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Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Acts 1:9-12: The Ascension of Christ is an important but often neglected doctrine of the Bible. In this sermon, Dr. Streeter points out how Christ’s Ascension is related to His finished work of redemption, to His intercessory work for the Christian, to His giving of spiritual gifts, and to His Second Coming. (810419) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Acts 2:1-21: What really happened on the Day of Pentecost? Why was there “a rushing mighty wind,” and “cloven tongues like as of fire”? Why did God give the Apostles the gift of tongues on this day and what exactly was this gift? Dr. Streeter answers these and many more questions in this expository sermon. (980525) Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser. Acts 2:37-47 Have you ever been told that you must be baptized in order to be saved? Many use Acts 2:38 to teach this false doctrine. Dr. Streeter explains exactly what you need to do to be saved and makes the true message of this verse clear. (980614) Verses 17-20 “17And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. Verse 17 causes us to wonder if the paralyzed man and/or his four friends were “Pharisees and doctors of the law.” We can not be dogmatic about this, but we do know that “the power of the Lord was present to heal them” and to save them if they they would trust in Him. LUKE, Chapter 5
Verses 12-15 “12And it came to pass, when he was in a certain city, behold a man full of leprosy: who seeing Jesus fell on his face, and besought him, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. The man was “full of leprosy,” a picture of the unsaved person full of sin. Leprosy is a type of sin in the Bible, incurable, “walking dead,” and repugnant. Only God could restore the leper and make him clean, and only God can save the sinner and make him clean. Jesus told the leper to tell no one that Jesus had healed him because He was not interested in getting the credit nor in having everyone know of all of His good works. Are we willing to do good and let God get the praise rather than arranging to have people hear of our good deeds?
Verses 1-11 “1And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, There is reason to believe that Peter followed Jesus intermittently in the beginning (see John 1:42-44), but on this occasion the Big Fisherman leaves his boat to go with Jesus full time. This was apparently also the case with Andrew, James, and John, Peter’s partners in the fishing business. The sale of two shiploads of fish would provide funds to begin their ministry; and this miracle, no doubt, convinced the fishers that Jesus was able to supply all their needs as they followed the Messiah. The miracle was not a miracle of creation (making the fish appear out of thin air). It was a miracle of provision, bringing the fish into the net supernaturally. It proves that God is able to cause all of creation to obey Him. The great draw of fish caused Peter, an experienced fisherman, to be so amazed at Jesus power that he fell at Jesus’ feet in repentance and worship. When we get an understanding of the Lord’s greatness, love, grace, and holiness it will humble us before Him and cause us to confess our own sinfulness and unworthiness. Peter said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” We are reminded that the apostle John, when he saw a glorified vision of Jesus, “fell at His feet as dead” (Rev 1:17). Israel at Sinai, cried “Let not God speak to us, lest we die!” (Ex 20:19). Isaiah saw the Lord and said, “Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Is 6:5). Ezekiel saw the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD and said ” When I saw it, I fell upon my face” (Eze 1:28). When Saul of Tarsus saw a light from heaven on the road to Damascus, he fell to the earth and said “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do” (Acts 9:3-6)? This was also the experience of Peter. It shows us that the goodness of God should lead us to repentance (Rom 2:4). Verses 40-44 “40Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them. There were times when Jesus ministered to all who came to Him (v.40), but there were other times when He went to a quiet place to be alone, or left one needy place to go to another. When we do the will of God, we will minister to many, but not to all. Evidence of a need is not, in and of itself, proof that we are obligated to meet that need. Verses 31-39 “31And came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days. Everyone in the synagogue was amazed that Jesus had power to cast demons out of people. Demon possession of unsaved people is a very real possibility. These evil spirits are the cause of some mental and physical afflictions in those who are possessed, but that is not the only cause of mental and physical affliction, and we should not easily make the assumption that people are possessed by devils. A notable point in this Scripture is that Jesus has power over the spirit world and over disease. The future is never hopeless for the Christian because Jesus is more powerful than the Devil and all of his evil host; He is more powerful than any disease; and He is more powerful than death. In Christ, we are over-comers. We are on the winning side. Verses 22-30 “22And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph’s son?
