Acts 4. | Thru the Bible Devo. The Book of Acts.

Hello Mercy Church family.

Welcome to week four of our new Pray 365 study through the Bible.

We began the study January 1st in the book of Acts.

Each week we will study, read and pray over one chapter from the Bible.

We began January 1st with Acts 1.

Can you believe we're already in week four?

To get this week's reading, you can go to our website, wwwwearemercych and click on our Pray 365 tab.

You can also subscribe to our newsletter there or you can look at every Monday's post on social media under Mercy Church, colorado.

This week's reading gets a little bit more complicated and political, so I want to give you some background on the political and religious climate of Israel.

Today we are going to begin with a basic history of Israel, beginning with the first king, saul.

The Israelites began to cry out for a king.

God heard their cry and gave them a king.

Even though it wasn't a good idea.

He told Samuel to anoint a king for the Israelites 1 Samuel 8.

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as Israel's leader.

The name of the firstborn was Joel and the name of his second was Abesha.

They served at Beersheba, but his sons did not follow his ways.

They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice.

So all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Rama.

They said to him you are old and your sons do not follow your ways.

Now appoint a king to lead us, such as all the other nations have.

But when they said, give us a king to lead us, this displease Samuel.

So he prayed to the Lord and the Lord told him listen to all that the people are saying to you.

It is not that they have rejected you, but they have rejected me as their king, as they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day for saking me and serving other gods.

So they're going to do it to you Now.

Listen to them, but warn them solemnly and let them know what a king who will reign over them will claim us his rights.

Samuel told all the words of the Lord to the people who were asking him for a king.

He said this is what the king who will reign over you will claim us his rights.

He will take your sons and make them serve with his chariots and horses and they will run in front of his chariots.

Some he will assign as commanders of thousands and commanders of fifties and others to plow his ground and reap his harvest, and still others to make weapons of war and equipment for his chariots.

He will take your daughters to be perfumers and cooks and bakers.

He will take the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his attendants.

He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to you and his officials and attendants, your male and female servants, and the best of your cattle and donkeys he will take for his own use.

He will take a tenth of your flocks and you yourselves will be his slaves.

When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen.

But the Lord will not answer you in that day.

But the people refused to listen to Samuel.

No, they said we want a king over us.

Then we will be like all the other nations, with a king to lead us and to go out before us and to fight our battles.

When Samuel heard all that the people said, he repeated it before the Lord.

The Lord answered him listen to them and give them a king.

What the Israelites didn't realize is that they already had a king that would go out and fight for them.

If only they would have turned from their wicked ways.

So what does God do?

God gives them a king.

1 Samuel 9.

There was a Benjamin, a man of standing, whose name was Kish, son of Abbeel, the son of Zoroor, the son of Bekiroth, the son of Afayah.

Of Benjamin, kish had a son named Saul, as handsome as a young man as could be found anywhere in Israel, and he was a head taller than everyone else.

Now the donkeys belonging to Saul's father, kish, were lost.

And Kish said do his son Saul, take one of the servants with you and go look for the donkeys.

So he passed through the hill country of Ephraim and through the area called Shalisha, but they did not find them.

They went on to the district of Shalim, but the donkeys were not there.

Then he passed through the territory of Benjamin, but they did not find them.

When they had reached the district of Zup, saul said to the servant who was with them come, let's go back, or my father will stop thinking about the donkeys and start worrying about us.

But the servant replied look, in this town there is a man of God.

He is highly respected and everything he says comes true.

Let's go there now.

Perhaps he will tell us which way to take.

Saul said to the servant if we go, what can we give this man?

The food in our sacks is gone.

We have no gift to take to that man of God.

What do we have?

The servant answered him again look, I have a quarter of a shekel of silver.

I will give it to the man of God so that he will tell us what to take.

Formerly, in Israel, if someone was to inquire about God, they would say come, let us go to the seer, because the prophet of today used to be called a seer.

As they were going up the hill to the town, they met some young women coming out to draw water and they asked them is the seer here he is?

They answered he's ahead of you.

Hurry now.

He has just come to our town today, for the people have a sacrifice at the high place.

As soon as you enter the town, you will find him before he goes up to the high place to eat.

The people will not begin eating until he comes because he must bless the sacrificed.

Afterward.

Those who are invited will eat.

Go up now.

You should find him about this time.

So they went up to the town and as they were entering it, there was Samuel coming towards them on his way from the high place.

Now, the day before Saul came, the Lord revealed to Samuel about this time tomorrow I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin.

Anoint him ruler over my people, israel.

He will deliver them from the hands of the Philistines.

I have looked on my people for their cry has reached me.

When Samuel caught sight of Saul, the Lord said to him this is the man I spoke to you about.

He will govern my people.

So God asked Samuel to anoint Saul Verse Samuel 10, verse one.

Then Samuel took a flask of olive oil and poured it over Saul's head.

He kissed Saul and said I'm doing this because the Lord has appointed you to be the ruler over Israel, his special possession.

When you leave me today, you will see two men besides Rachel's tomb at Zelza, on the border of Benjamin.

They will tell you that the donkeys have been found and that your father has stopped worrying about them and is now worried about you.

He is asking have you seen my son?

When you get to the oak of Tabor, you will see three men coming towards you who are on their way to worship at Bethel.

One will be bringing three young goats, another three loaves of bread and the third will be carrying a wine skin full of wine.

They will greet you and offer you two of the loaves which you are to accept.

When you arrive at Gibbia of God, where the garrison of the Philistines is located, you will meet a band of prophets coming down from the place of worship.

They will be playing a harp, a tambourine, a flute and a lear, and they will be prophesying.

At that time, the Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you and you will prophesy with them.

You will be changed into a different person.

After these signs take place, do what must be done for the Lord.

God is with you.

Then go down to Gilgau ahead of me.

I will join you there to sacrifice burnt offerings and peace offerings.

Saul became king over all of Israel.

The United Kingdom was ruled by Saul, and then David, and then David's son Solomon.

And then Solomon began to sin and worship other idols and due to his sin he divided the kingdom.

But out of respect to David, god didn't split up the kingdom till after David's son Solomon passed away.

1 Kings 11, verse 26,.

1 Kings 11:26

Another rebel leader was Jeroboam, son of Nabat, one of Solomon's own officials.

He came from the town of Zarada in Ephraim and his mother was Zerua, a widow.

This is the story behind his rebellion.

Solomon was rebuilding the supporting terraces and repairing the walls of the city of his father, david.

Jeroboam was a very capable young man and when Solomon saw how industrious he was, he put him in charge of the labor force from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the descendants of Joseph.

One day, as Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, the prophet Ahesia from Shiloh met him along the way.

Ahesia was wearing a new cloak.

The two of them were alone in the field and Ahesia took hold of the new cloak he was wearing and tore it into 12 pieces.

Then he said to Jeroboam take 10 of these pieces, for this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says I'm about to tear the kingdom from the hand of Solomon and I will give 10 of the tribes to you, but I will leave him one tribe for the sake of my servant, david and for the sake of Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.

For Solomon has abandoned me and worshiped as Toreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, chimush, the God of Moab, mollek, the God of the Ammonites.

He has not followed my ways and done what is pleasing in my sight.

He has not obeyed my decrees and regulations as David, his father did, but I will not take the entire kingdom from Solomon at this time, for the sake of my servant David, the one whom I chose and who obeyed my commands and decrees.

I will keep Solomon as leader for the rest of his life, but I will take the kingdom away from his son and give 10 of the tribes to you.

His son will have one tribe, so that the descendants of David, my servant, will continue to reign, shining like a lamp in Jerusalem, the city I have chosen to be my place for my name, and I will place you on the throne of Israel and you will rule over all that your heart desires.

If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you.

I will establish an enduring dynasty for you, as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you.

Because of Solomon's sin, I will punish the descendants of David, though not forever.

Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

Because of Solomon's sin, god divided the kingdom of Israel into two pieces.

First, kings 12, starting at the top.

Rehoboam went to Shetchem where all Israel had gathered to make him king.

When Jeroboam, son of Nabat, heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon.

The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam.

Your father was a hard master.

They said Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us, then we will be your loyal subjects.

Rehoboam replied Give me three days to think this over, then come back for my answer.

So the people went away.

Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, solomon.

What is your advice, he asked.

How should I answer these people?

The older councils replied If you're willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.

But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinions of the younger men who had grown up with him and were now his advisors.

What is your advice?

He asked them.

How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?

The young man replied this is what you should tell all those complainers who want a lighter burden my little finger is thicker than my father's waist.

Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier.

My father beat you with his whips, but I'll beat you with scorpions.

Three days later, jeroboam and all the people returned to hear Rehoboam's decision, just as the king had ordered.

But Rehoboam spoke harshly to the people, for he rejected the advice of the older counselors and followed the counsel of his younger advisors.

He told the people my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I'm going to make them even heavier.

My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions.

So the king paid no attention to the people.

This turn of events was the will of the Lord, for it fulfilled the Lord's message to Jeroboam, son of Nabat, through the prophet Ahesia from Shiloh.

When all Israel realized what the king had refused to listen to them they responded Down with the dynasty of David.

We have no interest in the son of Jesse.

Back to your homes, o Israel.

Look out for your own house, o David.

So the people of Israel returned home, but Rehoboam continued to rule over the Israelites who lived in the towns of Judah.

King Rehoboam sent Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labor, to restore order, but the people of Israel stoned him to death.

When this news reached King Rehoboam, he quickly jumped into his chariot and fled to Jerusalem.

And to this day the northern tribes of Israel have refused to be ruled by a descendant of David.

When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam's return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel.

So the only tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David.

So we have King Jeroboam over the kingdom of Israel and King Rehobam, solomon's heir, over the kingdom of Judah.

First Kings 12, verse 21.

1 Kings 12:21

When Rehobam arrived at Jerusalem, he mobilized the men of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin 180,000 select troops to fight against the men of Israel and to restore the kingdom to himself.

But God said to Shamiah, the man of God, sader Rehoboam, son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to all the people of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people this is what the Lord says do not fight against your relatives.

