Acts 4. We're going to look specifically at verse 23 to verse 31. But we'll read all of Acts 4 and get acquainted with the context and understand what's going on in the life of the young church here as Peter and John are being brought before the unbelieving Jewish authorities for preaching the Lord Jesus Christ and healing in His name. This is Acts 4, beginning in verse 1.
Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.
And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, what shall we do to these men?
For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.
For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.
So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said, Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Amen.
Introduction
Well, again, we're going to look at verse 23 to 31, but most of the scene we read there, what we didn't read was the account of Peter and John healing a man outside the temple at the temple gates. A cripple was healed, and they used that as an occasion to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. They heal this man, and then they use that pattern of apostolic preaching, which is in the book of Acts and elsewhere, to disclose and proclaim that this Jesus of Nazareth is the promised one of old. He is the one that the prophets promised would come from the first to the last Old Testament prophet.
They foretold of this coming one, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would come in the fullness of the times to redeem his people from their sins. And this word, of course, comes to the rulers, the elders, the scribes, unbelieving Jewish religious leaders of the day and they bring them before them in order to threaten them and call them, charge them not to proclaim in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and to do anything in his name. We read the scene. They threatened them more than once and they are unable to do anything else because this report has gone out.
It has been witnessed by many And as verse 21 says, when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. And so they are let go and they come back to their companions, as verse 23 says, and they bring this report of everything that took place to their companions, everything that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And then we read in verse 24, the account of this congregational prayer that is brought before the Lord God Almighty. And that will be the focus, our focus this evening.
And we're going to try to look at four things this evening. And those four things are first, the congregation's unity. Secondly, the congregation's confidence. Thirdly, the congregations request, and then lastly and fourthly, the divine response.
The Congregation's Unity
So first, the congregations unity notice verse 24. So when they heard that the report from Peter and John, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, this language here is something that ought to mark every Christian church that is this one accordness, this unity in the Lord Jesus Christ and in the things of God. They raised their voice to God with one accord. Now, first off, generally, again, this is what the church ought to be marked by.
And if you stand with me through some passages in the book of Acts, this is what we see the church marked by. If you back up a little bit to Acts chapter one, notice what we read in Verse 14, these all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary, the mother of Jesus and with his brothers. In Acts 2 and verse 1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Again in Acts 2 at verse 42, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles Doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers and then in verse 46 so continuing daily With one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house this language Continues and I mean we won't read every instance but one more after acts 4 in acts 5 we read this at verse 12 and through the hands of the Apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people and and they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.
Now, no doubt, circumstances demanded a congregational unity in the early church with persecution at the hands of the Jews, later at the hands of the Gentiles, as that portion of early church persecution grew and strengthened against them. But it is generally the case that the church is to be unified in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that oft-repeated passage of scripture, Philippians 127. What is the hope of the apostle?
He says, only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel. Christianity, Christians, the church, the church is to be marked by one-spiritness and one-mindedness in the things of the Lord Jesus Christ. And again, that is not fellowship with tea and crumpets, though tea and crumpets are fantastic. It is fellowship around the gospel of Jesus Christ and those things most surely believed among us.
It is a striving for the faith of the gospel in that one-mindedness and in that one spirit. So generally, there is to be a unity of God in all things. Specifically here, we have that generally, but specifically here it is one accord or one-heartedness, one-mindedness in the theological content of the prayer that they are rendering to God. Remember, this comes in a response to persecution, not the full-blown persecution that we will yet see in the book of Acts.
For example, when we get to Acts chapter 7, and there is the stoning, the horrible stoning of godly Stephen after he gives the wonderful confession of Jesus Christ and Old Testament fulfillment in him. But nevertheless, this persecution is here. This report comes back to the congregation, and they all, with one accord, bring to God this blessed prayer. And that content is what we get to now.
