Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the very portion that Brother Neil read, Acts chapter 4. Last
week we finished off chapter 3, and now we're going to venture
into chapter 4. The setting of this chapter is
the lame man is being made whole, and what a picture of us. What
a picture of us, we who have been made whole by the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We were dead in trespasses and
sins and now we're born again and given faith to believe on
Christ. Redeemed. The reason we're given that faith
and we're born again is because we were redeemed 2,000 years
ago at Calvary's Cross. Isn't that wondrous? That's just
wondrous. So, Peter and John, they had
walked into the temple, and there was a man there, big and a lame
man, a man lame from his mother's womb, the scripture told us,
and he said, in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up and walk. And
he said, silver and gold have I none, but such as I have I
give thee, in the name of Jesus Christ. And I said, rise up and
walk. And beloved, that man walked up, and he didn't just, he didn't
sit and get up and start walking, he was leaping and jumping up
and down and praising God for the mercy he'd received. And
then it says he was clinging to the apostles as they went
into the temple. And there was a whole bunch of
folks there. We're gonna find out that out
of that group of people, 5,000 men were saved. 5,000. So here's the setting
now. Now, the Sadducees send the captain
of the temple over and come with him. And they hear Peter preaching
Christ and they're grieved. They are grieved. Remember before the Lord saved
us? And think of now. We're no longer grieved by the
preaching of the gospel. We love it. That's a work of
the Holy Spirit of God. That's a mighty work. If you
love the gospel today, if you're here sitting here and loving
the gospel, praise God for his mercy. Praise God the Holy Spirit
for regenerating us and teaching us the things of Christ, giving
us faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. It's wonderful. My, and these 5,000 men have
received the same faith as we have. My oh my. So in Acts chapter
3, we saw the sovereign power of God at work, didn't we? This
lame man, man lame from his mother's womb, never walked in his life,
leaping, jumping, and praising God. Absolutely amazing. And then Peter preached that
sermon to all who, and remember too, the Lord gathered all these
people together. And amongst all those people,
we see he had 5,000 of his elect. 5,000 of his sheep. And when they went
in that temple, they had no idea they were God's sheep. Because look what it says in
verse 4. How many of them which heard the word believed? And the number of the men was
about 5,000. 5,000 men. What an amazing blessing and
honor that God gave us a desire to study this wonderful book,
the Bible. And that now we get to go through
this book of the Acts of the Apostles and we get to see the
wondrous works of God. And we love it. We love it. We have a desire to learn about
it. We have a desire now to examine
these gospel church together when so many have no care for
any of the scriptures at all. Praise God that he's given us
a hunger and a thirst after righteousness, after Christ. Praise God that
he's given us hearing ears and seeing eyes to look to Christ.
When so many around us, friends, family members, have absolutely
no desire to look into the scriptures. Again, in the first part of chapter
four, we see that God, the Holy Spirit, reveals to us through
Luke, who is the writer, not the author. He's the writer.
The Holy Spirit is the author. And he reveals the hateful attitude
of self-righteous religionists towards the gospel. And remember this too. that there's
nothing new under the sun. Not only does our God never change,
but unless God does a miracle of grace, man will never change. But if God rots a miracle of
grace in us, we're never the same, are we? Amen. We're never the same. We are
never the same again. But see, man doesn't change through
generations. We're still dead in trespasses
and sins. Babies are being born every day
in this world, and they're being born dead in trespasses and sins. My oh my. So this same hateful attitude
has been the same in every generation, including the current one. So
what are these things recorded for? Well, they're recorded for
our learning, beloved. This is set forth before us for
our learning, to equip us as we go through this world, to
see that persecution doesn't just come to us, but it came
to our brothers and sisters in Christ, of all through the ages. And think of the amount of saints
that have read this book, the Bible, and read even the Acts
of the Apostles, and being encouraged by it, being uplifted by it. as God, the Holy Spirit, reveals to us the truth that are set
in these words. Let's read verses one to four
here. And as they speak unto the people, so Peter and John
are still speaking to the people, they're still preaching to them,
the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came upon them. Here they come. Here comes the
religious crew. Here they come. And look what
it says in verse two. And the Holy Spirit's recorded
this for us, being grieved. They're grieved in their hearts,
beloved. Why are they grieved? Well, they're grieved that Peter
and John taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection
from the dead. I ask you, beloved, saying to
God, are you not thankful that resurrection comes through the
Lord Jesus Christ? Amen, right? That's the only
place it comes! And they're grieved about that.
