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Muskegon SDA Church

The Book of Acts

Kameron DeVasher

The Not-So-New Testament

The title of today's message is The Not-So-New Testament.

And I want to spend the entirety of our time disabusing our mind of 1 idea that might be there that I hope that after the end of today's message won't be there anymore.

We're going to do a little brainwashing today, right?

So before we begin our study, of course, we want to begin with a word of prayer to ask for the Lord's guidance.

Heavenly Father, thank you again for another day of life.

Thank you for a Sabbath day of rest and fellowship, and thank you now for your word.

Lord, we ask that the Holy Spirit who inspired his writing will teach us in this hour what it really means and the application in our lives.

Lord, Help us to be the church that you want us to be, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen.

A great many Christians, I believe, perhaps even some in this room, have a false conception of the Bible.

You know that the Bible originally did not have, for instance, chapter divisions and verse notations and divisions.

And also, any Bible that you pick up has 2 sections to it.

There's the bigger first part called the Old Testament, and then you have the smaller end part called the New Testament.

And there is a temptation to say, oh, well, old means old and done away with, and new means new and improved.

You see that new and improved almost go together in our society, whether it's toothpaste or internet service, they're gonna say it's new and it's improved.

And we have this idea, well, if it's new, it's gotta be better.

There was something wrong with the old and the new, we've come into the new.

Almost as though we have, you know, there's the original back here that's interesting and historical and antiquitous, but we have version 2.0 on the other end, right?

And this is the newest up-to-date thing and this is where the church lives.

In fact, there are Christians known as dispensationalists who go so far as to make this division between the old and the new so sharp that they'll say people were saved in a different way in the Old Testament.

That was by works of the law, but now we're saved by grace.

Since Jesus came, we have a new covenant.

Everything from the old is done, and everything from the new is better.

Well, this is the concept I want to spend the burden of our time today disabusing your minds of.

If it's in there that, well, most of the Bible is setting the stage and it leads up to Jesus, but once Jesus came and once the New Testament church started, all that was done away with and we have a whole new structure, we have a whole new thing.

I want to demonstrate to you that that's not the case, and I want to demonstrate that it wasn't the Apostles intent, as we go into the book of Acts, to start a whole new revolution, a new church.

I believe they saw themselves as fulfilling exactly what Scripture had been all along.

For instance, let me take you to Hebrews chapter 10.

We'll just start there to give you a reference.

Uses this language you find in the Bible, New Covenant and New Testament, but what's the new about it?

For the law having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never, with these same sacrifices which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect.

So they're talking about the law, the Old Testament law, was a shadow of the things to come.

For, verse 2, they would not then have, would they not then have ceased to be offered?

For the worshipers once purified would have no more consciousness of sins.

But in those sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins every year, for it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins." So of course the whole book of Hebrews is looking for looking at Jesus and his ministry as our sacrificial lamb and heavenly priest, and it talks about how the Old Testament and its sacrificial services and the blood of bulls and goats could not redeem from sin.

And he goes on in verse 5 to talk about, therefore, when he came into the world, he said, sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you had prepared for me.

In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure.

Then I said behold I have come in the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will O God.

Previously saying sacrifice and offerings burnt offerings and offerings for sin you did not desire nor had pleasure in them which are offered according to the law.

But then he said, behold, I have come to do your will, O God.

He takes away the first that he might establish the second.

And we say, aha, everything in the Old Testament is now done away with.

Over and over it's referring to offerings and sacrifices and the blood of bulls and goats, and that those things have been done away with because we have the antitypical sacrifice of Jesus Christ himself.

The substance has taken the place of the shadow, but that does not mean that the entirety of God's Word now is out the door.

We could go on, we could do this over and over.

For instance, Matthew chapter 5, let's go there.

Well, in fact, no, no, no, say in Hebrews 10.

If you don't mind, we're just gonna read the book today.

Verse 11, and every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices.

Again, this is referring to the sacrifices are done away with and Jesus now is the fulfillment.

Verse 12, But this man, after he had offered 1 sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God.

From that time, waiting till his enemies are made his footstool.

For by 1 offering is perfected forever those who are being sanctified But the Holy Spirit also witnesses to us that after he had said For after he had said before this is the covenant.

I will make with them after those days says the Lord I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them.

Then he adds, their sin and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.

Now where there is remission of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

Now I want you to notice this, it doesn't mean that there's a new law.

He says it's the same law as the old 1, I'm just gonna write it in a different place, which by the way was the goal in the Old Testament too, to have the law not just written in granite, but actually ingrained on the tables of the heart.

And he says after Christ come I'm gonna do it again I'm gonna reestablish my law Jesus.

It's the same law now delivered into the heart by the Gospel of Jesus Christ in the work of the Holy Spirit for instance now, we'll go to Matthew chapter 5 and we see that Jesus himself taught this very same thing.