The Congregation's Confidence
The congregation's confidence. Well, actually, just before we get there, it might be good to note that most likely what's not going on in this congregational prayer is that every single one of the members of that congregation are raising all of their voices loudly at once to God. it very well may be the case here that we do have hundreds, if not perhaps thousands, of Christians gathered. If it is the case that they're gathered in the temple, then we have many Christians gathered together praying to the Lord God and supplicating, bringing supplication to the Lord God Almighty. It's probably one or perhaps a handful of persons praying And the prayer, the congregational prayer, is marked quite clearly by the fact that it is brought in one accord to the Lord God.
So let's look then at the congregation's confidence in three things under the congregation's confidence. First off,
Confidence in God the Sovereign Creator
their confidence is in God, the sovereign creator. Their confidence is in God, the sovereign creator. Notice what we read here, again, beginning in verse 24. So when they had heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.
One of the things that is very good for Christians to acknowledge in prayer is the God that they are praying to and the blessed attributes and glories of the Lord God. We acknowledge in Christian prayer this sovereign creator. Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them. It's a recognition of the greatness and the glory of God.
And remember, this is what the psalmist very often does throughout the Psalms. If we read any of the Psalms and the major prophets as well, the minor prophets, if we read the scriptures, we very often come across that reality that the creator, the sovereign creator, the Lord God, the only living and true God is acknowledged and recognized. And very often in the Psalms, for example, this recognition comes within the character of the Psalm or within the type of Psalm where it is wholesome mockery being Cast upon the pagan deities that surrounded Israel in order to extol and to lift I the living and true God remember Psalm 115 for example The psalmist there says why should the Gentiles say so where is our God? You know the the Israelites were not like the pagans around them.
They did not manufacture in fashion a and whittle or carve from stone and wood their deities and their gods. They did not have some weak-standing half-fish, half-man depicting the confidence of their nation. The pagan nations around them would carve of stone and carve out of wood their deities. In fact, that's what he would go on to say after he says this.
But our God is in heaven, in the heavens, he does whatever he pleases. Their gods are idols of silver and gold. They have eyes, but they see not, ears, but they hear not, et cetera. And the psalmist, the point is, acknowledges the sovereign creatorship of the Lord God.
He's the one who fixed the stars in place. He's the one who set the galaxies spinning in their orbit. He's the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. He's the one that creates the red dwarves and the massive supergiants in the universe, and he's also the one who fashions the earthworm and the starling.
He's the one who puts breath in our lungs and gives us strength from day to day. It is the acknowledgement of God the Creator. And this would serve, as the other things will serve as we get to them, but this would serve, as they're praying it, build their confidence and to increase their strength and their faith in the face of opposition and in the face of vile enemies. You see, the recognition of the God that we serve and the God that we believe in and the God that we pray to serves to bolster our courage in the face of opposition.
I love Spurgeon's words, for example, on Psalm 19, which speaks of God as sovereign creator. What speaks of his general revelation in creation, remember Psalm 19, the heavens declare the glory of God, the firmament shows his handiwork, day after day utter speech, night after night reveals knowledge, there is nowhere where their voice is not heard. Spurgeon says on that, in strengthening the faith of his congregation and to indict those who would oppose such a glorious God of sovereign creation. He says, in the expanse above us, God flies as it were his starry flag to show the king is at home.
And he hangs out his coat of arms bearing shield to show the atheist how much he despises their denunciations of him. And you see, that is the glory of the expanse of the heavens is a testament to the God who made them And the people who profess faith in that God and who own that God recognize that and pray to that God in order to arouse their strength and their courage, in order, rather, to avail of God's spirit, who is given from on high, in order to grant courage and strength as they face the trials, in this case, of the vile, unbelieving Jewish leaders. And so they have a strong confidence in the sovereign creator. And notice, secondly, under the congregation's confidence,
Confidence in God the Sovereign Revelator
they have confidence in God the sovereign revelator. What does that mean? A revelator is simply someone who reveals. God is the first and prime revelator who does reveal through human instruments of inspiration.
But notice what we read here in verse 25, who by the mouth of your servant David have said. You see, God is the sovereign creator and in that creating activity and creating power and in his creation, he has revealed his glory. He has revealed righteousness and he has revealed the reality that there is a God. And then in special revelation though, he peculiarly reveals his will and his law and his mind to men.
