That's a good fitting song for
the message too, because what we're gonna look at in Acts chapter
4, Peter and James get released by the council. Turn if you would
to Acts chapter 4, they get released by the council. Last time we
were together, which was just under a month ago, For in the
book of Acts, in the book of Acts, not in service, but in
the book of Acts, Peter and John had been brought forth before
the council and they had been commanded not to preach Christ. And Peter gives an incredible
answer in verses 18 and 19, says, whether it be right in the sight
of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. Look
at that. Verses 18 and 19, let's read
that. And they commanded them, and commanded them not to speak
at all or teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered
and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God
to hearken unto you, more than unto God. For we cannot but speak
the things which we have seen and heard. My. And then they go on and threaten
them again. We see in verse 20 there, 21.
They go on and threaten them again. But they don't fear man. And this council,
they wanted to punish Peter and John. But beloved, they couldn't
because 8,000 people being converted, remember? And if they went and punished
them, they'd have a riot on their hands. And they knew it. They
knew it. Because that would be unjust,
wouldn't it? Just for preaching the name of Christ. Oh my. So these ungodly leaders of Israel,
they knew that an uproar would come about. Probably one that they couldn't
handle. That's a lot of people, 8,000 people. If they inflicted
any kind of punishment on God's servants, they knew something
would happen. And remember, they couldn't find
any fault about the miracle. None at all. They couldn't deny
that the miracle happened, because it happened right in front of
a bunch of folks. And then that man went leaping and jumping
and praising God into the temple, and even more people saw him.
They said, that's the fellow who was begging at the gate called
Beautiful. Look, he's jumping. Could you
imagine that? His brother Travis said about
John seeing Christ face to face. My, we can't even imagine it.
Could you imagine these people seeing this lame man? He's jumping
up and down. Didn't go to no doctor. Didn't
go to no physical therapy. He's made whole. What a picture
of us, beloved. Lame and can't walk. And God
restores us spiritually, doesn't he? We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Oh my, it's wonderful. Saved
by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see
that they stopped the gainsayers by putting that question before
them. Who should we obey, you or God? Wow, what a question. That's an incredible question.
So they had no choice. And you know why they had no
choice in the matter either? More importantly, why they had
no choice in the matter but to let them go? Because our sovereign
majestic God is in control of all things. And they couldn't
do anything but let them go. What peace that can give us?
My oh my. Let us never lose sight of that
God-honoring truth, beloved, that Jesus Christ, our risen
and exalted Lord, works all things after the counsel of his own
will. Now let's read verses 23 to 31 of Acts chapter 4. 23 to
31. In being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief
priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that,
they lifted up their voice to God with one accord. This is
the second time that one accord's been mentioned. They're all in
unity, beloved. And said, Lord, thou art God,
which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in
them. who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why
did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? That's
in Psalm 2. The kings of the earth stood
up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ for a truth against thy holy child Jesus,
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod Pontius Pilate with the
Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together. Everyone
was against him. Look at that. Everyone was against
him. For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. What a verse. Look at that. What
a verse, beloved. Our God is in full control, even
today. Do you know that? You know that? Someone asked me about the election
coming up. I said, I'm not worried. God's going to put in power whomever
he's going to put in power. And he's gonna protect me, right?
Our God's in control, beloved. He's in control. How long has
he taken care of this church here? Years. He's been around
since the 1800s. And he's kept this church, and
kept this church, and kept this church, hasn't he? And here we
are today, and the gospel's going out all around the world now. Oh my goodness. What a great
God we have. For to do whatsoever thing thy
hand and thy counsel determined before it to be done. Let us
just burn that into our hearts. Right? It was God's will to save
us, it's God's will to keep us, and it's God's will one day to
take us home. We just don't know when that is, do we? But he will. He'll take us home. And now,
Lord, hold thy threatenings. and grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word. Brother Brian, you
said something today in your prayer. Sunday school, that is
so vital. Why is the word of God preached?
Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Brother
Brian, in his prayer in Sunday school, said, Lord, save souls. That's the whole reason we're
here. So the gospel can go out. Do you know that? Isn't that
wonderful? So we can gather together as believers and have fellowship
and rejoice in the gospel of Christ. But the most important
thing being done here is preaching the gospel so that it can go
out into the world. And we all get the benefits of
it. And we are, we are a little church in Elmont, Michigan. And
the word's going out all over. and we get to gather together
in love and have the fellowship we have on this earth, it's wonderful.
