Grace teaching part two Acts 2
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Good morning everyone and welcome to this Bible study from the Netherlands. We will start first with the English Bible study and then we will go to the Netherlands. Today we are going to speak about Acts chapter 2.
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I call it Grace teaching part 2 because it is important to understand what is grace teaching. I had a privilege to know the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal savior for the first time in 1979. I have a Jewish background and it is a privilege that I met some people long ago and they were willing to share with me the gospel of the grace of God. They were willing to share with me that the Lord Jesus Christ is God. This is for many people very controversial. When you say Christ is God, there are many Bible studies about the deity of Christ.
obtained a more excellent name than they.
3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrew 1:3
Yes the name JESUS in Hebrew means God save. So for me It is God who saved me on the cross. 2 Corinthians 5:19 “To wit, that God was in Christ….
There many studies on the internet about the God head of our Lord Jesus Christ so i am not going to talk about it today. I can only say that many today have problem with the doctrine of Christ being God. When I talk to charismatics people. I always ask do you believe that Jesus is our God? Some say NO only the son of God. Some say: 1 Timothy 2:5 …the man Christ Jesus;” . You are free to believe what you want. I believe Romans 10:9 “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus…. Not confessing your sins. Not confessing in a church building. Just believing that. He is the Lord.
God will have all men to be saved. Christ Jesus is the one and only Mediator between God and men. Christ Jesus gave Himself a ransom for all. “To be testified in due time.” To the Apostle Paul was committed this truth for Gentiles. I Timothy 1:11; “According to the glorious gospel of the blessed God, which was committed to my trust.” “Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.” I Timothy 1:16.
You see if you want to be strong in the doctrine that teach that Christ is our God! Start learning more about the gospel of Gods grace. Many are just talking about Christ earthly ministry and there fore do not understand the doctrine about Christ being our Lord God.
During the years that Christ Jesus was on earth He was Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by miracles, in the midst of Israel. Acts 2:22. Just before the Lord Jesus went to the cross He said “Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. This He said, signifying what death He should die.” John 12:31 to 33. Some years after the Lord Jesus died on the cross and went back to heaven, these messages were written to the Lord’s people concerning the once-for-all sacrifice of the Son of God
“But we see Jesus, Who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man.” Hebrews 2:9.
“Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.” Hebrews 9:12.
“But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God.” Hebrews 10:12.
“And having made peace through the blood of His cross, by Him to reconcile all things unto Himself; by Him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven.” Colossians 1:20.
“And He is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” 1 John 2:2.
This message of grace was sent out to all men, Gentiles as well as Jews: “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men.” Titus 2:11.
“But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit; Which He shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4 to 7.
Note Paul’s testimony written about 65 A.D., more than thirty years after the Lord Jesus, by the grace of God, tasteth death for every man:
“For the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel; Which is come unto you, as it is in all the world.” Colossians 1:5 and 6.
“The gospel which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister.” Colossians 1:23.
The gospel of Gods grace. the gospel that says you are a sinner as a Jew. You are a sinner. And Jesus from Nazareth, God himself on the cross died for your sins and rose again for your justification. Think about it. If you have a Bible background, if you understand that the Bible is the word of God,
if you read the Old Testament, if you read the New Testament, think about it. When I tell you that the gospel of God is about eternal life through our Lord Jesus Christ, for many people it's kind of a secret. They don't understand it.
I am adding some more information to the video text version but now let start with our subject.
a prayer.
Let's start with a prayer. Heavenly Father, we want to thank you for this day of grace. Heavenly Father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Father of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, thank you that in your love and grace you came to this world and you died for our sins on the cross and you rose again for our justification. Thank you Father for this day. Everything in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen.
I can say I believe fully in the gospel of the grace of God. You know, if you want to go with me before we start to Romans chapter 1, we can read some very important verse. Romans chapter 1 verse 16 where Paul says,
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, to everyone that believe, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. The main point is that Paul says, I'm not ashamed. I'm not ashamed. In the year 2023 to tell you that the gospel of God is the power unto salvation.