The Israelites go back home, for what has happened is my doing so.

They obeyed the message of the Lord and went home, as the Lord had commanded.

The tribes of Israel were split.

The United Kingdom of Israel was split in two.

The kingdom of Judah consisted simply of two tribes plus the priests, the Levites.

The priests who had no land, the tribe of Benjamin and the tribe of Judah.

The tribe who David and Solomon, and later Jesus, were descended from God, left two tribes.

The kingdom of Israel contained the rest of the tribes.

Jeroboam was made king.

If you look at the map, the kingdom of Israel is divided into two kingdoms.

The top half of the kingdom was the northern kingdom of Israel, encompassed 10 tribes under King Jeroboam.

This area contained Jaffa, where Jonah got his word from God and ran away from the Lord Jericho, where the walls of the city came tumbling down and where Zacchaeus sat in the tree and where Jesus began his descent to Jerusalem on a donkey, shechem, and Samaria, where Jesus met the lady at the well.

Samaria actually became the capital of the northern kingdom.

Samaria was the capital of the kingdom of Israel.

The bottom half, or the southern kingdom of Judah, encompassed three tribes under Solomon sent Rehoboam.

This area contained Jerusalem, the holy city, hebron, caleb's reward for being faithful and Beersheba.

The United Kingdom of Israel under Saul, david and Solomon lasted 80 years.

The kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel that were split from the United Kingdom were at war with each other for years.

The northern kingdom of Israel only stood for 200 years, through 20 different kings and over nine different families.

They are eventually conquered.

2 Kings 17.

In the 12th year of Ahaz, king of Judah, hoshia, son of Elah, became king of Israel in Samaria and he reigned nine years.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.

Shamanazer, king of Assyria, came up to attack Hoshia, who had been Shamanazer's vassal and had paid tribute to him.

But the king of Assyria discovered that Hoshia was a traitor and he had sent everyone to sow king of Egypt, and he no longer paid tribute to the king of Assyria as he had done year by year.

Therefore, shamanazer seized him and put him in prison.

The king of Assyria invaded the entire land and marched against Samaria and laid siege to it for three years.

In the ninth year of Hoshia, the king of Assyria captured Samaria and deported the Israelites to Assyria.

He settled them in Hala, in Gozan and the Habor River and in the towns of Medes.

So the northern kingdom of Israel was conquered at their capital, samaria.

The Assyrians deported all the Israelites in the northern kingdom of Israel to Assyria.

The only kingdom left was the kingdom of Judah in the south.

Let's move down to verse 21.

When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam son of Nabath their king.

Jeroboam enticed Israel away from following the Lord and caused them to commit a great sin.

The Israelites persisted in all the sins of Jeroboam and did not turn away from them until the Lord removed them from his presence, as he has warned through all his servants and the prophets.

So the people of Israel were taken from their homeland into exile in Assyria, and they are still there.

The king of Assyria resettled Samaria.

Assyria was located on the Tigris River, near modern-day Iraq.

Their capital was Nineveh.

Why does Nineveh, that city, sound familiar?

Nineveh is the city that God sent Jonah to to give a message to.

But Jonah ran from God because he didn't like the Ninevites and ended up in a body of a fish.

Assyria brought some of their other conquered slaves and resettled them in the northern kingdom of Israel.

Let's continue.

The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon Cuthat, ava, hamath and Sherpa Vane and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites.

They took over Samaria and lived in its towns.

When these people first lived there, they did not worship the Lord, so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people.

It was reported to the king of Assyria.

The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the God of this country requires.

He has sent lions among them which are killing them off because the people do not know what he requires.

Then the king of Assyria gave this order have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria, go back to live there and teach the people what the God of the land requires.

One of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord.

Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled and set them up shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places.

The people from Babylon made Sucath Benath.

Those from Cuthath made Nagal and those from Hamath made Ashima.

The avites made Nibhaz and Tartac, and the Sephirites burned their children in the fire as sacrifices to Adrimalek and Namaalek and the gods of Sephirvah.

They worshiped the Lord, but they also appointed all sorts of their own people to officiate for them as priests and shrines at high places.

They worshiped the Lord, but they also served their own gods, in accordance with the customs of the nations from which they had been brought.

So now, to give you a little perspective, I want to take you back to the woman at the well.

She tells Jesus this in John 4, verse 19.

John 4:19

Sir, the woman said I could see that you're a prophet.

Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.

She's bringing it back to the northern and southern kingdoms, the Samaritans, the people from the kingdom of Israel said that they must worship in Samaria.

The people from the kingdom of Judah says that they must worship in Israel.

Jesus replies Woman, believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

You Samaritans worship what you do not know.

We worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews.

Yet his time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.

God is spirit and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.

The Israelites here who actually stem from the tribe of Judah, view the Samaritans as a mixed breed like dogs.

They still do to this day.

They are a mix from some of the Jews of the kingdom of Israel, from the northern kingdom, and the people imported by the Assyrians.

The 10 tribes of Israel that were deported from the northern kingdom of Israel, from Samaria, by the Assyrians are now known as the lost tribes of Israel because no one knows what happened to them.

The historian Josephus, who wrote in the time of Jesus, mentions in his writings that the tribes of Judah beyond the Euphrates were an immense multitude.

Sadly, no one today knows what happened to them.

We know a few came back and assimilated with the Samaritans, but that was just a few.

I'm going to stop here for today.

This marks the end of day one, part two, a brief summary of the history of the southern kingdom of Judah.

I promise I have a point in this.

It is very important in your understanding that you understand where the Israelites came from and where they are as we enter into the book of Acts.

To do that we have to understand the political and the religious and the socioeconomic climates Under King Saul, and then David and then Solomon.

Israel was a united kingdom.

This means all 12 tribes were ruled by one king.

When Solomon sinned, his kingdom was divided.

Ten tribes went to the northern kingdom of Israel under King Jeroboam, with their capital setting in Samaria.

Two tribes remained under the air of David Rehoboam, in the southern kingdom of Judah.

The northern kingdom was carried off by the Assyrians, most of them never to be heard from again.

There has been many questions over the years where they went.

Some of the lost tribes are said to be connected with Hispanics or Asians or Native Americans or Africans, or just to have assimilated into the area of Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan and Pakistan.

However, all of these are theories.

No one can prove what happened to them, even with all of our DNA technology.

We have the southern kingdom of Judah under King Rehoboam, king Solomon's son.

Let's see what the southern kingdom of Judah was doing when the northern kingdom of Israel was wiped out.

Second Kings, 18, verse 18.

2 Kings 18:18

In the third year of Hosea, son of Elaw, king of Israel.

Hezekiah, son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

He was 25 years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem 29 years.

His mother's name was Abijah, daughter of Zachariah.

He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father, david, had done.

He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles.

He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made.

For up to that time, the Israelites had been burning incense to it.

It was called Nahushitan.

Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel.

There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him.

He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following him.

He kept the commands the Lord had given to Moses, and the Lord was with him.

He was successful in whatever he undertook.

He rebelled against the king of Assyria and did not serve him from watchtower to fortified city.

He defeated the Philistines as far as Gaza and its territory, and King Hezekiah's fourth year, which was the seventh year of Hoshaiyah, son of ELA, king of Israel, shamanazer, king of Assyria, marched against Samaria and laid siege to it.

At the end of three years, the Assyrians took it.

So Samaria was captured.

In Hezekiah's sixth year, which was the ninth year of Hoshaiyah, king of Israel, the king of Assyria deported Israel to Assyria and settled them in Hala, in Gaza and in the Haber River, and in the towns of Medes.

This happens because they had not obeyed the Lord, their God, but had violated his covenant, all that Moses, the servant of the Lord, commanded.

They neither listened to the commands nor carried them out.

In the 14th year of King Hezekiah's reign, sennacherib, king of Assyria, attacked all the fortified cities of Judah and captured them.

So Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent this message to the king of Assyria at Lachish I have done wrong, withdraw for me and I will pay whatever you demand of me.

The king of Assyria exacted from Hezekiah, king of Judah 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.

So Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the temple of the Lord and in the treasuries of the royal palace.

At the time, hezekiah, king of Judah, stripped off the gold which he had covered the doors and doorposts of the temple of the Lord and gave it to the king of Assyria.

In order to appease the king of Assyria, king Hezekiah gave them all the southern kingdoms, gold and silver.

But yet it wasn't enough.

Sennacherib makes Hezekiah an offer to join them, saying I've got 2,000 horses and need 2,000 men.

Sennacherib mocks Hezekiah and his God, saying no, no, the Lord is actually with me.

Let's jump down to verse 19.

The Field Commander said to them tell Hezekiah.

This is what the great king, the king of Assyria, says.

On what are you basing this confidence of yours?

You say you have the counsel and the might for war, but you speak only empty words.

On whom are you depending that you rebel against me?

Look, I know that you are depending on Egypt, that splintered reed of a staff with pierces the hands of anyone who leans on it.

Such is the Pharaoh, king of Egypt to all who depend on him.

So if you say to me we are depending on the Lord, our God, isn't he the one whose high places and altars Hezekiah removed?

Sang to Judah and Jerusalem.

You must worship before his altar in Jerusalem.

Come now, make a barden with my master, the king of Assyria.

I will give you 2,000 horses if you can put 2,000 riders on them.

How can you repulse one officer of the least of my master's officials, even though you're depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen.

Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord?

The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it.

He's saying no.

No, the Lord's not working for you.

The Lord's working for me and the king of Assyria.

Let's jump down to verse 31.

Verse 31,.

Do not listen to Hezekiah.

This is what the king of Assyria says.

Make peace with me and come out to me.

Then each of you will eat fruit from your own vine and a fig tree and drink water from your own cistern, until I come and take you to a land like your own, a land of grain and new wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land of olive trees and honey.

Choose life and not death.

Do not listen to Hezekiah, for he is misleading you when he says the Lord will deliver us.

Has the God of any nation ever delivered his land from the hands of the king of Assyria?

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad?

Where are the gods of Seppurvain, hina and Iva?

Have they rescued Samaria from my hand?

