Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of Acts. We'll continue our study in the book of Acts,
chapter five. Acts, chapter five. The name
of the message is that obey God or man. Obey God or man. And last week in our study, we
saw the apostles were cast into jail for preaching the gospel. Preaching the gospel. the gospel
of salvation in and through Christ alone, and one of the main factors
of the message is the resurrection, of course, of Christ, which the
Sadducees absolutely hated, because they didn't believe in bodily
resurrection. But without the resurrection
of Christ, we won't be justified, as the scripture declares, he's
raised for our justification. And that's wonderful. The resurrection
is wonderful, isn't it? The whole gospel is wonderful.
It's what Christ has done for us. And then we saw that the
apostles got cast into prison, and then God sent an angel, didn't
he? God sent an angel down. Oh, this was amazing. God sent
that angel down. He opened the doors. And it's
plural of doors. So he opened the doors and let
them out. And then they were closed, too. Because we're going
to see today, when the guards are sent again by the Sanhedrin
to go and fetch the apostles, the whole jail is secure. And
the guards are still standing where they are, where they're
supposed to be. Isn't that amazing? I'll tell
you why. Oh, my. My, they're all secured
and shut. Let's start in verse 21 of Acts
chapter five, and we'll read to verse 32 for today's message. And when they heard that they
entered into the temple early in the morning, so the apostles
were told by the angel, in the verse above, they were told by
the angel, go to the temple and tell the people the words of
life, which is preach the gospel. So it says here, and when they
had heard that, they entered into the temple early in the
morning. I'll tell you what, they were there right there.
They were right there as God commanded them and taught. What
did they teach? They preached the gospel. They
taught Christ and Him crucified. They taught the resurrection
of Christ. But the high priest came and
they that were with him and called the council together and all
the children of Israel. So notice there, they have no
clue about what's happened. They're supposed to have a meeting
with the apostles, so the Sanhedrin all come together. And notice
also that the Senate and the Children of Israel, all the bigwigs,
all the religious who's who's, are gathered to watch what's going to happen
when the apostles are brought forth before the Sanhedrin. And they sent to the prison to
have them bought. But when the officers came and found them
not in prison, they returned and told, saying, the prison
truly found we shut with all safety. All the doors were secure.
The guards were still on guard, right? And the keepers standing
without before the door. So the keepers were right where
they were supposed to be. But when we had opened, we found
no man within. They opened that door, that big
old door, and they looked in that cell, and there was no,
it was empty. It was empty. You imagine the
shock of those fellows when they went in there, and all the doors
are sealed in the prison, and they go in there, and that's
empty. You imagine what they, where'd they go? Now, look at this. Now, when the high priest and
the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these
things, they doubted of them. Now, that's astonished in the
Greek. They were astonished. They doubted. They were in disbelief,
but they were also astonished by it. They doubted them wherewith this
would grow. They were afraid that, OK, if
this gets out, this is going to grow even more. Remember what
we looked at in Sunday school about people glorying in themselves?
They saw they were going to lose power, prestige, money. My, oh my. Then came one and
told them, behold, the men whom you put in prison are standing
in the temple teaching the people. The very ones you cast into prison,
they're over at the temple. They weren't in prison, and all
the doors are shut. They're preaching the gospel
over there. Isn't God's sovereignty absolutely
amazing? Isn't it amazing, beloved? It
just fills you full of joy, doesn't it? Could you imagine just hearing
those words? Oh, they're over there. They're
in the temple. Well, this fellow just told me all the doors were
shut and they weren't in the prison. And now you're telling
me they're in the temple? How did they get there? Isn't our great God amazing?
His sovereign purpose and will was for them to go and preach
the gospel at that temple at that morning. And there they
are. Oh, I love it. It's amazing. Then went the captain and the
officers. Well, they sent them again. Go get them now. Now we
know where they are. Go get them. So they sent the captain and
the officers and brought them without violence. Now note that
without violence. What happens sometimes? Say you're
a soldier and you go out and you capture someone who's considered
to be an enemy or something. They might get a little roughed
up on the way back to the post, right? It's happened many times. Right? Oh, my. You might get
a little roughed up, but look at this. Here again, we see God's
sovereignty, right? God's restraining hand. They didn't rough him up. Right? And brought them without violence,
for they feared the people, lest they should have been stoned.
