Acts 4:5-31 | A Showdown for the Truth - Daron Roberts

before we begin in Acts chapter 4 we're gonna be in verses 5 all the way down to verse 31 we are gonna I just want to take a look here real quick again at a man from church history how many of you know the name William Tyndale good very good that's great to hear my wife just got me a new William Tyndale shirt for Father's Day that I've been wearing around so I've been very happy about that she got me a Jonathan Edwards coffee cup and a William Tyndale shirt so she knew the way to

my heart in those but I wanted to tell you the story of William Tyndale because we continued to study what inspired Turkish Tariq and so I like visiting these stories these narratives and church history that parallel what we see in the book of Acts so I want to tell you a little bit about William Tyndale does anyone know why William Tyndale is so significant why he's so important yes Tim yeah in large part that is very true he actually if you remember the setting he was in was in the 1500s right and in the 1500s

you had the Roman Catholic Church which basically had the ability to rule and reign over the distributing of Scripture 1,400 just go back a couple of hundred years or so before this 150 years you got a guy by the name of John Wickliffe what did he do he translated a version of the scriptures that got circulated after wick cliffs done with this translation what did the Roman Catholic Church start seeing lives were being transformed by the power of the gospel because people had a copy of God's Word prior to that time you had had roughly

a thousand years eleven hundred years of darkness where they only had translations of the Bible in Latin and so people in the English tongue could not get access to it nor could they in the German tongue hence 1522 what's Luther do he puts his first copy out to give people a copy of God's Word in German William Tyndale is to the English Reformation and what you hold in your hand what Luther was to Germany and that portion of the Reformation in fact he translate his first edition of the New Testament in 1526 from worms and

then in his second edition in 1534 but here's the thing at that time it was heresy punishable by death if you put out copies of the scripture and so William Tyndale had himself a bit of a fight let me tell you about Tyndale a little bit Tyndale was saved early in his life and immediately had a burden to get the scriptures to the common man now if you're wondering if you'll ever be a 10 Dale I can assure you you won't unless you are fluent in eight different languages and can handle the Greek and Hebrew

like a scholar Tyndale was a bit of a mutant when it came to his ability to handle the languages which is why God uniquely used him as a translator because even John Wickliffe translation was coming from the Latin versions Tyndale was going to the Greek and the Hebrew and extract the meaning and you want to know why he ticked off the Roman Catholic Church when they would say things in their translation where the word repentance was or where the word repentance should be they would put penance he translated it repentance when they would talk about

the church and they would say we are the holy church he would put congregation he was trying to gather in a biblical ecclesiology and a biblical understanding that was offending them greatly but here's what really burden Tyndale and this is a parallel for our day to day in so many so-called churches that muzzle and mute and filter truth and it's a parallel for Acts chapter 4 is that there is always a opponent when the Word of God is going forth Satan is always doing all he can to stop the Word of God in people getting

into people's minds with the utmost clarity right this is what Saints always after because if people have access to the truth what they can be transformed faith comes by what hearing and hearing the word of what so Tyndale was burdened about that let me just tell you a little bit about what Tyndale was up against here's what he said about the false church of Roman Catholicism he says this how the church distorts scripture but other rebels rebels to the papal Authority and Biblical Authority God around the weight and authority of the word and they made

it ambiguous they deliberately diluted it so people would not have access to it that burden Tyndale again Tyndale says this not only did they have controlled the churches but they had controlled the universities in the Universities the Roman Catholic Church has ordained that no man shall look at Scripture until he has been nursed or trained in heathen learning for eight or nine years and armed with false principles with which he is clean shut out of the understanding of Scripture you realize that ever since the garden and what Satan did trying to distort the scripture there's

always a movement to try and muzzle the truth in every generation including what we're gonna see in acts today Tyndale says this in response to them instead of concealing scripture hiding it by locking it under the Latin language we should unleash it just as it was taught by the Apostles in the common tongue I bet you when you see our narrative today in acts 4 that Tyndale himself would have went back in red acts 4 - to regain and recalibrate the courage he needed to stand in his day because that's what acts 4 is all

