"THE LORD" IN ACTS
“THE LORD” IN ACTS
Acts 9:31; Acts 2: 47; Acts 10:48; Acts 13:12
I have in mind to occupy you with the Lord, that is, with what the title conveys in this book especially, leading up to and finishing with the verse in chapter 9, and involving that He is to be feared. There are things that are especially scarce among christians, and amongst them is the fear of the Lord, and I have in mind its application to believers. All have need to fear Him, but for the moment I am thinking of believers and especially those who professedly own the Lord, those who are in the fellowship nominally of God’s Son Jesus Christ our Lord. He is our Lord. Indeed, it is one of the things we may well boast in that we have the Lord; in the language of one who loved Him, “They have taken away my Lord”, John 20: 13. So that, “To us there is ... one Lord” — only one — “Jesus Christ, by whom are all things” (1 Corinthians 8: 6), which remark opens the door into a past eternity when He perfected all things and brought all things to pass. “One Lord” is the Creator: “by whom are all things, and we by him”. For the moment the whole moral structure is out of gear, save those who are in the assembly, who have returned to righteousness, and who are “by him”, a glorious position; not simply under Him which is also true, but “by him”.
Now, having said all that, I have in mind this verse 31, that He is to be feared, and that He is especially to be feared, as we read in Psalm 89: 7, “in the assembly of the saints”. The word indeed is “council”, which makes it stronger as regards the point in hand, that the saints are constituted to take counsel in regard to matters with which they have to do, whether good or evil — and we have to do with [p. 206] both. Alas! much of our time is taken up with evil, but nevertheless it is the King’s business and counsel is of great importance. “In the multitude of counsellors there is safety” (Proverbs 11: 14), but it is such counsellors that are called saints, persons who are called out by God and constitute the assembly. These are held in great regard in heaven as those who are qualified to represent heaven here, and who learn to take counsel together. Sometimes it may be what is called “sweet counsel” which renders it enjoyable and edifying; at other times it may be dealing with hard facts involving mutual consideration and forbearance because of different minds, but with counsel prevailing. Heaven regards the results and the Lord “is greatly to be feared in the council of the saints”. We cannot disregard that position with impunity, for he that does evil, we are told, shall receive of the evil which he has done. God acts from Himself, but He loves to act through His saints, through those who form the assembly, the council of His saints, and He is to be feared, or had in reverence of all those who are round about Him; those who are in the precincts of His dwelling even have to regard Him with reverence.
Well, having all this in mind, I think it well to call attention to the Lord in positions in which He is known, in different relations and connections, because He is not to be regarded as an austere autocrat, but One we can be with. He prefers that we should learn Him in the nearness of mutual feelings and intercourse, which is also within the range of those who form the assembly, and so the first passage I would allude to is in chapter 1, where the apostle Peter refers to the Lord Jesus as coming in and going out amongst His own (verse 21). It had reference to the nomination of certain ones from whom one should be selected to occupy the place of Judas, and therefore it was not a question of authority but of acquaintance [p. 207] with the ways of the Lord in the assembly, as He came in and went out amongst them “from the baptism of John”, as Peter says, “until the day in which he was taken up from us”. The apostle should be one who had been conversant, in fact, who had assembled during all that time with the Lord’s people, who would have seen how the Lord Jesus, as Peter says, came in and went out among them. What a delightful suggestion that is! To become acquainted with the Lord Jesus, seeing how He came in and went out among them.
