Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. Now here in chapter 4, John and
Peter are in trouble for preaching the gospel. We're preaching the
resurrection of the dead in the name of Jesus Christ. And they
are in trouble over this. We know that the early church
suffered much over the preaching of the gospel. I think you and
I have the, we have the freedom that we have today, not just
because we live in a country that allows it, but because of
what the early church suffered. Because it's kind of like they
made the path. They bulldozed the path that
you and I go down now. And they suffered greatly for
the gospel. When I read of their sufferings,
I realize I've suffered nothing. In light of what the apostles
suffered Others in the early church suffered. I've suffered.
We suffered nothing, really. My life has not been on the line.
You know, the early church, it says, was scattered because of
persecution. They lost their jobs, their homes,
families separated. I've never gone through that.
Not like they have. And this is what we will see
here. In chapter four, it says that the As they spake to the
people, the priests, the captain of the temple, the Sadducees,
they came upon them. They were upset. Now listen,
the gospel will always have an effect on the hearers. Henry,
as I've heard him often say, it'll make you mad, sad, or glad.
It won't leave you indifferent. You know, in the previous chapter,
when the crowd heard the message, They were cut to the heart, and
they said, men and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble.
How shall we appease God? And Peter said, repent and be
baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Well, here we see the
opposite effect. They felt something of the guilt
of what they did. They knew they were guilty of
crucifying this man, Jesus Christ. And here the apostles are saying
he's alive. God raised him from the dead.
This is the Messiah. And God has made him both Lord
and Christ. And they, when they heard this,
they were upset. They were mad. They were mad
that they preached in the name of Jesus Christ. Now it says
there in verse four that there was about 5,000 men. That's not
counting the women, the young people that were saved. It could
be 10,000 that were saved at that time. I mean, who knows
how many thousands were saved on top of the 3,000 that were
saved. But it came to pass that on the
morrow in verse five, that the rulers and the elders and the
scribes and the high priest, they all got together. They got
together trying to figure out, how are we going to handle these
men? Because right now, the people recognize that a miracle has
been done, a notable miracle has been done. And how are we
going to handle this? Because we can't let this go
on. But we've got to, it says later on here, they feared the
people. So when they'd set them in the
midst of them, they asked, by what power and what name have
you done this? And Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said to them, and here's Peter not backing down now. You know, he said before a maid,
I don't know the man. Well, she said, you were with
him. You're one of his. He said, I
don't know the man. Now here he is before the Sanhedrin. This is the law of the land in
Jerusalem. These men have the power to put
him to death. They are the law at that time. And so here he stands and he
tells them by what power and whose name this man was healed
in. And he says, I want it to be
known to you in verse 10, be known to you all. I want all of you to know this,
that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom you crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him does this man stand
here before you whole. He healed him. This man, Jesus
Christ, healed him. Well, to do that, he's got to
be alive. He has to be alive. He says, this is the stone, this
man Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the stone which was set at
night of you builders, you religious leaders. But God's made him the head of
the corner, which he's become the head of the corner. And there's
no salvation at all in any other, in any other There's no other
name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
There's only one name by which God saves, and that's the name
of that man, Jesus Christ, by him does this man stand here
before you. Now I'm going to pick up in verse
13. Now, when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John and perceived They were unlearned and ignorant
men, idiots. That's what they were considered
them to be, they're just idiots. They marveled, they were just
marveled and they took knowledge of them that they had been with
Jesus. You can't be, now listen, you cannot be with the Lord,
taught of Him and people not recognize Him. People not recognize
there's something different. There's something different about
you. They recognize they were his
disciples. They recognize they had been
taught by him. They remembered the miracles
that the Lord had done. And now they see these same miracles
performed by his disciples. Our walk and our talk reflect
who we've been with. It does, it reflects the company
we keep, as we will see here later. It reflects the company
we keep. You know, the scripture says,
let your conversation be seasoned with grace. And those who have been with
the Lord Jesus, their conversation, their conduct is seasoned with
grace. because they are seasoned with
grace. Whatever you are seasoned with
is exactly what's gonna come out of you. That's what's gonna
come out. And beholding the man which was
healed standing with them, they couldn't say anything against
it. They were convinced of the miracle,
but not converted. Big difference. They couldn't
say anything about it. People can agree with many things.
