In the third chapter of the book
of Acts, we read of how Peter and John heal a lame man and
then preach the gospel unto the people that saw this great miracle. And in the fourth chapter, the
response to what they did and the preaching of the gospel by
which many were brought unto faith was that the rulers of
the people, the scribes and the elders, took them and put them
into Hull. They arrested them. And we read
in, verse 5 of chapter 4 that it came to pass on the morrow
that their elders and that their rulers and elders and scribes
and Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander
and as many as were of the kindred of the high priests were gathered
together at Jerusalem and when he had set them in the midst
they asked by what power or by what name have you done this
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 man, by what means he is made
whole, be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel,
that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified,
whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand
here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
at naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none
other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be
saved. Now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and
ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of them
that they had been with Jesus. And behold, in the man which
was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against
it. But when they had commanded them to go outside of the council,
they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these
men? For that indeed a notable miracle
have been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem,
and we cannot deny it. But that it spread no further
among the people, let us straightly threaten them that they speak
henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them and
commanded them not to speak at all nor 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, judge ye. For we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when
they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing
how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorified
God for that which was done. For the man was above forty years
old on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And 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 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 of a truth against thy holy child Jesus.
whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with
the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that 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. And when they had 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. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together,
for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before
to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
thy word. We see in this passage the response
of Israel, of the rulers, the elders and the scribes in Israel,
of the religious hierarchy, we see their response to the gospel
and the power of the gospel and the effectual working of the
gospel. They were enraged against it. And they sought to silence the
apostles. They sought to silence these
preachers of Jesus Christ. They did everything they could
to shut their mouths. They put them into jail. They
threatened them. They did all that they could.
and yet filled with boldness 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 judge ye for we cannot but speak the
things which we have seen and heard yes as they quote from David
the heathen raged The people imagined vain things and the
kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together
against the Lord and against His Christ. David wrote this
years before in prophecy and here the disciples had seen it
fulfilled. when Herod, Pontius Pilate, the
Jews and the Gentiles combined the whole world together. The people of Israel gathered
together and took Christ, the Son of God, and delivered Him
to be crucified. No matter that Pontius Pilate
pleaded with the people, no matter that he tried Jesus and found
nothing in him worthy of death, the fact is that he could not
help himself. The rule of the people, the voice
of the people demanded that this one be crucified and to keep
the peace. Pilate gave him over into their
hands. Pilate knew that Christ was innocent
and yet even though he was in power the people's voice rose
up above him and to silence them he allowed Christ to be crucified. He gave an innocent man up unto
death and in so doing Despite all of his washing his hands
of the matter, he was as guilty as they were. They all together
rejected, despised, and crucified the innocent Son of God. And just as the world hated and
despised Christ himself and what he said and what he preached,
so the world also hated and despised those he sent forth with his
gospel, the disciples who believed on him, the disciples who walked
with him and heard him and saw him crucified. and saw him raised
again from the dead. The very disciples who went forth
and preached the same gospel were also hated, despised, rejected. They also saw the threatenings
of the people. And they knew that if that people
could take Christ Himself and slay Him, that when they threatened
them, the risk unto them was just the same. They too might
be taken. They too might be crucified. They too might have to suffer
unto death for the name of Jesus Christ, for preaching His Gospel. The threatenings which they speak
of in this passage are very, very real. And now, Lord, behold
their threatenings and grant unto thy servants that with all
boldness they may speak thy word. How real this was and yet how
bold they were in their speech. They didn't hold back from directly
stating the truth as it was and directly accusing their opponents
regarding what they did. Be it known unto you all and
to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand before you whole. This is the
stone which was set at nought of you builders, which has become
the head of the corner. In preaching the gospel to these
people they plainly stated what that people had done to Christ. You set him at nought. and God
