← Back to sermon library

welcome to everyone we have just a couple of announcements before we begin just a reminder that when kerkhof has applied for baptism and church membership so if you do not know wim please get to know him and then tonight we'll have the Lord's Supper and then a email went out about a picnic on September 15th so if you have questions about that you can email the Deacons and they'll be happy to give you more information well for our call to worship this morning you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 67 Psalm 67 a good prayer by the church on the Lord's Day for the extension of God's kingdom on earth Psalm 67 I'll begin reading in verse 1 to the chief musician on stringed instruments a psalm a song God be merciful to us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us say law that your way may be known on earth your salvation among all nations let the peoples praise you O God let all the peoples praise you o let the nation's be glad and sing for joy for you shall judge the people righteously and govern the nations on earth say law let the peoples praise you O God let all the peoples praise you then the earth shall yield her increase God our own God shall bless us Dodd shall bless us and all the ends of the earth shall fear Him amen will please take your Trinity Psalter and turn to psalm 118 psalm 118 will use a familiar tune will sing the first sixteen I'm sorry verses 17 to 29 so psalm 118 beginning in verse 17 [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] let us pray our Father in heaven we thank you for this day we thank you for the beauty revealed in the created order certainly the heavens declare the glory of God and this creation testifies your your eternal Godhead your power your majesty your your glory and your excellence you are a god who's not only made the world but you are the God who governs all his creatures and all their actions and we praise you for this we know in your providence you cause all things to work for good to those who love you to those who are the called according to your your purpose and how we rejoice in your Redemption how we praise you for salvation how we bless you for the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord and now we give praise unto the Father for sovereign grace for election for predestination for the Son in whom we have redemption through his blood and for the Holy Spirit that one who seals and is the guarantee of our final inheritance we give praise to the triune God of glory and Majesty this day and we pray that you would receive our praises that we would come to the Father through the mediation of the son by the power of the Holy Spirit and that God would be all in all in this place we ask that you would help us to ponder who you are a scripture set you forth the Prophet said who would not fear thee O king of the nations for indeed it is they do we know that as creatures we ought to fear and revere and glorify you we know that in Adam all died but in Christ you have made us alive so grant us the grace to have that fear of God and that reverence before one who is holy holy holy as well may it be mingled with great joy and Thanksgiving for the salvation that we have in Jesus Christ our Lord we know we will never come before you clothed in our own righteousness we know that it's not because of our works or our keeping of the law or any merit that we've achieved but it's solely and alone based on the doing and the dying and the rising of our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you that you made him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him we thank you for applying this and your power through the spirit giving us eyes to see and hearts to receive your truth causing us to see our sinfulness and our waywardness and causing us to see the sufficiency of Jesus Christ and our desires that many more would see that today that many more would be pricked in their consciences by the power of the Holy Spirit that the Word of God would go forth in this place and in other churches and throughout the world and that what the psalmist prays in Psalm 67 would be realized she would let the nation's be glad she would cause your face to shine upon sinful people that are deserving of your wrath and your curse but in your grace may you call them out of darkness and a marvelous light may you indeed apply that finished work of Jesus Christ to men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and may you receive all glory honor and praise due to the one who saves to the uttermost we ask in our myths that you would be merciful to any on any and all who have come here this morning still dead in their trespasses and sins we pray that you would awaken them by the power of your spirit we pray that they would hear the word of God and they by grace would respond to that word that they would believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as the one who brings the forgiveness of sins and a righteousness that avails with God we ask they would forgive us all of our sins we know as your people we are wayward we are sinful we transgress and we lack conformity under your written law and so we confess our iniquities now trusting in the the pardoning grace of God as David celebrates in the Psalms a few Lord should mark iniquities O Lord who can stand but there is forgiveness with you that you may be feared and we know that even now Lord God and may it cause us to sing with hearts full of praise and thanksgiving to our Father to the son into the spirit and may you indeed put that song in the hearts of sinners here and elsewhere we asked you'd be gracious to other churches in our city we thank you for them we pray you would prosper and bless them we pray that they would know the nearness and the kindness of God as their good and that you would use these places to save sinners here in Chilliwack we pray for your mercy to be upon this nation of Canada we know God there is much lawlessness and wickedness and and so much disregard for who God is we know that ultimately politics do not change the hearts of men but it's the the truth of Jesus Christ and him crucified and we pray that truth would be thundered in this in this land this day that you would awaken those dead in their trespasses and sins and revive your people Lord God caused us to be a people of Prayer cause us to be a people of the word caused us to think your thoughts after you and to live in this in this world and in a way that is consistent with that word help us to shine as lights in a crooked and perverse generation and give us boldness and grace to hold forth the word of truth to this to this this day and age and our Father we can only pray that in your wrath you would remember mercy and that father the sorts of things that are done on a regular basis things like abortion and euthanasia things like sodomy and the various other offenses against a holy God we pray that through the preaching of the gospel such