The Lord does want us to think does he not right, but this is a particular thought He says don't have this in your mind.

I want to get this out of your mind Do not think that I came to do what?

I did not come to destroy, but to do what?

Of course, he says, don't think that I have come now and have separated everything old and that's done away with, that's destroyed, and now, he's like, no, no, no, no.

I'm simply fulfilling all of those things that have come before and he goes on to talk about for instance you have heard it said as he says here in verse 21 you have heard it said to those of old you shall not murder and whoever murders will be in judge in danger of the judgment but I send to you kill whomever you want is that what he said new law we're trumping the old and bringing in the new the old way used to don't kill people now sure kill anybody Of course that's not what he's saying.

But I say to you that whoever is, what's that word, angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.

And whoever says to his brother, Rakhah, shall be in danger of the council.

Whoever says, you fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

So notice he's going beyond just the action and he's taking the same law and putting it deeper into the heart and not just a superficial action.

So instead of doing away with the law, he actually grinds it deeper into the soul itself, into the heart of man, which of course was the idea.

But you have a lot of Christians who say, no, no, no, no.

The Old Testament is about law, the New Testament's about grace.

The Old Testament is about works, the New Testament is about faith.

The Other Side of Pentecost

And just a quick review before we get into our study today.

Last Sabbath our message is entitled The Not So New Testament Church.

And tried to demonstrate from the Bible that what happened in the book of Acts, this launching of the New Testament Church is actually just the continuation of the Old Testament.

It's all centered on Jesus Christ and he's still currently doing things for us and will soon come again.

And Acts chapter 1 is just simply the continuation of the rest of the books of Scripture leading up to that point.

We're going to see the same thing today in Acts chapter 2.

And as we do, we're going to see that what people typically think about the day of Pentecost and the launch of the New Testament Church, most of that is not exactly biblically sound.

What in fact people have usually have in their minds, and I think I was 1 of those people at 1 point that had the idea that the day of Pentecost came, it's a new start, it's a new fresh day, it's a new church, it's a new everything, and that the day of Pentecost was this brand new thing, when in reality we're going to see that Pentecost is a very, very, very old thing and that what was new was a new realignment, an emphasis, a clarity of what had been given many many years before.

So before we get into that study though we want to begin with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much that we can come into your presence and that you promised to give us wisdom and understanding.

So Lord we ask that the Holy Spirit who inspired the book Now be our instructor and guide as we try to understand your book and to make application our lives a day for we pray it in Jesus name Amen Acts chapter 2 in verse 1 When the day of Pentecost had fully come They were all with 1 accord in 1 place picking right up where Acts chapter 1 leaves off When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with 1 accord in 1 place.

Picking right up where Acts chapter 1 leaves off, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all in 1 accord in 1 place.

Now, that verse alone indicates something that was opposite than my previous assumption.

My assumption had been that everyone had been meeting in the upper room, the day of Pentecost came and that means that the Holy Spirit was poured out, this powerful manifestation of the gift of tongues, which we've had a message about that particularly already but this massive event happened and 3, 000 people baptized in 1 day and going forward they came up with a name to refer to that event and called it Pentecost right it was just another day but then the Holy Spirit came in and really changed things around, and they looked back and they called it Pentecost.

What I want to demonstrate for you today is that Pentecost was happening long before this particular event.

If you notice, again, look at the language.

When the day of Pentecost had fully come, as though it was on schedule and it arrived on time, just as it always did.

1 fascinating thing is that the day of Pentecost was not just a New Testament phenomenon.

In fact, it's an Old Testament, a very, very old thing.

Let's go back to Leviticus chapter 23 and find the roots of the day of Pentecost deep embedded in the Old Testament.

Leviticus chapter 23, in those first books of the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus.

It has been said that Leviticus chapter 23 is the most thorough prophecy of every phase of Christ's ministry for us in the entire Bible.

Now I know the longest time prophecy is Daniel chapter 8.

Daniel chapter 2 covers the entire history of the world but for looking at the ministry of Jesus in its entirety every aspect every phase you can't beat Leviticus 23 and let's see why that is.

Let's start with verse 1 And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, The feasts of the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are my feasts.

Of course the Sabbath is the weekly feast.

It's not part of the ceremonial law, but the Sabbath becomes the template for how you keep the other feasts.

You're supposed to have these holy convocations, these special holy days and each 1 is at their appointed time.

These are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall proclaim at their appointed times.

You couldn't just say, hey we're going to throw a feast to the Lord and make up a special holiday.

The Lord said these are my feasts and he names them, He puts them in sequence and he says you're going to keep them at the appointed time.

There was a schedule or a calendar for these feasts to be kept.

The first 1 in the Hebrew economy, and you have to imagine the Hebrew economy, well sort of like we have now, there are, For instance, when you think of Thanksgiving, you automatically have some colors come to mind, right?