Who of all the gods of these countries have been able to save his land for me?

How, then, can the Lord deliver Jerusalem from my hand, the king of Assyria was just a little bit cocky.

Now, isaiah was a prophet in the time of Hezekiah.

Let's see what he has to say about Hezekiah.

I want to take a moment and pause right here because I know you're probably thinking isn't Isaiah in the book of Isaiah, not in Kings, where we are reading?

I want to explain how the Bible is divided up.

The books of the Old Testament are not divided chronologically, surprise.

They are divided into genres law, then history, then poetry, then writings.

The first five books of the Bible are known as the law or the Torah and seem to go in chronological order, and after that we have the histories, which also seem to go in chronological order.

Then we have the poetry and then we have the writings of the prophets.

Did you know that the book of Job actually happens chronologically in the middle of the book of Genesis and he lives somewhere around the time of Abraham?

Genesis is the first book of the Bible and Job is considered poetry because of its style, so it is the 18th book in the Bible.

The histories do go in chronological order for the most part, but first Samuel, second Samuel, first Kings, second Kings, first Chronicles, second Chronicles somewhat overlap.

They are all parallels of each other and in parts cover the same things.

They all cover the history of the kingdoms of Israel.

For example, the reign of David is covered in second Samuel, first Kings 1 and 2 and first Chronicles 10 through 39.

Each of the history books have different audiences, different content and different purposes.

In addition to David's history, his writings appear in poetry in the book of Psalms.

I hope that explains a little bit to you about how the Bible is laid out.

Now, where were we?

After the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel was demolished and all the people were deported to Assyria.

The Assyrian king came after the kingdom of Judah, the southern kingdom.

So Hezekiah was a man of God and the king of Judah A breath of fresh air in the midst of apostasy.

Hezekiah served God.

He is recorded in the book of second Kings and second Chronicles, hezekiah being the man of God that he was.

When the king of the Assyrians came against him, hezekiah cried out to God.

Second Kings 19, verse 14.

2 Kings 19:14

Hezekiah received the letter from the messengers and read it.

Then he went up to the temple of the Lord and spread it out before the Lord.

Hezekiah prayed to the Lord, lord, the God of Israel, and thrown between the cherubim.

You alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth.

You have made heaven and earth.

Give ear, lord, and hear.

Open your eyes, lord, and see.

Listen to the words of Sennacherub, the words that he has sent to ridicule the living God.

It is true, lord.

The Assyrian kings have laid waste these nations and their lands.

They have thrown their gods into the fire and destroyed them, for they were not gods, but only wood and stone Fashioned by human hands.

Now, lord, our God, deliver us from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you alone, lord, you are God.

The prophet Isaiah gave Hezekiah a message from God.

Let's go down to verse 29.

This will be a sign for you, hezekiah.

This year, you will eat what grows by itself.

In the second year, what springs from that.

In the third year, sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

Once more, a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above, for out of Jerusalem will come a remnant and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria he will not enter the city or shoot an arrow here.

He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it.

By the way that he came, he will return.

He will not enter the city, declares the Lord.

I will defend the city and save it for my sake and for the sake of David, my servant.

So let's see what happens.

Keep reading 35.

The night, the angel of the Lord went out and put to death 185,000 in the Assyrian camp.

When the people got up the next morning there were all these dead bodies.

So Sinacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew.

He returned to Nineveh and stayed there.

One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god, nisrok, his sons, adremalek and Cherizer, killed him with the sword.

Vengeance's mind, said the Lord, because the southern kingdom of Judah turned from their wicked ways and sought God.

God took care of it without Hezekiah or the people of Judah having to lift a finger.

He killed 185,000 Assyrian warriors in their camp.

That's what God can do.

200 years later, another enemy would come against the kingdom of Judah that they could not fight off because this time the Lord was against them.

God actually tells Hezekiah what will happen through the prophet Isaiah, second Kings 20.

At that time Marduk B'laden, son of B'laden, king of Babylon, sent Hezekiah letters and gifts because he had heard of Hezekiah's illness.

Hezekiah received the envoys and showed them all that was in the storehouses the silver, the gold, the spices and the fine olive oil, his armory and everything found among his treasures.

There was nothing in his palace or in all the kingdom that Hezekiah did not show them.

Then Isaiah the prophet went to King Hezekiah and said what did those men say and where did they come from?

From a distant land, hezekiah replied they came from Babylon.

The prophet asked what did they see in your palace?

They saw everything in my palace.

Hezekiah said there was nothing among my treasures that I did not show them.

Then Isaiah said to Hezekiah Hear the word of the Lord.

The time will surely come when everything in your palace and all that your predecessors have stored up until this day will be carried off to Babylon.

Nothing will be left, says the Lord, and some of your descendants, your own flesh and blood, who will be born to you, will be taken away and they will become eunuchs in the palace of the king of Babylon.

Let's see how the Babylonians take the kingdom of Judah captive.

Second Kings 24.

Zedekiah was 21 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem 11 years.

His mother's name was Hamatoll, daughter of Jeremiah.

She was from Libna.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, just as Jehochim had done.

It was because of the Lord's anger that all this happened to Jerusalem and Judah and in the end he thrust them from his presence.

Now Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

You think at some point the Israelites would get it Over and over again.

The people would do evil in the side of the Lord and they would be conquered cause and effect and it would be horrible.

So under Zedekiah's reign, jerusalem fell for good.

Let's jump ahead to second Kings 25.

So in the ninth year of Zedekiah's reign, on the 10th day of the 10th month, nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, marched against Jerusalem with his whole army.

He encamped outside the city and built siege works all around it.

The city was kept under siege until the 11th year of King Zedekiah.

By the ninth day of the fourth month, the famine in the city had been so severe that there was no food for the people to eat.

Then the city wall was broken through and the whole army fled at night through the gate between the two walls near the king's garden, though the Babylonians were surrounding the city.

They fled towards Ereba, but the Babylonians army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho.

All his soldiers were separated from him and scattered, and he was captured.

He was taken to the king of Babylon at Riblah, where sentence was pronounced on him.

They killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes.

Then they put out his eyes, bound him with bronze shackles and took him to Babylon.

On the seventh day of the fifth month in the 19th year of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon Nebuzaradan, commander of the imperial guard and official of the king of Babylon, came to Jerusalem.

He set fire to the temple of the Lord, the royal palace and all the houses of Jerusalem.

Every important building he burned down.

Last week we read where Ezekiel tried to give the people a warning and warning after warning, and they refused to repent.

Instead, they continued in their idol worship.

God showed Ezekiel a vision of the glory of God, of his spirit, his presence, leaving the temple because of the sin of the people.

That is why king of Babylon is able to set fire to the temple and destroy the city of Jerusalem.

Let's continue.

Verse 10, the whole Babylonian army, under the command of the imperial guard, broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

Nebuzaradan, the commander of the guard, carried into exile the people who remained in the city, along with the rest of the populace and those who had deserted the to the king of Babylon.

But the commander left behind some of the poorest people of the land to work the vineyards and fields.

So the Babylonians burned down most of the city of Jerusalem, including the temple, and took the important people captive, the aristocrats, the kings people, the tradesmen, and took them all to Babylon and left the poorest people to work the fields.

They took the chief priest and his in his successor.

He took officers and the royal advisors, the secretaries and the scribes, and they had them killed, and some of them he put them on his council.

This is what has become known as the Babylonian exile.

A good portion of the Jewish people left from the kingdom of Judah were taken captive to Babylon.

They were exiled for 70 years.

Eventually, persia conquered Babylon and King Cyrus of Persia was moved by God to let some of the people of Israel go back to their homeland.

They were allowed to return and rebuild the city of Jerusalem.

Ezra 1, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, the King of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it into writing.

This is what Cyrus, king of Persia, says the Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem, in Judah.

Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem, in Judah, and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.

And in any locality where survivors may now be living.

The people are to provide with them silver and gold, with goods and livestock and with free will offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.

Then, the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose heart God had moved, prepared to go up and build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, all their neighbors assisted them with the articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, with valuable gifts, in addition to all the free will offerings.

Moreover, king Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed them in the temple of his God.

Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought by Mithridon, the treasurer, who counted them out to Shabbazar, the Prince of Judah.

A good portion of the Jewish exiles returned to build the temple, but due to changes in leadership, the building of the temple came to a halt.

The entire temple's completion took over 400 years.

It began as a modest building built by the people.

It took 20 years for the people to build the temple and was completed and made fancy by Herod the Great and Jesus' time.

Over time, more and more exiles began to return to Israel.

Almost 100 years later, the walls of Jerusalem were complete.

The modest rebuilding of the temple marks the end of the Old Testament and this marks the end of day two, part three, between the Testaments and the history of Jesus's time.

Why am I teaching you all this?

Because I want you to understand the culture and political climate and struggle of the Jewish people.

In between the Testaments, between the old and new Testament, there's a span of about 400 years where God was absent.

There were no more prophets or miracles or hearing from God.

So when John the Baptist showed up with a message from God and then Jesus showed up with miracles.

He really was a light in the darkness.

There were no messages from God during the time in between the Old and New Testaments.

Can you imagine not hearing from God?

For 400 years the people of Israel did not hear a word, except for one moment of light, and they still celebrate it to this day Hanukkah.

Could you imagine not having the Holy Spirit within you but yet trying to follow all the laws right?

It would have been incredibly hard under the weight of all that responsibility.

So there were no ruling kings of Israel.

After the Babylonian exile, the kingdom of Judah became a Babylonian province until the Persian Empire conquered the Babylonians and Israel became known as Yehud Medinata.

Babylon was located, like Assyria, on the Euphrates River, but further south in what today would be Baghdad in Iraq.

Persia would be modern day Iran.

The kingdom of Israel was a Babylonian province until Persia conquered Babylon, and then it became a Persian province.

In between the Testaments, alexander the Great conquered Persia and Judea and is also conquered by the Greeks.

Judea becomes part of the Greek Empire and is put under the rule of the Celicid Greek Kings of Syria and then the Ptolemaic Greek Kings of Egypt.

