SPEAKER_00: This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
SPEAKER_01: Amen.
SPEAKER_01: Oh man.
SPEAKER_01: We'll talk about an illustration.
SPEAKER_01: The first sentence of my sermon goes like this Anticipation is a powerful force.
SPEAKER_01: Hype, buzz, excitement.
SPEAKER_01: What's coming next?
SPEAKER_01: When will the microphone turn on?
SPEAKER_01: Fear of missing out can drive a lot of human emotion and a lot of human behavior.
SPEAKER_01: America and the rest of the world with us held our breath on Tuesday night, didn't we?
SPEAKER_01: On into Wednesday morning as the results rolled in, waiting, hoping, fearing, dreading, wondering, anticipating, getting excited.
SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
SPEAKER_01: It's on you how you felt.
SPEAKER_01: But think about.
SPEAKER_01: Think about the agonizing anticipation of a little kid the day before their birthday.
SPEAKER_01: Or the dreadful buzz around the barracks of Auschwitz as the guards approached.
SPEAKER_01: Anticipation can drive you crazy.
SPEAKER_01: It can make people do crazy things like sit in the cold all day long to get into the big game.
SPEAKER_01: Or paint the nursery again.
SPEAKER_01: What will it be like to finally hold that new baby?
SPEAKER_01: Anticipation is a powerful force.
SPEAKER_01: And anticipation is entirely fueled by who you're listening to.
SPEAKER_01: First time parents are excited about different things depending upon what they've heard about parenting.
SPEAKER_01: News sources, polling results, and pundits influence of American citizens are more or less confident about possible outcomes.
SPEAKER_01: And then we're variously frustrated or elated with the results based on what we anticipated, what we expected.
SPEAKER_01: Our text in Acts today, that Anton has already read for us, is full, I think, of this tension.
SPEAKER_01: This cut it with a knife, edge of your seat, what's going to happen next, anticipation.
SPEAKER_01: As the apostles listen, not to men, but to their sovereign Lord, setting an incredible example for all of us, while Luke teaches us that God, and God alone, is in complete control of human affairs.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the book of Acts, chapter four.
SPEAKER_01: Turn there with me if you would.
SPEAKER_01: But while you turn, I'll tell you, I've structured today's sermon, I've titled today's sermon, Listening to the Sovereign Lord, and I've structured my sermon into four parts to reflect the four scenes.
SPEAKER_01: Following the sovereign Lord, proclaiming the sovereign Lord, trusting the sovereign Lord, and praising the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're listening, that's what you'll do.
SPEAKER_01: So then here's the first scene in those first four verses.
SPEAKER_01: There are somewhere between five and eight thousand people who believe.
SPEAKER_01: More than ten times what we could fit into this sanctuary.
SPEAKER_01: If you add in the rest of the crowd at the temple precincts, that's a Friday night at the Ralph Engel State Arena without assigned seats.
SPEAKER_01: They're crammed into one corner of the temple's precincts.
SPEAKER_01: They've rushed together.
SPEAKER_01: Picture that mad dash for a home run ball in the outfield or the crush at Walmart back when Black Friday was a contact sport.
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's like.
SPEAKER_01: They're in there.
SPEAKER_01: They're packed in.
SPEAKER_01: They've rushed together in amazement, all these people, thousands of them, crammed into one corner of the temple precincts, while Peter and John and the healed man from chapter 3 stand there together.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John just teaching and preaching from the scriptures and their own testimony, that the Galilean named Jesus, who was crucified just a month ago, is the risen Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: There stand the apostles unpacking the incredible, unfathomable, inconceivable mystery hidden from the foundation of the world, that the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of Adam, the Son of David, the Son of Man, and the Son of God is so pure and so perfect and so true and so given that the sins of the very people who crucified him may be blotted out.
SPEAKER_01: Forgiveness and reconciliation flow from the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the very hands and feet that drove the nails, hoisted the cross, spit in his face, and blasphemed the holy and righteous one.
SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel they preach.
SPEAKER_01: And what an amazing gospel it is.
SPEAKER_01: Are you so proud to think that Jesus can't forgive your sins?
SPEAKER_01: Are you so stubborn to think that you can't turn back now?
SPEAKER_01: Are you so hopeless to think that you can never change after all these years?
SPEAKER_01: In Luke's first book, he wrote in Jesus' mouth, Father, forgive them.
SPEAKER_01: They know not what they do.
SPEAKER_01: The same John who testifies here in Acts 4 may well have heard those words from Jesus' lips himself.
SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel.
SPEAKER_01: That's the gospel, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: Now think just quickly now of the genius of God that Luke is showing you, the brilliance of it all.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, probably walked past this crippled man 60 days ago.
SPEAKER_01: And every year before that.
SPEAKER_01: But he let him be until the proper time.
SPEAKER_01: He waited.
SPEAKER_01: That the same lane man who's jumping for joy right now very likely watched, unable to move himself as Jesus flipped tables and drove out money changers.
SPEAKER_01: But everything here, everything here, happens in God's perfect timing.