They're grieved about it. These religious Pharisees and
Sadducees and priests are grieved, it says, that they taught the
people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
That means that only through Christ can the dead be raised. Only through Christ, because
he rose, we're gonna rise. So Christ's life is just as important
as his death, which is just as important as his resurrection.
And just as important, see, his humility in coming down to this
world is just as important as the life that he lived perfectly
for us. and that death that he lived in our place, and then
being risen from the grave, the scripture says he's raised for
our justification. It all has to happen, doesn't it? And now
he's seated at the right hand of the Father, and he's mediating
for us. So in order for his mediatorial
office to be fulfilled, he had to go back up to heaven as the
God-man, as something he wasn't when he came down. My, oh my. Isn't that wonderful? So they're preaching, they're
just preaching what every gospel preacher preaches, that the resurrection
from the dead only comes through Christ. Only comes through Christ. Didn't he not say, I'm the resurrection
and the life? He that believeth in me shall
never die. Well, we're going to die physically,
but what he's meaning is we're going to live for eternity. with
him in glory, his elect. And then it says, and they laid
hands on them and put them in a hole until the next day, for
it was now eventide. Many of them which heard the
word believed, and the number of the men was about 5,000. So we see here that the holy
temple is in chaos. amongst the leaders, not amongst
Peter and John and the people. They're listening and Peter and
John are preaching, but there's chaos in the leadership. What
in the world is going on? The religious who's who, right?
And we shouldn't be surprised by this because the religious
who's who was against Christ right from the beginning. He
came unto his own and his own received him not, right? The Sadducees, the Pharisees,
they wanted nothing to do with him. But now here's the lame man.
He's been healed. He's right in front of them.
He's been healed. And he's leaping in praise in
the Lord Jesus. Well, thousands of Jews were
listening to Peter and John preach the gospel. Preach that only
through Christ is the resurrection. And we know there's thousands
of them because 5,000 men believed. And take note of these two. who were faithful apostles. And
what did they speak about? They preached Christ. They didn't
mess around with anything else. They just preached Christ. They
said the most needful thing amongst their heroes, Christ. He's the most needful thing for
us, right? He's the one needful thing. Do you know in all our
life, in all our dealings with this life, Christ is the most
needful thing? No matter what circumstance we find ourselves
in, he is the most needful thing. That's why Paul said, set your
mind on things above, like we saw in the last week. Set your
mind on things, set your affection on things above, where Christ,
where he dwells. So these religious rulers, they've
been stunned and confounded at the great outpouring of God the
Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. And by the conversion, remember
there was 3,000 that were saved on the day of Pentecost, 3,000
men. And now we see another 5,000. My, oh, my. But look in verses three and
four. We see that the captain of the temple and the Sadducees
came for them. They came for them. They strictly
came there to lay hold of them. Look at this. And they laid hands
on them and put them in hold into the next day, for it was
now eventide. Calibate many of them which heard
the word believed." Oh, look at the power of God, the Holy
Spirit at work. Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by what?
The word of God, right? What comes first, faith or regeneration? Regeneration. These men are born
again, and they've been given the gift of faith just like we
have. They've been made will in a day of God's power. You
see anywhere where they said, bow your head and repeat this
prayer? It's not in the text, is it? See, that stuff is foolishness. God did the saving. These folks
didn't move a muscle. The Lord saved them. They believed
what they heard. My, oh, my. How many of them
which heard the word believed? And the number of the men was
about 5,000. These Sadducees, they quickly
rally their forces against the apostles. Oh my. Just as they had against Christ.
And here they are, they've attempted to silence the gospel by crucifying
Christ. Little did they know that the
gospel's now gonna go forth everywhere. It's gonna go. And so, in another
attempt now to silence the gospel, they put Peter and John into
bonds. overnight, because it's late
at night and they think, well, we're just going to shut them
up. We're going to lock them up.
We're going to put them in bounds. Why? Just for preaching the gospel.
That's all they're doing. They're not causing a disturbance.
