In his sermon 'The Perfect Church,' Peter Allison explores Acts 9:31, which describes the early Christian churches in Judea, Galilee, and Samaria as having peace, being edified, and multiplying while walking in the fear of the Lord and comfort of the Holy Spirit. Allison challenges the notion that a perfect church cannot exist, suggesting instead that it is characterized by God-given peace, edification through the Word of God, and a community walking in the fear of the Lord. He emphasizes that peace in the church is not the absence of conflict, but reconciliation and restoration through Christ. Edification occurs through the teaching of the Word, godly authority, and love among believers, building the church into the likeness of Christ. The sermon also highlights the importance of fearing God over man, seeing it as the beginning of wisdom and a foundation for a strong relationship with God. Additionally, Allison discusses the role of the Holy Spirit as a comforter, especially in times of suffering, providing assurance and helping believers rest in God's promises. The sermon concludes with a call for believers to strive for a perfect church by embracing the Holy Spirit's perfecting work within the community.

Please turn in your copy of God's Word to Acts chapter 9, verse 31. And verse 31. We looked at this last week, this verse at the end of God's preparing Saul for his calling. But I thought it would be helpful and edifying to pause here and look this morning at just this verse and what it says to us about the Church of Jesus Christ. So hear God's word.

Then the churches throughout all Judea, Galilee, and Samaria had peace and were edified. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were multiplied." May this His law be our delight and lead us to long for His Salvation. Heavenly Father, we thank You for the instruction of Your Word. We thank You for its light. We ask that You would open our eyes that we may perceive that light.

We ask that you would sanctify us by your word and I ask that you would cleanse my sinful lips to proclaim your glorious and wonderful words of life through Jesus Christ. Amen. Through Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, I'm fairly certain this morning that everyone here has heard someone tell you that there is no perfect church.

And they might add, if you find one, don't join it lest it would be ruined. And you've probably heard many other similar wise sayings. So this morning I want to ask you for just a minute to hold any immediate rejection of the notion that there just might be a perfect church. After all, haven't you at some point in your life experienced a feast where the food was scrumptious? Where the conversation was engaging and witty and pleasant, and the company was delightful, the setting was idyllic.

And when the host or the server asked you if everything is okay, You said, yes, it's perfect. Or maybe someone has asked you to review the artwork for a flyer or a program or a portrait, or a picture. They want your assessment. And you think, it looks perfect. But when it comes to churches, well, there's no such thing as the perfect church, or so we're told.

But consider a minute the language of Scripture. What does the Bible say? Well, this is what we read. Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever." What a wonderful promise. Christ working in us that we would be perfect.

But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." Patience, James says, When it's complete, its work is to make us perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Or how about this? All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Or Jude, now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy." Or Peter's instruction to the church in 2 Peter 3. Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace without spot and blameless.

Without spot. Perfect. In fact, God even expects us to be perfect. It's not just theoretically possible, God expects it of us. Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in Heaven is perfect.

You and I, Jesus said, are to be perfect even as Our Father in Heaven is perfect. So I would submit to you this morning that Acts 9, 31 is A summary text describing the perfect church. And what does it look like? What does the perfect church look like? The first word is then.

Then. It could also be translated therefore. This word often is translated therefore. Then. It tells us that we need to keep in mind everything that has happened previously because this state, this description in verse 31 is the product or consequence of all that has come before.

Therefore, then, it follows. So let's quickly recall for those to refresh our memories of all that has happened in this church, in these churches since Pentecost. Well, this was the church that after Pentecost continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread and in prayers. This was the church that saw their leader imprisoned, released, imprisoned, beaten, commanded not to preach anymore in Jesus' name, but they still did. They witnessed this.

This is the church that sold their possessions to provide for the need of a huge influx of people in that day so that everybody might be in need. Not in need, so that no one would be in need. This is the church that had hypocrites in it. People who wanted to appear like they were selling all their possessions and giving to the poor when in fact they didn't do and hadn't done what they were leading everybody to believe they were doing. They lied.

And they faced severe church discipline. So severe it brought great fear on all those who heard about this church discipline. This is the church that had such rapid growth that there were problems and discord. There were people that were upset and had a complaint about how other people in the church were being treated. Things weren't going so smoothly.

