Pastor: We are continuing our series through the book of Acts.
Pastor: We're in Acts chapter four, and I'll be reading verses 23 through 31 for us to consider this morning before we read it, let's go again to the Lord in prayer, let's pray our Heavenly Father, we thank You that again, you are not silent. But we know that the heavens are declaring your glory as we look around creation, it is a declaring who you are in your power and your sovereignty and your provision and your creativity. But Lord, we also know you, especially through Your Word. We know salvation and that you are speaking to us the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom we have recently heard that there is no salvation in any other name apart from him. So Lord, I pray that you would again unstop our deaf ears, that you would open up our blind eyes and soften our heart and hearts to receive the gospel, to see our sin, to see that the wages of sin is indeed death, but the gift of God is eternal life. In Christ, Jesus, our Lord, we pray that you will bless your people, that you will comfort us and that you will draw us nearer to you. This day in Jesus' name, we pray amen.
Pastor: People of God hear God's word for us this morning from Acts chapter four, beginning in verse 23 When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them, and when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who, through the mouth of your father, David, your servant, said, by the Holy Spirit. Why did the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.
Pastor: For truly, in this city, there were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place, and now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness While you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.
Pastor: He who has ears, let him hear the Word of God. Please be seated. If you were here last week, you might recall how I began the sermon with an example of boldness that we saw in in history, with an example of Martin Luther, who was on trial for his biblical beliefs that salvation cannot be bought, earned or merited, but that salvation is by grace alone in Christ, alone, received by faith, alone for God's glory, alone. But something very significant happened the night before Martin Luther stood on trial at the Diet of Worms. He prayed. And he prayed this along with other things, he said, Oh, God, almighty, God everlasting.
Pastor: How dreadful is the world.
Pastor: Behold how its mouth opens to swallow me up, and how small is my faith in thee. Oh God, help me against all the wisdom of the world. I am ready to lay down my life for thy truth in that little prayer, Martin Luther was acknowledging God as the Mighty One, recognizing the world's opposition towards God and His Son, recognizing his own fear, he's saying, my faith, he feels so weak, but then also praying for wisdom and boldness and even to be ready to lay down his life for the sake of Christ. And no doubt that prayer that Martin Luther prayed before he would stand on trial is would be answered by God, as you know, Luther would then declare, the next day, my conscience is captive to the Word of God. I cannot and will not recant, for it is unsafe and dangerous to do. Uh, to go against one's conscience. Here I stand. I can do no other God help me. And what I was going to say is that no doubt Martin Luther was basing his prayer and almost modeling it after we after the what we see here in the text, the prayer of the the believer, the prayer of the apostles here, and you remember what is happening with the apostles in the context of our text, is that the religious leaders are angry at them as well. They have seen the power and influence of Jesus, and it continues to occur, even though they think they have put Jesus to death.
Pastor: Peter says, You did indeed kill him, but the Lord is risen, and he is reigning, and his power and influence is being evident to you all in the healing of this man who had been lame for 40 years, and there is no salvation. There is no hope in anyone else, apart from the name of Jesus Christ, you recall too.
Pastor: They try to intimidate Peter and John, to warn them not to then speak to anyone about Jesus. But Peter and John replied that they have to obey God, we have to obey our Lord. They have to do what Jesus told them to do. And why are Peter and John and even the apostles still there? Why is the church still here? Why are we even still here when Jesus had recently ascended about a month before this time, why not just take Peter and John with him? Why leave them well, do you remember what Jesus told them to do? What was their purpose? You can find it back in chapter one, verse eight, why are we still here? Why were the disciples there facing this trial? And it goes back to what Jesus told them to do. Chapter one, verse eight, you will be my witnesses, and that's what they were called to do. And that is why we are still here as a church. And when our witness is done, the Lord will bring us home. But this is our calling. This is our commission, to be witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the persecution the church is here facing in our text, it's new to them. Many of them go from being considered good members of their society and regular attenders at the temple to now having their lives threatened. And so we might ask here, as we begin and are working our way through Acts, is how is the church going to respond to these threats and this danger? What are they going to do? How should how? What should they do? Well, it begins with prayer, and we see there in verse 23 we see them. If we look there in verse 23 that do we see them strategize. We see them trying to think about how we can use our remaining social and political power and influence to make all this stop. Peter then says, my kids, they play with the high priest kids because they go to the same school, and we have shared play dates, and maybe the high priest will listen to me, and then John goes on and he says, Well, my wife and I were neighbors with one of the senators, and maybe he'll be understanding and make all this stop. It's really just a misunderstanding. They don't do any of that? Do they that's not how the church responds in the midst of turmoil and pressure and persecution. That's not their priority. What is their priority? It is nothing more than prayer. That is their first response, prayer they are learning that power does not rest in them whatsoever, but it rests in God alone. Remember, even as we considered Pentecost, what are they doing before the spirit comes, they are diligently spending time in prayer and prayer stirs the Spirit, and the spirit draws us and makes Christ present, and Christ is the one who has all power and authority. Prayer is that life breath of the Christian. And if we are not praying, we are dying. In fact, we are dead.
