Glory and honors in exaltation Alright, now let's open our Bibles
back to Acts chapter 5. Acts chapter 5. We continue our
study through the book of Acts. If you followed closely the reading
there in Psalm 2, you'll see how appropriate that is to the happenings in the early Church
that we've been reading and studying. The apostles were very dogmatic
in what they believed, and they were very bold to declare it,
and so should we be. The apostles were opposed on
every hand. They were confronted by everyone. and anyone, and opposed. But they did not back down, nor
did they fear their opponents, but rather they feared God rather
than men, and so should we. The apostles were more concerned
with the glory of God, and so they declared the truth in no
uncertain terms, and so should we. The apostles never changed
their message according to the hearers. Never. I've heard people
say regarding some preachers that he preaches well here, but
not there. What they're doing is they're changing their message
according to their hearers. But the apostles never did that.
They never took the edge off of the message nor sought to
make it less offensive or more palatable or received by more
people, and neither should we. The apostles did not fear the
wrath of man because of their message. They did not fear the
wrath of man, but they feared God's wrath if they dared not
preach that message. And so should we. Verse 29 here
sums up what the Apostles felt about preaching, about their
ministry, and it should sum up ours as well. Verse 29, Peter
and the other Apostles answered this Pharisaical and Sadducee
Council, and they answered and said, We ought to obey God rather
than men. That was their conviction about
this thing of preaching. We ought to obey God rather than
men. We ought to say what God says
and not what men want to hear. That won't get you a large pastorate,
but there will be some true sheep out there that will hear his
voice. He said, My sheep will hear my
voice. We ought to say what God says
and not say what men want to hear. We ought to do what God
tells us to do, how God tells us to do things, and not what
we think is best. We ought to do things the way
God says to do them and not devise tricks and gimmicks and man-made
schemes and methods and so forth, but do things God's way, which
is generally just old-fashioned preaching of the Word, nothing
more, nothing less. We ought to follow God God's
word and not popular opinion. We ought to obey God's word,
every jot and tittle of it, whether we understand it or not. We ought
to attempt to obey it. God's word as it is written,
not modern interpretations of it or perversions of it. Folks, I'm here to tell you there
are so many perversions of the scriptures today. that they're
so far removed from the original scriptures, they don't even resemble.
The Mormons have their little book, the Jehovah Witnesses have
their version of the Bible, and so on and so on. And modern man
has so perverted it and so twisted it, taken all of the so-called
sexist language out of it. It no more resembles the scriptures,
God's pure word, But the apostles, they were standing
before this religious council, a religious council of leaders
who had the authority to inflict great pain upon them, and they
did. We're going to see that in a minute. Before, they had
just warned them and threatened them time and time again. And
we rejoiced how that they threatened them not to preach that name
anymore. And it just emboldened them all
the more to preach that name. Just as soon as they were let
go, they went back to the porch. You remember the porch, don't
you? Solomon's porch. And they began preaching that
name just as loudly and just as boldly as they could preach
it. And the Lord blessed it. The person and the work of Christ
is his name. And Peter and the apostles again
were boldly preaching Christ high, high and lifted up. They were boldly declaring his
absolute Lordship and authority over all flesh. They were standing
before these religious leaders, and once again they were preaching
Christ right in the face of their persecutors, running the risk of incurring
their wrath and even physical abuse. And they even began denouncing
these men and condemning these men for rejecting the Christ. They began declaring Christ and
demanding that these men bow, repent and believe. And that's
the way preaching ought to be, just the bold, clear, unashamed
dogmatic declaration of the person and the work of Christ, very
plain language so as not to be misunderstood, and demanding,
demanding people, yes, demanding people that they bow to this
Lord. Isn't that what we just read
in Psalm 2? There was no request there. There
was no asking on the part of the Lord, neither should there
be on the part of his And while I beseech you, Paul said, we
beseech you, brethren. And that means to implore you
or urge you or persuade you. Yet I warn you. I warn me. I warn you. I warn you. Listen
to me now. That you had better repent You
better bow before the Lord Jesus Christ. You better believe, and
I mean right now. Today is the day of salvation.
