If you will remain standing and turn to a copy of the scriptures. Acts, chapter four, we're going to read verses one through 22, Acts chapter four, beginning in verse one, reading to verse 22 before we read, let's go to the Lord again in prayer Our Father, we thank you that you are not silent, but that you speak. The heavens are declaring your glory. But Lord, as we turn to your word, we see Christ and help us to see him all the clearer, unstop our deaf ears, open up our blind eyes and soften our hardened hearts that we might receive Him by faith, and it's in Jesus's name we pray. Amen. People of God hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter four, beginning in verse one. 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 those who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5000 on the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they had set themselves in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did you do this?
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we're being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed? Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus, Christ, of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By him, this man is standing before you. Well, this, Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in it. No one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men? For that is a notable sign has been performed through them, as evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it, but in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in his in this name so they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus, but Peter and John answered them whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God. You must judge, For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God, please be seated.
You might have seen on the news the last few months, or maybe even have seen it yourselves in person, Saint Peter's Basilica the center of Vatican City, which is the home of the Pope and the headquarters of Roman Catholicism. And that basilica there in Vatican City, it is a masterpiece of the Renaissance and Baroque architecture, and it showcases the amazing talents of artists like Michelangelo and Bernini.
But to build that masterpiece, the church needed a lot of money.
So what the church decided to do at that time was, in order to get more money, we should sell something called indulgences.
And indulgences was something that you could buy, and it would lessen or forgive the punishment that you might receive for your sins by God.
You could even buy indulgences for family members who had already passed away, and in the 1500s when this venture was kicking off, one of the salesmen for Roman Catholicism was a man named John Tetzel, and he had a famous saying that went like this as he went around selling these indulgences, he says, As soon.
As the coin in the coffer rings, the soul from Purgatory springs just pay a little money, and your sins, not only your sins, but the sins of those you love, can be wiped away, and then you might know. Then in 1517, an insignificant Augustinian monk named Martin Luther nailed 95 theses to the door at the Church in Wittenberg. And it was a direct challenge to the church's authority that the Pope had that kind of power to forgive sins. And Luther condemned that practice of indulgences as contrary to the Word of God, and also, too, if you've been here during my discussions of the book of Acts, I've also tried to stress to you, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, that Jesus hasn't deposited grace or the spirit into the church, but that Jesus is continuing to work the church doesn't just divvy out the Grace how they see fit. It's Jesus' continuing work, but getting back, Luther was ordered to recant, but he refused to do so, and he risked isolation, excommunication and also execution, and then, famously, as Luther is on trial in 1515, 21 at the Diet of Worms, which sounds disgusting, but it's actually a place, he says, Unless I am convinced by the testimony of the Holy Scriptures or by evident reason, I am convicted by the scriptures I have quoted, And My conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot, and I will not retract, for it is unsafe and dangerous to go against one's conscience.
Here I stand. I can do no other God help me.
And that began a major reformation in the church, that the sole authority of the Church was scripture alone, that salvation is not something that can be earned or merited, that salvation is by God's grace alone, that salvation is Not a cooperation with works.
It's through faith alone and that Jesus, Christ is the sole mediator between God and man, not a pope. Salvation is found in Christ alone, and because salvation belongs to God alone, so does all glory and honor.
Glory to God alone.
We are thankful for men like Luther who are bold for the gospel.
And there are not only people like Luther Luther, but other mens who would do very similar things, like Luther, risking all they have, even their lives.
Peter is one of the men who do such a thing as we see in our text. And shortly we will see another man following Peter Stephen.
And then there will be many, many, many, many other Christians who follow and martyrdom for the sake of the Gospel. John's disciple Polycarp will refuse to renounce Christ, John Huss who will be burned for claiming that the Bible is the sole authority of the Church and that sermons should be in the common language of the people to understand, people like Jim Elliot, who is willing to leave the comforts of his home to go to Ecuador and be martyred that the gospel might be shared.