Eventually, israel comes back under the rule of the Celestid Kings of Syria and they ban Jewish religious practices and dedicate the Jewish temple to the God Zeus.

In between the Testaments was a dark time for Israel.

The Israelites revolted when they dedicated the temple to the God Zeus, and this revolt is often known as the Maccabean Rebellion.

It's also why the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah.

The rebels win and gain control of the temple again.

Hanukkah is a celebration of a miracle of God and the re-dedication of the temple.

Matatheus and his oldest son, judah Maccabe, led the revolt.

Two decades after the temple is restored, matatheus' older son, simon Thassie, was instituted as king.

Simon Thassie ruled Judea as king under the Greek Empire.

His family and dynasty were known as the Hasmonean dynasty.

So they were kings, but they didn't have full power.

The kings of Israel at this time weren't autonomous.

They were more like a figurehead or a governor, and it was the same in Jesus's time.

During the Hasmonean dynasty, the Romans began to gradually conquer Greek provinces.

Eventually, the Romans conquered Judea Under Rome, israel became a vassal state between Rome and the uncolonized East.

Under the Romans they established Herod the Great as king, and Herod the Great's dad was an Edomite, but his mother was a Jew and he converted to Judaism.

And it is because of Herod the Great that the temple was expanded.

He is responsible for rebuilding the ornate parts of the temple.

He expanded the base and built the Western Wall.

He is also the king that the wise men visit upon Jesus' birth and ordered the decree to kill all the newborn babies.

Now we have moved into the New Testament, matthew 2.

Verse 1,.

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem, in Judea, during the time of King Herod, magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked where is the one who has been born king of the Jews?

We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.

When King Herod heard this, he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.

When he had called together the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born In Bethlehem, in Judea.

They replied for this is what the prophet has written.

But you, bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah, for out of you will come a ruler who will shepherd my people, israel.

Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared, he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search carefully to the child.

As soon as you find him, report him to me so that I too may go and worship him.

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose when ahead of them, until it stopped over the place where the child was.

When they saw the star, they were overjoyed On coming to the house.

They saw the child with his mother, mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him.

Then they opened their treasure and presented him with the gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh and, having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

Get up and take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.

Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child, to kill him.

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod.

And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet.

Out of Egypt, I called my son.

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Then what was said about the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled.

A voice is heard in Rama weeping and great mourning Rachel weeping for children and refusing to be comforted because they are no more.

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead.

Upon Herod the great's death, jesus and his family moved to Nazareth.

So when Jesus is born, israel is a vassal state of Rome.

Rome has control.

There are kings, the Herodian dynasty that governed Israel, but above them sits Rome.

The Herod's ruled with oversight from Rome, but Rome was in control.

They were called puppet kings.

Think of Herod like the king and queen of England today.

They are there, they are seen, they head up public projects, but they don't do much when it comes to political decisions.

When Herod the great died and Jesus and family returned to Israel from Egypt, his kids took over as puppet king.

So, though we still hear about the Herod's, they are more like celebrity aristocrats and don't have real power.

They have to go to Rome.

They have a Roman governor overseer.

When John the Baptist speaks out against the Herod's, he's speaking out against the kids.

Matthew 14, verse 1 at that time, herod the tetrarch heard the reports about Jesus and he said to his attendants this is John the Baptist.

Matthew 14:1

He has risen from the dead.

That is why miraculous powers are at work in him now.

Herod had arrested John and bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias.

His brother, philip's wife for John, had been saying to him it is not lawful for you to have her.

Herod wanted to kill John, but he was afraid of the people because they considered John a prophet.

On Herod's birthday, the daughter of Herodias danced for the guests and pleased Herod so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

Prompted by her mother, she said give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

The king was distressed but because of his oaths and his dinner guests, he ordered that a request be granted and had John beheaded in prison.

His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl who carried it to her mother.

John's disciples came and took his body and buried it.

Then they went and told Jesus the Herod's ruled Galilee as a client state of Rome, though the Herod's were never really called king like their father.

The political affairs were ruled by Rome.

The governor was Pontius Pilate and was governor over all Judea.

The Herod's would have to answer to him.

Let's look at Jesus's life a little bit to get an understanding Matthew 22, verse 15.

Matthew 22:15

Then the Pharisees went out and laid plans to trap him in his words.

They sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, teacher.

They said we know that you're a man of integrity and you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth.

You aren't swayed by others because you pay no attention to who they are.

Tell us of them.

What is your opinion?

Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not?

But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said you hypocrites, why are you trying to trap me?

Show me the coin used for paying the tax.

They brought him a denarius and he asked them whose image is this and whose inscription Caesar's?

They replied.

Then he said to them so give back to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's.

When they heard this they were amazed, so they left him and went away.

The Herodians are the Herod's people, the royals, the aristocrats, and they were trying to trap Jesus between political and religious.

We will discuss religious leaders next.

Mark 3, 6.

Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus.

The Herod's were full of political intrigue.

They had their hands in everything.

Mark 8, verse 15 be careful, jesus warned watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod.

Mark 8:15

One of Jesus's chief followers was actually the manager of Herod's house, luke 8, verse 1.

Luke 8:1

After this, jesus traveled about from one town and village to another proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

The 12 were with them and also some women who had been cured of evil spirits and diseases.

Mary called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had come out.

Joanna, the wife of Chusa, the manager of Herod's household.

Susanna and many others.

These women were helping to support them out of their own means.

Eventually, Jesus stands before Herod and pilot.

Jesus was betrayed and arrested.

You know the story.

They first take them to the Sanhedrin, the Jewish Council, and the council then sends them to the Roman governor, pontius.

Pilate will start there, luke 23 starting at the top.

Then the whole assembly rose and led him off to Pilate and they began to accuse him, saying we have found this man subverting our nation.

He opposes payment of taxes to Caesar and claims to be Messiah, a king.

So Pilate asked Jesus, are you the king of the Jews?

You have said so, jesus replied.

Then Pilate announced to the chief priests and the crowd I find no basis for a charge against this man, but they insisted.

He stirs up the people all over Judea by his teaching.

He started in Galilee and has come all the way here.

On hearing this, pilate asked if the man was a Galilean.

When he learned that Jesus was under Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at the time.

When Herod saw Jesus, he was greatly pleased because for a long time he had been waiting to see him.

From what he had heard about him, he hoped to see him perform a sign of some sort.

He applied him with many questions, but Jesus gave him no answers.

The chief priests and the teachers of the law were standing there vehemently accusing him.

Then Herod and his soldiers ridiculed and mocked him, dressing him in an elegant robe.

They sent him back to Pilate.

That day, herod and Pilate became friends because before this day they had been enemies.

Pilate came together the chief priests, the rulers and the people and said to them you brought me this man as one who is inciting the people to rebellion.

I have examined him in your presence and have found no basis for your charges against him.

Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us.

As you can see, he has done nothing to deserve death.

Therefore, I will punish him and release him.

I want to continue reading because I want you to understand the role of the Herods and the role of Rome in the crucifixion of Jesus.

Both Rome and Herod found no charges against Jesus, but the whole crowd shouted away with this man release Barabbas to us.

Barabbas had been thrown into prison for an insurrection in the city and for murder, wanting to release Jesus.

Pilate appealed to them again, but they kept shouting crucify him, crucify him.

For the third time he spoke to them.

Why?

What crime has this man committed?

I have found in him no grounds for the death penalty.

Therefore, I will have him punished and then release him, but with loud shouts.

They insistently demanded that he be crucified, and their shouts prevailed.

So Pilate decided to grant their demand.

He released the man who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder the one they asked for and surrendered Jesus to their will.

I'd like to turn to Matthew 27 for a little bit more clarification.

Verse 11 meanwhile, jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him are you the king of the Jews?

You have said so.

Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Then Pilate asked him don't you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?

But Jesus made no reply, not even a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor.

Now, it was the governor's custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

At that time there they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

So when the crowded gathered, pilate asked which one do you want me to release to you, jesus Barabbas or Jesus who is called the Messiah?

For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him a message.

Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and the elders persecuted the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Which of the two do you want me to release to you as the governor?

Barabbas, they answered.

What shall I do then with Jesus who is called the Messiah, pilate, asked?

They all answered crucify him.

Why?

What crime is he committed as pilot.

But they shouted all the louder crucify him.

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

I am innocent of this man's blood.

He said it is your responsibility.

And all the people answered his blood is on us and our children.

Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

I want to stop here for today.

As we enter into acts, herod is still a figurehead and Pontius Pilate is still the governor.

Acts begins just a month after Jesus was raised from the dead.

So two sets of people you will see in acts are the Herod's, the royal people, the officials, the aristocracy and the Romans.

There are Roman troops.

All over the place, roman soldiers actually crucified Jesus.

This marks the end of day three, part four the religious leaders and parties.

Let's go to this week's passage, acts four, starting at the top.

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

But many of them who had heard the words believed and the number of the men came to about 5,000.

Acts four is a continuation of the story from Acts three.

Because of the healing of the man at the gate, beautiful in combination with his spirit and the word that Peter preaches, another 5,000 people were saved.

I have talked about the history of Israel now and the ruling parties, but I want to touch on the other people in this passage and the religious parties.

In the book of Acts there are the Christians.

We are seeing God build his kingdom of Christians and over the past three years, jesus, with the help of John the Baptist, and now the disciples had began to grow.

These are the people who believe in Jesus, that he is the son of God and is their Lord and Savior and is God, and that Jesus was raised from the dead and he rose into heaven.

Now, all of these people, as of Acts two, have the Holy Spirit dwelling inside of them.

We also have the Jewish people.

These are the people that we see the disciples try to reach at the beginning of the book of Acts.

The Jewish people still follow the old law, the old covenant.

They go to the temple and offer sacrifices.

They do not know Jesus or have turned from him.

The majority of the people in Israel fit this description.

Then we have the Gentiles.

Gentiles are all people who are not of the Jewish race and religion.

Next we have the priests.

All of the priests are descended from Aaron.

Aaron was the very first priest and he spoke for Moses.

