March 2, 2025 • 44 mins
Dive into the transformative experiences of Peter and John as they face the challenges of sharing the gospel in the book of Acts. This sermon sheds light on the intrinsic fears many of us carry when it comes to evangelism, emphasizing that we are not alone in our hesitations and struggles. We explore the boldness these apostles exhibited when confronted with authority and how their reliance on the Holy Spirit enabled them to proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ despite the risk of persecution.
Throughout the message Pastor Chris highlights key points about the necessity of overcoming our fears, the significance of prayer, and the crucial role of community in sharing the gospel. Peter and John’s story serves as a call to action for all believers to step up, trust in God, and step out in faith, even when facing the unknown. You'll be inspired to--not only share your faith-- but also reach out for support as we collectively navigate the challenges of contemporary evangelism.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
All right Acts, chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.
It says came upon them greatlyannoyed because they were
teaching the people andproclaiming in Jesus, the
resurrection from the dead, andthey arrested them and put them
(00:29):
in custody until the next day,for it was already evening, but
many of those who had heard theword believed, and the number of
the men came to about 5,000.
On the next day, their rulersand elders and scribes gathered
together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas
and John and Alexander and allwho were of the high priestly
(00:50):
family.
When they had set them in themidst, they inquired by what
power or by what name did you dothis?
Then Peter, filled with theHoly Spirit, said to them,
rulers of the people and elders,if we are being examined today
concerning a good deed done to acrippled man, by what means
this man has been healed, let itbe known to all of you and to
(01:11):
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 is standingbefore you.
Well, this Jesus is the stonethat was rejected by you, the
builders, which has become thecornerstone, and there is
salvation in no one.
Now, when they saw the boldnessof Peter and John and perceived
that they were uneducated,common men, they were astonished
(01:40):
and they recognized that theyhad been with Jesus.
But seeing the man who washealed standing beside them,
they had nothing to say inopposition.
But when they had commandedthem to leave the council, they
conferred with one another,saying what shall we do with
these men?
For that a notable sign hasbeen performed through them, as
evident to all the inhabitantsof Jerusalem, and we cannot deny
(02:02):
it.
But in order that it may bespread no further among the
people, and we cannot but speakof what we have seen and heard.
And when they had furtherthreatened them, they let them
(02:27):
go, finding no way to punishthem because of the people, for
all were praising God for whathad happened, for the man on
whom this sign of healing wasperformed was more than 40 years
old when they were released.
They went to their friends andreported what the chief priests
and the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, theywent to their friends and
reported what the chief priestsand the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, theylifted their voices together to
(02:48):
God and said Sovereign Lord, whomade the heaven and the earth
and the sea and everything inthem.
Who, through the mouth of ourfather, david, your servant,
said by the Holy Spirit, why didthe Gentiles rage and the
people's plot in vain?
The kings of the earth setthemselves and the rulers were
gathered together against theLord and against His anointed.
For truly, in this city theywere gathered together against
(03:09):
your holy servant, Jesus, whomyou anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with theGentiles and the peoples of
Israel, to do whatever your handand your plan had predestined
to take place.
And now, lord, look upon theirthreats and grant to your
servants to continue to speakyour word with all boldness,
while you stretch out your handto heal and signs and wonders
(03:30):
are performed through the nameof your holy servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed, theplace in which they were
gathered together was shaken andthey were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and continued tospeak the word of God with
boldness.
And if you remember from lastweek, we say this is the Word of
God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
(03:52):
Let's try that one more time.
This is the Word of God for thepeople of God.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, I am moved this morning.
My spirit is moved and I hopeyou feel that same way is moved,
and I hope you feel that sameway.
The most rewardingaccomplishments in life,
(04:40):
generally speaking, do not comeeasy.
Theodore Roosevelt said thatnothing in the world is worth
having or worth doing unless itmeans effort, pain, difficulty.
And you know, when I thinkabout things that are rewarding,
accomplishments that arerewarding in our lives, I can
think of no greateraccomplishment than leading
(05:01):
someone to the Lord Jesus Christ, than leading someone to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I can think of no greateraccomplishment than sharing the
gospel with someone who is farfrom God and having them respond
in faith, only to have theireternity changed forever.
(05:21):
But I'll tell you this sharingthe gospel, leading others to
Christ, it's not easy.
