Why Repentance Was Offered to Israel — Acts 5 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, let's get going and we'll wrap up this last half hour. And some of you got a good distance to drive, I know, and we'll hopefully, everyone gets to their destination. And we just ask that you'd continue to pray for the program as it goes out over the air. For those of you joining us on television, again, we always like to welcome you. So many of you have written that it's just like you're right here in the studio with us, and we like that. That's exactly what we want to come across, that we're just like a home Bible study. And I've been stressing throughout these programs that we're not associated with any particular group. We're just a common, ordinary layman. And we were just asked several years ago to start teaching, and I guess the Lord was in it because He has certainly blessed it. We thought it would probably go six months, and here it's been almost, what, five years? We're getting close, aren't we? Now, that reminds me, we've got all these past programs available in videotape, of course. And as we mentioned a time or two, remember that, I better put it this way, all the videotapes are being transcribed into printed form. So if you study the video, you can have it word by word. That's what this is. Jerry, hopefully, may correct some of my bad grammar. And if Jerry doesn't catch it, Keith does. But these are just transcriptions now. We want people to understand these are not a book that I have sat down and authored. Maybe that'll come someday in the future. But these are just transcriptions, and each one is equal to, then, a six-hour tape. All right, now then, let's just go right back to where we left off again two weeks ago. We got sidetracked in last week's program. Jerry had suggested that we present the Gospel, and I'm glad he did. I think it all panned out for good. And now let's come back to where we left off in Acts chapter 5, and we were at verse 30, but let's drop back up to verse 29. After the high priest had said in verse 28, "...did we not straightly command you not to teach in this name?" And then Peter, verse 29, and the other apostles answered and said, "...we ought to obey God rather than men, the God of our fathers." Now do you see how the language here is all Jewish? That term didn't apply to Gentiles. The God of our fathers was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So Peter says, "...the God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew, killed, and hanged on a tree." And I explained in that program why Peter used that language. It goes back to Deuteronomy 31. And then verse 31, "...him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince," capitalized, "...and a Savior," see, He was going to be the political king as well as the spiritual Savior, "...for to give repentance to..." What's the next word? Israel. See, most people miss that. Now can you put Gentiles in that? Uh-uh. He's not talking about Gentiles. Repentance to whom? Israel. That's what the book says. I'm not twisting it. I'm just leaving it set there. And I'm not going to fool with that, that they might see repentance extended to Israel and the forgiveness of sins. That reminds me. Come back again to Luke chapter 1. Luke chapter 1, and see how appropriately this all fits. My, if only folk could understand that the Scripture is like a fine-tuned watch. And I've used that analogy more than once. It is so meticulously put together. But so many people throw monkey wrenches in it all the time. But here in Luke chapter 1, now compared with what Peter has just said in Acts chapter 5, that He has granted repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins, and that He was to be a Prince and a Savior. All right, now Luke 1, beginning with verse 67. And here's Zacharias, one of the priests, a believing priest, the father of John the Baptist, the husband of Elizabeth. And up in verse 67, it says that Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit. I always point that out. Why? Because what he says is not going to be just the mouthings of a good Jew. This is the very Word of God coming forth. The Spirit is prompting him to say what He says. Now I'll go through this quickly. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and redeemed His people. Well, who are His people at this time? Israel. He hath raised up a horn of salvation for us. Who are the us? In the house of David. Verse... Oh, let's just go on through. As He spake by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the age began, or the world, that we should be saved, not from our sins, not in this verse, from our what? Enemies. Well, who were Israel's enemies at this time? The same ones tonight. The same ones that had been their enemies for almost 2,000 years. That we could be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us. Now who was that? The Romans, the Greeks, everybody else that lived around them. They all hated the nation of Israel. And so Zacharias is putting it out in plain language again. Verse 72, "...to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember His holy covenant." What covenant? The one which He swore to our father Abraham. Covenant ground. Now this is what I'm referring to when I say that everything is on the basis of the covenants made to Abraham. And Zacharias is repeating it by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. "...and to remember the covenant which He swore to our father Abraham, that He would grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our..." What again? "...enemies, physical enemies, and that we might serve Him," that is this King and this Messiah, this God, "...without fear, in holiness and righteousness before Him all the days of our life. And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the highest, for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His ways." Now look at verse 77. "...to give knowledge of salvation unto His people," again the nation of Israel. And what else? The forgiveness of sin. See? Now, has anything changed between here and Acts? Now come back with me again to Acts chapter 5. No, nothing's changed. Peter is practically saying the same thing that Zacharias did. That Christ had come to give them remission of sins, but also to be their King. If they would just repent of what they had done, and that was having killed their Messiah, then everything would still come along as God had intended it. Alright. Verse 33 of Acts chapter 5. "...so when they," that is the religious leaders now, who have Peter and the eleven on trial, "...when they heard that, they were cut to the heart." See? Oh, the Spirit is working even on these religious leaders in Israel. And so what do they do? Like I said a couple of programs ago, religionists always hate the truth, and religionists have only one way to deal with their enemies, and that's what? Kill them. Get rid of them. That's what religion does. Now this may shock a lot of people, but this book never uses the term religion in a good way. Never. Religion is a bad word according to this book. When Paul says in Galatians chapter 12, "...how I profited in the Jews," what? Religion. See? It was a bad thing. And the same way here. These people were the religious leaders of Israel, and as soon as they saw and realized the truth of what Peter and the eleven were proclaiming, they have only one option. Kill them. And so they sought to slay them. Alright, verse 34. "...but there was one level head in the group, good old Gamaliel, the one who taught the apostle Paul in his earlier days. And so then there stood up one in the council, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a doctor of the law, had in reputation among all the people, and commanded to put the apostles forth a little space. And he said unto them, Ye men of Israel," you see the language? "...Ye men of Israel, take heed to yourselves, what you intend to do is touching these men." And then he goes on and gives an example of what had happened before. It didn't amount to anything, and nothing came of it. So Gamaliel says, don't worry about it. If these guys are nothing but a bunch of heretics, and they're a bunch of loonies out here, hey, forget about it. Nothing's going to come of it. We don't have to do anything drastic. But if they are of God, Gamaliel says, you better not touch them. You better not touch them. Because if it's of God, there's nothing we can do to counteract it. Now that was a smart conclusion, wasn't it? All right? Verse 38 is where he says it. Now he says, I say unto you, refrain from these men, leave them alone, for if this council or this work be of men, it'll come to nothing. But if it be of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest happily you be found even to fight against God. You know, we were looking at a verse last night, for you and I today. Look at it with me. It just comes to mind. Romans 8. Romans 8. Verse 31. What a promise! What a promise! Sometimes, you know, we get the feeling that we're so outnumbered. We are in such a minority that we almost get a little bit fearful, and we get a little bit timid. And I'm probably as guilty as anybody. But look at the promises of God's Word. Just like Gamaliel said concerning the twelve, Paul now says we can take the same approach. Romans 8. Verse 31. What shall we then say to these things? In other words, what he has just written previous to this. If God be for us, who can be against us? Oh, men may dare, and they may get by for a while. But listen, He's sovereign. He's in control. And He is going to be the final avenger. See, that's why Paul says in this same book of Romans, Avenge not yourselves. We don't have to. God will do it for us. If God be for us, who can be against us? But He that spared His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? And what's to be commented on that? Well, if God was willing to give the best that ever inhabited Heaven, if God was willing to put Him to the shame and the suffering of the cross for you and I, is there anything else that He can withhold? No. He will freely give us everything that we need. And so then verse 33, as Paul continues, Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect, or to the believer? It is God who justifieth, and so on and so forth. All right, but back here into the Jewish economy again, it's the same God. God hasn't changed. Just because He changes His program in dealing from the Jew to the Gentile, God hasn't changed. All right, back to Acts 5 then, verse 40, And so to him they agreed. These religious leaders listened to Gamaliel. And so when they had called the apostles and beaten them, they at least got that much on them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Now there again, do you see the connotation? What were they not to preach? The name of Jesus. Now, I think had they been dealing with Paul, they would have said, Don't you ever again preach death, burial, and resurrection? Because here there are a lot of people who couldn't believe