Disclaimer: This transcription is provided for informational purposes, reference, and convenience. Please note that it may contain errors, omissions, or spelling mistakes due to the nature of live audio transcriptions. While we strive for accuracy, this document should not be considered a fully authoritative record of the sermon. For clarification, we recommend referring to the original source. Thank you for your understanding and patience. 

I would encourage you to take the infallible record of the Word of God and turn to the Book of Acts. This morning we continue our verse-by-verse study of this historical account of the early church, and from it we glean much with respect to how we are to function as people and as a church. This is actually part two of what I began last week, and the title of my discourse again to you is "Essentials of a True Church."

Last week, you may recall that we pressed our noses and our faces against the glass of the early church, and we were able to kind of peer inside-not so much just their worship services, but their lives. We were able to see the new church that was birthed in Jerusalem, a church that was as yet untainted by human wickedness and all of the deceptions of man, it was pristine in its purity and in its devotion. And as we watched and as we listened, we discovered first of all that they were committed to six very well-defined spiritual priorities. We learned that they were devoted to doctrine, to fellowship, to Christ, to purity, to unity, and to prayer. And these, of course, will always be the defining characteristics of a Christ-honoring church. Don't think of it necessarily as those things that need to be a part of a worship service, even though at some level they should be, but these are primarily the defining characteristics of the people of the church of the living God. And wherever these six priorities define the great tap roots of the church, that noble tree will inevitably bear much spiritual fruit; and we're going to see that fruit today as we continue to look and see what happened in those early days. We will see that not only were they committed to six well-defined spiritual priorities, but also they manifested six measurable spiritual fruits. And as we will see, these will be unmistakably obvious. They will define the character of the people of the Lord and thus glorify Christ. Let me give them to you, and then we will look at them more closely. The six measurable spiritual fruits will be: first of all, a fear of God; secondly, a supernatural power; thirdly, a sacrificial oneness. Fourthly, a lasting joy. Fifthly, they will manifest a godly reputation. And finally, you will see a pattern of genuine conversions.

These were the first fruits of Pentecost, my friends. And frankly, whenever these fruits are missing in the life of someone that calls themselves a Christian, you can be sure that one or more of the six spiritual priorities are being neglected; one of those great tap roots have been severed, and so I would challenge you this morning to examine your life against what we see here today, as together we examine the lives of our brethren in Christ in this yet unblemished church. Follow along as I read the text this morning, beginning in verse 42 that we looked at last week, and then we will focus exclusively on verses 43 through 47, beginning with verse 42 of Acts 2,

"And they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

"and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need.

"And day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,

"praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."

"And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

So let's notice first the glorious fruit that they bore. Number one, they had a fear of God. Verse 43, the text reads, "And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe...." The word "awe" in the original language is "phobos." We get our word "phobia" from it, and it carries with it the idea of fear, of dread, of being frightened; and the context here would indicate that they were trembling with a reverential respect, a reverential awe, because folks they were watching God at work.

They trembled with fear as they watched what God was doing, and this is as it should be. God spoke through Isaiah in chapter eight, verse 13, saying, "The Lord of hosts, Him you shall hallow. Let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread." As we study the fear of God, we learn many things, and I'll tap into just a few for a moment. But when we look at Scripture, we see that it is the fear of God's judgment that is essential to salvation. We read in Psalm 145, verse 19, that, "He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and save them." We also read in Revelation chapter 14 and verse 7 - the context there being the angel of God is calling the world to repentance during the time of the tribulation, calling them to belief in Christ, who is the avenging Lamb - saying with a loud voice, "'Fear God and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment has come; and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and springs of water.'"

The fear of God is also at the heart of evangelism. The Apostle Paul tells us in Second Corinthians 5:11, "Knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade men" The fear of God is also indispensable to true Christian worship. The psalmist tells us in Psalm 89, verse seven, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be held in reverence by all those around Him. Indeed, worship, especially in the sanctuary, is no place for jokes. It's no place for the frivolous meanderings of the world, there's no place to talk about things of earth, but rather things of heaven. The fear of God is also crucial for selfless service to God. We read this, for example, in Psalm 2:11, "Serve the Lord with fear, we're told, "and rejoice with trembling."