I'm a preacher of over 20 yearsand it's not easy for me at
times.
I think most of you, if you'rea real follower of Jesus, I
(05:42):
think you would say yes and amenthat there's someone in your
life right now that you wouldlove to lead to Christ.
Actually, raise your hand ifthat's you.
There's somebody in my liferight now, at work, at home,
that I would love to lead to theLord Jesus and yet there's a
hesitancy to even share thegospel.
Why You're not alone?
(06:05):
Because it's actually difficult.
It can be.
I've got good news for you thismorning.
We're not the first generationto face challenges when sharing
the gospel.
So last week we're going throughthe book of Acts and last week
we were in chapter 3.
(06:26):
Peter and John, two apostles,come upon as they're going to
the temple to pray.
They come upon a man who hasbeen lame from birth and daily
he would be laid at the templegate in order to beg alms.
He was dependent on the charityof others to survive, an
outcast, sick, unable to walk.
(06:47):
And Peter and John walked byhim and he asked for, you know,
some change.
And they look at him.
They said Peter says silver andgold I do not have, but what I
do have I give to you In thename of Jesus Christ, rise up
and walk.
And the man gets up.
It doesn't just walk, he leapsfor joy, praising God, doesn't
(07:07):
even have to learn to walk.
I mean, that's a miracle initself, just amazing.
Well, that gains a crowd, itgains the attention of many
people who are in the temple anda crowd begins to form and
Peter uses that opportunity toshare the gospel and in our text
(07:27):
today, in Acts 4, verse 4, itreminds us that that day 2,000
men, plus women and children,were added to the church.
They were saved, gloriously,wonderfully saved, in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
But today we find out that noteverybody's happy about that and
(07:49):
Peter and John face somechallenges there in the temple.
And if you'll take this messageto heart today, I believe
you're going to be greatlyencouraged and helped in sharing
the gospel.
I just believe this week youcould lead that person that you
raised your hand about to Christ.
How many would love that?
Amen, all right, four of you,all right.
(08:10):
So we're going to look at somechallenges, actually two.
There are many challenges thatpeople face when sharing the
gospel.
I'm going to look at two thismorning that we see in the text.
One I'm not going to spend asmuch time on this one, but one
is internal and one is external.
So the internal challenge insharing the gospel you could
(08:31):
call it fear or, let me be morespecific, perhaps you could call
it a fear of ignorance.
And what do I mean by that?
You know I've talked to a lotof church folks through the
years who said, you know, I'dlove to share the gospel with my
loved one, but I'm scared Iwon't have all the answers.
I'm scared Like I want them tohave eternal life.
(08:54):
But what if they ask mesomething I don't know the
question to?
They feel ill-equipped to evenshare the gospel.
Well, I've got great news foryou in the text today.
I want you to look at verse 13.
We're going to jump ahead justa bit.
Look at verse 13.
Now, when they these are thetemple leaders saw the boldness
(09:14):
of Peter and John, they wereboldly preaching the gospel in
the midst of these leaders whowere rejecting Christ.
They perceived that they werewhat Uneducated common men and
watch this, the temple leaders.
What were they Astonished?
Astonished by uneducated commonmen Now, I won't have you raise
(09:38):
your hand, if that's you allright.
And it says they recognizedthey'd been with Jesus.
And the question becomes howdid Peter and John astonish
these educated, uber-spiritualtemple rulers?
Well, there's two reasons.
(09:58):
I see here One, and I love this.
The text says verse 13, thatthey recognized that these two
men, peter and John, had beenwith Jesus.
Oh, that people would be ableto say that about us.
You may not have a degree intheology, you may not have all
the tenets of faith memorized,but, oh, if people can just see
that you've been with Jesus, youcan make a difference in their
(10:21):
lives.
Now I know that Peter and Johnwere quite literally in the
Jesus School of Ministry forthree and a half years and I
know that we are not physicallywith Jesus he is at the right
hand of the Father but we havethe Lord with us by His Spirit.
He has not left us alone, amen.
And do you know that every timewe come together like this I
(10:43):
hope when listen, when you leavetoday and you go out to eat, I
hope your waitress or waiter cansay oh, that's somebody who's
been with Jesus.