I may not understand everything, I will not be able to comprehend everything, but when you look around us there is a war, there is a lot of battle, even in Israel, outside Israel. But I believe this gospel. I'm not able to share it with everyone. And even in the last 40 years I did my best to share it with everyone, it doesn't say that everyone accepted it.
I see myself as an ambassador of the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm not ashamed. I remember the first day when I learned about that Christ is God and he died for me on the cross, that I was ashamed. Why? Why shame? You can see today, many people like to speak about the love of God.
John 3 verse 16, so have God loved the world. They like to point only about the love of God. But it's not just like this, it is a love of God for a sinner. And today most people believe in the goodness of people. You know, it's so good, it's so lovely, it's so great. So when you speak or you start to speak about gospel that wants to save you in our environment, in our way of thinking,
it's already aggressive, you are aggressive. I mean, I hear a lot of stories, but there are a lot of churches today. I heard here in the Netherlands, some of them are even not evangelizing, they will offer you a prayer. You know, can I pray for you?
You know, it sounds much more positive when you say to a person, do you have for me something to pray for it? So I will pray for you, or you say to someone, God in his love died for your sin, rose again for your justification, and then you can get the gift of eternal life and not condemned for eternity.
This is different gospel. Okay, so I was privileged to hear this gospel of the grace of God, and I believe it. I am not ashamed.
In the beginning, you know, he says here also in verse 17, he explained why he's not ashamed. You see, you are not ashamed at the moment that you understand the gospel, you need some knowledge. the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith as it is written that just shall live by faith. 17 For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”
So I'm not ashamed. In the beginning, I must tell you the truth, I didn't understand the gospel fully. I was not able to explain other about genesis chapter 1 the creation.
I came to know the Lord as my savior in Israel. When you are in Israel, you hear a lot of what we say messianic teaching. That Jesus is the messiah but to believe in His death on the cross is something different. Jews have much problems with the cross.
And when you are into the messianic teaching at that time, it was mostly about if Christ was the Messiah or not, because most Israelis are not recognizing Jesus at all. Those days it is much different. 40 years ago it was much different, my parents were a generation from the Holocaust. 40 years ago to speak about Jesus was like a curse. So I trusted the Lord, but in my knowledge I was a chilled ashamed to tell it to people.
yes, I believe that Jesus is God. Yes, I believe that God created heaven and earth in seven days. You need courage, you need knowledge, let's say. So I'm not ashamed, because now I understand it is the only power to save people. regardless the fact that maybe most people on this earth at the moment never heard about the pure gospel. They mix grace with works, or they never heard it at all.
Many Muslims are turning into Christ. You hear it very often, even now at the moment when there is a war in Israel, you hear Muslims turning to Christ because they had some vision or saw Christ in dreams. It's a common way of saying, well, you are not turning to Christ because there is a vision or dream. You are turning to Christ because you understand it can save you. Easy to say, hard to do, because you need education, you need the knowledge.
Look at the life of our apostle Paul! he spent sometimes a year, months with the people to teach them the fundamental of faith. That's why we have to teach our children about it. So they will grow and believe it too
Okay, so today in our Grace Teaching Part 2, I want to speak to you about Acts Chapter 2. I made some summarizing. I realized that there is no point for me to read verse to verse. I am getting older. Reading English, dutch and Hebrew get complicated.
we're living also in online time. I'm looking for all kinds of methods to translate my speech or to convert my speech into writing. So I will talk and you can read it also. It is never about the face of the preacher. Paul was also preaching by writing. So I don't have to go through all the verses because you have the Bible and if you don't have the Bible, you need to get one, you need to read it. In English, I use the King James Version of the Bible. In Hebrew, it will be the authorized version. In Dutch, it will be also the authorized version.
I do my best to present to you a good Gospel of Grace. So let's speak about the day of Pentecost, Acts Chapter 2.
I must tell you, I don't have a Christian background. Why I'm telling you? Because right from the beginning, I came to know the Lord from people who at that time understood the Gospel of the Grace of God rightly dividing. In 1981 I started to Studie about the gospel of Gods grace with the help of C.R. Stam books and others . People who understood that Christ from heaven gave to Paul the dispensation of grace.
