Would you turn back to Acts chapter
4 and after the services, if some men could help put the tables
together for the conference, that would be helpful. Acts chapter
4, I'd like to read this 13th verse once again. Now, when they, the enemies of the gospel, the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, the chief priests, 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. I would love for this world to
see our boldness in the gospel and conclude that there could
be one account for it only. It's because we had been with
Jesus. Now in this thing of preaching,
there are three things that are necessary. Number one, the truth. Don't let that go. The truth. The truth of the gospel. There's no gospel preaching apart
from the truth of how God saves sinners by Christ Jesus. Now
the second thing that is necessary in gospel preaching is the Holy
Spirit. Preaching is without effect,
without God the Holy Spirit blessing it. It's a supernatural thing.
It pleads God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that
believe. And no preaching will be effectual,
no good will be done without the blessing of God the Holy
Spirit. And the third thing that's necessary
for preaching, first boldness, I mean, truth, then the Holy
Spirit, and third, boldness. Not gifts. You can be a not very
good speaker. Not brilliance. You can be brilliant
and that won't have anything to do with the preaching of the
gospel. But boldness in the gospel. Now what they saw when they saw
these two men, they saw boldness. Freedom in speaking. Unreservedness. To speak openly and frankly without
concealment. Without ambiguity. free and fearless
confidence, cheerful courage, and assurance. That's what they
saw when they saw Peter and John preaching the gospel. That's
what they observed. That was seen in their speaking,
and that was seen in their demeanor. And they saw that they were nothing
more than unlearned and ignorant men. They hadn't been to seminary. They were, as far as they were
concerned, illiterate, common men, unskilled and untrained
men. That's what they observed when
they saw these men. Unlearned and ignorant men was
their words. They had nothing going for them
as far as the flesh was concerned. Nothing. to recommend them so
they were forced to acknowledge this. The only thing to account
for these men is they had been with Jesus. That's it. Wouldn't you love
for the world to conclude the only thing about you is is that
you have been with Jesus. Now, What a blessing it would
be if men were forced to come to this conclusion concerning
us. We have a boldness in the gospel that cannot be attributed
to some natural strength or ability in us. It can only be attributed
to us being with the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I want to be in
him and I want to be with him. That's our great desire. I want
to be in him so that all God sees is the Lord Jesus Christ.
I don't want to be seen in any other way. And I want to be with
him. Now, it was the rulers and the
religious leaders who made this observation. People who had no
love for Christ, no love for the gospel. And when I thought
about it, I couldn't help but think about those words of our
Lord when he said, I thank thee, O Father. Lord of heaven and
earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent
and revealed them unto babes. Here we have the gospel hidden
from the wise and prudent and revealed to babes. These unlearned and ignorant
men with their boldness in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, one of the benchmarks of
the authentic gospel. In this world, particularly in
this religious world, is that the world doesn't love what we
say and the world doesn't understand what we say. If they did, we wouldn't be preaching
the truth. if the world loved what we said,
even if the world understood what we said. You see, we can't
make the gospel understandable. Like I said this morning, only
God can make the gospel understandable. Anything that you truly learn
is what God has taught you, what God has revealed to you. And
anything you figured out on your own or anything that I've taught
you or some other man has taught you, that can be unlearned just
as easily. But oh, if God has taught you.
Now, turn with me for a few moments to 1 Corinthians 1. We're going
to get back to Peter and John in a moment. 1 Corinthians 1. Verse 17. For Christ sent me not to baptize,
Now he's not saying baptism is not important when he makes that
statement, it is. Every believer ought to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. And if I refuse to confess Christ
in believer's baptism, I look at that in the same way as I
look at people who live together. They say they love each other,
they live together outside of marriage, and the reason they
do that is because they won't make a true commitment one to
another. You see, when you marry somebody,
when you go through the marriage, you're saying, I'm yours forever.