about standing against men who wants to keep people from truth here's another thing that Tyndale says to hear his heart he says this it's not enough to have it translated though it were the whole scripture in to the vulgar and into the vulgar and common tongue except we also bring again the light to understand it and expel the dark cloud which the hypocrites have spread over the face of scripture to blind the right sense and the true meaning well you can imagine that got Tyndale in a bit of trouble so he became a fugitive and

for 12 years he was on the run very difficult time from country to country running and what was his goal how do I find a printing press how do I translate how do I get the Word of God out and the Roman Catholic Church is just chasing him down everywhere they can to try and do what suppress the truth stomp it out we don't want people getting the Word of God and then he was betrayed by a Judas he befriended a man by the name of Henry Phillips Henry Phillips came to be a man he

trusted Phillips told Tyndale one evening I'd like to have you over for dinner Andrew Phillips has him over for a nice meal there chatting a bit and kind of the front entryway and then Henry Phillips must have must have had a larger home they walked down kind of a corridor that was going to go into an open area where they would have their meal and Henry Phillips as the story goes like a gentleman open the door for William Tyndale the fugitive on the run and as he walked out the door he pointed at him and

says here he is in the guards rushed him and grabbed him Tyndale spent the next 500 days in prison 500 days in prison and yesterday I read a letter that he wrote to the officials that were overseeing his stay in prison and hopefully I can get through it without crying today but when I read it yesterday it had me to tears and I'll tell you why because because you see this man in prison captured for the gospel just because he wanted men to know the scriptures here's what Tyndale wrote about his time in prison and

if you don't see a heart of a man that's absolutely being spent for the soul of others even at the cost of his own life you're missing this here's what he said where I beg your lordship that if I remain here through the winter that you will request the Commission Airy to have the kindness to send me listen to what he wants what would you want if you were in prison for five 500 days here's what he wants from the goods of mine could you send me a warmer cap for I suffer greatly from the

cold in my head and I am affected by a perpetual qatar qatar had an infection i think which is much increased in this cell a warmer coat also for this which also that a hat that i have is very thin and a piece of cloth to to patch my leggings my overcoat is worn out my shirts are also worn out he has a woolen shirt if he will be good enough to send it to me i have also with him his stuff leggings of thicker cloth to put on above and i have a warmer night

cap as well and i asked to be allowed to have a lamp in the evening it is indeed wearisome sitting alone in the dark but most of all i beg and beseech your clemency to be urgent with this commission this this letter that he will kindly permit me to have my Hebrew Bible and my Hebrew grammar and my Hebrew dictionary that I may pass the time in the study and in return you may obtain what you most desire so only that it be for the salvation of your soul he's saying I will give you truth

so your soul can be saved but if any other decision has been taken concerning me to be carried out before winner I will be patient abiding in the will of God to the glory of the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ I pray he may direct your heart William Tyndale he wanted to translate the Old Testament he just wanted to get the Word of God to the common man he wanted them to have access to their Old Testament his charge was heresy because he did not agree with the Roman Emperor and what he said about

who should have access to the word and you know what what Tyndale sent back to them I defy the Pope in all his laws if God spare my life ear many years I will cause a plowboy to know more of the scripture than you do August 6th 1536 outside of Brussels William Tyndale was martyred he was first tied to a stake and his last words were this Lord opened the king of England's eyes even his last breath was Lord get the scripture to people that don't know it so they can be saved he was then

strangled and his body was consumed with fire by the time the cord was loosened from his neck his faith had become sites he was 42 years old I gathered a lot of that from our own John Anderson's work on Tyndale and his biographical work you can listen out on our website beloved listen to me the reason I wanted to share that story with you is when you hear a story like that what does it do in your heart how does it challenge you tell me how does a man like that's life challenge you that commitment

to make the scripture known to people that don't know it what's that do in your heart what's to do sobering it's convicting Cameron I want to be that useful I want to stand I want to be like that do you know that Tyndale held the same conviction that the early church held they were far more concerned about sinning than they were suffering namely sinning by compromising when they should get people the truth by having fear of man and that is exactly what is going on in acts 4 you have a showdown between the authorities who

