We're going to be reading from
Acts chapter five and verse 17, but just before we do that, let
me give you a little bit of an introduction to this passage,
and then perhaps when we're doing our reading, it will be a little
bit more meaningful to us just to see what it was that was happening.
Here's what I want to say by way of introduction. From the
earliest days of the church's witness, so just after the death
and the resurrection and the ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ
into heaven, the disciples waited for the Holy Spirit that God
had promised, the Lord Jesus had promised to them. And this
Holy Spirit came at what we call Pentecost. It was 50 days. That's what Pentecost means.
And it has to do with 50 days after the Passover. So it's a
couple of feasts that the Jewish people had and the Lord Jesus
Christ was crucified at the Passover and then at the Feast of Pentecost
that was where the disciples were all gathered together in
Jerusalem and the Holy Spirit came down and filled them all
there at Pentecost. That was the beginning of the
worldwide growth of the church. It started in Jerusalem, it would
go to the ends of the earth. But from that beginning, from
that early stage, the church's witness began and the early believers
were persecuted. they were punished for preaching
the gospel of Jesus Christ. No sooner had the Lord returned
to heaven following his resurrection than his disciples, now called
apostles because they were messengers, they took up the message that
the Lord had given them and began to preach it there in Jerusalem. At first, there was a positive
response. and many believed the gospel.
They believed in Jesus Christ to the salvation of their souls. Sometimes thousands were converted
in one day. With one sermon, thousands of
people were converted and the church grew rapidly. We're told the Lord added to
the church daily, such as should be saved. That phrase is very interesting,
such as should be saved. Such as should be saved are those
who should be saved according to the purpose of God. Do you
realize that that also means that there were some who should
not be saved? There were some there to whom
the grace of God should not go, just as there were some who were
saved, at least that day. And verses such as these reinforce
the Bible's teaching about the bondage of the human will. The fact that it takes a miraculous
work of regeneration. It takes a work of God, the Holy
Spirit, a powerful work to transform and convert an individual to
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what the Bible teaches,
so that there were Many in those days who were saved because they
were such as should be saved. Those that were chosen to salvation
and eternal life so that the Lord used the preaching of the
apostles. They're preaching about the life
and death of the Lord Jesus Christ to gather in his elect people,
to gather in such as should be saved, and thereby he added daily
to his church. However, The Jews were not happy. They're called Sadducees. There
were a couple of different Jewish groups. There were the Pharisees,
there were the scribes, there were the lawyers, there were
the Sadducees. And this is the Sadducees that
we're speaking about today. These Sadducees, they had control
in Jerusalem at that time. They were the leaders. They were
the important ones who had the authority to do things. And they
were unhappy at the effect of the apostles' ministry. They were envious, we're told.
They realized that the preaching of the apostles, the ministry
of Peter, was having a powerful transforming effect in the lives
of men and women at that time. And they accused the apostles
of stirring up the people of the city. They accused them of,
well their complaint was this, you have filled Jerusalem with
your doctrine. That is the doctrine of God's
grace in Christ. You've filled Jerusalem with
your doctrine and we're not happy about it and we're going to do
something about it. They said, you intend to bring
this man, they're talking about Jesus, whom they had crucified.