They were terrified. that those who'd been converted
were going to stone them if they roughly took them away. Now again,
that's God's restraining hand at work, beloved, to protect
them. Because they have to be before
the Sanhedrin, don't they? They have to. Then went the captain with the
officers, brought them without violence, for they feared the
people, lest they should have been stoned. And when they had
brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest
asked them. So they put them in front of
the council, and the high priest is now going to ask them a question,
saying, did not we straightway command you that you should not
teach in this name? Didn't we tell you, didn't we
tell you you're not supposed to preach Christ? Oh, man. You know, a little man
shaking their fist at God. Little pieces of dust. They think
they're going to thwart God's plan. Didn't we tell you? Oh my. Our God is so great that
you should not teach in this name and behold, you filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine. There's people talking about
Christ all over the place. You see, you can't keep a Christian
quiet, can you? It's going to leak out, isn't
it? It's going to leak out. You fill Jerusalem with your
doctrine and tend to bring this man's blood upon us. Well, we're
going to look later. It's already upon them. They're
the ones who riled up the mob and were crucifying, crucifying. Their blood's already, his blood's
already upon them. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than man. Remember
in a couple previous chapters, he said the same thing? And I don't believe he raised
his voice when he said that. I think he's just talking like
normal. He says, we ought to obey God rather than man. The
God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew, and hanged
on a tree. Him, Him, Christ, Him, hath God
highly exalted. Hath God exalted with his right
hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance to Israel
and the forgiveness of sins. He's not talking about national
Israel there, is he? He's talking about spiritual
Israel. Oh my, because not all Israel's
saved, are they? But all the true Israel of God
are saved, aren't they? Oh yeah. Every one of God's sheep. The Lord will save every one
of them. Every one of them. And he's still doing it today.
He's still gathering in his lost sheep. My oh my. Look at this. And we are his
witnesses. They're eyewitnesses. Earwitnesses and eyewitnesses
of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost
whom God has given to them that obey him. My God gave them boldness, didn't he? I'll tell you what, he gives
the word to his people when it's needed. Oh my, look at that. And see, we see in verse 21,
let's go back in our text, verse 21, that the apostles obeyed
the command of the angel sent by God to go and preach at the
temple the next day. Look at verse 19, but the angel
of the Lord by night, opened the prison doors, plural, and
brought them forth and said, go stand and speak in the temple
to the people all the words of this life. You go and preach
the gospel. You go and preach Christ. They didn't go and say 50 ways
to be a victorious Christian, did they? No. Go and preach the words of
life. Go and preach Christ and Him
crucified. Go and preach the only one who can save sinners. That's a command from God through
this angel. My And then where the apostles found,
in verse 25, then came one and told them, behold, the man whom
you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the
people. They're doing exactly what they were commanded to do.
They're preaching Christ. Amen, brother Dave, yeah, that's
right. They're preaching Christ. They're preaching the only Savior,
right, for sinners. The only way a sinner can be
saved is through Christ and Him alone. And the very reason they're
cast into prison is because they're preaching Christ. They're preaching
the resurrection. And we see here, because remember,
I think it was in chapter 3 or 4, they were told, don't preach
this name. Don't preach Christ. So we're
seeing again, and in that portion too, they said, well, is it better
for us to obey God or man? Peter's just putting the same
thing he said to them before, before them again, in this portion. But what do we see here, beloved?
We see that Peter's putting into action that we would obey God
rather than man. Because he's already been told,
don't you go there and preach the gospel. What's he doing?
And what's the apostle? They're preaching Christ, aren't
they? See, the religious hypocrites,
the Sanhedrin, they thought they had all the power and whatever
they said would go. Well, no. Peter says, I'm going to obey
God rather than you. So he's being commanded and the apostle's
being commanded to preach the gospel in the temple. And where
are they? They're preaching the gospel in the temple, aren't
they? They're putting action to what
they've said by the grace of God. by the grace of God. Remember, it's always by the
grace of God. We don't do this stuff in our own strength. Our
king said, without me, you can do nothing. Nothing. It's all by God's grace and mercy.