23And he said unto them, Ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself: whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. 24And he said, Verily I say unto you, No prophet is accepted in his own country. 25But I tell you of a truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 26But unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. 27And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian. 28And all they in the synagogue, when they heard these things, were filled with wrath, 29And rose up, and thrust him out of the city, and led him unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. 30But he passing through the midst of them went his way,” The people in Jesus’ home town waited with bated breath to see if He would perform miracles there as He had done at Capernaum. Jesus gives several reasons that He would do no mighty miracles there, including the fact that a prophet is with out honor in his own country, which is another way of saying that familiarity breeds contempt and that the people there were not going to get serious about spiritual things. Another important reason that Jesus would not do miracles at Nazareth was that the mere existence of a needy person does not obligate God to act. The simple fact that someone has a need does not mean that it is God’s will for that need to be met. Jesus gives two Old Testament examples to prove this principle. First, during the terrible drought in Elijah’s day, the prophet did not minister to all of the widows that he knew. He ministered to only one, the widow of Zarephath. Second, Elisha knew many lepers, but he ministered to only one, Naaman. (Note that Eliseus is the Greek form of the Hebrew Elisha). Obviously, it is the will of God for some people to suffer. We do not understand it, but God has a reason for all that He causes and all that He allows. God could miraculously alleviate all suffering if it was His will to do so, but He does not do so. We should try to help those around us who have needs, but we can not, and should not, feel obligated to feed every hungry person we know about. We should use some of our resources to help some people who are hurting, but we should not feel that it is our responsibility to help every person that has any kind of trouble.
Verses 9- 20 “9Now when Jesus was risen early the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven devils. Modern textual critics and most new English versions do not accept the last 12 verses of this Gospel as genuine Scripture. Some translations leave the verses out altogether and some mark out these verses in some way, such as with asterisks, brackets, and/or footnotes questioning the authenticity of the passage. Basically, there are two manuscripts that are appealed to that leave out the verses, and those two manuscripts (the Vatican and the Sinai) are decidedly inferior, both coming from the same source and not being two independent witnesses at all. Even though these two manuscripts were copied by the same people, in the same place, and at the same time, they differ from each other in thousands of places. They show evidence of having been hastily and carelessly copied. They are almost certainly two of fifty Bibles that Constantine ordered from Eusebius, during the first half of the Fourth Century. The evidence for the authenticity of Mark 16:9-20 is that the multiplicity of Greek manuscripts have the verses; many ancient versions have the verses; all of the lectionaries on the passage have the verses. The verses are quoted by such early church fathers as Papias, Irenaeus, Justin Martyr, and Tertullian, in the Second Century; and some of the verses are quoted by Hippolytus in the Third Century; and Eusebius, Chrysostom, Jerome, and Augustine quote them in the Fourth Century. Add to all of this the fact that the conclusion of the Gospel would be far too abrupt if it ended after Verse 8. There was a blank space left in the Vatican manuscript where the verses could be placed, which leads us to the conclusion that the scribe knew about the existence of the twelve verses but that the last leaf of the Gospel was missing from the document being copied by the scribe. John Burgon made the case for the twelve verses, in 1871, in a book of 375 pages, and no textual critic to this date has ever been able to answer Burgon’s defense. Nevertheless, critics slavishly follow the Vatican manuscript and continue to reject this genuine portion of God’s Holy Word. Verses 16-21 “16And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath (Saturday) because as a devoted Jew, He kept the Sabbath. The Sabbath was annulled when Jesus died, and it would not please God if we allow legalists to force Sabbath-keeping upon