I was never into this discussion that the present church started at Acts 2. It is for me also a little bit a strange way of thinking. I learned right from the beginning that everything what we know today, the dispensation of the grace of God started with the Apostle Paul, with Acts 9 at the moment that Paul was saved.
15But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: 16For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake. Acts 9
The problem that even among those who call themselves Grace Teaching Believer, everyone tried to point with his fingers on the exact point, in which you cannot do it. You can only go back to Paul's letters, read the verses where Paul says, follow me, and that Paul says, I receive the dispensation of the grace of God. Ephesians chapter 3
There is one very famous verse, I always say to people, read Acts 9 verse 15. But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me. To bear my name before the Gentiles, the kings, and the children of Israel. This is one of the important verses to show you what the Lord Jesus Christ from heaven told directly to Paul. If you want to see the teaching, to learn the teaching, go to his letter
Okay, so now when you understand it let us go back to Acts chapter 2.
Acts chapter 2, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, Acts chapter 2 verse 1.
I cannot explain to you why people teaching that Acts chapter 2 is the beginning of the church. I cannot explain it, I can only explain to you, as far as I understand, that on this earth, people are into many traditions of people teaching. Even the so-called Christianity is divided in many denominations teaching doctrine. I'm happy with what I believe, and I believe this is the truth.
When you go back to Acts chapter 2, you read about the day of Pentecost. the feast of harvest. In Judaism it is also the day that the law was given to Israel. It is 50 days, 7 weeks after Passover. There are many studies about it, and the beginning of everything is Passover.
Leviticus 23:15-21 And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete: Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
So in the day of Pentecost, what they are doing, they are coming together, observing the law of Moses. So how can people say that it has to do with the dispensation of the grace of God? What they are doing, they are observing what God said to Moses for the nation Israel.
Three times in a year, they will come together at the temple. And now God is going to use it for his purpose to tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Old Testament, Exodus 34-22, and ye shall observe the feast of the weeks. You know, when I was a child in Israel, the day of Pentecost, was a very nice feast. I was living in a farm and we had to decorate all the trekkers to build nice trekkers with all the fruits that we had And to show it to the people. So it's a very nice agriculture feast. But it's part of the law of Moses.
Deuteronomy 16:9-12 “Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.”
so again, our study is about the day of Pentecost. You need to read it for yourself. I'm not doing a preaching about it because on our sites there are many books about it. I mean brothers C.R Stem wrote a commentary on the book of Acts. I will recommend everyone to read it.
It will give you some insight in the book of Acts because the book of Acts is very important. The book of Acts shows you the changing in God's program. First, it's about the Kingdom on Earth, the day of Pentecost, Israel, Jews, and then it's turned to the Apostle Paul. Chapter 9 and the dispensation of the grace of God, the revelation of the mystery.
so let us go back to our question. How can people think or come to the conclusion that Pentecost should be the beginning of the Church?
Because it says in verse 5, in Acts 2 verse 5, and there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews. It's about verses 5 till 11.
Acts 2:10 …. and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,” dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, because it's a Jewish feast. It's a Jewish observation. It's an observation that Moses received from God for the nation Israel, not for the body of Christ. You need to understand that those devout people, it says, out of every nation under heaven. Those devout people coming from every nation under heaven at that time. They were Jews.
After Babel exile not all of them return to the land of Israel. We speak about the Jews religion with synagogues everywhere. North Africa, Asia, Turkey, and it goes to the deep of Persia,
So those Jews, I mean, he's not speaking about Gentiles, coming from all over the places, from the world to Jerusalem, for observation, for doing things from the low of Moses.
