The Word Made Plain

Announcer: Welcome to the Word Made Plain with Senior Pastor Tony Clark of Calvary Chapel Newport News in Virginia. Currently, Pastor Tony is teaching a study in the book of Acts. Please open your Bibles to Acts chapter five, verses 12 through 16.

Tony Clark: Come with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter five. We're going to be looking at verses 12 through 16 as we continue to go verse by verse and chapter by chapter through the book of Acts on Sunday mornings. And you know, we're going through the book of Joshua in the Old Testament on Wednesdays and making our way through that particular book. The title of this message is "Powerful and Prayerful Church."

Father, it is with great thanks that we humble ourselves before you and your word. We pray, God, that you will bring a prophetic word that would stir our hearts. You will give us ears to hear that we will not just be hearers of your word, but we will be doers. You said this man and woman will be blessed in what they do. So God, we pray for the power of your Spirit to deliver the truth of your word to our hearts and minds in Jesus' name. Amen.

What can happen if we become a powerful and prayerful church like in the book of Acts? In other words, what are the results of a church that is pure and powerful and prayerful? I believe these verses are going to give us a glimpse into how God moves in the life of the church because we see that there is a vast difference between the church in the book of Acts and the church today. We're going to see why God moved the way he did in the early church and why we don't see that move of God today.

God demonstrated at the very beginning that he would not tolerate lying and deception in the church with the killing of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, when they agreed together to lie about the price of the land that they sold. When this happened, verse 11 says great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Now we pick up the story in verses 12 through 16. Listen to what it says there: "And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch."

Verses 13 and 14 are a parenthesis. The thought started in verse 12 with the miraculous things God did by the hand of the hands of the apostles, then this idea continues in verse 15. However, Luke the author tells us what happened when the word got out about what God did to Ananias and his wife, Sapphira. He tells us at the end of verse 12 that they were all with one accord in Solomon's Porch. Luke the author, being a physician, is into details. He tells us the place in the temple that the early church met; it was called Solomon's Porch.

Verse 13 says that none of the rest, the unbelievers, dared join them, meaning that the church was not a place for the casual follower of Jesus Christ. The early church was not a place for spiritual looky-loos to just come and just kind of look for a minute and just pop in. No, the church was for real, and they knew it was for real. So if you were going to call yourself fooling around and try to pop in church and kind of do your casual thing, this was not the church. This was not it. But the people esteemed them very highly.

It's amazing how it says that they were all with one accord. What we have today in the church is a church filled with division and unbelievers. It's been proven across the world that only 50 percent of the people who sit in any given church are believers. Only 50 percent. The rest think that they're believers, but they never came through the door of repentance. The language of those 50 percent who think that they're Christians, you ask them, "Well, when did you accept the Lord?" Watch this: "I've been a Christian my whole life."

No one is a Christian their whole life. You're a sinner your whole life. We're born sinners. No one is a Christian your whole life. You might have been going to church since you came out the womb, but that doesn't mean you're a Christian. So here, the early church was not about that at all. And the people esteemed them very highly. What we see today is that the world doesn't esteem the church highly at all. They think the church is outdated, out of touch, and judgmental. This is the view that the world has of the church today.

This is an incredible contrast between the early church and the church today. Why is it that they view us this way? Because there's no unity, there's no purity in the church, and as a result, there's no power seen in the church. Not like these verses are describing. So instead of miraculous signs being seen like we see in these verses, we have man-centered programs in the church today. We have a church where entertainment is at the root of it. I love how one pastor put it: He said instead of the feeding of the sheep, what we have is the entertainment of the goats.

He said that's what's being seen in the church today, and as a result of the purity and unity and power in the church, verse 14 says believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. Unfortunately, what we're seeing today in America is multitudes of both men and women leaving the Lord and leaving the church. The sad truth is that the US has become the third largest un-churched, un-reached people group in the world, behind China and India, with both of those countries boasting of over a billion people.

America has approximately 360 million people, and we're the third most un-reached group in the world today. Listen to this: Now people overseas are sending missionaries to America. What a contrast of events that is now taking place. This is why we need nothing less than a true revival like in the first and second Great Awakenings of the 1700s and 1800s. But it starts with us repenting of our sins and our impurity and pleading for God's holiness in our lives. We need to commit to prayer like in the 100-year Moravian revival that took place in 1727.

They took seriously the word of God. There's a verse in Leviticus that says the fire of God should never go out. So they committed to praying around the clock, 24 hours a day, seeking God. That revival and that prayer lasted 100 years. People don't realize it was the Moravian prayer of 1727 that birthed what came out of the first and second Great Awakenings under Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney. It also sparked what took place in 1857 in the Layman's Prayer Revival. They prayed every day at noon in New York, and it spread across the country.

That Moravian prayer was so powerful. They took seriously that God would stir the hearts of this world for Jesus Christ. They went out around the world to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. Watch this: They were so serious, many of them sold themselves into slavery in order to reach the slaves with the gospel of Jesus Christ. As a result of the Moravian prayer and during revivals, we see multitudes of both men and women increasingly added to the Lord like verse 14 says. Under the second Great Awakening under Finney, he went around the country speaking, but up in Rochester, New York, there was a great move of God where over 100,000 people gave their life to the Lord.