want to muzzle the truth and Peter who's unwilling to have it muzzled and he stands and just like William Tyndale he would have looked back to Peter in acts 4 and we look back to Tyndale and we look back to these men and we say Lord make me stand like this how do I get this conviction well how you do it is you look at inspired church history and that's what we're gonna see today the inspired church history of a showdown for the scripture being clearly known so let's walk through it we are gonna look

at a showdown over the truth being known and beloved when you read this and you see it let it encourage you in this way every interaction you have in your life with someone that doesn't know Christ there's a showdown you want the scripture to be made known and they don't why John 3 says men love the darkness and they hate the light so when the light comes they want to stomp it out this is the human hearts bent on the pages of Scripture and the early church beloved would have needed to see this because beloved

what you're about to see is Peter stand when the church was facing its first difficulty think about this if Peter didn't stand here what would that have meant for the rest of the church and the Tyndale's of the world and for us but Peter stands so let's look at it we're gonna look at five scenes on the showdown over the truth being known and we're gonna cover a lot of ground and we're gonna finish this narrative this morning because it is one big idea a showdown for true notice scene 1 a mock trial is used

as a decoy to conceal the truth a mock trial is used as a decoy to conceal the truth notice the opponent's here verse 5 on the next day the rulers and the elders and the scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem and anise the high priest was there and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all of the high priestly dissent I'm in verses 5 6 & 7 of chapter 4 when they had placed them in the center they began to inquire by what power or what name have you done this if you weren't here last week

you're probably going what is going on in this scene well look back at chapter 4 verses 1 to 4 as the people were speaking the priest and the captain the temple guard the Sagittarius came up them who was speaking Peter had just preached this blistering sermon Don had just saved five thousand plus people and the authorities were not happy with that so notice what happened they came up being greatly disturbed verse two because they were teaching the people and proclaiming Jesus in the resurrection they laid hands on them put them in jail until the next

day for was all ready evening but many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of men was 5000 so it was more than that that was just the men then on the next day that's where we're at where are we at we're at the next day where there's a court hearing it's a mock trial though but this is not a small trial look at all the parties that are in attendance notice just look back there at verses 5 & 6 you've got rulers and chief priests that's the that's 24 elders of

the priestly order okay you've got the elders the family heads those are the 12 tribes of Israel you've got anise there he was the previous high priest a scholar in the scripture he say why do they call him the high priest it's like a president even though they become the ex-president you still call president so and so that's like the high priest and then his son-in-law is there look Caiaphas he's the current high priest a keeper of the law and you've got John and Alexander we don't know a lot about them but their names would

have had a polarizing effect because all Luke had to do was state them in the early church new if you count that up beloved you've got Peter and John and the man that will see in a moment who was healed there sitting before if you count that up at least 42 men so imagine if you look there it says there they put them look back to the text they put them they place them in the center and begin to inquire verse 7 look at it they place them in the center and they began to enquire

so here's what I want you to imagine here's how they do this they'd have all the men of these these highest level authorities these are the best these are the best attorneys of the day these are the best judges of the day these are the law keepers and they put them in a half circle so imagine a half circle going like this and in being part of the temple it was this area where the the the the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin all that made them up they would meet to oversee on on

behalf of Rome these cases and they put him in a half circle and then they put the men in the middle to intimidate them and to inquire about whether they were innocent or not and how they would do it is all the men would come in and formally sit down and then they'd bring in the prisoners or those that were guilty and they'd put them before them and they'd start grilling them with questions so this is not a a small event and what's interesting is they didn't necessarily have to have all the big guns in

town you didn't always have to do that but everyone's here old high priests current high priests all these tribal leaders the chief priests these other men everyone is coming for this event this is a very intense and formal process you think how intense would that be just imagine if let's say how concerned the other church would be let's say that a pastor Jerry and pastor Todd were ripped out of our church for preaching the gospel taken and put on national television and they brought all nine judges they brought the president they brought an old president

