You can turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, the specific focus for our sermon this morning will be verse 24 to verse 31. That is the section that we'll read, actually beginning in verse 23, and we'll read to verse 31. But just a little bit of the context before we read that, portion of scripture and pray.
Peter and John, not soon after, or very soon after rather, very soon after the day of Pentecost, the church has been added to, 3,000 souls were added at the end of the account in Acts chapter 2, at least 3,000. We have the Christians gathering daily in the temple, we have the Christians gather together, being of one mind, being one accord in the Apostles doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayers. We get to Acts chapter 3 and we see Peter and John going to the temple at the hour of prayer and they come across a lame man. And this lame man is at the temple asking for alms, for the giving of riches, if you will.
Peter and John say is silver and gold we do not have but what we do have we give to you freely and they They heal him and they say that this healing comes in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ And people are amazed when we get to verse 11 in Acts chapter 3 We read as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John all the people ran together to them in the porch and which is called Solomon's Greatly Amazed. And so Peter uses that as an occasion where all this multitude of people, these multitude of persons are gathered. He opens up the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he drives the nail of guilt, if you will, into the hearts of those who come, who are amazed at the healing. And he says in verse 14, but you denied the Holy One, that is Christ, and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the prince of life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses.
So this multitude comes to Peter and John and they would have been those who were present at the crucifixion of our Lord Jesus Christ. They would have called out, give us Barabbas, crucify this Christ. We will not have this king to rule over us. They would have been those who would have mocked and laughed at and even spit upon this Lord Jesus Christ of glory.
And so Peter brings the gospel message again with that nail of guilt to the heart of those who were gathered before him. And then what happens is that the priest, the captain of the temple, the Sadducees come and they accost or they arrest, if you will, Peter and John. And they bring them before them and Peter brings these words to them as they're calling upon Peter and John to no longer heal and to no longer preach in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And Peter closes that section with verse 12, not closes it, but this particular section, nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
The chief priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees then conspire together to come up with some sort of a plan whereby they won't offend the people who are amazed at the healing that was done because they could not deny the power. They could not deny the fact that this lame man that everybody knew was actually healed. So they beat them a little bit and they command them and say, and severely threaten them, verse 17, that from now on they speak to no man in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so they call them to them, and we read in verse 20, for the man, or excuse me, in verse 21, so when they had further threatened them and 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.
So they concede, if you will, in their decision. They don't want to cause an uprising with the people, but they also don't want to just let Peter and John go and say, go about your merry business, but rather they are still in opposition to the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ and healing in his name, which lands us now then at verse 23 of Acts chapter four. So let us read beginning in that verse 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 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, 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. Well, let us go again to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we do pray that you would help us now as we engage in this act of worship, the preaching of your word. We pray, Lord God, that you would bless this exercise, and we pray that you would be the recipient of praise and honor, that the Lord Jesus Christ again would be exalted upon the praises of this gathered assembly.
And we would ask, Lord God, that saints would be instructed and edified, that sinners would be saved, and that all of that would be done unto the praise of your high name and the praise of your glorious grace. So do be with preacher and helper now, Lord God, and might this be unto the praise of your name. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.
Introduction
So with that introduction in view, we get to a prayer of the early church. We see what should be the content of the prayer of the modern church as well. If we have We have lots in this verse, and if we have anything, we most certainly have, when we get to application later on, the stuff that should be the content of our Christian prayer here in this lower world. Though we do not have the identical circumstances of the early church, nevertheless, we do have circumstances.
We have the same God. We have enemies. of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we are to imitate, if you will, the early church in bringing to God in prayer the content of our brothers and our sisters from so many years ago. One thing that's always good to do, doesn't necessarily have to be done every time, but one thing that's always good to do when we come to the Book of Acts is to recognize that the Book of Acts has a connection to the gospels that preceded it in our New Testament canon. We don't have the Book of Acts coming to us in a vacuum where we read it with a detached reading from the gospel narratives of our Lord Jesus Christ. some of the passages, whenever we read an account like this of the early church proclaiming Jesus Christ and coming up against hot persecution, we should have some verses in the back of our minds.
