Okay, let's turn back to Acts
4. Acts chapter 4. We've been going
through this chapter Peter and John healed a lame man. Okay? And they did this for a
spiritual illustration. That's why they did it. A spiritual
illustration of what Christ does for lame sinners. Every single
human being on planet Earth is a lame sinner. You know that?
Can't move. Can't walk. No good. Done nothing
good. Nothing right. Every single person. No good. Lame. Ephesians says, dead. Everybody's
dead. That's pretty dead, isn't it?
Pretty bad. It's a bad case to be in. And
so Peter and John, they healed this lame man for a spiritual
illustration of what Christ does for lame sinners. They cannot
walk. They think, you know, men and
women think they can come to God. Well, I've decided I'm going
to go to God. Well, you can't. You just can't. That's what the Word says. I've
decided that I'm going to work my way to heaven. Well, you can't. That's what the Word says. We
cannot do anything. We're absolutely lame. And the
religious rulers, they were not happy about this. The people
who ran the churches, all the churches in town. They weren't
happy about it at all. Look at verse 7. Acts chapter
4 verse 7 says, And when they had set them in the midst, they
asked, By what power or by what name have you done this? So Peter
preached the gospel to them. They asked, he preached, he preached,
and he told them that this man was raised up, in verse 10, he
said, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the one who was
crucified, the one who was raised from the dead. Verse 12, he said,
neither is there salvation in any other For there is none other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved."
Now, here's what he told them when he said, neither is there
salvation in any other. What he said was, there is no
salvation in you. It's only in Him. That's it. That's it. And people hear that
and they think, yeah, I agree with that. They don't know what
that means. If they knew what that meant, they would not like
it. It takes the Spirit of God to open up a heart and understand
that Christ has to do the work. So he said there's salvation
in none other, none other name. And verse 14 says, these religious
leaders, and beholding the man which was healed, standing with
them. Okay, this lame man, there he
is standing beside them. They could say nothing against
it. They could not deny God's truth. People can make statements,
and other people can deny them. But when they see it with their
own two eyes in the Word, and when you show them, there it
is. They cannot deny it. Here's this man standing here,
and they're looking at him. Well, there he is. And they cannot
deny it. Verse 21 says, So when they had
further threatened them, They let them go, finding nothing
how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified
God for that which was done." Alright, now we begin tonight
with verse 23. This is where our text starts. Verse 23, it says, "...and being
let go, they went to their own company." and reported all that
the chief priests and elders had said unto them." I love that
verse. When I was studying it, I was
dwelling on verse 28. It says, "...for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." That's God's
sovereignty. And the Lord in mercy allowed
me to really take a good look at verse 23. Being let go, they went to their
own company. You know what that made me think
of? You. You're my company. You are my company. I love having company. I really
do. We all have relatives that so
sadly they don't know the Lord. I have relatives. I have an uncle
that, oh man, they don't know the Lord. And I wish he did. We wish they
did. God's great grace is when He
makes relatives family. You know that? And He can do
it. When He makes relatives family. You are the ones that God has
given me a heart to keep company with. You are my family. You really
are. I love you. I truly love you. I think about each one of you.
I'm not just saying that. I really do. I sincerely love
each one. I thank the Lord for each one
of you. Verse 23 says, In being let go,
they went to their own company. That's what we do. Here we are. That's what we do. That's what
they wanted to do. This right here is what I actually
want to do. There's no place that I would
rather be right now except for that chair and have him appear. But this room is where I want
to be. This is where I totally desire to be. We gather together
and we meet together and we go out unto all the world to preach
the gospel to see if there are any more of God's sheep that
He's going to bring into the fold, bring into the company,
into this family. We don't exclude anybody. We don't exclude anybody. It's
not a closed family. This is an open-ended family. I would that all men were saved.