things would would be on the decline and one day would even be criminalized for certainly the scriptures are clear woe to those who call good evil and and evil good and yet we live in days just like that so we pray that you would be merciful that you would send forth your word that it would run swiftly and be glorified and that you would be pleased to cause your face to shine upon this nation and be with the persecuted Church those brothers and sisters and other nations of the earth that are steep and false religion we pray for the Saints the true people of God they would bear up under such trial and affliction she would grant them the grace to persevere grant them the boldness to testify concerning Jesus and God caused your church in these places to grow to progress and to flourish we know that in the times of tribulation the times of affliction the church more often than not flourish is under the blessing of God we pray that for these lands we also pray father for the church and Surrey and for the Brethren and Vernon we commit these ones to you and pray that you would indeed look with favour upon them she would be with them and their times of worship today and that you would be glorified in the midst of these brethren Lord be with those unable to be with us this morning we pray for the new fields we pray for others God with physical trials and afflictions and truck challenges we know that they are known intimately by you and to you and we would commit each one to the word of your grace and pray that you would sustain them and bless and encourage them even in their sick sick beds and Lord continue with us now and be glorified in this time of worship and we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord amen well you can turn with me to your Trinity hymnal to number 224 hymn number 224 will stand as we sing together [Music] well you could turn in your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke we're in Luke chapter 24 our scripture reading this morning Luke 20 verses 20 to 47 so Jesus in the previous section told the parable of the vineyard similar to what we find in the prophet Isaiah and essentially what Jesus rehearses is Israel's history they rejected God the father the father sends prophets they rejected the prophets the father sends his son and they reject his son and on the heels of that Jesus site psalm 118 verse 22 notice in verse 17 then he looked at them and said what then is this that is written the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief Cornerstone Christ interprets that Psalm of himself so we will see in a few moments Peter does with reference to Jesus and so then we see this series of confrontations the religious leaders confront Jesus they question him they try to trip him up they try to show him as a fake and as a fraud so that the popular support of Jesus will wane and so that ultimately when Jesus is destroyed the religion of Christ would die so I'll pick up reading in verse 20 in Luke 20 so they watched him and sent spies who pretended to be righteous that they might seize on his words in order to deliver him to the power and the authority of the governor then then they asked him saying teacher we know that you say and teach rightly and you do not show personal favoritism but teach the way of God in truth is it lawful for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not but he perceived their craftiness and said to them why do you test me show me a Denarius whose image and inscription does it have they answered and said Caesars and he said to them render therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are gods but they could not catch him in his words in the presence of the people and they marveled at his answer and kept silent then some of the Juicy's who deny that there is a resurrection came to him and asked him saying teacher Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies having a wife and he dies without children his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother now there were seven brothers and the first took a wife and died without children and the second took her his wife and he died childless and the third took her and in like manner the seven also and they left no children and died last of all the woman died also therefore in the resurrection whose wife does she become for all seven had her as wife jesus answered and said to them the sons of this age marry and are given in marriage but those who are counted worthy to attain that age and the resurrection from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage nor can they die anymore for they are equal to the Angels and her sons of God being sons of the resurrection but even Moses showed in the burning bush bush passage that the dead are raised when he called the Lord the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob for his not the god of the dead but of the living for all lived to him and some of the scribes answered and said teacher you have spoken well but after that they dared not question him any more and he said to them how can they say that the Christ is the son of David David himself said in the Book of Psalms the Lord said to my lord sit at my right hand till they make your enemies your footstool therefore David calls him Lord how is he hid how is he then his son then in the hearing of all the people he said to his disciples beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes love greetings in the marketplaces the best seats in the synagogue's in the best places at feasts who devour widows houses and for a pretence make long prayers these will receive greater condemnation amen as I said the opposition to Christ is heightened here as it moves closer to the passion narrative or Christ has ultimately delivered up and crucified for the sins of his people we see the craft of Luke and highlighting the true motivation behind these questioners it tells us or he tells us rather that they were crafty they pretended to be righteous they wanted to seize on his words and so they give him these scenarios that they suspect are going to put him on the horns of a dilemma losing credibility with either the crowd or certainly with the religious leadership in Israel and of course Christ navigates beautifully Christ answers absolutely wonderfully and Christ shows them in the end that they have misunderstood their own scriptures when he cites the the Messiahship he says whose son is he ultimately why does scripture call the Messiah David's Lord he is David's son he's also David's Lord so Christ puts it back on them and has them tried to respond now the parallel passages tell us that they could not and they did not they knew when they were bested so they put their tail between their legs and they walk away and then in this last section he cautions the people concerning these scribes beware of the scribes who desire to go around in long robes love greetings in the marketplaces the best seats in the synagogue's in the best places