they've got the best attorneys in the country and they surround it around them and they put them in the middle of them and they were gonna interrogate them based on their beliefs could be a significant event you can imagine the early church just wondering thinking praying okay Jesus just said that he will build his church he's just left he sent us these apostles they've been doing these great miracles are we Lord what is gonna happen we're gonna lose two of them are they gonna compromise they gonna stand what what would go down this was a

significant event but look at how I said this is a decoy they were hiding their real motives notice the question they asked in verse 7 by what power or what name have you done this translation by what authority have you done this miracle remember they healed the man who was a 40-year and made it so he can walk in the last section so they're saying him by what authority have you done this miracle now you may say okay hold on a second why are they in trouble for doing a miracle why would it be legitimate

for the chief priests and the Sanhedrin to bring them in well according to Deuteronomy 13 one to five if a miracle had been done there was place for the scribal order to bring someone in and evaluate whether the miracle was legitimate and if the miracle was potentially something that if you go read Deuteronomy 13 where they did the miracle so they could preach a different truth and get people away from the one true God so they would take it to kind of pull him in and investigate them but this is so convenient for them you

understand they're not really concerned about the miracle if they did this for every miracle they would have had Jesus and Jesus in here all the time they were they were conveniently applying the truth in a way that was comfortable for them because they didn't like that it happened in fact this has nothing to do with the miracle why what were they arrested for a miracle or preaching look back verses 2 & 3 of chapter 4 these men these pharisees the sadducees as religious leaders they were greatly disturbed verse 2 what's the word for disturbed angry

hostile they were upset in their conscience they wanted to shut up and silence the people that were speaking why because they were teaching the people and proclaiming Jesus and the resurrection so they laid hands on them and put them in jail this isn't about him mirakl this is about their preaching what is going on they're trying to make it seem like oh we're really concerned about your miracle what are they really trying to do we want to shut you up from preaching about the Messiah we don't want people to know that the Word of God

and what it says we don't want to know the Old Testament promises about him and we don't want you saying that he's risen from the grave why what did this same group do eight weeks ago eight weeks before this they successfully had Peter and John's leader executed that guy named Jesus from Nazareth now I just want you to back up think about the scene here in the context Jerusalem has about two hundred thousand people in it at the time okay just think about this eight weeks ago they killed this guy that said he was the

Messiah because he wouldn't stop giving his message so they killed him for his message and they made it seem like it was other things but they just wanted to kill him they want him dead they wanted him shut up and then there's a whole bunch of people that see this Jesus and there's an empty tomb so that's got this group panicked and then these disciples that he's commissioned go out and they start preaching and three thousand plus people are saved after Peter's first sermon Jerusalem would have heard all about that they'd have been buzzing think

about it people that worked in the market that were once angry and hostile are now kind and humble families would start getting divided a husband would come to Christ and a wife wouldn't or vice versa people in the public square and people in the higher levels of society would have been saved and started preaching the truth there would have been a lot of nervousness going on around Jerusalem and then just yesterday Peter preaches and 5,000 more plus people are born again you've got eight thousand plus people running around Jerusalem to some degree telling about their

newfound Messiah and then the baptisms Wow eight thousand plus baptisms in the pools around Jerusalem are you kidding everywhere they looked they'd be seeing Christians give public testimony these men were nervous this was a showdown they were trying to silence and muzzle the truth this is not a small event if they could just get Peter to compromise and capitulate they could undo everything and they could justify the fact that they were right and having the Messiah so so-called Messiah executed for the early church this would have been one of the most important stories for them

to study to see how men stood in the face of adversity in our day this would be viral number one on YouTube so that's the mock trial it's a decoy they just want to silence the truth they're trying to make about the miracle they don't care about the miracle they want to shut Peter up and they'll say that in a little bit scene 2 Peter won't allow their Mock Trial to silence the truth beloved Peter won't allow them to silence the truth what an encouragement verse 8 then Peter filled with the holy spirit it does

not mean he was totally past in that he was yield to the spirit but this is the the filling that comes for a special work that God has him to do and here's what Peter says to them rulers and elders of the people now just imagine the scene slot in your favorite pastor the one you look up to whatever slot him in and think about him standing before at least 42 who could go like this if they wanted to and find a way to take his life okay he's respectful rulers and elders he abides by