As I said, you guys are my family. Lord knits our hearts together,
but we're here in one accord, right? For the furtherance of
the gospel. Paul said, Paul's lying in prison. We're going to look at this in
Philippians. This is amazing. He's in prison. So Philippians is
a prison epistle. He's in prison, man. He's in
a bad, you know, but he says, he says, well, rejoice in the
Lord always. And again, I say rejoice, right?
And then he says, these things have fallen out for the furtherance
of the gospel. His bonds. See, he had a handle,
didn't he, on all things work for the good, for those who are
the called, right? He knew that God was working
out his will and purpose, even when he was in bonds. So no matter
what state we find ourselves in, God is working his will and
purpose in our life, and we can rust and trust in our sovereign
God. Whether the circumstance to us seems to be bad or good,
it's all working out for our good. Isn't that amazing? What
peace that can give us in the midst of trials and tribulations
and anxieties and whatever else comes along, right? It's wonderful. My, oh, my. It says, And now, Lord, behold
their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word. That's the preaching of the gospel.
By stretching forth thine hand to heal, that signs and wonders
may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they
prayed, the place 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. Now I named the message prayer,
but we could name it multiple titles. You know, God works out
His will. God's will will be done. God's
determinant counsel fulfilled. Right? My. But look at this. After Peter
and John and that man who was healed, because remember the
man was in the midst with them? They were released. They went to their
own company. That lame man went with them.
He's part of the body of Christ, right? Went with them. Oh, they
were released to their own company. And what did Peter and John do?
Did they go, oh, they threw us in jail. Oh my, we had such a
tough time. No, they glorified God, didn't
they? They said, look, we were set forth before that council
and praised be to God. God gave us the words to speak
and he protected us through the whole thing. The heathen raged
against us and he protects us. Man, do you imagine how fired
up the saints would get with that? Oh my. And when they heard the report
and all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them,
Those who had the Spirit of Christ dwelling in them, their company,
they had a prayer meeting. They gave glory to God. They
gave them all the glory and honor and praise. We see they immediately
went to prayer. What a wonderful teaching we
have here. No matter what we go through as believers, we are
to go to the Lord in prayer. Right? And we can go anytime. And nothing's too small, nothing's
too big, nothing. We can take anything to Him.
Anything. Mine. And we can learn also in
this portion that when we pray, we're to approach the true and
living God. We're to approach Him in the way they approach
Him here. No matter again what the situation
may be, Let us always remember that our God, He's sovereign. He's still sitting on the throne,
isn't He, Brother Travis? He hasn't moved. He's not moved
at all. He's still sitting there. He's
still reigning. Is anything happening outside
His will, Brother Brian? Nothing, eh? Nothing. Nope. Nothing at all. He's working
his will out, all according to his divine purpose. We see that
in verse 28, for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined
before to be done. Before, when before? Before the foundation of the
world, right? Amen. Do you know, Brother Donnie mentioned
this yesterday. Before there was ever any angels,
before there was ever any stars, before there was ever any world,
God chose us in love in Christ, and not because there's any good
in us. Matter of fact, we're just full of sin, aren't we?
But God chose us in Christ, chose to have mercy on us. Do we have
anything to do with that choice? Isn't that amazing? And then
God lets us in on it when we're born again by the Holy Spirit
of God. And you couldn't hold a sinner
back that's been born again from Christ, can you? No. My. And that sinner wouldn't want
to jump out of God's hand, would he? Like that friend of mine
said. Oh my gosh. Lord, keep me or
I fall, right? Keep me or I perish. Oh my, what a Savior, what a
Redeemer is Jesus Christ our Lord. He right now, He sovereignly
sits upon His throne right now. He's not waiting to rule, is
he, Brother Charlie? He's ruling right now, isn't he? Amen. He's,
he's, he got the, he got the scepter of the universe in his
hands. My, oh my, not even a bird, a
little bird, insignificant to us, right? Little bird. There's,
there's billions of them. Not one of those birds falls
to the ground without him knowing. My, what a savior. That's our
King. That's our Savior. The One who
has all power and might. And this is who they're praying
to. They're praying to the King. Oh my. We should never approach
our great God with the sinful thought that our situation is
hopeless. You know that? God's going to
work out for our good and His glory. It might not be the way
we think it's going to work out, but He's going to take care of
us. God's people aren't hopeless.