made him the head of the corner. You crucified him and God raised
him from the dead and there is no salvation except through him. Neither is there salvation in
any other for there is none other name under heaven given among
men whereby we must be saved. Salvation is exclusively through
Jesus Christ. and Christ alone. This is the
Saviour whom ye crucified, whom ye sought to silence. And this
is the one of whom we speak, and you may seek to silence us,
but we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
Here is life, here is salvation, here is our only hope and your
only hope. Then do you expect us to follow
your command or the word of God? And as it was then, so it is
now. Now the means and the words and
the ways of the people around us may differ slightly, but the
reality is that the world in which we live and the powers
that be in the world in which we live. The rulers and elders
and the scribes and Pharisees in the religious world in our
day. The world in which we live is
just as opposed to Jesus Christ and his gospel and his people
as it was in these days in which Peter and John lived. It's just
as opposed and the threatenings which came their way will come
our way. If we stand up in our day and
age and generation and declare the truth directly, clearly,
and with the boldness that Peter and John declared it, we will
see the same response. Because the world has no more
time for Christ and his gospel today than it had then. And the
world will seek to silence it today, just as it did then. But you might contend, surely
there's religion everywhere, surely Christianity is everywhere,
surely we hear the name of Jesus Christ in many places. We live
in a country that has a national church, the Church of England,
and they have all of their meeting places, and they have their services,
and they have their special occasions, and they have their royal weddings,
and they have their events, and they preach, and there's a man
stands up that says various things and reads from the Bible, surely
surely the the name of jesus is accepted in our day and the
gospel is accepted and we have freedom to worship how are things
today like they are then but the reality is is that what is
accepted today is no better and not really any different than
what was accepted in the religion of that day. Peter and John stood
up before those in Jerusalem who read from the scriptures
as God had given them. The Jews. who read from the books
of Moses. This was a very religious country
and a very religious city in which they stood on that day. They were accused and taken by
the scribes, by religion. These people claimed to stand
as ambassadors of God before the people. They had the law,
they had the prophets, they had the Psalms. They were very religious,
yet they opposed the truth. They opposed Christ. And today
there may be all sorts of religion around. And society may accept
that religion. It may even promote that religion. But it's no closer to the truth
than this was. They do not preach Jesus Christ. They do not preach the Gospel. They are as opposed to Christ
and the Gospel as the Jews here were at this time. Yes, they
may have the Scriptures. Yes, they may even take the name
of Christ and claim to be Christian, but their Christ is not this
Christ. and their God is not this God
and their gospel is not this gospel for if it were they would
hear this and they would believe this and they would receive this
but they do not hear, believe or receive any more than the
Jews here heard, believed or received Jesus Christ came into
their midst and he preached that which Moses spake of, that which
the law and the prophets spake of. Everything he preached and
declared unto the Jews was a fulfillment of their own scriptures, their
own law, but they couldn't see it. And everything we may preach
concerning Jesus Christ is what the Bible declares. But those
in religion today who profess to believe in a Jesus have no
idea who he is. They may read the Scriptures,
they may read the Bible, but their idea of God, their idea
of worship, their idea of Jesus Christ is completely foreign
to the truth. So when the truth is declared
with boldness, they rage against it. You will see the same response
today as in their day. And now Lord, behold their threatenance. and grant unto thy servants that
with all boldness they may speak thy word. Yes, there is no love for the
gospel, there is no love for the people of God, and there
is no love for Jesus Christ in this world by nature. There wasn't then. There wasn't
in the years before Christ came, they used to slay the prophets
who prophesied of him. There wasn't when Christ came,
they slew Christ himself. There wasn't when the disciples
and apostles went forth to preach, they slew many of them. There
hasn't been in the generations which have followed how many
have been martyred and put to death for preaching in the name
of Jesus Christ and there isn't any love today either. Society does all it can to silence
the voice of those who would preach Christ. They will open
doors to another Christ and another Gospel. They will close doors
to the Christ and the Gospel and those that know Him. They will declare these things
to be extreme. Oh, we don't mind some moderate
religion. Something in the middle ground.
Something that doesn't offend. Something that's full of lies
and not the truth. But anything that states the truth with boldness
as it truly is, they will rage against. Now the world despises
Christ and the Gospel. The world's response to the Gospel
is either to ignore it or to ridicule it. or to oppose it. The world either ignores Christ
and his gospel, it ridicules Christ and his gospel, or it
directly opposes Christ and his gospel. And if you don't know
Christ, that's exactly what you do. If you don't know what it
is to be washed by his blood, to be delivered from your sins,
to be brought unto salvation, then that's exactly what you
do. You either ignore the gospel,
You bury your head in the sand. You try to avoid it. You run
away from it. You pretend it doesn't matter
or doesn't exist. Or you ridicule the gospel. You seek to find holes in it.