SPEAKER_01: And in God's perfect timing, the apostles have caused a scene in Solomon's portico.
SPEAKER_01: They've been carrying on all afternoon and showing no signs of slowing down such that greatly annoyed, the temple authorities come and restore order.
SPEAKER_01: They arrest Peter and John and the lame man from the beautiful gate and they put them in custody overnight.
SPEAKER_01: So there they sat, waiting, anticipating, expecting, dreading, fearing.
SPEAKER_01: We don't know.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, John, and this guy who won't sit down now that his legs have been feeled.
SPEAKER_01: They're in a holding cell, under guard, in custody for a whole night.
SPEAKER_01: A long night, I would imagine.
SPEAKER_01: And if you've never heard this story before, let's just pretend Anton didn't read it for you.
SPEAKER_01: If you've never heard this story before, at this point, how much hope do you have in Peter?
SPEAKER_01: How much do you believe in that guy?
SPEAKER_01: When Jesus spent a night in custody in the same place by the same people, Peter couldn't even face a servant girl without lying to save his own neck.
SPEAKER_01: He lied.
SPEAKER_01: While John was in the room with Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine how John feels sitting there next to Peter.
SPEAKER_01: Do you think Pete's got what it takes this time?
SPEAKER_01: Do you think it even matters?
SPEAKER_01: The Romans surely are not out of crosses after the last crucifixion.
SPEAKER_01: They got plenty.
SPEAKER_01: What's going to happen in the morning?
SPEAKER_01: What should Peter and John expect?
SPEAKER_01: What should they anticipate?
SPEAKER_01: Turn back with me to John chapter 18.
SPEAKER_01: We're in the Garden of Gethsemane.
SPEAKER_01: And in verse 11, Peter has just chopped off a servant's ear, and Jesus tells him to put your sword into its sheath.
SPEAKER_01: Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?
SPEAKER_01: And so the band of soldiers and their captain, the officers of the Jews, arrested Jesus, these same people, right?
SPEAKER_01: Arrested Jesus and bound him.
SPEAKER_01: First they led him to Annas.
SPEAKER_01: Heard that name before.
SPEAKER_01: For he was the father-in-law of Caiaphas, who was priest that year.
SPEAKER_01: It was Caiaphas who would advise the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.
SPEAKER_01: Then we have the first of Peter's denials.
SPEAKER_01: Look at verse 19 now.
SPEAKER_01: The high priest then questioned Jesus about his disciples and his teaching.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered him, I have spoken openly to the world.
SPEAKER_01: I have always taught in the synagogues in the temple, where all have all Jews come together.
SPEAKER_01: I have said nothing in secret.
SPEAKER_01: Why do you ask me?
SPEAKER_01: And those who have heard me what I said to them, they know what I said.
SPEAKER_01: And when he had said these things, one of the officers standing by struck Jesus with his hand, saying, Is that how you answer the high priest?
SPEAKER_01: It's a tough crowd.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus answered him, If what I said is wrong, bear witness about the wrong, but if what I said is right, why do you strike me?
SPEAKER_01: Annas then sent him bound to Caiaphas, the high priest.
SPEAKER_01: Rough.
SPEAKER_01: Matthew tells us that Caiaphas gathered together the scribes and the elders and questioned Jesus, saying in Matthew, I adjure you by the living God.
SPEAKER_01: Tell us, Caiaphas says, Tell us if you are the Christ, the Son of God.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to him, You have said so.
SPEAKER_01: But I tell you, from now on, you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.
SPEAKER_01: Then the high priest, that's Caiaphas here, tore his robes and said, He has uttered blasphemy.
SPEAKER_01: What further witnesses do we need?
SPEAKER_01: You have now heard his blasphemy.
SPEAKER_01: What is your judgment?
SPEAKER_01: And they answered, He deserves death.
SPEAKER_01: And they spit in his face and struck him.
SPEAKER_01: And some slapped him, saying, Prophesy to us, you Christ, who is it that struck you?
SPEAKER_01: And then Luke in chapter 23 tells us they all went together to Pilate.
SPEAKER_01: Same guys.
SPEAKER_01: These guys.
SPEAKER_01: Annas and Caiaphas will be back in the morning to deal with Peter and John.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're reading Luke and Acts for the first time, wouldn't you expect a similar outcome?
SPEAKER_01: What would you expect?
SPEAKER_01: Luke doesn't tell us back in Acts if Peter and John slept well that night.
SPEAKER_01: But in the morning, Annas and Caiaphas and the whole council would gather together again, and Peter and John would walk where their Lord had walked, stand where he had stood, and be questioned by the men who spat in Jesus' face.
SPEAKER_01: They followed Jesus into that jail cell because they're listening to their sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They followed because they were listening.
SPEAKER_01: Back in John 16, Jesus told them that a servant is not greater than his master.
SPEAKER_01: If they persecute me, they will also persecute you.
SPEAKER_01: This is what they should have expected.
SPEAKER_01: Later in that same passage, Jesus also looked at Peter and John and said, The hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.