The priests take care of the temple and are paid through the temple.

The chief priest was the priest who was called to step into the Holy of Holies and into the present of God.

On the day of atonement there were rabbis.

A rabbi is a religious teacher who works out of a local synagogue.

They do not have to hold to any tribe or family in order to teach.

A synagogue was more like a local church.

There was one temple where sacrifices were made, but there were multiple synagogues throughout the land, the Sanhedrin.

The Sanhedrin was the Jewish council, the ruling party of Jews.

There were 71 judges that sat on the Jewish council.

The great Sanhedrin was like the Supreme Court of Israel.

Each city also had its own lesser assembly or council made up of 23 judges.

This council was set up during the second temple period.

The Sanhedrin was originally instituted by Moses upon advice from his father-in-law Exodus 18, verse 13.

Exodus 18:13

The next day, moses took a seat to serve as judge for the people and they stood around him for morning until evening.

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said what is this year doing for the people?

Why do you alone sit as judge With all these people stand around you from morning till evening?

Moses answered him because the people come to me to seek God's will.

Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me and I decide between the parties and inform them of God's decrees and instructions.

Moses' father-in-law replied what you are doing is not good.

You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out.

The work is too heavy for you.

You cannot handle it alone.

Listen now to me and I will give you some advice.

And may God be with you.

You must be the people's representative before God and bring their disputes to him, teach them his decrees and instructions and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.

But select capable men from all the people, men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

Have them serve as judges for the people at all times.

But have them bring every difficult case to you, the simple cases they can decide for themselves.

That will make your load lighter because they will share it with you.

If you do this and God sows commands, you will be able to stay in the strain and all these people will go home satisfied.

Moses himself listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said.

He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.

And they served as judges for the people at all times.

The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.

Now let's turn to Deuteronomy 1.

Moses institutes the leaders, Deuteronomy 1 15.

So I took the leading men of your tribes, wise and respected men, and appointed them to have authority over you as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, of tens and tribal officials.

And I charge your judges at the time Hear the disputes between your people and judge fairly, whether the case is between two Israelites or between an Israelite and a foreigner residing among you.

Do not show partiality and judging.

Hear both, small and great alike.

Do not be afraid of anyone, for judgment belongs to God.

Bring me any case too hard for you and I will hear it.

And at that time I told you everything you were to do.

But for the difficult ones, they were supposed to set up a supreme court.

The great Sanhedrin, the one Jesus, stood before.

Deuteronomy 17, verse 8.

Deuteronomy 17:8

If cases come before your courts that are too difficult for you to judge, whether bloodshed, lawsuits or assaults, take them to the place the Lord, your God, will choose.

Go to the Levitical priests and to the judge who is in office at that time.

Enquire of them and they will give you the verdict.

You must act according to the decisions they give you at the place the Lord will choose.

Be careful to do everything they instruct you to do.

Act according to whatever they teach you and the decisions they give you.

Do not turn aside from what they will tell you, to the right or to the left.

Anyone who shows contempt for the judge or for the priests who stands ministering there to the Lord, your God, is to be put to death.

You must purge the evil from Israel.

All the people will hear and be afraid and will not be contemptuous again.

The Sanhedrin has set up a court system for the people of Israel.

When Moses decided that leading was too difficult, god placed his spirit upon 70 elders Numbers 11, verse 14,.

Numbers 11:14

I cannot carry all these people by myself.

The burden is too heavy.

If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me.

If I have found favor in your eyes and do not let me face my own ruin.

The Lord said to Moses bring me 70 of Israel's elders who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.

Have them come to the tent of meeting that they may stand there with you.

I will come down and speak with you and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.

They will share the burden of the people with you, so that you will not have to carry it alone.

Let's move down to verse 24.

So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said.

He brought together 70 of the elders and had them stand around the tent.

Then the Lord came down in a cloud and spoke with them and he took some of the power of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the 70 elders.

When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.

The Sanhedrin is not really mentioned in the Bible until the New Testament, though Jewish history and traditions say that the Sanhedrin met in the temple in the Hall of Hewne Stones almost daily, except Shabbat and Jewish holidays.

Judging the cases of the people, the Sanhedrin is a court led by the highest priests, the elders, the Levites, the rabbis and the ordinary Jews from pure lineage.

The great Sanhedrin was the supreme court and could try the king, declare war, reach answers on national significance.

By Jesus' time the Sanhedrin reached its greatest influence.

It legislated almost all the important Jewish religious and important decisions.

Poor Herod, between the Sanhedrin and the Romans.

He didn't do anything.

Let's look at what we can read about the Sanhedrin in the Gospel John 11, verse 45.

John 11:45

Therefore, many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary and had seen what Jesus did believed in him.

But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.

Then the chief priests and the Pharisees called a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

What are we accomplishing?

They ask?

Here is this man performing many signs, and if we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and then the Romans will come and take away both our temple and our nation.

Then one of them named Caiaphas, who was the high priest that year, spoke up.

You know nothing at all.

You do not realize that it is better for you that one man die for the people than that the whole nation perish.

He did not say this on his own, but as high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for the Jewish nation, and not only for that nation, but also for the scattered children of God, to bring them together and to make them one.

So from that day on, they plotted to take his life.

Therefore, jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea.

Instead, he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.

When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, many went up from the country to Jerusalem for this, their ceremonial cleansing before the Passover.

They kept looking for Jesus and as they stood in the temple courts they asked one another what do you think, isn't he coming to the festival at all?

But the chief priests and the Pharisees had given orders that anyone who found out where Jesus was to report it so that they might arrest him.

The Sanhedrin began to conspire against Jesus and eventually the Sanhedrin had him put to death.

It was the high priest and the Sanhedrin who orchestrated the betrayal of Jesus by Judas.

It was the high priest and the Sanhedrin that had Jesus arrested.

Let's turn to Matthew 26, verse 57.

Matthew 26:57

The Sanhedrin saw Jesus first before they sent him to pilot or to Herod and back to pilot, verse 57.

Those who had arrested Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled.

But Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest.

He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

The chief priests and the whole Sanhedrin were looking for false evidence against Jesus so that they could put him to death.

But they did not find any, though many false witnesses came forward.

Finally, two came forward and declared this fellow said I am able to destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days.

Then the high priest stood up and said to Jesus are you not going to answer?

What is this testimony that these men are bringing against you?

But Jesus remained silent.

The high priest said to him I charge you under oath by the living God.

Tell us if you are the Messiah, the Son of God.

You have said so.

Jesus replied.

But I say to all of you from now on you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven.

Then the high priest tore his clothes and said he has spoken blasphemy.

Why do we need any more witnesses?

Look now you have heard the blasphemy.

What do you think?

He is worthy of death.

They answered.

Then they spit in his face and struck him with their fists.

Others slapped him and said prophesy to us, messiah.

Who hit you?

One of the members of the Sanhedrin helped Jesus.

Mark 15, verse 42.

Mark 15:42

It was preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath.

So as evening approached, joseph of Arimathea, a prominent member of the council who was himself waiting for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for Jesus's body.

Pilate was surprised to hear that he was already dead.

Summoning the centurion, he asked him if Jesus had already died.

When he learned from the centurion that it was so, he gave the body to Joseph.

So Joseph bought some linen cloth, took down the body, wrapped it in linen and placed it in the tomb, cut out of the rock.

Then he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb.

Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of Jesus, saw where he was laid.

Matthew tells us that a member of the council was also a disciple of Jesus.

Matthew 27, verse 57.

Matthew 27:57

As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.

Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus's body and Pilate ordered that had been given to him.

Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock.

He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Luke tells us that Joseph, as a member of the council, did not consent to Jesus's death sentence.

Luke 23, verse 50.

Luke 23:50

Now there is a man named Joseph, a member of the council, a good and upright man, who had not consented to their decision in action.

He came from the Judean town of Arimathea and he himself was waiting for the kingdom of God going to Pilate.

He asked for Jesus's body.

Then he took it down, wrapped it in linen cloth and placed it in a tomb cut in the rock, one in which no one had been laid.

It was preparation day and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had come with Jesus from Galilee followed Joseph and saw the tomb and how his body was laid in it.

Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes the rested on the Sabbath, in obedience to the commandment.

Last, let's see what John has to say.

John 19, verse 38.

John 19:38

Later, joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.

Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders.

With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who had earlier had visited Jesus at night.

Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds, taking Jesus's body.

The two of them wrapped it with spices and strips of linen.

This was in accordance with the Jewish burial customs.

At the place where Jesus was crucified there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.

Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Since you now understand the council, the Sanhedrin, as we progress through acts, you will have more knowledge on what the disciples are dealing with because, honestly, the relationship with the council just continues to get worse and worse.

They begin to become more and more heavy-handed.

This marks the end of day four, part five the religious leaders and parties, the Sadducees.

Now that we've talked about the council, the great Sanhedrin, I want to talk about the other two religious parties that give Jesus and the disciples trouble.

In fact, many of these parties make up the council the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

The first time we see the Sadducees is when John the Baptist calls them out Matthew 3, 7.

But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them you brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the coming wrath.

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance, and do not think you can say to yourselves we have Abraham as our father.

I tell you that out of these stones, god can raise up children for Abraham.

The axe is already at the root of the trees and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

Well, that was intense.

Throughout acts, the believers constantly have interactions with the Sadducees.

So who were they?

Who were the Sadducees?

The Sadducees were a party of aristocratic, wealthy priests.

In Jerusalem, most priests were Sadducees.

They lived in luxury.

The priestly class was the highest class in Jewish society.

The chief and high priest were members of the Sadducees.

The priest took care of the second temple.

They performed the ritual sacrifices for cleansing and atonement.

They also sat on the Sanhedrin and as elders they mediated the people's problems, collected taxes on the people, represented the state of Israel, was in control of the army, administered the state of affairs and maintained relations with the Roman Empire.

As we read previously, the high priest, a member of the Sanhedrin, caiaphas, had a dream that Jesus would die for the people, and at that time, and at that time, they began to look for ways to kill Jesus.

Matthew 26, verse 1.

