Why Israel Rejected the Gospel — Acts 8 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, away we go. Back to Acts chapter 8, and we'll just pick right up where we left off as we come through the book of Acts. Somebody wrote from the television audience, they said they could tell by the look on my face that I love teaching Acts. And boy, they hit the nail on the head. I do. I just love to teach Acts. And I didn't used to. You know, before I saw it the way I see it now, I just thought it was, well, you know, not all that interesting. It was just a lot of history and so forth. But I'll tell you what, when you see the book of Acts, and how God was still dealing with Israel, and Israel is rejecting it, and then God in so many words says, Well, I'll just turn to the Gentile without you. And that's exactly what happened. And that's what makes the book so exciting. But here we're still pretty much on Jewish ground. Acts chapter 8, verse 1. Now and again, I guess I better let the television audience know that we've got tapes, we've got books, and folks are really enjoying those little books. I don't see how, but they are, and we've got a good inventory of them. So if you're interested in tapes or books, why don't you just give us a call, and my little wife will get them into the mail to you just as quickly as we can. Now let's come back to Acts chapter 8, verse 1. We have just seen the stoning of Stephen, and Saul of Tarsus was consenting unto his death. And as I pointed out in the last program, he was more than consenting, he was actually promoting it, he was leading the rebellion. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church, or what I prefer to call the Assembly, which was at Jerusalem. And as I saw in Galatians last program, headed up by this man Saul. And so there was a great persecution against the Assembly which was at Jerusalem, and they were, what's the next word? All! Now like I've always said, I'm a literalist, and I'm a stickler for every word of Scripture. And when it says they were all scattered, I'm sure that every Jew who had embraced Christ as the Messiah, is in that word, all. And they were all scattered abroad, throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except, underline that next one, except who? The Apostles! Now just analyze that verse, just exactly the way it sits. I'm not going to be a theologian, and I'm not going to be like the rabbis do with the Old Testament, and just sit there and try to think of a million ways I can interpret it. I'm going to take it for what it says. Every believing Jew now had been scattered out of Jerusalem, because they had to run for their life, or Saul would have had them. And yet the very leaders of those Jewish believers sit tight. Everybody flees, except the Apostles. Now I've got a second question. Remember now, we're seven years after Pentecost. According to what most people think and tell us, and according to Matthew 28.28, where should these twelve men have been by now? In seven years they should have covered the Roman Empire. Even in the transportation of that day, they could have covered a good part of the then known world in seven years. But where are they? They're in Jerusalem. Are they derelict in their duty? No! They knew that they could not go beyond the borders of Israel, until Israel had her King. And so this is their whole driving, the momentum of what they're doing, is the hope that Israel would yet repent of their sin, of having crucified their Messiah, and that Christ could turn and set up His Kingdom. And then, let me show you the verse again back in Zechariah. We've looked at it more than once. Come back to it. Zechariah, for those of you in the studio now, you've been with me, this is the third program, isn't it? So we were here in program one. So Zechariah, just in front of Malachi, all the way back to chapter 8. I think this is as clearly put as any portion in the Old Testament of what Israel was to have done, with regard to the Gentiles and the rest of the world. Zechariah 8, verse 20. "...Thus saith the LORD of hosts," God is saying it through the prophet, "...it shall yet come to pass," It hadn't happened yet at this time, because they haven't had the Kingdom yet. Oh, they've had the glory of Solomon, David, but they haven't had what God has been promising. So it's still future. And the prophet writes, "...and it shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, the inhabitants of many cities, the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the LORD, to seek the LORD of hosts. I'll go also. Yea, many people, and strong," What's the next word? "...nations," We're dealing with Gentiles. "...and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in heaven," Where? Jerusalem. See? "...and to pray before the LORD." Now verse 23. Now you don't have to twist this, and try to analyze it. Just let it set where it is, and read it. "...thus saith the LORD of hosts, In those days it shall come to pass," What days? When Christ is ruling in Jerusalem. His Kingdom is set up. "...in those days it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold out of all