And one of them is this Matthew 16, 18. You should know that verse where Christ says, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. These brothers and sisters gathered in Acts chapter four would have heard of those words of our Savior, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And so they come to God in prayer with the stuff of that promise. in their minds, in their hearts.
We should have a passage such as Matthew 28, 18 to 20 in the back of our minds, the Great Commission, because these gathered Christians would have had the confidence of those words of our Lord Jesus Christ, all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth, go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. So when they go about, when they do their going, therefore, and when they disciple the nations, and when they baptize and instruct, they would know that even though they come up against hot persecution and the enemies of Christ, nevertheless, Christ Jesus has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. They should have, they would have passages such as Matthew 23, 34 to 36 in, or we ought to, have passages such as Matthew 23, 34 to 36 in the background where we come to the book of Acts and we find the rulers of Jerusalem delivering up preachers of the gospel to persecution, even unto death. And we read this in Matthew 23 at verse Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men and scribes.
Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation. You see, When we later talk about the confidence of this early praying church, they would have likewise have heard of Christ's words in Matthew 23, that those who would persecute them, the disciples who go about proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ, the wrath of God would be poured out upon them. All the blood, the righteous blood spilled from the beginning of Old Covenant proclamation to the end of Old Covenant proclamation. and truly the blood spilled by the persecution of the disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, that would come upon them.
They would have the confidence in this, that God, the judge of all the earth, would do right in punishing those who would seek to persecute the saints of Christ. And as well, and finally, before we look at the passage specifically, they would have in the back of their minds, and we ought to have in the back of our minds, this fact of John 14, 26, John 15, 26, John 16, 7, that God and Christ, that God the Father and God the Son would send God the Spirit in time. Christ promises that it is a good thing for me to go, for when I do go, I will send to you the Spirit who will guide you and strengthen you in all things. So in Acts chapter 4, we want to notice two things this morning.
Two things from Acts chapter 4, and then two things this evening. So we break apart this prayer of the early church. The
Congregation's Unity and Confidence
two things that we'll notice this morning are the congregation's unity and the congregation's confidence. We find the congregation's unity in verse 24A. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, we see the congregation's confidence in verses 24B to 28. where we see the invocation, if you will, the calling, the calling and prayer to God, the maker of heaven and earth, the giver of revelation and the predestinator and governor of all things. And then we'll see tonight the congregation's request in verse 29 and 30, and then the divine response in verse 31.
But first off,
The Congregation's Unity
let's look at the congregation's unity again, a simple sentence, a simple statement that we read in verse 24. When they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said. When they heard the report by Peter and John of what the elders and the scribes and the captain of the temple had said, when they heard that, they raised their voice with one accord and said. We don't have in this instance, and sometimes when you maybe hear this language of a gathered multitude raising their voice with one accord, we don't have every single individual in that assembly raising their voice.
It very well could have been that this is thousands, certainly hundreds, but maybe even thousands of gathered Christians at Solomon's portico, at Solomon's porch, at the temple, raising their voices to God with one accord. You see, it would be quite the thing if every single one of Those thousands of people were opening up their mouths and speaking the same things. Surely God could do that because with God all things are possible. But what we most likely have here is probably one, maybe more than one, but a handful at the very most of persons bringing a representative prayer to the Lord God for the gathered church. they raised their voice with one accord and said.
And this brings a very important aspect of Christianity and church into the fore. And that is that Christians are to be marked by a unity. The Old Testament and the New Testament are in agreement at this very point. One of the smallest or shortest Psalms that we have, if you turn with me to Psalm 133, In Psalm 133, maybe not the shortest because Psalm 134 is shorter.
But nevertheless, in Psalm 133, we have a short Psalm and one that speaks to the blessedness of unity, the blessedness of the one accordness of Christianity. Notice Psalm 133 and verse one, behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious oil upon the head, running down on the beard, the beard of Aaron, running down on the edge of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon, descending upon the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commanded the blessing, live forevermore. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Christian gathering together is to be one that is marked most certainly by a unity in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, it is important and we know that it is Christian unity.
Because in the Lord Jesus Christ's high priestly prayer, that's what he prays for. Lord God, that they might be one, just as you and I are one. The importance of the unity is founded upon that unity that Father and Son have in the ontological trinity, in that blessed union that they have, the union of the persons in the one divine and infinite being. That unity is the foundation upon which Christian unity is built.