And that's what we do when we confess Christ and believe His
baptism. This is kind of like the marriage ceremony. All it
is is a ceremony. I realize that. Baptism is just
a ceremony, but oh, what a ceremony. I am confessing all my salvation
is in the life, the death, the resurrection of Christ, that
I was in him and that's my only hope. And I'm confessing just
like you do when you're married, I'm yours forever. That's what
I'm confessing in baptism. So this is not in any way taking
away from the importance of baptism. But yet, Paul says, Christ didn't
send me to baptize. but to preach the gospel. Not with wisdom of words. Not
trying to dress the gospel up to make it more understandable.
or less offensive. One of the things I hate about
all these different versions of the scripture is they're an
attempt to make the gospel more understandable rather than just
saying what the Holy Spirit said and looking to God to reveal
what it means. That's why I hate these versions
that they'll leave outwards or they'll change the meaning because
they think, well, it couldn't mean that. So they're presenting things
in such a way as to make the gospel more understandable, more
palatable to the flesh, less offensive. Oh, woe to us if we
do that. I don't want to do that. I want
to preach the naked truth as it is and trust God to take care
of the results. That's what Paul meant. He sent
me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of
words, as the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.
You see, when I use my wisdom to try to enhance the gospel,
and make it more understandable, and make it less offensive, and
make it more likely to be received, you know what it does? Is it
takes the power away. And it makes the gospel of none
effect. Now that's not what Peter and
John were doing. They saw this boldness. in these men. Let's go on reading. Verse 18,
4. The preaching of the cross, the
word of the cross, the doctrine of the cross. You're not going
to know God apart from the cross. God is unknown. apart from the
cross. Christ is unknown apart from
the cross. The cross is the whole counsel
of God. The cross is who God is. All of His attributes are
displayed. How glorious and lovely and what
words could you use to describe God in the cross? The cross is
the whole counsel of God. The preaching of the cross is
to them that perish foolishness. But unto us which are saved,
it, the preaching of the cross, the doctrine of the cross, the
word of the cross, what the cross declares is the power of God. Verse 19, for it's written, I
will destroy the wisdom of the wise and will bring to nothing
the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where is the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom, by its own
wisdom, knew not God. It pleased God by the foolishness
for preaching to save them that believe. Now, I think Peter and
John exemplify this, don't they? They look at him and they say,
they're unlearned and ignorant men. And yet they speak so boldly. Now let's go on reading. Verse
22, four. The Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom,
but we preach Christ crucified. Look in chapter two, verses one
and two. And I, brethren, when I came to you, I came not with
excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony
of God. And Paul could have done it. Paul was, I don't reckon
there's ever been a more brilliant man than Paul. I mean, he was
heads and shoulders above the rest of the apostles, he knew
that. And he didn't take any pride in it, but he said, when
I came to you, I didn't come with excellency of speech or
wisdom, trying to dress things up, declaring unto you the testimony
of God. And look what he says in verse two, for I determined
not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. any other subject is wrong. Do you believe that? Do you see such glory in the
cross that you don't want to hear anything else preached but
Jesus Christ and Him crucified? Now you know that that encompasses
all the Bible. That doesn't mean I'm not going
to deal with a passage that doesn't specifically say something about
the cross, although all of the passages really do if we know
what they mean. But that doesn't mean we discount the different
truths the scripture teaches concerning the character of God,
the character of man, and how God saves sinners. It's all found
in this word, the cross. And Paul said, I determine not
to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
Verse 23, we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block.
They find it a scandal. Unto the Greeks foolishness.
You expect me to believe something that crazy? But unto them which
are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and Christ
the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God, it took the
wisdom of God to make a way for Him to be just and justifier. And that wisdom is seen in the
person of Christ. And it took the power of God
to execute this. Men could never do this, to make
themselves just when they're unjust. It took the power of
God to do this. That's what we see in the cross
of Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God. Verse 25,
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. And the weakness
of God is stronger than men. I love that. No, God's not weak. No, God's not foolish. But I love this, the foolishness
of God. I don't know what that is, it's
just so to speak. It's wiser than men, isn't it? The weakness
of God. It's stronger than men. Now he talks about Peter and
John. Do you see your calling? Talking
about these unlearned and ignorant men. For you see your calling,
brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many
mighty, not many noble are called. And you know that's true. I don't see any politicians in
here. I don't see any famous, what the world would call great
people here. There was a lady by the name
of the Countess of Huntington who said, I am so thankful for
the word M. And she was a very wealthy woman
that the Lord had saved, and she was high up there, whatever
that means. She said, I'm so thankful for the letter M. I'm thankful for that because
it doesn't say not any wise men after the flesh, not any mighty,
not any. No, it says not many. So I'm
so thankful for that word. Verse 27, but God hath chosen
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, and God
hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things
which are mighty, like Peter and John standing there among
these people, and the base things of the world, and the things
which are despised hath God chosen, yea, the things which are nothing,
to bring to nothing the things that are. You know, for you to
be saved, you're gonna have to be a nothing. For you to be saved, you're gonna
have to be a nothing. If you're a something, God will
pass you by. But if you're a nothing, I'm
a poor sinner and nothing at all, but Jesus Christ is my all
in all. If you're a nothing, God showed
you that so that you might find Christ as all. Because the only
way you can find Christ as all is if you're nothing. Now what
a blessing it is to be nothing, to have nowhere to look but Christ.