One group of people was getting neglected, prompting a complaint to the apostles. And this resulted in officers being ordained to fix the disorganization and to attend to the important matters that were being overlooked. This is the church that saw one of their godly men that they had just ordained to fix the problems and disorganization in the church killed by an angry mob of church leaders. This is the church that experienced severe prosecution led by a hothead who wrecked havoc in the church, dragging men and women, mothers and fathers, husbands and wives off to jail and imprisoning some of them and killing some of them. This was a church that faced such severe persecution.

That much of the church was scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Everybody except the Apostles. And that caused many new churches to spring up. And these were the churches that saw large numbers of people repenting through the preaching of the Word, turning to Christ in faith and obedience. These were the churches that saw a sorcerer baptized.

A sorcerer baptized. And joining the church, hoping to buy some of the power that he saw the Apostles using. These were the churches that saw the Lord powerfully subdue to himself their chief persecutor and make him a preacher of the Gospel that he once persecuted. These were the churches that rejected a true believer. Because they didn't think that such A great sinner could possibly be saved so quickly.

It couldn't be true. So they rejected a Christian, a believer. They wouldn't have anything to do with him. They were afraid of Him. That's the then.

That's the church. That's the context of this passage. Then, the churches throughout all Judea, Samaria, and Galilee had peace. This is the first characteristic of this perfect church. A God-given Peace.

A peace that comes from God. Because that's where peace comes from. If this church had peace, they had it because God gave them peace. He is the author of peace. He says in Isaiah 45, I form the light and create darkness.

I make peace and create calamity. I, the Lord, do all these things. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace." God is the author of peace. That means He is the initiator. He is the one who gives Peace.

Jesus told His disciples in the upper room, peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled. Neither let it be afraid.

See, the world can give a peace. They can give a cessation of hostilities. They can give order in the streets. But that does nothing for the conscience of a sinner. It does nothing to ease the troubled conscience of a sinner.

A conscience that either excuses their sin or accuses them of their sin. See, we were once enemies of God under His condemnation, and Jesus did the work to reconcile us to God and to restore peace between us so that we can have peace in our conscience so that our conscience is no longer accusing us. Jesus said that the peace that He gives is not like the peace that the world gives. The peace that Jesus gives brings peace of conscience. It brings joy.

It brings health to our bones. It brings prosperity to our business. It brings tranquility to our homes. It's a total and full well-being. In the Old Testament, this word was shalom.

And it really speaks to everything, the reversal of everything that happened in the fall and the curse. God's peace restores all that. He makes peace in our borders, the psalm says. Psalm 147. And fills us with the finest wheat.

And so Paul told the Romans, Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And that is a peace that flows into every aspect of our life. Every part of it. Our health, our wealth, our families, everything. Our nation.

The civil peace of the land is the result of Christ's obedience and the peace that He brought. You see, this peace that these churches had is the fruit of abiding in Christ. It is the fruit, the result, of those who are abiding in Christ. Jesus told His disciples in that upper room, these things I have spoken to you that in Me, In me, you might have peace. It's as we are in Christ.

It's as we abide in the vine that we have this peace. You see, peace then is flowing from our relationship to Jesus Christ. If we don't have a relationship with Him, we won't have peace. To have peace means that we have a full and flourishing relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ, and you can't have a relationship with someone you don't talk to. You can't have a relationship with someone you don't listen to.

So this peace that Jesus gives, He gives because we are in Him. Because we know Him. Because we have fellowship with Him. It flows. This peace flows from obedience to His commandments.

Great peace. Have those who love Your law and nothing causes them to stumble. Great peace have those who love your law." Psalm 119, 165. You see, when we do something that grieves the Holy Spirit and breaks our fellowship with Christ, Our conscience, if it's not hardened and seared, will accuse us. We're grieved, aren't we?

We're grieved that we've grieved the Holy Spirit. Because when you hurt someone that you love, you grieve. It pains us when we hurt Someone that we love. So this peace then flows out of obedience. And obedience of course comes from the power of the Holy Spirit.

So these churches had peace. They were abiding in Christ. Now that doesn't mean there was never any conflict. We saw that there was conflict in these churches. They had all kinds of conflict.

But see, peace is when those who are creating the conflict confess those sins. And peace is when those who have been sinned against grant forgiveness to those who have sinned against them. That they take upon themselves to pay the debt that the other person owed to them. That's forgiveness. So that results in reconciliation and restoration of fellowship.