Acts 2:10 …. and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
This is one of the verses that make people think that it is about the body of Christ. Strangers of Rome. There were Romans who were worshipping idols, you know, like the Romans or the Greek mythology. And they were interesting in the law or in the God of Israel. Today it is not so strange for us, because you have millions on this earth, like the so-called Christian world, Jews and Muslims. They all have the belief in one God, the call it Monotheism is the belief in a single god. At that time only the Jews believed in one God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
They were surrounded with idol worshippers. So there were Gentiles, like he says, strangers of Rome. In Acts chapter 13, when Paul visited the synagogue, we see that at that time there were also Gentiles at the synagogue. People who were interesting in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
42And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. 43Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. Acts 13
Then he said Jews and proselytes
Proselytes of Righteousness were Gentiles who desired to become Jews. They were circumcised and submitted to all the ordinances of the Mosaic Law according to Ex. 12:48,49. In Acts 2:5, Luke makes reference to Jews who were dwelling at Jerusalem during the Pentecost observance.
However you see, it's not about the body of Christ. You have the day of Pentecost, you have everyone come together. I mean, we read, like in verse 4,
Acts 2:4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
So there was there at that time something very special, something unusual, like we say. Something unnatural, something unnatural. Then we are going to verse 16
Acts 2:16 “But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;” Peter stands there, and you have to understand Peter, one of the 12 apostles. He was the head, according to what Christ told him. He gave him the key, because we have the 12 apostles and Peter. Read Matthew 16:19 “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven:
We have the one apostle Paul, and we have the confusion, like we see in the Romans Catholic Church. They teach that Peter was in Rome, but according to the Bible, the one who wrote the letter to the Romans is Paul.
However, Peter stand and he explained them. You see it was the beginning of the fulfilling of the prophecy of Joel. This is the answer. Everyone was waiting to the coming of the Messiah. Everyone, I mean, at that time they had a lot of problems with the Romans. The Jews were called by the Romans “Philistines” . They were rebelling against the Romans authority.
When you are into rebellion like the Jews in Judea were at that time you start to develop a Messianic feelings. This was happened till the destruction of the temple in the year 70, the Roman legions in Jerusalem smashed through the fortress tower of Antonia into the Holy Temple and set it afire. Then we also have The Bar Kokhba revolt. rebellion initiated by the Jews of Judea, led by Simon bar Kokhba, against the Roman Empire in 132 CE. Lasting until 136, it was the third and final escalation of the Jewish–Roman wars. Remember that in the Bible terms it is already the dispensation of grace.
When you look to Israel in 2023 now 2024 , the nation of Israel at that moment is not in good situation. There is a war. There is a different political situation. There is the world who is against. Even in Israel, there is no unity because on the one hand you have the secular Jew who want to be like everyone, like the nations. And on the other hand, there are those religion Jews, the Orthodox or the Zionist Jews who want to have a Jewish state. They call them the Messianic. Those who believe in the coming of the Messiah, those who believe in the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem.
From a Bible perspective, we can understand it because this is really a kind of spiritual war. Not our war, but it is a spiritual war. When you are a citizen of certain country and you have to obey the authorities. It became also your ware. The members of the Hamas religion liberation movement are also looking to occupy Jerusalem.
So here, about 2,000 years ago, Peter is talking about the day that the Lord will come back to earth.
We read it already in Acts chapter 1. When Christ told them, what are you looking for? The same Christ that was ascended, he will come back. Where? In Jerusalem. They will see him, they will recognize him.
Zechariah 12:10 “And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.”
Hebrews 4:9 “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”
So Peter standing up and he explained to them this unusual happening, this unnatural. They are not drank. It is the very first step in the prophecy of Joel. You understand? In verse 20, the sun shall be turned into darkness. It should be fulfilled and the moon into blood before that great and notable day of the Lord come.
I believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will come back again. The only thing is that there is a difference between the coming of the Lord back to this earth to establish his kingdom. You know, he will come back to Jerusalem. Or the coming of the Lord for the church, his body, to take them to be with him in the cloud. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 “For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.”
However, at the day of Pentecost, he is talking about the coming of the Lord for Israel to establish his thousand year kingdom.
In verse 21, he tells them, and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. So there is something historically going on. They see unnatural things. They think that those people were drinking something.
Peter received the gospel to the circumcision. He received the gospel of the kingdom. And he tells them about salvation. He tells them about “shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved . In Hebrew, Yeshua, Jesus means God saved. for many people, Jesus means just kind a name. In Hebrew, it has a meaning, God saved.