Oh, what a blessing that is. Verse 28, the base things of
the world, the things which are despised of God chosen, yea,
the things which are not, to bring to naught the things that
are, that no flesh should glory in His presence, but of Him are
you in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption. that according as it's written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Now, that's a commentary,
I believe, on Romans 4.13, when they saw the boldness of Peter
and John and they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant
men, untrained, unskilled, not gifted. They took knowledge of
them, that they had been with Jesus. Now, what does boldness
mean? I think that this, turn to John
11, and I think this will explain what boldness means. Verse 11. John chapter 11, verse 11. These
things said he, and after that he saith unto them, our friend,
Lazarus sleepeth. but I go that I may awake him
out of sleep. Lazarus is asleep. Now, you and
I both know that Lazarus was dead, wasn't he? But yet the
death of the believer is often called asleep, in that sleep
in Christ Jesus. And so that language can be taken
in many ways. Either he's asleep in Christ,
dead in Christ, or he's just asleep and I'm gonna go wake
him up. Verse 12, Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep
he shall do well. Howbeit Jesus spake of his death.
But they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest and
sleep. Then said Jesus unto them plainly. Now that's the word.
That's the same word translated boldness. Then Jesus said unto
them plainly. No mistake about it. You can't
think, well, maybe he's asleep, maybe he's dead. No, this word
is plain. Lazarus is dead. And that's what boldness is.
Boldness is plainness. Now, there is a boldness that
comes from a strong personality. You've known people like that.
They're bold. They've just got strong, forceful personalities.
They don't care what they say. They don't care if they offend
anybody or not. They're going to speak what they
think. That's kind of their personalities. Now, that's not the boldness
being spoken of. You can have that kind of boldness
and quite often it's nothing more than irritating when you're
like that, you know, saying things that will offend people and so
on. I'm sure I've got some of that, maybe a lot of it, but
that's not the boldness that he's talking about. He's not
talking about a natural boldness. He's talking about a spiritual
boldness that arises from you believing what you're saying
is the very truth of God. That's what boldness is. You're
going to say it if nobody else believes it, because you know
it's the very truth of God. You don't have to have people
to help you out. Come on, y'all believe this to
make me feel a little bit better about what I believe. You don't
have to have buttresses like that. No, you believe what you
believe because you believe it's what God says in his word. And you're going to hold on to
that whether anybody believes it or not. Now, I want you to
believe the gospel. I want you to believe the gospel. I wouldn't
dare say I'm indifferent about that. I want you to believe the
gospel. But if you don't, I'm still going to it by the grace
of God. I don't need someone to hold me up in this thing. I need the Lord to hold me up,
but I don't need any man to hold me up if I really believe. That's
what boldness in the truth is. Now, I want to look at how this word is used
in the scriptures. But the first thing I want to
point out is we considered this last week, but looking back on
our text in Acts chapter 13. I mean, Acts chapter 4, I'm sorry,
not Acts chapter 13. Verse 13 was our text. Acts chapter
4, verse 7. Now, when they had set them in
the midst, They asked, by what power, by what name have you
done this? Speaking of healing that man who was lame from his
mother's womb. By what name or by what power
have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of Israel and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined, put on trial of the good deed done
to the impotent man, by what means he's made whole, be it
known unto you all and to all the people of Israel that by
the name of Jehovah the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
God of Jacob, the I Am, El Shaddai, if he were to use any of those
names, he'd have been telling the truth, wouldn't he? He'd
have been telling the truth. And he would have compromised
the gospel. There would have been no boldness at all. You see, you can say that which
is true and never tell the truth. Matter of fact, that's what most
preaching is. It's saying things that are true, but leaving out
what is necessary to give God all the glory, what's critical.