You intend to bring this man's blood upon us. You're accusing
us of being guilty of slaying the Lord Jesus Christ, which
largely they were. And so much were these Sadducees
concerned about this new faith, this new movement, that they
decided to nip it in the bud, to get rid of it before it started. So they would arrest the apostles,
they would lock them up in prison, and they would physically prevent
them from preaching anymore. And this is what we read about
in Acts chapter 5. So let's just go to Acts chapter
5 and we'll read there what it says in verse 17. Acts chapter 5 and verse 17. Then the high priest rose up,
and all they that were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees,
and were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles
and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by
night opened the prison doors and brought them forth and said,
go, stand, and speak in the temple to the people all the words of
this life. And when they heard that, they
entered into the temple early in the morning and taught. But
the high priest came, and they that were with him, and called
the council together, and all the senate of the children of
Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when
the officers came and found them not in the prison, they returned
untold, saying, The prison truly found we shut with all safety,
and the keepers standing without before the doors, but when we
had opened, we found no man within. Now when the high priest and
the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these
things, they doubted of them whereunto this would grow. Then came one and told them,
saying, Behold, the men whom ye put in prison are standing
in the temple and teaching the people. So you see what happened
here, how that these disciples, these apostles were released
from prison and they went back to the temple and started preaching
again. And I know we probably know the
story about Peter in prison. That's in Acts chapter 12. And
that is Herod, at the same time Herod was the king in Jerusalem
or in Judea and Galilee at this time. And he was under the Romans
and he had just killed James, another one of the apostles,
Peter, James, and John. So this is the James of Peter,
James, and John. He had just been killed. And
he saw how much it pleased these Sadducees to have James killed. Herod wasn't popular. Nobody
liked Herod. But when he killed James, the
Sadducees suddenly said, oh, you're our friend. We honor you. We're grateful for what you've
done. And when he saw how much it pleased the Jews, to slay
James, he thought he would execute Peter as well. So he put Peter
in prison and he was getting ready to kill Peter the next
morning. The night before Peter was due
to be killed, the angel of the Lord came, roused him from his
sleep, led him out of the prison. Despite all the sentries, there
were six sentries there, We know that story probably a little
bit better than we know this one. But Peter was not the only
apostle that was put in prison. And here the number. I don't
know how many it was, but it's certainly plural. It may well
have been them all. That would have been the smart
thing for the Sadducees to do if they were indeed trying to
nip this in the bud like they said. So it probably was all
the disciples that had been put in prison on this occasion. And
here, too, the same thing happened. An angel was sent to secure their
release. He opened the door of the prison.
He brought them out of the prison. And Acts chapter 5 verse 20 tells
us that the angel told them to go, stand, and speak in the temple
to the people all the words of this life. And that's the little
phrase that I want to draw to your attention today. That's
what we're going to speak about together today. That little phrase,
all the words of this life. The instruction that the angel
of the Lord gave was not ambiguous. There wasn't any doubt about
what the angel was saying. He said, go, stand, and speak. They were to go to the temple,
they were to stand there, and they were to speak to the people
who were there. Because that is the God-ordained
means of communicating the gospel. This is the reason we are here
today. We are here today to share the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It is the church's duty to carry
the God-given gospel to the ends of the earth. Because this is
a declared message of the truth of Jesus Christ. We don't do
drama. We don't do choirs. We don't
do bands. We don't do any of the light
entertainment that characterizes so many churches today. Because we take the word of the
angel of the Lord as it stands. Go, stand, preach. Go, stand, and speak the words
of this life. And we believe that preaching
is the God-appointed means for gathering in His elect. That
is, remember what we said, such as should be saved. This is how
God does it. This is how God gathers in such
as should be saved. And we have a God-given method
for spreading the gospel. What is it? Go, stand, and speak. That's how we do it. That's how
we spread the gospel. We also have God-given ministers. Now, while it is the duty of
the church to hold forth the gospel, it is not the responsibility
of every individual to do so. I'm not speaking about personal
witness in our families, in our circle of friends, in our workplace. We all do that. A city that is
set on a hill cannot be hid. We all do that. We witness the
Lord in our daily lives. But I mean for the public ministry
of the gospel. These apostles were chosen by
Christ. They were commissioned to serve
in this capacity as gospel preachers. This call to preach It's not
a mystical voice that someone hears. It's not an emotional
feeling, but it is a calling just the same. It's where the
word vocation comes from. Voc is the voice. That vocation
to do a particular job, to do a particular, take a particular
responsibility. It's the same idea as a calling. And it's a mix for a preacher.
It's a mix of a burden, an obligation, and a desire to preach the gospel. It comes with an enabling, and
it comes with the God-given ability to do so. And a calling has to
be tested to see whether these gifts are actually present. But most of all, it is faithful
to the gospel. Many, many men and increasingly
women these days run unsent out of a selfish ambition. They may have natural talent,
but they have no calling. They have no vocation. They have
no gospel. And such preachers can gain a
large audience. They can have big congregations. They might have a great following. But without a divinely given
message, they've no legitimacy. and no lasting effect in the
lives of men and women. Paul says, that's the vocation,
that's the calling. So the Lord told these people, these apostles,
what to do. Remember the words of the angel?