us today (Col 2:14-16). We are not under law, but under grace. At the synagogue, Jesus stood up to read the Scriptures. He read Isaiah 61:1-2, and He said that these words refer to Himself. The fact that these words refer to Jesus, points out the principle of Bible interpretation that there is a more complete fulfillment of many Old Testament Scriptures. Isaiah’s words referred to Isaiah in the local and immediate sense, but in the more complete sense they refer to Jesus. Jesus came to minister to sinful men, and His words, as recorded by Isaiah, reveal the condition of sinful men. All lost people are spiritually poor, brokenhearted and broken in spirit, captured by the Devil and imprisoned by fleshly habits, blind to the truth of God, and bruised and wounded unto eternal death. “The acceptable year of the Lord,” preached by Jesus, refers to the coming earthly kingdom age when Jesus shall rule and reign in a Jewish kingdom from David’s throne. What a glorious day that will be! He will give us beauty for ashes, joy for mourning, and praise for the spirit of heaviness. In that day He will make us into trees of righteousness, and we will be the plantation of the Lord. It will all be for His glory (see Is 61:3). Verses 5-6 “5And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted. The angel said, “He is not here; He is risen.” All of our hope, faith, confidence and joy depend on the truthfulness of these words. There can be no other explanation for this wonderful event. There can be no other logic to history. He is risen! There would be no Christianity at all if Jesus is not risen bodily and physically from the dead. Jesus predicted His own resurrection, time and time again (Matt 12:38; Mark 8:31-9:1). He not only predicted it, He brought the prediction to fulfillment. There is plenty of evidence that Jesus is alive from the dead. First, He was really dead. He was crucified, and no one could survive Roman crucifixion. His heart was punctured and out came water and blood. He had been flogged. There was great loss of blood. Second, He was buried. His burial included embalming, a great stone rolled to the doorway of the tomb, a Roman seal, a Roman guard (four soldiers). Third, He came out of the tomb, alive! His grave clothes were found lying where He had been. The grave clothes were still wound as if a body was inside of them, for he miraculously came out of the grave clothes without unwinding them. Many eye witnesses saw Him after He arose, including more than 500 people at one time. The Disciples’ lives were transformed from fearful and timid people to bold and tireless preachers of the gospel, witnesses who would die before they would recant their faith in Christ. Many unlikely people were saved because Jesus was resurrected; these converts included the brothers of our Lord, Saul of Tarsus, and a great company of Jewish priests (Acts 6:7). So sure were the apostolic believers that Jesus was alive that they gave up long held beliefs, doctrines, and traditions, such as the Passover, the Sabbaths, and other observances in the Old Testament Law. So sure were they that Jesus was alive, that they made the First Day of the week, the day Jesus arose, a special day of worship. Furthermore, all of the false theories that attempt to explain away the resurrection of Jesus are entirely inadequate. The same false theories are said over and over. “His body was stolen from the tomb.” “He did not really die. He only swooned.” “All of the witnesses simply had hallucinations.” “The women, Peter, and John went to the wrong tomb.” All of these theories are lame, foolish, and totally inadequate to explain the empty tomb. He is alive! Verses 10-11 “10For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee: We notice that through out Jesus’ temptation, He used the Word of God as His weapon against Satan. This is a lesson to us that we must be armed with the Sword of the Spirit and know how to use it. And we must keep in mind that the Devil also uses the Bible against us. Of course, the Devil perverts, corrupts, and lies about the Word at every opportunity, but he knows the Bible very well. Satan has heard plenty of preachers and teachers of the Word of God, and unlike some Christians, he has paid attention. He is highly intelligent. He is very cruel, and should not be underestimated. Satan’s ministers of darkness, motivated by the Evil One, are able to quote the Scriptures, also. We can not afford to be tricked by Satan’s tactics. This is why we must be as knowledgeable as possible of the Word of God. |
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Copyright © 2012 Lloyd Streeter - All Rights Reserved |
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