Okay, today we're coming back
to Acts, the book of Acts chapter 4, and I'm taking title from
the words found in verse 20. Peter and John declare, we cannot
but speak the things which we have seen and which we have heard,
speaking what we know. That's what gospel preachers
do. Speaking what we know. We read a moment ago in 1 John
1, John writes, that which we have seen and heard, declare
we unto you that you may have fellowship with us and truly
our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Speaking what we do know. Peter and John had been with
the Lord Jesus Christ in his public ministry for at least
three years. They saw his many and mighty
miracles. They saw the Lord Jesus Christ
commanded dead man to come out of the grave, and Lazarus, who'd
been dead four days, his body had already started to corrupt,
and the dead man walked out of the tomb. Boy, they had something
to tell, didn't they? you because they had seen the
Lord Jesus Christ act as God. They saw his many and mighty
miracles. They heard him declare the gospel
of God, how God saves sinners in Christ. The Lord said, I'm
the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but
by and through me. Peter and John heard the Father
speak from heaven audibly, on the Mount of Transfiguration
when Peter said, well, boy, this is a special time. Let's build
a tabernacle to Moses, one to Elijah, and one to the Lord Jesus
Christ. And God's speech from heaven
said, Peter, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
Hear him. So, He heard the Father speak,
identifying the Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, as the Messiah,
as the Christ of God. And these men, mere fishermen,
they were considered by the established religious crowd as ignorant men. They were telling out what they
knew to be true. They were eyewitnesses, as we
read in 2 Peter 1. They were eyewitnesses to his
majesty, to his glory, to his power. They could not speak otherwise. To do so would be what? A false
prophet. To speak otherwise, he said,
we're gonna tell you exactly what we've seen with these eyes
and what we have heard with these ears, the gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. One old preacher of the past
used to say, you cannot tell what you do not know. Try it
sometime. Try to tell out what you don't
know. And then he would go on to say, you cannot tell what
you do not know any more than you can come back from where
you have not been. That old preacher's name was
Roth Barnard, who came to Asheville, Kentucky in April of 1950 and
declared the gospel of the grace of God. And one young 24-year-old
man sitting there on the front row heard God speak through that
minister. And that man's name was Henry
Thomas Mahan. And we know the rest of the story,
don't we? How God had blessed his ministry.
False preachers today, and I mean by that the mainstream of religion
today, they do not preach the truth of salvation by the grace
of God alone, in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, through faith alone,
to the glory of God alone. They do not preach the truth
of God. You know why? They do not know
the truth, nor the true and living God. If you know the truth, and
believe the truth, and have been taught the truth, what are you
gonna speak? You're gonna tell the truth of
who God is. Now, these men stood, as it says in
verse 13, with boldness. These men stood with uncompromising
boldness. They would preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ and would give their life in doing
so, preaching the gospel boldly. Now, I'm gonna work on that word
for just a little bit here later on in the message when they saw
the boldness of Peter and John. Now, what if Now this is exactly
what Peter and John did. In verse 8 of Acts chapter 4,
Peter filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Rulers and elders,
if we this day be examined at the good deed done to this impotent
man by what means he's made whole, be it known unto you and all
the people 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 whole. This is that stone, the
stone, the foundation which is set at naught of you builders.
which has become the head of the corner, the chief cornerstone.
Peter goes on to say, neither is there salvation in any other,
for there's no other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. Now, what if Peter would have
said, when they asked, in whose name you had done this miracle.