They're just preaching the gospel. The only one who's disturbed
is the self-righteous Pharisees. We see there's other people rejoicing. 5,000 of them, they're now rejoicing,
aren't they? My, oh my. They attempt to silence the gospel,
but we see in verse 4 that their efforts, their efforts were futile. Because it says here, many of
them which heard the word believed. And the number of the men was
about 5,000. So here they're trying to silence the gospel,
and the Lord saves 5,000 people. What's going to happen now? Oh
my, there's going to be a lot more people talking about Jesus,
isn't there? Yup, they already got 3,000 they can't handle,
now they got another 5,000. Oh my, isn't the Lord wonderful? And then they go home and they
tell their families, and who knows, the Lord saved one or
two in the family, and you just doubled that amount, haven't
you? Oh my, it's amazing. That's why we just pray as the
message goes out of here and God does it with it, whatever
he pleases. Oh my, just let it fly. Right? Just let it go. My oh my. So we see again that,
and this is all according to God's plan and purpose because
they are now going to be bought before the rulers. So this is
all part of God's plan and purpose. They're not freaking out. They
get put into bonds. Hey, you're gonna put me in jail
for preaching the gospel? I'm gonna preach to people in
jail then, right? Oh my, I'll tell you what, got
a whole new group. Remember Paul and Silas in prison? He started preaching the gospel
and then flip in jail. What must I do to be saved? Oh
my, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
And that's the word today, right? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shall be saved. Look to Christ. Don't wait till
tomorrow. Tomorrow might not come. Look
to Christ today. And just as always, the power
of darkness are confounded by the prince of light. So let we
who are the redeemed take heart for this record of the first
persecution of God's servants And let us be assured that Christ
cannot fail. He will take out of whatever
we go through and He will make it for His glory and for our
good. He's going to give Peter an opportunity to preach the
gospel to the leaders of Israel. Now they might not like what
he hears, but they're going to hear it. And let us look and
see how they do it. They do it by the power of God
the Holy Spirit. I can't get up here and preach
without God going before me. If you're witnessing to a friend
or family member, ask the Lord to go before you. Ask Him to
soften their hearts. My, prepare their hearts to hear
the word. And our God is, He's King. He's
absolutely rules this world in absolute sovereignty. And scripture
says he must reign till he hath put all his enemies under his
feet. And we see here, Peter and John,
they're arrested for preaching the gospel of salvation through
Christ in him alone. No other reason. No other reason. My oh my. Brother Dan say you
and I were in the temple and they come up, we're preaching
to Christ and they arrest us and that's what happened, they
just threw him in jail. Just because you're preaching the
gospel, no other reason. Just, there you go. We don't
like what you're doing, we're gonna shut you up. But see, one
thing that they did not know, they may bind up the servants
of God But God is not bound, beloved. Praise his mighty name,
he not bound. 5,000 souls are ushered into
the kingdom of God. Oh my, you may bind God's servants,
you may try to shut God's servants up, his people, but his Holy
Spirit is still working mightily. and move and save in whom God
wills, when He wills. And these 5,000 men, this was
their ordained time of love. They were ordained to believe. Scripture tells us, and we're
going to see later on in the books of Acts, as many as were ordained
to eternal life believed. Why do we believe? Because God
ordained us to eternal life. Isn't that wonderful? Praise
His mighty name. My! He didn't ordain us to attain wrath,
beloved, but to attain mercy through Christ. Paul said, I've
obtained mercy. Each one of us, we've obtained
mercy, beloved. It's wonderful. And we see here, again, they're
arrested just for preaching salvation through Christ. Just for preaching
that you must be redeemed by the blood of Christ. That resurrection
only comes through Christ, just trust him and believe. What great boldness God gave
these men. Remember, think of this. Just
a few, a little while before, Peter ran when a young maiden
asked him, do you know Christ? Well, I don't know him, no, no. Three times he denied Christ. And here he is. Now, remember,
Peter, do you love me? Feed my sheep. Peter, do you
love me? Feed my sheep. Peter, do you love me? Never
mentioned his sin at all. Peter, do you love me? Feed my
sheep. What's Peter doing? He's feeding
God's sheep, isn't he? God the Holy Spirit's made him
bold, and he's preaching the gospel now. And just as every
great preacher, every gospel preacher is sent by God, we preach
to everyone who's there. And God does the work, doesn't
he? Isn't that amazing? God's mighty
power saved 5,000 men. And think of this, too. We see
here that the principal point of of their doctrine on this
occasion was the resurrection of Christ, that they preached
resurrection through Christ and Him alone. That was the principal
point while they were talking, and this just grieved the Sadducees,
and it grieved the religious temple leaders. My oh my, they
didn't even know who they were talking about. The long-awaited
Messiah had come and gone. And they're grieved about hearing
about it, and they don't even know. They're in the dark, aren't
they? They're still in the dark, beloved.
Do you know you can't even go over to Israel and evangelize?