You better bow, repent, and start believing. You say, I don't know
how. Do it anyway. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. If you don't, then you'll be
condemned. You're condemned already. And
I say, start seriously following and seeking and looking for Christ.
and he'll be found of you. Do you remember our message from
1 Peter 1.13 that said, Gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, or that is, get serious about this thing, and hope to
the end, hope to the end for the grace that shall appear unto
you at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Gird up, get serious,
and start waiting on the Lord, because he's right around the
corner. He's even at the door, the Scripture says, and I tell
you, I warn Don't put this thing off another day. If you're uncertain
about it, go home tonight, get in your clauses and settle it
right now. Ask the Lord to settle this thing
in your mind and your heart. Don't put it off another minute.
There's no promise of tomorrow. All right, now let's read verses
30 and 31. And you know, that's what our
Lord says. He says, You go warn the people,
and if you don't, their blood's on your hands. All right, verses 30 and verse
31, Peter continues his message to these Pharisees and Sadducees
and so forth. He says, "...the God of our fathers
raised up Jesus." Yes, the same Jesus that you've been hearing
his name, that you despise his name. "...the God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, hath highly exalted him whom you slew, and
hangs on a tree." The God of our fathers, him, verse 31, hath
God exalted with his right hand to be a prince, the crown prince,
the prince of peace, the prince, the king, or that is, the king
of kings, the Lord of lords, the absolute monarch over not
just heaven but over earth, over men, angels, and devils, Peter
and the apostles. God has raised him up, hath highly
exalted him. He is at the right hand of the
majesty on high. He is the King of kings and Lord
of lords." First. He is first, Lord. He is not your Savior first and
you make him Lord at your convenience. He is first, your Lord. And this
so-called controversial Lordship salvation issue is absolutely
absurd. It sickens me. Anybody that's
even debating the issue, I don't think they know anything about
it. And let me just add this. This
is a free sermon, too. That book by that fellow called
The Gospel According to Jesus. You know, he's heading up this
Lordship salvation debate, so to speak. The Gospel According
to Jesus. You think about the title of
that book. Just think about it a minute.
The Gospel According to Jesus. as if it's just his opinion?
The gospel according to Jesus? I'm here to tell you, he is the
gospel. He is the gospel. And this thing
of a lordship debating whether or not he's Lord or not, whether
or not somebody can be actually saved in Jesus and them not acknowledge
him as Lord, is absolutely absurd. That's blasphemy. He is first
a man, a woman, a young person's Lord, they bow, they see him
high lifted up. And that and that only will make
them repent of their sins and cry unto him for mercy. Right? That's what we read in Psalm
2, didn't we? All the way down through there. Psalm 2. And they bow to him, they repent
of their sins, and then God comes to them with a message of a Savior.
This is the way the apostles preached, wasn't it? Read on.
Him hath God exalted to be a prince and a Savior. He's always been
Lord, always has been, from the foundation of the earth, always
will be Lord. Later on, by God's mercy and by God's love and God's
grace, he became a Savior. But he started out as a Lord,
and that's the way he'll start in your mind and your heart if
salvation comes to you. He's the Savior, he's the Christ,
he's the Messiah, and I might add, he's the only Savior, the
only substitute, the only way to God, not a way, the way, the
only man approved, the only surety, the only mediator between God
and men, the man Christ Jesus, the only one. And look at it,
read on. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand, or that is, the hand of his power, his sovereignty,
to be King of kings, Prince, a Savior, and for to give repentance
to Israel. You see, repentance is the gift
of God, just as much as faith is, isn't it? It's the goodness
of God that leads a man or woman to repentance. Repentance. A man or a woman to see us, to
see themselves as they really are, that's a gift of God, because
not everybody does. God must grant that. God must
give that. It's the goodness of God, the
grace of God that leads a man or a woman or a young person
to see themselves as they are and to cry unto God for mercy,
to give repentance, faith in Christ, and ultimately forgiveness
of sins. That's what he says there, forgiveness
of sins. Now look at verse 32. And Peter
continues, and we are his witnesses of these things. We are his messengers.