You mock it. You scoff at it. You laugh at
it. You deride the message and you
deride the people of God. Or if you're prepared to hear
and listen to something of it and engage with it, you oppose
it. You oppose it, you contend against
it, you find fault with it. What is it with you? Are you
simply ignoring the Gospel? Would you rather be somewhere
else than here today hearing this? Would you rather be doing
something else than reading the Bible, or hearing the gospel
preached, or considering anything to do with Jesus Christ, or Almighty
God, anything to do with sin and righteousness, anything to
do with heaven and earth, with everlasting life, Would you rather
you were doing this or doing that, pursuing this or pursuing
that, with a head full of this world and its ways? Would you
rather be anywhere else? Do you ignore the gospel? Are
you shutting your ears to it even now? You hear the words
but they go past you. You hear the words but they go
in one ear and out the other. They're just a noise in the background
that you seek to close your mind to. Are you burying your head
in the sand? Oh there's so many other things
that are so more important to you than considering the state
of your soul and where you stand before Almighty God. and where
you will be the other side of death. Is salvation, is the state
of your soul something that in all practical reality is meaningless
to you? Is it something you push away
because well, that only matters when I die. And right now I'm
young and I've got plenty of living to do before that day,
before I need to worry. I worry about that when I'm old.
But now I want to have fun. Now I want to live. As you see
it. So do you bury your head in the
sand? Or are you simply too busy to listen? Or too busy to care? What a busy world we live in. How much there is that takes
our time. How hard it is to take a moment
to pause, even to pick up the Bible and read it. even to take
a moment to listen to a message of the gospel, how busy we are,
how busy everyone is, and how this world does all it can to
ensure we're busy. It will keep us busy in every
way it can, with work, with errands, with tasks, with things that
fill our mind. Even when we're not working,
everything is done to fill our mind and distract us. Read this,
watch this, listen to this, go here, go there. How busy we are. How many events are put into
our calendars to go from event to event to event. Always planning,
always busy, always going here and going there. How much shopping,
how much looking, how much seeking, how much building. Constant busyness. It's right to work, it's right
to labour, to put bread on the table, and to look after your
family, but how the world does all it can to consume every moment
of our time and our affections, so that we cannot, even if we
wanted, we cannot consider God, or consider the state of our
soul. We cannot seek God, we haven't time to. So the Gospel,
And the Lord Jesus Christ is ignored. We never consider him. We're
too busy. Secondly, if we do consider him,
or somebody comes and says something to us about him, the heart's
natural response is to scoff, to ridicule the gospel, to laugh
at it, to mock it, and to mock how it's presented unto us. Here comes a preacher preaching
the gospel. Are you kidding? You don't expect
me in this day and age to listen to a preacher, to listen for
an hour to a preacher. We live in a day of moments. A day of sound bites. If you
want my attention, tell it to me in 10 seconds. Grab my attention
before something else comes along and steals it. You can't expect
anyone to listen to a preacher. How foolish. How old-fashioned. Have you no idea? You'll never
reach anybody with that. That's not the way to reach anyone
in these days. You'll never get anyone to come
to your meeting just to sit and listen to preaching. So Howard
laughed at that. Had the very means of conveying
the messages laughed at. Let alone the message itself.