And I promise it's not red, white, and blue, right?

It's orange and brown and those earth tones, it's harvest kind of colors, and you might even get a taste in your mouth.

You have a, you're geared up for this time.

But again, in July, when you have the 4th of July, you think of different weather, you have different colors, different foods, different things come to mind.

And our, you know, secular holidays kind of work that way, you know You have all the way around the calendar you have each 1 kind of plan it out.

God had special holy days or convocations coming together gatherings of all the people they called the feasts of the Lord and they were scheduled around the year at their appointed times and the first of them was the Passover and he goes on to explain verse 5 on the 14th day of the first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover and of course if you're even a superficial survey of Old Testament history you will call the Passover that they were to keep was a memorial of that event he had done in the past where they were in bondage in Egypt and the Lord brought them out and on the night of their deliverance they were supposed to slay a lamb and put that over the door post, right?

And the destroying angel would pass over those homes that were covered by the blood and would strike only those who are not covered by the blood and this became a perpetual feast it was the beginning of their of their season of their year their economy if you will this Passover feast and along with it verse 6 and on the 15th day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to the Lord 7 days you must eat unleavened bread so basically you have this Passover and then you had the feast of unleavened bread and the 2 go together as this 1 feast.

Now all of these feasts, I'll just go ahead and cut to the chase here, every 1 of these feasts as we mentioned is a forecast or a foretelling, a prediction of Jesus' ministry for the lost.

Okay, every 1 of these points forward to some aspect of Jesus life ministry sacrifice and ministry on our behalf for instance here in the book of Leviticus chapter 23 when it talks about the Passover of course that lamb that was slain that covers the doorpost points forward to whom?

And the New Testament bears that out you can find that in 1st Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 7 where the Apostle Paul declares that Christ our Passover has been slain.

Basically Jesus was that Passover lamb that all those lambs typified or symbolized represented pointing forward but Jesus came as the fulfillment of those things and shed his actual blood and thus by our on the doorpost of our heart we can have his shed blood covering us right very clearly now let's go to the next feast verse 9 and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the children of Israel and say to them when you come into the land which I give to you and reap its harvest then you shall bring a sheaf of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest and this feast was known as first fruits because what they were supposed to do as it says right there bring a sample or a little bit of the first heads of grain that come up bring them to the priest and what is he supposed to do with them verse 11 he shall what's that word wave WAVE very simple Wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf.

So he's supposed to take a sample of the harvest and wave it in front of the Lord, and that's the feast.

These are the first fruits of grain of harvest that are coming from the earth.

And notice when he was supposed to do this.

On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it and notice it's the day after the Sabbath of The Passover and unleavened bread week, right?

So you have that first ceremony and then at ends on Sabbath and then the very next day the day after the Sabbath Which of course is the first day of the week The seventh day is the Sabbath the first day of the week Sunday they were supposed to have this ceremony where the first fruits were waved, the waved sheaf was presented before the Lord.

Now interestingly enough, the New Testament gives us, shows us how this was fulfilled by Jesus Christ as well.

1st Corinthians chapter 15, the Apostle Paul invokes this language to describe the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 20.

Risen from the dead and has become the what?

The firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.

So Christ's resurrection, which of course happened the day after the Sabbath of Passover week, was the firstfruits of those who will be resurrected at the end.

Now a fascinating sideline, it's not called, you know, it's first fruits, plural.

You don't take a single stalk of grain and pinch it between your fingers and wave it right you take a whole bundle a sheaf a Sample of a great harvest to come and you wave it before the Lord.

Of course, you knew I assume that everyone knows every biblical fact.

Okay, but just in case you didn't Jesus Christ's resurrection.

Did you know that others were raised to life when Jesus resurrected?

Let's make sure we know that from our Bibles.

Now we're still making home base in Leviticus 23 but for right now venture over to Matthew 27 and we're going to go to verse 50 And we'll pick up right at the very expiration of the life of Christ when he died on the cross.

And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

Yielding up your spirit is a euphemism for what?

Verse 51, then behold the veil of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom.

Now we're all well aware of that, likely.

And the earth quaked, well aware of that likely, and the rocks split, well aware of that likely.

Graves were opened and many, now this is, I wanna be clear, look what the language is saying, what it's not saying.

It does not say that many saints came to life it says that the bodies of this many bodies of the Saints who had fallen asleep were raised it does not say they were raised to life that the saints themselves but the bodies themselves were exhumed from their tombs because of this earthquake the rock split and the graves are now opened and these bodies are out at the death of Jesus I want to be clear the death of Jesus didn't raise anyone Paul makes this argument you can study it out for yourself.

1st Corinthians chapter 15, even if Jesus Christ had died but never resurrected we'd still be in our sins.