SPEAKER_01: It's all happening just like Jesus said it would.
SPEAKER_01: John 16, 4, Jesus says, But I have said these things to you that when their hour comes you may remember that I told them to you.
SPEAKER_01: They're listening and they're following.
SPEAKER_01: We who claim the name of Jesus Christ, who call ourselves followers of Jesus, are we ready to walk the road he walked?
SPEAKER_01: To carry the cross he carried?
SPEAKER_01: Are we prepared spiritually to spend the night in a jail cell?
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying go get yourself thrown in prison, but do we follow obediently in the knowledge that we could be?
SPEAKER_01: Are we willing to speak?
SPEAKER_01: Not knowing what the response might be.
SPEAKER_01: Are we willing to live in the anticipation and the expectation that all who desire to live godly lives in Christ Jesus will face persecution?
SPEAKER_01: Luke's language here in Acts reminds us of Jesus' words back in Luke chapter 12, verse 12.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus says, When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, very similar language, right?
SPEAKER_01: Do not be anxious about how you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.
SPEAKER_01: If Peter and John were listening to Jesus, what do you think they expected in the morning?
SPEAKER_01: What should they have expected in the morning?
SPEAKER_01: As they wait in that jail cell, what were they anticipating?
SPEAKER_01: And then in the morning, the Sanhedrin gathered, the crowds gather, and Luke is careful to tell us exactly who was there.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Annas, who was like a high priest emeritus, a highly respected, highly influential man.
SPEAKER_01: It was Annas' guard who slapped Jesus in the face, and then his son-in-law, Caiaphas.
SPEAKER_01: When the crowds around Jerusalem raved in John 11 and 12 about the raising of Lazarus, it was Caiaphas who said that it was better for one man to die than from the whole nation to perish.
SPEAKER_01: And from that day on, John tells us, Caiaphas and his cronies made plans to put Jesus to death, handing him over to Pilate.
SPEAKER_01: These high priests, these men were there when Pilate brought Jesus out in a purple robe and crown of thorns, beaten and flogged.
SPEAKER_01: And they cried out, Crucify him.
SPEAKER_01: They led the crowds in demanding blood.
SPEAKER_01: Those are the faces that look at Peter and John and the crippled man who leaps and asks, By what power or by what name did you do this thing?
SPEAKER_01: A month prior, John heard these same voices say, Are you the Son of God?
SPEAKER_01: He saw these ears hear Jesus say, You say that I am, and heard them cry out, What further testimony do we need?
SPEAKER_01: We've heard it ourselves.
SPEAKER_01: While Peter was out back weeping bitterly.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, notice, see, behold, the sovereign plan and purposes of God.
SPEAKER_01: In himself, by himself, Peter is no stronger, no mightier, no braver, no bolder than last time.
SPEAKER_01: Two things have changed, right?
SPEAKER_01: The first thing is he's indwelt and filled by the Holy Spirit after Pentecost, but he's also, he's also seen the resurrected Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He's seen the power of God from on high that has conquered the grave he used to fear so much, or as Paul would later say, he's seen how God disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in Him.
SPEAKER_01: Peter knows that he's talking to a conquered foe.
SPEAKER_01: He knows.
SPEAKER_01: That's what's different.
SPEAKER_01: Because all that Jesus ever said would happen is happening.
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just listen to the confidence, the boldness of this common, uneducated fisherman.
SPEAKER_01: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, this is verse 8, 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, the Messiah of Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: A month ago, Peter couldn't even admit he was from Galilee.
SPEAKER_01: And now he doubles down that Jesus is from Nazareth.
SPEAKER_01: He's specific, right?
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.
SPEAKER_01: This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, referring to the leaders, the authorities he's talking to.
SPEAKER_01: They're the builders.
SPEAKER_01: They've rejected the stone which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation and no one else.
SPEAKER_01: For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
SPEAKER_01: But notice what is happening.
SPEAKER_01: This is my favorite part.
SPEAKER_01: Peter, he just quotes Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He just quotes Jesus, and Luke quotes Luke, because Luke wants Theophilus and you to connect these dots.
SPEAKER_01: Turn back to Luke chapter 20 and verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: Back in Luke chapter 20, verse 9, Luke tells us a story about Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And he began to tell the people this parable.
SPEAKER_01: He's in the temple.
SPEAKER_01: He tells this parable in Luke 20, verse 9.
SPEAKER_01: A man planted a vineyard and led it out to tenants and went into another country for a long while.
SPEAKER_01: When the time came, he sent a servant to the tenants so that they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard.
SPEAKER_01: But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed.
SPEAKER_01: He sent another servant, but they also beat and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty-handed.
SPEAKER_01: And he sent yet a third.
SPEAKER_01: This one also they wounded and cast out.
SPEAKER_01: Then the owner of the vineyard said, What shall I do?
SPEAKER_01: I will send my beloved son.
SPEAKER_01: Perhaps they will respect him.
