up “on the wrong side of the tracks. In Acts, chapter three, we read of the man in the temple who was healed by a miracle through Peter. As devout, loyal Jews, Peter and John had gone to the temple at the hour of prayer. It was undoubtedly their custom. This action gave them another opportunity to preach the Gospel. Peter reminds them that Pilate was determined to release the Lord Jesus. Christ was a real prob lem for him. This confused, sinful ruler washed his hands, delivering the Lord to be crucified. Pilate was more concerned about wanting to please the crowd. What people will do to avoid unpleasantness through so cial fea r! While Pilate found no fault in Christ, he went against his own conscience, his wife and family’s views, and turned Christ over into the mob’s hands. How many testi monies have been shattered on that reef! Please the crowd! I be seech you today to desire only to please the Saviour. Christ. We find in Acts 3 that when the man was healed that people wanted to hear the message of eter nal life. The testimony was “By faith in Christ’s name this man has been made whole” (Acts 3:16). Through ignorance they had deliv ered Christ to be crucified where He suffered on the cross for our sins. In verses 19-21 Peter makes his appeal to repent that their sins might be blotted out. We see again in this section references to the in spiration of the Old Testament. Moses is quoted in verse 22. Peter states that if the Israelite nation will repent and turn to the Lord they will have their sins blotted out. The promise was that God would send Jesus back from Heaven. “The Heav C hapter F ive ter continually used every oppor tunity to preach the Gospel of
are not to subtract or add to it. It’s not to be twisted, turned or pervert ed. Paul wrote to Timothy, “The things which you have learned, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” This is the same message we must pass on today without any al teration. At the end of the chapter, we see how love caused them to give what they had to help others. This is not teaching communism as it is known in the world today, despite what oth ers may declare. The people had all things in common. Their selling of possessions was completely volun tary. No laws were passed to require it. No dictator insisted upon it. That’s not true under socialism or communism of our day. Not necessa rily did everybody do it. There’s no indication that all the disciples took part in this program. It was further a temporary action for a given situa tion. There was a spiritual angle to it in a co-operative, willing, sharing spirit. These were redeemed people who loved our Lord Jesus Christ above all else. They were indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Above all else, we should realize that it didn’t work. Acts 5 is abundant testimony to that in the case of Ananias and Sapphira. Human schemes are always destined to fail. There is a fleshly element which easily enters in. Christian leadership has to seek to alleviate suffering. We do have re sponsibilities. But there’s also a greater responsibility to give the Biblical message to a dying world. If there’s anything which will sink our country it is this idea that an indi vidual isn’t personally responsible for his moral conduct or economic welfare. The Word of God reminds us that we have responsibilities and must answer for our moral conduct. We can’t blame it on our environ ment. Wrong is wrong. It can’t be justified by saying we were brought 6
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