That results in a restoration, not a departure from each other so that the parties never have to see each other or talk to each other again. You see, when that happens, that's not peace. When two people that have a conflict separate and go to different churches, that's not peace. It may look like peace, but it's a fake peace. Peace is when there is reconciliation between those who were once offended.

The peace that Jesus brings to those who are abiding in Him is a repenting, forgiving, and reconciling peace. He is the Prince of Peace and He gives that to us. And He gave it to these churches. And He's given it to you and to me and to all those who are in Him. So in the perfect church, conflict doesn't lead to separation.

It leads to reconciliation. So You don't ruin a perfect church if you as a sinner join it. You ruin the perfect church when you leave it without being reconciled. The second characteristic of this church is that it was being edified. Edification was happening.

To be edified is to be built up, established, and strengthened. It is to become more and more like Christ. So how are we edified? Well, we are simply edified by the Word of God. The Word of God is what builds us up.

It's what feeds us. You want to build up an animal, you Feed it. Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20-32, So now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. The Word of God, the Word of His grace, is able to build us up. That's what edification is, being built up.

So as the Word of God is taught, as it is proclaimed, as it is exemplified, we, as God's people, are built up. So what was happening in this church, the Word of God was being preached and taught. And the people were being built up. Paul said that he who prophesies speaks edification and exhortation and comfort to men. He who prophesies is edifying.

And that's why Paul said he who prophesies is greater than he who spoke in tongues because to speak in tongues edified one's own self. But unless there was an interpreter, it didn't edify anybody else, whereas prophecy edified the entire church. And so that was the reason, he said, we ought to seek those gifts. Not for ourselves, but so that we can edify the church. Let it be for the edification of the church that you seek to excel, Paul told them in 1 Corinthians 14.

Edification is also the reason that God gave ministers to His church. Ephesians tells us that Ephesians 4 He gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to there's that word again, the perfect man. He gave us ministers, pastors, teachers, shepherds, to edify us so that we can be perfect. Till we all come to the unity of faith and the knowledge of the Son of God to a perfect man to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. To be edified is to become more and more like Christ.

That's what it is to be built up. We're not built up into looking like this world. We're built up into looking more and more like Christ. So God gave ministerial gifts to grow the church so that it could be a perfect church. The second means by which we are edified is by godly authority.

Godly authority, rightly exercised, edifies. It edifies because it protects us from getting into danger when we heed it, and it recalls us from danger when we get into danger. That's the purpose of godly authority. This is the point that Paul made to the Corinthians in both his letters. Remember, there were a lot of problems in those Corinthians churches.

And Paul had to be rather stern with them at times. But he said this, for we are glad when we are weak and you are strong. And this also we pray that you may be made complete. There's that perfection again, being complete or perfect. Therefore, I write these things being absent, lest being present I should use sharpness according to the authority which the Lord has given me for edification and not for destruction." He also said, even if I should boast somewhat more about our authority which the Lord gave us for edification and not for your destruction.

I won't be ashamed. You see, authority is given for edification. Authority of parents is for the edification of their children, not for their own personal benefit. The authority of husbands, the authority of elders, the authority of mothers, the authority of the civil magistrate, these are all given for the benefit of those over whom it is exercised. And so to those who have been given authority, we need to ask ourselves, are we using it to edify?

Are we using it to build up, to strengthen, to make those who are entrusted to us more like Christ? To love Him more? To be better equipped to serve Him. Are we presenting to them an attractive Christ, a beautiful Savior? Or are we presenting some other image?

Thirdly, we are edified by loving one another. We edify one another by loving one another. 1 Corinthians 8.1, we know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies. What is something that is loving?

It's something that builds others up. What is something that's selfish? It's something that builds us up and tears others down? What is love? Love is the fulfilling of the law with respect to one another.

To love your neighbor as yourself is the second great commandment of the law. And Romans 13 says love is the fulfilling of the law. But we especially edify with our tongue. There are many ways that we can edify. In all the ways that we love our neighbor, we edify them.

But we especially edify with our tongue. In Ephesians 4.29 says, Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers. What is good for edification that it may impart grace to the hearers. This is our calling as saints, to edify one another. 1 Thessalonians 5, 11, Therefore comfort each other and edify one another just as you are doing.

Comfort and edify. That's what we're called to do as a body. We do it in our families. We do it in our marriages. We do it, we should be doing it in the church, edifying one another.