They put you in jail. Oh my. It's forbidden to proselyte
in most of the Middle East countries. And the other countries, the
Muslim countries, they'll just either kill you or throw you
in jail and leave you there and torture you. Oh my. But does it stop God's
people from going over there and wanting to talk to people
about Christ? Nope, not at all. Isn't that
wonderful? My oh my. Pray for Sister Dee's Grandson,
David, he's in the jungles of Ecuador preaching the gospel. My, oh my. Proclaiming Christ. Left all the stuff in this country
just to go down there and preach the gospel to the natives down
there. That's a calling, isn't it? My,
oh my. So with great boldness, these
two men bear faithful witness to the Lord Jesus Christ right
in the midst of God's enemies. How do we know they were God's
enemies? They're grieved at what they're preaching. They're grieved
about it. That they taught and preached
through Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And take note,
too, that Peter and John, they're not sent to meddle in social
affairs, are they? They're not sent to, think of
this, they're not even sent to shut down the gin joints and
the drinking establishments in Jerusalem, are they? They're
sent to preach the gospel. Now, when the Lord saves people,
things will change, won't they? by the power of God and by the
power of God alone. Isn't that amazing? Oh, no, they
weren't out there preaching social reform or anything like that. They were preaching Christ, beloved. My, oh, my. Again, they didn't
even attempt to shut down the dens of vice in Jerusalem. They
just preached Christ. Preach Christ. That's what's
most important. That's the one thing needful.
You see, men can clean up and women can clean up and still
be dead in trespasses and sins and have no hope. They just become
self-righteous. And I know I was one of them.
Just become self-righteous. And oh, when God delivers you
from that, oh, praise his mighty name. And now we find out about liberty,
don't we, Brother Zane? True liberty, which we've been
looking at in Galatians, haven't we? True liberty. I'll tell you what, if the Son
sets you free, you're free indeed. I'll tell you. So they were declaring,
think of this too, Peter and John were eyewitnesses of Christ.
They saw Him. They heard Him. They walked with
Him. They talked with Him. John laid his head on the breast
of Christ. and heard the heartbeat of God,
the God-man. My, oh my. I remember laying
my head on my brother's breast when I was little. I always wanted
to get in bed and just crawl and just put my head on their
chest and you could hear their heartbeat. John, he heard the heartbeat
of God, the God-man. My. You know what else they were
preaching? They were preaching the death
of Christ as the sinner's only substitute. How do we know this? We'll look
at Acts chapter three. Go over in verses 13 to 15. My oh my. Look at this. The God of Abraham
and of Isaac and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified
his Son, whom ye delivered up. There, he was delivered up for
our sin, wasn't he? He was delivered up to be our
substitute. and denied him in the presence of Pilate when he
was determined to let him go. But she denied the Holy One.
What a title. And the just. Amazing titles. He's the only just one. And desired
a murder to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life,
another title of our king, whom God hath raised from the dead
wherever we are witnesses. They also, we know from our text,
they preached the resurrection of Christ as the representative
of God's elect. In Ephesians, Paul wrote this,
but God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith
he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved, and hath raised
us up together, together with Christ, and made us to sit together
in heavenly places in Christ. Paul wrote that 2,000 years ago. We're already seated in heavenly
places in Christ. I believe it. Scripture declares
it. We believe it, don't we? See,
God's outside of time and space. He's seen the end from the beginning.
My oh my. And then they also preach the
exaltation of Christ as Lord over all. Look at Acts chapter
2. Turn to Acts chapter 2. And look at verses 32 to 36, Acts chapter 2, verses
32 to 36. Therefore, let all the house
of Israel, oh, I jumped to, look at that, I jumped to 36, verse
32. This Jesus hath God raised up, where we are all witnesses.
He had appeared to the apostles. Therefore, being by the right
hand of God exalted in heaven received of the Father the promise
of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which ye now see and
hear. For David is not ascended into
the heavens, but he saith himself, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit
thou on my right hand till I make thy foes thy footstool. Let all the house of Israel know
assuredly that God had made this same Jesus whom ye have crucified,
both Lord and Christ." See, they preach this. These are the aspects
of preaching the gospel. And then they also, do you know
they also preach the second coming of Christ? Stay there, or go
over one more chapter, Acts chapter 3, and let's read verses 19 to
21. Remember when we looked at this,
we saw that the time, when the scripture says the times of refreshing,
that's the second coming of Christ, that's when it's all over, says this, in verses 19 to 21. Repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. And here's that
little word again, he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was
preached unto you, whom the heaven must receive
until the times of restitution of all things which God has spoken
by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.
When's Christ coming back? Exactly when God has planned.
And no man knows the hour, the day, or the season. God knows
it, though. That's good enough for us, right?
We're just going to rest in His sovereignty while we're here?