Now, beloved, keep in mind that these early saints did something that, frankly, many people in our circles today know little of. They feared the Lord. You see, they had witnessed the miraculous works of God at Pentecost. They had also understood the glorious gospel of Christ in light of God's judgment upon their sin. They trembled as they saw their own wickedness in light of a holy God, as they saw the sword of divine justice looming over their head, and they understood what it was to cry out to a holy God for mercy, and to flee from his wrath, and call upon the name of the Lord. These early saints bowed before a holy God in repentant faith, and now on top of all of this, they were beholding the many wonders and signs that were taking place through the apostles.

Now let me pause for a moment and ask you: Do you fear God? If you have never confessed your sin and cried out for him to forgive you, you don't fear him. If you claim to be a Christian yet you live in habitual sin and you do so with impunity, you do not fear God. If you love the world and yourself more than you love God, you do not fear God. If you have no desire to know him through his Word, if you have no desire to have a secret devotion to him in your life, if you have no desire to meet with him regularly, as you commune with him in prayer, you have no fear of God. If you have no fear of his judgments, if you do not fear his divine chastening in your life, you have no fear of God. In fact, the Bible says that you are a fool, because we read in Proverbs 1:7, that, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. But fools despise wisdom and instruction." How sad! As you think about it, people fear all manner of things, yet refuse to fear God. Just think of our culture for a second. People are constantly afraid of terrorist attacks. They're afraid of Islamic extremists. They're afraid of a nuclear holocaust. They're afraid of global warming. They're afraid of the bird virus. They're afraid of the collapse of the economy, illegal immigration. On and on it goes. People are afraid of being lonely. They're afraid of poverty and old age. They're afraid of disease. They're afraid of death.

All the things that are a part of life this side of eternity, but they're not afraid of that which lies beyond the grave, because they do not fear God. Jesus warned in Matthew 10:28 "'Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him, who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.'" Some might ask, "Pastor, how can I really learn to fear God in a deeper way?" Well, first of all, you have to come to Christ in repentant faith and be saved from your sin and from the judgment that would await you, because the wrath of God abides on you. But for those of you who know Christ and love him and want to develop an even deeper fear of the Lord, you need to cry out to him in sincere and persistent prayer, and immerse yourselves in the glorious truths of his Word. In fact, we read in Psalm 86:11, the psalmist doing this very thing, he cries out, "Teach me Your way, O Lord. I will walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name." And likewise, in Proverbs two, beginning at verse three, the Spirit of God speaks to us, saying, yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. It's sad. I witness people every week who do not fear God. I interact with them. Some of them are in this room. People who claim to know Christ, but yet they do not walk in a reverential fear of the Lord their God, and that's proven by the lives they choose to live. Sometimes I can even witness it here in our worship services. Unfortunately, it's not common, but occasionally I see people in the house of the Lord where his Word is being delivered, and they're giggling, they're talking, they're playing games on their cell phones. They get up and they go into the room back there with the mothers that are trying to worship, and they interrupt them, talk, and carry on, and sadly, some don't even come to worship. Beloved, those are all manifestations of people who do not fear the Lord their God. We would do well to remember the premium that God places on the priority of humbling ourselves even before the preaching of his Word. I think of Isaiah chapter 66 and verse two. God says, "But to this one I will look." And the context there is he's asking, "What can you do to to impress me? Absolutely nothing. But this is what gains my undivided attention. You want God's undivided attention in your life? Listen to what he says. "To this one I will look to Him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word." There's the fear of the Lord. We tremble at his word because we fear God with a reverential awe, and we know that his transcendent holiness is revealed to us in the glory of His word. And as we humble ourselves before the Word, we know more of the Living God, and we love him more. We understand him more. We know more of how to serve and glorify him, and we also know, therefore, that when we fail to do so, he promises to chasten those whom he loves; and there again the fear motivates us to godly living.

So the first fruit that they bore was the fear of God and all the blessings of it, dear friends. I think of Proverbs 19 verse 23, "The fear of the Lord,"  it says, "leads to life, and he who has it will abide in satisfaction. He will not be visited with evil." So the first fruit is that of the fear of God. In fact, Luke goes on to give us other examples of how this played out in the early church, for example, in Acts 9:31 Luke gives us further insight as to the importance of the fear of the Lord in the church.  There he says, "So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria enjoyed peace, being built up;" and now catch this, "going on in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it continued to increase." That's what I want here at this church: for us to go on in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and continue to increase. Certainly, to grow spiritually, and if God wills, even physically.