My, oh my. So they preach Christ. And they
preach Christ praying that God would reveal himself to sinners.
just as he had to them. And then the multitudes that
we saw in the very beginning of the book of Acts, right, from
chapters 1 to 4, all the multitudes have been added to the church
already. And even in this chapter. Oh my, multitudes of people that
the scripture declares. And this same desire is the same
desire that every sent gospel preacher has, is that God would
take the preaching of the word and use it for his glory and
draw on lost sinners and build up the saints. We're here for the furtherance
of the gospel. That's the only reason we exist as a church,
is for the furtherance of the gospel. Isn't that amazing? It's incredible. And as Paul
said in the Sunday school lesson, we have no one else to glory
in but Christ. No one else to glory in but Him. My. And He draws His people. He draws His people to Christ. The Holy Spirit draws those who
God gave to Christ in eternity to Christ. Were you looking for
Christ when he saved you? I wasn't looking for him. No, we weren't, Travis. We weren't
looking for Christ. Not at all. You know, isn't it wonderful
that, like that lost sheep in Luke chapter 15, that lost sheep,
what's he doing? He's just wandering around. Oh,
there might be some food over here. Next thing you know, he's
caught in the thicket, caught in all kinds of stuff, right?
Bleating away. And who comes and finds him? The shepherd comes and finds
him. Who came and found you and I, Brother Dave? Amen, the good
shepherd. Sister Diane, we were lost out
there in the wilderness, caught up in all kinds of things. He
came and found us, didn't he? It's wonderful. Absolutely wonderful. And he saved us. And I love that
picture. He takes that little sheep, and
he puts it on his neck. He don't break its legs. People
used to say, oh, he breaks his legs so he can't. That'd make
the sheep lame. The sheep's already lame from a fall, right? We're
already lame from a fall. No, he picks us up, puts us on
his shoulders, and so we could just gaze in the face of the
Savior. Oh, my. And we're gazing through a glass
darkly right now, right? But then face to face. Then face
to face, oh my, it'll be wonderful. Oh my. So this is why we must
preach Christ because Christ is the only one who can save
sinners. Salvation's only found in and through the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's not found nowhere else. not by our supposed good
works, not by Buddha, not by Muhammad, not by Mary, not by
anything, not even by a specific church. Salvation's in a person. Salvation's in the Lord Jesus
Christ, in him alone. My, oh my. And when the gospel's preached,
God the Holy Spirit, with his convicted power, regenerates sinners, gives us
a new heart, gives us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
and makes us willing to run to Christ. When the Lord saved you,
did you run to Christ? You did, didn't you? People get
all caught up in the will and all that. Well, I'd never willed
to go to Christ unless he made me willing. in the day of his power, and
I thank him ever since for doing that for me. Oh my, it's wonderful. And then he teaches us about
his perfect sin-atoning work. Perfect. I mean perfect. Such a perfect work that all
the sins of all the elect are forgiven. And for me and for
you, we can say, all my sins. are washed under the blood. Past,
present, and future. All of them. That's good news,
isn't it? Is that good news for sinners,
Brother Brian? That's good news for sinners,
isn't it? Oh my, I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why. And let us remember as we're
going through this book of Acts and always when we're going through
the scriptures, God is sovereignly at control while all this is
happening. It's not by chance that they
were at the temple. No, God sent an angel to release
them. They went and preached the gospel.
It's not by chance they're gonna be brought back to the Sanhedrin.
No, Peter's gonna confess to them. Christ again, again. Oh my. So we're reading, what
we're reading about is real people and real events too. Let us always
remember that as we're reading scripture. We're reading about
real people and real events. My. And these events took place and
you know what they were written for? Our learning and our edification. Isn't that amazing? Oh my. So rejoice, beloved of God. As
our Lord Jesus Christ was in absolute control during those
days, he's in absolute control right now. Right now. I don't care about the political
environment, about what's going on in the world. He is in absolutely
full control. Do we believe our God's sovereign?
Then he's in full control, isn't he? Now that can give us peace, can't
it? Because we don't always agree with what's going on in the political
realm or even in the world. We're shocked, aren't we? But
you know why we really shouldn't be that shocked? Do you know
why? There go I but for the grace of God. We're just sinners saved by grace. My oh my. But didn't God have
mercy on us? Isn't he a merciful God? He's
a God ready to pardon, isn't he? And he's pardoned we who
believe. It's absolutely amazing. So he's
been in absolute control from eternity when he spoke the world
into existence before we ever were. And he'll be absolutely
in control until the end of the world for eternity. And everything
in between, right? That's our Savior. The One who
saved us. The One who saved our souls.