Matthew 26:1

When Jesus finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples as you know, the Passover is two days away and the son of man will be handed over to be crucified.

Then the chief priests and the elders of the people assembled in the palace of the high priest, whose name was Caiaphas, and they schemed to arrest Jesus secretly and kill him.

But not during the festival.

They said or there may be a riot among the people, definitely a brood of vipers.

Huh, jump down to verse 14.

Then one of the 12, the one called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and asked what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?

So they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver.

From then on, judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

Luke says this.

Luke 22 1.

Now the festival of unleavened bread, called Passover, was approaching and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people.

Then Satan entered.

Judas, called Iscariot one of the 12, and Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.

They were delighted and agreed to give him money.

He consented and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

Did you catch that?

Then Satan entered Judas and he schemed and worked with the chief priests.

The Sanhedrin, the Sadducees and the Pharisees were the leaders that were ultimately responsible for his death.

They had Jesus arrested, jumped down to verse 47.

While he was still speaking, a crowd came up and the man who was called Judas one of the 12 was leading them.

He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him Judas, are you betraying the son of man with a kiss?

When Jesus followers saw what was going to happen, they said Lord, should we strike with our swords?

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear.

But Jesus answered no more of this and he touched the man's ear and healed him.

Then Jesus said to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard and the elders who had come for him am I leading a rebellion that you have come with swords and clubs every day?

I was with you in the temple courts and you did not lay a hand on me, but this is your hour, when darkness reigns, the Sadducees, the council, the Pharisees brought him to Herod.

They pressured Rome to put him to death and they fought Rome to crucify him.

When Rome refused to put Jesus to death and they asked for a murderer in place of him mark 14, verse 53 they took Jesus to the high priest and all the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law came together.

Mark 14:53

Peter followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest.

There he sat with the guards and warmed himself at the fire.

Then the chief priests and whole Sanhedrin were looking for evidence against Jesus, and we know how this goes.

They made up evidence, they accused him, they found him guilty and they brought him to pilot.

I want to look back at when Judas betrayed Jesus.

At some point he realized the errors of his ways and tried to take the money back to the high priest Matthew 27, verse 1.

Matthew 27:1

Early in the morning all the chief priests and the elders of the people made their plans how to have Jesus executed.

So they bound him, let him away and handed him over to pilot the governor.

When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.

I have sinned, he said, for I betrayed innocent blood.

What is that to us?

They replied, that's your responsibility.

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.

Then he went away and hanged himself.

The chief priests picked up the coins and said it is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.

So they decided to use the money to buy the potters field as a burial place for foreigners.

That is why it has been called the field of blood to this day.

Then what was spoken by Jeremiah, the prophet, was fulfilled.

They took the 30 pieces of silver, the price set on him by the people of Israel, and they used them to buy the potters field.

As the Lord commanded me, let's jump down to Jesus's sentencing and look at the Sadducees and the chief priests involvement.

So the Sanhedrin, a group of the ruling elders, the Sadducees and the Pharisees, had Jesus betrayed and arrested.

Then they brought him to the Sanhedrin, the Council of Elders, pharisees, sadducees and High priests, where they pronounced him guilty and then took him straight to Rome.

Pontius Pilate, I want you to see the Council's hand in this.

Let's continue in verse 11.

Meanwhile, jesus stood before the governor and the governor asked him are you the king of the Jews?

You have said so.

Jesus replied.

When he was accused by the chief priests and the elders, he gave no answer.

Then Pilate asked him do you hear the testimony they are bringing against you?

But Jesus made no reply, not even a single charge, to the great amazement of the governor.

Now it was the governor's custom at the festival to release a prisoner chosen by the crowd.

At that time they had a well-known prisoner whose name was Jesus Barabbas.

So when the crowd had gathered, pilate asked them which one do you want me to release to you?

Jesus Barabbas or Jesus who was called Messiah?

For he knew it was out of self-interest that they had handed Jesus over to him.

While Pilate was sitting on the judge's seat, his wife sent him this message.

Don't have anything to do with that innocent man, for I have suffered a great deal today in a dream because of him.

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Let's read that again.

But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd to ask for Barabbas and to have Jesus executed.

Which one of the two do you want me to release to you" asked the governor Barabbas?

They answered what shall I do with Jesus who is called the Messiah, pilot, asked?

They answered Crucify him.

Why?

What crime is he committed as pilot?

But they shouted all the louder Crucify him.

When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd.

I am innocent of this man's blood, he said.

It is your responsibility.

All the people answered his blood is on us and our children.

Then he released Barabbas to them, but he had Jesus flogged and handed him over to be crucified.

The Sadducees are believed to have streamed from a high priest by the name of Zaddok in the Old Testament.

He was the first high priest to ever serve in the temple.

Solomon named him high priest and his family is believed to have kept control, even though under the Babylonians and destruction of the temple, the high priest and his successors were put to death.

During Persian times, the priests began to be influential in all matters of cases and became affluent.

Walking in the aristocratic circles, the priests began to get money to immerse themselves in Greek and Roman cultures and they became known as Hellenistic Jews.

Jews immersed in and influenced by the Greek culture then began to stand out as a group sometime after the Second Temple was built.

We only know so much about the Sadducees this day because they no longer exist.

None of their writings still exist, so we only get bits and pieces.

When the temple was destroyed by the Romans about 30 to 40 years after the death of Jesus, the Sadducees were no longer needed and pretty much faded into history after a time.

The leader of the Sanhedrin, the council, was normally a Sadducee.

It would be easier if they just all called them priests.

Right?

We know that the Sadducees and the Pharisees did not believe the same things.

The Pharisees followed the oral tradition.

The Sadducees only believed what was written in the law, not what was passed down from people to people and rabbis or what was interpreted from the law.

The normal, everyday people of Israel did not like the Sadducees.

The Sadducees benefited off of Roman rule.

The Jewish people hated Roman rule Also.

The Sadducees were elite and wealthy and the majority of the people were dirt poor.

The Sadducees didn't stoop to have contact with the people.

They were definitely on a pedestal.

They were more focused on holding political office and amassing riches than God or the needs of his people.

From Jesus' discussion with the Sadducees, we know that they don't believe in the resurrection.

Matthew 22, verse 23,.

Matthew 22:23

That same day, the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with the question Teacher, they said, moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up the offspring for him.

Now, there were seven brothers among us.

The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother.

The same thing happened to the second and the third brother, right on down to the seventh.

Finally, the woman died.

Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?

Jesus replied You're an error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

Wow, he said this to the chief priest.

You're an error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God.

At the resurrection, the people will neither marry nor be given in marriage.

They will be like the angels in heaven.

But about the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what God said to you?

I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.

He is not the God of the dead, but of the living.

When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

Ouch, you do not know the Scriptures, you do not know the power of God.

These are Israel's chief priests.

Can you imagine their outrage at him talking to them like that?

They are the elite.

They are on a pedestal.

They are the greatest priests in all the land.

They are rich, powerful and famous and in their heads you know you are thinking, you little punk.

Who do you think you are?

If they don't believe in the resurrection, jesus will definitely be a stumbling block to them.

Matthew 16, verse one the Pharisees and Sadducees came to Jesus and tested him by asking him to show them a sign from heaven.

He replied when evening comes, you say it will be fair weather, for the sky is red, and in the morning today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.

You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the sign of the times.

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it, except the sign of Jonah.

Jesus then left them and went away.

He said to them when they ask for a sign.

A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign.

Let's keep reading verse five.

When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread.

Be careful.

Jesus said beyond your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

They discussed this among themselves and said it is because we didn't bring any bread.

Aware of their discussion, jesus asked you have little faith.

Why are you talking amongst yourselves about having no bread?

Do you still not understand?

Don't you remember that the five loaves for 5000 and how many basketfuls you gathered?

Or the seven loaves for 4000, and how many basketfuls you gathered?

How is it that you do not understand that I was not talking to you about bread, but be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees?

Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teachings of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.

This marks the end of day five, part six the religious leaders and parties.

The Pharisees Most of the rabbis are Pharisees.

The priests and Sadducees take care of the temple and the Pharisees are the rabbis who teach the people.

The Sadducees and the Pharisees were competing parties in a way.

The Sadducees had a following among the rich.

The Sadducees had a lineage to their position.

They inherited it.

The rabbis could be anybody.

The Pharisees dealt with the common people and had a relationship with them.

Both parties were often in conflict with one another since they had different beliefs.

The Sadducees only followed the Torah.

The Pharisees believed that the rabbis interpreted the law, and a lot of the religious rules are not directly explained in the Torah.

The beliefs of the Pharisees are the foundation for the rabbinic teachings of the Jews today.

The Talmud is a Jewish book that explains in detail the rabbis' interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures.

For example, I'm not sure if you know what kosher means.

For most non-Jews it means suitable to eat.

Technically, it means ritually fit for use.

For example, if you eat a Jewish national hot dog, it's kosher.

It means fit under the law to be able to eat.

It's ordained clean.

The person will not break any of God's laws while eating it.

It's not made of pig.

It's made according to how the rabbis interpreted food laws to be According to the law and the rabbinic law.

There are a lot of food-related beliefs.

Let me give you another example.

There is a scripture in Exodus that says do not cook a goat in its mother's milk.

Now the rabbinic law, the Pharisees, interpret what some of these mean for everyday life, for the people.

Deuteronomy 14, verse 21,.

Deuteronomy 14:21

Do not eat anything you find already dead.

You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner, but you are a people holy to the Lord, your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

You and I would probably take this to mean, as its words say right, we are good, we can eat it, as long as we don't cook a goat in its mother's milk.

We would either think one, we would never cook a goat specifically in his own mother's milk.

Two, we would never cook a young goat in milk.

We would never cook a goat at all in milk.

But the rabbis interpreted the law to mean this and they instilled a tradition, and they do it today.

Are you ready?

So, according to the rabbis, this means do not eat milk and meat together.

So a Jewish person would never eat a cheeseburger.

But the rabbis took it a step further.