We are his disciples. We are his servants. We are his
apostles. That's what it means. Apostles means messenger. We
work for him. We're not going to listen to
your orders. We work for him. We listen to him. We take orders
from him. We are out for his honor, his glory, and our wages
are his honor. Our wages are, for our work,
his smile. His presence. We don't need your
approbation, Peter and the Apostles were saying. We don't need your
approval. We're looking for his approval. We're looking to be
accepted by him, not you. He is the majority. We're not
looking for the majority. He is the majority. And he goes
on to say, and so is also the Holy Ghost. Now, he talks about
a person here, a divine person. And the Pharisees and the Sadducees
were great strong believers in one God, one God. And here the
apostles talk about another member of the deity, of the Godhead,
the Holy Ghost. And they were listening to this,
and they were grinding their teeth. And Peter goes on, the
Holy Ghost is his witness. He is the witness of Christ,
and he is the one God hath given to them that obey him. The Holy
Ghost is the chief witness of Jesus Christ. And the Holy Ghost, I might add,
reproves, convicts. The first thing he does is convict
of sin, righteousness and judgment, all according to Christ. And he guides into all truths.
And these things, he takes the things of Christ and reveals
them, brings to remembrance everything Christ said. He is the witnesser
and the teacher of all believers, all those who obey or are obedient
to the faith. Now look at verse 33. Here is
the reaction of these Pharisees and Sadducees. When they heard
that message of Christ, of his absolute Lordship, his authority,
his monarchy, him being the only Lord and only Savior, and how
salvation is in his hands, and how he must grant repentance
or give repentance and forgiveness of sin, and the Holy Ghost bears
witness of him also, and God bears witness of Christ also.
These Pharisees were cut to their heart. Not pricked, mind you.
Not pricked, not convicted. They were angered. They were
incensed. It says they were cut to their
heart, and from that time forward, verse 33, they took counsel to
slay them. They didn't stop and search the
scriptures to see if these things were so. Had they done so, they
would have found out that what the apostles were saying was
true of the Christ, that this is indeed the very Christ. No, they took counsel with themselves. They conferred among themselves,
and what they decided to do was to kill these apostles. will
kill the messengers will stop the message, no you won't. It
had its beginnings in a much higher place. Verse thirty-four,
well then stood there up one in the council, a Pharisee named
Gamaliel. Now does that name ring a bell
to you? Paul the Apostle mentioned that he studied at the feet of
this man. This man was probably the most
noted, well read on, he was a doctor of the law. he probably went to the same
seminary this fellow did. Doctor of the Law, Master of
Divinity, B.A. in this and that and the other.
Had in reputation among all the people, a man of great reputation,
renowned, everybody knew him, among all the people. The most learned theologians
studied with him, under him. You know, some of the old writers
say that even Stephen The deacon and Barnabas studied with Gamaliel,
that's what the Jews rumor, and all the people had him in reputation
and he commanded, he said, put the apostles aside, put them
out of the room and I have something I want to say. Gamaliel, this
noted man, stood up in the midst of them and said, set these apostles
in another room, I have something I want to address to the council. So they did. were set out of
the hearing of this council and here's his here's his. Speech
verse thirty five. And he said under the. Human
of Israel and I just imagine he put his hands in his lapel
that's what you do when you're somebody you know he had a three
piece suit on. And a gold watch Bob hanging
from his lapel. And he. And he put his He said,
you men of Israel. Now take heed unto yourselves,
he said, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do as touching
these men. And I'm sure he was pacing back
and forth by this time. You've seen them. They like to
be seen. They get up on the stage. Now,
I'm not giving this man the benefit of the doubt at all. There's
no mention. Well, I'm getting ahead of myself here. But here's
what he said. Take heed to yourselves what
you intend to do as touching these men. Be careful. Let's
stop and think about what we're going to do to these men now,
as touching these men. Verse 36. For before these days
rose up Thutis, boasting himself, this man Thutis, he's not important
really, he was just some fellow who was an insurrectionist or
raised himself up to be a leader among the people. And some say
he was this and that and the other. It doesn't matter. But
he boasted himself to be somebody to whom a number of men, about
400, joined themselves. And he was slain, and all of
the rest of them were slain. As many as obeyed him or believed
him and they were scattered and they were brought to nothing.