And it's not just a past thing.
It's a thing that's happening now, even now, now, now, right now, in Nigeria, there are hundreds of Christians who are being murdered almost daily.
Bay Haven.
Are you ready?
Are you ready for this kind of suffering, for this kind of persecution, or have we been lulled to sleep by the comforts of the United States?
Are we happy to be Christians, as long as it's not too inconvenient or costly.
These examples that I have just given, certainly in the text that we are about to look at reminds us that the part of being a Christian is warfare, not the warfare that maybe you saw on the news this morning with soldiers and planes and bombs, you are engaged, in fact, in a greater warfare, a more important warfare, a more significant warfare, where heaven and hell in fact are in the balance. Life and in death are at stake. Second Corinthians, 10 reminds us.
Us, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ.
It's a reminder too, that the warfare is not just out there, but it's in here that we are are needing to take every thought captive within our own hearts.
As Ephesians six also reminds us to put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil, the devil, the world and our flesh. There's war happening right now, and even right in here and right in here now.
Are we fighting? Are we prepared? Are we ready? Jesus has come, he has died, he has risen from the dead, and he is now reigning, and his kingdom is advancing.
Jesus continues to exercise his authority right now in breaking the power of canceled sin and setting prisoners free.
But the world, the devil and our own flesh, are putting up a fight.
Now, if you remember, right before our text, in chapter three, we see example, another example of Christ's kingdom advancing.
Jesus has healed a man who had been lame since birth. And at the end of our text, we find out that this man is over 40 years old. It's a long time, and Jesus heals him, not only physically, but spiritually. He is now glorifying God, and His physical healing is also directing us to the kingdom of God that's going to come in full where there is going to be no more pain or suffering. There's going to be perfection, and it's a great and wonderful act that occurs in chapter three. And as we come to chapter four, we see that everyone then is celebrating Jesus and His power and His might. And no one has a problem at all. Right, no opposition. Conflict, a clashing now of powers is occurring. We see there in verse four, 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 Peter and John, they get arrested. They get arrested not because of the miracle that they had done, but because they are teaching and proclaiming Jesus.
They are also teaching and proclaiming the resurrection, that Jesus is alive, and that certainly annoys the Sadducees.
Because you remember, one of the difference between the Pharisees and the Sadducees is that the Pharisees, they actually don't believe in the resurrection, and that's why they were sad. You see, remember that now the Sadducees, they make up the most of the Sanhedrin, which is the Jerusalem High Court, and John and Peter, they're put in prison. But that certainly doesn't stop the Gospel. The Gospel continues. And we see 5000 men, which probably means even more are joining the church, and the gospel is continuing to go forward now, as these men are put in prison, I just want you to think for a moment. Imagine maybe there were some people who are handing out an invitation to invite people to church, and they get, you know, arrested because you know, you're telling me about Christ, and that's hate speech. You can't do that. And then, now they're in prison. And then we come together tonight as a church to pray. What might, might, what might we pray for them? I think often, as a church we we might simply say, Lord God, you know, please let this you know, Peter and John of our congregation, let them be released. They're held unjustly, and we might just leave it there. But I think too, what we see, what's happening here in the church, and even what our prayers in the midst of this kind of warfare and suffering should be that let the kingdom increase, even while in the midst of suffering, give Peter and John even greater opportunities to people who are in prison, who can't make it to church to hear the gospel now and so even in our prayers, in the midst of our suffering, as we think about our infirmities and the things of this world that we want God just to take away, let us pray that the gospel will.
Continue to be preached and proclaimed wherever we are, no matter what's going on, and we see that happening here the next day though, Peter and John are brought before the rulers and elders scribes, along with the high priest and pretty much everyone who's involved in the killing of Jesus. And that's significant because it's an intimidation tactic that's happening here.
