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Scripture Reading: Acts 4:1-3, 5-7, 13, 18-21; 5:17-29, 33, 40-41; 6:9-13; 7:54-59; 8:1-3; 9:1-5; 10:9-16; 11:1-3, 12, 19; 15:1-2, 28-29; 21:17-28
We all must realize that in the book of Acts Christ is living with all His members. Never think that Christ is only in the four Gospels and not in the Acts. In the Gospels we have Christ in the body given Him by Mary, His physical body; but in the Acts we have Christ in a larger Body, a mystical Body, given Him by the Holy Spirit. Acts 1 tells how Christ ascended into the heavens in the presence of all His followers. Then Acts 2 tells how this ascended Christ came down upon His followers. From that day, the day of Pentecost, Christ was fully one with all His saints. From that day He was not only within them but also upon them; He not only filled them but also clothed them. He was fully and thoroughly one with all His disciples to the extent that His disciples just became Jesus Christ.
You remember what that persecutor, Saul of Tarsus, heard when he was smitten down on the road to Damascus: The Lord Jesus said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me ?” (9:4). Then Saul replied in so many words, “Lord, who are You? I never persecuted anyone in the heavens; all those whom I persecuted were on earth. I persecuted John, I persecuted Peter, and I persecuted Stephen; now I am on my way to persecute some people in the city of Damascus. Who are You?” The Lord Jesus answered, “I am Jesus, whom you persecute.” The Lord said in effect, “You must realize that Peter, John, Stephen, and all My believers are just Me. When you persecute them, you persecute Me. I am one with them, and they are one with Me.”
Hence, in the book of Acts Christ is still here on this earth living with, in, and among all His disciples. We all must realize that the sufferings, journeys, and speeches of these disciples were absolutely the acts of Jesus. Jesus was still acting, living, moving, working, and doing things in all His disciples.
We can also see in the book of Acts that Christ was still versus religion. The battle between Christ and religion was even more severe in the book of Acts than in the four Gospels. The disciples of Jesus went forward testifying and witnessing for Jesus, absolutely ignoring religion. This greatly offended the religious people and rulers; therefore, they exercised their religious authority to arrest and imprison them. The religious rulers, in a sense, were opposing all the followers of Jesus, but they were not mainly against the followers but against Jesus Himself. They had no problem with those Galilean followers of Jesus; their problem was with Jesus. They instructed the disciples never to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. You see, they did not mind their teaching or preaching as long as they would leave out the name of Jesus. They were not against those Galileans; they were against Jesus. They did not hate His followers; they hated Jesus. The disciples, of course, would not take their word; they had something more living and powerful within them than what they heard from those religious rulers. They proceeded fearlessly to preach and to praise Christ, and thus brought upon themselves swift arrest and imprisonment.
But that was not the end. “An angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison, and leading them out, said, Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (5:19-20). What life? The life which nothing can hold, the life which even the prison cannot hold. The angel told them to go and speak the words of such a life. So they went early in the morning to the temple and spoke. The rulers sent the officers to the prison that day to bring forth the disciples to the counsel, and the officers returned saying, “The prison we found locked with all security, and the guards standing at the doors; but when we opened the doors, we found no one inside” (v. 23). When the chief priests received this report, we read that they were “utterly perplexed concerning them as to what this would come to” (v. 24). Eventually, they found all the prisoners in the temple speaking boldly in the name of Jesus. They probably said one to another, “What shall we do? We cannot do anything with these people.” What they really meant was that they could not do anything with this life. The Galilean people were nothing, but the life within them was tremendous. The life was the real troublemaker, not those Galilean fishermen.