Verse 25, who by the mouth of your servant David have said. And notice the special revelation that is brought out here. The gathered Christians return God's word back to him, which is always a good thing to do in prayer. If we are going to speak words in prayer, why not speak the infallible, the inerrant, the living and true word of our blessed God.
And that's what these people do. And it's not just haphazardly choosing a section of scripture to lift and to send back to God in their prayer, but rather it's something that serves their particular time and occasion in bumping up against the leaders of the land and the leaders of the age of that day, as well they are acknowledging that the events contemporaneous to them, that is the events that happened during their generation and in their midst, are a fulfillment of Psalm 2. And that is the text that is being quoted there. And just turn there for a moment because all of Psalm 2 isn't quoted, and so we'll read the Psalm here and you'll see what their confidence is in as they quote this prayer and as they quote Psalm 2 verses 1 and 2 and then continue in their prayer.
Psalm 2, again, this is what the saints are raising with a loud voice with one accord back to the Lord God, Creator and Revelator. Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying and that's where they stop before we read saying there that's the section that they quote but let's read on let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us you see they're ascribing that portion of the psalm rightly to as we as we read later Herod and Pontius Pilate the people of Israel and the Gentiles who all conspired together against the Lord Christ That's what we're reading there. The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel against the Lord and against his anointed saying.
And what the psalm is speaking about is the fact that ungodly rulers of the earth, the kings and the judges and the rulers are taking counsel in order to try to oppose the sovereign mastery of God over the nations of the world. Let us sever these ties that bind us to his sovereign rule, to his juridical gaze and to his governance over us. We do not want this man to rule over us, would be the language of the parable that Christ brings in Luke 19, something that no doubt touches upon the content and the reality of this psalm. The idea is that the ungodly rulers do not want Christ, do not want the sovereign God to rule over them.
And then notice what we have here, and this, as we read on here, this is the confidence that is in the back of the, this is what is in the back of the minds of these Christians singing with a loud voice, or praying with a loud voice, rather, in one accord. The stuff this that follows verse 4 he who sits in the heavens shall laugh the Lord shall hold them in derision you see our God is not up in the heavens worrying and hoping that things really work out well for the inhabitants of the earth for his people particularly he's not up there and just fretting over the the situation that the the kings of the earth and the rulers are conspiring together to oppose my people, to oppose my Christ and these sorts of things as if he's up there and he can do nothing. He is not shaken. He is not moved.
He is the one who upholds all things by the word of his power. You know, when, when very often, and you've heard this before, when natural calamity comes, we have pseudo Christians who seem like no Christians at all, if they are, coming on the news and saying, well, you know, when the tsunami comes, and the hurricanes come, and the tornadoes come, and these are tragedies, let us never bring the bar of tragedy down. These are tragedies. But you see, they'll come onto the news, and they'll say, oh, well, you know, the interviewer will ask, what's God doing?
What is your God doing? Well, you know, our God is up there, He's crying along with you and He wants you to know that He is there for you and He can't really do anything. And they'll go on and on and pose this God who is really no better than an angel or a man. Our Bible sets forth this and the people who are in the midst of trial and affliction, natural whatever it may be, physical, whatever problem or affliction or trial, as small and grand as it can be, they need to know that God is the one who raises the stormy winds which lifts up the waves of the sea, and he is the same one who calms the storm so that its waves are still.
And so when the tumult and when the hurricane of persecution comes, and rulers of the earth are conspiring against Christians, they need to know that it is God who raises up the stormy winds of persecution and God who calms those winds so that the storm is still. And he is unmoved and unshaken by these things because he is the one who sits in the heavens and laughs at those who would think that they can conspire against the living and true God. He is the one who holds them in derision as if they can do Anything that will escape the the the gazing and blazing fiery eyes of Jehovah and they would have confidence in this as we read on he then shall speak to them in his wrath and Distress them in his deep displeasure yet. I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion you see verse 6 and Answers verse 3 these conspiring These conspiring wicked men say let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us the Lord returns Unshaken from heaven.