What if Peter would have said, well, we did this in the name
of Jehovah. You remember back over here in chapter three, verse
13, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob
had glorified the fathers. God of our fathers has glorified,
rather, his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. If they would have said,
well, we did this in the name of the God of Abraham, the Sanhedrin
court probably would have been satisfied and probably would
have dismissed them with no further action against them, but that
would not be telling the truth. The point of the issue was the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ. We did this miracle in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The point of contention and the
issue of the day was that their salvation in no other. Had Peter
and John failed to tell out what they had seen and heard concerning
the gospel of Christ, they would have failed to boldly declare
the gospel of Christ. Martin Luther said, The point
of contention in that day when they stood before that council
was who is Jesus Christ and what had he accomplished. Martin Luther
said if we fail to confess the gospel of Christ at the point
of contention in our day we fail to preach the gospel. What was
the point of contention? How does God save and justify
sinners? That is the point of contention
in our day. How does God justify sinners? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to contend for the faith
that was delivered unto the saints and do so boldly in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Peter said, seeing we have, or
Paul said rather, seeing we have such hope, we use great plainness,
and it's the same word, boldness of speech. They prayed for that
down in verse 29, Acts chapter four. They prayed for boldness,
that they might speak the gospel with boldness. Look at verse
29. Chapter four, verse 29. Lord, behold, they're threatening
and grant unto thy servants that with all boldness they may speak
the word of truth. Look at verse 31, Acts chapter
four. And when they had prayed, the
place was shaken where they were assembled together and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake the word of God with
boldness. boldness before God. Believers, and especially preachers
of the gospel, cannot be ashamed of the gospel. That's what Paul
said, for as much as in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is the power of God unto salvation. We speak the gospel
with all plainness of speech and with boldness. When Paul
writes as he sits in prison in Rome, back to young Timothy,
he said, do not be ashamed of me nor the gospel. For if God
who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to God's own purpose and grace,
given us in the Lord Jesus Christ, we must preach the gospel of
God with boldness, openness, and clarity, and plainness of
speech, declaring who the Lord Jesus Christ truly is, God our
Savior, what he accomplished for us. He appeared once in the
end of the age to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself.
Why did he die for the sin of God's people? That God might
be just and the justifier of those who believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. And we must declare where he
is right now. WHERE IS THE LORD JESUS CHRIST
RIGHT NOW? WELL, HE SEATED ON THE THRONE
OF GOD, AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD, WHEN HE BY HIMSELF PURGED
OUR SIN, HE SAT DOWN ON THE RIGHT HAND OF THE THRONE OF GOD. NOW, LOOK AT VERSE 13, WHEN THEY
SAW THE BOLDNESS OF PETER AND JOHN, THAT IS, DECLARING THAT
THERE'S SALVATION IN NO OTHER, THEY PERCEIVED OR UNDERSTOOD
THAT THESE MEN WERE UNEDUCATED, THEY WERE UNLETTERED, THEY WERE
UNLEARNED, THEY WERE IGNORANT MEN, BUT THEY MARVELED, AND THEY
TOOK KNOWLEDGE OF THEM, OR ACKNOWLEDGED THAT THEY HAD BEEN WITH THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST. NOW THIS WORD BOLDNESS FOUND
IN VERSE 13 MEANS BLUNT. bluntness. It means frankness. It means to plainly and freely
speak the truth. And that's exactly what Peter
and John did. In their plain speaking, With
courage given of God, they declared with an open and powerful declaration
that salvation was in the Lord Jesus Christ alone. These religious
rulers of the day dismissed them as unlettered, ignorant, and
idiots who didn't know anything. NOW, THESE MEN WERE SIN OF GOD. HOWEVER, THEY MARVELED AND ACKNOWLEDGED
THAT THEY WERE DISCIPLES OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT THEY
HAD BEEN WITH, I LOVE THE LAST PART OF VERSE 13, THEY HAD BEEN
WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NO BETTER PLACE TO BE No better
company any man could keep than to be one with the Lord Jesus
Christ and to be taught by Him. Wouldn't that be something? TO
BE WITH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. AND WE ARE BY FAITH TO BE TAUGHT
OF HIM. ALL THAT HAVE HEARD AND LEARNED
OF THE FATHER, ALL THAT ARE TAUGHT BY THE FATHER, THEY COME TO THE
LORD JESUS CHRIST. THAT'S WHERE SAVING FAITH LOOKS,
UNTO CHRIST. VERSE 14, AND BEHOLDING THE MAN
WHICH WAS HELD STANDING WITH THEM, THEY COULDN'T SAY ANYTHING
AGAINST this man and the healing that they had received. Although
they strongly dismissed their words, they disbelieved the message. They could not deny the miracle
of this man being healed, who was a cripple all his life, who
was 40 years old, now standing and made whole with perfect soundness,
as it says back in chapter three. They could say nothing against
the miracle, but yet they denied that he was healed in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that just like people today?
People today and religious folks, for the most part, they cannot
deny or will not deny the creation of God, or that Jesus Christ
died upon a cross, or even that God raised him from the dead,
but they deny what he accomplished in all the redemptive work of
God in saving his people from their sin. NOW TO SAY THE LORD
JESUS CHRIST DIED FOR ALL OF THE SINS OF ALL MEN AND PUT THEM
IN A SAVABLE STATE OR PUT THEM IN SUCH A CONDITION IF THEY DO
CERTAIN THINGS THEY WILL BE SAVED IS TO DENY THE GOSPEL OF GOD. THE LORD JESUS CHRIST SAVED HIS
PEOPLE FROM THEIR SIN WHEN HE GAVE HIS LIFE AND SHED HIS BLOOD
AND HE MAKES THEIR SALVATION ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN AND SURE. Now that's the gospel. We cannot
deny those things, but we openly and boldly declare those things,
even though religious people may gnash at their teeth when
we say the Lord Jesus Christ died only for his chosen and
only for his elect, as the Word of God declares. Our Lord said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. People who say God's done all
he can do, now it's up to you, and that salvation depends upon
you, they're not sin of God. They're not God's preachers.