Go, stand, speak in the temple to all the people, all these
words of life. Why had they to go to the temple
to speak that? Why did the angel say, go stand
and speak in the temple? Well, it was where people gathered.
That was where people met. And that is where the Lord's
people would be found worshipping, where the declaration of truth
was to be made. It would be publicly noticed
when the apostles went to the temple in order to preach. It
would be openly declared and shared, and it would be effectively
received by such as should be saved. Basically the temple was
where they went in order to make a noise. It was where they went
in order to speak as they had been told to speak to the people.
The apostles were not delivered out of prison so that they could
go and flee and save themselves from danger or from getting their
heads chopped off. This wasn't their opportunity
to escape. On the contrary, it was their
obligation to go back exactly to where they had been arrested
at and begin all over again. They were released by the angel
to go about the work that they had been given to do, that they
had been called to fulfill, the preaching of the gospel. They
were to return to the temple, fearing neither the anger of
the religious leaders, the Sadducees, nor the threats of Herod, nor
any other man. Not because they were untouchable.
Remember, in a short time from now, James would be taken from
their midst and he would be killed with the sword by Herod. He would
be slain probably at the instigation of these very Sadducees that
had now put the rest of the Apostles in prison. But rather, because this was
Christ's gospel, this is true. And because it is to be declared
to all people, they went to the temple, not because that was
the place where they were safe, but in order to fulfill the obligation
that they had. They had to preach to all people
widely, promiscuously, unreservedly. And the Holy Spirit would make
what they said effectual for the salvation of some, while
others, rejecting their message as foolishness, would remain
in their sins to their eternal loss. So what have we got here? We've got the method, go, stand,
speak. We've also got the ministers,
those who are called by God, equipped and commissioned with
the task of preaching. And thirdly, we have the message. The message that we have been
given to preach, and that is of the utmost importance. What
was it that the apostles were to preach? They knew how to do
it, go stand, speak. They knew that they had been
called to do it, go to the temple. And this is what they were to
preach when they got there. All the words of this life. That's that little phrase that
I drew your attention to earlier. And what a lovely phrase it is.
That was their message. All the words of this life. It
means the gospel. But what a beautiful little description
of the gospel it is. All the words of this life. If
you are in the habit of marking your Bible to remind you of something
that's important, all the words of this life is a lovely little
phrase just to meditate upon the next time you're reading
through this passage. All the words of this life, all
of them, all the words of this life were to be preached by these
apostles. A preacher is not doing his job
if any of the words of this life if any of the doctrines of the
gospel are passed over or set aside. It's all the words of
this life that have to be preached. Some preachers resist telling
their congregations that they are sinners dead in their sins. Some never preach the doctrine
of election, even although it is in the Bible. Some say that Christ died for
everyone, which isn't in the Bible. I could list a whole catalogue
of things that some folks either do preach wrongly or don't preach
when they should. But my job is not to tell you
what other people say wrong. What is my job? My job is to
go, stand, speak, where people are gathering to worship God,
and to tell them all the words of this life. That's the job
of a preacher. And it's an important principle.
Christ's preachers don't spend their time negatively criticizing
other preachers who they don't happen to agree with. They positively
preach all the words of this life. We preach the whole counsel
of God. The Apostle Paul told the Ephesians
in Acts chapter 20, he said, I have not shunned to declare
unto you all the counsel of God, that is, all the words of this
life. In 2 Corinthians chapter 2, he
said effectively the same thing, I determined to know I determine
not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. So he preached all the words
of this life, which was Jesus Christ and Him crucified. All
the counsel of God. This was the message that the
apostles were instructed to preach. All the words of this life. Why
is the gospel called this life? Well, that's very simple. The
gospel tells us about Christ, who is the life, and how he has
saved us from death. Gospel just means good news. You all know that. It's the good
news from God. The good news is that there is
salvation to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That is the
good news. Christ is the message which brings
the fullness of what he has accomplished for the redemption and salvation
of his people. God had a purpose in his eternal
councils way before the world ever was created. He had a purpose
to make a people for himself who would worship him, to bring
men, women, boys, and girls to himself out of this fallen world
to gather that people so that he could show his love to them
and receive their love from them. so that he could show his goodness
to these people and bless them and make them happy. Blessed
is the word that was used in Psalms. We use it again, the
Lord's preached in Matthew chapter five. Blessed are the pure in
spirit. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ did. He has made a way of receiving God's blessings
for men and women like us. The Lord Jesus accomplished these
things. In Jesus Christ, instead of guilt,
there is forgiveness. In Jesus Christ, instead of condemnation,
there is salvation. In Jesus Christ, instead of bondage,
there is liberty. Instead of hell, there is heaven.