Now this endears Him to us, and really it is endearment to the Lord that induces reverence and subjection. It is subjection to One you love, not a difficult matter. The youngest believer ought to be capable of showing something of that. The first question ought to be whether the Lord has come into the soul as an object of affection. He comes in and goes out amongst us collectively, and He comes into a believer’s soul in His own way and makes Himself an object of affection, and so you begin to regard Him with reverence. As it says, “He is thy Lord”, and as Mary says, He is “my Lord”. He is yours, and in a way, no greater boast can be made than that you have such a One as Lord, One that comes in and goes out amongst us, and in doing so, gives us to understand that we are in affectionate relation with Him. In fact, the term “Lord Jesus” seems to involve that; it is used frequently in this book, especially by Stephen in that powerful passage, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit” (chapter 7: 59); and Paul himself says later, “No one can say, Lord Jesus, unless in the power of the Holy Spirit”, 1 Corinthians 12: 3. It is reserved, as it were, for the touch that the Holy Spirit can give in the soul of the lover of Christ — “Lord Jesus”. It is an affectionate reference, but the more you love the more readiness there is to submit, to obey. It becomes easy, so to say, to obey [p. 208] where love exists, where there is a link of affection. Well, that being so, in the passage I read in the next chapter, the Lord is taking account of persons who are objects of mercy. He is already said to be made Lord in this chapter (verse 36), not that He was not Lord. He is called Lord as here upon earth; the Lord Jesus came in and went out amongst them, but now He is made that, as if to enhance His position on high, His place of authority; He is fraught with that which should induce reverence and affectionate regard, for, as exalted, He has shed forth the Spirit. All that we have in our christian experience and all that we shall enjoy both now and for ever is due to that exaltation based on His redemptive work. “He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear”, says the apostle Peter; something visible and tangible had come into the souls of His people as positive blessing, the Holy Spirit. But then, that being so and the assembly thus formed, He is looking after persons who are objects of mercy, and every one of us is an object of mercy and a subject of mercy, “such as should be saved”. It is a very great thought to get into the soul that one should be saved. It was the divine thought. Nothing in a way subdues one more than the sense of mercy. “According to his mercy he saved us” (Titus 3: 5), being the elect. The Lord is taking account of such. If there is one here who does not know this, I would like to urge it upon you: “such as should be saved”. I know well enough it refers to the Jewish remnant, but the principle of it applies to every one of us. It is an absolute thing, and the Lord is taking account of such and adding them to the church.
Now, this is a very important bit of the truth, and it brings the Lord peculiarly before us. I am speaking of it because I want to lead up to chapter 9, that we might see how the Lord is entitled on moral grounds to be reverenced and feared. He is entitled to it as [p. 209] being God, but He is entitled to it on moral grounds, and this ought to appeal to us peculiarly. So He is adding. There may be some here who have never got beyond the simple thought of being a unit as a christian, who have never had the thought of being added by the Lord to anything, or incorporated in the assembly, or put into the body of Christ. There may be such here, and I would like to address them, because they are missing much. The Lord has that to which He can add, and He is adding. Now the word “add” or “adding” or “added” is used seven times in this book in the most significant way, and no believer should be without the idea in his soul that he is added. That is to say, there was something here before me; I am not the first in the thing; I am not the beginning of anything. It is very beautifully put in the case of John the baptist: “After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me”, John 1: 30. It is of great importance to recognise what is before us, either historically before God or morally. A young person may have a place before me, and it is a great matter to recognise that, for after all God must have the last word in these things. So the word “add” implies there was something here before me. Indeed, the great apostle himself speaks of certain ones who were “in Christ” before him. They were not so gifted as he; he was before them in ministry and perhaps in love for Christ, but he was not before them “in Christ”; they had that advantage over him. It is well to recognise whatever advantage another may have, he is entitled to it; it is intended to keep balance.
So in verse 41 of chapter 2 we are told there were three thousand added in one day. It does not say who added them nor does it say to what they were added. It is just the great principle of being added. It is to get that into the mind. Then we are told that those people had certain traits. They were marked by perseverance in the “teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in breaking of bread and prayers”, and then there is the word that “fear was upon every soul”. The element of fear is a fine quality. You say, I thought I was brought into the liberty of sonship, but we are down here and the element of fear is of the very greatest importance, the fear of God. Then, in addition to that, signs and miracles are introduced as part of the wealth of the company, and then they were all together and had all things common, and whatever anyone had in a material way he did not regard it as his own but sold it and gave to those that had need, 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”. That is the description by the Spirit of God of those people, three thousand that were added to the others that were there.