But they manifested a second glorious fruit, and that is the one of supernatural power. Notice in verse 43 again, it says, "...and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles." Now, may I remind you that the term "wonders" is one that expresses the awe that fills one's mind. Certainly, in this context, when they beheld the miracles of God, when they saw the power of God being manifested in the context of all that he was doing. And a sign is simply a sign. A sign is something that points to something, and here it describes the purpose of the miracles, namely to point to the deity of Christ, to the power of his revealed Word, and the fact that people need to listen to the messengers who were being authenticated by the miracles.

You might remember when earlier Peter had said in his sermon in verse 22, "'Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know-" So there again, we are reminded of how God used miracles - miraculous power - to prove that Jesus was the Messiah, he was "attested to you by God." Attested in the original language means to display or exhibit something for the purpose of authentication or confirmation. And so God displayed his Son before the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, in human flesh, and he authenticated - he proved - his deity with miracles and wonders and signs, which God performed through him. And of course, now this continued even after Christ ascended back into glory through the apostles, through the miracles that they performed; and those miracles were signs that authenticated both the message as well as the messenger, and so these early saints were awestruck as they experienced a sense of God's presence amongst them, and the supernatural power of Almighty God enveloped their worship and empowered their lives.

Now, some might say, "Well, yes, but how can we experience the same type of thing? We no longer witness apostolic power in the same way." Well, it's true, not in the same way. The canon is closed. Those types of signs and wonders no longer would have a purpose, but we can experience that and we do, I would submit to you, in an even greater way. In fact, Jesus promised this in John 14:12 He said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go to the Father." Now, what was he talking about? Well, he was saying because of what the Father has promised to do for you and in you when I depart, when he sends you the indwelling Spirit of God - and he goes on to explain that by the way in John 14 verse 16 and following - because of all of this, you're going to be able to do even greater works in the spiritual realm. You see, keep in mind, even when Jesus said that the disciples already possessed the miracle-working power to perform signs and wonders. They already had that, but they did not have the indwelling Spirit of God, and so they lacked, shall we say, the lesser power to perform miracles in the physical realm, or I should say that they had the lesser power to perform miracles in the physical realm, but they as yet did not have the greater power that would lead to even greater miracles in the spiritual realm.

As I was thinking about this, I was reminded that prior to Christ's death and his resurrection and his ascension, remember there was this great wall of separation that existed between the Jews and the Gentiles; and what an exceedingly glorious miracle it was to bring Jews and Gentiles together in one body. You know we take things like that for granted. We just kind of read that and think, well, yeah, okay, that happened. But friends, to bring them together into one body, this glorious organism of the body of Christ, I mean, that's a miracle of miracles. In fact, as we go on to read in Acts, we're going to to read more of how Gentiles were converted and added to the body of Christ. And you might recall that later in the life of the church, the Apostle Paul speaks to this issue. And I wanted to just read you this passage out of Ephesians two. We read that the Gentiles were separated from Christ. This is Ephesians two, beginning in verse 12. They were separated from Christ, "...excluded from the commonwealth of Israel.," he says, "and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world." Now, friends, I am a person whose roots are ultimately from Scotland and Ireland. I am a Gentile, and a lot of my family married Cherokee Indians. So I don't know what all I am, but I know I was not a Jew, and I was excluded from those glorious things. But there was a miracle that took place through the power of God and his Spirit that would allow me and my family, and probably most of you, to experience the covenant of grace. And he goes on to say that you were "strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus..." in other words, after Christ's great atoning work and ascension back into heaven, and then after the Holy Spirit was poured out into the lives of the saints, this glorious miracle, he says,

"Now in Christ Jesus, you who were formerly far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

"For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall,

"by abolishing in His flesh the enmity which is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace,

"and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross by it having put to death the enmity.

"And He came and preached peace to you who were far away, and peace to those who were near;"

In other words, to the Gentiles and to the Jews,

"for through Him we both have our access in one Spirit to the Father. S

"So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household,

"having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone,

"in whom the whole building being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord,

"in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."

And the point being, the greater miracle happened after Jesus ascended, and the Father's promise came true; the Spirit of God came down. The people were saved. Jews and Gentiles were brought together into the body of Christ. Dear friends, what a miracle of miracles! And think about it. What a miracle to see a person come to a saving knowledge of Christ. To see that glorious transformation, when that spiritual cadaver suddenly begins to breathe, suddenly begins to see the wretchedness of their sin and the glories of the Savior. Friends, that is a miracle that we should never take for granted. When the blind begin to see and the deaf begin to hear when a person who was dead in their sins begins to have a new heart and a new song and a new mind.