Pastor: In verse 23 I like also how it says, not only are they beginning to pray, but they're going to their friends to pray.
Pastor: What a sweet description of how they describe the other members of the church, not just fellow congregants, but these are my friends. The world is not my friend, but these are my friends, and we see. In this theme of togetherness of one accord, and now even friends, there's a common theme that their hearts are being knit together because Christ is their love, because Christ is their priority, and those are my true friends, and they're praying corporately. They're not just going together or individually into their own homes and and praying. They should do that, but they're, they're having a congregational prayer meeting.
Pastor: They're coming together. They lifted up their voices together.
Pastor: Says verse 24 to God. And the words that we have here after that, these are probably the words of Peter, even though it says they, even though someone else is praying, it's becomes as much their prayer as it is the person praying. And that's a good practice. And even when we do that here in our worship service, when we have our our prayer of confession, we should be practicing what they're doing here when elder Hatcher, when he says, in the prayer, Lord, we've been cowardly. And then in our hearts, in our own individual hearts, we said, Yes, Lord, I I too, I have been cowardly. Yes, I deserve God's wrath. I too faithless. Yes, yes, I have been faithless. I too I've done detestable things, and so on and so forth. So even as someone else is praying, when they are actively engaged in that prayer, that they are saying that, that we are praying this all together in one accord, and we need help praying. We don't pray as we ought. You know that question, if someone asks, well, how's your prayer life going? There isn't one person who's gonna say, well, that's great. It's fantastic. You know, I pray just as much as I ought to, you know, and I am just fully depending on the Lord. I see my need, my I recognize it. I'm just constantly praying as I ought to pray, and praying corporately with God's people, as I'm called to do as well. It's going great.
Pastor: None of us say that we need help with prayer, and the disciples even recognized that earlier, don't they? And they even go to Jesus and say, Jesus, help us.
Pastor: We don't even know how to pray.
Pastor: What do we pray about? What are we saying? And then Jesus gives them the Lord's Prayer. Well, I think here in our text, we have another example if you're struggling on how to pray or what to pray about. I think not only do we have the Lord's Prayer as an example, but I think we also have now the believers prayer, the apostles, prayer that's given for us that we, too as a church, can use as a model. And when we pray, when we don't know what to say, when we don't know how to pray, I think we can go here as well. I want you to notice here in this prayer, as we begin to work our way through it is notice how much of their prayer is focused on the character of God. They're going to spend a majority of this prayer not even asking anything of God, but simply reflecting on who God is. And that's important, because what you believe about God will affect how you pray to God if you don't believe that God rules over all things, well, why should you pray to him? He he might, might not be able to help if he isn't all powerful, if he isn't in control of every single hair that falls off my head, I don't I mean, it's probably not worth my time, and it wouldn't be if God isn't in control of all things and all powerful and absolutely has perfect loving plans for his people. It would not be worth your time to pray to Him, but He is God, omnipotent, omniscient, wise, all knowing and all loving and never changes, and we are to pray to Him. And they begin there in verse 24 you see this title, Sovereign Lord. They could have employed the title that Jesus taught them to pray father, and that would be appropriate to use as giving them comfort in this time, reminding that God will care for them in this time. But they use Sovereign Lord because they are being threatened by people who, according to worldly standards, are strong and powerful.
Pastor: Essentially, you have the world's powers who have gathered together to come against the church and against gospel, against the gospel and against Christ. And they, they say Sovereign Lord, because compared to God, the Creator of all, the sustainer of all, the ruler of all, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees, the Pharisees, the scribes, the chief priests, are nothing, because God is sovereign. He's the sovereign of all, the Lord of all, and the ones who just threaten them in the face of the world, they might seem powerful, but they are nothing compared to the Sovereign LORD, and that's how they're first reminding themselves we are praying to the God of all who made all as absolutely said heaven and earth. Earth and the sea and everything in them, which might sound familiar to you because we read it in Psalm 146 this morning as our call to worship.
Pastor: And these men who just threatened us, they are only able to live and move and have been in their breath because the Sovereign LORD has allowed it.