I do urge the word “added” there, without any reference to who did it or to what they were added. The inference is plain enough, but the Holy Spirit makes no mistake when He omits words. He wants to get into your soul the thought of addition, that you are added, and then what the Lord can add to. This brings one down to a local company, that the Lord has respect for His own name, and before He can add openly, we must look to ourselves as to these traits that are mentioned here. But the fact is that He is adding; He is taking care of persons who are called “saved”, “such as should be saved”. I want you to take notice of that. It is the Lord who is doing it. Will you not let Him do it? He is doing it every day, as it says here. It is very remarkable how much we have the idea in Scripture of divine Persons working by the day, and here it is every day the Lord is adding a certain class to the assembly. The word ‘assembly’ is not there properly; it is the plain intimation that He is adding to what is described,
[p. 211] to what bears His own marks, to what corresponds with Himself. I do not want to miss whatever corresponds with that today; I want to let the Lord add me to that, because the idea of being added to it is that I am the last one. Someone is just now the last one; he is the last in that respect in that company, but the Lord has added him. Others are following him, but there is the idea of being added, and, as added, you are only a little one. Even a Paul has to learn that. The Lord said to him, “Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do”, Acts 9: 6. That meant that there were people in that city who knew a great deal more than he did. It is a very fine thing to see that others know more than you. Even a Paul has to go into the city and be told what he is to do by humble people like Ananias. He is not mentioned elsewhere in the Scriptures than in relation to Saul, so he is not a man of very great note in the testimony, but Saul has to learn from him. He would never forget that he had to learn from Ananias, and it is a very important thing for young people to come in in a simple way to be taught. You have to learn everything, and the learning is in the assembly. So that as the Lord adds you, you are the last. When Saul of Tarsus was added he was the last one there at Damascus at that particular time, but he soon acquired a place. It was left with him, and it is for all of us to go on in that way, and, as it says, purchase to ourselves “a good degree”, 1 Timothy 3: 13. Never complain about the place the brethren give you; it is your own matter; purchase to yourself a good degree and no one can take it from you. Stephen acquired it; he purchased it to himself. It is within the range of every young brother and sister to purchase to himself or herself a good degree.
That is chapter 2, and the Lord becomes peculiarly endeared to the soul that comes to see that he is put [p. 212] in relation with such an august company of people. There is not their like in the whole universe. Those people are described in the end of chapter 2 by the Holy Spirit, and there is not their like anywhere. They correspond with Christ in their traits, and what a thing it is to be added to them, and how respectful we should be in being added, in taking a lowly place, because all the light of heaven is resident there; it is the residence of grace. The first thing mentioned is that they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ teaching, which means an authoritative teaching.
That is a very fine word. You come under teaching that is authoritative to command your soul. They were taking the place of Moses; apostolic teaching means that they were representative of the Lord, and that is a good way to begin to learn to be subject, to come under authoritative teaching, teaching that commands your mind. They continued stedfastly in that.
Then, chapter 10 is to bring out the Lord as protection for the believer. Much is said of Him, especially in chapter 9. In that chapter you have more references to the Lord as such than in any other chapter of the book. There are about fifteen references to the Lord, so that you can say it is the Lord’s chapter, so to say. It is the chapter of authority, the chapter in which authority and power are employed for the protection of the assembly. It is a very fine thing to get hold of, that the Lord is the Defender of the assembly. The chapter begins with the fact that Saul was breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, that is to say, he was clearly at issue with the Lord, and the sequel shows that he was not stronger. He came down and the Lord triumphed, but He triumphed in grace. He could have triumphed otherwise, for He has all power in heaven and on earth. So, the greatness of the lordship of Christ is established in chapter 9,
[p. 213] and as the gentiles are brought in in chapter 10, it says that the Holy Spirit fell on them as Peter was speaking. It was an energetic action of the Spirit taking charge of the returning gentiles, a glorious position, because we are brought in under that, and Peter says, “Can any man forbid water?” The reference has respect to what God was doing; it was not Peter’s work. Peter was preaching, but the Spirit of God did the work and laid hold of them, and fell upon them. Now Peter says, “Can any man forbid water?” as much as to say, God is doing something, and who can say no? You cannot forbid things in such circumstances. It is not a question of man’s choice; it is of God. How great is that position, to be taken hold of by God Himself, and in such a near way, too, the Holy Spirit on earth falling upon them. “Can any one forbid water”, Peter says, “that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit as we also did?” He brings them on to the full position of the saints. They are made “fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God” (Ephesians 2: 19), and Peter recognised that. God had done it, and Peter was going to ratify it by water, by baptism: “And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord”. Thus the gentiles are brought under the wing of the Lord, and our position there is fixed.
Some of us lately have considered with profit the book of Daniel; it opens up a wide scope of instruction as regards the gentile monarchies, the authority of God vested in the gentiles dating back to Nebuchadnezzar and going on to the present time. But those monarchies are viewed as wild beasts, and, taken as a whole, a monster man is the figure. How we need the protection of the Lord Jesus as these run their course, for the assembly is to come in under them. Jesus came in under them Himself. When He was put into the tomb the representative of the Roman [p. 214] power put a seal upon that tomb, but He came out of it without touching the stone. The angel rolled away the stone, not to let Jesus out, but rather to show that He had gone out. It was a question of divine power; it was a glorious position and the angel sat on the stone, and all the power of those four great monarchies could not move that angel from that stone. That is, he represents the power of Christ. It is Matthew. It is a glorious position, and baptism in the name of the Lord is that all that power is brought in for us in the way of protection, so that nothing can harm us save what that One allows. As the apostle says as the lion’s mouth is opened, “The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me; that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion”, 2 Timothy 4: 17.