Man, what comfort that can give us, Brother Jim. The One who
saved our souls is the One who's still in control of everything.
Unto Him that's able to keep us from falling. Keep us. He does it all. Praise God for a God who saves,
and praise God for a God who saves and keeps us. from falling. My oh my. So he's in absolute
control during all this time of what's going on. May our great God help us to
see the hand of our risen Savior, an exalted Lord, in accomplishing
his sovereign purpose, his sovereign purpose, as it pleases him to
do so. We just bow to that, don't we?
We bow to that. Man, he's recorded these things
for all to learn. Now let's read verses 19 to 23. By night, opened the prison doors
and bought them forth, and said, go stand and speak in the temple
to the people all the words of this life. And when they had
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 children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have
them bought. So you could see them all there. They're all mourning. Hey, we're going to get them
this. Oh my. And when the officers
came and found them not in the prison, they returned and told,
saying, the prison truly found we shut with all safety, and
all the keepers standing before the doors. And when they had
opened, we found no man within. They're gone. They're gone. My, oh my. So let we who are
the people of God rest in the fact that our Lord Jesus Christ
was in sovereign control over all those events we just read. He's in sovereign control. If
he's not in sovereign control, he's not God, then is he? See,
people forget that. The God of the Bible is in sovereign
control. Otherwise, he's not God. If God can be manipulated
by us, then he's not God. Right? It's like when you hear
people say, let's get a bunch of people together and we'll
all pray and surely God will change his mind. You can't gang
up on God. Now we pray, when we pray for folks, we pray, Lord,
if it be your will, move. Right? But we pray knowing that
he's in control. My oh my. So this so-called great high
priest down to the lowest man in any position of authority
were all gathered together. All gathered together because
we see they had the senate with them and they were all gathered
together. We're going to get these fellows. And that high priest, he's, you
know, he's respected and looked upon and how do you think he
felt when he said to Peter, we told you not to do this and Peter
just put the gospel right before him. My oh my. Look at verse 22, but when the
officers came and found them not in prison, they returned
and told, saying, the prison truly found we shut with all
safety. It's all sealed up. It's all sealed up. The keeper standing without the
doors, when we had opened, we found no man within. Now back
in the days, Now, if this was a Roman prison with Roman guards,
they'd all be executed. My. But they say we, look at
this, the prison truly found we shut with all safety. They
went in by the time all the doors were sealed. They're all locked.
And then the keepers are standing right in front of them. Just
standing there like they normally would. And then they open the door,
must not have been a little window in it, they open the door and
they go inside and the whole prison's empty, that cell's totally
empty. Where are they? Well, God sent an angel down,
didn't he? Who opened those doors. Those doors were securely locked,
heavily guarded, but the angel of the Lord opens them with no
problem at all. No problem at all. and then closes the doors. Brother Gene Harmon brings this
forth, that our great God blinded the eyes and shut the ears of
those who were guarding the doors so that they knew absolutely
nothing of what was taking place before them. My oh my. No mere man could perform
this miraculous deed, he said. And it's true. Tom, if we had
buddies in prison, we'd have to go in there, break in there,
and probably knock a few guards out, right, to go in and The
angel of the Lord just walks in there, opens the doors, shuts
the doors, leads them right outside of prison, shutting all the doors
behind them. It's plural, right? Doors. My, oh my, what a great
God. What a great God. Turn, if you
would, to John chapter 12. My, oh my. And remember the brethren,
the apostles, saw the glory of the Lord. They'd witnessed his
absolute sovereignty. They witnessed the sent angel
of the Lord setting them free from the prison they were in.
They saw the angel. The angel talked to them. He
said, you go to the temple the next day. So they saw him. And think about this, these so-called
hypocritical, so-called religious leaders were blinded by God himself.