at feast now consider the Safi of our Lord here these scribes are upset with him these people have expressed a desire to kill him they have in become enraged against him and yet he doesn't shrink back and he doesn't stop warning the people against their practices and this is precisely what he does here we might be inclined to say Lord you better keep your mouth a little bit a little bit more quiet you don't want them to hear that no the truth is such that Jesus wants men to know beware of the scribes they desire to go around in long robes they love greetings in the marketplaces the best seats in the synagogues and the best places at feasts they devour widows houses and we might wonder how is that the case well it was something that was pretty common in the day that these religious leaders were looked at as counselors for widows and when they were engaged in grief counseling they made sure that it was beneficial unto them and then he says and they for pretence make long prayers now it's not wrong to pray long it's wrong to pray long or short for pretense if your prayer is trying to put and press other people you've missed the whole spirit of Prayer Jesus addresses this in the Sermon on the Mount but you when you pray go into your closet the hypocrites love to stand out on the street corners they love for people to see them they love to sound the alarm to let everybody know how pious and how holy they are the heathen they think they're gonna be heard for their many words their their vain repetition of certain phrases they think that's going to avail what their God but you when you pray go into your secret place and the God who sees in the secret place will reward you openly I've always found that a tremendous encouragement to pray because I think at times we judge prayer based on how we feel about prayer you're at about public prayer at times oh the prayer meeting was dead or the prayer meeting was cold or the prayer meeting was really good because this guy pray in a particular way that's judging prayer based on our perspective Jesus doesn't say and when you feel God is present or when you think God may be present or when you think God may have time to be looking at you know when you go into your secret place God or the father who sees you in the secret place will hear you and reward you openly pray brethren because God is always present pray brethren because God has commanded it and pray because it's an expression of our dependence upon him it is probably one of the primary expressions of faith in the Living God we must believe that he is and believe that he's a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him so the condemnation of our Blessed Lord isn't upon long prayers it's upon pretense it's upon hypocrisy it's upon the empty shell of formalism that was associated with judaistic religion at the time of our Lord Jesus Christ and intriguingly there's probably not a better passage we could have read this morning in conjunction with our sermon text in Acts chapter 4 the way they persecute the master is the way they're going to persecute the disciples and we'll see that in a few moments well let us pray father we thank you for your word and it's consistency we that the scope of the whole is to bring glory to God through the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ thank you so much for your mercy to us and thank you so much for your goodness and giving us the the written word of God and thank you for our Lord Jesus and the fact that he is the the one in whom all the treasures have wisdom the knowledge our head and we see that in his own life and ministry in terms of is earthly earthly ministry when he refuted when he silenced when he answered these these critics and these opponents in such beautiful ways knowing the scriptures interpreting them properly completely contrasted with the fakes these hypocrites these these men who wanted religion for for their own gain we asked you would bless us and help us to learn the lessons from these narratives and we pray through Christ our Lord amen well for our final hymn before we look at God's Word in more detail you can turn to 4:8 for 484 and will stand as we sing together [Music] we can turn with me in your Bibles to Acts chapter 4 as we continue to work our way through the Acts of the Apostles Acts chapter 4 we look at verses 1 to 12 this morning the Apostolic address to the council or to the Sanhedrin it was a body of religious / political leaders within Israel 70 plus the high priest based on numbers 11 when our Lord or rather when our God told Moses to gather up 70 men to assist him with reference to leadership's he had the 70 plus Moses will the Sanhedrin was patterned after that now the Sanhedrin of the council is getting upset they tried to quash or tried to silence Jesus they thought certainly crucifying would have ended it but behold we see these apostles rise up now testifying in the name of Jesus so this presents another threat to the religious leadership or establishment in Israel and so they moved to oppose the disciples so beginning in chapter 1 or rather chapter 4 at 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 anise 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 but 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 amen let us pray father thank you for the written word and thank you for this testimony of the Apostle Peter we asked you would send your spirit now she would guide us and help us to receive much encouragement from this passage of Scripture and help us to see the beauty in the glory of Jesus Christ once again set forth in the apostolic preaching of the Cross how we thank you for that Savior and how we thank you for his death and his resurrection we thank you for his life of obedience as well and God our desires that many more would hear of him and many more would respond by grace to that name that is given under heaven among men by which we must be saved and we ask this in Jesus name Amen well as I said this is the beginning of outbreak of persecution upon the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ the healing of the lame man in chapter 3 verses 1 to 10 and then the sermon of Peter in Solomon's porch in verses 11 to 26 of the background of the context and I did quote a few times ago a man by the name of Jay a Alexander and he makes this observation and I think it's very helpful for us to appreciate he says the new religion Christianity was not to be a national or local one but Catholic and ecumenical now he means by Catholic universal that's what the word means it's a good word it is problematic when we have Roman Catholic trying to sort of localized universality but the word Catholic simply means universal so back to Alexander the new religion was not to be a national or local one but Catholic and ecumenical in order to attain its end it must be spread the words we've got to get the gospel out of Jerusalem to Judea Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth that's twice sort of mandate to the disciples go therefore make disciples of all the nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit in acts 1:8 it reads this way he says you will be my witnesses first in Jerusalem vengeance Samaria and then to the uttermost parts of the earth well the problem is if we're all localized in Jerusalem and there's no persecution or problems we will most likely never leave and so this outbreak of persecution is under and ultimately according to the sovereignty of God to get the people of God to go and propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ so he says it must be spread and in order to be spread it must be scattered and in order to be scattered it must undergo strong pressure from within and from without the history now presents to us the series of providential causes by which these effects were brought about in other words there's a larger concern in the narrative than simply stating that Peter and John were persecuted that's certainly a concern but under the hand of God it's by means of this persecution that the gospel goes forth and I know this is a tough pill for us to swallow at times but more often than not the church thrives and flourishes under persecution the church thrives and flourishes and advances under trial and affliction the church progresses when the world is persecuting and I think that's a lesson that we need to appreciate as we move into this text and as we move into what may be seasons of increase increasing pressure from external sources with reference to the church in Canada so I want to look at two things this morning first the arrest of Peter and John and verses 1 to 4 and then the address before the council in verses 5 to 12 we note the occasion verse 1 now as they spoke to the people the priests the captain of the and the sadducees came upon that so it was during that or on the heels of the healing then Jesus or rather Peter preaches Jesus with reference to its interpretation in the life of this lame man so while they spoke these priests the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them now some suggest the captain of the temple was a Roman authority who sort of oversaw the the precincts to make sure any disturbance of the peace was was put down a crushed rapidly others suggest it was sort of the mean man second only to the high priests within the Jewish community that assisted the high priest and all the goings-on with reference to the temple precinct but either way the point is obvious Peter and John are perceived as disturbers of the peace Peter and John are looked at as having caused a ruckus in the temple and so so now the chief men come to silence that they come to oppose them they come to stop them and we know the reason given us by Luke in verse 2 it says being greatly disturbed the particular verb used means to feel burdened as the result of someone's pro a provocative activity to be greatly disturbed to be annoyed or to in the language of Barrett to be at the end of one's tether they're just done with this they thought they had finished it with the death of Jesus of Nazareth remember we're not talking years later we're not talking centuries later we're talking months later from the time that they had crucified the Lord Jesus Christ what is transpiring here in the temple at this particular time happens in close proximity to the actual execution of the Savior Caiaphas mentioned in the passage as one of the the priests assembled there together was the Caiaphas that held trial with reference to Jesus aniss was involved as well so these men had seen what had happened in the life and Ministry of the Lord Jesus they had neutralized it as far as they were able with reference to his life in ministry by putting him on a Roman cross and now he just won't go way we just can't get rid of him we can't stop him so they're greatly annoyed there at the end of their tether and so what do they do they come upon the disciples and the Apostles and they arrest them and they put him in jail for the night because it was already evening you wouldn't convene the Sanhedrin of the council at night but you would rather do so in the morning and that is precisely why they put them in a in a holding cell of sorts to keep them ready for their testimony on the coming day now the religious leaders were greatly disturbed as Luke tells us being a rather they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead I would love at this time for everybody to take a quiz don't raise your hand and don't call out audibly but think in your own mind what was one of the things that the Sadducees denied you say how do you expect me to know that because we just read it in Luke 20 remember they come to Jesus and they say Lord tell us about this woman who had been married to seven brothers whose wife is she gonna be in the resurrection what does Luke tell us in Luke 20 he tells us that the persons that came to Jesus concerning the question about taxes were hypocrites he tells us that they were cunning with reference to the Sadducees he tells us that they denied the resurrection they weren't legitimately seeking information from the Lord they probably had tongue firmly planted in cheek they could have been slapping their knees at the very ludicrousness of the scenario that they had portrayed tell us who in the resurrection is going to be her husband you see these men denied the resurrection so I submit they were greatly annoyed this body of religious leaders generally because they had just executed the Son of God and it hopefully neutralized him once and for all but the Sadducees would have been especially / perturbed because they preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead now non Sadducees accepted the reservoir non Sadducees had a hope based on the Old Testament that there would be a resurrection from the dead but they certainly didn't want to associate it with the Lord Jesus Christ they certainly didn't want to identify the redemptor the resurrection 'el work of God with this man whom they had crucified so again I'm not justifying and I'm not giving it rational sort of legitimization but I understand why these guys are up step up set they had crucified the Lord of glory they thought they had buried him with him buried him and no longer had to deal with them and here Peter stands up and preaches Jesus and the resurrection of the dead so you can see why these guys are upset you can see why they're upset at Jesus in his earthly ministry you can see why it is the case when godless men who opposed Jesus and His apostles you could see at least the rationale for them being at the end of their tether so they arrests well let me just quote Daniel Bock here he says the idea of a resurrection of such a figure who was a prophet like Moses and a messianic light figure would make the leaders even more nervous about the crowd's reaction you see that's what Peter does at the end of the sermon and in Acts chapter 3 he says