the languages," See, we're not talking about just the Jew now. We're talking about going to the Gentiles, and all the nations. "...and they shall even take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew." And these Gentiles will say to that Jew, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you. And indeed He will be. And this was their prospect. Now if you come back to chapter 8, these twelve men are not derelict in their duty. They know their role, and they know that they cannot have a ministry to the Gentiles until Israel has come to recognize that the One they crucified was their Messiah, and He could have come and set up their Kingdom. Now, I've always used this analogy. I've done it, and I'm sure many of you have. You go to an airport, or a train station, or a bus depot, and you're going to meet someone. But the announcement comes that the flight is late. Fog or something had delayed it. And so your temptation is to maybe go to the coffee shop and just kill some time. But what's uppermost in your thinking? Hey, just as sure as I do, the plane will come in, and I won't be here. Well, I think that's the thinking of the twelve. They weren't about to leave Jerusalem, because if they were to leave Jerusalem and go down to Alexandria, or go over to Greece, or go across the Aegean Sea to Italy, my, what may happen? The King would return to Jerusalem, and they wouldn't be there. And so they weren't going to leave. And so in spite of all the pressure of persecution that old Saul of Tarsus could bring to bear, those twelve men sat tight. They're still in Jerusalem, seven years after Pentecost. All right, now flip over to Acts chapter 11 a moment, and again, let the Scripture speak for itself. I don't have to twist it. I don't have to explain it. It just says it as plain as anything can be said. Acts 11 verse 19. Now they who were scattered abroad, remember what 8.1 just said? They were all scattered out of Jerusalem because of the persecution. But 11.19 says, "...those who were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose around Stephen, traveled as far as Phenis, and the island of Cyprus, and Antioch," which of course is up in Syria. Now watch this. I'm not going to pull any tricks here. They went, "...preaching the word to none but Jew only." Can you make it any plainer than that? Were they going to the Gentiles? Not according to this. They weren't going down into Egypt. If they did, it was to Jews. They weren't going over to Greece. They were still confining their preaching to none but Jew only. Now when it says here that they preached the word, my land, we're seven years after Pentecost. Has the New Testament been written? No. So what word are they preaching? Old Testament. Old Testament. That's all they've got. And what was the Old Testament used for? To prove that the One that Israel crucified was the Christ. That's been the message all the way through here. And it hasn't changed. Now how in the world can you put Gentiles into anything in that first few years when the Scripture says that they preached to none but Jew only? Alright, come back to chapter 8. Verse 2. "...Devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul..." See, now he's coming into the scene now, little by little. "...As for Saul, he made havoc of the assembly." These Jewish believers. "...Entering into every house, and hailing men and women, and committed them to prison." Hey, he was ruthless. But in the name of what? Religion. He is a religious Jew. And everything he does, he thinks he is doing for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Come over with me to chapter 26 of Acts. Chapter 26. I always have to think for a minute what is 22 or 20. See, there are three accounts in the book of Acts of Saul's conversion. Three chapters in the book of Acts deal with Saul's conversion. Now that tells me that three is an important number all through Scripture, and here this just sort of puts the capstone on it. Chapter 9, Luke the writer records it. Chapter 22, Paul rehearses it in the first person as he does in chapter 26. Now look what he says in chapter 26 of the book of Acts. Verse 9. "...I verily thought..." Now remember, he's talking to King Agrippa in particular. "...I verily thought with myself that I ought to do many things contrary." See that? "...that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth." Hey, he hated it, because he thought it was making inroads into Judaism, and of course it was. Verse 10. "...which thing I also did in Jerusalem." See how that fits with Acts 8 verse 1? "...and many of the saints..." Now those are Jewish saints, Jewish believers. "...and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority not from Caesar, not from Rome..." But where? "...the chief priest." Now remember what I told you in the last program? Rome let the Jewish people carry out capital punishment in the name of their religion. There was no opposition to that at all. Now then the question came up at break time, then why did the Jews demand that Rome put Christ to death? Well, now you see that's prophecy. Prophecy had said that both Jew and Gentile