the law of the land I'll acknowledge your place in society God's placed you there I'll acknowledge it look at it rulers authorities elders okay but I got some words for you you want to make this about the miracle we know this was what this is really about verse 9 if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well he says okay guys you want to make it about the healing you want to make it about the man even though you arrested me yesterday

for preaching okay that's fine verse 10 let this be known to you all he changes to an imperative voice in the Greek text listen up men let it be known to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene now immediately when he brings up Jesus Christ the Nazarene his human name the man that they executed probably a few of them would've gasps this guy's talking about Jesus again I wish they'd shut up about him but he doesn't stop there you imagine his next words yeah that Jesus Christ the Nazarene

look at verse 10 by the way whom you crucified 42 men of the highest dignity and highest authority at least 42 men sitting there and they were just told by this ex fisherman you guys are a bunch of murderers that's basically the equivalent of the sitting president the ex-president nine Supreme Court judges the top lawyers in the land and someone going before them and saying yeah you guys are a whole bunch of murderers what he says next is amazing you may have killed him keep looking at the verse but God raised him from the dead

the guy you claim to worship whom God raised from the dead you asked me what authority I healed him I'll tell you what authority I healed him the god of the Old Testament and Jesus himself that's the authority you want to know the authority you think you're an authority you're no authority you killed him God raised him you think he took Destin the grave he walked right out with death look this by that power this man Jesus he's the one that makes this guy standing next to us in good health and they couldn't deny it

the guy just yesterday was doing jumping jacks in the temple after he'd been crippled for forty years there was no denying it and then he does the unthinkable you think peter hasn't offended him enough now he quotes the Old Testament to them and had searched their name as the ones that were rejecting the Messiah notice verse 11 he Jesus the stone which was rejected and then he adds something that psalm 118 22 he adds a little comment to them the stone that was rejected verse 11 by you man they know their Old Testament these are

the keepers of the law guys they know the Word of God the moment he quotes that most of them would have known the text he was in he said oh yeah that text that talked about people rejecting the Messiah let me just go ahead and apply that to you and you and you and he the one that was rejected by the Builders has become the chief Cornerstone that is the the side stone that upholds everything else it's the cornerstone of a building that was Jesus he upholds everything and then Peter says just there Peter preaches

the gospel to them you know why Peter didn't grumble and get upset when he was arrested the day before he wanted to preach the gospel perfect arrest me awesome I can get the gospel to the Sanhedrin come on let's go take me to prison I get before the Sanhedrin perfect nobody says verse twelve and there is salvation in no one else for there is no name under heaven that has been given among men though by which we must be saved translation God and heaven declared him so and you should repent now you read that what

do you hope the Sanhedrin would be like okay that's it we're done we're dead we're busted again we've been exposed this isn't good but just like people in your life when you start preaching truth to them you give people the Word of God you're thinking I couldn't lacks more eloquent on the gospel I couldn't have been more clear to you and instead of them softening they hardened instead of them embracing it they push back and what happens they start to dance right when we share the gospel with people and they don't like the truth they

dance they blame us they attack us they try and change the topic they change the issue they just don't want to deal with one thing my conscience is bearing down on me I know that to be true but I hate it because I love myself you gotta realize every unbeliever you talk to hates the truth they want to suppress it it's in their heart and so these Sanhedrin the top teachers of the law in the day become like a bunch of juvenile little kids trying to figure out how to manipulate wait their way out of

trouble on the playground you want to see what human depravity looks like look at scene 3 verse 13 the sanhedrin rally again to try and silence the scripture and this would have been comforting for the other church because we're about to see here even when Peters preaching beloved if God's not softening the heart and men won't soften they're gonna do everything they can to get out from under that burden of the truth and these men these top teachers of the day they just demonstrate their depravity notice they try and silence the scriptures the showdown continues

verse thirteen now as they now watch this now as they observe the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained man translation what in the world are these fisherman doing standing in front of me talking to me like they're in authority I'm the authority you're a fisherman why are you speaking like this to me but look what it says they were amazed and began to recognize that these men had been with Jesus now I read that again this morning and I thought I want people to say when they meet me