Moses like prophet he is the Davidic King he is the one promised by God as the Messiah and oh yeah he was raised from the dead and the resurrection in the future is intimately connected with him as the one who orchestrates the whole thing you could see why they perceive this to be a continuing threat he says such an authority figure would undercut leaders even more nervous I'm sorry such an authority figure would undercut the Sadducees own power and authority for these Sadducees it is too much they moved to stop the Apostles now I should have said that the Sanhedrin was sad you see heavy wasn't that there were no Pharisees it wasn't that there were no on other then Sadducees but it was a sad you see heavy environment and so certainly this idea of resurrection was offensive to them on a doctrinal level it was offensive to them that it was now associated with the Lord Jesus Christ and so they arrest them they put them in custody this fulfills Jesus words in Luke 21 12 but before all these things what things the destruction of the temple in 80 70 but before all these things they will lay their hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons Jesus predicted this Jesus foretold this Jesus told them what would happen he says it elsewhere as if they hated me they're gonna hate you if they despise the master they're gonna despise the disciple the world is going to oppose you when you live for Jesus Christ when you preach the doctrine of grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone the world doesn't embrace that the world by and large sees that as folly and the world by a large seas that is offensive what what do you mean I'm a sinner what do you mean I need blood atonement what do you need mean my perversity is such that that God is going to cast me into hell forever that's precisely what we mean and the glory of the Christian gospel is that God is in Christ reconciling the world to himself you see this message has never met with open receptivity on the part of God hating rebels look at the prophetic testimony in the Old Testament how are the men of God in the Old Testament treated oh yeah these are these are great guys let's give them houses and palaces and let's give them good things and let's treat them with with great respect and revere them and esteem them know they were despised and rejected history tells us that it was Isaiah that was the one sawn in two I mean that anybody would ever take a saw to that man Isaiah that the Apostle not just the prophet but the Apostle I mean Isaiah 53 reads like John and Matthew and Mark and Luke and yet this man was murdered he was executed he was taken out he was snuffed out look at the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ read foxes book of histories foxes Book of Martyrs sometimes see how the people of God in the age of the church have been handled you know we have a great deal of Liberty here and instead of making us more bald and more faithful and more earnest that often times has the the opposite effect we become apathetic we've become lethargic we become laying see we're glutted in our liberties and we don't even use them and yet we read prayer letters about people suffering and Muslim nations we we read prayer letters about people losing businesses losing family members losing lives and livelihood losing their own lives for the cause of Jesus Christ brethren we have been blessed greatly and if we think well I'll stand fast when the Canadian government starts to persecute me if you're not standing fast now you're probably not gonna then if you're not ready to live for Jesus now you're not gonna be ready to die for Jesus then you know any fool can say because it's romantic oh yeah I'd take a bullet for Jesus but will you get up on a Sunday morning and come to church for Jesus we read your Bible we loved your wife the way Jesus tells you to will you submit to your husband the way Jesus tells you to you get that right it's a romantic notion oh yeah if I was in a Muslim country I'd stand fast really you're in a non-muslim country you don't stand fast I just don't have any evidence to suspect that you would do so in that context you see brethren the church as church has more often than not been persecuted but the beautiful thing is found in verse 4 notice that however so Peter and John are now laid hands or have hands laid upon that they are in custody until the next day so that they can be rallied before the Sanhedrin however many of those who heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5,000 the preachers are arrested but the Word of God prevails to just love God for this reason he demonstrates that he's not dependent on us cusine there'll be factions I'm a beater I'm appalled I'm of Apollo's I'm of Calvin I'm of Arminius not really I'm of Augustan I'm of Pelageya were of Jesus Christ aren't you thankful that Jesus promises to build his church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it because whenever I look around and I see us I am very thankful of that reality that's no personal reflection on you don't go home and cry and say Butler you know offended me today I mean in general I read somewhere once where a group of the fathers were talking and they had they had all concluded church fathers they had concluded that if the building of the church were up to us it would certainly fail it would certainly fail look at this we would already say Oh Peter what a great guy what a godly man what a powerful sermon I mean brethren mechanically structurally technically the way that Peter wheezes together in verses 11 to 26 it's a marvelous thing he's put in prison and what happens it's over the church is done it's all it's all it's all gone no no not to minimize the place of Peter but I think Peter would agree with me here to maximize the place of Jesus building his church verse 4 however many of those who heard the word believed that beautiful that glorious is that awesome that while the per the church is persecuted the power of the word prevails John dill says it this way he says for though they kept their persons and hold they could not stop the free course of the word which ran and was glorified matthew henry's commentary though the preachers were persecuted the word prevailed for sometimes the church is suffering days have been her growing days the days of her infancy were so that's good news brethren not only Jesus that saves the church but it's Jesus that builds the church and praise God Almighty it's Jesus that sustains the Church and it's Jesus that will ultimately bring the church to glory is not men men may serve men may help men may get in the way but ultimately it's Jesus according to Matthew 16 who promised I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it now that shows us the triumph of the church but it also indicates the continuing persecution of the church think of the triumph Jesus says the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it I think it's a wrong interpretation