1027 Pentecost, Part 2 Transcription
God bless your hearts. Good morning. Well, we're going to continue to look at Acts chapter 1 as we're studying about Pentecost.
Before we get there, I got my latest magazine called "The Stand." And if you don't know, that's the arts at Valley Forge. There's a lot of history in Valley Forge. People give their lives at Valley Forge and it's right five minutes away. And sometimes people forget about it.
But this is AFA, the American family Association's production, and we subscribe to them. This is a particular ministry that is active in government. And this is where one of the places - this and Wall builders - is one of the places I go to to find out the truth of what's going on in the world.
I don't go to CNN. I don't go to Fox. I don't go to ABC, NBC, CBS. I go here because these are biblical people and they give you the truth, and they give you the got documentation to it.
And in this issue, they have a whole bunch of little articles here. This doctor wouldn't perform an abortion. Now, he was suspended right before I think he got to be a doctor because he told a 19 week old week pregnant woman that her own baby was a human being and an abortion is killing that human being. And they went and came down on him.
And you'll be happy to know that the article in blue here in the center, none of this will go on in today's service. "Church euthanizes a woman in sanctuary." So they actually - yeah, don't look at me like that; it's in here. You read it for yourself. It was a sacrifice to the devil I guess. And they killed someone right there in service because they want to help her reach over to the other side, I guess. This sort of thing.
And these are things that happen and who was the one that said to me recently something about, "Don't they learn about the stuff in seminary?" and some stuff I forget. But here's some of the stuff they learn about in mainstream seminaries.
UMC ministerial students worshiped a strange god. There is your gay pride flag. And at a March 22 pride worship service at Duke Divinity school, (That's not Daisy Duke. Because the Duke boys would be turning over in their graves with the General Lee if they read this article). I'm telling you right now. This is a different Duke. Students affirmed that dignity, faithfulness, strength of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, queer, questioning intersects, asexual, gender sexual, and cocker spaniels. (I put the cocker spaniel part in.) It's affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Any former Methodists in here?
The United Methodist Church event was sponsored by Divinity Pride, a student organization recognized on Duke's student affairs centers for sexual and gender diversity website. Master of divinity student Caroline such and such said "We're going to pray", and her prayer was to "the strange one" through the "fabulous one" and the "fluid one" in the "ever becoming one". She's confused. Another student declared that God is a "queer God". Lucky they live in the Administration of Grace, right? So these are some of the things you'll read about.
Any CRT (critical race theory); talking that kind of junk. So, if you want to keep up to date; and you want to know the truth and what's going on. Don't go to the news. Because the news, like I told you before a thousand times is nothing but the church of Satan. And they're going to fill you full of lies so that they can get you to do what they want you to do: that is obey the god of this world.
Having said that, by way of review; the last time we were together we looked at Acts chapter 1. We began to look at that. And we saw that the word "treatise" in Acts chapter 1 was a translation of the Greek word logos. We saw that logos had many different meanings, but its basic meaning was it's a word, it's communication.
And then where it says "considering the former treatise" we recognize that that was speaking about the book of Luke, the gospel of Luke; because Luke not only wrote that particular gospel ( it was authored by God but was written by Luke), but he also wrote the book of Acts.
So he referred us back to his previous writing in the gospel of Luke. Particularly he was talking about Luke chapter 29 verses 49 and following. And that particular segment of the Word talks about the day of the Ascension and Jesus was explaining to the disciples or the apostles to go and to wait in Jerusalem till they be endued with power from on high.
So at that time there were how many apostles? There were 11 because Judas betrayed the innocent blood and went out and killed himself. The Bible teaches that they were continually in the temple. In both Luke and Acts, it says there were 11 apostles at this time.
And in Acts 1:3, it says, "To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them (the disciples and the apostles) 40 days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God."
And I taught you that that a lot of people just read over that verse. They don't know what the kingdom of God is. They have an idea about it, but Jesus Christ must have known what the kingdom of God was; because for 40 days he spoke with knowledge about the things of the kingdom of God.
We saw that Luke uses that phrase "Kingdom of God" 32 times alone in his gospel. And the that's twice as much as any other gospel. We saw that "the Kingdom of God" was a central theme that Jesus Christ taught. He opened his ministry with it. He taught it throughout his ministry. He ordained 12 to go teach the kingdom. And the book of Acts begins with the teaching and of the questioning about the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is taught throughout the book of Acts. And the last chapter in the last two verses in the book of Acts we saw that Paul closes the book of Acts teaching the things concerning the kingdom of God; no man forbidding him.
We saw that the apostles were told to wait for the promise of the father. And then verse five we get to in Acts chapter one (verses 1 - 4) where it reads, "John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit (Ghost/ Spirit) not many days hence." Not many days hence.
The first four verses in the book of Acts are catching you up to date. It's a recapitulation of what has already been revealed in the book of Luke. Okay, there's no per se new revelation in the first four verses. He refers them back to the book of Luke.
You go back to Luke 22. You see, where he's talking about things on the day of the Ascension. He talks about all these things that which happen. You can find that information about in the Gospels. The first piece of new "revelation" comes in verse five because the first four verses already have existed. And he's just telling them, reminding them of it.