And so we are to have a unity, generally speaking, but we are also to have a unity particularly that is a unity in the fellowship of the gospel. You see, our unity is not a unity of some sort of general like-mindedness. whereby, you know, the unity is such that we are united around common inclinations or common hobbies. You see, when we have a fellowship luncheon, we're not to have the beard growers in one section and the head shavers over here because they have things in common. There's a unity of head shaveness and a unity of beardness.
And then, you know, the antique-ers over here. and the farmers and the hunters and gatherers over here, or something like that. You see, the unity in Christianity is not a unity of peculiarities or a unity of hobbies. And it is not unity simply for unity's sake. You see, unity for unity's sake means that we then do away with those things that rightly divide.
But you see, unity in Christianity is in and around and by and for the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Anything that would compromise, anything that would doctrinally steal away from the pristine doctrine of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, what we find in the Holy Scriptures, we are not to be unified with such. who would steal away the glory of the Bible and the glory of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And hopefully as we read the content of the prayer, we see that their unity is in that very thing. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the continued propagation, proclamation, and defense of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And so our unity is a congregation's unity is not a generic unity, regardless of the content of belief, but their unity is because of the content of belief. You see, Philippians 1, 27 to 29 should drive that certain truth home. That you see, we don't interlock arms with those who deny the gospel of Jesus Christ in some sort of unity for unity's sake. But rather, you see, Paul writes, only conduct yourselves to the Philippian church.
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. You see, the one-mindedness and the one-spiritedness that Christians are to be marked by is marked by striving for the faith of the gospel. And that is the particular unity that Christians are to be marked by. And contextually, this unity is seen in the sameness of purpose with regards to the content of the prayer.
In other words, they don't have this gathered assembly as not some of them wanting to beseech God for confidence and courage in proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And then others have this mind to pray for other things, but just sit there in silence, not with a one spiritedness with those bringing the prayer to God, but rather all of them with one accord, with one purpose, with one thing in mind, the defense and proclamation of the gospel come and they bring their supplications before the God of heaven and of earth.
The Congregation's Confidence
Secondly, so that's the congregation's unity. Secondly, we have the congregation's confidence in, well, spend the majority of our time here. And when we say the conflict, the congregation's confidence, we're not necessarily speaking of the virtue, if you will, of the confidence of the saints, but rather, wherein do they find or where do they find their confidence? And the prayer brings that clearly into view.
God the Sovereign Creator
Notice the congregation's confidence first seen in God, the sovereign creator, God, the sovereign creator, they say, or we read in verse 24. 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. In their prayer, in their invocation, if you will, in recognizing the God that they are praying to, they first identify God, the sovereign creator. You are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them.
The congregation acknowledges the creatorship of God and finds confidence in the God who made all things. You see, when we come to God in prayer, We're coming to a God who is not the ghetto deity, to use borrowed language, or a God confined to a certain aspect of the cosmos or reality, the God of the land, or the God of the sea, or the God of the vineyard. When we come as Christians, we come to the only living and true God who is that same God who has made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that are in them. And this is a pattern that has marked the saints throughout the ages.
For example, you can turn with me to Psalm 121. Psalm 121, you see, as their confidence, they would be praying with this in view that the God who is the recipient of their prayer is the one who has created all things. And in Psalm 21, we see exactly that right beginning at verse one. I will lift up my eyes. to the hills.
From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. You see, they would have looked to the hills or they would have looked to the hills, if you will, of the majesty and the glory of the Lord God of heaven and earth, and they would know that from that God comes their help, from the only living and true God who has made the heavens and the earth. And the same thing we find by our Old Testament saints in Psalm 146.
In Psalm 146, you see, it is a consistent pattern that the confidence of the people of God is seen in the sovereign creatorship of God. And notice what we find in Psalm 146 at verse five, happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord, his God, who made heaven and earth the sea, and all that is in them. You see, there is no discord between the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. The Old Testament saints prayed this way, but on this side of a crucified, resurrected, and ascended Redeemer, we pray this way.