to see the kingdom of Satan marching against the kingdom of Christ and at times whooping it no gates are a defense mechanism the very language of our Savior evidence is the exact opposite interpretation it's the kingdom of Christ that's on the advance it's the kingdom of Christ that progresses and it's the gates of Hades that shall not prevail against it in other words he has delivered us from the kingdom of darkness in the language of Colossians 1 and transferred us into the kingdom of the son of his love the strongman is bound through the preaching of the gospel and Christ plots sinners out of his kingdom it's a beautiful thing but that there are gates and that Christ does mention their continuing existence means they haven't given up so that statement of Jesus in Matthew 16 assures the church not only of its triumph but it assures it of its persecution and the book of Acts evidences this this is the first outbreak of persecution against the church by unbelieving Israel we always think of the Roman Empire's being the enemies of the church they had become the enemies of the church they would later become the enemies of the church but in this particular time they thought Christianity was a subset of Judaism and the Empire left Judaism pretty much alone they let them do their own thing the Empire had no problem I mean I don't know that they liked it or endorsed it or condoned it or you know worship with them to be sure but they certainly allowed the Jews to do their thing with any government molestation and so initially that's how Christianity was looked at in fact as we moved through the book of Acts you're gonna see that over and over again they ultimately Paul comes before these Roman magistrates and they're not in tune with all that's going on now later on the oppression is turned on under Nero the oppression really gets hot I mean it gets severe and yet at this particular time it's unbelieving Israel it's the same people that oppose Jesus in his earthly ministry that opposed the Apostles in their earthly ministry that's what Christ promises in matthew 16 is the pattern for the church there will be triumph ultimately because of the Builder Christ but there's going to be difficulties there's going to be hardships again brethren stepping back from the Bible and looking at the history of the book the history of Israel in the Old Testament you know that was God's covenant people on earth that was God's you know visible expression of his kingdom on earth such that when Solomon sits upon his throne he sits upon the throne of Yahweh but what happens within that kingdom you've got threats both internal and external you've got problems with it you've got problems without we get to the book of Acts guess what there's problems within and there's problems without and here is an expression of those problems without they are being persecuted for the cause of the Lord Jesus Christ turn to a couple of passages to show this even more Philippians chapter 1 Philippians chapter 1 this idea that the preachers are arrested but the Word of God prevails Paul is in prison as he writes to the Philippians Paul is sitting in a jail and in verse 12 he says but I want you to know brethren that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel you know and it almost reads like that I know it reads just like that but I mean the inflection that I'm using almost like wouldn't believe it you just couldn't even imagine I got picked up as a criminal in the Empire they put me in jail but you know what it's actually turned out good this gives the emphasis to Romans 8:28 a passage we don't really need in times that are good the passage we really need in times that are bad not suggesting we don't need it in good times but when do we invoke Romans chapter 8 verse 28 we know that all things work together for good to those who love God to those our other called according to his purpose we typically don't invoke that when the sun is shining our jobs are going well when our wives like us when you know everybody's favorable towards us we don't think of the blessings of Roman aid Romans 8:28 we typically think of it after a miserable encounter wherein God delivered us and we can say Wow God causes all things to work together for good to those who love him to those who are the called according to his purpose we oftentimes use that text as the interpretive grid for something miserable we went through but God blessed us as a result of that make sense so Paul is suggesting that very paradigm you'd have thought me going to jail now as the apostle to the Gentiles you would have thought me going to jail as the one tasked with with calling the Gentiles you would have thought that this would have really cut the legs out from under the movement but but it hasn't it's really amazing it's like Paul saying God really is all that he says he is he really is that great I want you to know brethren that the things which happen to me have actually have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel so that it's become evident to the whole palace garden to all the rest that my chains are in Christ and most of the Brethren in the Lord having become confident by my chains are much more bold to speak the word without fear you see what the suffering of Paul the effect that it has it has this twofold effect first in the life of Paul so has become evident verse 13 to the whole palace guard and to all the rest that my chains are in Christ I wonder how they knew that because Paul told that he's gonna sign this letter off by saying greetings greetings from the household of Caesar to you it's because Paul and I say this reverently and lovingly had a very big mouth when it came to the gospel of Jesus Christ the whole palace guard now everybody knew why is that man and so bought whatever because of this Nazarene called Jesus but that's not the only positive effect everybody that was in the church the people of God who believed had heard about what had happened to Paul and it actually put a little fire in their bones too in other words if Paul is able to and Paul is willing to and Paul is suffering for the cause of Jesus Christ I'm going to open my mouth once in a while for the cause it's a beautiful thing isn't it the things that have happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel no even in that Paul recognizes there's good motives there's not-so-good motives verse 15 some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife and some also from goodwill the former preach Christ from selfish ambition not sincerely supposing to add affliction of my chains but the latter out of love knowing that I'm appointed all for the defense of the gospel what then only that in every way whether in pretence or in truth Christ is preached and in this I rejoice yes and will rejoice I think at times people have a little bit of a difficulty with this passage in light of Galatians Galatians 1 Paul says if we or anyone else or an angel from heaven