Every time you open your Bible,every time we partake in
communion, every time we sing toour great God beloved, we are
with the Lord and we ought toleave that place.
(11:03):
Wherever we're at reading theword praying, whatever we're
doing, we ought to leave thatplace.
Wherever we're at reading theword praying, whatever we're
doing, we ought to leave thatplace shining with the glory of
God, because the world needs notjust religious folk who can
quote scriptures.
They need people who have beenwith Jesus.
There's another.
This just dovetails off thatfirst point.
(11:24):
But this is another reason Peterand John astonished the
educated rulers.
It's in verse 8, peter, filledwith the Holy Spirit, began to
speak to them.
They were filled and this is afresh, this present tense in
filling of the Holy Spirit which, remember, is for the purpose
of witnessing.
Matthew 10, 19,.
(11:48):
Let me just read this to youwhen they deliver you, jesus is
talking to the disciples andhe's warning them about the
persecution to come.
He says when they deliver youover, do not be anxious how you
are to speak or what you're tosay.
Watch this, for what you are tosay will be given to you in
that hour.
(12:08):
So this is not something thatyou just plan for.
And you know I'm going to sharethe gospel as a person, and
here's how the conversation isgoing to go and all that you
don't know, but here's what youdo.
You can trust the Lord thatwhat needs to be said he will
bring to your mind.
Now let me just give one caveathere.
The Holy Spirit uses what we'veput in.
(12:31):
Okay.
So if you never read your Bible, if you're not committed to
coming to church and hearing theyou know exposition of God's
Word week after week, the HolySpirit doesn't have much to work
with Now.
He could use a new believerwho's I mean heard one verse.
But I'm saying we've got ourpart to do.
(12:54):
But the truth is we know this.
We don't know how theseconversations are going to go
sometimes, but we just trust theSpirit.
Now there might be, to be sure,a question that's asked of you,
you know, maybe a philosophicalor deeply theological question.
You know, explain to me theproblem of evil and suffering,
(13:15):
and you might not have an answer.
You know, the Holy Spiritbrings to mind what you need to
say to share the gospel.
But there might be a questionthat stumps you and I want you
to write this down.
I'm going to give you thisprofound response.
Let's say you ready.
So if you don't know the answerto a question somebody asked
you, here's what you say.
(13:35):
Write this down, profound.
I don't know the answer to that, okay, please, please, do not
try and just wing it, and that'swhat people do a lot Just
simply say I don't know, buthere's what you say.
After that I'll get the answerfor you and you come to one of
(13:58):
our pastors that's what we'rehere for and you might ask me
something I don't know, andhere's what I'll say to you I
don't know.
Actually, I'll probably say youknow, this is not a good time.
Come back and ask me tomorrowand I'll research it.
No, I'll say listen, I don'tknow the answer to that but I'll
get it for you.
All right, here's the point.
(14:23):
The Holy Spirit uses ordinarypeople to do extraordinary
things.
Peter and John, commonfishermen who's my fisherman in
here?
Man, you are set up for God touse you in such a powerful way.
And what illustrations you havewhen you're on the lake with
(14:43):
your unsaved buddies about beinga fisher of men.
You know, and the Lord, youknow all that.
When you're on the lake withyour unsaved buddies about being
a fisher of men, you know, andthe Lord, you know all that the
Lord did around the lake, aroundthe sea.
I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
The Holy Spirit, god himself,uses ordinary people that's you,
that's me to do extraordinarythings, amen.
So that's the internal challengeof sharing the gospel.
(15:05):
You don't have to fear.
Trust the Lord.
But then there's an externalchallenge and we'll call this
rejection.
You're scared.
What if they don't listen?
What if they make fun of me?
What if they reject the gospel?
Look at verses one through 4.
And as Peter and John werespeaking to the people, the
(15:26):
priests and the captain of thetemple and the Sadducees came
upon them, greatly annoyed.
You ever feel this way whenyou're talking about Jesus with
somebody, you just feel likethey're annoyed by you.
That's all right, you're ingood company, because they were
teaching the people and theywere proclaiming in Jesus the
(15:46):
resurrection from the dead.
And they arrested them.
A man was just healed.
They arrested them and put themin custody until the next day,
for it was already evening, butmany of those who had heard the
word believed, and the numbercame to about 5,000.