Now, certainly more revelation, the actual coming of Christ being accomplished, no longer anticipated in that Old Covenant way, Nevertheless, there is absolute consistency between the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints. Here in Acts 4, they repeat what the psalmist wrote 1,000 years previous to them. And they say, and they call upon that God who made the heavens and the earth and all that are in them. You see, when we come to prayer, Well, let's say when we come up against difficulty and trial and affliction or when we open up a newspaper or turn on the news and we see such violence and we see the so-called advance of Islam and those sorts of things, we have it in our minds and we might have it in our hearts to entertain that fleshly and ungodly anxiety.
But you see, these saints would have nothing of that because they come to the Lord God who made the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. When we consider the expanse of the cosmos, when we consider the starry hosts in the heavens, these things are not so many weapons in the atheist's armory, but rather they are the canons of the Christian. that we launch back at those ungodly God rejecters who would say that the stars testify to the absence of God. The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork. Day after day at her speech, night after night reveals knowledge.
There is nowhere where their voice is not heard. Once again, Spurgeon on that. You probably heard me say this 832 times. So here comes 833.
You see, Spurgeon and other men in history had a way of bringing a passage into the view of the hearers and instilling confidence and courage in their God. Spurgeon said of Psalm 19 and speaking in denouncing atheists and lifting the confidence of his hearers, He said, in the expanse above us, God flies as it were his starry flag to show that the king is at home. See, that's what God has done in the expanse of the cosmos and with the starry hosts of heaven. They are not so many weapons in the atheist's artillery armory.
But rather, they are. It is the fact that by that, God is in the expanse of the heavens and those stars are his starry flag to show that the king is at home. And he goes on to say, and he hangs out his coat of arms bearing shield so that he might show the atheist how much he despises their denunciations of him. You see, these would have had that mind. as they're bringing this prayer to God, as John and Peter come back saying, these elders, these chief priests, the captain of the temple, and these Sadducees have commanded us not to proclaim the glorious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And knowing that they must obey God rather than men, knowing that they must endure whatever would come upon them for the cause of God and truth, they go to God in great confidence and they acknowledge his sovereign creatorship. He is not the God confined to land who acquiesces to the reign of Poseidon who rules over the sea, but rather the only living and true God Yahweh, our great and holy and triune God is the God who created the earth and the sea, the heavens, and all that is in them. And you see, it wasn't the case that God dwelled in some cosmological reality where there was already matter and form that he tinkers with in order to create the world and all things, as if the material by which God creates sprung up alongside of God, but rather God out of nothing by the breath of his mighty mouth brought things into being. Creation, ex nihilo, creation out of nothing.
He spoke and it was. God, our sovereign creator. And this would be something, and this is something, that marked the Old Testament Church as they rubbed up against, and the New Testament Church as they rubbed up against the so-called gods of the heathen nations. Whenever you read the Psalms, keep that in mind, or keep this in mind, that there is a wholesome mockery that we can bring against such who would conceive of a God who can be manufactured out of wooden stone, who can be hewn out of trees and hewn out of rocks, having men fashion eyes and ears and nose and arms and all those things.
You see, have you ever considered this? And I know this has come out in our study on the doctrine of God, but have you ever considered this? When we come to Psalm 15 and we read, why should the Gentiles say, so where is their God? They're saying, where is their God?
Because unlike us, they don't have a God standing with eyes and with nose and with arms in whatever pose and in whatever posture that's supposed to communicate some measure of confidence to idolaters. So where is their God? The psalmist responds and the Christian is to respond, but our God is in heaven and he does whatever he pleases. You may have hewn your gods out of rocks and trees, but our God created those rocks and those trees.
He goes on to say they have eyes, but they do not see. If you ever consider this, our God does not have eyes, and yet he sees all things. Our God does not properly have eyes. The Bible says His eyes are in every place, beholding the good and the evil.
But you see, God is spirit, invisible, a most pure being. He does not properly have eyes. The idols have eyes, but they do not see. But our God, who does not have physical eyes, nevertheless sees all things.
They have ears, but they do not hear. God, who properly has no ears, hears all things. They have arms, but they cannot handle, they cannot touch, they cannot move. Our God has no arms, and yet He stretches His outstretched arm to redeem people from the bondage of sin.