They can agree with the fact that God created the heavens
and the earth. They can agree with the resurrection.
They can agree with doctrine and yet not be converted. Conversion is a work of God.
Conversion is a work of God in the heart. Agreeing with something
is not salvation. Being something, God making you
a new creation, that's salvation. And it's evident also that when
God saves a sinner, that a real change has taken place. The lame walk, the blind see, there's some blind
people in here now that see, right? Spiritually. Spiritually
blind. You and I were at one time blind,
but now we see. The deaf hear. You hear the voice of God in
the message when you leave. You leave fed and you leave instructed
of God, not just me, of God, because God's given you a hearing
ear. Dead or raised. These things
cannot happen and no one notices. No one notices, it can't happen.
There can't be a new creation and not become evident. When
God created the heavens and the earth, he said, let there be
light. That's amazing. There can't be
light and no one see it. There can't be trees and animals
and stars and no one noticed it. There can't be a new creation
and not be a difference and not be noticed. But when they had commanded them
to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves. They're in a state of confusion
here as to how to handle the disciples. And they are saying
to each other, what are we going to do with these men? What are
we going to do with these men? For indeed a notable miracle
has been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem.
And we can't deny it. We can't deny it. Their decision, their decision
was not based on conviction, but on fear of the people. Politicians. They're politicians. That's all
they are. Peter and John stood before them,
not fearing what would happen to them because they feared God,
but here they stand there in fear of the people. Which would
you have rather fear? God or the people? I would rather fear God. You
see, for them, this is a political move. It has nothing to do with
God. It has nothing to do with truth. It has nothing to do with salvation.
It has nothing to do with keeping their position. That's the difference,
when you fear men or when you fear God. What shall we do with
these men? I tell you what, they ought to
give them their seats and listen to them. That's what they ought
to do. They ought to just have them to come up and be the teacher.
And they need to sit down and listen. There's a lot of people
that need to shut up, sit down and listen. They're standing
in the pulpit. This day, this day, I met a lady over here in
the cemetery. A month ago, she said, I'm going
to come and listen to you. Well, she hasn't. She hasn't. She started telling me what she
was doing and all she was involved in and all this Christian work
so-called. And she said, I want to come
back here. Because she used to come here
a long time ago, she said. I said, well, you're welcome
to come and sit down and listen. Because she was just going on
and on and on about what she does. I mean, it was just a conversation
of what she was doing. I said, you're welcome to come
and sit down and listen to the gospel. And that's what they ought to
do. That's what they ought to have done. That's what many ought
to do today. Shut up, sit down, and listen. And maybe God will say something
to you. Maybe you'll hear God speak. They ought to believe. That's
what they ought to do. What shall we do with these men?
You ought to believe the word, the gospel they preach. That's
what they ought to do. They ought to thank them for
their truthfulness. I thank Henry for telling me
the truth. I thank him for it. Thank you
for telling me the truth. I can die. I can die with confidence. I can die because I know the
truth. Someone had the boldness, like
Peter and John here, they had the boldness to tell me the truth. Not sugarcoat it. Tell me the
truth. You ought to thank them for telling
them the truth. You crucified the Son of God. I thank God that one day I heard
the truth that I was born in sin and shaken in iniquity and
I by nature hate God. I told a man that one time and
he got mad at me. Henry told me that and I thank
God by his work it cut me to the heart. It had a different effect. But that it spread no further,
what shall we do with these men? But that it, what's it? The truth. That the truth, isn't
that something? This is exactly the world, and
this is the religious world. That the truth, this is so satanic. These are the religious leaders.