would put the Messiah to death, and it couldn't be just by the Jew. Secondly, all of Scripture animated a lifting up, a crucifixion. You remember the serpent in the wilderness? What did Jesus say in John chapter 3? "...except I be lifted up, as the serpent was in the wilderness." So there had to be that kind of a death. Stoning wouldn't have fulfilled those prophecies. Also, then it would have been just strictly the Jew, but it wasn't. It was Jew and Gentile who carried it out. What was the other point I was going to make? Escape me. It'll come back. Let's go on. So then Paul continues on now in the first person. As the apostle now, remember, he's reflecting back. And he said, "...many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to..." What? What'd they do? They actually killed these Jewish believers in the name of religion. Oh, the other point I was going to make. If Rome was so benevolent toward the Jewish religion, then why did they turn so vehemently against Christianity? Have you ever thought of that? Here they put up with the Jewish religion, let them have their temple worship, at least until 70 A.D., but Rome never gave them any opposition. But as soon as Christianity made itself known, Rome did everything they could to stamp it out. Here's the reason. Rome, pagan as it was, had respect for any ancient religion, whether it happened to be their own, or someone else's. And in the eyes of Rome, Judaism was as ancient as you could get it. And so they would put up with that. But when Christianity came on the scene, that wasn't anything ancient, that was something new. And so that they couldn't go for. And of course the Roman Caesars and Nero and all the rest did everything they could to stamp it out. So some of this mentality comes in. But I want you to realize that Paul, now writing in the first person in chapter 26, makes it so plain that he voted to have these Jewish believers not just thrown in prison, but put to death. Now that reminds me of something that came up in the class last night. Was Paul ever married? I think he was, even though the Scripture never gives any indication. The Scripture is silent. But does Peter ever talk about his wife and family? We know he had a wife because of his mother-in-law, but we don't ever see Peter's wife per se mentioned. So why should Paul? But the reason I think Paul was married and must have had children, is that in order for him to vote, here in chapter 26, he must have been a member of the Sanhedrin. And in order to be a member of the Sanhedrin, what were one of the qualifications? You had to be a husband and a father. Because if you weren't a husband and a father, how could you pass judgment on what parents had to deal with? Common sense, isn't it? And so for this reason, I think that Saul of Tarsus was a member, being a Pharisee, according to Philippians. Being a Pharisee of the Pharisees of the tribe of Benjamin, he was also a member of the Sanhedrin. But what happened to his wife and family? Who knows? Scripture is silent. But be that as it may. Come back quickly now then to Acts chapter 8. Verse 4, and don't forget Leviticus 19. These same people are referred to as having gone everywhere preaching the Word, that is the Old Testament, to none but Jew only. Now this verse says, verse 4, that they were scattered abroad, and they went everywhere preaching the Word. It doesn't enlighten us like Leviticus 19 does. Now we're going to see a change of venue. Philip now goes to Samaria. Now you want to remember, Israel is a small little country, everything is close. Samaria is only a few miles due north of Jerusalem, so this isn't leaving the world. But Philip goes up to Samaria. It says down in the King James, because they're always talking altitude. Jerusalem sits up here at 1400 feet, and Samaria is probably down at about 1000 feet. So the term is, they went down from Jerusalem to Samaria, but it's only a few miles. And he preached Christ unto them. Now let me show you a comparison. Watch Acts chapter 8, verse 5, and now I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians, and see how Paul puts it. 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 17. Just for comparison's sake, so that we don't put it both into the same kettle. It just won't mix. Philip goes up to Samaria, and he preached Christ. Fair enough? 1 Corinthians chapter 1, Paul says, "...for Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Then you come on down to verse 18, "...for the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us who are saved it's the power of God." Then verse 23, 1 Corinthians 1, verse 20. Now watch it with me, I'm going to throw a curve at you. Paul says, "...but we preach Christ." Is that what it says? Crucified! Now you see the difference? Philip goes up to Samaria, and he preaches Christ. But he doesn't preach Christ crucified. Oh yes, having been killed, and God raising from the dead. But that's not their message. You see, the message has been from Pentecost on, that Jesus was the Christ. Remember all the references I've always given you? Peter's confession back in Matthew 16, "...whom do men say that I