And after this man rose up Judas of Galilee. Not Judas Iscariot
but another man it was a common name back then. And this Judas
of Galilee in the days of the taxing. apparently had something
to do with taxes. He was against taxes, and drew
away much people after him, and he also perished, and all, even
as many as obeyed him, were dispersed. So this man Gamaliel was a man
of wisdom and discretion, and he did have some discretion about
him, and he warns the others not to act so hastily. And less
their rashness. When you do things rashly, you
generally end up regretting it later. And he had that much wisdom.
And he didn't want to produce an undesirable effect. Sometimes
when you do something in a hurry, it produces the opposite effect
of what you intended to do. Right? We've all had that happen. Leave it alone, he's saying.
Leave it alone and maybe it'll die out. And here's his conclusion,
verse 38. And now I say unto you, refrain
from these men, and let them alone. For if this counsel or
this work be of men, it will come to naught, or come to nothing.
Nothing will happen. It will stop. It will end, just
like the rest of them. But, and I can't help but think that
God was speaking to this man now. he was unwittingly speaking. Or you happen to find out that
you're fighting against God. And like I said, whether he was
saying this out of any personal conviction or pang of conscience,
it's very doubtful. His name is never mentioned again
except by Paul. And I think this shows that even
the wrath of man shall praise God. That God brings to naught
the counsels of men. And God can cause a false prophet
to speak the truth. Some of you wonder sometimes
when you hear these preachers on TV, don't you? Don't you say,
well, he said some good things. So did this man. So did Balaam,
who was a false prophet. Oh, read some of the things that
Balaam, the false prophet, said. There's some good things. You
know Saul, remember Evil King Saul? He prophesied. So did some
of his men, right? Judas Iscariot was a preacher,
wasn't he? Before he preached the gospel. And on and on the list goes.
Saul of Tarsus was a preacher. God can cause a false prophet
to speak the truth every now and then. Just maybe, maybe God
has a sheep out there in that audience, and he's doing it for
the sake of that sheep. He is doing it for the sake of
that one sheep to hear his voice, to hear a word in season. He can take, I've heard a swagger
say some good things, I've heard a baker, I've heard them all
say some good things. They have to every now and then,
they have to use the Bible every now and then, don't they? Or
else they'd be thought of as absolute heretics. They use the
Bible, they do. Every now and then they'll say
some good things. I believe this is God Almighty using the wrath
of man to praise him, to speak the truth at times through a false prophet even, to his
own glory, and I believe he's done it. He allows them to do
it to their own condemnation as well. Didn't our Lord say,
by a man's words he shall be condemned or by his words he
should be justified. Right? The word is now even in
your mouth, and God's going to hold men accountable for the
truth that has come out of their mouths, for the truth they've
read in the scriptures. So that they can't say, well,
we didn't know. We didn't know. Yeah, you did. I heard you preach
it. Now, let's look at this statement here that Gamaliel makes. This
is what I want to dwell on for the next ten minutes, and I'll
let you go. Let's look at this statement. He says, if this work
be of man, it'll come to nothing. But if it's God's work, you can't
overthrow it. You're going to fight against
God. And that's the title of my message,
God's work versus man's work. Now, in the context, Gamaliel,
under the influence of God speaking through him here, and he's saying,
if this council, if this work, this building of this church,
all this preaching that's going on in the name of this Jesus
by this group of—if this is merely a confederacy of men, a mere
group of fanatics following another mere man, it's going to come
to nothing. It sure came to something, didn't
it? It won't last, he's saying. It's going to die down. But if
it's of God, if this is God's work, if this man came from God,
Remember when, who was the Pharisee? His name's
right on the tip of my tongue. He came to Christ at night. Nicodemus came to Christ at night
and said, Master, we know you're a man come from God. Boy, if
he is, Nicodemus, you better be writing on every word he's
saying. But he didn't. That was just
a formal title he gave Christ, wasn't it? If this man's of God,
now if this man has come from God, if this man is God, then
we're in a heap of trouble. We killed God. We killed God's
Son. That's what Peter preached to
them earlier, didn't he, at Pentecost. If this is God's will, if this
is God's purpose, if this is God's Son, if this is God's Church,
you can't overthrow it. I don't care what you do. And
men have tried all the way down from this council forward. They
have tried it to no avail. Why? Because it is of God. It is of God. You can't fight
against God. You can't fight against God.