He may come back in our lifetime, He may not come back in our lifetime.
But we're going to trust Him all the same, aren't we? Oh my. And then, God has promised salvation
and eternal life to all who trust Christ. Again, look at verse
19 of Acts chapter Chapter 3, repent ye therefore and be converted
that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing
shall come from the presence of the Lord. And then look at
verse 26 in that same chapter. It says, unto you first God having
raised up his son sent him to bless you in turning away every
one of you from his iniquities. My oh my, we've been turned from
our iniquities and we will one day be with God forever. or promised eternal life through
Christ. My, are you excited? Won't it be wonderful? My, to
leave this old life, be in the presence of the King forever?
Will we never have to battle sin or never have to struggle
against anything ever again in our lives? Amen, brother. Hallelujah. It's wonderful. My,
oh my. My oh my. And we see in the text
that Brother Neil read, verses 1 to 14 of this chapter, that
the preaching of the gospel absolutely infuriated the religious rulers,
these self-righteous, false religious Jews. They were in positions
of authority over the Jewish people. And the priests and the
captain of the temple and the Sagessaries came upon them. And
they were grieved at what they heard. See, that's what makes
us rejoice. Oh my, the greatest news we've
ever heard in our lives makes the unbeliever grieve. What a blessing that God has
made us to rejoice over the gospel. Because left to ourselves, we'd
be in the same spot as them. The only one who made us to differ
is God, and God alone. Praise his mighty name, right?
Praise his mighty name. Why were they grieved? Well,
the preaching of the true gospel of Christ exposed their false
doctrine, didn't it? It exposed their traditions,
their religious lies of do this and live, instead of look to
Christ and live. The preaching of the true gospel
of God's mercy through Christ and through the merits of Christ
alone proved that God had not accepted their sinful attempts
to justify themselves. See, they thought they were justified
before God because, number one, they were Jews, and number two,
they supposedly followed the law of Moses and they followed
everything that the Sadducees and the Pharisees told them.
No, they didn't. They were lawbreakers just like
us, weren't they? Oh my. In their sinful attempts
they had tried to be made righteous by trying to keep the law of
Moses and the gospel exposes this as a false hope. Just like
the gospel exposes any works of man to gain merit and favor
with God as a false hope. Praise God our hope is in Christ. The only true hope for sinners.
And that's because God gave us that, right? Isn't it wonderful? My, it makes you want to shout
for joy, doesn't it? God's done this for us. He could
have just left us where we were, but he didn't. In his mercy,
in his grace, in his great everlasting love for us. He showed us mercy
in Christ Jesus our Lord. And we're saved for Christ's
sake, not for anything we've done, but for Christ's sake and
Christ's sake alone. That's good news, isn't it? And
all who come to Christ, all who flee to Christ shall be saved. Oh my, it's wonderful. And the true preaching of the
gospel proved that Jesus was the promised Messiah. Not only
did he say it to himself, remember the lady at the well? I that
speaketh unto thee am he. Oh my, what a declaration. She's saying we know Messiah
cometh, and she says I that speaketh unto thee am he. Every time I
read that, I'm in awe, beloved. Every time I hear somebody read
that, I'm in awe. He just revealed himself to that
woman. Think of all the people he walked
by on the way to that well and didn't even reveal himself. And
he says to her, I'm he. And then she says, sir, I perceive
you're a prophet. And then she goes back to the
town. and tells the people in the city, come hear a man who
told me everything I did. Come hear him. And they came,
right? And they believed not because
what she said, they believed because what he said. Isn't that wonderful? My, oh my. Remember he said I
must needs go through Samaria? Well, there's a bunch of sheep
over there, isn't there? Bunch of God's sheep over there. See,
they had to go to the temple. That lame man had to be healed.
He was born to manifest, remember, to manifest Christ and his greatness
and his glory. He had to be healed. He had to
be healed right where he was. Peter and John had to go into
that temple because there was an appointment for 5,000 sheep. that would hear by God-given
faith, and by being born again by the Holy Spirit of God, and
they would trust and believe what Peter and John preached.
That's what happened to us. We heard the gospel at one time,
didn't we? And by God-given faith, we said, Lord, I believe. Help
mom believe. Oh, my. My. And the preaching of the glorious
resurrection, why did this grieve them? Well, the preaching of
the glorious resurrection again proved that he's the glorified
God-man. That he is who he says he is. And that he's now ruling over
them. And we see by their actions, we see a picture of natural man.
By their wicked hearts, they were grieved. Peter and John were preaching.