You remember what we did to Jesus, John and Peter? I mean, it wasn't, it was about a month ago, and we put him to death. I mean, what do you think we can do to you? I mean, what? We're in charge here. If we want to kill you, we're going to make it done. So they're they're there intimidating Peter and John and Jesus is preached again to them, as Jesus did to them, they get to hear the gospel again.
And that's why they're so upset, because the continued claims of Christ as the only way of salvation and the continued power of Christ and affection for Christ is continuing. And they think we thought we ended, that we thought we crucified Him, we thought we put an end to that, and now we are hearing Christ again, power, Christ's power again, love and affection for Christ again. That's why we have a problem here.
They see that they have a crisis. They see that their power is slipping, their kingdom is falling.
And so they have all again come together like Psalm two states and Peter will quote. And a little bit further on it and in chapter four, but remember Psalm two, the world's come together, that there's one thing that has the ability to unify the entire world, don't we don't, don't we want the world to just be in peace and unity and and be on the same page with one another?
Well, there's one thing that has the ability to unite the world and its hatred for the Lord Jesus Christ. And so that's what you have. You have these rulers, and you have the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who absolutely despise and hate each other, but they're unified for one cause, the destruction of the Lord Jesus Christ and the gospel.
But it's like trying to hold back the ocean. You cannot do it. And even as Psalm two says, God laughs. You ever tried to build a sand castle on the ocean during low tide? Children? Have you ever done that? You build a sand castle, and you're going to see, how can I get this sand castle to not fall down? Maybe you build a moat, and then, like a wall, and then you see the water start to come closer and closer, and you realize the moat is being overflown, the walls are starting to crumble, and then you just kind of lay yourself down in front of it, hoping that you'll stop the water. You know what I'm talking about. Does it work? No, you can't stop it. And that's what that's the silliness that men are doing, that this world does, to try to stop the Lord Jesus Christ. It's silliness. It cannot be stopped. His power cannot be stopped. And that's what Jesus has said himself. He said, I will build my church, and even the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
You know, you go to church, you can talk about moralism being a good person. We can talk about the good commandments and the importance of being a good helper and a good servant. And that's a good message people love that you can talk about, you know, therapeutic options and and things that are good and helpful for people to do, make sure everyone is exercising, yes, eat healthy, get plenty of sleep, and you'll feel much better about yourself. And people will be happy to hear that kind of message. And even if you talk about deism and the fact that you know there's God, but you know the other people have these kinds of God too, and you know, that's okay for them.
It's okay for us, what we're doing here, but you don't, you know it's really okay. They're really sincere over there. But as soon as you talk about Jesus Christ alone as the only way of salvation, this is when you have a problem, and that's the problem that we see faced here, too, then it's the same problem that we face now in our world, the exclusive claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the world hates. The world doesn't necessarily hate moralism. The world doesn't hate therapy. The world doesn't hate even deism. The world hates Jesus. I.
Because he sits on the throne, and they want to sit on the throne. But is Jesus ever going to be removed? You know it No.
And that's the problem, that's the tension, that's the conflict. And now not only do we see the conflict, we see the confidence of Peter and Paul, or not, Peter and Paul. Peter and John, filled with the Holy Spirit. The rulers are putting on a show of having a just court again, asking questions. And they ask, by what power or by what name do you do this? And then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. And you know, anytime anyone's filled with the Holy Spirit, that means they must have to to utter a heavenly language that no one can understand. And that's what Peter just starts mumbling and and falling on the ground. That's what he does because he's filled with the Holy Spirit. Is that right? No, what does Peter do? As someone who is filled with the Holy Spirit, He preaches Christ, because that's what the Spirit does. That's what the Spirit points to. Someone who has the spirit is always pointing to Christ, Christ. That's the Spirit's role. That's what the Spirit does. It points and proclaims Christ, crucified for sinners like you and for me and you. Remember Peter, who, just a month before, was cursing and denying Christ to people who really had no influence or no power, even a little girl, he cowered, he was afraid.