But when you begin to speak of the message and you tell everyone,
as the disciples stated here in their prayer, when they said Lord thou art
God which has made heaven and earth and the sea and all that
in them is should you tell that to anyone today they will laugh
at you you don't really believe in a God who made this world
don't you know that it came about by accident millions of years
ago It just happened. Science tells us so. Don't you
know that this world is millions of years old? And all the creatures
in it evolved out of nothing. Slime came out of the sea. Fishes became... Creatures. Creatures became monkeys. Monkeys became men. You don't
surely believe in a God who made us just as we are. And how they
laugh. Out of their foolishness, they
laugh at the truth. Thinking themselves to be wise,
they mock. the very truth itself, they become
fools. You think you're so wise with
your understanding of science and your great research and your
great knowledge but you've become a fool because God did make this
world and he did create man as he is except without sin. Then man fell into sin when he
turned from his maker. But He made you with eyes and
ears and understanding, legs and arms, with a mind and an
intellect and a means to understand and to reason and an understanding
that allows you to hear the truth and to seek God if you would. But of course you don't seek
God because the sin that is in your heart keeps you from Him. You're far too busy. You have
far too much to do. Far too many places to go. Your sin leads you another way. And if there was any desire to
seek Him, the attitude of all around you, in scoffing and mocking
at the truth, fills you with fear to be seen, to ask anything
concerning it. How peer pressure affects us.
There's none that seeks after God. No, not one. When you hear
that Christ died and rose again, oh, how the natural heart says,
surely not, that cannot be. and yet it's true. How it laughs
at every facet of the truth, puffed up by its own superior
knowledge and wisdom. How man's heart ridicules the
truth. But even those who would hear
and read and engage with it, contend against it. Oh, there
are those who are religious, there are those in churches,
there are those who would say that they believe in God, and
would say that they believe in his son, and would say that they
believe God is a creator, but they contend against the truth. They contend against the almighty
power and sovereignty of God. They will worship a God who bows
down to them. But they won't bow down unto
a sovereign God. Their God loves all. Their God
desires everyone to be saved and their God pleads with man
to be saved if he but will. But their God won't change the
will of man because that would be to make them mere puppets. And that can't be so. Their God
leaves it unto man to decide what to do. Will you accept Jesus? Will you or won't you? Well,
I did, one says. And that's why I'm saved. And
the reasons others aren't saved is because they didn't make the
decision I did. I tried to persuade them and
some will but others won't. Those who are saved are those
who've decided. But in this they bring all the
glory and praise unto themselves. Why are you saved? What makes
you to differ from another man? My decision. Ultimately, my decision. And if you state plainly, well
no. The Bible states clearly that none seeketh after God and
none is willing. You are not willing by nature. Then they contend against it.
If you state plainly that God changes the heart of man, He
changes the will of man, He makes His people willing in the day
of His power, as Psalm 110 tells us. They contend against it and
say, well that makes God all-powerful. He's violating my freedom of
choice, my freedom of will. and behind the contention and
behind the opposition is the very cause of the fall of man
in the beginning. Does God choose or does man? Does God decide what happens
in this world or does man? Does God determine what will
be or does man? Do you determine whether you're
saved or does God? That's the ultimate decision. That's the cause of the fall.
Man wouldn't do what God said. Adam wouldn't go God's way. He
wanted to determine what would be. and he went his own way and
fell into sin and death entered by sin and death has cast its
dark shadow over this whole world ever since and you are dead in
trespasses and sins by nature because in your heart you seek
to determine what will be and you won't bow to the determinate
counsel of God Hence, your heart contends and
opposes the Gospel. It contends against it and opposes
it. You have a contentious heart,
a contentious spirit, which is why the natural man, wherever
he is, the world around, the rulers of the people, threaten
and oppose Which is why the kings of the earth stood up and all
the rulers gathered together against the Lord and against
His Christ. It is why the heathen in their
hearts rage and the people imagine vain things. What do you imagine? Do you imagine that when you
die even though you've never followed God, even though you've
never followed Jesus Christ. Do you imagine that when you
die and you come to stand before God, if there is one on the face
of eternity, if there is eternity, do you imagine that all will
be well in the end? Because you're not such a bad
sort. And if there's a God, surely
he'll bless you. You're not a murderer, you're
not a thief, you're not one that's going to be cast into a hell
if there is one. Do you imagine that in the end
all will be fine? Well if you do, you imagine a
vain thing. Why do the heathen rage and the
people imagine vain things? Because their heads are buried
in the sand. They will not listen to the truth. They ridicule the truth. They
won't listen to preaching because it's foolish. And they contend
against the message which is preached. Because they want to
determine their own destiny. So what did these people do?