When there's this glorious transformation that occurs, when a person becomes a new creature in Christ and the old things pass away and the new things come, and you see a person who was absolutely enslaved by their sin suddenly began to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. That is a miracle of miracles. This is indeed a greater work than even Jesus' physical miracles. This is a miracle in the spiritual realm, that would have been impossible, apart from the Lord's atoning work on the cross, his ascension back into heaven, and the Father's gift of the indwelling Spirit of God. Oh, dear child of God, never, never, never underestimate the miracle of the new birth, where sinners are snatched from the clutches of Satan, when they are taken out of the kingdom of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of light, when they become new creatures in Christ.

Well, this will be the second glorious fruit of people who fear God. It begins by fearing God, and then their life and certainly their church will be marked by the supernatural power of God that transforms sinners into saints and conforms them to the image of Christ. Not to mention a power that providentially orchestrates all of the events in the lives of those people to accomplish the glorious purposes of the living God.

Well, thirdly, they had the fruit, as well, of sacrificial oneness. Notice in verse 44 and verse 45,we read, "And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need." Now it's important for you to understand here: the tense of the verbs indicate that this was not some mandated mass sale that occurred one time. It's not what the text would indicate, but rather this was an ongoing event. It was the type of thing that occurred from time to time. It was voluntary. It was spontaneous-a spontaneous selling of various items - in order to help other Christians in need. I want you to understand: God is not here promoting some type of communal living, but rather he's promoting compassionate giving. Now you must remember for many of those new converts coming to Christ, the cost of discipleship was extremely high. Many of them lost their families. They were no longer allowed in their homes. Many of them lost their jobs, their source of revenue. They lost their inheritance. Some of them later on, we know, even lost their lives. It says, "But all of those who had believed were together and had all things in common." And so, what we see here is that, in light of these great needs, there was a sacrificial oneness. You see, these people understood spiritual unity. They understood the importance of being stewards of all that God had given them. It's funny. It's kind of like when you really understand spiritual truth, material things don't mean all that much to you. I mean, you know, you need enough to get by, you need enough to eat, and so on, but you're more concerned about others, and because they loved their brothers and sisters in Christ, they naturally did all they could to meet their physical needs.

And beloved, I want to digress just for a moment. Such is always the heart of Christian giving. You see, this is not an attitude of, well, you know what, there's people out there in need. We're just going to let the church benevolence fund just kind of take care of that. No, I mean these people actually rolled up their sleeves and they got involved. This was a personal, compassionate kind of giving. This was not as well some attitude that many would have, "Well, I just need to give my 10% tithe and and fulfill my duty and my obligation before the Lord, and then let God take care of that." Unfortunately, that is a misunderstanding that comes out of a poor understanding of required giving in the Old Testament under a theocracy, under the Mosaic Law. In fact, if we were to look at that, we would see that the Jews were taxed about 25 percent of their income. In fact, it could be a little bit more if you looked at certain things. And sometimes people think that part of their tax needs to be carried over into the New Testament, but that's not true. You do not see that in the New Testament. It's for this reason you will not see any requirement on giving in the New Testament in terms of a specific amount, and unfortunately, well-meaning Christians have unwittingly, and I would also say arbitrarily, transported certain elements of the Mosaic Law to the exclusion of others into New Testament living to somehow justify that position. Now, as a footnote here, there's nothing wrong with giving 10%, I mean, we need to be organized. For some people, that's too much. For a lot of people, that's way too little. But what is wrong - the problem comes - is when you insist that God requires it. And I've heard people fight over well, 10% of gross, or it's 10% of net, or you could do like some of the apostate religions do, even like Mormonism, that cult where they actually take your IRS information and they calculate what your 10% is, and they force you to write those checks. By the way, that's why they have a lot of money, but that is not at the heart of Christian giving any more than the 10% tithe. That not only violates the principles of free will giving from the heart, that was at the very heart of Old Testament as well as New Testament giving, because by the way the Jews would give 25% as their taxation, and some of that include various kinds of tithes, and then on top of that, they gave their free will giving from the heart, and that's what we do. We pay our taxes, and we know that even our American tax base is based on much of ancient Mosaic law, interestingly enough. But we don't want to frustrate the doctrines of grace. My friends, may I say we are under grace; we are not under law. In Second Corinthians nine, the Apostle Paul summarizes the principles of New Testament giving, and this is certainly the heart of those early saints. He says,

"Now this I say, he who sows sparingly shall also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully shall also reap bountifully.

