The Great Search
Bible Drama
~ Act Five ~
NARRATOR: The appointed day finally arrived,
and since they had been through other presentations, after a few minutes of
visiting together, they took their seats, and Mr.
Vance began:
MR. VANCE: Well men, I am thrilled to tell you
that my questions from book two were answered in this volume. In fact, to my amazement, the first
chapter of the book of Acts picked up from the ascension of Jesus where Book 2 left off. In the first chapter, I found Jesus preparing to ascend to
heaven and leaving His apostles to accomplish their work.
Beginning
at verse 4, I read: “And being assembled together with them, He commanded
them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise
of the Father, "which," He said, "you have heard from Me; for
John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now."
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, "Lord,
will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" And He said to them,
"It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in
His own authority. But you shall receive power
when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you,” (Acts 1:4-8).
Shortly
after this He was taken up in a cloud, and the apostles went to Jerusalem to wait for the power that was
promised, and the coming of the church
or kingdom.
As
I came to chapter two, I found the apostles in Jerusalem waiting, when about
the third hour of the day on the feast day called Pentecost,
it happened! Jesus was right in
speaking of the Spirit coming with power, because it sounded like a rushing
mighty wind, and all the room where they were sitting was filled.
The
Spirit appeared to them, as cloven or dived tongues like as fire. Now, all Jewish nations under heaven
were represented on this Feast day,
and the noise and power was so great that all heard and came together.
Peter
stood up with the other eleven apostles and preached a powerful sermon. He used the first two books which I have already reported, to
make his points as he showed that the Jews were murderers and guilty of the blood of the Son of God.
“Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” (Acts 2:36).
When he finished, they were cut in
their hearts and felt lost from
God. It was at this point that the
Jews asked a question that was of
great interest to me:
“Men
and brethren, what shall we do?” From this
question, I know that Peter and the others had reached them and that they were believers in Jesus, and they were now ready
to do anything required for them to be freed from their sins. In verse 38, Peter answered the question:
“Repent,
and let every one of you be baptized
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of
sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Now, Mr. Preacher, I jotted down what Peter told them to do:
REPENT – BE BAPTIZED!
Then
as I read further in the second chapter, I learned that 3,000 souls accepted this teaching, because verse 41
says, “Then
those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” What a great day that must have been!
In
the last verse of this chapter two, I learned something else: “praising God
and having favor with all the people. And the Lord
added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Until this time the church or kingdom was spoken of as being
in the future or at hand, but now it is in existence and they are being added by the
Lord to it.
Do
you fellows remember that in Book 2,
Jesus promised to build His church and promised Peter the keys of the kingdom? Well, now the kingdom is here and all
men and women are invited to enter.
Another thing that I noticed is that when these people did what Peter
told them to do to be saved, the Lord
added them to the church.
Excuse
me, Mr. Vance, but I must say something here. You see, I made an attempt one time to be religious, but I
could not decide which church to join. Now I know from the Bible that New
Testament Christians did not “join” a church. Obeying the commands of Christ simply saved them, and the Lord added them to His church. When the Lord does the adding, we can
be sure that He has not made a mistake.
Please
excuse me, Mr. Vance, I know you are the one giving the report, but you’ll
never know what it means to me to learn
about God’s way of salvation and how the saved are added to Christ’s church.
MR. VANCE:
Sir,
that’s all right! Your comments
help me remember the things that I
have learned and studied.
Now,
as I continued studying through this book, I found many examples of
conversions—of people changing and turning to Jesus for salvation.
The
eighth chapter records the conversion of the Ethiopian
eunuch, a man with great authority from the Queen of Ethiopia. He had traveled by chariot all the way
to Jerusalem to worship according to the Law of Moses, since he had not heard
of the new law and Jesus Christ. A
preacher named Philip was sent to
him, and while riding along in the chariot together, Philip preached to him Jesus.
They
came to certain water and the eunuch said:
“See,
here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" Then Philip said,
"If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and
said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God." So he
commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him. Now when they came up out of
the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, so that the eunuch saw
him no more; and he went on his way rejoicing,”
(Acts 8:36-39).
Now
I made a list to this point of what is required to be saved: REPENT - CONFESS CHRIST, and BE
BAPTIZED.
Next, in chapter 16, I found another interesting example of one being converted or saved. One of God’s workers, the apostle Paul, was in jail with his companion when God sent an earthquake that opened all the doors of the prison. The jailer who was in charge knew that if a prisoner escaped, it would mean his death, so he was ready to take his own life when Paul cried out:
“Do yourself no harm, for we are
all here." Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling
before Paul and Silas. And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what
must I do to be saved?" So they said, "Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household."