The hope is not just in Jesus death but it's his continued life at the resurrection that gives us hope.

That was Paul's argument in 1 Corinthians 15, and we see that bear out here in Matthew 27.

Again, verse 52, and the graves were open, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

And notice this, verse 53, and coming out of the graves, when after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.

So Jesus Christ resurrects and along with that resurrection by the power of that resurrection other people many saints who had been previously dead were now alive and went as a living testimony all throughout Jerusalem.

So you might not have seen Jesus Christ resurrect, but you might have seen this other person as a living witness to the power of his resurrection.

And this happens on the day after the Sabbath, the Passover that Jesus was slain.

Jesus is our first fruit and along with him the wave sheaf were raised as evidence of the power of his resurrection.

So Leviticus 23 we've seen the Passover where Jesus dies.

We see the first fruits where Jesus resurrects.

The Apostle Peter

Today we're going to be talking about the Apostle Peter.

He is 1 of the key figures in the Book of Acts.

Now there are other individuals, you think of Silas and Barnabas and John Mark and all the different characters who play a minor or supporting role, but the 2 major characters in the book of Acts are Peter and Paul.

The first half of the book of Acts or so is primarily focused on Peter, and then about midway it shifts over to Paul.

So what I figure I would do is go to a biographical study of each of these gentlemen, and in so doing, go through their record in the book of Acts and see how the Lord led during that time to give us an overview of the book of Acts.

And with the other 2 sermons, what I'll do is present what I believe are 2 of the most important events in the book of Acts, pivotal events.

And I'm talking about after the day of Pentecost.

Most of the time when we study the book of Acts, we study chapter 1 and chapter 2 especially, and then say, and the church grew after that.

We might highlight Stephen stoning, something like that.

And as we study it sequentially, as we just go through it and we get this overarching look at it, we're going to see that Acts is beautifully written, is brilliantly written, and it has direct application for our lives today.

So today we're going to be studying the Apostle Peter, next week we'll be studying the Apostle Paul.

But before we begin our study today, Let's start with a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you so much for the snow outside and the warmth inside.

Thank you for letting us get a glimpse of the inner working of the Holy Spirit in the outward manifestation of commitment and baptism.

And Lord, thank you that we can study your word.

Lord, I ask that that same Holy Spirit now would be sent once again to sharpen our minds, help us to read with open eyes and clear understanding the words of Scripture, and help us to see lessons for ourselves that you wish to write on our hearts.

Of course, the Apostle Peter wasn't always the Apostle Peter.

And before he was even a disciple of Jesus, his experience in Scripture actually predates the ministry of Jesus itself.

He and Andrew, which it was his brother, and the gospel writers consistently refer to him as Simon Peter's brother.

Peter and Andrew were fishermen originally in their original occupation.

Of course, Jesus eventually called them to be fishers of men.

Peter was born and raised in a devout Jewish home.

Both he and his brother were apparently baptized by and were followers of John the Baptist before Jesus came along.

And they were some of the ones who transitioned from following John to following Jesus.

When John pointed and said, Behold the Lamb of God, part of that conversation, part of it was heard by Peter.

And he followed Jesus from that point on.

And as John's ministry decreased and Jesus increased, Peter was part of that transition.

The gospel, by the way, clearly recognizes Peter of the 2 brothers as the more, shall we say, outgoing of the 2.

Andrew, as we've talked about before, was always called Simon Peter's brother, and his only references in the Gospel record are behind the scenes leading people to Jesus.

Peter, on the other hand, was much, much more outgoing.

He is the de facto spokesman of the assembled disciples.

And some of the most notable experiences in the life of Jesus with his disciples had Peter front and center.

That was Peter, which of course was followed immediately by being pulled out of the water by Jesus.

It was Peter who boldly declared that Jesus was the Son of God, only to be followed minutes later by that same Jesus turning around and saying, get thee behind me, Satan.

And of course, most notably, at the conclusion of Jesus' ministry here on earth, it was Peter who violently defended Jesus as he was being taken by the guards to his mock trial, but it was the same Peter that just hours later Profanely denied Jesus in the public square and Jesus our of greatest need Peter was 1 who was If nothing else he was consistently bold and all that he did He wasn't always right in what he did, but he was growing He was a work in progress and he would step forward and whatever he did He was you know, he was either gonna had a home run or a strikeout But he was gonna swing for the fences every time he did something.

But of course, that denial of Jesus stung him deeply, and it stung Jesus as well.

And thus we come to the end of the Gospel record of John, chapter 21.

As was read so well, Jesus reinstates him after his 3 times over denial, and it's appropriate that Jesus ask him 3 times, do you love me?

And he said yes feed my lambs and then the second time Tend my sheep And then we go to verse 17.

He said to him the third time, Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?

Peter was grieved because he said to him the third time, do you love me?

And he said to him, Lord, you know all things.

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