I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion He's replying with the fact that Jesus Christ has been given dominion and glory in a kingdom that And he has been set upon the holy hill of Zion as the judge of heaven and earth. And the nations of this earth have been given to our God and to his Christ. And they would have confidence. The saints in acts four would have confidence in that blessed truth.
Verse seven, I will declare the decree. The Lord has said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you ask of me and I will give you the nations for your inheritance and the ends of the earth for your possession, you shall break them with a rod of iron, you shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel. You see, the saints in Acts chapter 4 were to be anxious in nothing.
But like they do there, and that's before Paul's letter to the Philippians, well before it, they, with prayer and supplication mingled with thanksgiving, make their requests known to God. because they know that God will bring them peace through Jesus Christ the Lord. And so they have this certain confidence in the stuff of 7-9 as well. You see, we should call to our minds the Great Commission, shouldn't we, as we read that. The post-resurrection Savior comes to his disciples and he tells them Psalm 2-8, in effect.
All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. And so their going, therefore, is with the confidence and the courage that Christ is the one who has dominion and glory in a kingdom. He has it now. He has all authority.
Therefore, we also will not be moved and we also will not be shaken because we have this God and we have this Christ on our side. And the warning comes then to the rulers and the judges of the earth in verse 10. Now therefore, be wise, O kings, be instructed, you judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling.
Kiss the son lest he be angry and you perish in the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in him. You see, Jesus is not Jesus, lowly, meek, and mild, unable to affect anything. in this, our lower world, but rather he is the one who rides upon that white stallion, who is victorious, who is a conqueror, who has the authority to break with a rod of iron and to dash to pieces those who would oppose him. And they perish in the way, if they oppose and if they rebel, they perish in the way when his wrath is only kindled but a little.
You see, it is with the smallest exercise of the voice of the Lord that he can splinter and shatter the cedars of Lebanon, which are symbols of strength and symbols of impenetrable rigidity in the ancient world. But God, with the simple exercise of his voice, can splinter the cedars of Lebanon. Christ, the reigning king, with but a little exercise of his wrath, will cause those who oppose him to be cast asunder and to be dashed to pieces like a potter's vessel. So you see, as we now move back then to Acts chapter 4, you see the stuff of great courage and the stuff of great comfort that would be in the minds of the Christians there bringing this prayer to God.
They are not, and they would not be marked by some sort of earthly and human anxiety, but rather they're praying and returning Psalm 2 to God because they know that God is in the heavens and he's laughing at those who think that they can conspire against the one who sets stars in place and who upholds galaxies as they spin in their orbit. You see, Christianity has, those within Christianity in our modern church have brought the God of heaven and earth down way too far and too close to men. way too far. They depict him as just some gray-bearded man with a cane who returns back a smiling face from the pages of some comic book, seeming feeble and weak. Our God is unconfined.
We think of the immensity of the the objects in our universe. Think of the size of the earth. Think of the size of the moon, the size of the sun, which is, I don't know, someone might know the number, Jonathan, somebody with twice the brain that I have, the size of the sun in comparison to the earth. And I don't know if it is the case when we pray to God and the Bible speaks of him being a dwelling in unapproachable light as if he dwells somewhere beyond the sun.
Our God is above and beyond time and space. He doesn't dwell somewhere beyond Neptune in his own universe. He is above time and space, beyond time and space. He upholds all of these things by the word of his power.
The sun is but an infinitesimal speck in relation to the Lord God Almighty who cannot be defined by size, space, time. And this is the God that these Christians have on their side. There is no anxiety. Now we may, of course, as Christians in this lower world, have a brief time and a brief instance and a brief circumstance where our hearts do pump faster and where we do have a moment of anxiety and moments of sadness, etc.