The Bible speaks about stretching out your arm to heal and these sorts of things, but our God, a most pure spirit, need not arms in order to affect with absolute perfection His decree, His plan, and His will. the God, our sovereign creator, who has created the earth, the heavens, the seas, and all things that are in them. And that would instill great confidence.
God the Sovereign Revelator
Secondly, we see that their congregational confidence would be in God, the sovereign revelator. So their confidence is in God, the sovereign creator, verse 24B, and then in God, the sovereign revelator, verse 25 and verse 26. Notice, who by the mouth of your servant David have said." God has revealed himself in creation. The heavens declare the glory of God.
The firmament shows his handiwork. But that general revelation doesn't proclaim to men that the nations raged. 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.
The cosmos doesn't proclaim that the nations of the world will unleash their rage upon a Messiah, but that Messiah has been set upon the holy hill of Zion. Where from? He judges and he crushes the enemies of God. We see God, the sovereign revelator, bringing his mind, bringing his will to men who by the mouth of your servant David have said.
And you see, This wasn't just a random picking of a text by the early church. They didn't just pick Psalm 2, if you will, out of a spinning plexiglass lotto cylinder and incorporate this into their prayer. It is always good, and perhaps not necessarily for a particular and peculiar reason, to bring God's word to God in prayer so that we are acknowledging his revelation and the goodness of the words that he speaks to us in his revelation. But nevertheless, we have here the early church picking Psalm 2, and they pick Psalm 2 for a specific reason.
And
Psalm 2 Applied to Christ
let's turn there for a moment to Psalm 2, because you see, first, these gathered Christians have confidence in God, their sovereign creator. From whence does our help come? Our help comes from the Lord who made the heavens and the earth. And then they find their confidence in God, the sovereign revelator.
And kids, and everyone, revelator just means someone who reveals. God is the sovereign revelator, that is, he reveals to us. And in Psalm 2, we have the content, at least the first two verses, we have the content or the passage of scripture that these early church gathered Christians had in their minds and that they speak back to God and notice the first section there is what we find that they quote in their prayer why do the nation's 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, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. You see what the early church is doing here.
They're applying Psalm 2 to the Lord Jesus Christ, as well as to those who suffer in his name. But why would this Psalm be of confidence to the early church? Why would they pick Psalm 2? Well, because as we move on, notice what we read.
Remember the nations of the earth and those plotting against the Lord and his Christ say, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their courts from us. That means that what they wanted was or what they did not want was this one to rule over us. We will not have this man to rule over us. The parable goes in Luke 19.
And so what we have here is the governments of the world, the nations and the kings of the earth, the rulers conspiring together to end the moral government of God. However, they think that they can actually do that. So they say, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their cords from us. But notice the response from the throne room of heaven.
He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. You see, when these Christians gather together, get this report of the people of Israel who were supposed to be the teachers of the nation, they were supposed to search the scriptures and find Christ therein and bring the balm of Christ's gospel to their people. Instead, they bring them into bondage and blindness and darkness of religion. And they would have known that this is just the beginning when they are threatened a little bit, Peter and John, and returned and commanded not to preach in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That was just the beginning because Christ promised you will scourge some and kill some and crucify some when he's pronouncing those woes upon the unbelieving Jews. And so they would have great confidence as they reply Psalm 2 back to God in prayer and they recognize that This psalm, this God rather, who revealed by the mouth of the prophet David through King David, That God is the one who sits in the heavens, who laughs, who holds them in derision. And verse 5, you see, they say, those raging unbelievers who govern over, they say, let us break their bonds in pieces and cast away their cords from us. But notice verse 5, then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure.
They say this thing, but the God who will laugh, at the notion that anyone could break his bonds, that anyone could snip his cords of moral government and sovereign rule, he replies with verse six, yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. Do you get the connection here? They're saying, let us break their bonds and pieces and cast away their courts from us immediately. God replies, yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion.
You cannot usurp. You cannot take away. You cannot steal away from the absolute sovereign, the unmitigated and absolute sovereignty of this ruling king, the Lord Jesus Christ. I have set this perfect king upon my holy hill of Zion.