I remember before the Lord saved me, I didn't want to hear the
gospel. I had multiple people try to
tell me. I did not want to hear it at all. Number one, I wasn't
no sinner in my eyes. So I got mad at some fellas telling
me I'm a sinner. Do you get mad, Dave, when someone
told you you were a sinner? My, oh my. We got mad. Did you get mad when
someone told you were a sinner the first time? You're like,
well, I'm not a sinner. Well, yeah, you are. I'll never forget the first time
someone asked me, do you know Christ? And I said, well, of
course I do. I'm a Catholic. He goes, I didn't
ask you if you were a Catholic. He goes, I asked you if you know
Christ. Man, I had never read the Bible, never cracked the
Bible open. didn't have a clue. And that's
when the Lord arrested me. That's when he started working
on me. And this man said, there's one mediator between God and
man. The man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all.
And that's truth, isn't it? We now know, as God's people,
that there's only one mediator. There's only one person we can
go to for salvation of our soul. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
For what shall profit a man if he shall gain the whole world?"
If we gain everything, all the gold and all the silver in this
world, all the money, we became even richer than Gates and those
other fellas, and lost our own soul. And then the scripture says right
after that, what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
All the gold and money and all the, you can't buy your soul.
You can't buy salvation. Salvation must come by the blood
of Christ. And that's the only way salvation
comes, in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and him alone. So my, so when they preached
the gospel, it caused these Jewish religious leaders to be, absolutely
lose control. They were upset, they were grieved.
Now, now there's a bunch of people that the Lord saved. Oh, we're
going to lose our prestige. See, all they were thinking about
was what they would lose. They had no concern for the souls
of those they talked to. And that's the difference between
a gospel preacher. He don't care about gaining nothing.
God makes us content where he plants us. And our whole mission is to preach
the gospel to the Lord's people, and to love you, and be with
you, and to rejoice in the gospel with you. But my main mission
is to preach Christ. And again, I've told you before,
I couldn't do it without you guys. We all have a part in this
as a body. But oh, these guys, they're worried
about losing prestige and all this stuff. In any generation
during the gospel age, including this generation that we're living
in, when the true gospel is preached, number one, the lies of false
preachers are exposed. They're exposed. And then the sinful self-righteous
works of unregenerate men are exposed. And the sinful wickedness of
hell-deserving sinners is revealed. And when the gospel is preached,
the exaltation of Christ occurs. He's lifted up high and mighty.
He is the only Savior of sinners. Look to Christ and live. He's exalted. He's the God-man
who now, right now, right now, beloved, He's ruling and reigning
right now. Do you know He's interceding
for every one of us, we who believe? Every one of us, He's interceding
for us. My heart fills our hearts with joy, doesn't it? And false,
self-righteous preachers, they lose control over those who believe
in Christ. The gospel preacher is not seeking
control over anybody. I stand before you and preach
the gospel. You're my brothers and sisters. I'm no better than
you. You've heard me say many times, there's not a little lift
like this at the foot of the cross, is there? We're all on
the same ground. There's not a preacher lift or
an evangelist lift. We're all looking to Christ.
Sinners saved by the grace and mercy of God on the same foot. That's how it should be. I'm
a servant of yours. The men who are deacons are servants.
We're servants to the church. That's what we are. That's why
the scripture says that the preacher is not the Lord over the congregation.
No. No. I'm to lead, which I do,
but I'm a servant more than anything. And we're all servants to Christ,
aren't we? If we're truly born again, we're
all servants of Christ. All of us. My religion likes power, likes to
have control over men, not grace. My main concern is to point you
to Christ, to exalt Christ before you. and pray that God, the Holy
Spirit, would teach you and guide you and direct you and have you
grow in the grace and mercy of Christ. And if there's someone
who does not know Christ, oh, that he'd regenerate them. Oh,
that they'd be born again and be saved so they can rejoice
like we do in this wondrous salvation. Isn't it wondrous? It's wondrous. So instead of being interested
in the miracle that just occurred, they're manifesting their hatred
toward the one who actually performed the miracle, which is the Lord
Jesus Christ. So again, this is just natural man. This is
where we were, too. We can't look at him and say,
oh, look at him. No, we were there. I was there. I was a self-righteous
religious Pharisee. My, oh, my. And now we see Peter and John,
they're treated like common criminals. They're taken and thrown into
prison. They have somebody watch over
them for the whole night. They didn't deserve to be in
jail. They were just preaching the gospel, didn't they? That's all
they were doing. They broke no laws, and yet they
were treated in the manner that they did, that they were criminal.