But you see, it is not like the world, it is not like the pagan, it is not like the heathen, because God has said, be anxious of nothing through his servant Paul. but with prayer and supplication, mingled with thanksgivings, send me your requests, and I will bring peace to you through Jesus Christ, the anointed one." And these Christians, no doubt, had great faith in their God. God the sovereign revelator, and then
Confidence in God the Sovereign Governor
thirdly, under the congregation's confidence, in God the sovereign governor. In God the sovereign governor, because notice what we read here in verse 27. for truly against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done God the sovereign governor you see nothing goes on in the world certainly outside the purview of God outside the oversight outside the sovereign and watchful eye of the Lord God Almighty, but He does, as our confession rightly brings forth, with the weight of Scripture behind it, He has decreed whatsoever comes to pass. Our confession says this, God hath decreed in Himself from all eternity by the wise and holy counsel, most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably all things whatsoever comes to pass, yet so as thereby is God neither the author of sin, nor hath fellowship with any therein, nor is violence offered to the will of the creature, nor yet is the liberty or contingency of second causes taken away, but rather established in which appears his wisdom in disposing all things, and power and faithfulness in accomplishing his decree. This is what we have here.
God for ordaining whatsoever comes to pass and His power and faithfulness in accomplishing that decree. This language here speaks with the utmost clarity to the certain doctrine of God's unmitigated and universal sovereignty over all things, including the salvation and damnation of men and angels. This language has been used previously in Acts 2.23 to speak of concerning the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. Notice in Acts 2.22, men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know.
Now, read here. Him being delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. You see, the Bible completely upholds with no apology, because there need not be one, the unmitigated sovereignty of God as well as the moral culpability of man in doing wickedness. God had ordained according to the determined purpose and foreknowledge of himself, Christ's crucifixion upon Calvary's tree.
And it is nevertheless the case unbelieving Israel that you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death the Lord of glory. This language is used. Sorry about that. This language is used in Luke 22 as well concerning Judas.
Luke 22. And I believe it's verse 22. In Luke 22, verse 22, we have the account of the betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ, at least getting towards the betrayal of the Lord Jesus. And notice in Luke 22, beginning at verse 20, likewise, he also took the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for you.
But behold, the hand of my betrayer is with me on the table. and truly the son of man goes at it as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom he is betrayed." Truly Judas would go and is going as it has been eternally foreordained, but woe to that man. You see, we have God's divine intention, His pure, ethically pure and divinely a glorious intention in decreeing and bringing to bear providentially an event, but man's wicked and vile intention as the second cause in bringing to bear that event in time and in history. That's why, again, Luke can write, or Peter can preach, and Luke can write Peter having preached. He determined, according to his determined purpose and foreknowledge, Christ is delivered to the cross, but you by wicked hands have delivered him up to that Roman implement of execution.
And so we have God the sovereign governor there clearly brought forth. And this is something, this is something again that serves as comfort and courage for the soul in those opposing or those being opposed by the political and religious rulers of the day, wouldn't it? To know that our God is in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. To know that our God does according to his determined purpose and foreknowledge.
To know this though, that those who in that second cause reality by wicked hands perform things by their wicked intention, God answers from the throne room with that with that measure of calm dignity to use, whose term? Calm dignity of the throne room? Thank you, Walt Chantry. From the calm dignity of the throne room, they know that the sovereign decreeer and providential governor of all things will judge in time and in history, or on that great and final day, those who oppose the risen and the glorious Christ and his people.
The God, the sovereign governor. It's something that is the great leveler for those who are like Job's friends in Job 12. Remember what Job always has to do and what God, of course, does at the end of Job, but what Job is doing and interacting with his friends is he's bringing to bear the reality that God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases. that God is in the heavens and has decreed whatsoever comes to pass, and in time and in history, providentially governs by His most powerful and faithful accomplishments. Job 12 verse 13.
He's already indicted his friends for speaking foolishly, if I can just simply sum up verses 1 to 12. And then he goes on to say, With him, that is with God, are wisdom and strength. He has counsel and understanding. If he breaks a thing, it cannot be rebuilt.
If he imprisons a man, there can be no release. If he withholds the waters, they dry up. If he sends them out, they overwhelm the earth. With him are strength and prudence.
The deceived and the deceiver are his. He leads counselors away plundered. He makes fools of the judges. He loosens the bonds of kings.
He binds their waist with a belt. He leads princes away plundered and overthrows the mighty. He deprives the trusted ones of speech and takes away the discernment of the elders. He pours contempt on princes and disarms the mighty.