So they could not see the glory of God in the miracles that Christ
done. And they couldn't even see the glory of God in the miracles
that had been performed before this. Remember the signs and
wonders? And the healing of the sick and the casting out of devils? They were so blinded by their
hate for Christ, that they didn't see any of the glory of God in
those things that were done. And they actually saw nothing,
they saw none of the glory of God in the preaching of the gospel
either. Because they were so consumed with hate. They were
so consumed with hate. See, when we hear the preaching
of the gospel, it shows us the glory of God, doesn't it? He
saves sinners. He saves rebels. He saves those
who were dead in trespasses and sins and shaking their fist at
Him. He saves us from our sins. That's glorious. And I don't
just mean one or two, I mean everything. All the words of
blasphemy I spoke before the Lord saved me, all the things
I'd done before the Lord saved me, and all the things that I'll
ever do. That doesn't give us a license to go out and go crazy,
does it? Absolutely not. Now the love of Christ constrains
us from sin. Look at this in John chapter
12 and ask yourself, how can anyone believe in the universal
love of God in the fact that he, now we know God is love,
but I'm talking about the universal love of God when people say that
Christ died for everybody. He didn't die for everybody.
The scripture's clear on that. He died for sinners, chosen sinners,
who God gave him. I don't know who they are, do
you? So we preach the gospel to everyone, don't we? And God
does the saving. He'll leave the saving up to
God. He does that. He said, my soul, and I'll tell
you, scripture says, he could say to the uttermost all to come
to God through him. Spirit and the bride say, come.
We say, come, come. all mine but I know that if you
come God made you willing and God gave you faith to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ so therefore we have to give him all the glory
and all the honor and praise look at this look at this in
John chapter 12 verses 36 to 41 for ye of light believe in
the light that ye may be the children of light these things
spake Jesus and departed and did hide himself from them but
though He had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed
not on his name. Now, they'd seen miracles, these
folks seen miracles. They'd seen the wonder working
of power of God, knowing that only God can perform these miracles,
God in the flesh, that's who Christ is, he's God incarnated
in the flesh, right? Look at this, that the saying
of Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake of
the Lord, who has believed our report? Who believes the gospel? The gospel is foolishness to
man. Me standing up here and preaching that you can only be
saved through Christ and Him alone is foolishness to man.
You know why? Because man thinks he can save
himself. Men don't really think they're sinners. But God says
that there's none righteous, no not one. God says for all
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. God says there's
none that seeketh after Him. Right? Look at this, what is
our report? And to whom has the arm of the
Lord been revealed? Who's the arm of the Lord? His
name is the Lord Jesus Christ. Has he been revealed to you?
Praise his mighty name if he has been. Praise his mighty name,
because he can be revealed to everyone. Look at this. Therefore they could not believe
because, that Isaiah said again, he had blinded their eyes and
hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes
nor understand with their heart and be converted and I shall
heal them. You see, God's people have been given eyes to see,
ears to hear, eyes to see who? Christ. ears to hear the gospel,
the wonderful message of God's grace of salvation in and through
Christ alone by his perfect sin atoning work. We've been given
ears to hear that. I didn't have those ears for
the first 30 years of my life. I had no ears. I didn't have
nothing to do with Christ. Didn't want nothing to do. Didn't
even enter my mind that I was a sinner. I knew a lot of sinners. They partied with me. But then I found out this guy is a sinner in desperate need
of salvation. And only God showed me that.
Did he do the same for you? It's wonderful. Oh, my. See? So we've now been given
eyes to see Christ. We've been given an understanding,
because we have a new heart now, right? Scripture says we have
a new heart that hungers and thirsts after righteousness.
Whose righteousness? The Lord Jesus Christ. Now we
hunger and thirst after Christ. Look at these. These things said
Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake of him. My. Remember Isaiah said, woe is
me, I'm a man undone. In Isaiah chapter 6, I'm a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell with a people of unclean lips.
Well, he saw that not only himself was dead in trespasses and sins,
he's a sinner, but the whole world's a sinner, beloved. There's only one man who was
born sinless. And he's prophesied in Genesis
chapter 3, the seed of the woman. He's born of a virgin, Mary. Name is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he's God incarnate in the flesh, who came to save his people
from their sins. That's why he came. No wonder
we can only glory in Christ. No wonder we seek to give him
all the glory. And we see God's distinguishing
grace. You know what he does for us?
He opens the prison house of unbelief for us, doesn't he?