that guy knows Jesus he spent time with Jesus he's hung out with Jesus Jesus is not just his homeboy Jesus is his Lord he's also his friend he's his master and when I get around him it reflects to me that he is like Jesus and you know why they're crediting these fishermen acting like Jesus because what does say about Jesus he spoke with one who had Authority no one had ever gone to the law teachers of the day and engage them with conviction these men are watching two fishermen not care about their lives be more

concerned about sinning and compromising than suffering those men knew that they could put their thumb down and take their life and so when they saw these guys have the same problem that Jesus did no matter how much we tried to shut him up he wouldn't be quiet we even had to kill him to shut him up and now he's just spreading know he's got followers doing the same thing wow they were amazed the idea of shocked the these guys have the same thing that Jesus had a courage and conviction that transcends any fear of men

they just love the truth and they want it known and no matter what we're gonna do we're not going to stop him today untrained and uneducated they're supposed to be spellbound by these men they're not the top investigators of the day can't make a man of conviction not speak why so bold why so fearless they know Jesus look at verse 14 and seeing that the man who had been healed was standing with him they had nothing to say in reply they can't go against the miracle they can't go against the message what are they going

to do can you imagine 42 of the top attorneys of the day who are paid and have their life's goal to be able to speak and investigate mouths shut only Jesus could do that verse 15 you could put it says but but it's not really a contrast it's just progression and verse 15 and when they had ordered them to leave so what do they do we can't talk you guys get out of here we got to regroup they began to confer with one another can you imagine here are the best law keepers of the day

that are spellbound and don't know what to do so what do they say verse 16 what shall we do with these men for the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it before you think this is about the miracle look at verse 17 the miracle points to the message but so that it will not spread any further among the people what won't spread their message let us warn them not to speak but let us warn them to speak no longer verse

17 to any man in his name don't talk about Jesus we're gonna tell him verse 18 and when they summoned them in they commanded them not to speak or teach in the name of Jesus this isn't about the miracle now they're done doing the miracle charade they're done trying to make it about the miracle now we're just going to tell you stop talking about Jesus we're gonna muzzle the truth showdown again here's Peter they come back wonderful Peter and John we're praying singing saying okay when they come back after they deliberate what's gonna happen so

they come back and they say Peter John you guys need to stop talking about Jesus the Messiah look at what Peter says in this showdown here showdown continues look at what Peter says verse 19 but Peter and John answered them now both men are speaking with conviction whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God you be the judge translation let me ask you men something who's a higher court you or God do I bow to the king of the universe or am I going to come

and bow to your little puny courts you men think you're in Authority you think you're something important I bow to the king of the universe and he says that I obey God rather than men if men try and get me to go against scriptures we'll see that in the next chapter look at that who holds the higher court men you are God and then he says I figured he would say let me tell you but he just says you be the judge you know the Old Testament you know what it says who's the higher court

God or you I mean can you imagine these guys they just must be like we are not budging these dudes they're not moving I don't think they said dudes we're not budging these men why can't they stop speaking verse 24 we cannot stop speaking about we've seen and heard we are men of conviction now here's what's amazing the showdown has come to its final end but again the early church would have seen three responses to what just happened three responses show up at the end of the showdown first notice verse 21 the religious leaders response

when they threatened them further they let them go finding no basis to punish them why no basis to punish them because of the people who were glorifying God for what had happened don't miss that Luke gives a commentary you know what was wrong with the religious leaders they were so obsessed with their reputation they were so obsessed with the people thinking much of them that because the people were buying into it a little bit they said ok we can't do anything to them we don't want to lose influence now think about the irony of that

they should have heard the message from Peter feared God repented and fall down in dust and ashes but instead they were so obsessed with their reputation and they loved men's approval to such a degree that they were even willing to muzzle what Peter said and not do anything that could cost them like executing them instead they just warned them and said who one of the people okay people don't want us to do it right now okay you guys can go but don't do it again like a schoolteacher I know you weren't really supposed to be