As great as David was, as great as David was, he was a sinful man, wasn't he? Saved by grace. You see, as much as great as David was and as great as the early Christians being saved from out of their Judaism, as much as they would have respected King David as a figure, a respectable figure in religious history, they would know That this one who has been set upon the holy hill of Zion would never send them into the forefront of the hottest battle to be killed in a murderous plot. That he wouldn't, this one, would not have the stains of sinful humanity, but being the perfect God-man and the perfect king would rule in righteousness and in equity and in absolute perfection.
So you see the confidence that they have and why they would quote Psalm 2 as we read on, I will, Declare the decree, verse 7. 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 see, they would have in the back of their minds, in the four of their minds, actually, as Christ is giving them the commandment, the great commission, All authority has been given, or all authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me, they would know Psalm 2, and that's why they pray it later, because I will give you, God says to Christ, the nations for your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for your possession. You see, in Revelation, when the beast of the land and the beast of the sea are raging, The recipients of John's apocalypse would know what he had already written in that letter. The nations of this world are the nations of our God and of his Christ. And so when the nations rage and when the people's plot vain things, Christians have confidence in this fact, that Christ, verse nine, shall break them with a rod of iron, the enemies of Christ, and shall dash them to pieces like a potter's vessel.
And so hopefully, moving back now to Acts chapter 4, when they're praying this prayer, we see that it was not a random or haphazard picking of a text in their prayer, but rather they see in God, the sovereign revelator, the confidence that he had disclosed to the church even a thousand years prior to this event, even more, that all things are under the sovereign governance of a thrice holy God. They, the congregation, acknowledges the sovereign revelatory activity of God and finds confidence in the knowledge of the God of Psalm 2 and of the installed King Jesus who judges the nations.
God the Sovereign Predeterminer
Now notice thirdly, under the congregation's confidence, thirdly and lastly, under the congregation's confidence, they have this gathered assembly of believers had confidence in God, the sovereign predeterminer and governor. Notice as they finish reading or quoting Psalm 2 in their prayer, they immediately give the interpretation of the Psalm. You see, it isn't the stuff of modern day preachers to say when we read the Psalms that these are about, even from the Lord Jesus Christ, that they have a Christotelic interpretation. That is, they point towards the Lord Jesus Christ.
They are Christo-centric in their nature. The Psalms are not pre-Christ and then Christ comes along and we have some sort of disconnect or disharmony between the Psalms and Christ. What does Christ say himself in Luke 24? The law, the prophets, and the Psalms were all written concerning me.
And so immediately they provide this interpretation, the the hermeneutic, if you will, the science of interpretation of the early church is finding Christ in the psalm. Verse 27 for truly against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you appointed anointed rather both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel. Now note, we're gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. You see how the confidence would build.
Not that there is somehow a lack of confidence in acknowledging God as the creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, because really the logical thing that we are to arrive at is that God then is the sovereign predeterminer and governor of all things. In fact, just for a moment you can turn to Psalm 135 because there we see Something of a connection between God as creator and God as sovereign governor. It links creation to the sovereign governance of creation in Psalm 135. Notice in Psalm 135 and verse 6, whatever the Lord pleases, he does. in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deep places.
So this is you are Lord God, the one who created the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that are in them. And you are the God who Thereby, by virtue most certainly of your nature and being, but also by virtue of the fact that you created all those things, you therefore do whatever you please in the heavens, in the earth, in the seas, and in all the deep places. So these early church gathered Christians bringing this psalm, they interpret Psalm 2 as applying to Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Lord Jesus Christ. The nation's rage, the rulers and the kings counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ.
They apply that to the persecution unto crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. And they note in that in order to do away with, in order to completely divest any of the Christians of any fleshly anxiety, they say that Herod and Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel, We're gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. You see, we do not live in a world where God is up in the heavens biting his nails and hoping that everything works out for these people on earth. Oh, I wish that I could intervene, but I have left them unto their own devices, and the world spins, and they must determine their own destiny by the execution of their own libertarian free will.
Our God is in the heavens, and he does whatever he pleases. And Herod and Pontius Pilate, though complicit and guilty for the crimes against Christ, Gentiles and the people of Israel, though complicit, guilty for their crimes against the Lord Jesus Christ, Nevertheless, we're gathered together to do whatever God's hand and God's purpose determined before to be done. When we arrive at passages such as this, but passages such as Genesis 50 and verse 20, we need to understand and perhaps sometimes correct our language. You can turn to Genesis 50 and verse 20 for a moment.