I really do. But our true heart's desire is
to be with Christ in the midst of His people. Where two or three
are gathered, He said, I'm in the midst of you. And that's
where I want to be. With Christ in the midst of His
people. Somebody asked Spurgeon one time, if you believe only
the elect are going to be saved, why don't you just preach to
the elect? And he said, I would if they had a big E on their
forehead. That's who God's going to save. That's who God has united
me with. But He hasn't done that, right? So we preach to all the world
and we watch as God calls His elect into the fold. The desire
of God's sheep is to be with God who is Jesus Christ, the
God. You know, whenever we say God
and you think of whoever is the highest being, the most in control,
You know who that is? It's Jesus Christ. There is none
other, no other name under heaven. Jesus Christ. Turn with me over
to chapter 12, Acts chapter 12. Now here in Acts chapter 12,
Peter was in prison, and the Lord sent a miraculous deliverance,
and his chains just fell off. And the doors opened up, and
an angel came in and said, Get up, and his chains fell off.
And this angel led him out, and when they got to the gates, they
just opened on their own. Nobody opened it. And they walked straight
out. Verse 11 says, And when Peter was come to himself, he
said, Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath sent his angel,
and hath delivered me out of the hand of Herod, and from all
the expectation of the people of the Jews. And when he had
considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother
of John, whose surname, that means last name, was Mark. John Mark. That's Barnabas' nephew. And so that means that Mary was
Barnabas' sister. Mary, the mother of John, whose
surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. They were gathered together praying.
Now look at verse 5. It says, Peter therefore was kept in prison,
But prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.
I've got a margin for the word prayer. It says instant and earnest
prayer was made. And we just prayed for our sister
Mary Bell. And we pray for the company that we keep, don't we? God's people, instant and earnest
prayer. I pray for Brother Donny. Mary is the one with cancer,
Donny is the one who is beside himself. And instant and earnest
prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for Peter. So verse 12 says, when he had
considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary, the mother
of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together
praying, And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel
came to hearken. She came to the door and she
said, Who is it? Named Rhoda. Now the Lord chose, He could
have left it with a damsel. A damsel came to hearken to the
door and went on to the next verse. But He said, this girl's
name was Rhoda. And I couldn't help but think
about the marriage supper of the Lamb, when the Lord brings
us all there, the bride of Christ, to physically face to face see
her husband, Jesus Christ Himself. And the celebration takes place,
and the food rolls out, and the banquet tables are there. Eternity's
never ending. It could take billions of years
just to go say hi to every person we're going to be in glory about.
And that's the first fraction of a second of eternity. And
we're going to come up to a girl, and she's going to say, I'm Rhoda.
And we're going to say, Rhoda! We read all about you. It is
wonderful to meet you. She's there right now with my
mother. Rhoda, I love her. She's part of my company. Verse
13, and as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a damsel came
to Harkin named Rhoda. And when she knew Peter's voice,
She opened not the gate for gladness, but ran in and told how Peter
stood before the gate. And they said unto her, Thou
art mad. But she constantly affirmed that
it was even so. Then said they, Oh no, it's his
angel, they killed him. Verse 16, But Peter continued
knocking. And when they had opened the
door and saw him, they were astonished. But he, beckoning unto them with
the hand to hold their peace, declared unto them how the Lord
had brought him out of the prison. And he said, Go, show these things
unto James and to the brethren. And he departed and went into
another place. God's saints were keeping company. They were all praying together,
all together for their brother Peter. And God blessed them. And God answered their prayer.
God blesses His sheep keeping company. You know that? God blesses
His sheep keeping company. You know, I've heard people say,
well, I don't see why I can't just get my Bible out and worship
God right there in my living room. Well, the reason is because
He said, where two or three are gathered in my name, keeping
company. It doesn't have to be a big group
or a small group. but we're keeping company and
we pray that the Lord would send his spirit to us. We pray that
the Lord would bless his word. We pray that the Lord would bless
this community and call out sheep and the Lord blesses his sheep
keeping company. I truly was so glad when they
said unto me, let's go to the house of the Lord. We'll go back
with me to Acts chapter four. Just like Peter did in chapter
12, right here, Peter and John, as soon as they were let go,
they went straight to their brothers and sisters in Christ. That's
who they went to first. And they told them how great
things the Lord had done for them. And that's all we're doing
right now. Every time we meet, this is all
we're doing. Every single one of us in here. I know I'm the
only one talking right now, but every single one of us in here,
this is our testimony. You know that people say, go
give your testimony, but this is your testimony. It does not
matter who's preaching and it does not matter who's listening.