Now, as all was going on, if he would have said, God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. That would have been
the truth, but it would have been a denial of the gospel. There wouldn't have been any
boldness in that would there. But look at the way he answered.
Verse 10, Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of
Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you
crucify, whom God raised from the dead. Even by him did this
man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set
in not 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." Now, when they saw the boldness, that was bold, wasn't
it? When they saw the boldness, they
were going to say the truth. cost them their lives. This is
what they believed. 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. Now, bold speech comes from belief
that gives you boldness. I'm not talking about some kind
of natural boldness where some people are just more courageous
and that's just their nature. They can force out what they
say and they don't care. There's some people who are non-conflict.
There's some people who conflict doesn't bother them a bit. Now
that's not what I'm talking about. I'm not talking about boldness
and that's it. I'm talking about a boldness
that they had from a genuine conviction of the truth. I want to look at five or six
scriptures real quickly about boldness. 2 Corinthians chapter
3. Boldness isn't simply in speech. Boldness is in our attitude if
we believe the gospel. Now let me show you this. 2 Corinthians
chapter 3 verse 12, seeing that we have such hope We use great
plainness. Now that's the exact same word
translated boldness. Seeing we have such hope, we
use great boldness. plainness of speech. Well, what
hope? Well, look in verse 9 of this
same chapter. For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much
more doth the ministration of righteousness exceed in glory. The ministration of condemnation
is the law. The ministration of righteousness
is the gospel. For even that which was made
glorious had no glory in this respect by the glory that excelleth. For that which is done away was
glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious." Now he
calls the gospel the ministration of righteousness. Now understand
when he's saying that he's not talking about righteous living.
He's talking about the righteousness of God. being my personal righteousness. And when God sees me, he sees
someone not only who has got a righteousness equal to Christ's. There's no such animal. He sees one who has the righteousness
of Christ as his personal righteousness before God. When God looks at
me, Near, so near to God, nearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as near to God as he. Dear, so dear to God, dearer
I cannot be. For in the person of his dear
son, I'm as dear to God as he. Now, if I have righteousness,
you know what that makes me? Bold. I'm not afraid. Not afraid
of judgment. Not afraid of my sins being brought
up, because what sins? I don't have any sins. All I
have is the righteousness of Christ. It's my personal righteousness
before God. Now, if that's the case, I'm
bold. Now, if you take me away from
there, and if you think I'm 99% Christ's righteousness, but 1%
my own, I lose all my boldness. I'm scared to death. If you cause
me to look to myself for anything, I don't have any boldness. None! But if Christ really is my righteousness
before God, the ministration of righteousness, we use great
plainness and boldness of speech. Now, what a hope we have. It's like this, you know, this
thing of righteousness. If God be for us, who can be against us? That's
bold, isn't it? If God be for us, who could be
against us? There's nothing to fear. He, Romans 8.32, he that spared
not his own son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall
he not with him also freely give us all things? There's nothing
that would prevent God from giving me all things. Because he spared
not his own son. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justified them.
There's nothing to bring to my charge. I'm justified. I tell you what, I'm amazed at
people who want to preach on, or believe that there's going
to be some kind of judgment of believers, and they're going
to be judged for their life here on earth. Some are going to live
in mansions, and some are going to live in shacks, and there's
different degrees of glory. What that means is your sins
are brought out. Where's their gospel in that? I remember one
time I heard a preacher say this. He said, yeah, our sins are going
to be brought out on Judgment Day, but it won't really bother
us then. I thought, it'll bother me. It'll
bother me a whole lot. I don't want to have anything
to do with anything like that. Who is he that condemns? It's
Christ that died. Yea, rather that's risen, who's
even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Now that's bold, isn't it? That's bold. Bold shall I stand in that great
day, for who want to my charge shall lay. Fully absolved from
these I am from sin's tremendous curse and shame. Oh, if it doesn't
have anything to do with me, I'm bold. I'm a wimp, I'm scared
to death, if it has anything to do with me. But if I'm not
in the equation, if Christ did it all, if he really is all in
salvation, boldness. Turn to Ephesians chapter three. Verse 12, in whom we have boldness. Now the only boldness we have
is in whom? In Him. That's why Paul said,
oh, that I'm in Christ to be found in Him. I don't want God
to see me in any other way but in Him. In whom we have boldness. and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. And I love the way it says that.