We also know that the Welsh Revival of 1904 under Evan Roberts first started by him saying, "God bend me. Bend me to your will and your way." And God bent them, and revival broke out, and he began to pray that God would save 100,000 people. If you look under the Welsh Revival, 100,000 people got saved during that time. This is how you know revival has taken place: when purity and power is seen and multitudes of both men and women are added to the Lord. Now, what happened when the apostles laid hands on the people? What were some of the miraculous signs that were done?

Verse 15 says that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. They were a pure church and a clean church, which made them a clear channel by which God could do the miraculous through them. I believe that this is why we don't see God doing the miraculous in and through the church today because we're not a clean nor a pure vessel by which God can flow through. So instead of being purified, instead of being clean, theologians back in the day said God isn't doing the miraculous today because those miracles ended at the death of the last apostle.

Those miracles ended when we got the completion of the Bible. I always say, well, what does the completion of the Bible have to do with the miraculous? Well, they say because we have the completion of the Bible, there's no more need for these kind of miraculous signs. Are you kidding me? We don't see God doing what he's doing in the book of Acts today because we're not a pure, clean, nor holy church by which God can flow through. We have a lot of impure things we're involved in, and we're involved with a lot of unclean activities.

Ephesians 5:5 says, "For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of God," let alone do the miraculous through them. In Galatians 5:19 and 20, as well as Colossians 3:5, it talks about the unclean person. I want to draw your attention to this phrase: The Greek word for unclean in these verses is akarthartos. It's an amazing word that means to be impure or unclean. However, it is a word that was used in the medical community to refer to an infected, oozing wound.

This word was used biblically to refer to any uncleanness that prevented someone from approaching God. So it means any sexual uncleanness that keeps us from approaching the Lord. In pornography, living together as husband and wife and you're not married, constantly watching movies with nudity in it will cause us to interpret God's conviction as condemnation and convince us that we can no longer approach or come to God. What happens is church attendance becomes sporadic, then not at all. Satan convinces you that you can't approach God, you rotten, unclean sinner.

Let me help you with this because there's a difference between conviction and condemnation. Conviction comes from God, and the purpose is to draw us back to him. Condemnation comes from Satan, and its purpose is to keep us from God. Now, if you are a believer and God's Holy Spirit convicts you of your sin, Satan will come along and try to turn God's conviction into condemnation. How can we know the difference? When we sin, God will convict us to bring us back to him. Satan will condemn us, especially when we're involved in uncleanness, and tell us that we can never come back to God, you dirty, unclean person.

But I'm here to tell you that you can come back to Jesus Christ, to the Cross, and to repentance. He will cleanse you from all of your uncleanness. This is what the Cross is all about. The Bible says if we confess our sins before him, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Satan will whisper and say, "You better not go to God. Why are you trying to go to church, you rotten, unclean thing? You stay away from church and stay away from God. Or if you go to God, that ceiling is coming down on you. Stay away."

That's condemnation. Conviction is God saying, "Come, let us reason together, says the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be white as wool. Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Come." God is constantly telling us and calling us to come to him for cleansing of our uncleanness. Now it says in verse 15 that they brought out the sick out into the streets, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.

We all know that there is nothing miraculous about a shadow, nor in oil, nor in the laying on of the hands, nor in the hem of Jesus' garment. These are points of contact to release our faith, like the woman with the issue of blood in Matthew 9 and verse 21. she said, "If only I can touch his garment. I see the multitudes here; I can't get to him personally, but if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made well." So for her, the hem of his garment was the point of contact to release her faith.

For these people, it was Peter's shadow. They said, "I see the multitude; I'll never get to him, but I know it's a nice sunny day out, and I guarantee if his shadow passed by, if I just get his shadow, I'm going to be made well." Let me give you an example of this. My dad had a lump on his wrist for years. He would get it surgically removed, and it would come back. He would have another operation, and it would return. He told me one day he was watching Christian TV, and a preacher said, "If you want to be healed, lay your hands on the TV."

My dad did, and the lump disappeared and never returned. Now, we all know that there is nothing magical about a TV set. It was the point of contact to release my dad's faith. Like the woman with the issue of blood and like the sick people here, my dad was healed. For some of you, as soon as you pray with someone after service, that will be the point of contact to release your faith. Then there are some of you who are a little delusional who think, "Well, if I can only get Pastor Tony to pray for me." There's nothing magical about my prayer either.

If I can only get Pastor Tony to pray for me, then I will be healed. That will be the point of contact to release your faith. Now I want to draw your attention to the beds and couches that the people brought the sick people on. The Greek word for beds is klinarion, and it's a word that refers to the beds or cots or couches that the rich people were carried on. You've seen many biblical movies where those who are royalty were carried on these couches by buff dudes. That's what this word is referring to.

Now, the couches is a different Greek word: krabatton. It describes the straw mattresses commonly used by the poor. Luke the author uses these two terms to show that both the rich and the poor sought healing from the apostles. The point is this: When God is moving, it doesn't matter what your economic standings are in the world. You want God's touch for you and for your loved ones. It doesn't matter at all. So don't envy the lifestyles of the rich and famous; they need Jesus too. They need to repent of their sin as well.

The word started to spread to the point where verse 16 says that multitudes gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed. This is why I believe that Satan is associated with uncleanness, specifically sexual uncleanness. Only Jesus can deliver someone from pornography or the sex industry, whether that is the porn industry, prostitution, or webcams where you have this need to have men gaze upon you in a sexual way. Sex trafficking—the list goes on of unclean things. Only the blood and power of Jesus can deliver you. Only Jesus.