Verse 5 says that John baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. That makes perfect sense because baptism in the Holy Spirit was not available until the day of Pentecost.
That's why it's new revelation. It is talking about the church administration. The Administration of Grace. And he is beginning to reveal that here. He didn't tell them how many days. for those you that have to have all the things for your life to put (what are they called? that… day planners with them. What are those gizmos called on your phone. You put all your whole life down so you know what you're doing on your phone. What's that called? [a calendar?] That's a dinosaur right there. No, there's a special kind of phone you use it… Any way he didn't have one of them. A what? Yeah, a PalmPilot.
It's a PalmPilot. That's a long time ago. We didn't have computers and you're telling me that's a long time ago. Remember the beepers? You used to walk around. You are either important or drug pusher if you had a beeper in the day.
There is a different baptism. Okay, now he's talking about not a baptism in water, but the baptism with Holy Spirit. So whatever it is to be baptized with Holy Spirit equals whatever the promise of the father is. This was the day of the Ascension, okay? This is where this record's taking place. It's taking place on the day of the Ascension.
Ten days later would be the day of Pentecost. And on the day of Pentecost the promise of the father would come. We know that the promise of the father came in
ten days because we have the Word of God. They didn't know.
They didn't have to know. You know what they needed to do? They needed to obey and sit and wait and learn to trust God that he's good to his Word; that Jesus is good to his word. And that it was going to happen; and that's a good lesson for us to learn.
If you don't get something right away, set your heart on God, knowing that he's good to his Word and that it's going to come, to pass, because God doesn't lie. Jesus doesn't lie. He's the same yesterday today and forever. So you can bank on that.
Acts 1:1-5 1The former treatise [The book of Luke] have I made, O Theophilus, [beloved of God]of all that Jesus began both to do and teach,
2Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:
3To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:
4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
So if you go to Acts chapter 1 beginning in verse one it says, "The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus." I taught you that that word Theophilus, I don't believe that it's a particular individual, but it means means "beloved of God." So I believe that this the book is talking and addressing the beloved of God.
Now, here in verse four we have a tremendous truth. The Greek word for "assembled" that you get the word "assembled". According to Bullinger It means "to take into one's house or to receive one's hospitality". To receive one's hospitality is what the word "assemble" means.
It doesn't mean to assemble on the steps of the White House and protest. It doesn't mean to assemble on the street corners and hang out with your buds. It means to bring into your home and to partake of one's hospitality.
When you came in here this morning you assembled. but you didn't only assemble, you partook of the hospitality that was available to you. And what was available to you was what? food. That's part of the hospitality.
Tischendorf, who was a scholar and did a lot of work with Greek text, has a note on this particular passage. And he says "to assemble together" and he derives it from working the root of the Greek word. I'm not going to get involved about that, but this is how we come to this conclusion. Looking at the root, and that means "to eat with". To eat with; so they just weren't assembling together. They were having a meal together; having a meal together.
Now I brought this little book out that I read when I first got in the Word many years ago. It's called Light Through an Eastern Window by Bishop K C Pillai. And this man came to our country. And he taught us what we term Orientalisms. And that is understanding the culture, the idioms, the vernacular, so to speak that they would use in the East, so we could understand what it meant to the Western mind.
And on page 24. He has a chapter called "the Covenant of Salt". And he says a covenant of salt is an important thread in the fabric of the life of an Eastern person. We find this covenant mentioned in the Old Testament. And he gives us several Scripture references and quotations.
What is the covenant of salt? In the East, the taking of salt is a pledge. It's a promise of fidelity. If I come to your house and eat with you food that has been seasoned with salt, I can never betray you or do you harm. Even if you commit a crime and I'm asked to testify, I cannot because I have eaten your salt.
Perhaps I could come and I could try to persuade you to do the right thing, but I would die before I would break the covenant of salt. In fact, the penalty for doing so is death. Okay, so the covenant of salt is a big deal. And here we don't understand it. We don't practice it; but in biblical times, and even in times till this day over in the East, they practice it. They understand what the covenant of salt is.
Now salt is a preservative and in the East, they didn't have Samsung side-by-side refrigerators. Okay, you were lucky if you got ice. You had to go to a mountain and get some snow. So one of the ways that they would preserve food in the East is they would salt it.
There is a record in the Bible where it says that if the salt has lost its savor, It's no good. So it's just thrown out in the street trodden underfoot of men. What that meant was - see we got the little things called salt shakers. Not so in the East. They used to have a barrel. And they would keep their salt in a barrel and when they would wash the floor, Some of the water and they would do this every morning.
Ladies, they would wash the floors every morning and they don't have them little robots to go around and sweep for you. They had to do it manually. Some of the water would get at the base of the barrel. It was a clay earth, and the barrel over time it would leach through them in the bottom. And when you got down to the bottom of the barrel where the salt was, the salt had lost its savor.
That's what he was talking about. He said that he would take that salt and throw it out into the street because it was good for nothing. That's why the Bible teaches us that our words should be salted.