SPEAKER_01: When the tenants saw him, they said to themselves, This is the heir, let us kill him, so that the inheritance may be ours.
SPEAKER_01: And they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
SPEAKER_01: What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?
SPEAKER_01: He will come and destroy those tenants and give the vineyard to others.
SPEAKER_01: When they heard this, they said, Surely not.
SPEAKER_01: Because they knew he was talking about them.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus looked directly at them and said, What then is this that is written?
SPEAKER_01: The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
SPEAKER_01: Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.
SPEAKER_01: And the scribes and the chief priests, these guys, right?
SPEAKER_01: Same guys, sought to lay hands on him at that very hour.
SPEAKER_01: For they perceived that he had told this parable against them, but they feared the people.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus in this text quotes Psalm 118, 22.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 118 is the Psalm of a conquering king whose God vindicated him over his opponents, his foes.
SPEAKER_01: And Psalm 118 shows that the men who opposed David's authority and doubted David's leadership as king were crushed as God built a new kingdom, built his kingdom with a Davidic stone that the builders of the old kingdom had rejected.
SPEAKER_01: This stone in the Psalm is David.
SPEAKER_01: And he didn't fit the old way of Saul and the judges.
SPEAKER_01: It was too big or too sharp or too long, or some other defect in the mind of the builders, so they cast it aside.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't fit the wall they were trying to build.
SPEAKER_01: But God, in his infinite wisdom, starts a whole new building with that cornerstone.
SPEAKER_01: This cornerstone that didn't fit the old way becomes the pattern, the standard of the new way, the new building.
SPEAKER_01: This was true of David and Jesus teaching the people and preaching the gospel in the temple after his approach by the chief priests earlier in the chapter.
SPEAKER_01: And they say in verse 2, Tell us by what authority do you do these things?
SPEAKER_01: Or who is that, who is it that gives you this authority?
SPEAKER_01: It's the same question they're asking Peter and John, right?
SPEAKER_01: So Jesus tells that parable, and then he looks straight at the scribes and the chief priests and said to them, in effect, I am that Davidic cornerstone of the coming messianic kingdom, and all who oppose me will be crushed.
SPEAKER_01: It's a big statement.
SPEAKER_01: The scribes and the chief priests sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he told the parable about them, right?
SPEAKER_01: But they feared the people.
SPEAKER_01: So even if we struggle to connect the dots of the Psalm and what Jesus says, Caiaphas got it.
SPEAKER_01: Caiaphas knew what Jesus was talking about enough to try and arrest him for it.
SPEAKER_01: And then a month or so later, back in Acts, Peter bears witness.
SPEAKER_01: He sees the firsthand, the healing of a lame man by the Holy Spirit of Christ in the temple, mere steps away from where Jesus argued with the scribes like this.
SPEAKER_01: Peter gets arrested by the same scribes who arrested Jesus, and he gets hauled before them and asks the same questions they asked Jesus, and then the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus fills Peter, and he says the very same things he heard Jesus say.
SPEAKER_01: He says, Jesus is the Messiah of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: That's the name by which this man was healed.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter could have stopped there.
SPEAKER_01: That would have been enough to get crucified over.
SPEAKER_01: He could have stopped there, but he didn't.
SPEAKER_01: He said, Yeah, Jesus, that Jesus, that's who.
SPEAKER_01: But he goes one step.
SPEAKER_01: Further, when he quotes Jesus, quoting Psalm 118.
SPEAKER_01: You think they forgot?
SPEAKER_01: I don't.
SPEAKER_01: They know.
SPEAKER_01: He says, the Jesus you arrested and crucified, you arrested and crucified him for saying he was the Messiah and for arguing from David that you would reject him.
SPEAKER_01: Peter says, Jesus was right.
SPEAKER_01: You're doing exactly what he said you would.
SPEAKER_01: The proof is standing right there next to Peter on two good, healthy legs.
SPEAKER_01: The high priest did exactly what Jesus said they would do because Jesus was exactly who he said he was.
SPEAKER_01: It's incredible.
SPEAKER_01: That's what Peter's working with.
SPEAKER_01: You know what makes Babe Bruce called home run so incredible?
SPEAKER_01: It's that it's really hard to hit a home run.
SPEAKER_01: It's really hard to do.
SPEAKER_01: But to call it before you do it is to say to everybody, I'm so good at this, so powerful with a baseball bat in my hand that I can do it whenever I want to.
SPEAKER_01: That's what fulfilled prophecy is all about, guys.
SPEAKER_01: God called his shot.
SPEAKER_01: So that there could be no doubt, none, that it was by his power and at his word and his decision that all of these things have come to pass, just like the church recognizes in verse 28.
SPEAKER_01: And quoting Psalm 118, Peter proclaims his sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaims that in Jesus the Messiah, salvation has come to Israel and a new building is being built with the cornerstone rejected by the chief priests and scribes.
SPEAKER_01: He listened to Jesus and he proclaimed Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Because listening to the sovereign Lord leads to proclaiming the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This proclamation is not simply an evangelistic appeal of salvation in Jesus' name, though it is that.