Not only can they not eat meat and cheese or milk together in a dish, but they cannot eat a milk product and a meat product in the same meal, even if they aren't eating them at the same time.

So a Jewish person could eat a steak and then have a piece of cheesecake for dessert.

And this even goes another step further People who are eating meat cannot sit at the same table with those who are eating milk products.

So when we went to Israel the food court of a particular place at lunch, some of the places were serving milk products and some of the opposite sides were serving meat products, but they were separated and our party could not sit together if they had one of the other items.

If I chose to have a grilled cheese, there was a particular table set aside for those eating milk products and I could not sit with Chance.

If he chose to eat a burger, there were tables separated by hanging plastic sheets for those with meat.

We had to be separated, and a kitchen that is cooking meat cannot cook milk products at the same time.

It keeps getting more and more complicated.

So our hotel would serve milk products at breakfast, no meat and meat at lunch and dinner with no milk products, and even things like cakes and breads that were served at lunch and dinner could not have milk in them.

Crazy huh.

The rabbis interpreted all this to follow out God's law, and I just summarized it.

There is much, much more to it how to store stuff.

Milk products and meat products can't even be prepared in the same places or stored in the same refrigerators.

And it keeps going on and on.

Even the same utensils can't be used on milk and then meat, not even if they're washed, not even if they're clean.

The Sadducees were stricter, harsher in punishment.

The Pharisees had an element of mercy.

We already saw where John the Baptist called out the Sadducees and the Pharisees.

A lot of the interactions between Jesus and the disciples and the religious leaders were often with both parties and as members of the council.

Let's turn to the Bible and see some of Jesus'.

Interactions with the Pharisees Matthew 5, verse 17.

Matthew 5:17

A lot of the Pharisees were corrupt.

Matthew 9, verse 10.

Matthew 9:10

On hearing this, jesus said it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

But go on and learn what this means.

I desire mercy, not sacrifice, for I have not come to call the righteous but the sinners.

The Pharisees were sticklers of the law and always trying to trip Jesus up.

Matthew 12, verse 1.

Matthew 12:1

On Sabbath duty in the temple, desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent.

I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.

If you had known what these words mean I desire mercy, not sacrifice you would not have condemned the innocent, for the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath.

Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there, looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus.

They asked him Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?

He said to them If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?

How much more valuable is a person than a sheep?

Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.

Then he said to the man Stretch out your hand.

So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the others.

But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.

The Pharisees drove the persecution against Jesus.

Let's continue in Matthew 12.

Let's jump down to verse 22.

When they had brought him, a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, jesus healed him so that he could both talk and see.

All the people were astonished and said Could this be the Son of David?

But when the Pharisees heard this, they said it is only by bezel-bub, the Prince of Demons, that this fellow drives out demons.

Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.

If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself.

How then can his kingdom stand?

And if I drive out demons by bezel-bub, by whom would your people drive them out?

So then they will be your judges, but if it is by the Spirit of God that I drive out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man?

Then he can plunder his house.

Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.

And so I tell you every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

Anyone who speaks a word against the Son of man will be forgiven, but anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come.

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

You brood of vipers.

How can you, who are evil, say anything good?

For the mouse speaks what the heart is full of.

A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him.

But I tell you that everyone will have to give an account on the day of judgment for every empty word that they have spoken For.

By your words you will be acquitted and by your words you will be condemned.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him Jesus always throws the law right back on the Pharisees and the Pharisees can never refute what he says to them.

Matthew 15 is one of my favorites and I think it applies to the Pharisees, the chief priests and the Sadducees Matthew 15, verse 15.

Matthew 15:15

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?

They don't wash their hands before they eat.

Jesus replied and why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition.

For God said Honor your father and mother, and anyone who curses their father and mother is to be put to death.

But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is devoted to God, for they are not to honor their mother with it.

Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition, you hypocrites.

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.

Now listen to this Verse eight.

These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

They worship me in vain.

Their teachings are merely human rules.

Jesus called out to the crowd and he said Listen and understand.

What goes into someone's mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.

Then the disciples came to him and asked Do you know that?

The Pharisees were offended when they heard this?

And he replied Every plant that my heavenly father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.

Leave them.

They are blind guides.

If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into the pit.

Peter said Explain the parable to us.

Are you still so dull?

Jesus asked them Don't you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?

But the things that come out of a person's mouth come from the heart and these defile them.

For out of the heart comes evil thoughts.

Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander these are what defile a person.

But eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.

The Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians eventually catch Jesus and put him to death.

There are many influential Pharisees that sat on the council.

There are actually a few good apples in the band of Pharisees.

The first is Nicodemus.

You should remember him from John 3.

Let's start there In verse one.

Now, there was a Pharisee, a man named Nicodemus, who was a member of the Jewish ruling council.

He came to Jesus at night and said Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one could perform the signs you are doing if God were not with him.

Jesus said very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.

How can someone be born again when they are old?

Nicodemus asked Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother's womb to be born.

Jesus answered very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the spirit.

Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the spirit gives birth to spirit.

You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again.

The wind blows wherever it pleases, you hear it sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it's going.

So it is with everyone born of the spirit.

How can this be?

Nicodemus asked you are Israel's teacher, said Jesus.

And do you not understand these things?

Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony.

I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe.

How, then, will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?

No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven, the Son of man.

Just as Moses lifted up the snake and the wilderness, so the Son of man must be lifted up that everyone who believes may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son.

This is the verdict.

Light has come into the world, but people love darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.

Everyone who does evil hates the light and will not come into the light for the fear that their deeds will be exposed.

But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.

One of the best talks Jesus gives is with Nicodemus, a Pharisee, the teacher of Israel.

We don't see him much more, but he does try to intervene to give Jesus a fair trial.

Let's begin in John 7.

During one of Jesus' teachings, the crowd begins to get stirred up, so the Pharisees send guards to arrest him Verse 40,.

On hearing his words, some of the people said surely this man is the prophet.

Others said he is the Messiah.

Still others asked how can the Messiah come from Galilee?

Does not the scripture say that the Messiah will come from David's descendants and from Bethlehem, the town where David lived.

Thus, the people were divided because of Jesus.

Some wanted to seize him, but no one laid a hand on him.

Finally, the temple guards went back to the chief priests and the Pharisees, who asked them why didn't you bring him in?

No one ever spoke the way this man does.

The guards replied you mean he has deceived you also, the Pharisees retorted have any of the rulers were of the Pharisees believed in him?

No, but this mob that knows nothing of the law.

There is a curse on them.

Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he has been doing?

Now let's look at the amplified it.

Nicodemus' response first 50.

Nicodemus, the one who came to Jesus before and was one of them, asked does our law convict someone without first giving him a hearing and finding out what he is accused of doing?

They responded are you also from Galilee?

Search and read the scriptures and see for yourself that no prophet comes from Galilee.

And everyone went to his own home.

The last time we see Nicodemus is after Jesus' death, john 19, verse 38,.

John 19:38

Later, joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.

Now, joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly, because he feared the Jewish leaders.

With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.

He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus.

At night, nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds.

Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it with spices and strips of linen.

This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.

At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden and in the garden a new tomb in which no one had ever been laid.

Because it was the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Now let's look at the amp, verse 39.

Nicodemus, who had first come to him at night, also came bringing a mixture of myrrh and aloes weighing about 100 Roman pounds.

So they took Jesus' body and bound it in linen wrappings with fragrant spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews.

Now, there was a garden at the place where he was crucified and in the garden a new tomb cut out of solid rock, in which no one had yet been laid.

Therefore, because of the Jewish day of preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

Nicodemus' offer was one heck of an offering.

The value of the spices that Nicodemus brought to anoint Jesus' body was worth over $200,000.

To understand how much that really was, the average worker in Israel made one denarii a day.

That would equal about $1.75 in US dollars.

365 days a year, minus 52 Shabbats, 52 days off per year, the average worker would work 313 days per year, which would be the equivalent of making $547.50.

This is what the average worker would make in Israel per year.

And to make it even clearer, it would cost an entire month's wage just to buy a sheep for sacrifice at the market.

Judas was paid 30 pieces of silver, called shekels, for his betrayal of Jesus.

A shekel was four days worth of wages.

Four days worth of wages is $7 times 30 is $210.

So Judas betrayed Jesus for $210.

And Mary of Bethany, the woman who poured perfume on Jesus' feet?

That expensive perfume was worth about the same price as Judas' shekels about half a year's wages.

There's one famous Pharisee that I've not talked about yet, which is like $20,000 today.

And we won't talk about him too much today because a good portion of the book of Acts is about him.

I just wanna put a bug in your ear.

Can you guess who it is?

Yes, you're right, it's Paul.

Philippians 3, verse four.

This is Paul speaking.

If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in flesh, I have more circumcised on the eighth day of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, in the regard to the law of Pharisee, as for zeal persecuting the church.

As for righteousness based on the law, faultless.

But whatever this gains me, I now consider a loss.

For the sake of Christ, we will continue to read more about Paul as our reading through Acts continues.

This marks the end of day six, part seven, cornerstone.

Let's begin at the top of our passage.

So over the past few days we have been introduced to the leaders, both political and religious.

We saw what they did to Jesus.

Now let's see what they say to Peter After his miracle at the gate.

Beautiful, remember.

This is just a continuation of last week's reading of Acts three.

Same event, acts four, verse one the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people.

They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

Don't forget.

We learned that the Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection, even though Jesus says they don't see the scriptures.

Clearly.

Not only that, now the disciples are saying that the man that they crucified because of his insurrection, jesus Christ, was resurrected Verse three they seized Peter and John and because it was evening, they put them in jail into the next day.

I want you to note that it will get more and more violent against the Christ followers as the time goes on.

But Jesus told them Matthew 24, verse nine then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me.

At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold and the one who stands firm to the end will be saved.

He also says in John 15, verse 18, if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.

John 15:18

If you belong to the world, it would love you as its own.

As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.

That is why the world hates you.

Remember what I told you a servant is not greater than his master.

If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also.

If they observe my teaching, they will observe yours also.

They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the one who sent me.

If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin.

But now they have no excuse for their sin.

