
already preached
because it's already there
in the Old Testament.
And so thank God
that my Bible today
that I'm preaching out of
is the whole Bible,
66 books,
not just the New Testament.
We've got to preach
the whole counsel of God.
And all scripture is given
by inspiration of God
and it is profitable
for doctrine.
Stephen preached
the Old Testament
and he was,
they were lying about it.
They said that he was
trying to change things
from the Old Testament.
He wasn't changing anything.
They tried to say that,
you know,
he was going to destroy
the temple,
like he was going to be
some kind of a domestic
terrorist
and blow the thing up
or whatever.
He had no such intention.
Jesus did no such thing.
Because our battle
has always been
a spiritual battle,
not a physical battle.
And so Stephen
was not trying
to take up arms
and kill people
and lead some kind
of a physical coup.
Jesus Christ said,
if my kingdom were
of this world,
he said,
I'd command my servants,
they'd have swords,
they'd have weapons
and they would come
and kill you
and set me free.
He said,
if it was of this world.
But he said,
you know,
we wrestle not against
flesh and blood,
but against principalities,
against power.
And so Stephen here
was not some kind
of a violent,
dangerous person.
Stephen was put to death
in chapter 7
because of what he said
and nothing else.
Just what he preached.
He was put to death for it.
And you say that
will never happen,
but you know what?
It could happen again
and it will happen.
And it's happened
throughout history.
And so it's our job
to just do the right thing,
preach,
be like Philip,
be like Stephen,
be like these great men,
serve God,
and let the chips fall
where they may.
Are people going to lie about you
when you serve God?
Absolutely.
And who did they lie about?
Out of these seven deacons,
who did they lie about?
The best one, right?
The one that was
the most effective for God
was the one that ended up
being lied about the most.
And so you,
even just you,
you're not a deacon,
you're not an apostle,
you know,
I don't have the power
that Stephen had,
I'm not an apostle,
I'm not in his category at all,
but you know what?
Any of us,
male, female,
young, old,
anytime you start to serve God
and really do something big
for God,
start making some waves,
you're going to be persecuted,
you're going to be lied about.
And so don't let that bother you.
And you know,
you can't always
right every wrong.
You know,
people will lie about,
if every time somebody lied about me,
if somebody tried to correct it
and set the record straight,
you know,
I'd have to hire like seven deacons
just to do that.
Because there'd be so much,
you know,
you can't do anything.
If somebody lies about you,
you know what?
You just keep doing right
and history will show,
everybody knows today
who was telling the truth,
don't they?
Two thousand years later,
we know Stephen
was on the right side.
And I don't think anybody
would argue that Stephen
was wrong here.
Even the worst heretic.
Because history sets
the record straight.
And so,
just keep living your life,
keep doing right,
and when people lie about you,
people slander you,
people attack you,
you know what?
Just leave it in God's hand
and just keep on going
and don't waste your time with it.
Just keep preaching,
keep doing the right thing.
Let's put our eyes on that
board of prayer.
Father, thank you so much
for your word,
dear God,
and for these great men
that paved the way for us
and showed us the way
in that early church.
Help our church, dear God,
to be like that early church.
Help us to be a church of prayer
and the ministry of the word.
Help those to be the two things
that we emphasize more
than just menial things.
And God, I just pray
that we would multiply greatly,
just like they multiplied greatly,
that we would be filled
with the Spirit
like they were filled
with the Spirit, dear God.
And help us to be able
to withstand the persecution
and withstand the trials
that you have for us
in our lives,
personally and as a group.
And in Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.