So when you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, it is in order to be saved. It is in order to turn from death to life. It seems that salvation for people is very important. Look around you. Everyone is talking about eternal life. Jews, Muslims, everyone have in his doctrine system kind of work system that you need to climb yourself to God. While when you come to the Bible, the Old Testament, New Testament, you understand that you cannot climb your way to God, but he came to you. The only thing you can do is to believe the gospel.
Peter telling them the following : “…..call on the name of the Lord shall be saved”. and have taken and by wicked hand have crucified. Read acts 2: 21 till 28 . Peter explained them the crucifixion. He explained them that when King David is talking, he is not talking about himself, but he is talking about prophecy, about the Lord Jesus Christ. This is important. First Peter tells them about the historically side of the crucifixion.
Today, unfortunately, the crucifixion belongs to Christian heritage, to Christian history. And sometimes, not to a nice one, like the crusaders and killing other people in the name of the church, what happened in Spain. The Inquisition. had its start in the 12th-century Kingdom of France, with the aim of combating religious deviation
So today, when you speak with people about crucifixion, it goes along with a very long history. They were just in the beginning. Now, when you go further to verse 29, in verse 32, this Jesus has God raised up. Peter explained, dividing two parts. First of all, the crucifixion. And secondly, the resurrection.
For us today, I mean, when you look back, you will find that many people understand only the historical part of it. Many so-called Christian people will tell you, yes, I know he was crucified and he was resurrected. It is part of their education or tradition. For us, it goes further, because we understand that when he was crucified, he was crucified for your sin. And when he was resurrected, he was resurrected for your justification.
Peter explained to them. He explained the crucifixion, he explained the resurrection. After they hear it, verse 37, they say, what shall we do? And when you read it, then you start to ask yourself, how can people believe that Peter is talking about the body of Christ ? or the beginning of the body of Christ,
while when you read it, it's all about a different gospel, the gospel of the Kingdom, the gospel to the circumcision. And in verse 37, 38, they're asking him, what shall we do? The answer is very simple, repent and be baptized. And every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sin, and he shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. I suggest you, because I'm not going to explain fully, I suggest you take time and read Brother Cornelius' commentary on Acts chapter 2. He will explain to you.
The only thing that I'm explaining to people is, it is the gospel, repent and be baptized, for the remission of sin.
We will close with the word of Paul, where Paul said to you, you have the remission of sin, or the next time we will deal with it,
Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;”
after Peter was talking, then you see those people, there were about 3,000 souls adding to the church, by believing what Peter told them, and being baptized with water. It's a fully gospel in accordance with what Christ was teaching them on earth.
Now we are going to talk about acts 2: verses 42-47.
42And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
44And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
This how they were living after Peter told them the gospel. Most of those who teach that the church started in in act 2 are not living today in this way. All the believers were together and had all things common. they continue in their life, which was the doctrine of the apostles, not the doctrine of grace, a fellowship and breaking bread.
We will talk about it, breaking bread is not breaking bread or the bread and wine, like the apostle Paul received from the Lord in 1 Corinthians. Chapter 10-11
they shared everything, they sold everything. They were eating together. It was not about building, it was not about organization. it was not a Sunday service.
This is what I want to share with you, because we are talking about grace teaching, and in grace teaching I can suggest you one thing, you need to read the Bible. I say grace teaching, I can teach you, it's not about teaching, it's about over learning, and learning means read the Bible. Take in consideration what I told you. Like I said on our web site you will find Brother Cornelius Stam commentary on the book of acts. it can be very helpful.
I want to close you with one word, remember. The Gospel of our salvation is very simple. We say to people, Christ is God, and Christ on the cross died for your sins, and rose again for your righteousness, your salvation. All what you need to do is to believe. Here in the Netherlands we use the word to believe, to take God in His words.
Shall we close in prayer?
Heavenly Father, thank you very much for this day of grace. Heavenly Father, thank you very much for everything what you did for us on the cross, that you came to this earth, you died for our sins, and rose again for our justification. I pray that many people in my own country in Israel or outside Israel if it's possible will open the Bible and understand that if there is any place for peace on this earth, it's only by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Chri