Salvation is always purpose of God, purpose from eternity, accomplished
by the Lord Jesus Christ in time. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them. Salvation is always purpose of
God. He purposed that in eternity.
He accomplished salvation for us when He put away sin by the
sacrifice of Himself. Salvation always depends upon
the Lord Jesus Christ and is applied by Him. These are the
things that we have seen and heard in His Word. These are
the things that we must boldly declare. unto all men everywhere
that salvation is dependent upon him. God who has begun a good
work in you he will finish it in the day of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now read on in our story back
to Acts chapter 4 verse 15 when they had commanded them to go
aside out of the council they conferred among themselves. Now, they commanded the men who
were under arrest to go outside of their council chamber, and
then it says there they conferred among themselves. Now, that's
never a wise thing to do, to hold a council of men when considering
the gospel of God, how God saves sinners, it's never a wise thing
to do to consult the flesh or to consult one another. The apostle
writes about it this way, we dare not make ourselves of a
number or compare ourselves with some that commend themselves
or they measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves
among themselves are not wise men. Second Corinthians 10. Verse
12, it's always the wrong thing to do when considering the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ to consult with the flesh. These men didn't
consult the scriptures. They did not beg God and pray
unto God for understanding. NOR WOULD THEY ASK THESE MEN
WHO KNEW ALL THINGS IN REGARD TO THE GOSPEL, THEY WOULD NOT
ASK THESE MEN TO PREACH THE GOSPEL UNTO THEM. RATHER, THEY COMMANDED
THEM NOT TO PREACH ANY MORE IN HIS NAME. THEY WERE FULL OF RELIGIOUS
PRIDE, SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS, AND THEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH
THE GOSPEL OF GOD CONCERNING THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. NOW, VERSE
16, 17, And here's what they said, what
shall we do with these men? This is their counsel. Or indeed
a notable miracle had been done by them and is manifest to all
them that dwell in Jerusalem. We cannot deny the miracle, the
man standing in front of us, but that it spread no further
among the people. Let us straightly threaten them
that they speak henceforth to no man in this name that they
hated. They threatened them and commanded
them not to preach the gospel anymore in the name of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at Acts chapter 4 verse
21, when they had further threatened them, THEY LET THEM GO, FINDING
NOTHING HOW THEY MIGHT PUNISH THEM BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE FOR
ALL MEN, OR ALL GLORIFIED GOD. THEY WANTED NOTHING TO DO WITH
GOD. NOW, I WANT YOU TO FIND CHAPTER
5, ACTS CHAPTER 5, BECAUSE WE SEE THE NEXT TIME, AND THE APOSTLES DID NOT CEASE
TO PREACH AND TEACH IN HIS NAME IN ALL JERUSALEM, But over in
Acts chapter five, when they were called again before this
council, here's what they further did. Verse 40, Acts chapter five,
to him they agreed, when they had called the apostles and beaten
them, they agreed with the council of Gamaliel and said, if this
work be of God, you can't stop it. If it's of men, it'll come
to naught. But if it be of God, you can't
overthrow it, lest haply you be found to fight against God,
verse 39. And to him they agreed. And when
they had called the apostles and beaten them and commanded
that they should not speak in the name, OF JESUS THEY LET HIM
GO, AND THEY DEPARTED FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE COUNCIL, REJOICING
THAT THEY WERE COUNTED WORTHY TO SUFFER SHAME FOR HIS NAME,
AND DAILY IN THE TEMPLE, AND IN EVERY HOUSE, THEY CEASED NOT
TO TEACH AND PREACH THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. THEY JUST, THEY
TOLD THEM TO HUSH, BUT BECAUSE THEY HAD THE BOLDNESS OF GOD
THE HOLY SPIRIT, THEY JUST KEPT RIGHT ON PREACHING THE GOSPEL,
AND GOD BLESSED IT. YOU CANNOT STOP THE PURPOSE OF
GOD, AND TO THREATEN GOD'S SERVANTS IS TO ASSAULT THE VERY THRONE
OF GOD AND HIS SOVEREIGN PURPOSE. NOW THAT GETS US DOWN TO THEIR
ANSWER. VERSE 19, PETER AND JOHN, THEY CALLED THEM AND COMMANDED
THEM NOT TO SPEAK, AND 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? WELL, I GUESS YOU MAKE THAT JUDGMENT.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, because
all men glorified God." Now, Peter and John still in their
boldness and determination to preach Christ as all in salvation. Now, how do you account for such
boldness of these men? VERSE 8 IS THE ANSWER, THEN PETER
FILLED WITH THE HOLY SPIRIT. THAT'S HOW YOU COUNT FOR THEIR
BOLDNESS. THEIR BOLDNESS. THEY WERE FILLED
WITH THE MESSAGE OF CHRIST. NOW, MUCH BETTER TO OBEY GOD,