in resurrection, for one thing. But here they don't mention that. They just simply say, Don't you ever again teach in the name of Jesus? So they departed, verse 41, from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. And then 42, And daily, where? In the temple. See? The temple is still operating. The temple is still the center of Jewish life. That hasn't changed. Oh, I want you to see that. Now, when we get to Paul, I know there's going to be a time or two where he's going to take a Jewish vow, and he's going to become a Jew, an orderly Jew. But see, Paul has nothing to do with the temple in his missionary journeys. He doesn't tell his new converts up there in Asia Minor, which is present day Turkey, Now, you be sure and get to the temple the first chance you get. No, he doesn't do that. But instead, what does he do? He sets up little congregations of believers in homes. Small little groups of believers. You know, we were talking the other night. For 20 some years now, I have been, I think, blessed to the Lord in teaching these small groups outside of the church environment. And I'm not against the church. Not at all. And those of you who know me personally know that. I have never told anyone to quit going to their church or whatever it is. In fact, I've had a lady ask me not too long ago again, what should I do? Oh, I haven't got time. Maybe I do. I'll take it. Quite a few years ago, we were still teaching in a college here in Oklahoma. An evening class in their adult education section. And we always had a paid enrollment of between 40 and 45 people in that college classroom. Taught there for 13 years. Just exactly the way I teach to you. No opposition. And the dean of academics would come whenever he could. He and his wife. And so he heard me teach. He knew what I was teaching. But he told me one night after class, he says, you know, Les, I had an interesting experience several weeks ago. He says, my own pastor stopped me on the street. Now I can say this because all the players are gone. They're no longer around. I don't even know where they've gone. But he said, my own pastor stopped me on the street one night. And he said, Doctor, he said, what kind of a kooky Bible class do you have out there anyway? Because he said, if you've got a Bible class in a college such as yours, it must be just a bunch of kooks. And he says, you know, I didn't even try to argue the point with him. I just said, well, pastor, I'm going to make a point to get a roster of Les's class. And I'm going to carry it in my coat pocket. And the next time I see you, I'm going to show it to you. And so he says, it wasn't but about three days later. And he says, I met him on the street again. And I said, oh, by the way, pastor, that kooky Bible class you were asking about, here's his roster of class people. Now we had a mix of college students and adults. And he says, he went down that roster and he said, he almost turned pale. And he said, that's most of my deacons and Sunday school teachers. But see, this is exactly what most of my classes have been. Most of you are active in your various churches. I have never encouraged anyone to leave their particular church. And they certainly don't have to leave to follow me. All we teach for is so that they can go in and teach and share these things with other folk. Because after all, all right, but getting back to the original church, Paul didn't set up huge edifices on a corner someplace. He set up a little group of believers in a home. Well, what I was really going to say, and I've come to the conclusion that maybe there's a reason. And I'm not alone. There are many that are teaching these little small home Bible classes. And I'm always reminded of Watchman Nee. Now some of you may have heard of him and some of you may have never heard of him. But Watchman Nee was a Bible teacher in China just before the communists took over. And Watchman Nee did much the same as I and many others do. And he never taught that much in the local organized church. He taught in little home Bible studies, all over Shanghai in particular. And he was preparing them without their knowing it for the day when the organized church doors were locked. But these little Bible studies could just continue on. And consequently, when we came back into China a few years ago and the doors had kind of opened, the western world was aghast for all the believers that were still in China. Why? Because these little home Bible studies went underground, yeah. But they didn't destroy them. But they did destroy the organized church. And we may face the same thing someday where our churches will be locked and we will be forbidden. But oh, listen, they're going to have a hard time stopping three or four families meeting together in their own home. But anyhow, that's how the church started. It was not huge congregations. It was just a few meeting in a home atmosphere. But here in verse 42, they are still meeting where? In the temple. They're still under Judaism. But they have separated themselves from the mainstream of Judaism by recognizing who Jesus was. Now remember, they've been selling all their goods, all their land, they're cashing in their CDs, and they're putting all their money in the common kitty, and they're all living out of it. Now everything has been going just hunky-dory for about, where are we now? We're about seven years after Pentecost. Seven years. And things have just been going great. No discord. No disagreement of doctrine. The twelve are under complete