Then in chapter 6 various groups of people came to debate with Stephen. Have you noticed what kind of people they were? They were the people of all the synagogues, of all the various groups of religion from different places. All combined to fight against Stephen. Eventually, outwardly speaking, they gained the victory because they stoned Stephen to death; but inwardly they lost the case. We must realize that Stephen was not there by himself. While they were stoning him, he was connected to the heavens. At that very moment “the heavens opened up,” and Stephen saw “the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God” (7:56). That means that Jesus was one with Stephen, and Stephen was one with Jesus. That also means that the heavens and the earth, the earth and the heavens, were also one. The people were not persecuting Stephen; they were persecuting Jesus. They were not stoning Stephen; they were stoning Jesus who had ascended to the heavens. It is not a small matter.
When Saul of Tarsus witnessed Stephen’s martyrdom, he was wholly for it. He gave himself utterly to stamp out this Jesus. Stephen’s stoning, he thought, was a great victory, and now he could press the persecution even further. Therefore, he went to the chief priests, requesting authority to bind and imprison all those in Damascus who called on the Lord’s name. We all know the story: While he was on his way, Jesus spoke from heaven — the One who saw Stephen stoned to death, the One who was one with Stephen, now came to visit this persecutor. A light came from the heavens, and Saul was smitten to the ground. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” The Lord Jesus spoke very nicely to Saul — have you noticed this? “I am Jesus, whom you persecute.” “It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” The Lord’s words were very meaningful. In the ancient times there were pricks or goads on the carriages to keep the horses in check. Sometimes the horses would kick and rebel against the carriage and their driver. When they did, they were pricked by the goads and thus given a lesson. To the Lord Jesus, what Saul was doing was kicking against the goads. The Lord said to Saul in so many words, “Saul, regardless of how much you are persecuting Me, you are still under My rule. I am riding you; you are not riding Me. You are a horse in My carriage, and you are not being a good horse. Stop your kicking. You are kicking the goads, and you can never succeed. You see, now you have landed on the ground.” Then Saul’s inner eyes began to open. He probably began to reason with himself, “Oh, it’s not so good for me to persecute this Jesus. This Jesus is not so small; this Jesus is great, both in heaven and on earth. I am under the rule of this Jesus whom I have been persecuting: I am just a little horse, and He’s doing the riding.” This persecutor was marvelously subdued. The Lord Jesus gained the victory over the scribes, over the Sadducees, over the Pharisees, over the chief priests, and even over this persecutor. The Lord gained the victory over all the religious people.
Now when we come to chapter 10, we see that the Lord Jesus had a problem, not with the priests, not with the Pharisees, not with the persecutors, but with Peter. Up to Acts 10 Peter was still more or less religious. In Acts 2, 3, 4, and 5 Peter appeared marvelous, heavenly, absolutely out of religion, and wholly in the spirit; but when we come to chapter 10, we see another Peter, a religious Peter. Peter went to the housetop to pray according to a certain time schedule. That was not bad: I do not blame anyone for praying according to a time schedule — sometimes we need to do this. But have you realized that at that time Peter was still religious? Peter did not realize it. Suddenly, in a kind of trance, he saw something descend from the heavens which was diametrically opposed to his religious concept. I cannot tell, of course, what Peter was praying at the moment of this unexpected vision. It is quite probable, however, that he was praying for all the Jews to be converted, for all his countrymen to be saved. He may have been asking the Lord to send a great revival upon the Jewish nation. But while he was faithfully keeping the hour of prayer, he suddenly saw a vessel let down from heaven, wherein were “all the four-footed animals and reptiles of the earth and birds of heaven” (v. 12). Then came the Lord’s word: “Rise up, Peter; slay and eat!” (v. 13). This shocked Peter. What he heard was absolutely contrary to the law and to the Scripture in Leviticus 11. The children of Israel were only allowed to eat the clean animals, not the unclean. But here were all kinds of living creatures, and the Lord was asking him to eat them. By reading the context of these verses carefully, we see the probability of every creature in that great sheet being unclean. In any case, it was full of unclean things. The Lord told him to “slay and eat,” but Peter said, “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean” (v. 14). In other words, Peter said, “This is against my practice.” He did not use the word religion, but he meant that.