These are the ones who opened the Bible and read it to the
people. These are the ones who supposedly enforced it. That it, the truth, spread no
further among the people. We got to put this out. We're
going to lose the people. Let us straightly threaten them
that they speak henceforth no more in this name. Don't use
that name. There was a, I may have told
you this, but this is, I heard this two or three years ago.
There was a young lady who was going to give the speech. She
was a valedictorian of her class in Texas. I don't know what she
believed. I mean, as far as the gospel,
I don't know, but they, I know this, the principal and those
who knew her, they knew. that this young lady believed.
Now, whether she believed the gospel or not, I don't know,
but they knew what she believed. And they told her when she gave
the speech, don't use the name of Jesus Christ. They said, you
can give the speech, but don't use his name. She did anyway. And that's what they're saying
to these disciples here. Don't use that name no more. You can talk about God. You can
say God is sovereign. You can say God created the heavens
and the earth. You can say God forgives sinners.
You can say whatever you want in that fashion about God. God's
the God of Israel, but don't use that name Jesus Christ. They despised that man. He was
despised and rejected of men. That man is God. That's who that
man is. That man is the Messiah. That
man is the Creator. That man is the Savior of sinners. That man is both Lord and Christ. don't use that name, well then
we don't have anything to say. We honestly have nothing to say
without that name. Do whatever you will, leave his
name out of it. Christ crucified is our message. Christ risen is our message.
Christ exalted is our message. His substitutionary work is our
message. If we leave his name out of it,
we don't have a message. We don't have a message here.
I don't have any good news for you whatsoever apart from that
name, Jesus Christ. I don't have any good news for
you. You're goners. All of us, if we leave out that
name. Everything that God has for a
sinner is bound up in that man, Jesus Christ. Adam Clarke said this, any other doctrine and any other
name, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites, infidels will bear it. But the
doctrine which is according to godliness, proclaiming salvation
through the blood of Christ crucified, they will not bear. If their
doctrine were not the truth of God, it could not be so unpopular. There is such an enmity in human
nature against all that is good and true that whatever comes
from God is generally rejected by wicked men. That's the truth. But Peter and John answered and
said unto them, whether it's right in the sight of God to
hearken to you more than to God, you be the judge. Here's wisdom. Here's wisdom. Peter made them
be the judge. He didn't stand there and argue
with him. He didn't stand there and try to defend himself. He
said, now you tell me which is right, to do what men want you
to do or what God wills for me to do or wants me to do. Now
you be the judge. They have to say God. Whatever
God's will is, that's what's right. He let them be their own judge.
You know, listen, when laws come into conflict with God's word,
then God is to be obeyed above all laws. Time to go to jail,
if that's what it takes. And that's exactly what Peter
and John are doing. See, they got put into jail,
then they brought them back out and they have this conversation
with them. And then Peter said, it's right
to do what God says and what men say. We cannot but speak
the things which we've seen and heard to do otherwise we'd be
lying. We would be lying. Everyone here
who believes, you know, you know to say anything else other than
that Christ is the Christ He's the Messiah. He's God incarnate. He's the high priest. He's my
salvation. He's the savior of God's elect.
To say anything else, you know you'd have to lie. I know that.
I know I'd have to lie because that's the truth. And Peter's
saying, for us to say anything else, we have to lie. We are
witness. We're only telling you what we've
seen and heard. And I stand here week after week
only telling you what God has written in his word, what I see
and hear from God in his word, that's what I tell you. Take
it home and read. After I preach, go home and read. So when they had further threatened
them, they let them go, verse 21, finding nothing how they
might punish them because of the people, for all people glorify
God, for that which was done. This was the first persecution
after our Lord rose from the dead. This was the first one. This was a light one. This was
a light one. This was kind of a taste. for
them as what was coming, as to what's coming. It got hotter
and hotter and hotter. They were martyred. Peter was
said to be crucified upside down. Every trial trains us for the
next one. Every trial. When Job, we read
of Job's trials. That wasn't the last one he had.