We have a hope, don't we? We have a hope that's sure and
steadfast, and that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. Any hope outside
of Him is just sinking sand, isn't it? Any hope in yourself or any hope
in anything you do or say, it's just sink and sin. It will drag
you right to hell. Oh, but in Christ, He's our hope. He's our King. You know, He's
the sovereign controller. You know that? The supreme controller. There's no one above Him. And yet man thinks that he can
twist his arm, and man thinks that they can
resist his power. That's why we call it irresistible
grace. If God's drawn a sinner to Christ,
will that sinner be drawn to Christ, or will they say, I don't
want this to happen? If God's drawn a sinner to Christ,
that means they're one of his sheep. And he said, all that
the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to
me, I will no wise cast out. Isn't that wonderful? He'll never
cast us out, beloved. And this is who they went to.
This is who they're rejoicing with in prayer. See, the gods of wood and stone,
which we're worshiped in, were nothing but helpless false deities. People hoped in them, but they
can't do anything. They're just wood and stone.
They can't do anything. But when we approach our King,
we approach the true and living God. We approach the Lord, the
supreme controller. That's who we approach, beloved.
The one who saved our souls. I preach a work already done
by Christ. It's already finished. My. And it's finished. It is
finished means it's finished. We just look to Christ, don't
we, by God-given faith. And we live. Isn't that wondrous? And that's the stumbling block.
Christ is the stone of stumbling. That faith is just in Him? I
remember talking to someone I love dearly and they said, is that,
you just look to Christ? You just look to Christ? There's
nothing I have to do? There's nothing you have to do.
And if you look to Christ, that's because God gave you faith to
look to Christ. Isn't that wonderful? If you're trusting in Christ
right now, God's done a work of grace in you. Isn't that amazing? My. And the same God that did
a work of grace in you, right, that started that work, He's
gonna finish it, isn't He? And He's gonna take you home.
And take me home, be with Him forever. Praise His mighty name. Look at verse 24 here. And when they heard her, they
lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Thou
art God. They're proclaiming Him, He's
God. They're proclaiming all the other
gods are false gods there. There's only one true, and look
at that, capital G, which has made heaven and earth and the
sea and all that is in them. So marvel that they're being
moved by the Holy Spirit of God as they lifted up their voice
to God with one accord. They're born again, beloved.
And they're lifting up their voices in praise. And they said,
Lord, thou art God. Who's the Lord? That's Jehovah, that's the Logos.
That's the word of God. Thou art God. They're saying,
Christ, you're God. You're the Messiah, which has made heaven and earth.
And notice they're all like-minded. They're all united in the Spirit.
They're not divided. I was talking to a friend of
mine this week, and I said, isn't it, we were talking about how
much of a shame it is that God's people have now been divided
into denominations. That's all man. That's all man,
beloved. Just divided. And, well, I don't
agree with that guy, what he's saying here, so I'm going to
go over here, and I'm going to be over here. Or, yeah, that guy, he ain't
preaching the gospel, so I'm gonna go over here, and we're
gonna preach the one-two gospel. Divided by man. When I hear a man's preaching
the gospel, I rejoice, do you? I rejoice in that. I say, praise
be to God, that's wonderful. That's absolutely wonderful.
Oh, my. And they lifted up their voices
with one united mind to God. One united mind to praise. They gave Him all the glory together,
didn't they? And who did they give it to?
They're giving it to the Lord. Who's God? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Well, how do we know that? How
do we know that they were praying to God who is the creator, how
do we know they were praying to Christ? Turn, if you would,
to John chapter one. John chapter one. The answer
is right in the scriptures. The one they're praying to is
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ, because He created all
things by the word of His power. This is so clearly brought forth
here. See, but they're taught by the Holy Spirit of God, that
truth, right? Just as we're taught that truth.
that God the Holy Spirit is the Creator. Or God, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the Creator. The Holy Spirit teaches us these
things. Look at this, John chapter 1 verse 1, right? In the beginning
was the Word. Okay? Well, there's the Word. Who is the Word? Well, the Word
was with God and the Word was God. It says, right? So the Word
was with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. And then it
also tells us He was God. He was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things. Remember, over there in Acts
24, they're saying, Thou art God which has made heaven and
earth and the sea and all that is in them. Look at this. All things were made by Him.