preach another gospel to you let him be anathema and here Paul says these guys have bad motives but they're preaching the right Christ Galatians 1 they're preaching the wrong Christ so an anthem be upon that Philippians chapter 1 they may not like Paul they may have selfish ambition they may be a bit pretentious they may have no goodwill in terms of the apostle Jill what they're telling people about the life and the death and the resurrection of Jesus you see this shows Paul's heart he's not affected by the foot maybe he was maybe he didn't cry about these guys hating him but for Paul's purposes whether they liked him or not didn't matter for Paul's purposes they preach the truth and in that Paul says I will rejoice so you see times of persecution do not restrict the preaching of the cross notice in 2nd Timothy chapter 2 another specimen passage that indicates this 2nd Timothy chapter 2 Paul's emphasis to Timothy being strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus finding men in the local church to teach so that they may teach others verse three he needs to endure hardship as a good soldier of Christ verse seven he needs to consider what it what Paul says and then in verse eight he says remember that Jesus Christ of the scene of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel for which I suffer trouble as an evil evil evil doer even to the point of chains note this next language but the Word of God is not chained you you can't stop it you can't tame it you can't chain it you can't and guff it you can't tie it down you cannot suppress the truth try as the world may try as they may have they cannot stop the advance of Christ's Kingdom Matthew 16 is real I will build my church Jesus testifies and the gates of 80 shall not prevail against it we get to the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 7 we have this picture of the saints in heaven in his glory a great multitude that no man can number from every tribe every tongue every people every nation isn't that a beautiful picture given to us to induce hope doesn't the Bible call us to see Christ enthroned doesn't the Bible call us to act in faith doesn't the Bible call us to respond to the persecution of men with the preaching of the word later on in this particular narrative I'm not so sure we're gonna make it to verse 12 this morning but in the narrative these guys can't deny that a miracle is transpired it's intriguing because the man that was healed is right there before the Sanhedrin either he was arrested along with Peter and John or he was summoned as a witness but he's there in verse 10 he's there in verse 14 and the Sanhedrin not the brightest bulbs in the chandelier but this one thing they can't deny that a notable miracle has been done none of us can deny he's standing right here we used to see him begging at the gate we used to see him not able to move we saw him with our own eyes but we don't want this message to spread so will severely threaten the Apostles and tell them shut their mouths didn't work did it what a Peter and John do oh yeah we better not we better be quiet we better not testify we better go sit in our Christian ghetto and never tell anybody about Jesus Christ no we're gonna obey God rather than that and if that brings on further persecution so be it we trust in the wake of that further persecution there's going to be further preaching and when there's further preaching there's going to be further spirit and when there's further spirit there's more conversion to Jesus Christ you see it's the blood of the martyrs that that fertilized the very seed of the church to make it grow and spread it is most glorious later in Philippians 1 Paul will say for Tomita liveth it is as Christ and to die is gain imagine if you're the magistrate and Paul's your prisoner he comes before you to testify and he says look if you let me live it's Christ if you kill me I get more Christ that really bothers you as a magistrate doesn't it because as a magistrate you want to punish this guy you want to teach him not to come against the Empire you want to teach him not to come against anybody that that matters in society but the guy stands and says if you let me live I get Jesus if you make me die then I get more Jesus what do you do with him away with him kill him look great I get more Jesus I mean how do you hurt Paul you just can't because he loves Jesus how do you hurt the people of God you can because they love Jesus how do you stop the Word of God you can't because it's the Word of God you see it's a beautiful thing and this is what Acts is telling us that on the one hand these disciples these apostles are being put into custody on the other hand however many of those who heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5,000 I love that language to believed what does the Bible everywhere teach us in terms of our acceptance with God it's by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus alone now was Luke's intention here to teach us a fully developed doctrine of justification by faith alone no but it certainly teaches us that often of justification by faith alone how does a man a woman a boy or a girl come into saving contact with Jesus it's by faith how do you this morning come into saving contact with Jesus it's by faith now you'll be told it's by faith plus what you do Paul condemns that in the book of Galatians it's faith plus getting circumcised it's faith plus the good things that you do it's faith plus it's not faith plus it's faith alone now the text again it's subtle it's sublime but it is powerful however many of those who heard the word believed Alexander says believed ie received it as true and trusted the Savior whom it offered that's probably the best sort of explanation of belief or faith terms which are synonymous in the scripture by the way that I can give you this is a real melon scratcher four people brought up in churches isn't it sometimes for the kids it's like what what does it mean to believe how do I know I'm believing how do I know that that I'm one of the ones that that God calls his own what's the proof what's the what's the way what's the certain net knowledge that I have listen Alexander receive it as true and trust the Savior whom it offers that's basically what our confession of faith says with reference to saving faith if I could just read between the lines or give you the jim Butler paraphrase a chapter of the chapter and the confession of faith that speaks to this it means sir it says believe everything the Bible says is true believe everything the Bible says is true there really were Hittites people used to deny the existence of the Hittites until the early part of the 20th century they uncovered the civilization of the Hittites people have denied all those two things in the Bible but saving faith says no you believe the Bible you don't try to redefine it you don't say well you know that was then and this is now God's intention wasn't to actually tell us