Your reach is too short. You can't reach the throne of
heaven, no matter how hard you try. So you might as well put
your hands in your pocket or stack your arms, as Scott would
say, and bow. Let's look at several things
that in light of this statement, of man or of God. Several things,
whether or not they're of man or of God. OK? Let's look at
them. Number one, salvation. Salvation. Is salvation of man or is it
of God? If it's of man, if it's man's
choice, if it's man's decision, then what's to keep that from
changing? Changes his mind one day, changes the next, right?
If it's his choice, if something better comes along, you choose
that, right? If it's man's will, you know, fickle, fallible man's
will, it's for this one day and for that the next. He believes
this one day and believes that the next. But if it's God's purpose
and God's decision, if it's God's grace, it's forever. If it's
God's call, it says the gifts and calling of God are without
repentance. If it's God's power, then it'll say. It'll say. Salvation
is of the Lord. If it's of God, then it's forever. It's forever. And you can't fight
against it. This is what we mean by irresistible
grace. If God, if you're one of God's sheep, and this gives
me comfort in my preaching, in my dealings with people. I don't
have to get so upset over the consequences, the outcome, and
this and that and the other. I know that if God's sheep, if
somebody's God's sheep, they're going to hear his voice. And
I don't have to resort to all these gimmicks and tricks and
schemes and tactics and all that to get people to come in. If
they're God's sheep, he'll bring them in. He'll bring them in. Like I said, talking about that
church down in Tennessee, meeting in a dance hall, all God's church
is start out like that right. It also started in a room. There used to be a church down
in an island that that's what the name of it was up on the
second floor they call it the upstairs Baptist Church. Upstairs
Baptist Church group of believers and generally the church you
know generally. You'll find this that God's churches
are in out of the way places. Any of you ever visited church
up in Fairmont West Virginia. You know, you have to ask directions
twelve times to find out where it is. But if you can find it,
you better believe that God will direct them to where the gospel
is, no matter where it is. And it's generally not located
in a downtown, very visible location. It's out on a hill somewhere,
out in the boonies. and tactics, and I don't have
to depend upon my own charisma. I don't have any. My own talents,
my own oratorical abilities don't have any. But I know that if
I just plainly declare the Word of God faithfully, consistently
from now on, God's sheep are going to come in here. God's
sheep are going to hear his voice. As many sheep as he has in this
area, they're going to come here to the gospel. They're going
to come here. We endeavor to get the gospel
out, but really now, we plant, we water, God has to give the
increase. And the only planting or watering
we do is this. We don't resort to any man-made
schemes and gimmicks and so forth. If salvation is of the Lord,
if a man is one of God's sheep, they're going to hear his voice.