By who? By the Word. by the word and without him was
not anything made that was made then look at verse 14 look at
verse 14 and John chapter 1 this is this is it just tells you
right there just so clear in the word was made flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld his glory as the glory of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bear witness
of him, saying, This is he whom I spake, he that cometh after
me is preferred before me, for he was before me. And of his
fullness have all we received in grace for grace. For the law
was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by who? Jesus
Christ, there he is, he's identified. The word became flesh. So we
know from comparing scripture to scripture here that the one
who created the world was Christ and everything that's in it.
So with that, we can go back here to our text in Acts 4.24
and we see that they said, Lord, thou art God, which has made
heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. They're
praising Christ. They're praising the Lord Jesus
Christ, beloved. Isn't that wonderful? And again,
they're all united. They're in one accord. They have
the same spiritual mind. They have the same Holy Spirit
within them, dwelling them. They have the same Holy Spirit
teaching them. So they're of one accord. They're in complete
agreement with the glorious truth that Jesus Christ is our sovereign
creator, that he's God in the flesh. The one who spoke everything
into existence. Just by the word of His mouth.
What power He has. We know from John 17, our study
there, that He has all power. It's been given to Him by the
Father. All power. So who are they approaching in
prayer here? They're approaching the throne of grace, aren't they?
The same throne we go to. where we find grace to help in
time of need, don't we? And that's Christ, we're approaching
Christ. There's only one mediator between
God's people and God himself, and that's Christ Jesus, our
Lord, right? There's one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all. Gave himself a ransom for every
one of his sheep, didn't he? so that not one would be lost.
Praise God. Praise his mighty name. So they
were praying to Jesus who had hung on that cruel cross, paying
the price for their redemption by the shedding of his precious,
precious blood. And not only their redemption,
but the redemption of all the elect through all the ages. Oh
my. Brother Jim, any marvel were
included in that number? That's amazing, isn't it? We're
included in that number by the grace and mercy of God. I love
that Psalm, praise God, he included me. You like that? Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my, it's just, it's amazing. And our Lord, when we saw that
he created the heaven and earth, he didn't need no counselor,
he didn't need no help, did he? He didn't need no one. Listen
to what Revelation 4.11 says, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive
glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. Do you know
even we were created for the Lord's pleasure? Isn't that amazing? Do you know that God's people
are jewels in His eyes and jewels in His crown? My, you feel like a jewel? Well, we don't, do we? But we
are. Oh, it's amazing, I'll tell you. Now let's read verses 24
to 31 again. And note our brethren in the
text adored the supremacy and greatness of our Lord. Look how
they adored the supremacy and the greatness of our Lord. And
when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God
with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God. Oh, they're just
going to magnify his supremacy here, his sovereignty, which
has made heaven and earth. and the sea, and all that is
in them is, who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said,
Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered
together against the Lord and against his Christ. for a truth
against thy holy child Jesus whom thou has anointed both Herod
and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles, that being the Romans, but any
Gentile too, and the people of Israel were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. See they couldn't do anything outside God's permissive
will. Isn't that interesting? And they couldn't do anything
outside of God's permissive will. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word. Now, remember what they're alluding
here to is the fact that they were threatened twice to not
preach Christ anymore. And now they're praying for boldness,
which every gospel preacher prays for. And pray for that for us,
because we need boldness. And only God can give that. That
they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thine hand to heal, that
signs and wonders may be done in the name of the Holy Child
Jesus. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken, and they were assembled together, and they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they speak the word
of God with boldness. Look at that. My, do you know
the psalmist wrote this? Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
that did he in heaven, in the earth, in the seas, in all the
deep places. That's Psalm 135, 6. Do you know
God's still doing that? Whatever he pleases. You hear
some people talk and God can't do nothing unless they allow
him to. Well, let me tell you, that's
not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible does whatever
he pleases. I'll read that again. Whatsoever the Lord pleased,
And think of this, it pleased God to save us. If you're a believer,
it pleased God to save you. That's amazing. Whatsoever the
Lord pleased, that did he in heaven and in the earth, in the
seas and all deep places. And then Psalm, if you want to
turn here, Psalm 115. Let's turn there quick, Psalm
115. It's a beautiful portion of scripture. Psalm 115. Tell you a little story about
this. A preacher friend of mine, his son had just been killed
in an accident at his work. And
some guy came up to him and said, where's your God now? Could you
imagine that? His son had just been killed
minutes before. You talk about hate for God's
preachers, and this guy said, come up and say, where's your
God now? And this is the very answer he gave him right here,
he told me. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name,
give glory for thy mercy and for thy church's sake. Wherefore
should the heathen say, where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens.