You know, we were bound up. The scripture says that the cords
of iniquity had bound us up. We were bound up by cords of
iniquity. We were in the prison house of sin. We couldn't open
the door. We had no way of escape. And he came and opened the door
and set us free. Set us free, beloved. There was
no way possibly, humanly speaking, that we could get out of that
prison house of unbelief and sin. There was no humanly possible
way that they would get out of that prison, was there? Oh, what a picture. And who comes
and lets them out? An angel of the Lord. Who came
and set us free from our prison house of sin and unbelief? The
Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. My, oh my. And we, by God-given faith, now
we see the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now we're given a little understanding, just a little understanding of
God's eternal love for us. And like Israel's high priest,
the Sanhedrin, and all those self-righteous unbelieving Jews,
our unsaved friends and loved ones are blinded by God himself,
just like them. And we were there. We were there,
beloved. We were dead in trespasses and
sins. But God had mercy on us, didn't
he? So now we pray for them. We don't know who God's elect
are, but I'll tell you what, I pray for my family members.
Lord, please, if it be your will, save them. Pray for my friends.
Lord, if it be your will, save them. And each opportunity I get to
tell them about Christ, I'm going to tell them about Christ. Our dear brother Dave took the
opportunity to tell his family when his dad died. He said, every
one of you are going to die. Everyone of you can end up in
one of those boxes. It's true. But we can die with a hope, can't
we? Only by the grace and mercy of
God, and that hope is Christ. That hope is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Savior of sinners. My oh my. So let we who are the
redeemed of the Lord rejoice in God's distinguishing grace,
that he freely, freely bestows upon all his children through
the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved on the merits
of Christ, not by anything we've done. We're saved by the merit and
work of Christ. Our righteousness is like filthy
rags, but we've been plunged in the fountain of the blood
of Christ and come up washed, watered in snow. So much so, so much so, turn
if you would to Jude, so much so, look at this. We're washed so much clean, we're
so clean that the scripture tells us this in Jude. All mine. Now unto Him. Now unto Him. This is speaking of Christ. Verse
24. Now unto Him. Only Christ is able to do this.
We can't keep ourselves. But praise God, the Lord saves
His people and keeps His people. Look at this. Now unto Him that's
able to keep you from falling and to present you Faultless. Before the presence of His glory
with exceeding joy. That's blameless. Blameless in the Greek. He's
able to present us blameless. But we're sinners from the top
of our head to the bottom of our shoes even after we're saved.
He's able to present us blameless. Spotless. Why? Because we're
washed in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
good news for sinners, isn't it? That's wonderful news for
sinners. I'll tell you why. My, oh my. If the Son, therefore,
shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. Now we're free
from the power and love of darkness. Now we're free from the power
of the devil himself. He was commanded to loose us
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He can't keep a hold of us. And
now we're free from the power of sin. We still struggle with
sin, even though we're saved. We still struggle with sin. It's
in us. It's what we do. But praise God, it's all forgiven.
And praise God, it doesn't have the dominion it once had over
us. Every once in a while, it rears its ugly head in a way
that we just are ashamed, aren't we? Oh my. My, oh my. but praise god we're free from
god's coming wrath because jesus christ our substitute and endured
the eternal wrath that was to us he endured it on our room
in place now let's read verses twenty two to twenty five but
when the officers came and found them not in prison they returned
and told saying the prison truly found we shut with all safety
in the keeper standing with without 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 priest heard these
things, they doubted them. Where would this grow? Then came
one and told them, behold, the man whom you put in prison, they're
standing in the temple preaching. They're teaching. They're preaching
the gospel. They're preaching Christ. They're doing exactly what God
told them to do. Now let's read verses 26 to 28. Then went the
captain with the officers and bought them without violence,
for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when
they had bought them, they set them before the council, and
the high priest asked them, saying, Did not we straightway command
you? Now could you imagine? Did we not command you? He's
trying to say it with all authority he can. Did we not command you
not to speak about this man? You should not teach in this
name. They can't even say this name. They can't even say Christ's
name. They're so filled with anger. And behold, you have filled
Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's
blood upon us. Well, the blood's already on them. The blood's already on them.
And we see here, they didn't fear God, did they? See, natural
man doesn't fear God. It's only after we learn who
God is, right, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction. And that fear that
the believer has is not a slavish fear, it's an awe. God, he's
holy, he's righteous, he's just. We're filled with awe with who
he really is. That's the God of the Bible.