PETER SAYS, AND TO IGNORE YOU. When the commands of men run
contrary to the revealed will of God written in the Word, it's
always right for us to obey God and ignore what men say. magistrates locally or in our
state commanded that we could not stand in our pulpit and preach
the gospel anymore. What if they commanded us to
preach universal love, universal atonement? What if they said,
if you're going to preach, you've got to preach this, this, and
this, rather than what God says? What are we going to do? We're going to tell the truth.
about the gospel of God. It's always right and better
to submit unto God rather than to surrender to men. That's why
so many of the dear saints, men who were burned to the stake,
they were given that commandment not to preach the gospel of God's
grace anymore. And they were commanded to shut
up or burn. And they said, we'd rather burn
than stop preaching the gospel. Oh, John Bunyan, writer of that
book, Pilgrim Progress, you know, they put him in prison for 12
years to try to shut him up. And that's when he wrote that
book. You can't stop the purpose of God. And when John Bunyan
was released, he went on preaching the gospel of God. Paul said,
the servants of God do not seek to please men. If we do so, we're
not the servants of God. God commanded these men THE RELIGIOUS
LEADERS SAID, WE COMMAND YOU TO STOP. WHAT DID THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST COMMAND THEM TO DO? HE COMMANDED THEM TO GO INTO
ALL THE WORLD AND PREACH THE GOSPEL TO EVERY CREATURE. GOD
HAS GIVEN HIS CHURCH THE SAME EXACT COMMANDMENT TO US. I TAKE IT PERSONALLY. And I hope
you do too, because God's people are all in the ministry. We've
been given this charge to preach Christ and Him crucified. We
must preach Him. The apostle put it this way,
though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, for necessity
is laid upon me, yea, woe is unto me if I do not preach the
gospel. Now, we're going to see all the
way through our study in the book of Acts how God honors the
means he has ordained to call out his people through the preaching
of the gospel of God concerning the blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. If you want to turn with me,
I would encourage you to do so over to 1 Corinthians 1. even though the preaching of
the cross, 1 Corinthians 1 verse 18, the preaching of the cross
is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it's
a power of God. For it is written, I will destroy
the wisdom of the wise, I'll bring nothing to 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 knew not God, it pleased God by the
foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. For the Jews
require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but we preach Christ
crucified unto the Jews, the stumbling block. under the Greeks'
foolishness, verse 24, look at it carefully, but under them
which are called both Jews or Gentiles, Christ the power of
God and Christ the wisdom of God. Christ in him crucified
is all the counsel of God, how God saves sinners. Now, look back to the text for
just a moment. We see something in verse 21.
We cannot but speak the thing which we have seen and heard.
Verse 21. So when they had further threatened
them, THEY LET THEM GO, FINDING NOTHING HOW THEY MIGHT PUNISH
THEM BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE ALL GLORIFIED GOD FOR THAT
WHICH WAS DONE. I WANT TO SHOW YOU SOMETHING
INTERESTING ABOUT THESE MEN. TURN BACK OVER HERE TO JOHN CHAPTER
12, THESE RELIGIOUS MEN. THEY CARED MORE FOR THE APPLAUSE
OF MEN THAN THEY DID FOR THE GLORY OF GOD. Verse 42, nevertheless among
the chief rulers also many believed on him but because of the Pharisees
they did not confess him lest they should be put out of the
synagogue for they loved the praise of men MORE THAN THE HONOR
OF GOD AND THE PRAISE OF GOD. HERE WERE FIVE THOUSAND MEN THIS
DAY, THREE THOUSAND THE DAY BEFORE, WHO HEARD AND BELIEVED THE GOSPEL
AND WERE DETERMINED TO GLORIFY GOD FOR ALL GLORIFIED GOD. YOU SEE THAT IN THE LAST PART
OF VERSE 21? for that which was done." You know, that's a distinguishing
mark between the gospel of God concerning Christ, who gives
all the honor and glory, to that which is another gospel that
honors a creature. That distinguishing feature,
who gives the glory in saving sinners. Well, God gets all the
glory. But of him are you in Christ
Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written, he that glory,
let him glory in the Lord. And that comes from Jeremiah
9, 23. Let me read that to you. Thus saith the Lord, let not
the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory
in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but
he that glorieth, let him glory in this, that he understandeth
and knoweth me, that I am the Lord. which exercise loving kindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth, or in these things
I delight, saith the Lord. I want to give you this in closing.