This was my buddy's answers. Answer right here. But our God
is in the heavens, and he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
That's the God of the Bible. Does it sound like he needs his
arm twisted? Does it even sound like man can twist his arm? You know, we get together and
we pray and we say, Lord, if it be your will. We ask him to
heal someone, we ask him, but if it be thy will. We're not
doing that to twist God's arm. A lot of people in religion,
they think, well, if we gang up on God, and he'll change his
mind. No, that's just so foolish. Just lift it up, lift up the
person, lift up the situation, say, Lord, if it be thy will,
please, I beg you, if it be your will. See, that's just submitting
to our king, isn't it? That's submitting to him. That's
submitting our life to Him, that's submitting our family to Him,
our friends, just give them all to Him. And He can do whatever
He pleases. Oh, our prayer is that God would
even give people as this message goes forth, give them the grace
to embrace Christ, embrace these truths, right? And trust Christ,
the only Savior for sinners. My, this God-honoring truth. Our Lord Jesus Christ does whatever
He pleases. And it's all for His good pleasure.
All things were created by Him for His good pleasure. And He
does whatever He wants. All things are working together
for the good, for His people. We don't understand. We don't understand. I remember
Sister Marge talking to me about the cancer she had. And she said,
Wayne, I thank God for it. It brought me closer to Christ.
My, that's amazing. That's grace, right? That's grace
given. And don't worry. You think, I
don't have that grace. If you need it, God will give
it when you need it. When you need it, He'll give
it to you. He will. He'll give it to His people.
So this prayer is recorded for our learning. And we see that
the blood-washed children of God, those being redeemed by
the blood of Christ, they're giving all the glory to God,
aren't they? Let's read verses 25 to 26 now. Now they're going
to quote David. And think of this glorious truth.
The Holy Spirit moved Luke to pen these words. His Luke clearly
stated that God is the one who spake by the mouth of his servant
David. Look what it says here. And that who refers back to the
Lord Jesus Christ who made heavens and earth. And by the mouth of
David, the same Holy Spirit made David say these words. So the same Holy Spirit made
Luke write these words down for our recorded, to be recorded.
And the same Holy Spirit is the one who gave David these words.
Isn't that wonderful? Look what it says here. Who by
the mouth of thy servant David hath said, why did the heathen
rage? And the people imagined vain
things. So, look at that. The kings of the earth stood
up against, stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ. They're against his
Messiah. The kings of the earth stood up against him. Didn't
want nothing to do with him. And this prayer of the early
New Testament saints clearly points out that the sufferings
of Christ, Jesus our Lord, was purposed by God, was prophesied
by God, and was executed by God. It happened all according to
His will and purpose. I heard, I was talking to a fellow
yesterday. A good friend of mine, he said, well, you know, if the
Jews had have accepted Christ, then everything else would have
fallen into place. And I said, God didn't go to plan B, my friend.
And he goes, what do you mean? And I said, it was always God's
will and purpose that the gospel go to the Gentiles. I said, I
used to believe that, but there's no plan B in God's purpose. Christ was sent into this world
to save sinners, wasn't he? Jews and Gentiles, right? The gospel must go forth from
Jerusalem into the world. It has to. There's no plan B. God has a people in Israel and
God has a people in the Gentiles. Both Jew and Gentile. And they're
called the body of Christ. Isn't that wonderful? And praise
God. If you're one of them, It's all
according to God's purpose and plan. Oh my, it's wonderful. My, so the same Holy Spirit of
God moved David to speak these words. And then the saints in
our texts, now they're quoting that. Now they're quoting those
words in application to the Lord Jesus Christ. So David spoke
of Christ. He spoke of the Messiah. His
hope was the Lord Jesus Christ, because he was hoping in the
Messiah, wasn't he? Well, who's the Messiah? It's the Lord Jesus
Christ who's the Messiah. It's wonderful. So this shows
us plain proof that our God is sovereign over the Old Testament
saints and over the New Testament saints. He's sovereign over everything,
isn't he? Oh my. And let us praise God
for how uniformly these holy men of old, both in their prayers
to the Lord and their conversation with men, always kept in view
the Lord's purpose and decrees. Always kept that in mind concerning
the redemption by the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of the threatening
which they went through earlier. They said, you're not to preach. You're not to preach Christ anymore. And then Peter said, well, who
do we obey, God or you? And then they said, you're not
to preach Christ anymore. And then they released them.