in trouble but don't you do what you didn't do again it's nonsense why they loved the approval of man look at it again verse 21 on the account of the people they would not speak so there's your first response the religious leaders lust for man's approval shielded them from repentance second response the people notice the people were doing what glorifying God for what had happened now I don't think that's salvation because they're not glorifying God because of Christ being preached notice what they're glorifying God for verse 22 for the man hears the grammatical reason the

reason they were glorifying is not Jesus in the message but for the man who was more than 40 years old on whom the miracle healing had been performed the reason this crowd was responding is they were an amazed by miracles so now you've got another response you've got this hard-hearted response when he got this well this is really exciting we're praising this God maybe we believe in maybe we don't because of this miracle we've seen and when you see that word praise it's also used in Luke 4:15 glorified when Jesus was teaching in the synagogue

all were praising him but they weren't saved it's an amazement it can also be used for salvation but here it's just amazing so you got the second audience maybe you feel like that sometimes you go preach the gospel of someone you tell them the truth you stand and some I hate you don't talk to me you're in a cult don't talk to me about that message anymore it makes me feel convicted I feel uncomfortable you're making me feel bad my self-esteem hurts whatever and we got another group that's like Wow amazing awesome cool I'd like

to see the power of things going on but I'm not sure I want to give up my heart to him maybe I'll listen for another day but then there's the response of the church and the Apostles the third response to the showdown look at verse 23 but now the Apostles and the believers when they had been released they went to their own companions that's language for their sphere of influence those that would have wanted to know and they reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them stop there what did these

believers do after they had been in this showdown they went back to their buddies and said you wouldn't believe what God has done people I said did God save the chief priests and the elders no but we got to proclaim Christ before the highest court wow that's amazing and what happened they almost killed us but they decided not to by the grace of God we were mercifully spared they let us go you should have heard what Peter said to him it was incredible and then John spoke up and all we did was just stand for

the truth we gave our lives to Christ we didn't want to compromise and then let's go they just told us don't do it again and if we do it again we may be back there again so be aware but then notice what happened they broke out in worship when they heard this verse 24 they lifted their voices to God with one Accord beloved stop there what did the early church do when they had a showdown for authority that was difficult that was hard they stood for the truth and someone rejected it what did they do

they went back to the body of Christ they found other believers they encouraged one other they sang together they prayed together they were ministered to together sometimes we have a difficult interaction with someone in our family and we go oh it's so hard it's so difficult they don't like me oh man and they're going what a privilege that we are not liked for the sake of Christ Wow guys let's praise God we Prem's claim the gospel and they treated us like they treated Jesus hallelujah you realize that persecutions strengthens the church because people come together

when there's a trial and stand with one another this is my persecution so purifying the more hostility the church faces the more they gather together in unity the less hostility the more petty the church is just probably why so many churches today that don't preach hard truth have such poor unity because they're not getting pushed back run by the culture so they don't gather together to come together and be unified they're too busy courting the kertzer and trying to get everyone to like them like I would imagine if a whole bunch of churches today started

standing with ax4 convictions the culture would hate the Church of Jesus Christ a lot more than it does but since the church today is trying to entertain the world and make Sunday morning a little bit more doctrinal than Saturday night but equally as entertaining you face no reproach oh they're not that bad they say some hard things but they're they really don't say things are gonna cost me this church they didn't care what burden their conscience was the truth guys we need to stand like this notice what happens verse 25 24 they heard this they

lifted their voices in one Accord and they sang and Psalm 146 6 oh that prayed sang and said O Lord I'm in verse 24 it is you who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that's in them and then they quote Psalm 2 1 2 - who by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of our Father David your servant said this why did the Gentiles rage and the people devised futile things the kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ

reason that happened that rulers those authorities they know what's going on verse 27 for truly in the city they were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel and then look at this they they document they know why this is going on because they are godly believers they realize that men are always going to oppose Christ when the truths being known Satan's going to spin as many people out there to try and smash it but then they acknowledge that God's