the Son of Man am?" And what did Peter answer? "...thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Martha at Lazarus' death. Jesus said, "...I am the resurrection and the life." "...believest thou this?" And what was Martha's answer? "...I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Period. Never any mention of death, burial and resurrection. The Ethiopian eunuch in Acts chapter 8. Philip says, "...believest thou this?" And what does the eunuch answer? "...I believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God." We're going to see Saul at Tarsus at his conversion in Damascus. He's going to go into the synagogue after that conversion, and he's not going to preach Christ crucified. What's he going to preach? He is the Son of God. See the difference? Oh, it's all the difference in the world. Alright, back to Acts chapter 8. So Philip goes down to Samaria, and he preaches Christ unto them. In other words, that He is, was, and always will be their Messiah. Verse 6. "...and the people with one accord gave heed unto those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the..." What? Miracles. Has anything changed? No. The same miracles of Jesus and the 12 or the 11, I like to leave Judas out of it, the same things that he had been performing for three years, Peter and the 10, they continue. And now it goes on up to Samaria, and it's the same emphasis, but always remember what does 1 Corinthians say about the Jew? He requires a sign. And Samaritans basically are, I think, more Jew than Gentile. They were half-breeds of course. But here he comes up to Samaria, and he preaches Christ unto them, and they see the miracles, and consequently they pay attention. Verse 7. "...for unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many that were possessed with them." I'm just going to throw something out for you to think about. I don't set these things in concrete, but someone sent me some information the other day about exorcism, casting out demons. I'm not comfortable with it. And the reason I'm not comfortable with it is because the Apostle Paul never once gives the Grace Age believer any instructions in dealing with demon possession. Now, like I say, that's just something for you to think about. But Paul never gives us instructions. Now, the only way that I'm content about dealing with it is that that person probably needs salvation, and if we can present them with the Gospel and see them genuinely born again, then I think that'll take care of their demon possession. But anyway, like I say, I don't set those things in concrete. If someone thinks I'm wrong, that's their privilege. But here they have the same power that Jesus had in His earthly ministry. And many were taken with palsies, and those that were lame were healed. And there was great joy in that city, but every time things start going good, the devil comes in, and there's a flip side. I mean, we just can't escape it. He'll never let us get away with good things very long. But there was a certain man called Simon, who before time in the same city, that is Samaria, used sorcery, witchcraft, and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, because again of the miracles that he could perform. Verse 10, "...to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of..." What? God! Was He? He was the power of Satan. Now never lose sight that this is nothing new, because you remember when Moses and Aaron went before Pharaoh, and they did as God instructed, and threw their rod on the ground, and what happened? It became a serpent. What did the magicians of Egypt do? Same thing. Fortunately, the one serpent that came from Aaron's rod swallowed up all the others from the magicians, which showed us and showed them that God's power is greater than Satan's. But listen, don't you ever sell Satan short. I can remember missionaries coming back when I was a kid from some of the dark, uncivilized tribes of this world, and when they would rehearse the power of those witch doctors. Hey, they had power. It wasn't gimmick. It was Satanic. And don't ever sell it short. And so it's the same way here. Oh, Simon was performing miracles, and he had the people confused, thinking he was some great one. But it wasn't the power of God. It was the power of Satan. Alright, read on. Verse 11. "...and to him they had regard, because that of a long time he had bewitched them with sorcery." See? Verse 12. "...but when they believed Philip, preaching the things concerning the kingdom." Now that question comes up every once in a while. What's the difference between the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven? Well, I'm going to use the explanation I think my own pastor gave me not too many weeks ago, and it was as good as any I've heard. The Kingdom of God is that whole sphere of God's influence, which is to the very outer reaches of space, all of heaven, all of earth. The Kingdom of Heaven is that sphere of influence concerning the earthly kingdom. The Kingdom of Heaven is within the Kingdom of God, like Oklahoma is within the United States of America. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.