May the Lord be pleased to exalt Christ in our heart, that we
might believe him with all boldness, liberty, and freedom in Christ. You see, Christ in us, that we
might honor and glorify him by believing him. Christ in you
is a hope of glory. Abraham staggered not at the
promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving
glory to God, being fully persuaded that what he had promised he's
able to perform, therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. May God be pleased to exalt Christ
in our heart. that we might believe him with
all boldness, and rest in him with all freedom of spirit and
heart, and all that is in us is. Secondly, that we may have
boldness to speak the things which we have seen, heard, and
believed. This word boldness, as it says
in verse 13, means openly, plainly, and freely preach the gospel
and believe the gospel of God without any reservation. Saving faith doesn't have any
reservation. We wholeheartedly believe all
things written in the scripture. Lord grant unto thy servant that
with all boldness they may speak thy word. In verse 31 of Acts
4, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spake
the word of God with boldness before all men. I want to show
you a couple places This won't take long, but I wanna show you
how the apostle uses that word boldness. Turn to Ephesians chapter
three, first of all. Ephesians chapter three. Look at verse 11 and 12. According
to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our
Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence by
the faith of Him. We have boldness that's given
to us. Saving faith is bold. It boldly
trusts Christ for all of salvation. Ephesians chapter 6, little verse
19. all praise this way. Ephesians
6, praying always with all prayer and supplication, watching thereunto
with all perseverance and supplication for all saints. Verse 19, Ephesians
Six, and for me that utterance may be given unto me that I may
open my mouth boldly to make the gospel, the mystery of the
gospel, to make it known. May God grant that to us here. Now, a couple more places I want
us to look at. If you'll turn to the book of
Hebrews now. Boldness, boldness. LIBERTY,
FREEDOM, OPENNESS, PLAINNESS OF SPEECH TO DECLARE THAT GOD
IS GOD, THAT SALVATION IS OF THE LORD. HEBREWS CHAPTER 10,
TURN THERE, HEBREWS CHAPTER 10. LOOK AT VERSE 17, AND THEIR SIN
AND INIQUITY WILL I REMEMBER NO MORE. THIS IS HEBREWS 10,
17. NOW WHERE REMISSION OF THESE
IS, THERE'S NO MORE OFFERING FOR SIN, HAVING THEREFORE, BRETHREN,
BOLDNESS. to enter into the holiness by
the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have boldness. We have liberty.
Another place, turn back to Hebrews 4, verse 14. Seeing then that we have such
a great high priest, Let us therefore come boldly. Same word. under the throne of grace that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in our time of
need. When is that? All the time. Now,
here's the last one. Turn back over to 1 John and
this time find chapter four, I believe it is. Chapter four. 1 John chapter four, verse 17. when they saw the boldness
in Peter and John. Now, look at this here. 1 John
4, 17. Herein is our love made perfect,
complete in Christ, that we may have boldness, not only before
men, but in the day of judgment. Wouldn't you like to have boldness
in a day of judgment? Boldness to declare that Christ
is all of my salvation. He's all of my righteousness.
Herein is our love made perfect, complete in Christ that we may
have boldness in the day of judgment because as he is, so are we. in this world. Right now we have
boldness in Christ before the throne of God. That's why he
said, come boldly before him that we may obtain mercy and
grace to help in our time of need. Now, Peter and John are
let go. But you know what? I keep right
on preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with boldness.
And may God give us grace to believe the gospel and to contend
for the gospel with all boldness, openness, not being ashamed of
the gospel. Paul said, I'm not ashamed of
the gospel for I know whom I have believed and I'm persuaded he's
able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that
day.