My, but these guys, they didn't fear God, they feared the people
more. You know why? Oh, we're losing
money. You know, God's preachers, I've
said it many times, I'll say it again, God's preachers don't
preach for money, it's a calling, beloved. It's a calling. You know, I love to preach the
gospel, and so do my other preacher friends. We love to preach the
gospel. We love to speak of the one who saved our souls. We're
thankful for what the Lord gives us, but that's not what matters
the most. I'm more concerned for your eternal
soul than anything else, and the eternal souls of all who
will hear this message as it goes out on the internet. That's
what's most important, right? And we, all of us pray together,
Lord save souls as the gospel goes out. If it be your will. Because again, we're here for
the fullness of the gospel. So they didn't fear, they didn't
fear God, they feared the people though, I'll tell you what. They
feared that there'd be a riot. They were fearing the wrong folks,
weren't they? Oh my. And once again, the Lord
Jesus Christ is in full control of this situation. Let us always
remember that. Again, these are real people,
real situations that we're gonna be looking at through the book
of Acts, and God is in absolute control. To me, this book shows
us the sovereignty of God, just as it does all the other books
too, but it really shows us how he's in full control. These Sanhedrin
couldn't do nothing that God didn't allow. Now, the apostles
are going to go through, they're going to get beaten, right? But they're going to count it
all joy, we're going to see next week, that they suffer for the
gospel. Imagine that day, someone putting
a count of nine tails to our backs, and we believe, I'll count
it all joy. Only the grace of God can make
a man say that. Only the grace of God can do
that. I'll tell you. And the early New Testament saints,
they loved the Lord's apostles. And rightly so, they were the
ordained instruments that God used to bring them the gospel. My. And there's no telling what these
early believers would have done to those arrested in the offices
if our Lord hadn't restrained them. He restrained the officers
from beating the apostles, and he restrained the people from
attacking the guards that were sent by the Sanhedrin. So we see God's restraining hand
at work. And their love for those who
were sent by God to preach His gospel is what caused them to
highly esteem the Lord's apostles for their work's sake. Again, though, our Lord restrained
in this situation. Restrained the guards and restrained
our dear brethren. And let us always remember that
we're of the same camp as sinful, unregenerate people. We're hewed
out of the same quarry of humanity, aren't we? You know, sometimes religious
folks get a chip on their shoulder and think they're better than
everybody else. We sovereign grace people don't feel that
way, do we? We know we're undeserving of this mercy. If you're sitting
there shaking your head, yeah, amen. We're so undeserving, aren't
we? We're so undeserving of it. But
look at the grace and mercy God's had upon us. Oh, my. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. So Lord, help
us to be patient with those around us. Help us to be patient with
our families and our friends and those who do not know Christ.
Because we were there. We were there. And so we see then that our Lord's
apostles are brought before the Sanhedrin and they said right
away, did we not straightly command you that you should not teach
in this name? And behold, you have filled Jerusalem
with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood upon
us." Well, if the apostles had not been
preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus Christ, if they
had left out his name out of their ministry, then these unbelieving Jews would
have been happy. They'd have been happy. They
could have mentioned Jehovah and these unbelieving Jews would
have been happy. But because they mentioned the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ, it set their wrath on fire. I remember Steve telling me one
time, he goes, man, you've told me before, sometimes when you
get with your family or friends and you mention Christ, it's
like dead silence. And I said, yeah. And he goes, I experienced
that the other day. He was out with friends, and
he mentioned Christ. And the whole table got silent,
he said. You talk about anything else,
right? Politics and worldly things going on, but you start mentioning
Christ and what he's done, people get quiet or I'll say just get
up and walk away. You know how I know that? Because
I was one of them. And so were you, right? You were
there. Charlie was. Tom, we all were
that way. Didn't want nothing to do with
him. My, oh my. But wasn't God patient with us?
Wasn't God long-suffering with us? You know, we were the object
of his eternal love and we didn't even know it. He's so patient, so long-suffering
with his people. With this world, even. Oh, my. And see where it says, the high
priest said, straightly, that means he threatened them. He
threatened them. He threatened them. Did we not
threaten you, command you not to preach that name? See, it's the name of Christ
they hate. It's the fact of the resurrection of Christ they hate,
again, because they're Sadducees and they don't believe in the
resurrection. And again, if they had just mentioned
Jehovah and kept Christ's name out of it, then these unbelieving,
self-righteous Jews wouldn't have said, well done, well done. Without Christ, there's no salvation,
is there? There's a lot of God people out
there. You ever notice that? People say, I believe in God.