SPEAKER_01: No, what Peter is proclaiming by quoting Psalm 118 is the same thing Jesus said.
SPEAKER_01: He's proclaiming the end of the old way of the scribes and the Pharisees.
SPEAKER_01: He proclaims Jesus as the Davidic King, the only wise, sovereign Lord that they themselves, even the high priest, must kneel before.
SPEAKER_01: The proclamation is that of a royal herald announcing the coming of a mighty king.
SPEAKER_01: There is no other name.
SPEAKER_01: That's it.
SPEAKER_01: These chief priests tried to stop it.
SPEAKER_01: They tried to reject Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: They tried to seek for another Messiah, a different Christ, a Christ who would let them hold on to their traditions, let them keep their authority and their position.
SPEAKER_01: But Jesus demanded their complete submission to his authority, and they killed him for it.
SPEAKER_01: But he ascended to the Father's right hand.
SPEAKER_01: They silenced him.
SPEAKER_01: But the Holy Spirit still speaks in the lips of the apostles.
SPEAKER_01: You can plug your ears, friends, but the scriptures are clear.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus Christ is the way, the truth, and the life.
SPEAKER_01: No one comes to the Father.
SPEAKER_01: Not even the holiness sons of Abraham, except through Him.
SPEAKER_01: And he is coming to reign.
SPEAKER_01: So it is foolish, stupid even of us to persist in our sins.
SPEAKER_01: It is false to offer another road to salvation than Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
SPEAKER_01: It is fraud to give people warm clothes, a bowl of hot food, a place to sleep for the night, and a subsidized gas card in the name of Jesus while withholding the truth of Jesus from them.
SPEAKER_01: Resistance is futile, and a holy God is furious with sinners and intent on visiting our iniquity upon us, unless, when given one last chance, one more chance, we can see the love and the grace of our Maker and the face of Jesus Christ crucified for us according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, repent of our sins and believe on Jesus Christ for salvation.
SPEAKER_01: Which sins, you might ask?
SPEAKER_01: And the apostles would answer, all the ones you know about.
SPEAKER_01: If we, like Peter and John, claim to listen to the sovereign Lord, then we must proclaim him just as he proclaimed himself.
SPEAKER_01: In all holiness, exclusivity, all freedom, and all grace.
SPEAKER_01: All grace.
SPEAKER_01: Notice that while Peter's retort is razor sharp, he still extends to them the salvation of Jesus Christ to the very men who crucified him.
SPEAKER_01: This is the only way.
SPEAKER_01: But even these guys can be saved.
SPEAKER_01: So what are you waiting for?
SPEAKER_01: And now Peter and John wait.
SPEAKER_01: The last time these rulers hauled somebody before them for doing miraculous good deeds and challenging their authority.
SPEAKER_01: The last time that happened, they sent Jesus off to Pontius Pilate screaming, Crucify him.
SPEAKER_01: And in all honesty, if I'm Peter and John, that's what I'm expecting here.
SPEAKER_01: That's what I'm bracing myself for.
SPEAKER_01: That's the verdict I see coming.
SPEAKER_01: But God, God is still sovereign.
SPEAKER_01: So what is the verdict?
SPEAKER_01: The scribes and the Pharisees are baffled.
SPEAKER_01: They don't know what to say.
SPEAKER_01: These are common, uneducated fishermen who stand before them, quoting scripture and heralding the messianic kingdom, and they speak without wincing or mincing words.
SPEAKER_01: This boldness is a political word for the way a confident statesmen who've earned their place can speak freely when they know what they're talking about.
SPEAKER_01: It's the fearless confidence of these two, and it's it's almost rude.
SPEAKER_01: But more than rude, it's puzzling.
unknown: It's baffling.
SPEAKER_01: They're astonished, just like the crowds in chapter three.
SPEAKER_01: It's almost as unexplainable as the crippled man walking.
SPEAKER_01: This whole charade, this whole charade is supposed to be intimidating, after all, right?
SPEAKER_01: Jesus was just crucified.
SPEAKER_01: Clearly the threats aren't empty.
SPEAKER_01: These Jewish rulers are not messing around.
SPEAKER_01: And yet these nobodies from Galilee still speak as if they are equals, even superiors to the high priestly family, like Elijah before Ahab, Nathan before David, or Daniel before Babylon, Peter and John stand in the highest court of the land, like the prophets of old, having an office of equal or greater authority in the sight of God, delivering the word of God boldly.
SPEAKER_01: And even Caiaphas is at a loss for words.
SPEAKER_01: At the sight of this crippled man leaping for joy.
SPEAKER_01: His mouth is shut before the fire in Peter's eyes.
SPEAKER_01: And so, like a foolish father whose kids call his bluff and disobey anyway, they just repeat the threat.
SPEAKER_01: They just say it again.
SPEAKER_01: It didn't work the first time.
SPEAKER_01: For if these men aren't afraid of this counsel after Jesus was crucified, what else do they got?
SPEAKER_01: So they just repeat the threat.