So rather than celebrating thehealing, you have these Debbie
(16:10):
Downers who are man.
You've always got to havesomebody to ruin the party right
, and they're upset with Peterand John, annoyed so much that
they arrest them.
Think about that.
And the question is why are theyso antagonistic?
And I have three reasons whythey are so antagonistic, and
(16:35):
this so applies to our lifetoday, as we share the gospel
with the lost.
They're antagonistic becausethe gospel challenges them in at
least three ways.
You ready Number one.
The gospel challenges theirauthority, or their power, if
you like.
Okay, so here's who arrests.
Peter and John, number onepriests.
(16:58):
These are ordinary priestsperforming the evening sacrifice
.
They're part of the religiousleadership amongst the Jewish
people.
Then you have the captain ofthe temple guard, the chief of
the temple police force.
They're not playing.
Then you have the Sadducees.
The Sadducees are this sect ofJewish aristocrats, very rich,
(17:24):
that wield a great deal ofreligious, social and political
power.
And Peter and John stand beforethis group of men, these
ordinary common Galileanfishermen, and look at verse 7
in Acts 4.
And when they had set them inthe midst?
(17:45):
I mean, they're surrounded bythem, and not just them, by the
way, but other leaders of thetemple as well.
At this point, here's what theyask by what power or by what
name did you do this?
Now, that's a really tellingquestion, because the name has
(18:08):
to do with authority.
What they're really asking iswho gave you the authority to
walk in the temple, cause aruckus and start teaching a
crowd of people?
I mean, just imagine.
I sympathize with them just abit, because imagine somebody
walking in as we're singing thismorning, off the street.
We don't know them and theyjust take it upon themselves.
(18:30):
They come and they lay hands onsomebody.
Pray for them in Jesus' name,come up and just start preaching
to you.
I would probably ask them,after security escorts them out,
by whose authority are youpreaching?
You see, this is very important.
(18:52):
In verse 10, peter makes itclear it's not on their
authority that they're coming,but on the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
This is a problem.
This is a problem Because theimplication is that the temple
leaders are not the ultimateauthority of Peter and John,
that there is a greaterauthority, even of Caesar, and
(19:18):
so their power is threatenedwhen they call someone else Lord
and we say we're not going tolisten to you.
We've got a higher authority.
And you know, today many rejectthe gospel, not because they're
offended by Jesus being aSavior, necessarily, but because
he is Lord.
(19:39):
And the implication there,because our culture loves we
talked about this a few weeksago they love autonomy, the
right to govern their own lives.
They want to be Lord of theirown lives and if Jesus is Lord
of their life, that means thatthey no longer are and that is
offensive.
Jesus challenges authority.
(20:00):
In Romans 10, verse 9,.
If you confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raisedhim from the dead you will be
saved, beloved.
The most basic and fundamentalconfession of Christianity is
(20:20):
that the risen Christ Jesus isLord.
You know, in our, let's say,the American church there's a
popular erroneous teaching.
It's called easy believism andthey'll take one verse, like
John 3.16, a wonderful andbeautiful verse, that says you
(20:40):
know, if you believe in him,believe, you know, you won't
perish, you'll have everlastinglife.
So a lot of preachers, a lot ofpeople sharing the gospel,
they'll tell somebody who'sliving in sin.
They'll say listen, well, allyou have to do is pray a little
prayer with me.
That's not how the Bible saysyou're saved.
Just pray a little prayer withme and ask Jesus into your heart
(21:04):
, and then you know it's likeall you have to do is believe in
Jesus and His death, burial andresurrection.
Now the demons in hell do thatand shudder with fear.
That's intellectual belief andthat's not saving faith.
That's intellectual belief andthat's not saving faith.
Peter was just asked in chapter2, he shared the gospel and
(21:28):
people were cut to the heart andthousands of people asked Peter
, what do we do?
And Peter didn't say just praya little prayer and ask Jesus
into your heart, repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sin and the gift of the holyspirit.
So we've got to be careful here.
(21:48):
But because there is this idea,that's a beautiful truth that
jesus is a friend of sinners.
Are you thankful for that?
Do you believe that?
But see, that has beenmisinterpreted.
It's been very misinterpreted.
It doesn't mean that Jesus isjust okay with sin.
