ACTS LESSON 5

    We will begin this lesson in Acts 2:36 "Therefore let all the
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus,
whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ."

    Peter has boldly told these Israelites that they crucified their
Messiah (Christ). He says you crucified Messiah, and God has exalted
Him to be not only your Saviour, but your Lord.

    Acts 2:37  "Now when they heard [this], they were pricked in their
heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men [and]
brethren, what shall we do?"

    We must remember that Peter had been entrusted with the keys. He
was the leader of the church for both Jew and Gentile. Peter has
brought them a message that they know is true. Their hearts are
turned, and they seek instruction from Peter about what they must do
to be saved. They realize they have made a grave mistake and, now,
they want to get into good graces with God.

    Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized
every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."

    These men Peter was speaking to here were the house of Israel.
They had rejected Jesus as their Messiah. They must repent of this
rejection of Jesus as the substitute for their sin. The one they had
rejected is the very one they are to be baptized in the name of. These
are all Jews here.  They must repent of rejecting Jesus. They had the
law, the Gentiles did not have the law to go by. Notice the gift of
the Holy Ghost would come after they had repented and been baptized.
The part of those who want to be saved is to repent of their sin, and
then believe on the name of Jesus Christ. Just as Abraham was
justified (just as if he had never sinned) by faith they will be
justified by faith in Jesus Christ. We read earlier how God will save
all who call on His name.

    Acts 2:39 "For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and
to all that are afar off, [even] as many as the Lord our God shall
call."

    The promise is made to whosoever will. These who are afar off, are
to Gentiles of all generations, since the Jews are thought of as those
who are nigh. The Lord Jesus died for all, but our obligation is to
accept the gift of salvation. God calls all of us, but few accept that
call.

    Acts 2:40 "And with many other words did he testify and exhort,
saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation."

    We see that this group that Peter is speaking to is the very group
who turned Jesus down. This says that Peter kept on speaking to them
to make them understand their need for Jesus as Saviour.

    Acts 2:41  "Then they that gladly received his word were baptized:
and the same day there were added [unto them] about three thousand
souls."

      I Corinthians 1:21 we read, "For after that in the wisdom of God
the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of
preaching to save them that believe." We see from this, that this is
God's plan to save people.  They received the sermon Peter preached
and were saved and baptized.  This was a very effective sermon because
3,000 souls were saved.

    Acts 2:42 "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine
and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers."

    It seems that the apostles were establishing a doctrine. The Lord
really did not set up a doctrine for the church. Jesus' commandments
were to love God above everything and everyone else, and love your
neighbor as yourself. This breaking of bread could have been the
taking of communion in remembrance of Jesus, or it could just mean
that they ate together. We do know that it had something to do with
worship, because they continued in prayer.

    Acts 2:43 "And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and
signs were done by the apostles."

    This fear has to do with reverence. This fear brings them to the
point of making a decision about the Lord. In the 14th chapter of John
beginning with the 12th verse, we see that Jesus gave His followers
the power to do the same miracles that He had done while He was on the
earth if they prayed in Jesus' name. This would be astonishing to
these Jews who had not seen this type of miracles going on in the
temple.

    Acts 2:44 "And all that believed were together, and had all things
common;"

    It seems as if these believers stayed together, because they
needed the strength of the apostles. Soon after this large group
joined the disciples, the authorities became very upset and jailed
many of them. Some of them were even martyred. This sharing of all
that they had kept the poor who came to Jesus from starving.

    Acts 2:45 "And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them
to all [men], as every man had need."

    At this particular time, these Christians thought that Jesus would
be back very soon and set up His kingdom. They had made the mistake of
rejecting Jesus once, they did not want to take any chance that Jesus
would return and them not know it. They all stayed with the twelve
apostles.

    Acts 2:46 "And 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,"

    Notice that they worshipped daily. They were so thankful that God
would even have them after their rejection of the Lord. Nothing was
too much. They were satisfied with what they had. It was very similar
to what Paul would say later, that whatever state he found himself in,
he was content. They ate together and had all things common. They were
of one accord as they were at Pentecost.

    Acts 2:47 "Praising God, and having favour with all the people.
And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved."

    These followers of Jesus were so thankful to be saved that praises
were on their lips continually.  This period of time was not the time
of opposition.  Everyone was still in somewhat a state of shock since
the resurrection of Jesus. Almost everyone who heard the good news of
the gospel wanted to be saved. We read here, that the Lord added to
the number of the believers (church) every day. The apostles preached
(planted the seed), and God got the harvest.

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                           Acts 5 Questions

1.  What did Peter say the house of Israel should know assuredly?
2.  Who had they crucified?
3.  After Peter preached, what effect did it have on the Israelites?
4.  What question did they ask Peter and the other apostles?
5.  Who had the Lord entrusted with the keys?
6.  What did Peter tell them they must do to be saved?
7.  What gift would they receive after they were baptized?
8.  What was the main thing they were to repent of?
9.  Who must they believe on?
10. Who was the promise made to?
11. Who are the ones who are spoken of as being afar off?
12. What did Peter tell them to save themselves from?
13. How many souls were added that day?
14. In I Corinthians, we learn that by the foolishness of
    _____________God would save those who believe.
15. In verse 42, we find the converts continued stedfastly in what?
16. Did Jesus set up a doctrine for the church?
17. What commandments did Jesus tell us to observe?
18. Fear came on every soul; and many ____________and
    _____________were done by the apostles.
19. What kind of fear is spoken of in verse 43?
20. What does verse 44 tell us they did?
21. They sold their possessions and did what?
22. What was the main reason that they were not conscious of worldly
    goods?
23. What did they do daily?
24. How often were people added to the church?
25. Why were they praising continually?
26. The apostles _____________and ____________got the harvest.


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