They couldn't hold them because God, in his sovereign plan and
purpose, they were going to be released, weren't they? It's wonderful to see God's plan
and purpose working out right before us in the text. That's
why I love this book, Acts, because we're going to see the church
in action. But we're going to see the unfolding of God's plan
and purpose. It's absolutely wonderful. So these courageous men and women
kept their eye of faith on their new master, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Messiah. And we see they're all in one
accord. They bowed down to God's sovereign purpose and will, placing
their complete trust in him, just as we do. by the grace of
God. Now let's read verses 24 to 28.
And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to
God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which has
made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is,
who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, Why did the
heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings
of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against his Christ. For a truth against
thy holy child Jesus, whom thou has anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were
gathered together. For to do whatsoever thy hand
and thy counsel determined to be done. So again, we see the
saints acknowledging that Christ is God. We see the saints bowing
down to God's sovereign purpose because they say, for to do whatsoever
thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. They're bowing
down to God's sovereignty in their lives, which is what we
do by the grace of God. And these men and women confidently
believe that both their enemies were completely, totally, absolutely
in the hands of God. You ever think of that? The enemies
of God's church are in God's hands. They can't do anything unless
He allows it. Nothing. They may roar for a
while, and then He's going to put them away. But there's a purpose in that
roaring, isn't there? Oh, they said, crucify Him! Crucify
Him! They hung him on a cross. Thought,
we killed him now. He cried, it is finished. And
he rose again the third day for our justification. Heaven redeemed
his people from all their sins by the shedding of his precious
blood. And our sins were imputed to Christ and his perfect righteousness
is imputed to us. Praise be to God. They were doing
what God determined before to be done and they didn't even
know it. Isn't that amazing? Do you know
God uses the wicked to accomplish his own purpose? He's not the
author of sin. Sin's in us. How do I know that
God uses the operations of the wicked to accomplish his purpose?
Look what Joseph's brothers did to him. And he said, you meant it for
evil, but God meant it for good. Look at those folks saying, crucify
him, crucify him. They took him. By wicked hands,
it says they crucified him. They nailed him to that tree.
And he gave up the ghost, willingly gave up his life. But look what
happened at Calvary's cross. The redemption of all the elect
of all the ages. God meant it, or men meant it
for evil, but God turned it out for good, didn't he? For our good, brother, eh? Oh my! Behold the wonder,
work, and sovereign God of the universe, beloved. Behold Him,
working all things out according to His purpose and plan. Nothing
escapes His absolute rule. Again, the purpose of God is
the salvation of His people by His dear Son. And remember that our sovereign
God, He controls the rage of the ungodly. You imagine what
it would be like if God didn't restrain young godly. You imagine
what it'd be like if God didn't restrain us. Oh, my. Now consider these words, look
at these words in verses 27 and 28. For a truth against thy holy
child, Jesus, whom thou has anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. All these ungodly people, Herod, he was a king
in Israel, Pilate was a Roman governor, the Gentiles all the
Roman soldiers, the Jews who were gathered together against
Christ, the unbelieving Jews. We see that God Himself spoke
through the mouth of David that there was a day coming when He
would gather together them all together. And this truth was
prophesied in Psalm 2. Listen to what happens and what
is proclaimed in Psalm 2 verses 4 to 6, right after these other
things are are proclaimed. Scripture says, He that sitteth
in heaven shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision,
which means scornfully mocks them. Then shall he speak unto
them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet
have I set my king upon thy holy hill of Zion. And that's Christ.
Christ is set, right? Christ is preached right now.