These people full of their own will, full of their own determination,
they stood up as one against God. And when God sent his Son
into the world, they took the Son of God, and they raged against
him, and they crucified him. The kings of the earth stood
up, the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and
against his Christ. With their determined will, this
is what they did. For of a truth against thy holy
child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate,
with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together. Here they all were, very determined,
in their own will, of their own free will, they took Christ,
and they crucified him. But as the apostles state here,
they were gathered together to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done. The people of Israel
were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand and thy
counsel determined before to be done. This people, as with everyone
today, as with you listening now, determine in your own free
will, with your own judgment, to either ignore the gospel,
laugh at the gospel, or oppose the gospel. In your own heart,
you push Jesus Christ to one side. Of your own free will you
choose to reject him and you put him to death with your apathy,
with your mockery and with your contention. But in doing what
you have determined to do, you have done whatsoever the hand
of God and his counsel determined before to be done. Because you are not in charge. And the people here Pontius Pilate,
Herod, All the Jews and all the Gentiles, the whole world in
their determination, in their own free will, did exactly what
God Himself, of His will and in His determination, determined
that they should do. They didn't do what they determined. What they determined to do was
what He determined they should do. They thought they were in
charge when He was in charge. They thought they were sovereign
when the king of kings ruled over them. All the kings of the
earth stood up and did what the king of kings would have them
to do. Yes, God sent His Son into this
world but he sent him that he should die for his people, that
he should bear the sins of his people, that he should be crucified
and in so doing he should deliver his people from their sins, from
condemnation and bring them into everlasting life. So the very
opposition of the world to his son was determined by God. he would have the people take
his son, he would have them crucify him such that the sins of his
people would be laid upon him and he would deliver them. They
sought to put him to death but in so doing they brought for
God's people everlasting life and salvation and they couldn't
do anything to stop that happening. They wanted to stop the Gospel. They wanted to stop Christ. They
wanted to put an end to it, but by doing so they brought in the
beginning of the Gospel, and the beginning of the Church,
and the beginning of salvation. This was the very means by which
God saves His people, through the death and the resurrection
of His own Son. This is the stone which was set
at nought of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. That by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. They did
what they chose to do, but it's what God chose them to do. God
was in control, not them. And you might think that you
make decisions. You might think that you've decided
to follow Christ or decided not to follow Christ. You didn't
decide it. God did. to do whatsoever thy
hand and thy counsel determined before to be done." Before ever
this world was created, before ever you were born, before ever
you sat here this day, God determined what should happen. He's determined
how your heart responds unto the Gospel and unto His Son. He decides where you are headed. You're not in control, however
great and powerful you think you are. all the powers of the
world, the great mighty power of Rome combined with the great
mighty power of Israel, that religious nation chosen of God
in the beginning, they combined forces and crucified the Son
of God and did what God would have to be done. Believer, this
is what I want you to see here. All of this is of God. All that
befell Peter and John here was of God. All the opposition that
came upon them was of God. All the threatenings of the scribes
and the rulers against the disciples here was of God. They were threatened,
they knew that they could be put to death. But they prayed
that God would give them boldness and God made them bold to declare
the gospel. And when the gospel is declared
boldly, the heart of man rages against it. And that's of God. Because there are some who rage,
whom God breaks. And whose hard hearts He softens. and whose blind eyes he touches
by grace and causes to see. You may rage against the gospel
at this hour, but God may cause you to be broken. You may raise your fist against
it and he might break your fist. You may try to kick against this
and it'll break your leg. You may use all your force and
power to oppose it and it'll break you and melt you and set
his love upon you and say, my son died to deliver sinners like
you and cause them to live. All this was of God. All that
befell Peter and John was of God. All the wicked opposition
they saw in the world and which you may see believe in the world.