Whoever hates me hates my father as well.

If I had not done among them the works no one else would.

They would not be guilty of sin.

As it is, they have seen, and yet they have hated both me and my father.

But this is to fulfill what is written in their law.

They hated me without reason.

Let's continue in Acts, verse four.

But many who heard the message believe.

So the number of men who believed grew to about 5,000.

So our number of Christians has now grown to 5,000 in a matter of days.

Now, in verse five, we are going to see a meeting of the Sanhedrin.

The leaders and the council have begun to take notice.

The next day, the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem.

Honest, the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, john, alexander and others of the high priest's family.

They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this?

I want you to look at a difference really quick.

Let's see.

The last time Peter had contact with the Sanhedrin, he followed Jesus.

When Jesus was arrested Matthew 26, verse 47.

Matthew 26:47

While he was still speaking, judas, one of the 12, arrived.

With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people.

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal between them.

The one I kiss is the man to rest him, going once to Jesus.

Judas said greetings, rabbi.

And kissed him.

Jesus replied do what you came for, friend.

Then the men stepped forward, seized Jesus and arrested him.

With that, one of Jesus's companions reached for a sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear.

Put your sword back in its place.

Jesus said to him, for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

Do you think I cannot call on my father and he will at once put at my disposal more than 12 legions of angels?

But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled and say it must happen this way?

In that hour, jesus said to the crowd am I leading a rebellion?

That you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me Every day?

I sat in the temple court's teaching and you did not arrest me.

But this has all taken place, that the writings of the prophets may be fulfilled.

Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.

Those who had arrested.

Jesus took him to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the teachers of the law and the elders had assembled, but Peter followed him at a distance, right up to the courtyard of the high priest.

He entered and sat down with the guards to see the outcome.

Let's jump down real quick to verse 69, as the priests were questioning Jesus.

Now Peter was sitting out in the courtyard and a servant girl came up to him and said you also were with Jesus of Galilee, she said.

But he denied it before them all.

I don't know what you were talking about, he said.

Then he went out to the gateway where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth.

He denied it again with an oath I don't know the man.

And after a little while, those standing there went up to Peter and said surely you are one of them, your accent gives you away.

Then he began to call down curses and he swore to them I don't know the man Immediately a rooster crowed.

Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken Before the rooster crows you will disown me three times.

And he went outside and wept bitterly.

Peter's response to the Sanhedrin last time could not have went any worse.

Now let's look at the difference of Peter's response this time.

Verse seven they had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them by what power or what name did you do this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.

Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

Let's pause here for a moment.

What is the difference between Peter's response to the council previously and his response now?

Peter seems like an entirely different person, doesn't he?

That's because he is.

Let's look at the first part of verse eight again.

Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit.

The difference in Peter is the Holy Spirit.

What did God say about his spirit?

Ezekiel 36, verse 25,.

Ezekiel 36:25

I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean, and I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols, and I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you.

I will remove from your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh, and I will put my spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

We saw Peter's own human response to the council when he followed Jesus previously.

The Holy Spirit in him now has given him a boldness and a power and a might to speak up against the council.

I would like to point out something Jesus says in Luke 12, verse eight.

I say to you, whoever declares openly and confesses me before men, speaking freely of me as his Lord, the Son of man also will declare openly and confess him as one of his own before the angels of God.

But he who denies me before men will be denied in the presence of the angels of God.

And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of man, it will be forgiven.

But he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit, that is, whoever intentionally discredits the synagogues and the magistrates and the miracles done by me to Satan, it will not be forgiven.

When they bring you before the synagogues and the magistrates and the authorities, do not be worried about how you are to defend yourself or what you are to say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.

We are seeing this happen right now.

In Acts four, peter says this.

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people if we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who is lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel.

It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you, healed.

It's by the name of Jesus.

And then he tells them do you get this part?

He says Acts four, verse 10, it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified.

This is like the big reveal.

And now he tells him you tried to kill him, but it didn't work.

God raised him from the dead.

He says it is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you, healed.

Jesus is the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.

You crucified him, but God raised him from the dead, and salvation is now found alone in Jesus.

Your plans for evil God turned around for good.

I'm pretty sure their minds exploded.

What?

The man we tried hard to kill.

He's not dead.

Peter says this Jesus is the cornerstone, the stone you builders rejected.

I wanna point out here that Peter is quoting a prophecy from Psalms 118.

Let's begin a little ways up in verse 19.

Open for me the gates of the righteous.

I will enter and give thanks to the Lord.

This is the gate of the Lord through which the righteous may enter.

I will give you thanks, for you answered me.

You have become my salvation.

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.

The Lord has done it this very day.

Let us rejoice today and be glad.

Jesus tells us in John 10, verse seven very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.

All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them.

I am the gate.

Whoever enters through me will be saved.

They will come in and go out and find pasture.

Peter said it perfectly.

He says salvation is found in no one else.

Now this leads me to the question what is a cornerstone?

If you don't know anything about building or about stonework or masonry, you might not know.

The first stone placed when building a structure is the cornerstone.

All other stones are set in reference to this one.

It orients the entire building to the direction they are going.

It is, in its most elementary form, the foundation of the entire building.

The cornerstone is always the first stone laid and it guides the workers how to place the rest of the stones and creates the entire building From the cornerstone.

A builder understands the standard of measure and alignment in order that he continued the work and the other stones are formed and placed in accordance to the cornerstone's example.

Isaiah says this in verse 28.

Therefore, the Lord God says this listen carefully.

I am laying in Zion a stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone for the secure foundation, firmly placed.

He who believes, who trusts in, relies on and adheres to that stone will not be disturbed or give way and sudden panic.

I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the mason's level.

The hail will sweep away the refuge of lies and the waters will flood over the secret hiding place.

Your covenant with death will be annulled and your agreement with shul.

The place of the dead will not stand and the overwhelming scourge passes through.

Then you will become its trampling ground.

Jesus tells us already and previously said this to the Sanhedrin before they crucified him Matthew 21,.

Listen to another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.

He put a wall around it, dug a wine press in it and built a watch tower.

Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place.

When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit.

The tenants seized his servants.

They beat one, killed another and stoned a third.

Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way.

Last of all, he sent his son to them.

They will respect my son, he said.

But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other this is the heir.

Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.

So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?

He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, they replied, and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.

Jesus said to them have you never read in the scriptures?

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

The Lord has done this and it is marvelous in our eyes.

Therefore, I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit.

Anyone who falls on the stone will be broken in pieces.

Anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.

When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew he was talking about them.

They looked for a way to arrest him, but they were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.

As the disciples continue to fight with the Jewish people, we will see this come to pass.

So Jesus is our cornerstone, our foundation, our gate, the only way to salvation.

We meet and measure ourselves, our work, our lives, our actions by our imitation of him.

Jesus says it like this Matthew 7, verse 24,.

Matthew 7:24

Therefore, everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.

The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against the house, yet it did not fall because it had its foundation on the rock.

But everyone who does not hear these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

The rain came down, the streams rose and the winds blew and beat against the house, and it fell with a great crash.

Now let's see how the council reacts to Peter's firm speech.

Acts 4, 14,.

But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say, so they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together.

What are we going to do with these men, they asked?

Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign and we cannot deny it.

But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.

So Peter and John were taken before the council.

The council could not deny that a miracle had occurred.

They could, however, threaten the disciples.

Let's keep reading.

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John replied, which is right in God's eyes, to listen to you or to him?

You be the judges.

As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

After further threats, they let them go.

They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what had happened, for the man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old.

Peter and John refused the commands of the council.

They said what is more important that we do the council's will or that we do what our Lord and Savior wants, which is right in God's eyes?

But the whole time the people refused to stop talking about the miracle they had seen, and the council was in a conundrum because the people were praising God for this miracle.

Their hands were tied.

They had to let them go On their release.

Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God.

Sovereign Lord, they said you made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our Father David.

Why do the nations rage in the people's plot and vein?

The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.

Indeed, herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in the city to conspire against your holy servant, jesus, whom you anointed.

They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.

Now, lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.

Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant, jesus.

After they prayed, the place where they were meeting were shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.

After the incident at the council, the believers met in prayer.

They said help us, god, to stand strong.

And what happened at this meeting?

The place they were meeting was shaken.

The word indicates it was shaken either by a mighty wind or an earthquake.

The place was physically shaken and the believers were all filled with the Holy Spirit, like on Pentecost, except there were no tongues of fire, because the tongues of fire were the evidence of the Holy Spirit coming down once and for all on the day of Pentecost, and when they were filled with the Spirit, they began to speak the word boldly, just like the difference that we saw in Peter.

We saw how Peter reacted to the council before he was filled with the Spirit, and now we see the difference of how Peter speaks to the council when he is filled with the Spirit.

Let's keep reading verse 32.

All the believers were one in heart and mind.

No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had with great power.

The apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God's grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them, for from time to time, those who owned the land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet and it was distributed to anyone who had need.

Joseph Eleviate from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnamus, which means son of encouragement, sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles' feet.

What a beautiful picture of the church.

I'm going to stop here today.

I hope you got a greater understanding of Israel and its history and its politics and its people.

As we continue through Acts, the disciples will begin to have more and more problems with the council.

If you have any prayer requests, please send us a private message on Facebook at Mercy Church, colorado, or you can also find our contact info at wwwwearmersichurch.

Let's close in prayer.

Dear Lord, we thank you for the study of Acts.

We thank you for your word.

We thank you that your word is a lamp into our feet and a light into our path.

We hide this word in our hearts so that we might not sin against you.

We thank you, lord, that you continue to give us your word and your message, that you continue to give us wisdom and guidance and understanding and continue to reveal the truth to us.

Lord, help us to know what you want us to receive from this message, and we thank you, lord, for your spirit and his guidance.

We thank you, lord, that you are a cornerstone.

Lord, help us to build that firm foundation.

Help us to continue to build in the right direction so that we can stand against the storms.

We thank you, lord, for this wonderful day and this wonderful week.

In Jesus' name, amen, we love you, mercy Church family, and hope that you have a wonderful week.