Because it's very often the case that we will use, Christians will use language such as, you see what the wickedness of men in Genesis 50, but God overruled it for good. In other words, they did something that God had not predetermined to do, but then God came along in cleanup duty, if you will, and formed it and molded it and shaped it, overruling it for good. The things that came upon Joseph were not simply overruled by God for good, but rather they were predetermined and purposed to occur for a good end.
Genesis 50 and Divine Intention
Notice in Genesis 50 at verse 20. Now remember what happened. The brothers of Joseph, some wanted to kill, but they ended up leaving him in the ditch. The story goes on, slavery, et cetera.
And we arrive, and the idea is that the brothers are no doubt afraid for their lives. And we arrive at verse 20. In verse 19, Joseph said to them, do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive.
You see the same English word there. You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good. It's not that God came along, having not predetermined it, and said, well, I'm going to overrule this and just turn this unfortunate event unto good. In the Hebrew and in the Greek, the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, where we find meant with the wicked and meant with God, it is the same word used.
In other words, we could read it like this. But as for you, you intended or purposed evil against me, but God intended or purposed it for good in order to bring it about as it is this day to save many people alive. You see, the divine intention in decreeing whatsoever comes to pass is pure and perfect and unto the end of the praise of his glorious grace, but the intention of men comes and in the means whereby God brings about his decree, their intentions are wicked and impure and imperfect. God doesn't overrule it.
That word can be qualified to understand what we're saying, but they intended it for evil. God intended it for good, that he might save many people alive. And so when we get back to Acts chapter four here, we are seeing The confidence of this gathered assembly, the congregation acknowledges the predestinating and guiding hand of God and finds confidence in the knowledge that God uses the conspiring of wicked men to bring about holy ends and advance his cause. You see, we need not fret.
And we need not worry like the world worries when trial and when affliction comes. Be anxious in nothing is a command by the Apostle Paul in Philippians chapter four. Be anxious in nothing, but in prayer. and supplication, mingled with thanksgivings, make your requests known to God, and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will be yours in Christ Jesus. You see, the reason why, one of the reasons why we need not be anxious in anything is because God has purposed with his hand and determined things, all things, that are done in this lower world.
So when we rub up against difficulty and trial and affliction, we need not say, God, where are you? And we need not and we should not conceive of a God wherein our comfort in him is found that he suffers along with us. Maybe you've never heard that before, but there are quotes out there and sermons out there and articles out there that our comfort is in a God who suffers along with us. How selfish is that?
That we find comfort in a God who is affected in the same way we are with the events of the world? God suffering along with us? Be still and know that I am God. Why are we to be still?
Because God does not suffer with us, but rather is the insufferable who is pure and perfect and altogether lovely in all of his perfections and is a constant aid, a constant rock of comfort, helping those who actually do suffer. Don't conceive of a God who is weeping and suffering and crying with you. Conceive of a God who is infinite in his perfections, who is most loving, who is most strong, almighty, powerful, and able to affect all things, whether good or evil, for the good of those who love him, to those who are the cold according to his purpose. We find comfort in God our rock. not in God, our co-sufferer.
We need a God who is immutable, impassable, who cannot suffer passions like men. We need this God, who they pray to, the God who creates, the God who reveals, the God who is the predeterminer and the governor of all things, so that we can find that confidence, have that courage, and when trial comes, it might not be this trial, but whatever trial comes, we go to that God in prayer. And we know, as we'll find tonight, that God provides, that God responds, that God gives peace, that God gives strength.
Application
If we learn anything from these things, hopefully we learn first off that we should be marked by a sameness of purpose. As Free Grace Baptist Church, we are marked by, we should be marked by a sameness of purpose. Again, not in those things mentioned earlier. But in the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the proclamation, the gospel of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, the main thing at Free Grace Baptist Church is a crucified and resurrected and ascended Savior.
We should, you see, oh, it was just for Paul to say, we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling block, to the Greeks, foolishness. It should not be the case that it was just for Paul's time in dealing with the Galatian heretics and the Judaizers of his age to say, but God forbid that we should boast saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. But you see now, 2,000 years later, we need to boast in our programs. We need to boast in everything that we do.