The fact that we're all here with a smile on our face, we
want to be here in joy in our heart, given glory, given honor,
given praise to our redeemer for everything he's done for
us. Our Deliverer, Jesus Christ, this is a testimony to each other
and to this world how great things the Lord has done for us. The
fact that you show up is a testimony to me that the Lord has done
great things for you. Isn't it? Just being here, keeping
company together. Verse 24 in Acts chapter 4 says, They told him everything that
happened in verse 24 says when they heard that they lifted up
their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God,
which hath made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them
is. Is there anything we love saying
more than that? Lord, thou art God. You know who the Lord is? Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus
Christ is God. Did you know that most people
have no idea who God is? They know the Word and they look
up. And I'll keep telling you this
as long as I think there's somebody who hasn't heard it. I attended
a wedding and a man, bless his heart, preached somebody I know,
And he closed that wedding with a prayer to God, whoever he or
she may be. The pastor of some church, whoever
he or she may be. Well, I know who God is. It's
the Lord. Jesus Christ is His name. Lord,
Thou art God. Which hath made heaven, do you
know who made heaven? Jesus Christ. Do you know who
made the sun and the earth and the stars and the moon? Jesus
Christ did. Which hath made heaven and earth, do you know who spoke
the world into existence? God did. Yes, specifically, Jesus
Christ. Jesus Christ did. And the sea
and all that in them is. Go with me over to 1 Chronicles
chapter 16. 1 Chronicles 16. Verse 1 says, So they brought the ark of God
and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for
them. And they offered burnt sacrifices
and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end
of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed
the people in the name of the Lord, and he dealt to every one
of Israel, both man and woman, to everyone a loaf of bread and
a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. David was happy. He
was happy. Verse 7 says, Then on that day
David delivered first this psalm to thank the Lord into the hand
of Asaph and his brethren. Give thanks unto the Lord. Call upon His name. Make known
His deeds among the people. Sing unto Him. Sing psalms unto
Him. Talk ye of all His wondrous works. Glory ye in His holy name. Let the heart of them rejoice
that seek the Lord. Look down at verse 23. Sing unto
the Lord all the earth. Show forth from day to day His
salvation. Declare His glory among the heathen,
His marvelous works among all nations. For great is the Lord
and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above
all gods. and man is he to be feared. We
glory in him, we give him all the honor, all the praise, and
we fear him. This same God, Jesus Christ,
is the very man who sends men and women to hell that do not
bow to his sovereignty as God. He is the same one. Verse 26
says, For all the gods of the people are idols, but the Lord
made the heavens. Glory and honor are in His presence. Strength and gladness are in
His place. Give unto the Lord, ye kindreds
of the people. Give unto the Lord glory and
strength. Give unto the Lord the glory
due unto His name. Bring an offering and come before
Him. Worship the Lord in the beauty
of holiness. fear before Him, all the earth. The world also shall be stable,
that it be not moved. Let the heavens be glad, and
let the earth rejoice, and let men say among the nations, The
Lord reigneth. Let the sea roar in the fullness
thereof, let the fields rejoice in all that is therein. Then
shall the trees of the woods sing out at the presence of the
Lord, because He cometh to judge the earth. O give thanks unto
the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And say ye, Save us, O God of
our salvation, and gather us together and deliver us from
the heathen, that we may give thanks to thy holy name and glory
in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
forever and ever. That's what David wrote. And
all the people said, amen, and praise the Lord. Glory and honor
be unto his name. Fear before him and cry out for
mercy. Lord, save us. Don't save us
from our goodness. Don't save us from the path we
already have to heaven. Save us from our sin. Save us
from the wretchedness that we're in. Save us from the fact that
we're dead. Quicken us. Save us. And all the people that the Lord
revealed that to said, Amen and praise the Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord. That's what they were saying.