It doesn't say by faith in Him. It says by the faith of Him.
That's where my boldness is. That's where my confidence is.
It's not by my faith. Well, I really believe. You know,
the moment I say I have full assurance, I know I'm saved.
The moment I say that, I start thinking, boy, if you're not.
I do. This faith is not my faith or
the strength of my faith in him, but my boldness and confidence
that brings me access is the faith of him. Now, here's another reason why
I think it's better to use the King James Version Bible. None
of the other versions say that. They say by faith in him. But
the King James Version says by the faith of him. Now, it's a
translation, I realize that. It's the only Inerrant language
is the original Greek and Hebrew and all that kind of stuff. And
I'm not going to make it a religious issue of the King James Version,
although I do believe it is by far the best translation. And here's a reason. You look
in any other translation, I don't care what it is, it'll say by
faith in him, because they don't have any understanding. I'm saved
by the faith of him. Not my faith in him, the faith
of him. That's what gives me boldness.
That's what gives me access into the very presence of God with
confidence is the faith of him. Turn to Hebrews chapter three. Verse six, Hebrews chapter three,
verse six. But Christ as a son over his
own house, whose house are we if we hold fast And that word
confidence, that's the same word, the boldness. If we hold fast
the boldness and the rejoicing of the hope, firm unto the end. Now here's something that I can
hold on to all the way to the end. By the grace of God, I won't
do it unless the Lord enables me to, but here's the point.
What I persevere in is Him being everything. That's all I can
persevere in and have boldness in, is in Him being everything. If you tell me I gotta... If
you give me some kind of scheme of growth, I want to grow in
grace. I want to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. But if you give me some kind of scheme of growth
where I got to make myself better and I become better and better
and less evil, less sinful and more, I'm going to be scared. I'm going to think I'm going
to mess this up. But if you tell me that what I'm to persevere
in, firm to the end, is the boldness of the rejoicing of the hope,
rejoicing in Christ Jesus. That's my hope. I'm to rejoice
in that firm to the end. I, by His grace, I'd stick with
that. I believe that's, that's what
I want to continue believing. Look in Hebrews chapter four, verse 16. Let us therefore come
boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need. I'm to come to this throne
of grace in boldness. Now how do you go about that?
Well, look in verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high
priest that's passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God,
let us hold fast our profession, for we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but it was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Now, hold on just for a second.
I used to look at that verse of scripture and I thought, how
could he be touched with the feeling of my infirmities if
he never sinned? How could he be moved to sympathy
with me if he never sinned? He never sinned, but he experienced
everything about sin on Galilee Street. He never fell. You know the way you've fallen
before temptation? You know how you've fallen and you just rushed
headlong into it. You couldn't keep it. You felt
guilty the whole time. You felt horrible and you fell. You knew you fell and how you
felt. While the Lord never fell, He's
felt all that. He's felt all that. There isn't
anything about sin that he hadn't felt when he was made sin. When
he drank the cup of our sins, he was made to feel all the horror
of sin. Now, he never sinned. He couldn't
sin. He's impeccable. He's incapable
of sin. He knew no sin. I wouldn't in
any way dare to say that when he was made sin, he started committing
sins. No, he didn't. He's the spotless, holy, perfect
Lamb of God. But he felt everything about
sin when he was made sin. What was bothering him, don't
miss this, what was bothering him wasn't just the physical
pain. There's been a lot of men who have been crucified. What
was bothering him was being made sin. That's why he was so troubled. That's why he was sore amazed
and said, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. He
knew, he who knew no sin was made sin. And that is why when
he can see me and the feeling of my infirmities, instead of
getting mad at me, he's moved to sympathy. He knows exactly
what we feel. Actually, much more acutely.