Think about the woman caught inadultery.
(22:10):
What did Jesus say?
Go and sin no more.
In Luke, chapter 5, luke tells agreat story of Jesus eating
with a group of tax collectors,one of them being Matthew, who
becomes a disciple.
And this is the part where wesee that Jesus is a friend of
(22:30):
sinners.
He's eating with them and thePharisees, the religious leaders
.
They are appalled that Jesuswould do such a thing, because
to them to eat with thesesinners was to condone their
lifestyle.
But that's not what that verseis about Jesus being a friend of
sinners.
Here's verse 32 in Luke,chapter 5.
(22:53):
Here's Jesus' response to thePharisees I did not come to call
the righteous, but sinners.
To what Repentance?
He's not condoning theirlifestyle.
Beloved, he meets us where weare downtrodden, heavy laden,
deep in sin, and he offers usgrace.
(23:15):
But he cleans us up as well.
We repent and turn to him.
Kevin DeYoung, great pastor,writes this that Jesus was a
friend of sinners not because ofwinking at sin.
He did not ignore sin, nor didhe enjoy lighthearted revelry
(23:35):
with those engaged in immorality.
He goes on to say Jesus was afriend of sinners in that he
came to save sinners and wasvery pleased to welcome sinners
who were open to the gospel,sorry for their sins and on
their way to putting their faithin Jesus, hallelujah.
So some reject the gospelbecause the gospel challenges
(23:58):
authority.
Secondly, it challenges thetemple leader's intellect.
I'm just going to spend amoment here.
The Sadducees listed in thefirst four verses did not
believe in angels, demons, thesupernatural, the resurrection
from the dead, the resurrectionfrom the dead.
(24:20):
Thus Peter and John Preachingthat Jesus is risen Is a very
big problem for them.
Because here's these common menSaying your theology, your
world view, is wrong.
Not everything can be explainedby science.
There is a supernatural realm.
(24:44):
And so for them to confess therisen Christ would be to commit,
within their circle,intellectual suicide.
And you know, today manyAmericans reject the gospel
because of intellectual pride.
You know, since theEnlightenment era we have many
(25:05):
who are what we callrationalists.
They believe that there's ascientific answer for everything
.
And if there's not, it justcannot be true.
They, like the Sadducees, denythe miraculous.
Not be true.
They, like the Sadducees, denythe miraculous.
(25:26):
But I'm just going to say it'smore illogical to believe that
there's not, you know, aspiritual realm.
I mean, come on, look at theearth, look at creation itself.
That's enough.
If you've ever watched a childbeing born, I mean it takes way
more faith to believe that thatjust happened by happenstance.
Right?
I love what.
(25:47):
I think his name is Paul Little,who wrote a book, what's it
called?
Know why you Believe.
It's a great book for highschoolers, by the way, to know
not just what you believe butwhy you should believe it.
And he says I'll never forgetthis.
In the introduction he says tobe a, a Christian, you do not
have to lose your mind.
There are historical andlogical reasons to believe in
(26:10):
the Lord, jesus Christ and Hisresurrection.
There's an overwhelming amountof evidence for that.
But the gospel does challenge.
It takes some humility.
It does challenge the intellectof the lost.
Thirdly, the gospel challengesthe, let's say, self-image or
self-righteousness of thosereligious leaders, and here's
(26:35):
what I mean by that.
Peter is preaching in verses 8through 12 to these men and he
calls out their sin.
He's like you crucified, yourMessiah, the cornerstone.
And then in verse 12, here'swhat Peter has the audacity to
say to these well-educatedtemple leaders.
Here's what he says there issalvation in no one else, for
(27:01):
there is no other name underheaven given among men which we
must be saved.
That's radical.
The religious leaders in thetemple.
They see themselves as uberspiritual, that they have on the
cloak of self-righteousness,putting themselves spiritually
(27:24):
above the quote-unquote commonJewish people.
And to assert that Jesus is theonly way of salvation is
extremely, extremely off-puttingto them.
Do you know what that impliesto them?
That they get salvation thesame way as the prostitute and
(27:48):
the drunk and the drug addictand the thief and the murderer
Boy?
That's offensive to aself-righteous person.
And you know.
The assertion that Jesus is theway, Not a way of salvation
today Is offensive tocontemporary people, westerners.