Pastor: They couldn't utter a single word apart from God's will, and that begins to give them comfort, doesn't it? Our God is sovereign. Our God is Lord. And again, notice, even in Psalm 146 they're praying scripture back to the Lord. Because how do we know what God is like, well, it's the word of God. We don't pray to make God more like how we want God to be or what God should do. We go to the Word of God to remind ourselves who God is, to remind ourselves of what God wants, and is our duty to submit to that, not tell God how it ought to be, not tell God how he ought to be God, because that's us wanting to be God, but we are to submit to God and who he is. And they continue with the Word of God, the Holy Spirit, speaking through David.
Pastor: David isn't writing, on his own accord, filled with the Spirit, and he writes Psalm two, why did the Gentiles rage and the people plot in vain? The kings of earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. They said that you predicted this god. This is exactly what's happening. This is exactly what we're experiencing. Verse 27 for truly, in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place, the Jews, the Gentiles, men, women, Sadducees, Pharisees, rulers, chief priests, they have all come together with one accord, and that is an opposition to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what the world wants more than anything else.
Pastor: Is freedom from God. But if you know Psalm two, what does God do in response to let us break off God's cords from us and be free from God, he laughs. You know, the scriptures only record two places where God laughs. It's in Psalm two and also Psalm 37 and both times, God is recorded to be laughing at the wicked in their futile efforts to somehow dethrone God or thwart his plans. And why does God laugh?
Pastor: Because he is the sovereign Lord, and He will never be moved. And that's again, what Psalm two says Jesus sits on the throne and he will never be moved, never, never, ever, ever.
Pastor: And it is foolish of mankind to think that somehow they can be free from God, or thwart the plans of God, or somehow not need to worship the one who sits on the throne. He will be worshiped. He will be adored.
Pastor: All things will submit to Him.
Pastor: Also to this. In this psalm, they are recognizing that this isn't taking God by surprise.
Pastor: They go back even to the cross, and I think that's always good for us to go back to in any difficult situation. They're facing persecution in the church, and maybe even just think about the difficulty or the challenge that you're facing right now in your life, they go back to the cross. Because again, if there is any wicked situation, if there is any perverted situation, if there's anything wrong in the world, it is ultimately summed up in what occurs there at the cross, the God man would be crucified. And they remind themselves that this wasn't something that God just thankfully managed to work it out.
Pastor: This isn't something that caught God by surprise. And I'm going to some I'm going to fix this.
Pastor: Guys, I'm gonna we I didn't know they were gonna do that. I'm gonna work it out. Now, he says this, this was planned. God, you even before the earth was made, you planned it. You authored it.
Pastor: You accomplished our redemption, and now even applying it through your Spirit, Lord, if You are even using that situation for Your glory and our good, that is the salvation of mankind.
Pastor: Certainly, you're using the persecution of the church and even the circumstances that you are facing now for the glory of God and for our good. So we're trusting you, God, these believers are reminding themselves you. That God is the one in control, because sometimes Jesus takes us and leads his people into storms.
Pastor: And some of these apostles remember this, Peter and John, when Jesus brings them into a storm. And sometimes Jesus purposely brings us into storms, as he did his apostles at one point to remind us, to humble us, to wake us up from our apathy, to shake idols from our hands, to see our sin, to see our fear of man rather than God, but to know that not only does God purposely even bring us into storms. He's over the storm, and even at a moment, he can tell the storm to be silent. So even if you are going through difficult times right now, you can know, as these apostles did in the early church, did, that the Lord is sovereign. God has planned this conflict in the church, and he's planned the conflict even in our lives. The same Sovereign Lord is our Sovereign LORD, and Peter will then write later in his book, in First Peter, chapter four, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you as though something strange were happening to you. Peter is reminding us to wake up. Wake up. And Paul will write, awake o sleeper and arise from the dead and Christ will shine upon you. Wake up to our sin and misery and cast yourself on the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, Psalm two sometimes it was a reminder that the wicked might seem to prevail for a time, but it will come to an end, because Jesus is the sovereign Lord. He is the king. And Psalm two will go on to say, You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Now therefore, oh, kings, be wise, be warned. Oh rulers of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling, Kiss the Son. Thus he be angry and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. But blessed are all who take refuge in Him. And I just want you to notice that in this prayer, they haven't asked for anything yet, have they? They are simply telling God, we trust you, we trust who you are, we trust your word. And then even as they come to the petition, we might then, we might expect them to then pray, God, would you keep us safe? That's not a bad prayer. Keep us safe in the midst of this persecution. Maybe even, Lord help this persecution to stop. But look what they pray in verse 29 and now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. They pray for boldness to proclaim Christ. They could have run at this time they were released. They could have just left Jerusalem for many of these apostles, Jerusalem isn't their home. These men have families.