Christ is being preached and wherever faithful gospel preachers
preaching the gospel. Christ being set. He's been setting
high up, right? Oh, my. Wicked hands again crucified
the Lord of glory. They were full of uncontrollable
hate against the Lord Jesus Christ. And our Heavenly Father delivered
His Son into their hands for the salvation of our souls. That's what He did. He delivered
His Son to save us from our sins by the shedding of the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they mocked Christ, they
mocked the Creator. They spit in his face, they scourged him,
they nailed him to that shameful cross, and they killed the prince
alive. Scripture says that. But we see here that these early
New Testament saints, they lifted up their voice in one accorded
prayer, saying that these ungodly men, they were gathered together
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. And that worked out for our salvation,
didn't it, beloved? Man meant it for evil, and God
turns it for good. And I'll tell you what, there
ain't a saint of God who won't say, that worked out for my good. They killed my savior, but he
saved my soul. Praise his mighty name. What
love drove him to that cross, beloved, for his people? What
love! My. God's decrees from eternity,
there is nothing, God's decrees from eternity, there is nothing
that comes to pass in time but what he has determined before
to be done. Either by the Jews or the Gentiles
or by Herod or Pontius Pilate, All happened according to the
secret will of God. Remember, He made a covenant
with Christ. The counsel of peace was between
them both. Our peace with God comes through the Lord Jesus
Christ, doesn't it? There's no other way we have
peace with God except through Christ and His shed blood. And
what these wicked men did, God designed for good. and hereby
bought the redemption and the salvation of a number that no
man can number, that now sing in heaven, and when we go to
glory, we're singing in heaven, worthy is the lamb that was slain
to receive glory and honor and power and blessing. Why? Because he saved us from our
sins, beloved, and we're going to shout in glory. Isn't that
wonderful? Oh my! Turn if you would to Romans
chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Just one book over. Romans chapter
5. Oh my! Oh my! Look at this verse 8 to
10. Look at this. But God commanded
his love toward us. Paul called us the ungodly a
few chapters back. He said Christ gave his life
for the ungodly. Look at this, isn't this wonderful?
God commanded his love. Well his love is, his love is
manifest in the death of Christ on Calvary's cross for us, isn't
it? That's the greatest manifestation of love this world has ever seen.
But God commanded his love toward us, and that while we were yet
sinners, we weren't even born yet. But God knew we were going
to be born, and we're being born sinners, right? Christ died for
us, much more than being now justified
by what? What's to say there, beloved?
His blood. His blood that was shed for us. We shall. There's that little
word. It's not maybe. It's definitive,
isn't it? We shall be saved from wrath
through him. We will never face the wrath
of God, beloved, because it fell upon Christ in our room and place.
Amen. Praise the Lord. He is so good. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more
being reconciled, we shall be saved, right, by his life. Remember, he lived the perfect
life, fulfilled the law of God for us, beloved, and shed his
precious blood to justify us before God. All we can say is
hallelujah, what a savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. My oh
my, he's amazing. So let we who are the redeemed
of God rejoice. God has not changed, and he never
will. He can't. He can't. And I love that little word,
shall. We're seeing it everywhere, aren't we? We're seeing it. What a word! Shall. I love it. It's popping up everywhere in
my studies now. Oh, my. My, oh, my. Our Lord is on the throne of
power. That's where He is right now.
And these early New Testament saints, they are acknowledging
that, aren't they? They're giving glory to the only
one who's worthy of glory. The only one who's worthy of
praise. So that we who are the redeemed of the Lord pray in
the same manner. Oh, when we realize that the risen Christ
of God, the very one who we love and worship, the true and living
God that we bow down to in prayer, has an eternal will and a purpose,
which is being carried out right now, still today. and will be
until the day the last sheep is saved." And then it's all over, right? Then it's all over, beloved.
Do we have physical problems? Yep. Some of our dearly loved
brethren going through cancer, or pains from recent surgeries,
memory loss, financial struggles, anxiety, depression, or anything
else pertaining to the flesh. We have the same problems that
people in the world have, don't we? But let we who are the redeemed
of the Lord place our complete trust, no matter what we're going
through, in Jesus Christ, our Lord. And rest in the fact that
he is absolutely sovereign. I'll tell you. What joy floods
my soul when I know that not even a bird falls to the ground
anywhere in this world. Places I've never been and you've
never been. And not a bird falls to the ground
without Him knowing. Not a speck of dust floats in
the air without Him knowing. That's our Savior. That's our
Redeemer. Let us rejoice in Him. And let
us keep this fact knowing that our risen Savior still rules
and reigns over this whole universe and everything in it. Let us
just pray to Him for grace and peace and comfort in our times
of troubles. Now let's read verses 29 to 30.