That one was recorded for us to learn from. That wasn't the
last trial he had. Every trial trains us for the
next one until we are taken home. But we will always be disciplined.
We will always be chastened. And God's children, God's children
will grow in grace and knowledge of Christ through these trials. I like what it says over in Jeremiah
chapter 12. I want you to turn over there
and read it. We see something of why God sends
us these trials in Jeremiah 12. It's to make us grow up. They
make us grow up, don't they? Just like when you grow up physically. It's through physical work and
exercise that you develop. Your body develops. The same
thing spiritually. When we go through trials, we
grow up spiritually. Look in verse 5. And I think of this verse from
time to time when something's going on either with me or somebody
else. In verse five of Jeremiah 12,
if thou hast run with the footmen and they've wearied thee, then
how canst thou contend with horses? If the footmen weary you, what
are you going to do when the horsemen come? What are you going
to do when the battle really gets strong? What are you going
to do? If you get wearied with the lesser
thing, what are you going to do when the bigger things come?
And if in the land of peace wherein thou trust, they wearied thee,
then how wilt thou do in the swelling, what's gonna happen
in the swelling of Jordan, in the flooding of Jordan? If in
the land of peace you get weary, what are you gonna do when it
gets tough? Well, the trials that God sends to us, they teach
us how to handle the tougher ones as they come along. and
they will come along. If you and I live the old, just
old age itself is tough. I'm seeing this now with my parents.
I didn't recognize it so much with my grandparents because
I was so young and out there running around and too busy with
myself. But now I see it in them and I'm starting to see it in
me. It gets tough. It says in verse 22, for the
man was above 40 years old whom this miracle was showed. He was
an older man. He wasn't a young man, so this
is not... God left them without excuse.
They had seen this man a long time sitting at that gate. There
was no excuse. They couldn't deny it. And being
let go, and this jumped out at me, and this is telling. This is telling. Being
let go, they went to their company and reported all that the chief
priest and elder had said to them. Did anything there jump
out to you? They went to their company. When they were let go, they went
to their company. They went to the best place.
They went to the fellowship of believers. There's no better
place to be than right here, right now with God's people.
I'm telling you, there's no better place to be than right here with
God's people. Especially in time of trouble,
the best place to be is among God's people. Not separate from
them, not stay away from them, but be with them. They are the
most loving, caring, forgiving people on earth. They are the
most understanding people on earth. God's people are. The
tares are not. There's always tares among the
wheat, but God's people are. They are. The best place to be
is under the preaching of the gospel. Who's your company? I tell you, that jumps out at
me. They went to their own company where they felt comfortable,
where they could be at ease, where they were one. And we're
going to see this in the next message, the oneness of God's
people. And when they heard that, when
the people 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. They recognize the
sovereignty of God over all. They did not complain about their
mistreatment, but they thank God for his help. They recognize
his overruling power. That's what they recognized is
they thank God, the one who created heaven and earth and the sea
and everything that's in it. That's the only God there is.
the God of creation. He that made all things by his
power will overrule all things by his power. For his glory and the good of
his church. And they quote scripture in prayer. You know, it's good to do that.
It's good to take God's word, take his word to him. who by the mouth of thy servant,
David, hath said, why did the heathen raid, and people imagine
a vain thing? The kings of the earth stood
up, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ, 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.
They quoted God's word, and they recognized the fulfillment of
God's word. They quoted from Psalm 2. That's
what they quoted. They recognized God's purpose
and counsel in the death of Christ. Don't you listen. They recognized
this, that this was not a mob out of control, but a mob under
his control. It was under his control. His
blood must be shed for the remission of sins. It has to be shed. He
must bring in an everlasting righteousness for his people.