"Let each one do just as he purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver."

If we were to take time, we would see in the New Testament that our giving should be generous, it should be cheerful, it should be spontaneous, it should be sacrificial, and we even read that it needs to be systematic. It needs to be regular. It even needs to be on a weekly basis, every Sunday. And the priority needs to be the local church. We see this, for example, in First Corinthians 16:2 Some people say, "Well, you know, I get paid once a month. Can't I just give once a month?" Well, yeah, you can, but you know what I would encourage you to do, and this is certainly my heart and the practice of my family, is to divide that up and give it every week. Because friends, you must understand that true giving is an act of worship. I want to participate in worship. When that plate comes around, I want to worship the Lord, and regular, systematic giving is a perpetual reminder of the way that God has lavished his goodness and his grace upon us, as well as a perpetual reminder of the stewardship responsibility that we have before the Lord, that which we have does not belong to us. We are managing his funds. The early saints understood that. Unfortunately, many people spend all of the Lord's money on themselves, and then they turn around and give their 10% and think, "Well, boy, I fulfilled my obligation. Let's move on down the road." And some spend all the money on themselves and don't give anything. In fact, I understand that the average evangelical giver gives about 2-3% of their income. Well, if that is you and you're mismanaging the Lord's funds, may I just say to you, he's going to chasten you for it, and I just warn you to that end.

Jesus spoke to this in Luke 16. In fact, we need to understand, beloved, that we cannot outgive God. And again, early saints they understood this; they didn't need to be taught this.  They had a fear of God. The power of God was flowing through them. I think of our Lord's word in words in Luke 6:38. He says, "Give, and it will be given to you." He goes on to say, "He will pour into your lap a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over." It's not like our cereal boxes that are this big and it's got that much cereal. I mean, this is all the way up to the top, and it's pushed in there. It's kind of like you know when you go get Chinese food, and they give you those little boxes, and you open them up, and stuff just kind of explodes out of the box. That's the way God gives. He goes on to say, "For by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you in return."

Another fascinating footnote in this light, in the Lord's parable of the unjust servant in Luke 16, Jesus tells us something very interesting. He tells us that by investing in the kingdom of God through our giving, that we are going to make friends, many of which we will never see in glory, but they will be waiting for us to greet us when we enter. So, really, a fascinating concept. And these will be new believers. You know, we give, and God takes that money, and he uses it for his glorious purposes. People come to Christ. I think of the people that have come to Christ through the various ministries of this church. We don't know most of those people. Someday we will. They will be waiting to greet us when we arrive. Jesus says in Luke 16:9, "'And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into the eternal dwellings.'" Bottom lines, friends, learn to store up your treasure in heaven. Make that your investment. And frankly, all through the New Testament, we see that the faithful use of our material wealth is linked to the accumulation of treasure in heaven, and we need to keep that in mind.

So, since these early saints were devoted in their spiritual priorities to doctrine and fellowship and Christ and purity and unity and prayer, they were manifesting first of all the fruit of fearing God, which resulted in more fruit; the spiritual power, the supernatural power that flowed from them, producing a sacrificial oneness, and so these folks didn't need to be prodded to give or confronted for being poor stewards. And sadly, whenever I see that in the lives of people I know, that some of those other great spiritual priorities are missing.

Well, we see the evidence of this in the fourth fruit on our little list. They had a lasting joy. Notice in verse 46 and 47, it says,

"And and day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,”

"praising God." Isn't that interesting? "And day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple." In other words, they had doctrinal as well as relational unity, and they were bringing all of this into the temple, the Jews there had not yet kind of excommunicated them. They were still able to go there, and they were certainly giving testimony of the gospel of grace and their deep love for God. People could see that in their lives. They could see that in how they were loving their other brothers and sisters in Christ. Frankly, they were a living illustration of the fulfillment of the first and the second commandment. They loved the Lord their God with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength, and they loved their neighbor as much as they loved themselves. See, and it says they were "breaking bread from house to house," that's a reference to communion. They were taking their meals together, and it was customary for them to have a love feast to accompany communion and other activities in the church. We have that here as well.

And it says "with gladness." The original language is the idea of with heartfelt rejoicing, with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God. You see, friends, these folks had a lasting joy. They did not have a fleeting joy that somehow shackled to circumstances, where if life's going good, then I feel good and I have great joy. But when life's not going good, my joy is gone. That's not what they experienced. They had a lasting joy that transcended the circumstances of life, and I rejoice when I think of this church, the testimony of this church, and what a wonderful testimony I believe that you people have.