that he created the world in six days does it ever arise in the mind some who say that that it really was God's intention to teach us that he created in six days by the word of his power out of nothing and all very good how come that's not an alternative why why is that you know just just obligatory late dismissed from the table so that the confession speaks of believing everything that the Bible says is true but the principle acts of saving faith the main thing is Jesus to believe who Jesus is and in terms of who Jesus is we need to know what Jesus does Jesus was and is the second person of the Trinity Jesus was sent by the father into this world Jesus took on our humanity he became in all points like us yet without sin lords eat a coat took on everything that makes a man a man all the common properties associated with manhood Jesus took it on and yet he never stopped being God these two natures in the one glorious person and yet he comes now into this world and he lives like us he's despised he's rejected he's mocked ultimately and he's delivered up to die on the cross he dies on that cross not because he's a sinner not because he's a malefactor not because he's committed you know any lawlessness against the Empire but he's in the place of sinners sin is imputed to him he's not a sinner in terms of actuality but he's constituted such so that the punishment of the Father upon him is the punishment that you and I deserve it really is a beautiful transaction it really is the way that God maintains being just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Christ it was not just that death that we need we need that life from age zero to thirty three what did Jesus do everything the father commanded him we need that see at times we emphasize the cross and well we should but we ought never to minimize the life because we not only need the forgiveness that the cross secures by the blood of Jesus we need the righteousness that is life secures in his act of perfect obedience you see brethren we need to be accepted by God we need not only forgiveness but we need a righteousness and that's what avails in Christ that's why it's good news it's not good advice it's not a bit of self-help it's not try Christianity for a better life though rather it's come to Jesus or die in your sins that's why in verse 12 Peters going to say there's there's no other name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved Christ isn't a localized deity he's not a ghetto deity he's not just simply this one for this small band of apostles occupying Jerusalem at that particular time there's no other name given under heaven there's one name alone and it's Christ alone the way of salvation is by faith in him that's what these men did they heard the word and they believed the sublimity of it the blessedness of it is it's wonderful you ever wondered why in the world people don't just believe this text helps us to understand why they should however many of those who heard the word believed and the number of the men came to be about 5,000 now as you will probably not doubt there's a great deal of debate about that Virts every verse of scriptures seems like there's competing interpretations is this 5,000 new ones in addition to the 3,000 from the day of Pentecost or is this 5,000 total and and is it just men and that doesn't number the women and the and the children because that convention is used in the gospel narratives I think Luke's point is that the church just grew a bunch I don't think I can answer all of the questions sufficiently in terms of is it is it 5,000 Moors at 5,000 now is a just manner does that include men women it means while the Apostles are in the pokey the Word of God is doing its job brethren that's where we rest content that's where we find our comfort that's where we find our joy that's where we find our hope it's in the reality that Jesus Christ at the right hand of God the Father on high is building his church in the reality that the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it and in the reality that when we get there it's not going to be a handful of us do you ever realize how glorious it's going to be to see people from every tribe tongue people and nation I mean for the most part our church is pretty what do they call it homogeneous I don't know if that's the right word how long you know same genus you know most everybody here is kind of the same look it's good to have blacks good to have you know people from all over the world making up local churches because local churches look like what the church in heaven looks like it's men from every tribe tongue people a nation if people from all over the globe there's no gonna make racism in heaven she's gonna be you know oppression in heaven it's not gonna be any back of the bus in heaven it's not going to be any favored ones in heaven because there's one favored one in heaven and it's Christ and we by grace in him will be the praising and worshipping and glorifying and adoring and honoring and the way to attain that again is by faith look to Christ in faith and you will have everlasting life well let's pray father thank you for your word thank you for the clarity of Luke the author thank you for the clarity of the preaching of Peter and thank you for the power of the gospel that we see displayed not only in terms of personal salvation but in terms of the body of Jesus Christ the church that he promised to build as the church that he promises to to sustain in the church that he promises to complete and to bring into his and his heavenly presence God encouraged us with this as we see in this world we see in the church we see so many things that are opposed both external internal and God it's a grief to us nevertheless encouraged our hearts that the kingdom of Jesus Christ is advancing and we pray that even today people from every tribe tongue people and nation would believe the gospel and would be saved and that's our desire for any and all here that you would be merciful that you'd open their eyes that you would grant them the graces of faith and repentance that they may close with Jesus Christ our Lord and we ask this in his most blessed name Amen well let's close by standing and singing the doxology of praise to our triune God [Music] not a him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation the mystery kept secret since the world began but now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God for obedience to the faith the God alone wise be glory through Jesus Christ forever amen father go with us now and may we be jealous for your glory and for your honor and for your praise and may you help us today to glorify you and the the day that you have made this blessed Sunday the Sabbath rest for the people of God may you encourage your hearts and may refresh our spirits and may you go with your people now and we ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord amen please be seated for a brief time of meditation