And this was determined by God in counsel and brought to pass
in time by his providence. And they thank God for it. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak. by stretching forth thy hand
to heal, that signs and wonders may be done by thy name, by the
name of thy holy child Jesus. They didn't ask, now listen,
they didn't ask to be delivered from suffering. They asked for
boldness in suffering. When you turn up the heat, when
the flame gets hotter, grant us more boldness to speak louder.
to speak more boldly. Give us more boldness in preaching. Oh, that God would do this for
preachers today, His preachers. Give us boldness this morning
to stand and preach the gospel. That's what we need. And that
the Father would honor His Son through our preaching, their
preaching and our preaching. Christ be honored. And when they
had prayed, the place was shaken. It was shaken where they were
assembled together and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost
and they spake the word of God with boldness. God answered their
prayer. He answered it. And the multitude
of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul, neither
said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed
was his own. You ever see children? Of course,
we don't get past that unless God saves us. But it's always,
this is mine. About two years of age, it's
like, no, this is mine. And they pull it back from each
other, crying, because this is, we really don't get past that,
do we? We get older, it's still like, this is mine. No, this
is mine. No. But when God saved him, they
said, nothing's ours. It all belongs to him. And we're
going to use it for his glory. Boy, if we could ever get past
ourselves and get past, this belongs to me, this belongs,
no, it's all God's. It all belongs to our father.
You know, right now, you know, my father and mother are still
alive. And they've written out, you know, a will. But I'm not
going to go over to mom and dad and say, this is mine. It's his. It's theirs. It's theirs. They're
still alive. Our heavenly father is alive.
He's not dead. You know what that means? It
all still belongs to him. It's all still his. Oh, they said none of them said,
oh, this is mine. But they had all things common. And with great power gave the
apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And this is
the title of the lesson. And great grace was upon them
all. And great grace has been upon
this congregation for a number of years, hasn't it? I know we
don't recognize it as we ought to, but we do recognize it. We
do. You cannot have. You cannot have
Jesus Christ and not have great grace. You can't do it. Neither
was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors
of lands or houses sold them and brought the prices of the
things that were sold. It doesn't mean they sold their
principal house that they lived in, but they had extra here and
extra there and they sold it. And they laid him down at the
apostles' feet and distribution was made to every man according
as he had need. They didn't sell it and then
have a business meeting and say how they was gonna divide it
up. They laid it down at the apostles' feet. You know, I sat
under Henry for 40 years, nearly 40 years. And I couldn't tell
you how many times in the men, you know, we were back in the
study, we didn't have meetings. But we were back in the study to
read, and if anything was going to be brought up, that's when
it was brought up. Henry said, we're going to buy a truck for
Walter. We're going to buy this. We're going to give that. We're
going to do that. Not one man in all those years ever said,
now, wait a minute. Not one time did Henry ever say
to Marty, which was his secretary, all the years that he was there,
50 some years, he only had one secretary. She was there all
those years. And not one time did she say,
well, wait a minute, let me talk to the men. That would have went over like
a lead balloon. Not one time. And here's why. If I'm gonna trust a man as I
trust my pastor to preach the gospel to me, to handle eternal
matters, I'm sure not gonna have a problem with trusting Him to
do what's right with what God lays on His heart with the money
or whatever it is that He, not at all. They laid it down
at the apostles' feet and they said, here, do what you feel
led of God to do, and they did. And Joseph, who by the apostles
was surnamed Barnabas, which by interpretation is son of Constellation,
the Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, he sold
it, he brought the money and he laid it at the apostles' feet.
He said, here it is. Now, the next chapter, the next
chapter, we're gonna see that Ananias and Sapphira had land,
and they did the same thing. They went and sold it, and they
made a pact with each other. Let's not tell them how much
we sold it for. And God killed them, because they lied. You
know, if they'd have came in there and said, we sold this
for $10,000, we want to get five, they'd have lived. But they wanted
to be recognized by the church for what they did. Like, whoa,
look what we did. and got killed. They dragged
them out. We'll look at that next week.
All right.