We need to boast in parachurch organizations. We need to boast in this. how many conferences we have, how expensive our tickets are. Do you know there's a conference on leadership being delivered, being head up by a heretic who's charging $1,000 to attend a so-called Christian conference and learn probably some of the, probably just some really bad things. If you want me to elaborate, I can send you a link.
But $1,000 to attend a conference? How about you go to church? Where the gospel is free. where you can go and you need not money. You can buy things without price.
And it's not, you know, it's not the riches of this fleshly ignominy of our lower world, but it's the riches and the excellencies of Christ that you can buy without price, without money. Go to church, give your $1,000 to the church and hear preaching. and be in one accord in this sanctuary, bringing your prayers, bringing your supplications, bringing your thanksgivings. Don't buy lobster and stay in a hotel room and give money to a heretic to drive away in his Cadillac and take his private jet to Hawaii. Go to church, come together as the saints, go to the creator, the revelator, the sovereign governor, and bring your praises and your petitions.
And as we'll see tonight, that God answers, that God provides, that God strengthens His church. We should see here the content of prayer, the acknowledgement of our God. When we come to God in prayer, you see, we don't immediately dive into, Lord, help us. Though God is gracious, God is merciful, God is kind, if we were to immediately break into prayer and say, Lord, help us, there's time for that.
But you see, Christians immediately say, Lord. You are God who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them. When we go to our God, we call upon the God, the one and only living and true God who did make all things, who does uphold all things, who has spoken by servants, who has predetermined and who governs. We go to that God of unmitigated sovereignty.
It always amazes me And it should amaze you. You know, we speak about the sovereignty of God in this place, and well, we should. Hopefully, our eyes don't roll whenever we use that great S word, the sovereignty of God. The Bible discloses that page after page, chapter after chapter, but you see, it should warm the heart of the Christian. that that God who by the simplest and smallest expression of his voice splinters the cedars of Lebanon, who by the smallest exercise of his voice can crack those symbols of the ancient world of rigidity and resilience. that that same God, according to Psalm 29, gives strength to his people and blesses his people with peace.
Our God is not some far removed God of transcendent sovereignty with no imminent grace and love and help, but rather is wholly other and transcendent, but as well imminent. Always helpful, always loving, most absolute, most caring. We rejoice in that God and we acknowledge him as we go to prayer. And as well, before we close in prayer, this stuff of Acts chapter 4 should bring an end to fleshly anxiety.
Shouldn't it? Should it well up in us to not go to God in prayer, but rather to flee to all manner of solutions when trial and affliction come? We go to the God who created all things, who upholds all things, who has decreed all things, who governs all of those things. We ought not to have anxiety because of the God that we go to in prayer, the God that answers prayer, and the God who has blessed us richly through Jesus Christ the Lord.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we do rejoice in your truth. We rejoice in your revelation that we read from Acts chapter 4. We thank you for the stuff of the early church and the prayer that they bring before you as Peter and John come back to them with this report.
We rejoice in what they return back to you in prayer, what they bring to you, acknowledging your creatorship, acknowledging the fact that you bring special revelation, the revelation of your will and your Christ to man. the fact that you have predetermined all things and you govern all things by your hand and by your purpose. And we, Lord God, of course, come to this same God now in prayer. We would ask that you would help us to have that confidence and that courage. Whatever comes upon us as we come to you in prayer, as we approach you on a daily basis, might we recognize who you are, what you have done and what you are doing. we might recognize that the fact that you have created, that you are sovereign revealer, that you are sovereign governor, and that we might not be marked by anxiety, but rather with prayer and supplication mingled with thanksgiving, we would bring our requests to you, knowing that we have the audience of the high king of heaven.
And we would pray, Lord God, that you would cause us to be marked by a unity, that you would help us in this church to be marked by that unity around the gospel, that we would stand as one man, in one spirit, striving for the faith of the gospel. Go with us now, Lord God, help us as we go into this upcoming week. We would ask you to help us to live in a manner worthy of our calling by grace, to conduct ourselves as we ought to, knowing that we've been saved by such a God and by such a great salvation. So go with us now, and might all that we do today and each and every day be done unto the praise of your most high name and your glorious praise.
And it is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.