But now a sanctified Peter, not yet a perfected Peter, Paul will still have to lovingly correct him later on, but this very Peter stands up before the very people who killed Jesus, and not only says, I'm with Jesus, but proclaims Jesus. He responds in a similar way as we've seen in chapter three, in chapter two, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, he's almost repeating them the gospel again and again and again. And he says, This man has been healed by Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him, this man is standing before you. This Jesus is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And he's quoting Psalm 118, and do you remember what the psalms are ultimately about? Who do the Psalms ultimately point us to? Are they ultimately pointing us to David? You know they're pointing us to Jesus, right? And so that's what he's saying, then again, pointing us to Jesus, even in the Psalms, Peter again also is directing people to their sin. He said, You have rejected God, you have rejected God, you have rejected God, and you are responsible for the innocent blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are murderers, and you need to repent. And if you don't know repentance is that means you haven't been here the last two weeks, because there's been two sermons about repentance, and you can go back and listen to those. But repentance is turning from our sin and turning to the Lord, turning to God, seeing God, seeing our salvation in Christ, we have to first see our sin before we can see our need for a Savior. Have you seen your sin?
Do you see that you fear man, that you love just to make people happy, to be people pleasers, loving this world too much your sin and the desires of your flesh, the desires of your eyes and the pride of life, or maybe you just see yourself as a good person. And yet the Scriptures declare none is righteous. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together. They have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongue to deceive the venom of aspires. Under their lips, their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood in their paths are ruin and misery in the way of peace they have not known there is no fear of God before their eyes. And that is a description of you and me apart from the grace of God. And we should read that as we read in Romans, as Paul writes to the church in Rome, that we are under this weight and curse apart from the grace of God.
But then Paul will continue to write, but now the righteousness of God has been manifest apart from the law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness.
Of God through faith in Jesus, Christ, for all who believe, this is exactly what Peter says.
And there is no salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
God has given salvation.
Salvation has come down from heaven, God has has given it to us, but it's only found one way.
In Christ, first, Timothy two, for there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ, Jesus. And Jesus even said himself in John, chapter 14, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Mary can't help you. She won't help you. In the least, she's worshiping Jesus, her savior, praying to Mary won't help you.
The Pope can't help you.
Mohammed Buddha cannot help you.
There is one name that can help you. It is Jesus the only, only, only way of salvation.
And in their boldness, the church continues now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men. They were astonished, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.
They see that their intimidation isn't working on these guys.
They had been with Jesus and and what does that mean that they had been with Jesus? I think one of the ways it means is that they're bold, because Jesus was bold. In fact, Jesus was the only man to never, ever for one moment, fear man. He never feared man because he knew what was in their hearts. He didn't look upon their faces. And these, John and Peter are like Jesus because they are bold and they don't care. They fear God, rather than man.
Even Jesus declared himself, unless you repent, you will perish. And they're also, I think, like Christ, because this is the very message that Jesus was speaking to. There's nothing new here. There's no new message here. This is the very thing that that we just heard from Jesus. Now we hear it again, from Peter and John. They must have been with Jesus. And we see they don't really have a reply.
They see the man who's healed right before them, and say, What shall we do? So verse 17, let's warn them to speak to no one anymore in his name. Now, I think this is just a good moment. I know I'm running long on time. I'll try to wrap it up, but let me just talk quickly about church authority, because I think sometimes we might read this and then point to Hebrews chapter 13. Well, shouldn't they obey their leaders and submit to them? That's what Hebrews 13 says. I mean, essentially, the session has come together in unison and said, Hey, don't do this. Shouldn't you obey your elders? I mean, isn't that part of the fifth membership vow? I mean, the mccaffrey's just took that to submit to their leaders.