All the hatred of Christ. All the resistance to the gospel
that you come across. All the persecution, believer,
that you may endure. All the tearing down of God's
order in society that we see in our day. All the attacks. or of God. Ultimately, they're
in His purpose. Yes, man does it. Yes, man is
wicked in all that he says and does against the gospel. Yes,
man will be judged and is accountable for his wickedness. But he does
nothing that's not determined before to be done by Almighty
God. He has no power. no man can take
your life from you believer they can take the life you live in
the flesh they can beat you and bruise you and cause you to suffer
they may take away your fleshly life but then with Christ you
will be risen again you will rise up with him more glorious
and more powerful than any that oppose you mankind has no power
of his own He can't do one thing against God, one thing against
His Son. He can't do one thing against
the Gospel or against the people of God except God allows it and
God brings it to pass. And when God does, He does it
for the good of His people, the fervourance of His Kingdom, the
glory and honour of His Son and His grace. He uses it to declare
the Gospel. Yes, if this people hadn't taken
Christ and slain Him, there would be no salvation. If the whole
world together hadn't conspired to take Christ and crucify Him,
there would be no salvation. It was in the determinate counsel
of God to bring this to pass. They didn't do this. God purposed
that they should. They were puppets in his hands. In striving to destroy God, they
did all that he purposed to bring in everlasting salvation for
his people. In striving to destroy his church,
they built his church. Oh, how Saul went about persecuting
the church, and how God turned it around and turned him around
for the fervorance of his kingdom. There's no one that can stand
against the gospel. You strive to go against it and
you do God's bidding. And unless the world around us
does what it does, even today, unless the world in its sin and
rebellion does exactly what it is doing today, God's purposes
today to further his gospel wouldn't be brought to pass. Everything
we see going on is part of God's purpose. Every law which is passed
in our country, every raging against the truth, however wrong
these things are, and they are wrong. They are wrong and we'll
preach against them and we'll stand against them. But what
comes to pass? is what furthers God's kingdom
He would have them do these things and unless they will do these
things then His purposes wouldn't be brought to pass but He makes
these things occur because He will bring His purposes about
He is working in all things And as he works in all these
things, as he works in the opponent of truth, it causes God's people
to do certain things. Here the world raged against
Christ. The result was that Christ died,
rose again and the Gospel went forth in power. Here in this
chapter the world raged against the disciples. But they had no
power against them. Ultimately they set them free
and they gathered together as one and they prayed. They prayed unto their God. The opposition of the world caused
the people of God to seek God. to turn wholeheartedly to their
God and to pray. It drove them unto their God,
it drove them out from the world and unto God. It caused them
to pray, it caused them to be answered in their prayers and
it caused them to be bold in their declaration of Christ and
His Gospel. Now believer, you may be troubled
at things that happen and troubled at what people say. But the trouble
that comes upon you will cause you to turn unto God. It will
cause you to pray. It will cause you to pray for
boldness, to stand in His name, for greater faith, for more strength
in His grace. It will cause you to pray, and
it will cause your prayers to be answered. And God will give
you faith, and He'll give you boldness, and He'll cause you
to stand, and He'll cause you to speak boldly in His name. And when you speak boldly, because
the opposition is great, then the gospel will go forth in power.
The gospel will go forth in power and sinners will be saved. They prayed, Lord behold their
threatenings and grant unto thy servants that 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. And when they had 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. Oh, what an effect! The world
came upon the people of God, it raged against them, and the
people of God were united, they gathered as one, they sought
the Lord in prayer, they cried out to their God, and when they
prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.
They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the
Word of God with boldness. With boldness. Now sometimes
I hear some bewail the lack of power in the churches, the lack
of power in the gospel, the lack of power in these things, the
lack of seeing sinners saved, the lack of seeing this happen.
But these things come when the opposition comes. When God determines
before what will be done. when he determines the hatred
and opposition of man to the gospel he fills his people with
prayer and he answers their prayers and he grants them boldness and
the gospel goes forth in power and when sinners hear that gospel
they can no longer ignore it they can no longer laugh at it
they can no longer oppose it for it destroys them, it breaks
them, it destroys all their opposition, it casts aside their reason,
it grasps their attention, it sounds forth the alarm in the
heart, and it comes with life in the Holy Ghost, it comes with
power and much assurance, and it declares the name of Jesus
Christ, be it known unto you all. and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified
in your heart, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth
this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which
was set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of
the corner, neither is there salvation in any other. For there is none other name
under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Amen.