SPEAKER_01: In verse 18, they called them and charged them not to speak or teach it all in the name of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: Luke's pen is really sharp here.
SPEAKER_01: It's really sharp.
SPEAKER_01: The word he uses for their threats in verse 21 is extremely rare.
SPEAKER_01: But it's used in a famous passage of Genesis.
SPEAKER_01: After Jacob steals Isaac's blessing from Esau, Rebekah sends him words saying, Behold, your brother Esau comforts himself about you by threatening to kill you.
SPEAKER_01: And so Luke very subtly, very, very deftly characterizes these scribes, these chief priests, these rulers of the people, Jacob's sons, Israel's sons.
SPEAKER_01: He makes them look like Esau.
SPEAKER_01: These rulers and authorities sold their Israelite birthright in the Messiah's kingdom for a bowl of traditional soup when they cast Jesus outside the gate and crucified the promised Messiah.
SPEAKER_01: Luke is very subtly criticizing them, alleging that they're not the true Israel.
SPEAKER_01: And the great tragic irony he's showing us is that Esau reigns in Jerusalem, while the true sons of promise will be God's witnesses to the ends of the earth.
SPEAKER_01: As all the families of the earth are blessed by Abraham's children of promise.
SPEAKER_01: It's simply incredible how Luke just inspired Luke, cuts them and their empty threats to pieces.
SPEAKER_01: And then the Holy Spirit speaks again in the mouth of Peter, turning the heat up even higher in verse 19, when he says, Whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.
SPEAKER_01: For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
SPEAKER_01: John and I, Peter says, we'll keep on listening to the sovereign Lord, and not to you.
SPEAKER_01: The implication, I think, is will you listen to what God just said?
SPEAKER_01: It's a challenge.
SPEAKER_01: He's challenging them.
SPEAKER_01: Peter looks at Caiaphas in the face and full of the Holy Spirit, says, God has spoken.
SPEAKER_01: Did you hear me?
SPEAKER_01: It's intense.
SPEAKER_01: The man has no fear.
SPEAKER_01: And there can be no doubt that these rulers of the Jews are so far beyond excuses and their threats fall on deaf ears.
SPEAKER_01: I titled this section, Trusting the Sovereign Lord, but at first glance, the courage here doesn't seem to fit that title as I got going.
SPEAKER_01: But then I realized this week that that's what real trust, real faith looks like.
SPEAKER_01: It moves forward with confidence, with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: Your Bible translates that word both ways, when it's, it moves with confidence when it's listening to the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That word for boldness is so rare in the Old Testament, but it's all over, all over the New Testament.
SPEAKER_01: Luke loves this word.
SPEAKER_01: It's the second to last word of Luke's whole book of Acts, as Paul sits in Rome for two years proclaiming the kingdom of God with all boldness and without hindrance.
SPEAKER_01: Likely while he sits there, he writes to the Philippians that he has full courage, this complete boldness, this all-encompassing confidence that Christ will be honored in his body, whether by life or by death.
SPEAKER_01: This is the boldness that approaches the throne of grace in Hebrews chapter 4.
SPEAKER_01: Let us then with confidence draw near, your Bibles say.
SPEAKER_01: Confidence, because Jesus died for sinners in full understanding of sin, so that we can openly, confidently, boldly approach him in prayer for mercy and for grace and help in time of need when we sin or are tempted to sin.
SPEAKER_01: This is the confidence worthy of a great reward in Hebrews chapter 10 that joyfully accepted the plundering of personal property, knowing that in the life to come there awaits a better inheritance than the one in this present life.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine being persecuted, so persecuted for your faith that the government comes and seizes your possessions.
SPEAKER_01: Imagine.
SPEAKER_01: And then you rejoice.
SPEAKER_01: You rejoice about it because you're so confident, so bold as to believe that God will make it right in the end, just like he did for Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: That's boldness.
SPEAKER_01: That's trusting in the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: That's the anticipation.
SPEAKER_01: That's the hype.
SPEAKER_01: That's the buzz that Peter and John are marching towards.
SPEAKER_01: They know that God will vindicate them just as he vindicated Jesus when he raised him up and seated him in the heavenly places.
SPEAKER_01: And they know that because they listened to Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said, Behold, I am with you always to the end of the age.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you that you may be with me where I am also.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus said, Take heart.
SPEAKER_01: I have overcome the world.
SPEAKER_01: So trust and don't fear.
SPEAKER_01: Move forward and speak plainly.
SPEAKER_01: Don't fear those who can kill the body, because your God is sovereign over all things.
SPEAKER_01: He rules over everything.
SPEAKER_01: He is the king who can't be questioned.
SPEAKER_01: And he has promised you an everlasting life.
SPEAKER_01: If you believe in Jesus Christ.
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the sovereign Lord, you'll be trusting in the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting expectantly to see what he will do next.
SPEAKER_01: And they just let him go.
SPEAKER_01: Nobody saw that coming.
SPEAKER_01: They just let him go, just like that.