See, today you can say whatever you want. You can lie to Congress. And if you're of a particular political party they will give you a position on a movie show. So if you're of another political party, they take you out in handcuffs. That's called equal justice in our country, right?
But in the East and men and women of integrity and men and women of the
Bible: when you said something you meant it. You're supposed to mean it. That's
what it means. "Let your words be salted."
In the East when you had a meal with someone and there was salt involved; it was a special meal. Here we see that on the last day that he was with his apostles, the day of his ascension, they had a meal together. and not only did they have a meal together, they had a meal together that involved salt.
The King James version of 1611and again the one redone in 1769 places the words "eating together" in their margins. So if you have the King James version, look there and it will say "eating together".
The UBS Greek English dictionary says the word "assembled together" or "to be assembled together" means "to eat together". That's the meaning of the Greek.
Fricksburg Lexicon comes right out and says "to eat salt with". That's how they translate that word: "to eat salt with".
Acts 1:4 (Douay - Rheims) And eating together with them, he commanded them, that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but should wait for the promise of the Father,
The Douay-Rheims version of the word and the American Edition in 1899 translates Acts 1:4 as this. You see, he just wasn't there at this particular time. This wasn't just the last time that he was going to be in person with his apostles hanging out talking about the things concerning the kingdom of God. But it was the last time that he was going to get a chance to present to them what the Father wanted them to know.
And it was so important he wanted to emphasize his words. He not only emphasized his words by commanding them. He didn't ask them, "I think this is a good idea." He said "I command you." Do we know it? Not only in the Greek you can read it, but he commemorated this solemn occasion and that which was spoken about in this solemn occasion with a covenant meal of salt; that included salt.
Those guys knew and he knew. He said to them, "go unto Jerusalem, tarry there until you receive what? the promise of the father." He wanted to make sure that they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt "I am not playing games with you. You listen to me. You do this." "How is it going to be?" "Don't worry about it. You do this. Go there and wait."
That statement in itself generates a whole bunch of questions. First question being, "Well how long do I wait for?" He knew that statement was going to generate questions. You know what he wanted? He wanted obedience. He wanted commitment. He sealed it with a covenant meal of salt.
Acts 1:4 (KJV) And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.
But in here, you don't see it. They just write "they assembled together." And if you don't understand what a covenant of salt is and how important it is, and the gravity of what it infers, you will never see it.
But Jesus was an Eastern man. He had an Eastern mind. And he said to himself, "I'm gone and this is the day of the Ascension. What can I do and tell them that's going to impress upon them the severity of what I'm going to say?" And he said, "I know what I'll do." And he could have done a lot of things right? He said, "I have a covenant meal with them." And the meal included salt. And they knew that when they partook of that; that which he spoke of pertaining to the things concerning the kingdom of God; he sealed it in their minds.
And he made sure that they were going to go to Jerusalem and that they were going to wait there. And they didn't know how long, But he would make sure that they were going to wait and they were going to obey. That's how he did it.
Acts 1:4 (Aramaic) And when he had eaten bread with them, instructed them not to depart from to do and teach,…
The Peshitta - the Aramaic translation - Murdoch 1852. This is the way he translates Acts 1:4 "And when he had eaten bread with them, instructed them not to depart from Jerusalem."
Acts 1:4 (NIV) On one occasion while he was eating with them…
Even the NIV "On one occasion… on one occasion while he was eating with them…" That's how they translate "assembling together." That's how they use it.
Acts 1:4 (New Jerusalem) While at the table with them…
The New Jerusalem, "While at the table with them." What do you do at the table?
Acts 1:4 (NLT) In one of the meetings as he was eating a meal with them, he told them, "Do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you what he has promised."
And here's a great one. I love it. The New Living. This is how they translate that verse: "In one of the meetings as he was eating a meal with them. He told them, Do not leave Jerusalem until the father sends you what he has promised."
Read about that in Ephesians where it talks about the promised Holy Spirit. Well, it was promised. Okay? And that's the first time it came on the of day of Pentecost. What was coming was so important; Jesus not only commanded them to wait for the promise of the father to accentuate the point, he sealed it by a covenant meal containing salt. Isn't that amazing? That's just one little verse.
So what have we seen so far? We saw that to be "assembled together" means literally "to eat together; to have a meal together". And then we read with Bishop Pallai; he taught us about the covenant of salt and how salt was used in the meal. And it surely would been used in this meal here to bring it to a level that everybody knew what was going on, and that they would listen and obey.
We know that Tischendorf's note in his passage when translating this verse said "eating together". We saw that the King James uses the words "eating together" in their margins. We saw that one lexicon came right out and said "to eat salt with"… eat salt with! And then we look at those different translations where they come out and they say "they had a meal together", "they were eating a meal together", "to eat salt with". See?
And you see the great truth that God has for us in understanding and the great truth that Jesus Christ was endeavoring to present to his apostles about how enormous this promise (whatever it is because we haven't gotten there yet). Whatever the promise of the father is he didn't want them to miss it. He didn't want them to miss it. So we'll continue to look at Acts and we'll continue to maybe get down to another verse or two on the next Sunday. And we'll get to Pentecost sooner or later; but we'll finally let the Word of God say, and see what the covenant of salt is.
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