always on the throne verse 28 God you do whatever it is with your hand and your purpose that's predestined to occur then 29 and now Lord look at this now they pray now look at this prayer requests now Lord take note of their threats and what would our pray be dot dot dot and Lord please help me not have any more difficult interactions with my family Lord and please make it so it's not so difficult on my campus and Lord please make it so it's not so hard in that one friendship because it's just been

so difficult every time I've talked to them about truth that's not what they prayed here's what they prayed Lord would you please take note of their threats verse 29 and grant that your slaves may speak the Word of God with confidence next time you know what their prayer was Lord give us another opportunity to preach no matter the human response we just want the opportunity to preach your name not compromise not capitulate we don't want to be like their fear of man we just want to be useful to you when the truths being stomped out

just give us another opportunity to proclaim and then he shows the purpose of the miracles was for the message at the same time as they're concerned about being able to preach verse 30 while you extend your hand to heal and signs and wonders and take place through the name of your holy servant Jesus give us more opportunities to preach the more you allow us to do these miracles and when they had prayed the place there that they had gathered was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit again a special anointing of the Holy

Spirit in the book of Acts and they began to speak the Word of God with boldness because not to say that the same thing is not for us today to see these types of narratives and look at it again speak with boldness what's the implication beloved turn to John 3 let me show you the implication of all this just pull all this in and end with this what's the implication if you are a Christian you should be very very very thoughtful that people don't treat you better than they treated Christ if people treat you that

are unbelievers better than they treated Christ and better than they treated in apostles it's not a sign that you're like Christ it's a sign you're too much like the world he was perfect he never sinned and they killed him and we just need to remember beloved when you leave here and you go into your sphere of influence we love John 3:16 who doesn't love that God so loved the world but if you read on in the context it gets pretty dicey when you start preaching this message John 3:16 for God so loved the world he

gave His only begotten Son and whoever believes in Him shall perish but have eternal life I heard that message my whole life verse 17 for God did not send the son in the world to judge the world but the world would be saved through him he who believes in Him is not judged but he does not believe him is judged already I didn't hear that message a lot because he has not believed in the name of the son of God here it is this is the judgment that the light has come into the world and

men love the darkness rather than light for their deeds were evil for everyone who does evil hates the light and does not come to the light for fear look at it that their deeds will be exposed beloved just realize you are in the ministry of preaching the light that exposed darkness and deeds for people to be saved they have to see their darkness but men hate it when you preach the light and they're not softening their heart in repentance so we can't imagine that we're going to keep all these platonic nice comfortable relationships if we're

going to be faithful messengers Jerry preached on this last week right we align ourselves with God's purposes when we bring the truth are we winsome of course are we gracious of course are we kind of course do we serve every we can of course but don't bend what God has made straight don't don't blunt what he's made sharp the early church would have looked to Peter and John and said okay there's the model we stand on the truth we leave the rest of the outcome to God we're more concerned about sinning and fear of man

than suffering from the outcome we'll stand we'll just see more and more in that in the weeks ahead last question lasting implications that hit me was this thank you Lord that I go to a church and I was brought up in a church that doesn't muzzle doesn't mute doesn't filter doesn't compromise doesn't capitulate does it tell stories over the top of verses doesn't focus on themselves they just bring the clarity and let the word of god shed his light on dark hearts and everyone in this room that's saved is a recipient of a light shedding

ministry to dark hearts let's pray Lord Jesus make us like Peter and John bold forgive us for just our tendency to be like the religious leaders that are so committed to what others will think of us that we sometimes even dull an edge that you've made sharp or we don't want to be ungracious we don't want to lack a winsomeness but lord please help us from never putting a filter on what you have made clear and as we look at William Tyndale and his willingness to stand as we look at Peter and John in the

coming chapters as we look at Steven as we look at Paul Lord inspired church history is meant by you God to inspire us to stand Lord please help us give us the grace and mercy as we obey Ephesians 5 and walk in the spirit and we be filled up with the spirit as we submit our lives to truth and we be the type of people that shine light and when we think of Ephesians 5 that when we shine the light on darkness you call men to be saved help us not to be so in love

with our selfs Lord that we keep people from the very thing that could save them and thank you for inspired church history we need narratives like this more often than we probably like to admit because we are people that lack courage you