SPEAKER_01: Because the crowds were even more worked up.
SPEAKER_01: As if the commotion of tongues wasn't enough.
SPEAKER_01: That lame man had been lame for more than 40 years.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody had seen him at the temple gates their entire lives, even these politicians, these rulers of the Jews, ever, ever politically wise.
SPEAKER_01: They just let him walk so as not to cause too much trouble.
SPEAKER_01: They released them.
SPEAKER_01: And I have a hard time believing that Peter and John saw that one coming.
SPEAKER_01: But I love the way the English Standard Version translates verse 23.
SPEAKER_01: When they were released, they went to their friends.
SPEAKER_01: They went to their people.
SPEAKER_01: As beautiful as verse 32 is going to be when we get there next week, it's all wrapped up right there in that little phrase, right?
SPEAKER_01: They went to their friends.
SPEAKER_01: They went to their people.
SPEAKER_01: That's church.
SPEAKER_01: That's church, my friends.
SPEAKER_01: It's the place where your people are.
SPEAKER_01: Or at least that's what it should be.
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're striving for here, right?
SPEAKER_01: They told their friends what happened.
SPEAKER_01: It seems pretty ordinary.
SPEAKER_01: Just let them know.
SPEAKER_01: But the word for reported in verse 23 is just too strong for that, too formal for that.
SPEAKER_01: The church, they they knew that the apostles were on their way.
SPEAKER_01: Everybody assembled together.
SPEAKER_01: They all got together and they were ready for them as they walked in the room.
SPEAKER_01: They were sitting there like students in the classroom, ready for the professor to speak, or like athletes in the locker room at halftime when the coach walks in.
SPEAKER_01: Whoosh.
SPEAKER_01: And Peter and John have the church's full attention.
SPEAKER_01: They've been left, the church, in suspenseful anticipation all night long.
SPEAKER_01: And when they told the church what had happened, they praised the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: See that in verse 24?
SPEAKER_01: They lifted their voices together and they praised the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They sang, they prayed.
SPEAKER_01: They sang.
SPEAKER_01: It feels like they sang.
SPEAKER_01: I don't think they did.
SPEAKER_01: I wish they sang, but I don't think they did.
SPEAKER_01: I would sing.
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should just pray more often.
SPEAKER_01: But they praised him because they recognized fulfilled Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: They saw in these moments the fulfillment of Scripture.
SPEAKER_01: Notice, see how listening to the Sovereign Lord leads to praising the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: They're listening to the Scriptures, seeing God call his shots and watching the home runs go over the left field wall, and the church of God erupts in praise like it's the World Series.
SPEAKER_01: They just jump and they shout.
SPEAKER_01: Listening to the Sovereign Lord leads to praising the sovereign Lord.
SPEAKER_01: This fulfillment of Scripture is a major theme in Acts.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter one, Peter interprets the apostasy of Judas according to the scriptures.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter two, Peter interprets the sign and wonder of the spirit and tongues according to the book of Joel, the death and resurrection of Jesus in the Psalms and David.
SPEAKER_01: In chapter three, he tells the people that Jesus is the prophet like Moses.
SPEAKER_01: He's the offspring of Abraham and that all the prophets from Samuel onwards spoke of Jesus.
SPEAKER_01: He just got finished interpreting his own arrest and trial as the builder's continued rejection of God's cornerstone.
SPEAKER_01: And now the gathered church sees in all these events the fulfillment of Psalm 2.
SPEAKER_01: None can stand against the Lord and his Christ.
SPEAKER_01: Though many kings, in verse 26, though many kings and many rulers try.
SPEAKER_01: None.
SPEAKER_01: Not even Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel.
SPEAKER_01: They cannot stand.
SPEAKER_01: Read it this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01: Psalm 2 is a psalm of warning in many ways.
SPEAKER_01: Kiss the sun lest you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled.
SPEAKER_01: Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
SPEAKER_01: We just sang it, right?
SPEAKER_01: Rock of age is cleft for me, let me hide myself in thee, take refuge in the sun.
SPEAKER_01: Helplessly cling to him for grace, for there really is salvation in no one else, right?
SPEAKER_01: But there is a warning.
SPEAKER_01: There is a warning.
SPEAKER_01: It's either a threat or a promise.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in Christ, Psalm 2, and this truth the church praises God for.
SPEAKER_01: If you're in Christ, it's a promise of deliverance, of justice, and of victory.
SPEAKER_01: But if you're against Christ, like the rulers of the Jews, then these words of God uttered by the Holy Spirit in the mouth of David are a certain and sure threat of wrath, fury, terror, and derision, scoffing.
SPEAKER_01: God laughs at them.
SPEAKER_01: So which is it for you?
SPEAKER_01: Is the news of God's power a comfort or a terror?
SPEAKER_01: That's the difference.
SPEAKER_01: Because if you're listening to the sovereign Lord, if you're listening to the sovereign Lord, you'll be following in Jesus' footsteps, just like he said you would.
SPEAKER_01: Waiting for the same things to happen to you that happened to him.