And now Lord behold their threatenings and grant unto thy servants with
all boldness They may speak thy word by stretching forth thine
hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the
name of thy holy child, Jesus. We see in the early New Testament
that the saints knew that Christ Jesus was their protector. They
knew this, that he was able to subdue their enemies. They're
asking him to subdue their enemies. Oh my, who were the Lord's enemies? Well, those who had threatened
them were. And you know our Lord is able
to subdue all our enemies, no matter what they are. He subdued our biggest enemy,
didn't He? Sin. Right? One day He's going to
take it away from us. We're never going to sin again
when we get the glory. My oh my. My, so look what these faithful
Christians pray. Grant thy servants that with
all boldness they may speak thy word. And I don't believe there's
a greater honor than preaching God's word. I'll tell you what,
Jean Harmon, a preacher friend of mine, said I'd have to step
down to be President of the United States. I believe that. It's an honor to preach God's
word. I don't take it lightly, it's
an honor. But it's also a great honor that is bestowed upon chosen
congregations all of us who have been called out of darkness under
the preaching of the gospel of God's free grace to support the
preaching of our Lord's gospel with our time, with our gifts,
with our talents, with our money, with our prayers. I covet your
prayers, beloved. I covet your prayers more than
anything. Please pray for me. we preachers need your prayers
and we who are the people of God, we need the saints praying
for us, don't we? Pray for one another. Oh, just
lift one another up. And we see that these early New
Testament saints also prayed for manifestation of our Lord's
power into the preaching of the gospel by stretching forth thine
hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done by the name
of thy holy child Jesus. Now, during the apostolic age,
the preaching of the gospel was accompanied by physical healings
and many signs and wonders to prove that those who preached
the word of God were sent by him. And these early saints did
not have the New Testament, and those who preached the true gospel,
they had the Old Testament, didn't they? They preached from the
scriptures, didn't they? They preached from the Old Testament, beloved.
And they use these holy scriptures to point their hearers to Christ. But during that transition period
from Judaism to Christianity, our Lord confirmed his gospel
message by the power and healing and by performing many signs
and wonders. But beloved, we don't need signs
and wonders anymore. You know why? Because we have
his word. We have his word. Now, does God
still do miracles? Absolutely, doesn't he? Every
time he saves a lost person, that's a miracle, isn't it? That's
a miracle. It's a miracle to me. It's a
miracle to you. God saved me. And God still does heal, doesn't
he? According to his will, right? He still does that. My, but we
don't need signs and wonders, we have a complete Bible now.
The writers of the New Testament revealed the truths of the Gospel
that were written by the writers of the Old Testament as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit of God. And the same Spirit had
Peter and James and John and Paul pen the words that they
penned. Now this does not mean that the
preaching of the gospel isn't accompanied by our Lord's sovereign
power, because if our preaching isn't made effectual by the power
of God the Holy Spirit, then no one will be delivered from
the prison house of sin. I can't save anyone. My words
can't save anyone. But God the Holy Spirit can use
the preaching of his gospel to save sinners. And he does so
by his amazing grace and power. Listen to what the Apostle Paul
wrote in Romans chapter 1. He said, I'm not ashamed of the
gospel of Christ, for it's the power of God unto salvation.
It's the power of God. It's the dynamite of God in the
Greek. To everyone that believeth. To the Jew first and also to
the Greek. For therein is the righteousness of God revealed
from faith to faith, as is written, the just shall live by faith. God-given faith, we live by God-given
faith, beloved. And we see that the members of
the early New Testament church closed their prayer with these
words, by the name of thy holy child, Jesus. They prayed, the
Lord protect us from our enemies. Grant thy servants boldness to
preach your gospel. Place your healing hand upon
those who you are pleased to heal. Perform signs and wonders
all by the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thy holy child, Jesus. And we're gonna close. I'm just
gonna read verse 31 and we're gonna be done. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together. And they
are all filled with the Holy Ghost. And they speak the word
of God with boldness. My gracious, gracious Heavenly Father. Oh, thank you. Thank you for
saving the souls of your people, Lord Jesus. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for
teaching us as you taught these New Testament saints that Jesus
Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father, revealing him
to us. As Joseph revealed himself to
his brethren, we thank thee, Lord Jesus, you revealed yourself
to us. Oh, we pray that as the messages
go forth from this place that you would use them to draw on
your lost sheep. There is no room for boasting,
Lord, except to boast in thee. And we seek to glorify you and
honor you and praise you in all that we say and do here. Thank
you for giving us this place to gather. Thank you for having
us be able to gather in freedom. without fear of any repercussions.
But Lord, you know that even if there was repercussions, we'd
still gather together. We'd still seek to worship you
and praise you for the wondrous salvation that you've wrought
in us, for us, by thy perfect sin atoning work. Glory to you,
Lord Jesus. And let us marvel that we love
you only because you first loved us, in Jesus' name.