They're going to come to him. It's hard for them to kick against
those pricks. They can't do it. And then what about this thing
of a profession of faith versus a possession of Christ? Now, if you join a church, like
I was saying, if you join a church, if you walk the aisle, if you
are merely baptized, that's not going to last. It's not going
to last. That's just a profession. That's
just an outward show of religion. If you merely have a head knowledge
of some doctrine, of some facts, Somebody else is going to come
along with some other things and going to discourage you or
convince you otherwise. But if Christ is formed in you,
if you possess Christ inside, if you join a church now, you're
not going to last. You're going to be gone. If you're joined to Christ, if
he joins you to his church, supernatural work, you're there If you just
walk an aisle, you're going to walk out the door. But if you're
walking by faith in Christ, you're going to keep walking until the
day you die. If you are just baptized in a pool of water,
you're liable to have that done several times. But if you're
baptized into Christ, that's going to last forever. Then what
about church? What about a church like this,
an organization like this, a little group of people like this? Who
started this? This is the reason I don't care
for giving recognition and honor and so forth to people for founding
churches. Men don't found churches. God
does. This is God's church. God's church. If this is man's organization,
the door is going to close someday. The doors are going to close.
But if it's God's church, if it's God's family, it's going
to be forever. It's going to be forever. What
about the ministry of the gospel, the preaching ministry? Let me
hurry. The preaching ministry. Paul said this over in Galatians
1. He said this, the gospel that I received was not of man, not
from man. I didn't receive it from men.
It's not about men. And I wasn't taught it by men,
but by the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's what Paul the
Apostle said. Now, most of us hear the gospel
through a man. Most of us hear the gospel through
a man. Paul the Apostle didn't. He heard it directly from Christ
himself, as did the other apostles. But there are no more apostles.
So therefore, if you hear the gospel, you're going to hear
it through a man. But that man's not going to draw
attention to himself. He's not going to be talking
about men. It's not going to be a man-centered gospel. It's
going to be about Christ. It's going to point you to Christ.
It's going to be a Christ-centered message. If it's of man, if it's
by man, if it's for man, it won't last. If you're following a man,
you won't last. I've seen that happen a lot of
times. You'll only last until you find something or somebody
better, or until that fellow makes you mad. If you're following
a man, and it's the reason I say I don't want my personality to
enter into this thing, I only want the person of Christ to
be foremost in your affection, your heart. But if the gospel
of God, the power of God, is preached, the gospel, it'll save,
it'll change, it will keep you forever. And listen to this,
if a man is preaching gold, silver, and precious stones, if that's
his work, that's his message, gold, the deity of Christ, silver,
the atonement of Christ, the person of Christ, the work of
Christ, precious stones, everything in relation to Christ, and Christ,
that pearl of great pride, his preaching will shine forth. It
will shine in the hearts of the hearers. light and knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Christ. It will shine to him.
His face will shine. His face will shine. The gospel
will grow more precious to him and it will grow more precious
to the hearers. It will enrich him and it will enrich the hearers.
If it's wood, hay and stubble now, his works, man's works,
man's opinion, man's wisdom, modern thought, it won't last.
It won't last. And this applies to everything,
people. What Gamaliel said here applies to everything. If it's
of man, it'll come to nothing. If it's of man, it'll come to
nothing. If it's of God, you can't overthrow it. You're fighting
against God. This applies to everything. You're
trying to discern God's will in your life? Well, if you can find out what
God's will is, that's going to last forever. But if you have
your way, if you have your will be done. And that will come to
nothing. You've got to discern. And I
gave up before I gave a threefold criteria for discerning God's
will and everything before. And at any rate, you need to
discern concerning everything you need to discern whether or
not it's God's will, not your own personal desire or your own
will and everything, because if it's your will, your desire,
it's going to come to nothing. If it's God's will, it's going
to last. That's what you want. This thing
of the call to the ministry. I just gave you an example. Doesn't
that just fly into the face of the scriptures we've been studying?