Then they spoke the word of the
Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their
stripes. And immediately he and all
his family were baptized. Now when he
had brought them into his house, he set food before them; and he rejoiced, having believed in God with all
his household,” (Acts 16:28-34).
As
I read every chapter and every conversion,
these are the steps they took.
When they heard the word preached, they BELIEVED
it, REPENTED of their sins, CONFESSED that they believed Jesus to be the
Christ the Son of God, and they were BAPTIZED
for the remission of their sins.
In fact, I have prepared a little chart that lists the conversions in
this book, showing that when you put all the conversions together, you have God’s complete plan of
salvation. Would you like to look
at it and study it closely before we go on?
NARRATOR: They told Mr. Vance
that they wanted to see it, so the chart was passed first to the Preacher and
then to Mr. Goldston. The
millionaire spent several minutes looking over the summation.
It
was thrilling to see God’s plan for salvation
in such a simple presentation. It
was also interesting to note that all the ones in the examples of conversions were required to be
baptized. Mr. Goldston thought,
“These are commands that God requires one to do to receive His gift of grace and salvation
through Christ’s blood. Then Mr.
Vance continued:
MR. VANCE: Now, Mr. Preacher, after reading this third book, I have one
question. I now BELIEVE with all my heart. I have decided in my heart to turn from
the evil and sinful things I have committed, which seems to be the meaning of REPENTANCE illustrated in the third book. I am certainly willing to CONFESS that I believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. Now, my
question is, “Will you BAPTIZE me for the
remission of my sins?”
PREACHER: Mr. Vance, nothing could thrill me
more. The word of God has been
planted firmly in your heart, and I am sure that you know from your study that
salvation is a gift from God, but is
conditioned on obedience to His
commands. I’m happy that you are
ready to go all the way in obedience.
Let’s go now to the baptistery.
All is ready.
MR. GOLDSTON: Just a minute, Preacher. There are two things on my mind! First, let me say, you have won the
experiment...or rather the Bible has proven itself to be, in my eyes, the WORD OF GOD. You were right; it is not a book that causes religious
division. The religious world is
divided because they have added to
and taken from the Bible, the word of
God.
The second thing that is on my mind
is this: As you know, I’m a rich man!
Do you think I could be saved?
PREACHER: Are you willing to give your life to
Christ, and to obey His commandments?
MR. GOLDSTON: I don’t think I could ever have
another happy moment in this life without Christianity!
PREACHER: Then remember this, your wealth can
be used for the glory of God. This man, Mr. Vance, is ready to
complete his obedience to Christ because your money brought him to the word of
God. There are millions like him
who would obey gladly and live for Jesus faithfully if they were only taught. Instead of your money keeping you from salvation, it can
help you and others give your lives in service to Christ.
MR. GOLDSTON: Now that I believe,
and wish to change my heart and life,
may I confess: I do believe that Jesus
is the Christ, the Son of God.
Will you also baptize me for
the remission of my sins?
PREACHER: Yes, certainly yes! And may I say with no reservations that
this is one of the happiest moments of my life.
NARRATOR: These men went immediately to the
baptistery where all was in preparation for those willing to be baptized. Mr. Vance and Mr. Goldston found their
proper sizes of garments and anxiously awaited the opportunity to complete
their obedience to the Lord in baptism.
Each
of these men was buried beneath the
water in baptism for the remission of their sins
just as Peter had commanded in Acts 2:38, and they were baptized in the name
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus had
commanded in Matthew 28:19.
Within thirty minutes, these two men
had been baptized and all three were back in the Preacher’s study. There seemed to be such closeness
between them now, as they discussed their new life in Christ Jesus. However, the conversation finally
returned to the study of the Bible.
MR. VANCE: Say, Preacher, didn’t you tell me
that you have four books for me to study?
PREACHER: Yes, that’s right, but I was
wondering, don’t you feel that you should rest for a few days? For three weeks you have given many hours to study. Suppose you take a few days off and get
out and visit our city. I feel
that you may come up with some other questions. Mr. Goldston, is it all right with you
to wait for a few days before giving him this fourth
book?
MR. GOLDSTON: You’re right about that, and that’s agreeable with me, but
I’m sure anxious to hear a report on the remaining book or section of the
Bible. In the mean time, I plan to
do more reading and studying on my own, and that should make
the last report even more meaningful to me.
PREACHER: Then all are agreed. We will meet as usual here in the
office, one week from today. —BBBristow
(Please continue this drama by clicking on Act 6)