He uncovers deep things out of darkness and brings the shadow of death to light. He makes nations great and destroys them. He enlarges nations and guides them. He takes away the understanding of the chief peoples of the earth and makes them wander in a pathless wilderness.
They grope in the dark without light, and he makes them stagger like a drunken man. You see the comprehensiveness of God, the sovereign governor. He would go on to say, Job goes on to say in Job 13, oh, that you would be completely silent, and that it would be your wisdom. You see, man's wisdom is in silence.
God's wisdom is clearly seen. It is the case that men are too shut up before the living and true God when they oppose him and when they offer answers to life's realities and hardships that rub against the biblical doctrine of his unmitigated sovereignty and his providential love and care. The fact and reality of Romans 8, 28, that he works all things for the good of those who love him, to those who are the call according to his purpose. So we have the congregation's unity We have the congregation's confidence.
The Congregation's Request
Now we have, thirdly, the congregation's request. The congregation's request is we're now back in Acts 4 and we read verse 29. So they've acknowledged God's creatorship, the fact that He is the sovereign revelator, the fact that He is the sovereign governor, the one who has decreed and governs all things. And now they bring their request before Him in verse 29.
Now, Lord, look on their threats. So the first thing that we see here
Request for Juridical Oversight
under the congregation's request is a request for juridical oversight. And what do I mean by that? Juridical oversight. It means simply the administration of justice.
What they are requesting God for, the one that they have already acknowledged, is they're requesting for the administration of justice, to look with eyes set beneath a furrowed brow upon those who would seek to oppose Christ already, to oppose the resurrected and exalted Christ now by persecuting his saints in this lower world. They say, now, Lord, look on their threats. That isn't to look with the eye of omniscience, because God always does that. but rather it is, God, look with peculiar judging attention upon these who are opposing your saints in this lower world. Look with the eye of your pure justice, your pure holiness.
Look with the eye of your wholesome severity on those who would seek to oppose the saints of the living Christ in this lower world, those who are seeking to interrupt and to stop the propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. You see, they're bringing their prayers before God because it is gospel proclamation that's at stake. They have threatened Peter and John after healing and preaching the gospel, they have threatened them to no longer preach in the name of this Jesus of Nazareth. And so they bring this prayer to God for juridical oversight, for God to bring the administration of justice so that the faithful propagation of the gospel of Jesus Christ can most certainly go on and be victorious.
Turn to Psalm 66 because we have something of this in view in Psalm 66. Juridical oversight, the administration of justice by the pure gaze of Jehovah and his strong right arm. Psalm 66. To the chief musician a song, a song.
Make a joyful shout to the Lord all the earth. Sing out the honor of his name. Make his praise glorious. Say to God how awesome are your works through the greatness of your power.
Your enemy shall submit themselves to you. All the earth shall worship you and sing praises to you. they shall sing praises to your name, Selah. Now, before we move on, notice this recurring theme that we see in Acts 4, that we see here, the recognition of the greatness and the glory of Yahweh. The recognition of His awesomeness, as verse 3 sets forth.
Verse 5, come and see the works of God. He is awesome in His doing toward the sons of men. He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot.
There we will rejoice on him. He rules by his power forever. His eyes observe the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves, say lie.
You see the connection there to Acts chapter 4. His eyes observe the nations. Do not let the rebellious exalt themselves. That has direct application to what we're reading in Acts chapter 4.
You see, it's not eyes observe the nations in your general omniscience, which is glorious and perfect, but rather observe the nations by the administration of justice. Look with eyes of wholesome severity and let not those who are your opposers exalt themselves in the earth. And that's what they pray here in Acts chapter 4.
Request for Christian Courage
The second thing under the congregation's request is that we see a request for Christian courage, a request for Christian courage. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word. So they request this administration of justice for God to look with the eyes of wholesome severity upon the opposers of his gospel. And now they pray that they would have the courage that they would have the fortitude, that they would have the strength to proclaim boldly the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ to a needful world, that these threats would be nothing to them, that these threats would not be borne out into into more persecution, or perhaps not necessarily that, because they know that they will have persecution, but rather that those who exalt themselves or seek to do so and oppose the gospel will not be successful.