And here we have the churches come together, the leadership of the churches come together, and they says, Hey, guys, don't do this anymore. Now, if they disobey, aren't they breaking that fifth membership vow? Well, the if you've been to the the church members class, you sometimes remember this illustration I give about ice cream that you know, if a police over, police officer pulls you over and he says, Dan or me, don't eat ice cream anymore. Do I have to obey that police officer?
If there's not a law about eating ice cream in Tampa, I don't have to obey that. That's not and that's not in his realm of authority, right? But even if, let's say there is a law about ice cream not eating that, well, I guess I have to obey that, because it's not sinful to not eat ice cream. And let's say the session then comes together, and they say, Dan, we're unified together. Don't eat ice cream.
Your routers all agree, don't eat ice cream. Do I have to submit to that? No, I don't, because the Bible doesn't say don't eat ice cream.
If your parents, though, say don't eat ice cream, well, you have to obey your parents. And the point of the illustration, if maybe it's not so clear. But there are different realms of authority, different realms of authority. And remember, even as the McCaffrey is, we're joining the church. Who has authority over all of those realms of the state, of the family and of the church. It's Jesus, right? And so if the state makes an unlawful law to not proclaim Christ, well, we can't.
Obey that because we have to obey Jesus. If your family, if your parents say, stop praying, you can't obey that because you you have to obey Jesus. If the Church says, Stop proclaiming Christ, well, you can't obey that because you have to obey Jesus. That's the authority by which we are to follow, we have to obey the Lord. Above all things, there are things that are commendable versus commendable.
It might be wise to read your Bible every day, but it's not something the church can command. Because what about my little girl? She can't read, so it's not sinful. There might be wisdom in in certain things, but not commandable.
That's a different, different road to go down to.
But we have to obey Christ. We have to obey His Word. And then Peter says whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than the god, you must judge, For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. The Sanhedrin can't really find a good way to punish these guys right now, because the people are in support of them, so they spare them for their judgment punishment and let them go. But the gospel is continuing to spread. Peter has had the opportunity to preach to the Sanhedrin, which there's probably close to maybe 15,000 people that might have heard this in Jerusalem at this time.
And we in verse four, we see 5000 people joining the church, and the church is going forward, even in the spite of persecution and conflict. And I'll close with this other example of William Tyndale. You might remember him as an English scholar and theologian. He was passionate about making the Bible accessible to ordinary people, and at that time, the Church of England it was against the law. The Church said it was against the law to translate the Bible in the English. The only scriptures available were in Latin, and the common people couldn't understand it. It was against the law for common people to have the Bible in their own language.
But Tyndall boldly took it upon himself to translate the Bible of Hebrew and Greek into English, and that was considered heresy by the church, and he famously told a priest, I if God Spare my life ere many years, I will cause a boy that driveth the plow shall know more of the scriptures than thou dost. And he fled England, and he lived in exile while to continue his work of translation. But eventually he was betrayed, arrested, and in 1536 he was executed, and his dying prayer was Lord, open the king of England's eyes. And remarkably, a few years later, King Henry the Eighth authorized the English Bible for every church. And the even the English Bible that you have is was plowed by the way of works like William Tyndall.
Are we ready church for hostility, not only without, but from within?
Are we preparing now for suffering and persecution? How would you have responded to the Sanhedrin if you were called in front of them, and they told you not to declare Christ. What scriptures will you be able to recall while you're sitting in your cell in prison?
What songs will you be able to sing when you don't have a hymnal in front of you?
Maybe you'll get to write a book that will inspire many like John Bunyan did when he sat in prison and wrote Pilgrims Progress or sitting in exile, as Martin Luther did and wrote A Mighty Fortress. But what we must do is speak, teach and proclaim Christ above all things, for there is no other name under heaven given among by which men must be saved. Let's pray, Father, we thank you for giving us your word, and I pray that you will help us to be bold, to remember that there is a warfare happening now, to repair our hearts.
Lord, help us to flee the fling ourself on Christ and the rest on Him that's in Jesus' name. We pray Amen.