No mention of Christ. Oh, my. Well, when I was unsaved,
I used to tell people, I believe in God. And someone asked me
about Christ, and I said, well, I believe in Christ. They said,
you ever read the Bible? I said, no. How do I know about
someone I never even heard about? Right? See, God's got to give
us hear and ear, doesn't he? Brother Tom, like you said, he's
got to reveal himself to us. He's got to reveal himself to
us. And here they say this, they're
saying here, do you intend to bring this man's blood upon us?
It's already upon them. They crucified Christ. His blood
was already upon them. Here they had the brazen audacity
to say to the Lord's apostles, you intend to bring this man's
blood upon us. But when Pilate said this, he said, I'm innocent
of the blood of this just person. Just person. See it to you, or
see it, see to it, we see, they said, ah, I'm all over the board. See that they answered by saying
his blood Be on us in all our children, Matthew 27, 24 to 25.
Christ's blood is already upon them. Not in a good way either. We're covered in the blood of
Christ. Now let's read verses 29 to 32
here. Then Peter and the other apostles
answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. What
an answer. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you slew
and hanged on a tree. See, he just puts, look at that,
boom. Drops it right in their lap. Blood's already on you. Him hath God exalted with his
right hand to be a prince and a savior. Oh, he's our prince,
isn't he? And he's our savior. He's the prince of life. for
to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. We have
a forgiveness of all our sins, every single one of them. And
we are his witnesses of these things. And so it is also the
Holy Ghost whom God had given to them that obey him. Note the
Lord gave the apostles boldness here to just speak about Christ. The very one the Sanhedrin didn't
want to hear about, they just present him right in front of
them. That's the Holy Spirit giving them boldness to do that. Oh my. The Spirit of God dwelt
in him and gave him the courage. Gave him courage, beloved. And
boldness to respond to these threats. They were threatening
him. And they said, is it better for
us to obey God or you, or man? What an answer, right? That's
wonderful. Now, I don't think, again, they
spoke in an irreverent tone. I think they just spoke normally.
Here they are in the face of hostile enemies, those who hate
Christ, hate his church, and they're willing to die at this
man's hand, if it be God's will. But they will not compromise
the gospel. They will not compromise it.
They will not stop preaching in the name of Christ. My oh my. Look at verses 30 to
32. The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree. Him hath God exalted
with his right hand to be a prince and a savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's a fact, isn't it? We've been given repentance before
God, and we've been given faith and we have the forgiveness of
sins by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we
are his witnesses of these things and so is also the Holy Ghost
whom God has given to them that obey him. They let the high priest and
all the unbelieving Jews in the council know that they were guilty,
those folks were guilty of hanging the Lord Jesus Christ upon a
tree. But we also know that all these
things fell out according to the foreknowledge of God, right? Those men with wicked hands had
taken our Savior and hung him on a tree. And note how boldly
the apostles declare that Jehovah God, our Father, not only raised
his daughter and son, the Lord Jesus Christ, but he highly exalted
Christ to the right hand of his sovereign power. The Lord Jesus Christ, beloved,
is the exalted Prince and Savior of His chosen blood-bought people. The Lord Jesus Christ gives repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins to all His people, to all
God's people. God, the Holy Spirit, gives repentance
and faith. And through that faith in Christ,
because of what Christ done, we have the forgiveness of sins.
My. And the majority of national
Israel were never granted repentance unto life, and they died in their
sins. Therefore, God did not forgive them of their sins. This
is speaking of spiritual Israel, beloved. Christ said, I know my sheep. And he's gonna get every one
of them in there. And every one of us who are born again, we
can testify of that truth, can't we? We can testify of that truth. And then Peter says, we're witnesses.
They were witnesses of Christ's incarnation. They were witnesses
of Christ's miracles. They were witnesses of Christ's
crucifixion. They were witnesses that he raised from the dead.
They were witnesses that they saw him. And now they're told,
go and preach him. And they can't do anything else,
can they? All they can do is go and preach
Christ. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's
wonderful. I'll tell you. just amazing. God's grace is absolutely amazing.
Brother Neil, would you close