And all they were doing was preaching the gospel. The true gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ and his amazing grace. My oh my. And listen to this.
Christ said this, I will build my church and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it. Oh, they throw God's servants
in jail. Gates of hell ain't gonna prevail
against the church. The gospel's gonna just keep
going. And who's the church? It's not a building, is it? It's
his people. It's his people. If we didn't
have this building anymore, we could meet anywhere. As a group. As a called out assembly, you
see. It's the people who are the church.
They're called ekklesia in the Greek, called out ones. That's
what we are. Called out of this world, beloved.
Born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And again, under the authority
of the Lord Jesus Christ, Peter and John, they'd gone to the
temple. The lame man was healed. The door was open for them to
preach the gospel. And they just let it fly, didn't
they? I'll tell you what. I remember talking to Gene Harmon. You've heard me use this many
times. I was talking to Gene Harmon one time. I said, come
up and preach for us. When I was out in Oregon, he
said, that's like saying, sick him to a dog, Wayne. Oh, man. It's true. Man, we love preaching
the gospel. That's what we're called to do.
We're called to exalt Christ and Him alone. And we see here that they were
given an open door to preach the gospel by God's grace and
His power and the Holy Spirit of God by His almighty power.
5,000 men are saved. They're born again. 5,000 people. My, they were given the ears
to hear, faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And so
rejoice, beloved of God. They were given the same faith
we have. There's only one faith, right? They're given the same
faith we have. My, and even, think of this,
even the arrest of Peter and John was planned and purposed
in old eternity by God to come to pass. What comfort that can give us
in our lives. God has purposed and planned our walk. The steps
of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and we're only good
in Christ, aren't we? Oh my. Ordered by the Lord. So let we who are the redeemed
rest in this God honoring truth that God has not changed. He's
still watching over his people. His word is still not bound.
He's not bound in any way. He's still sovereign. He's never
given up his sovereignty. Right? Even when Christ left
heaven, he was king when he left, he was king on earth, and he's
king right now in glory, isn't he? He's not changed. He's still on his sovereign throne
of power. And you know what? Absolutely
nothing, and this needs to be said, absolutely nothing, not
even the devil and all his demons united together, can stop our
Lord Jesus Christ from doing what he has determined from eternity. I've been listening online to
this fella, and he's talking about what's plaguing the religious
world right now is all these prophecies. These people giving
these prophecies, saying they're from the Holy Spirit. I'll tell
you, there's some of the most wicked things going on that way,
right? It's just awful. And they give
the devil so much power, nothing can stop, not even the
devil and his angels, can stop God's purpose from coming to
pass. Sister Lan bought this up one
time. He's a created being. He's not God. But some people
act like he's got so much power. Do you know the devil can only
do what God allows him to do? How do we know? Remember, have
you considered my servant Job? And Satan said, you got heads
around him. You need to just drop that and
he'll curse you. Lord said, go ahead, but you can't take his
life. Oh, and Satan, he threw everything
at him, didn't he? You know who preserved Job? Amen,
Christ. Our great God preserved him,
just like he preserves you and I. Isn't that wonderful? He kept
him. So let's read verses four to
six, or five to six now here. And it came to pass in the moral
that the rulers and elders and scribes, and the Ananias, the
high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, that's not John the apostle,
they believe that's one of the relatives of the high priest,
and Alexander, and as many as were of the kindred of the high
priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. Oh my. I loved when Neil was reading,
and they said, who are these unlearned men? Oh my. That's
every gospel preacher. I'm at home being called that,
eh? Because, see, they were the uppity-ups. They were the high-ups. They were the ones who had spent
years learning all this stuff, and they knew nothing. They knew
absolutely nothing. And God saves a bunch of fishermen
and is now using them for the gospel to go forth. My father-in-law
is a fisherman. He's just like you and I, beloved.
He's one of the most common guys I know. Wonderful man, but he's
just a common fellow. Hard worker. Oh, my gosh. He
reminds me of Neil and the Boys and Joe. Just a hard, hard worker,
but just a common fellow. And these were just fishermen,
just like him. Oh, my. And so the uppity ups
were, well, these men aren't even learned. See? how religion looks down
on grace, and yet God exalts the humble. Yeah, exalts the
humble and brings down the proud. My, oh my. So we see here that
Peter and John, they spent the night in prison. And then the next day there's
a great gathering of these leaders. These ones who are the leaders
over Israel. The who's who. The who's who.