Though yes, persecutions will come, nevertheless, whether in jail or out of jail, whether stoned or not stoned, whether mocked, whether pillaged, whether they have their goods taken away, whatever comes upon the saints, God owns and blesses that for the propagation of truth, for the spread of the Gospel, that Jesus Christ would be named from sea to sea. And so they pray for Christian courage. And this is something as well that we see in the Psalms. For example, in Psalm 44, we see a similar theme.
Psalm 44, in verse 1, we have heard With our ears, O God, our fathers have told us the deeds you did in their days. You drove out the nations with your hand, but them you planted. You afflicted the peoples and cast them out, for they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword, nor did their own arm save them. But it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your countenance, because you favored them.
You are my king, O God, command victories for Jacob. You see what they're rehearsing there. They're rehearsing the fact that with courage, the nation of Israel gained the possession and gained the land, but it was not by their own sword, but rather it was by the right hand of God, his arm and the light of his countenance because they favored them, because he favored them. And so in the new covenant with the New Testament church with the early church, here in Acts 4, they acknowledge the greatness and the glory of God, His sovereignty, and they plead that with like courage, or in a like way, God would bless them with courage, that they might, not in their own strength, but in the strength of the triune God, prevail in the lower world for the cause of Christ and truth.
So they request Christian courage. We'll see this in a moment, but it's a wonderful thing, a blessed thing, that that God who does in the expanse of the heavens declare his righteousness and his glory and declare his kingship and lordship, that same God who sets galaxies in orbit gives strength to his people and blesses his people with courage. Psalm 29 has always amazed me, and you don't have to turn there, but there's a rehearsal of the greatness of God in And one of the many things rehearsed is one of the things we mentioned earlier This evening the fact that God by the exercise of his voice splits the cedars of Lebanon the God is the one who sat enthroned the flood and he sits enthroned forever and you see what's amazing is what it says next because it's been a rehearsal of his glory and his majesty and in his sovereignty over creation. And it's been a rehearsal that is being directed at the pagan deities around him for them as if they had eyes and if they had ears. for them to pay attention to this one who is truly God over the universe.
But then it says, the Lord will give strength to his people. The Lord will bless his people with peace. As if to completely change gears from the immense and the majestic and to go this direction and say, to men, to his people, he gives strength and peace. And that's what they have in the back of their minds, is they know that we have the God of Psalm 29 who breaks the cedars of Lebanon with the smallest exercise of his voice and has promised to give strength and peace to his people.
So they pray for Christian courage. And
Request for Continued Confirmation
they pray for continued confirmation. Notice as the text continues in verse 30, by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus." So they pray for juridical oversight, Christian courage, and continued confirmation. You see, what had just happened in Acts chapter 3 was that Peter and John heal this man, and that healing, that event of causing this crippled man of over 40 years of age to be healed, was in order to validate, in order to confirm, in order to establish the veracity of the claims that they would then make, which is that this Jesus of Nazareth is the promised Messiah. He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
He is the one promised by your fathers, or by the prophets that spoke to your fathers. This is the one that is the consolation of Israel. And so they pray that they would have boldness to continue to proclaim that same message of the saving and glorious Christ and that the continued confirmation would come by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And
The Divine Response
then lastly and fourthly, then we have the divine response. So congregational unity, congregational confidence, the congregations request. And then lastly, the divine response. And what we simply see here is that God does answer prayer.
That is what we see here. Notice verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken. Which means
Indication of God's Presence
first we see an indication of His presence. An indication of His presence. It wasn't just some sort of haphazard and perfect coincidental timing that there was an earthquake right when they finished praying. but rather this is an indication of divine approbation, divine presence, more specifically, that God is with them, that God is favorable to them, as Psalm 66 brought forth. We have instances of this, or we have occasions of this same sort of presence rehearsed, for example, in the Psalms.