Romans 14, 19, let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things which may edify one another." And Paul told the Corinthians, in 2 Corinthians 12, 19, we do all things beloved for your edification. That we should no longer, Paul says, be children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine. This is what it means to be built up, to be edified. No longer tossed to and fro. But we're strong.

A building that's strong, that's not shaken by the winds of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but speaking the truth in love may grow up..." That's being edified. Grow up is edification. "...and all things unto Him who is the head, Christ, from whom the whole body joined and knit together by what every joint supplies according to the effective working, by which every part does its share, causes the growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love." And you know speaking is such a big part of that edification. The words that we speak. Do they build up?

Do they edify? A perfect church, is that the saints walked in the fear of God. They had peace, and they were edified, and walking. They were walking in the fear of God. And we tend to think of fear as a bad thing, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing.

It depends on what we fear. Do we fear God or do we fear man? We are commanded to fear God. But we so easily get that reversed and we fear man instead of God. But the Proverbs tells us that the fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord will be safe.

The fear of the Lord is to put great weight on His words, on His commands, His promises, His judgments. It's to have more regard for His words and what the Lord thinks of us than what we put on anybody else's words and what they think of us. That's why there's a strong confidence in the fear of God, in the fear of the Lord. And His children will have a place of refuge. The fear of the Lord brings a strong confidence, not uncertainty.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. Pride and arrogance in the evil way in the perverse mouth I hate. Proverbs 8.

The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. It is a carefulness then, not to do unrighteousness. It's a carefulness that we not grieve, the one by whom we are born again. Here's a few things that people did because they feared God. Abraham offered Isaac, his only son on Mount Horeb, because he feared God.

Just as Abraham was about to put the dagger in Isaac, God said, do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me." Abraham did that because he feared God. He was willing to sacrifice this child, his only son that he had waited so many years for because he feared God more than he loved anything else. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death and the Hebrew midwives disobeyed Pharaoh and they obeyed God in saving the male children because When they were born because they feared God it says Obadiah hid the Lord's prophets from Wicked King Ahab because he feared God more than he feared the wrath of the king he served. Proverbs 19 says that the fear of the Lord leads to life, And he who has it will abide in satisfaction.

He will not be visited with evil. Job, whom the Bible describes as blameless and upright, feared God and shunned evil. It means he avoided it. And the fear of the Lord, we said, is to hate evil. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

And Psalm 25, 14 tells us that the Lord has fellowship with those who fear Him. The secret of the Lord is with those who fear Him and He will show them His covenant." Peter could sum up the practical walk of a Christian as this, honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, and honor the King. 1 Peter 2, 17. They walked in the fear of the Lord. And fourthly, these saints walked in the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit has many works in our life. He's the author of our regeneration, persuading us to embrace Jesus Christ and giving to us a new heart. He changes that heart that is an entity to one that embraces Christ. He's the one who convicts us of sin when we stray. He's the one who convicts us in our lost estate of our sinfulness and of our need of a Savior.

Because in that lost condition, we had no knowledge of our need. We didn't think we needed anyone. He convicts us of our sin and our need of a Savior. He testifies to us of Jesus Christ, the truth. Jesus said He would send the Holy Spirit who would testify to the things that He said.

And so He testifies to Jesus Christ putting a new song on our lips. He is the Spirit of wisdom and revelation leading to the knowledge of the truth. It's by the work of the Holy Spirit that we can know the truth. And He empowers new obedience in us, enabling us to die more and more into sin day by day and to live more and more for Christ. He seals us and makes intercession for us in prayer even as He is the author of prayer within us.

And we experience all these things in conversion. But Octavius Winslow says, but to know the Spirit as Comforter, to experience His tenderness and sympathy, His kindness and gentleness, we must be placed in those special circumstances that call it into exercise. In a word, we must know what sorrow is. If we're going to know the comfort of the Holy Spirit, we first need to know sorrow. The great provision, he says, for the suffering state of the believer is the Holy Spirit.

The special, personal, and abiding comforter of the church. You see, this is a church that had known great, great suffering. Paul had wrecked havoc in that church. People had been killed, martyred, viciously killed, stoned. Families were torn apart.