Pastor: They have wives and children, aging parents, and you know, it would have been very understandable for them to just kind of back away, kind of get out of dodge, right? But they recognize that Jerusalem has a great need. You know, Tampa has a great need, and you and I have a great need. And what is it Christ? And that's why they stay, so that Christ might be proclaimed, that sinners might come to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. And we need this kind of boldness too, don't we? We get afraid. I get afraid. I get afraid of suffering. I become so afraid of man and what they might think or say or do and pray for your pastor, pray for missionaries, pray not only for others, but also pray for yourself, that we would have boldness to stop seeking the world's pleasures and comforts as our chief end, but to seek the glory of God that Jesus reminds us that we can't serve both God and money. There's no peace treaty between the flesh and the spirit. Sometimes we think that we can do both, and things are going okay with me, but we're so foolish to think that you. Us, we have to choose this day whom we will serve the Sovereign Lord, or ourselves.
Pastor: And Lord help us give us boldness to proclaim Christ. And then, in verse 31 and when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. The shaking here is a reminder the God of the earth, the god of Heavens, has heard their prayer. They are filled with the Holy Spirit, which also means that they are being empowered to the task to meet this particular and difficult situation. God shakes the place where they are that they might then go forth unshaken. I think that's what's happening. God is reminding them he is the sovereign God, and he is shaking the earth that now filled with the Holy Spirit.
Pastor: They go forth boldly, unshaken with the gospel of Christ. What can man do to me? They are already all of them, all of them, all of them are ready to be beaten, imprisoned, and even die for Jesus, and it's not just the apostles. This is the church. This is the church. This is the church they are all ready to give their lives fully, completely, that the gospel might be spread. They know Jesus is life itself, because Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. And no one comes to the Father except through me, church, we can have a lot of knowledge of the scripture, and talk a lot about Scripture and discuss scripture and think about scripture, but remember what we have been tasked to do.
Pastor: Why are we here to be witnesses?
Pastor: This is our call, that Christ has saved us as sinners, and we too are to be witnesses of our Christ, who was risen from the dead and reigning and one day coming again in glory to judge the living and the dead. The time is short, and we do not know when, and it could even be yes, even this day, Christ will come as a thief in the night.
Pastor: There is nothing more important than our eternal souls, and we must be witnesses. We must share the gospel. We must proclaim Christ crucified for sinners.
Pastor: Let us not be cowardly. Lord, please forgive us in our cowardice. Let us be bold. Let us to have courage. You know, after Martin Luther was empowered by the Spirit to be bold on when he stood on trial, the gospel would then spread up further, all the way up to a little place called Scotland.
Pastor: But Scotland at that time was being ruled by Mary Queen of Scots, who was a devout Roman Catholic who sought to prevent the Bible and the Gospel from being spread in her land. There was one preacher in Scotland.
Pastor: His name was John Knox, who became known for his boldness in preaching Christ and also his reliance on prayer. And he prayed, and he said, Give me Scotland or I die. And it wasn't a prayer demanding God for power, but it was a desperate plea for the salvation and conversion of those he loved in Scotland, Knox had come to the conclusion, God has made me to be a witness I made to make Christ known, just as you and I are made to make Christ known, he says. And if I'm not doing that, I die.
Pastor: That is my purpose, to glorify Christ, to be witnesses of Christ, and if I don't, I die.
Pastor: Do you feel that way? Let us repent. God help us flee. Our flee, cast ourselves again on Christ. Lord help us. You know, God answered Knox's prayer, and before his death, was able to see the country affirm the Scott's confession of faith, which actually is the precursor of the Westminster Confession of Faith, which is what we use.
Pastor: You. Even now here in our church, so let us behaven. Let us come awake. Let us come awake in fervent prayer together, together that God would make us bold to share the gospel that the Earth might be shaken with the gospel that Christ would be made known. Lord, help us. Let's go to the Lord in prayer, Father, our Sovereign Lord. You.
Pastor: Are the one who rules over all things. Lord, there is nothing, nothing in the past, in the present, in the news, or even in the future, that is somehow, someway, surprising you or catching you off guard. Lord, you know the very details of our lives. You know strained relationships. You know secret sins. Lord, you know all things and Lord, we pray that you will use all of these things in our lives that we might see our sin, that we might confess it, that we might repent of it, that we might put our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, Lord we believe, help our unbelief. Lord we thank you that even if our faith is as small as a mustard seed, it is as strong to move mountains, because our salvation is not dependent on how strong we are.
Pastor: It is dependent on the object of our faith, which is the Lord Jesus, Christ. And Christ has all power, all authority. Lord, You are the Creator, the Sustainer of All, and you are our Redeemer. And Lord we do.
Pastor: Pray that you would forgive us for our cowardice and that we do also now. Pray that you would empower us by your Spirit to be bold, help us to be actively looking for opportunities to proclaim Christ and to be His witnesses.
Pastor: Lord, be merciful. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.