Instead of death, there is life. Christ said, the spirit quickeneth,
that is, makes alive. The flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I speak unto you,
said Christ, they are spirit, lively, and they are life. They are powerful life. The words
of Christ, the words of the gospel, the words, all the words of this
life, are powerful, transforming, and they bring men and women
who are sinners like you and me into a relationship with God. Peter said of the Lord Jesus,
Thou hast the words of eternal life. These gospel truths are
the word of life because they explain what is true life and
where it is to be had. They point us to Christ. They
lead us to Christ. They bring us to Christ. Our
Lord Jesus told his disciples, I am the life. I am the life. So when we read in Acts chapter
five, verse 20, go stand and speak in the temple to the people
all the words of this life. It's this life, this spiritual
life. It's not natural life. I'm not
here to tell you how to be successful in this natural life. I'm not
qualified for that by any means, but I do know where men and women
can get spiritual life, where they can get new life, where
they can get a new beginning, where they can be a new creation. And that comes from Christ. Jesus
said, I am come that they might have life and that they might
have it more abundantly. The life he gives is spiritual
and eternal. How has Christ done that? Two
words. Two words. Substitution and imputation. I'm not going to get heavy theology
here, but let me just explain why that means we have life.
He has taken our death as His substitute. He has taken the
death that we deserve as our substitute and He gives us His
life in its place. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 24 says, bear our sins in his own body
on the tree, that's when he was crucified, that we being dead
to sins should live unto righteousness by whose stripes we are healed. As my substitute, Christ took
my place. And when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, He took the sin of His people on His
own shoulders. He took my guilt, He took my
sin, He took my death. He gave me His holiness in return. He suffered my death and He gave
me His life. My sin was laid on Him. And by imputation, his righteousness
was given to me. Substitution and imputation. The Lord doesn't dangle eternal
life in front of people and ask them to reach up and
grab for it. He puts it into our hands. It is His gift to His people,
His gift to His children, His gift to His sheep, His grace
to His people. the people that he loves, the
people that he came to die for. And he does this by his substitutionary
death in our place. So Paul can say in Galatians
chapter two, I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now
live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me. The Apostle John writes, this
is the record that God has given to us eternal life, and this
life is in his Son. He that hath the Son hath life,
and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These are the words of life because
they revive, they regenerate, they restore God's people with
spiritual life and with strength. People talk about offering Christ
to sinners. That's not scriptural language,
therefore I steer away from it. It's not sound doctrine. It confuses
people. It makes them think that the
power rests within them when the power is the Lord's. Nor
was it what the disciples were told to preach. We're not offering
Christ to sinners, nor indeed offering salvation to them. Jesus
never offered salvation to anyone, nor should we. He came to save
his people from their sins, to lay down his life for his friends,
to ransom the captives, to recover the lost, to redeem those sold
under sin with his own precious blood. That is why he came, and
that is what he accomplished. The Lord Jesus emphatically stated,
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. And he just as emphatically told
the Jews these Sadducees that we were talking about earlier,
ye are not of my sheep. Salvation is not offered to those
who are not sheep. We are sent to declare Christ's
successful redemption of His people accomplished on the cross. Thereafter, the question is simple.
Do you believe it or not? Do you believe it or not? The Lord said, my sheep hear
my voice, and they follow me. May God give us grace to do so. Amen.