You have realized by now that we must get rid of religion, but have you realized that to get rid of religion is not so easy? Could you imagine that a person like Peter still retained to this point some amount of religion? Look at Peter in the opening chapters of Acts, and then look at him here in chapter 10. There is another person in this chapter, a person who is still caring for religion, neglecting the Spirit. Peter forced the Lord to speak three times to him, and still he did not understand. Then when the Gentiles from Cornelius came seeking Peter, the Spirit within him told him to go.
This time Peter remembered well the lesson he learned with such difficulty in Matthew 17. You remember how the Lord Jesus brought James and John together with Peter to the Mount of Transfiguration, but Peter did not consult with them; Peter did not care for them. This time, however, Peter remembered. When the men from Cornelius came and the Spirit bade him go with them, he took six other brothers. On the Mount of Transfiguration he had only two brothers, James and John; but this time he took six brothers with him. Seven brothers went as one to visit Cornelius. There was no more individualism — Peter had learned the lesson. He could no more act individualistically; he was quite careful about this. In this matter Peter was religiously wrong but so spiritually right. The Lord never told Peter to take six brothers with him; the Lord never gave him this kind of command. But Peter was on the alert: he realized that if he went to the Gentiles, he would certainly be put on the spot by all his Jewish brothers. Therefore, he took these brothers not only to be his witnesses but also as his protection. That was really good. Peter took it upon himself to do this. Sometimes we must do something which the Lord Jesus has never told us to do. There are instances when to do something which He has not commanded will please the Lord even more than doing that which He has told us to do.
Then they went to Cornelius — you know the story. While Peter was speaking to them, the Holy Spirit came down upon the Gentiles exactly as He did upon the Jewish believers on the day of Pentecost. All the brothers who accompanied Peter saw it. Then when they returned to Jerusalem, just as Peter had suspected, all his Jewish brothers asked, “How come?” They said in effect, “Peter, you went to a Gentile home; you had fellowship with Gentiles. How come?” What is this? This again is religion. Not to eat anything unclean was religious, and not to contact the unclean Gentiles was again religious. Religion was still with them and was quite prevailing. But Peter had gotten the vision, and he stood and rehearsed the whole matter from beginning to end. He said, “I was not the only one who saw the Holy Spirit descend upon the Gentiles. These six brothers were with me — they saw it too.” Two, you know, is always the number for testimony, but now Peter had three times two. Peter learned the lesson so well in Matthew 17 that he could never forget. The Lord brought only two to the mountaintop with Peter, but now Peter took three times that many with him to visit Cornelius. Praise the Lord. Peter really learned his lesson. Thus, in Acts 11 he could speak so strongly: “Don’t blame me. If I am wrong, the six brothers are wrong also. They all went with me — what can you say?” Seven is the number of completion. Seven brothers stood together against religion. Isn’t this good?
The point is this: religion is within our blood. Peter was outside of religion, but religion was still in him, and not only in him but in so many Jewish believers. They had seen how the Lord Jesus did everything outside of religion, but there was still an amount of religion within them. I am still concerned that within so many of us, after seeing so clearly the nature of religion, there is still a certain amount of religion. The time will come when you will be tested and you will say, “Not so, Lord; throughout all my Christian life I have never done that.”
Following chapters 10 and 11, we come to chapter 15, where we read that certain men went down to Antioch from Jerusalem telling the people, “Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved” (v. 1). Listen to the religion. How religious can you be! Yet they were believers. In so short a time after chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5 of Acts, we see how so many Jewish believers returned to religion. A great stir was created among the churches in the Gentile world, so the elders decided to send Paul and Barnabas to Jerusalem about this matter. At the conference in Jerusalem, by the mercy of the Lord, the decision was made not to perpetuate such teaching. Praise the Lord for that.