Paul said, we don't need letters of recommendation. It has to
do with some others. We don't need to send our resume
out. Do you ever see anywhere in the Old Testament or the New
where the prophets or the apostles sent their resumes? God calls men to the ministry.
God calls them. I was listening to a man who
was a mighty a tremendous preacher of the gospel, he said, you know,
I wasn't looking to preach in the first place. And he said,
even now, if God gives me just a good job to do, I don't have
to stand up here and preach. I believe that man is called. Nobody who knows anything about
this really desires to be into it. Responsibilities are too
great. Burdens are too great. Consequences
are too great. Everybody wants to declare their
Lord, yes. Only a fool would want to be in this position right
here. The requirements, the burden
is much greater than on the average person. A marriage, there are some young
people trying to discern God's will about a mate for their lives. Marriage. Nowhere, nowhere should
you look to discern God's will any more than this thing of a
marriage. Right? Paul says it very plainly
in the Scriptures, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. or you're looking for a lifetime
of trouble, ask some. Ask some who are married to unbelievers,
and they'll tell you it's the greatest trial a believer has
to go through. And I say to those who are unmarried
who may someday look to be married or are asking whether it's God's
will to be married or not, I tell you, you better look for a believer. You better look for a believer.
You better look for somebody God to send somebody your way.
There are a lot of pretty faces out there. Pretty women are a
dime a dozen. Well, everything, everything. If it's of God, it's forever. This rule applies to everything.
If it's of God, it's forever. It's forever. Of God is forever. It's irresistible. It's undeniable. The work of salvation is forever. It's undeniable. It's undeniable. It's irrefutable. It's unchangeable.
Let's read the rest of these verses and close it. But if it's
of man, if it's of man, it'll come to nothing. And I counsel
you to examine your own selves, whether or not you be of the
faith in Christ or not. Know ye not your own selves,
whether Christ be in you? And examine everything you do
and say. in light of this rule, if it's of God, whether or not
it's of God. Read on. He says, and so Gamaliel
made his speech there in verse 40, and to him they all agreed.
That's good, that's wise, they said. And when they had called
the apostles in, beaten them. Nah, nah. Beaten them. They weren't going
to let them off lightly. They commanded them again. They commanded them that they
should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. Just
don't. Y'all are free to go. Beat them. Free to go. And they departed.
This is so glorious, isn't it? And they departed from the presence
of the Council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. So what did they do? Where did
you find them? Now, don't you all go out preaching
this name of Jesus any more. Do you hear me? Do you hear me? As they were walking out, they
didn't answer. Did you all hear us? Don't you preach any more. Where did they go? Immediately,
daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach. And to preach the only message
there is, that name, that person, that work, Jesus Christ, Lord
over all, forever blessed. Him hath God highly exalted and
made a Prince and a Savior to give repentance, repentance and
forgiveness of sins. All right, stand with me and
I'll dismiss it. We thank you so much for who
you are and what you've done, for your Word, for giving us
this Word, this blessed and glorious account of the early church,
their boldness faithfulness to proclaim the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ. Lord, we only ask that you would
give us just a portion of that boldness, that we might be his
witnesses, that we might witness to all that we come into contact
with, the glorious majesty, the sovereignty of our Lord and our
Savior, Jesus Christ, in no uncertain terms. boldly, unabashedly, unashamedly,
without fear of men's faces. Who are we that we should be
afraid of men that shall die, son of men who are worms, and
forget the Lord our Maker? May we ever be bold to declare
who he is. May we not be ashamed of Christ
or his gospel. would be so very proud and thankful
for him and of him. Lord, I ask that for this church,
for this pastor, for these people. I ask that you hold us up, continue
to make us faithful in declaring this one message, the message
of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Let it sound forth from this
pulpit and wherever your people go. Lord, exalt your Son, exalt
yourself, bring honor and glory to your glorious name through
the instrument of your Church. In Christ's glorious and blessed
name we have met together tonight. Amen.