control of the whole thing. And now in chapter 6, I call it the first signs of trouble in paradise. Now look at it. Verse 1. In those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, in other words, these Jewish believers, coming in, quite a few thousand of them, there arose a what? Murmuring. Now you haven't seen language like that in the first five chapters. It said they were all of one mind, all of one accord, no one lacked, everybody had all they needed, because the kitty was full. But I don't imagine they had 20% interest in those days either, and so what happened? Hey, the kitty was getting a little short. Now, murmuring. See? Here's the first sign of trouble. And so there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews. Now here's where we have to be careful. Definition again. That's all important. A Grecian was simply a non-Palestine what? Jew. See? Greeks are pure and divine Gentiles. Hebrews, of course, that's self-explanatory. That's the Jew. But this word Grecian, don't let that throw a curve at you. These are non-Palestine Jews. In other words, you want to remember that ever since 606 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar came and took Israel captive back to Babylon, only a few thousand came back to Jerusalem and reestablished temple worship and got the nation in place for the coming of Christ at His first advent. What happened to all the rest of them? Well, they assimilated throughout that whole Gentile part of what was now the Roman Empire. And after they had become assimilated in these various nations, naturally what did they do? They took that nation's language, that nation's customs, although they kept their Judaistic practices. Now those people, when they would come to Jerusalem then, they were the Grecians. They were Jews, but they had been a generation or two outside of the land of Palestine. So, the Grecian widows, the non-Palestinian Jewish widows, were being what? Hey, they were being cheated. See, they were kind of being pushed aside. They were outsiders, I guess we'd say, in American language. And so they were neglected in the daily ministration. In other words, they had the daily dole of their food and clothing, whatever they needed. Verse 2, then the twelve. You see how clear all this is? Who is in control? The twelve. And Peter is the headman of the twelve. And so then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them and said, It is not reason that we should leave the Word of God and serve tables. Now I know a lot of Bibles will say the first deacons. Hey, the Bible doesn't call these guys deacons. Now they played much the same role as a deacon, but the Bible doesn't call them deacons. It just says that, listen, we've got to have somebody to serve tables so that we don't have to. We've got to preach the Word. Read on. Verse 3, Wherefore brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Spirit. Now watch this language. Seven men, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. What business? Of taking care of the physical need of these people, so that these non-Palestinian Jews wouldn't be slighted. We've got to bring back fairness. Verse 4, But the twelve said, We will give ourselves continually to prayer and to the ministry of the Word. Verse 5, And the saying pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen a man, now watch this, full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicholas, a proselyte of Antioch, whom they set before the apostles, and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them. And the word of God increased, and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly. In other words, these Jews were responding to Peter and the eleven, and they're becoming part of what I call that Jerusalem assembly of Jewish believers. Alright, read on. Verse 8, Stephen, full of faith and power, what does he do? Wonders and miracles. Anything a lot different? No, just still a continuation of that same Jewish program. Then there arose, verse 9, certain of the synagogue, which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians, and Alexandrians, and of them the Cilicia, and Asia, disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit by which he spoke. And then they suborned men, or invited men to come in, who said, We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses, and against God. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and they came upon him, and caught him. In other words, they literally almost like a mob, like a lynching mob, they grabbed Stephen, and they again brought him before the religious leaders, the council. And they set up false witnesses, who said, This man ceaseth not to speak blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law. For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. Now, what has Stephen been talking about? The coming of the King, and the Kingdom. And naturally, when the King would come, this whole format of the Mosaic system of law, and temple worship, would fall by the wayside, because the King would come in. The New Covenant would become a reality, and they would no longer have to study and witness. Everybody would be in right relationship with God. And when Stephen, and the rest of these Jewish believers were proclaiming that, the religious section of Judaism said, Hey, no way! We're not going to let anything change the way we have always done things. 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 Your help 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.