Salvation is of the Lord. Go back with me to Acts chapter
4. Verse 23 says, being let go,
they went to their own company and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that,
they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said,
Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth and the
sea and all that in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant
David hath said, Why did the heathen rage? And the people
imagined vain things. Why did the heathen rage? And
the people imagined vain things. What good does it do them? What
good does it do them? Why do the heathen rage? And
the people imagined vain things. What good does it do them? Verse
26 says, The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were
gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.
This is all quoting Psalm 2, but this is what God says about
this in Psalm 2. He that sitteth in the heavens
shall laugh. He shall laugh. They've raised
their hand against God, raised their hand against Christ. I
will not have that man reign over me. I'll be my own savior,
thank you. I work my own way. He that sits
in the heavens shall laugh. Verse 27 says, For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together. That means everybody. Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles,
is everybody who's not a Jew. And Israel. The whole world was
against him. And we believe that if we were
there, back when he was at that cross and before that council,
we wouldn't have been. I would have been the only one
standing up for Jesus. That is not true. That's not
true. That is absolutely not true.
Why did they do that? Why did everybody do that? The
whole world. Verse 28 says, For to do whatsoever thy hand and
thy counsel determined before to be done. They were all doing
exactly what the hand of God and the counsel of God determined
way before the foundation of the world to be done. What did
the hand of God and the counsel of God determine before to be
done? He determined to save His people
from their sins. This whole thing, sometimes I
think about the whole thing, the earth. God did not need the
earth. He does not need us. He's self-sufficient. He is happy without us. He does
not need us for company. We do not need to be His company.
Why did He make this earth? Why did He make man? Why would
He allow all this to happen? Why would He send His Son? The
whole purpose of God was to save sinners from sin. That's His
heart. That's His goodness. Save His people. That's why the
Holy Child Jesus came forth. That is the only reason the Holy
Child Jesus was born. He was not to show us the way.
It was not to set a good example. It was so that he might grow
up and live a life of absolute perfection. And that he might die on a tree,
that they might hang him on a tree, suffering for the sin of all
those that he chose to make his company. Every single one of
them. He said, I came to seek and to
save that which was lost. And that's exactly what He did.
That's exactly what He did. Look at verse 27. It says, For
of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed,
both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people
of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold
their threatenings and grant unto Thy servants that with all
boldness, with all the assurance of Christ, looking to Christ,
with all the comfort of His Spirit, they may speak Thy Word by stretching
forth Thy hand to Him. What a request to make. Lord,
behold their threatenings and stretch forth thy hand to him.
You know who makes a request like that? The sick. That's who makes a request like
that. Nobody is crying out for true healing, but the sick. Nobody is crying out for true
mercy, but sinners who need mercy. Lord, you are our physician,
please heal us. We're crying that out, aren't
we? Lord, would you heal us? Then by your grace and the boldness
of your word, we will go and just tell men and women, tell
other sinners, other sinners who are sick just like us, how
great things the Lord has done for us. When the Lord saved me,
he can save you. Verse 29 says, And now, Lord,
behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth
thine hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done
by the name of the Holy Child Jesus. Lord, we acknowledge that
there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. We give Him all the glory for
everything. We start by giving Him glory. We end by giving Him
glory. We don't start by saying, now,
He took the first step. Give Him glory for that one.
And you've got to take the second. We start by giving Him glory.
We end by giving Him glory. He is all our hope. He's all
our plea. That is the heart and the desire
of this company. You know that? Everybody has
a church. What is this one meeting for?
To give Him all the glory. That's it. That's the heart and
the desire of this company. That Jesus Christ might get all
the glory for making me, for saving me, for keeping me, and
for bringing me into His company. I pray that we would never lose
that. Never lose that. Let's just meet together and
let's glorify Jesus Christ and let's tell how great things He
did for us. And then let's go home and anxiously
await meeting together again and telling the same story. Alright,
let's stand together.