SPEAKER_01: At the most basic level, you will all die.
SPEAKER_01: You will all rise again.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're in Christ, that will go well for you.
SPEAKER_01: And if you're not, it won't.
SPEAKER_01: You will follow him through death.
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the sovereign Lord, you'll be proclaiming him as the sovereign Lord that he said he was, waiting for the opportunity to speak and expecting the various responses you might get, the same ones he got.
SPEAKER_01: Some believed and some didn't.
SPEAKER_01: Still speak.
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the sovereign Lord, you'll be trusting in the sovereign Lord who always keeps his promises.
SPEAKER_01: Always waiting, anticipating, hoping, believing, excited, hype, buzz, all those words, waiting for the eternal vindication of heaven and glory that makes all the suffering of this pleasant, present life worthwhile.
SPEAKER_01: If you're listening to the sovereign Lord, you'll be praising him for his wisdom and his power that calls his shots and does whatever his hand and his plan are predestined to do.
SPEAKER_01: Asking him to keep going while you wait for what's next.
SPEAKER_01: If you look at your Bibles one more time, in verse 31, it says, the place where they were gathered together was shaken.
SPEAKER_01: Gathered together gets repeated a lot in Acts.
SPEAKER_01: It's in verse 27, it's in verse 26.
SPEAKER_01: It's way back in verse 5 to describe the elders and scribes.
SPEAKER_01: And it's the Greek word for synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: It's the Greek word for synagogue.
SPEAKER_01: This church has been kicked out of the highest synagogue in the land, but their synagogue, the place where they gather together, shakes as the Holy Spirit fills it and they continue to speak the word of God with boldness.
SPEAKER_01: They speak that way because of what they expect.
SPEAKER_01: Anticipation is that thing that drives this behavior.
SPEAKER_01: It's a faith.
SPEAKER_01: We're just talking about faith.
SPEAKER_01: Anticipation is just faith.
SPEAKER_01: It's a faith that is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
SPEAKER_01: It watches, it waits for the sovereign Lord to fulfill his promises.
SPEAKER_01: This is the faith that conquers kingdoms, and forced justice, obtained promises, stops the mouths of lions, quenches the power of fire, escapes the edge of the sword, is strong out of weakness and mighty in war.
SPEAKER_01: Among these Christians in Acts chapter 4 are those who will suffer mocking and flogging, even chains and imprisonment, stoned, sawn in two, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy.
SPEAKER_01: This is a faith.
SPEAKER_01: This is faith that simply listens when the sovereign Lord speaks and expects him to come through no matter what.
SPEAKER_01: Abraham.
SPEAKER_01: Abraham listened to God and believed Isaac would come back from the dead.
SPEAKER_01: Elijah listened to God and believed God would send rain.
SPEAKER_01: Jesus listened to his father and believed that the joy set before him was enough to endure even the cross.
SPEAKER_01: Peter and John listened to Jesus and believed that a servant was no greater than his master.
SPEAKER_01: What do you believe?
SPEAKER_01: Who are you listening to?
SPEAKER_01: Anticipation drives all sorts of human emotions and human behavior.
SPEAKER_01: What do you think happens next when this life is ended and this world passes away?
SPEAKER_01: What do you expect?
SPEAKER_01: Ask yourself more this week than you did last week.
SPEAKER_01: The simple question What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: What did Jesus say?
SPEAKER_01: And may we all listen when he speaks.
SPEAKER_01: Follow him as he leads.
SPEAKER_01: Proclaim him to all we meet.
SPEAKER_01: Trust him even when we can't see what the future brings.
SPEAKER_01: And praise him when he comes through.
SPEAKER_01: In this life and in the next life.
SPEAKER_01: Praising him until he says, Well done, my good and faithful servant.
SPEAKER_01: Enter into the joy of your master.
SPEAKER_01: Let's pray.
SPEAKER_01: Lord, by the word of your power, you created the heavens and the earth.
SPEAKER_01: And by the faith granted to us, we believe that nothing, nothing at all, is outside of your sovereign control.
SPEAKER_01: Not the raging of nations, kings, nor rulers can interrupt your eternally wise plan to rescue, to redeem, to reconcile and restore people to a loving, right, and worshipful experience with you, worshipful relationship with you.
SPEAKER_01: Oh Father, some trust in chariots, some in princes.
SPEAKER_01: But may we trust in the name of the Lord our God.
SPEAKER_01: For surely there is no God like you in all the earth.
SPEAKER_01: You are the first and the last, the only rock of our salvation, the ancient of days coming to reign forever and ever.
SPEAKER_01: We praise you, we trust you, we proclaim your great name together, and we will follow you all of our days.
SPEAKER_01: Because we have heard, and we believe in the name of Jesus, your only Son.
SPEAKER_01: It's in his name we pray.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: That concludes this sermon from Faith Evangelical Free Church.
SPEAKER_00: Our mission is to declare the Word of God and disciple believers into mature, devoted followers of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You can learn more by visiting our website at faithfree.com.