Transcription not available for this part of sermon.

.....Aristides commented about the first saints in a work entitled The Apology of Aristides. I want to read this to you. It's a bit of a long quote, but it's, I think, very, very appropriate. And as I read this, again coming from a person who witnessed the early church right there in the first part of the second century, I want you to notice the difference between the purity of the early church and the worldliness that has invaded neo-evangelicalism today. Here's what he had to say, and I quote:

"Now the Christians, O King, by going about and seeking, have found the truth, for they know and trust in God, the Maker of heaven and earth, who has no fellow. From Him they received those commandments which they have engraved on their minds, and which they observe in the hope and expectation of the world to come. For this reason, they do not commit adultery or immorality, they do not bear false witness or embezzle, nor do they covet what is not theirs. They honor father and mother and do good to those who are their neighbors. Whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols made in the image of man. Whatever they do not wish that others should do to them, they in turn do not do, and they do not eat the food sacrificed to idols. Those who oppress them, they exhort and make them their friends. They do good to their enemies. Their wives, O King, are pure as virgins, and their daughters are modest. Their men abstain from all unlawful sexual contact and from impurity, in the hope of recompense that is to come in another world. As for their bondmen and bondwomen and their children, if there are any, they persuade them to become Christians. And when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They refuse to worship strange gods, and they go their way in all humility and cheerfulness, falsehood is not found among them. They love one another. The widow's needs are not ignored, and they rescue the orphan from the person who does him violence. He who has, gives to him who has not, ungrudgingly and without boasting. When the Christians find a stranger, they bring him to their homes and rejoice over him as a true brother. They do not call brothers those who are bound by blood ties alone, but those who are brethren after the Spirit and in God. When one of their poor passes away from the world, each provides for his burial according to his ability. If they hear of any of their number who are imprisoned or oppressed for the name of the Messiah, they all provide for his needs, and if it is possible to redeem him, they set him free. If they find poverty in their midst and they do not have spare food, they fast two or three days in order that the needy might be supplied with the necessities. They observe scrupulously the commandments of their Messiah, living honestly and soberly as the Lord their God ordered them. Every morning and every hour, they praise and thank God for His goodness to them and for their food and drink. They offer thanksgiving." And finally, he says, "If any righteous person of their number passes away from the world, they rejoice and thank God, and escort his body as if he were setting out from one place to another nearby. When a child is born to one of them, they praise God. If it dies in infancy, they thank God the more, as for one who has passed through the world without sins, but if one of them dies in his iniquity or in his sins, they grieve bitterly and sorrow as over one who is about to meet his doom. Such, O King, is the commandment given to the Christians, and such is their conduct."

What a marvelous testimony of those people who had a fear of God, and therefore had a supernatural power, a sacrificial oneness, a lasting joy, a godly reputation. And the Holy Spirit used their testimony to finally adorn the gospel of Christ, as we look at their sixth and final fruit, and that is they had a pattern of genuine conversions.

Notice verse 47, "And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved." Friends, I want you to notice it was the Lord, not the techniques of man, that added to their number day by day those who are being saved. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. That is our responsibility. He is the one sovereign over salvation, not us. And yet he uses us in some glorious and mysterious way to sow the seeds of the gospel in word and in deed, and by the power of his Spirit, he causes those seeds to germinate. Though true converts are rare in these last days of apostasy, what you will find in a true church is a pattern of genuine conversions, and we are going to bear witness to that even today in the life of this church when we immerse seven of our own in the waters of baptism as a testimony of the work of grace that God has wrought within their souls. So I challenge you, my friends, please hear this: we all must be committed to those six spiritual priorities. We must be devoted to Bible doctrine, we must be committed to fellowship with one another, to Christ, to purity, to unity, to prayer, and as a result, there will flow from each of us a fear of God, a supernatural power, a sacrificial oneness, a lasting joy, people will see a godly reputation, and they will be attracted to the glorious gospel of Christ. And we, as a church, will experience a pattern of genuine conversions. May the Spirit of God empower us to these ends. Let's pray together.

Father, we rejoice in these glorious truths, and we pray that somehow, by the power of your Spirit, you will cause us to live consistently with them, that we might experience the fullness of joy in the One who loves us, and who has called us unto himself, we pray this in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.