The church was scattered. Think of all the disruption in the scattering of all these people to Judea and Samaria and Galilee. So the Holy Spirit on that occasion of that great persecution, He brought comfort. He brought comfort in ending the persecution. He brought peace.

He brought comfort in it. See, God desires that we should be comforted. He wants us to be comforted. For whatever things were written before were written for our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. God wants us to be comforted by His Word.

The Scriptures that bring to us His promises. And the Holy Spirit is the one who brings that Word to us, who seals us, and who enlightens our minds to understand those promises and to believe and to rest in those promises. Because unless we rest in the promises of Scripture, we're not comforted. We're still agitated. The Holy Spirit is the one who enables us to rest, to believe in the promise and to rest in it.

The Holy Spirit ministers this comfort to us coming alongside of us and giving to us assurance that our sins are forgiven. That's a comfort. Satan seeks to accuse us. The Holy Spirit ministers comfort to us in leading us to know that we are accepted in the Beloved. The Holy Spirit comforts us in the midst of our afflictions.

He enables us to see that they are because God loves us. Afflictions do two things. They either embitter and harden people, or they soften and sanctify. It's the Holy Spirit that enables those afflictions to sanctify us. And He does that by showing to us through those afflictions that those things come because God loves us.

And He's our Father and He's caring for us. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to say, like Isaiah, that it was for our peace that we knew great bitterness. It's the Holy Spirit that enables us to say that. The Holy Spirit can also reveal to us the purpose for our afflictions. Maybe not at the beginning But but he gives to us the patience to wait on the Lord and to know that even if we don't know the purpose for our suffering that there is a good purpose for it, because God is good and He testifies to the Lord's goodness and to His mercy.

But so often He does reveal to us and we see even more so as we come through afflictions, why He sent those. And we can say, yes, it was for our peace. Yes, it was for our good. Yes, it was for our sanctification that we've been afflicted. That's the work of the Holy Spirit, to comfort us even in afflictions.

And so this, I would submit, is a perfect church It's not sinless. They had strife. They had conflict, but it was it there was reconciliation They had They were being edified through the preaching of the Word, and through the gifts that God has given to His church. And they feared the Lord. Yes, they had times of severe discipline.

But the Lord used that discipline to bring fear of the Lord. Remember, after that discipline in Acts 5 of Ananias and Sapphira, there was a great fear that came on the church. The Lord used that in their sanctification. He used it to edify them. He used it to bring fear, a right and proper fear of the Lord and a carefulness not to do unrighteousness.

An intense desire not to grieve the Holy Spirit by what we would do. And so as a result, This was a church that was growing rapidly. They were multiplied. They were multiplied. That's rapid growth.

They weren't just being added, They were multiplying. They were multiplying because the people were evangelizing. The church was growing because it was an attractive place to be, to know the comfort of the Holy Spirit. A perfect church where conflict leads to reconciliation and restoration. You know, oftentimes, as David says, the bones that were broken were stronger having been broken.

And it's very much possible that where there is the Spirit-led reconciliation, those relationships can be restored and be stronger than what they were before. That's a perfect church. So I would submit to you brothers and sisters that we not fear the perfect church and think that it can never be achieved, but to see that that is what God calls us to be, to be a perfect church. And by the power of His Holy Spirit, through the ministry of His Word, He's able to build us up to be those perfect, the perfect man in Christ. May the Lord grant to us that we might be ever pressing forward to the upward call in Jesus Christ and seeking and recognizing the Lord's perfecting work, not only in us, but in His church, so that we too can have a perfect church by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank You for Your Word. Oh, how we need its wisdom, we need its truth. We need its commandments that keep us, that teach us what is pleasing to you and what is not. And we need the comfort of your Holy Spirit, His wisdom to guide us, to empower us. Lord, we Thank you that you have made every resource, every heaven, every spiritual blessing in the heavens.

Do you have made available and is ours that we possess it already in Christ? Help us to possess these possessions that we have already in you. Help us to use the grace that has been given to us. To use the blessings that you have poured upon us that we might be worthy of more. And Lord may we always seek the peace and the edification of your church.

A church for which you have died. A church that is precious in your sight. A church that is filled with your people, who are zealous for good works. A church that is your bride. A church that you are equipping to be without spot or wrinkle or any such stain.

A church Lord that you are able to perfect and to keep us from stumbling and to present us faultless before your presence. Or may this be our prayer and this our labor. In Jesus name, Amen.