To leave our religious background is really difficult. If there were no background, it would be easy. The situation today is exactly the same: we do have a religious background, and almost every one of us has come out of it. The problem is that we have come out of it, but it has not come out of us. We have said to religion, “I divorce you,” but religion has said to us, “I will never leave you.” Brothers and sisters, please do not read this chapter on behalf of others; read it for yourself. It is easy to get out of religion, but it is not easy to get religion out of us.
The apostle Paul, we know, wrote the Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans, in which he spoke so strongly against anything of the old religion. Could you imagine that after writing these two books, when Paul went up to Jerusalem, he would be convinced to perform a ritualistic act in the Jewish temple? Yet he did. It is recorded in Act 21, and he was persuaded to do this by no less than the elders of the church. Let us read this portion again — it is amazing.
And when we had come to Jerusalem, the brothers welcomed us gladly. And on the following day Paul went in with us to James, and all the elders were present. And having greeted them, he related one by one the things which God did among the Gentiles through his ministry. And when they heard it, they glorified God.
This is really good! Hallelujah! But it was not so simple.
...and said to him, You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law. And they have been informed concerning you that you are teaching all the Jews throughout the nations apostasy from Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, nor to walk according to the customs.
That was absolutely correct — Paul did this. Read the book of Galatians; read the book of Romans; Paul really did this.
What then is to be done? They will certainly hear that you have come. Therefore do this that we tell you:...
The elders, listen, the elders were speaking to Paul.
We have four men who have a vow on themselves; take these and be purified with them, and pay their expenses that they may shave their heads. And all will know that there is nothing to the things that they have been informed of concerning you, but that you yourself also walk orderly, keeping the law. But concerning the Gentiles who have believed, we have already written, having decided that they should keep themselves from idol sacrifices and blood and anything strangled and fornication. Then Paul took the men and on the following day, being purified with them, entered into the temple, giving notice of the completion of the days of the purification, until the offering was offered for each one of them. (21:17-26)
Could you believe that Paul would do this? O Lord Jesus, O Lord Jesus, be merciful to us! Could you believe that by the time of Acts 21 all the elders in Jerusalem would give Paul such advice? They were not the small brothers, but the elders, including James. Their advice in effect was this: “We have decided not to ask the Gentile believers to keep the law, but we the Jews still need to keep the law.” Perhaps Paul in taking their advice felt that he should “become all things” to all men (1 Cor. 9:22). Perhaps this was his reasoning. But regardless of how much we try to excuse our brother Paul, the Lord Jesus would not agree, and the Lord would not honor what he did. Let us read Acts 21:27-28: “When the seven days [for the ritual of purification] were about to be concluded, the Jews from Asia saw him in the temple and threw all the crowd into confusion; and they laid their hands on him, crying out, Men of Israel, help! This is the man who teaches all men everywhere against the people and the law and this place; and further, he has even brought Greeks into the temple.” The Lord could not take it any longer; He allowed some people to interfere with the ritual before it was accomplished. It was by this that Paul was put into prison, where he remained until his death. Not long after this, the Lord sent the Roman army under Titus in A.D. 70 to destroy the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jewish religion. The Jewish elders said, “You observe, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews who have believed; and all are zealous for the law.” But it seems that the Lord was saying, “I will send an army to wipe out the whole thing,” and He did. That was the end, hallelujah, that was the end! Praise the Lord, since that time we can find no record in history of any elders giving the brothers such advice. Everything was wiped out.
Let me warn you again of thinking that you are through with religion. I tell you, you may be through with religion, but religion will not be through with you. You may have decided to divorce your “wife,” but your “dear wife” will never leave you. This religious wife is a real wife; it is really difficult for anyone to get rid of her.
Several years ago some brothers from a certain place learned to pray-read and then returned to their meeting with other believers to practice it. A general cry of alarm arose, and it reached my ears. “Oh, oh, we cannot take this! The people here are not used to this!” This again was the story of religion. They reacted just as Peter did when the Lord let down the sheet from heaven. “By no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common and unclean.” But the Lord said, “The things that God has cleansed, do not make common.” The Lord said in other words, “You may not like it, but I like it.” Eventually, the Lord gained the victory in that place.