I urge this chapter on all of us. As baptised, it is in the name of the Lord. It is not so much here the thing that you are introduced into: “to the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”. That is christianity; that is privilege. We are introduced into that life by baptism, but here it is “in the name of the Lord”. It is a question of power protecting us. The whole of the gentile believers, the church among the nations, would need that protection. Every one of us needs it, but we may well rest assured, for “who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” 1 Peter 3: 13. We need the comfort of that at the present time; it is a question of the Lord.
Then the “teaching of the Lord” is another feature, and I touch on that as a further inducement to reverence. This deputy, Sergius Paulus, came to see, in the course things took in Cyprus, that there was this teaching of the Lord. He was an intelligent man and knew something about teaching, and he marvelled at this teaching. I wonder if we have [p. 215] come to see the greatness of the teaching of the Lord. It is not now the apostles’ teaching; that is not the point, but the Lord’s teaching. It was that kind of thing, and the deputy himself knew it was something different from anything he had ever heard. All the colleges of Rome could not afford anything like it, nor could the scribes and doctors at Jerusalem produce anything like it. The Lord taught not like them; He taught with authority, and what He taught carried its own conviction. It was heavenly, for it was the teaching of the Lord. I would that brethren would come to that, the greatness of this kind of teaching as a further inducement to subjection and the fear of the Lord.
Now I come back to verse 31 of chapter 9 so as to make an application. The Lord had done exploits. He had brought down Saul, the great enemy of the assembly, for, mark you, it is a question of the assembly. Satan had his eye on the assembly, and let us be assured that this has not abated one iota. The assembly is the supreme object of God as here on earth, and whatever the broken conditions, God greatly values our adherence to it. The fellowship involved in it is the greatest on earth, and the gates of hades shall not prevail against it. That may seem paradoxical, but it is true, that those who stand by the assembly will go through; the Lord will stand by them and see them through. Our safety lies in holding to it, and so you see here that Saul made havoc of the assembly. The enemy had tried to get in in chapter 5, first by endeavouring to get introduced by Ananias a lie that would make it appear that the Holy Spirit was not in the assembly. But the Lord dealt with it. Three hours afterwards, Sapphira came in with the same lie, and the apostle Peter brought in the Lord: “How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?” and she was carried out, too; they were both stricken dead, a [p. 216] solemn warning to those who would disregard the authority of the Lord in the assembly.
Saul makes havoc of the assembly, but the Lord brings him down and makes him the greatest champion of it. That is what the Lord can do, so that, all this happening, the assemblies in Judaea and Galilee and Samaria had rest. It was the Lord’s doing. Sometimes after a peculiar time of conflict, the Lord is pleased to give us rest. We can look for that; we are entitled to pray for it. You get it throughout the book of Judges that the land had rest. The Lord does it, and so here, the assemblies in Judaea and in Galilee and in Samaria — they are all bound together beautifully now — had rest. But that is not all. They “were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord ...”. It was no time to take it easy.
If the Lord gives us rest it is not to weaken any of His rights in our souls, but rather that we should continue in the things that please Him, and the first thing here that I stress is “walking in the fear of the Lord”. Then, added to that, they were multiplied in the comfort of the Holy Spirit. The two things go together. If the Lord is pleased to give us rest, our security lies in walking in His fear, and then the Spirit comes in with His comfort.
There is no use in pretending to have the Holy Spirit with us aside from walking in the fear of the Lord. The Holy Spirit comes in as comfort as we recognise that. It is not slavish fear; it is a wholesome, sobering fear, a fear that is due to One who loves us supremely, who is entitled to our affections on moral grounds. I am speaking of moral grounds because of the things I have said. They are all to induce the reverence and the fear that are due to the Lord and, as I said, He is greatly to be feared in the assembly, or council, of the saints. If there is any quarrel amongst the saints, let it be a warning. Are we stronger than the Lord? The issue can only go [p. 217] one way. We had better make peace with Him and with His people. Our blessing now and for ever hinges on that. But it must be accompanied by the fear of the Lord, and then by the Spirit I can say, Lord Jesus, and people know I am saying it from the heart. It enters into all our service and our perception in the assembly. What we say is by the Spirit, but it is in the holy reverence of the Lord and then the comfort of the Spirit, as I said, so that there is multiplication. The Lord adds to that. We have those thoughts on earth today. The Lord is adding today, and there is edification and multiplication; those two things go together.