And they're, think of this too, they're bringing them, they threw
them in prison and they're trying to intimidate them. They're trying
to silence them, beloved. They're trying to shut their
mouths. So they throw them in prison to try to shut their mouths. And then they're gonna, now they're
gonna bring them before them thinking, well, we're gonna bring
them before them. Surely they're not gonna say nothing to us.
But they don't know that God the Holy Spirit is gonna fill
them with boldness so that they can proclaim the gospel. And
again, God's, you can try to shut up God's preachers, but
the word of God is not bound. We saw that. They threw them
in prison and 5,000 people were saved. My. And they're now facing this group
of men simply because they were declaring that the lame man was
healed by Christ and that resurrection only comes through Christ. And they thought John and Peter
would be so fearful of them that they would cower down before
them. Now let's look at verses 8 to 10. Then Peter, filled with
the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders
of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed done
to the impotent men, by what means he is made whole, be it
known unto you all Be it known, my, Peter's filled with the Holy
Ghost, he says, be it known unto you all, and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom
you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him, that
this man stand here before you all. The very thing they didn't
want to hear, they just preached it to him. By the power of God. The only way that we gospel preachers
can get up here and preach the gospel is by the power of God,
the Holy Spirit. That's the only way. God equips
us, God sends us, and God keeps us preaching the word of God.
It's all by Him. And if you have any gift, every
one of God's people have gifts. That gift is given to you by
God the Holy Spirit. My oh my. And they despise, these men despise
what they were teaching. Oh, they thought they were going
to cower down, but they thought they were going to fear the Jewish
leaders, what they might do to them, but Peter was filled, it
says, filled with the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit of God. And think
again, Peter's fear of man was turned into a sincere, reverent
fear of God. Remember he feared man three
times, he denied Christ? So that reverent fear of man
is now being turned into a reverent fear of God. So the scripture
tells us not to fear man, but fear he who can destroy both
body and soul in hell, right? We're to fear God over men. And now we see this happening
right before us. He now has a sincere reverent fear of God, a sincere
concern for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ, a sincere
concern for eternal souls. He's going to preach the gospel
to those who hate him. Those who want to shut him up,
he's just gonna let it fly. See, he has a burden for souls.
Just as every one of God's people do. We have a burden for the
people around us, don't we? Friends, family members. My. And notice too, notice in his
words, he doesn't, he doesn't, Notice how Peter addresses them. He doesn't dishonor
them. He honors their leadership role
when he says this. Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel.
He acknowledges their office at that time. Charles Spurgeon said this, you
can catch more flies with a spoon full of honey than you can with
a whole barrel of vinegar. So when we witness to people,
let us not be critical of them. Let us present Christ to them.
Let us present Christ in Him crucified. Let us present the love of God
through Christ to sinners. And obviously, Peter and John
were probably concerned for their lives, but they're like, well,
God's put us here. My, they're not afraid of these
men now. And we see Peter, he don't hold
back, he preaches the truth to them, doesn't he? He doesn't
water it down, he preaches the truth to them. Very truth they
despise, they hate it. And he knew they had the authority
to put them to death, put both of them to death. But what's
he do? He just unloads the gospel, doesn't he? There it is. He doesn't say, well, you know,
Caiaphas, you need to reform and you need to do this and that
and, you know, then you might gain a little favor with God.
No, he says, no, you're nothing but dead dog sinners and you
need Christ. My, he says, this man, this man
who you see, this impotent man is now made whole by the power
of God. by the power of the Lord Jesus
Christ in him alone. Oh, so how could those unbelieving
Jews now deny that the healing of this impotent man was a good
deed? They couldn't, could they? Because God did it. Oh my, look at verse 10 again.
Peter tells him directly by what method this man was made whole.
He does not hold back. He's speaking by the power of
God, the Holy Spirit. He's a faithful servant of God.
And he says, be it known unto you and all, to all the people
of Israel, let it be known to everyone that by the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, look at that, by the name of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth. Do you know we're saved by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, beloved? Whom ye crucified, whom
God raised from the dead, even by him, doth this man stand before
you whole. Notice Peter didn't leave any
of it out, did he, in verse 10? He didn't hold back nothing,
did he? In God's preaching, we don't
hold back nothing. He not only pointed the finger of guilt at
them, right? But he also pointed them to the
remedy. That by the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ, this man's made whole. And all of God's blood-washed
saints are to declare this wonderful truth, that by the same Jesus,
who was crucified, he's been raised from the dead, and that
was by him and by his sovereign power, sovereign healing power,
that this old man was made whole. And we proclaim that we're made
whole by the sovereign power of the Lord Jesus Christ. Right? What do we say? Glory to his
name. Brother David, can you close
us in prayer?