Shall we limit the Lord? Who knows what the Lord will do and how far the Lord will go. I am not fighting for pray-reading, shouting, or loud praising, but I am saying that we must get rid of anything religious. You may say that you are not used to something new, but the Lord says, “Behold, I make all things new” (Rev. 21:5). What would you say? What can you say?
Peter did have the scriptural ground in the law not to eat anything unclean. But today we have no ground to maintain our old kind of Christian “service.” We must confess that it is pure tradition. Peter’s insistence not to eat anything unclean was fully grounded in the Old Testament Scriptures. But if today you say that you do not like loud shouting and praising in the meetings, you have no ground in the Bible, not one word. The Lord be merciful to us that we may be willing to drop all our religious concepts. You may say that something is unclean, but the Lord says that He has sanctified it. You may say that you cannot contact the Gentiles, but the Lord says that He has chosen them before the foundation of the world. If you do not go to them, sooner or later you will meet them in the New Jerusalem. You will meet the people you despise face to face. Then what will you do? You say you do not like noisy meetings, but the Lord Jesus says He likes them. “I am so happy,” He says, “that they are calling upon My name.” O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus! O Lord Jesus!
Religion has become and still is a real pit to us. We have fallen into this pit. I do not mean that in throwing over religion we should be foolishly crazy. We should in the proper sense be sober. Yet it is easy to get out of religion but not easy to get religion out of us. The Lord Jesus, when He was on earth, acted so clearly before His disciples, showing them by example His attitude toward religion. They all saw it; they were all made clear that Jesus would have nothing to do with religion. Furthermore, they were all clothed with the Lord Himself on the day of Pentecost and became His bold and living witnesses. Yet in Acts 10, 15, and 21, the root of religion still in them was exposed. It seems incredible to us, but we must consider ourselves. What about the root of religion still in us? The Lord be merciful to us.
Today, in principle, we are in the same situation. Christianity today is almost a religion. Do not think that since Christianity has the Bible, everything is well. Do not think that since Christianity today preaches Christ, everything is fine. In the ancient times the elders of Judaism had the Bible, and they also taught something about Christ. But Christ Himself was there, and they did not care for Him. It is exactly the same in principle today.
Dr. A. W. Tozer of recent years wrote an article shortly before his death in which the main point was this: Christianity today has its conferences in which they discuss Christian service, missionary endeavor, and so forth. But suppose Christ Himself should enter their conference room. They would ask Him, “Who are You?” So wrote the famous minister of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, A. W. Tozer. This is today’s Christianity, and this is not my word, but his.
We must be aware; we must be on the alert. Never think that just because someone has the Bible and preaches Christ, he is all right. We must all be so living with the living Christ, not with anything religious, not with anything of Christianity, not with anything of tradition, organization, regulation, forms, mere teachings, and dead doctrines. Christ is only Christ Himself, and Christ cares only for Himself; He does not care for a Christ in doctrine, a Christ in history, or the Christ in your mind. He only cares for Himself, the living Christ in your spirit. This is the day of the Lord’s recovery, and this recovery is of the living Christ in our spirit. It has nothing to do with any forms, regulations, teachings, or doctrines in dead letters. Oh, let us give ourselves to be one with this living Christ!
We have seen from the record of the Gospels how the Lord Jesus began to be opposed to religion in the matter of fasting. From fasting, He began to break through all the religious things. We have seen how He broke the keeping of the Sabbath and put it aside. Then, in Acts 10 He broke the law of eating unclean things, and in so doing, broke the law of separation from the Gentile world. Following this, the Lord broke the law of circumcision (Acts 15), and eventually He broke through the whole religion. He sent the Roman army in A.D. 70 under Titus, the prince of the Roman Empire, to utterly wipe out Judaism. May the Lord be merciful to bring us completely out of religion and to bring religion completely out of us.