Because you and I, our hearts are hard enough to where we don't
feel anywhere near the way we ought to. But he does. And because of that, he's touched
with the feelings of our infirmities, yet without sin, let us therefore
come boldly under the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy
and find grace to help in time of need. Turn to Hebrews chapter
10. Verse 19, having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiest, and you know that's a reference
to the holy of holies. In the tabernacle there was the
holy place and there was a holy of holies and nobody came into
the holy of holies but the high priest once a year, not without
blood. If anybody else would have tried
to come into the holy of holies, what happened? They'd be put
to death immediately just like that. God wouldn't have it. God's
holy. But here we read that we can come with boldness into the
very holy of holies. How? By the blood of Jesus, by
a new and that word new means, it's the only time this word's
found in the scripture, it means freshly slaughtered. The blood
is always so poignant to the Father. And when I come It's always new. It's always
powerful. It's not old. It's new and it's
living as opposed to dead. And that's why I can come with
boldness. Because of the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Listen, when God said, when I
see the blood, I'll pass over you. Aren't you thankful? That's
what He said. What if He said, when I see your repentance? What
if He said, when I see your faith? What if he said, when I see your
sincerity? What if he said, when I see your good intentions? What
if he said, when I see the strength of your love, I'll pass over
you? Well, he wouldn't pass over you, would he? But thank God
he said, when I see the blood. That's all he was looking for.
When I see the blood, I will pass over you. And our boldness is the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Two more scriptures, 1 John chapter
2, verse 28. And now little children
abide in him. What's that mean? Well, in him
is a place, Christ. If you abide in Him, that means
you simply want to stay right in Him and never be found outside
of Him. And it's a conscious desire to
simply be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it means
to abide in Him. If I say abide in this room,
that means don't go outside of this room. If I say all of God's
favor in this room, and there's nothing but wrath outside of
this room, everything you could ever want is in this room, everything
bad is outside of this room, you know what you're going to
do? You're going to want to stay in this room, won't you? You want to abide in it. If I
said all joy and pleasure and righteousness and holiness and
goodness is in this room, outside of this room, there's nothing
but the wrath of God, where do you want to stay? In this room. Well, that's
in Christ. Abide in Christ. You don't want
to be found anywhere else. Abide in Christ. I don't ever
want God to see me independently of Jesus Christ the Lord. Me
simply being found in Him so that all God sees is Christ. My little children abide in him
that when he shall appear, we may have confidence. That's the
word boldness, same word. That we may have boldness and
not be ashamed before him at his coming. Now, the only way
I can have confidence and boldness is by simply abiding in him. And here's the last scripture,
verse 17, chapter four. First John chapter four, verse
17. Herein is our love made perfect,
that we may have boldness, cheerful confidence in the day of judgment. Now, before we go on reading,
I want you to think of that concept. Being brought before God, the
holy God, the just God, and standing before Him and having boldness.
Boldness. Bold shall I stand in that great
day. That's what John says. Boldness,
cheerful confidence, nothing to worry about. Now how can somebody
have boldness with regard to Judgment Day? Well, let's go
on reading. Because as He is, so are we in this world right
now. Is He holy? Me too. Is He without sin? Is he perfectly righteous? Me
too. Is he altogether lovely and pleasing
and beautiful to God? How can you say something like
that? Because it says, as he is, so are we in this world. That's how I say it. Because
the Bible said, I'd never say something like that if it wasn't
in the word of God. But it's in the word of God. As he is,
so are we in this world. This is our boldness on Judgment
Day. Now back to our text, Acts chapter
4. Verse 13, 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. Now look in verse 29 of this
same chapter. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings,
and grant unto thy servants that they won't be persecuted, and
that they'll be kept out of jail, and that they won't be beat to
death. No, grant to 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 in 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 speak the word of God with boldness. That prayer was answered, wasn't
it? They spake the word of God with boldness. Oh, that the Lord
will enable us to do that in this day. Let's pray. Lord, because of the blood of
your son, because of his perfect righteousness, because of the
freeness of your grace, because you said so in your word, we
can approach you with boldness. Lord, with meekness, knowing
that our boldness is in Christ only, but Lord, to be able to
be bold, to come to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and
find grace to help in time of need through thy blessed son.
And Lord bless this message to our understanding. Lord, we ask
in Christ's name for this boldness that comes from being with Thy
dear Son. Lord, our desire is to be in
Him and to be with Him. In His name we pray. Amen.