We've been there, but very quickly as we move towards a close in Psalm 68, we have this same reality rehearsed there by the psalmist in Psalm 68, beginning at verse four, sing to God, sing praises to his name, extol him who rides on the clouds. By his name, yaw and rejoice before him. A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows is God in his holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families.
He brings out those who are bound into prosperity, but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. Oh God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, say la, the earth shook. The heavens also dropped rain at the presence of God. Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel.
The reality of what's going on in Acts chapter 4 is that they had finished praying, And God gives an indication of his presence that he is with them, that the God that they had prayed to, that the sovereign creator, revelator, and governor is most certainly with them. He gives this indication of his presence, and then
The Giving of the Spirit
he continues to answer the prayer, secondly, by the giving of his spirit. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, that one that Christian men and women, boys and girls, can do nothing without. That section of Jude ends with a means by which they are to keep themselves in the love of God, and they say, praying always in the Holy Spirit.
We can only pray in the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to pray. Christians are always praying in the Holy Spirit. And here they are given the Holy Spirit because without the Holy Spirit they would have no means whereby they could avail against their opponents, against their enemies.
The Lord God answers their prayer for boldness and God gives them, God sends His Holy Spirit to them so that they might boldly proclaim the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ by the continued confirmation of those signs before spoken of. And thirdly,
Provision of Courage
the provision of courage. So the divine response is an indication of his presence, the giving of his spirit, and the provision of courage. And they spoke the word of God with boldness. You see the connection there to the prayer.
It's a wonderful instance of God always answers prayer, of course, according to his most wise will and his most wise counsel. But we see what they pray for and we see the God that they pray to immediately answering. They say that you would give your servants or that your servants with all boldness may speak your word And then the Lord God fills them with his Holy Spirit and they speak the word of God with boldness. You see that that providential way whereby we participate in the goings forth of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has ordained prayer such that when we pray he answers and when his early church prayed for boldness he answers and they go forth and do mighty works. in the name and for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what we find after this is the reports that we often find throughout the book of Acts. Whether it's a victorious proclamation of the gospel and multitudes, and Jews and Gentiles believe, or whether it's persecution that then initiates a further spread of the gospel, we always have this constant report that the word of the Lord grew. multiply, that believers or that sinners came to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we have here a prayer rendered in the face of opposition, and we have God answering so that his blessed message would march forward.
And we are 2,000 years removed from that, the blessed beneficiaries of this reality that they spoke the word of God with boldness, aren't we? God answers the prayer so that his message would go forth. And we follow the book of Acts, and we see the gospel being preached in Jerusalem, in Judea and Samaria, and then to the uttermost parts of the earth. And here we are now by virtue of this blessed God, the creator, the revelator, the sovereign governor and sustainer who gives strength to his people to preach the message.
And we're now here believing in that blessed Christ, the same Christ of apostolic and early church confession. We'll let us close in prayer, and then by all means, if you have any questions, please ask.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we do rejoice in your word. We rejoice in what we can read of here in Acts 4 in the early church. We just rejoice in the progression of the gospel throughout the ages. We rejoice that you give strength and aid to your ministers of the gospel and your saints generally, that you cause men and women, boys and girls in Christ Jesus to have the boldness to face to face an unbelieving and a wicked world, and we just rejoice in the fact, Lord God, that you have eternally, or that you have always, since the beginning of time, been with your people and granted them strength and peace.
And we thank you that 2,000 years removed from that prayer, that we can avail of the same strength, that we can avail of that same God. And Lord God, we do pray that you bless us in this lower world, that whatever trial, whatever affliction, whatever may come upon us, that we would know the stuff of Psalm 2, that we would know the stuff of Psalm 115, that our God is in the heavens and he does whatever he pleases, and that stuff of Romans 8, 28, that you work all things for the good of those who love you, to those who are the called according to your purpose. And we just pray that you'd help us to have opportunity to speak of Christ to others, that you'd give us many of these occasions, Lord God, where we can tell sinners of their sin and their need of Christ and we just pray that you'd go with us now that you'd help us in this remainder of the week to rejoice in Christ and to live for your glory and that you would bring us together on Sunday that we might worship you with great joy and it's in Christ's name that we pray amen