Jesus did not say I am a way tothe Father.
(28:12):
What did he say?
I am the way, the truth, thelife.
No one comes to the Father butby me.
And so that's offensive for tworeasons.
Listen to me.
Number one, when you say that,when you make that biblical
claim.
You're saying very clearlythere's not salvation in any
(28:35):
other religion, any otherreligion.
That means if you Believe inMuhammad and serve, you know the
Islamic religion, you're notsaved.
If you're a Buddhist, I don'tcare how faithful you are,
you're not saved.
If you worship the plurality ofHindu gods, I don't care how
(28:57):
faithful you are, I don't carewhat your culture is, you are
not saved.
There is one name through whichmen might be saved and that
name is Jesus Christ.
That's offensive.
It's offensive to many peopletoday.
They don't mind Jesus being away.
You know people.
Today, truth is relative right,which is the stupidest thing in
(29:19):
the world.
You do your truth.
This is my truth.
That's dumb.
Come on, I think we're gettingdumber.
I'm not joking.
So that's one reason it'soffensive.
Secondly, here's the implication, and this really flies in the
(29:41):
face of self-righteous people.
It says that you cannot be goodenough to have eternal life to
get to God.
Statistically, in America, thevast majority of people believe.
If they believe in heaven or inafterlife, you know what they
believe.
I'm going to get there by beinga good person.
(30:02):
See to receive the gospel.
This is why it's so offensiveTo receive the gospel, the good
news that through Jesus we canhave salvation.
To understand the good news, youfirst have to understand the
bad news, as Tim Keller puts it,that we are more wicked and
depraved than we could ever dareimagine.
(30:24):
We've got to get that before wecan realize that we're more
loved in Christ than we couldever dare hope.
You've got to have both sides.
See, we are called by the world.
We're charged with beingelitist or exclusive right.
(30:46):
This is the exclusive religion.
Jesus is the only way, and onone hand, that's true.
You know Christianity.
We hold to that truth.
I mean, it's fundamental thatJesus is the way of salvation,
not a way.
But I love what Tim Keller usedto talk about all the time.
He said, yes, on one handChristianity can be exclusive,
(31:07):
but listen to this.
This is so good.
He argued that, on the otherhand, that Christianity is
actually the most inclusivemajor historical religion out
there, and here's why Everyother historical religion.
You know what it says.
If you want heaven, if you wanteternal life or what have you,
(31:30):
if you want to get to God, youdo X, y, z, a, b, c, 1, 2, 3.
It's on you and if you can dothese things.
They look different in eachreligion, then you can get to
God.
You can have eternal life.
And you know what that means,boy.
That's exclusive.
Let me tell you why.
Keller argues that.
What that means is that onlythe most disciplined, only the
(31:54):
most righteous, morally uprightpeople get eternal life, get to
God.
But see, christianity isdifferent.
It's the most inclusivehistoric religion out there.
Here's what Christianity claims.
None of us are good enough, butthe ground at the foot of the
(32:15):
cross is level ground.
Come all ye broken, come all yebroken.
Come all you heavy laden, comeyou worst of sinners.
In the Bible, the prostitutecame to Jesus and fell down at
His feet.
Your sins are forgiven.
The tax collector, corrupt taxcollector Listen, if an IRS
(32:37):
agent can come to the Lord, youcan come.
You can come.
Yes, the middle class, workinggodly father needs Jesus and
gets there by the cross.
But it's not just he that getsto come to God through Jesus.
(32:59):
It's again the drug addict,it's again the prostitute.
It's again every person sittingincarcerated right now.
That's why I love prisonministry to tell them the good
news that no matter where you'vebeen, no matter what you've
done, jesus welcomes you.
He bids you to come to thecross.
(33:19):
It's the most inclusivereligion out there religion out
there but that's a challenge tosomeone's self-image.
Who they think they're good.
They have to come to terms with.
(33:42):
I'm not good enough.
So what are?
The external issue with sharingthe gospel is rejection, and
what are the consequences ofrejection?
Well, in our text you have anarrest in verse 3, imprisonment
in verse 4, threats in verse 17,and ultimately it's persecution
and death for many of the earlychurch, many who are within the
early church.
In just a few chapters overchapter 7, stephen, faithfully
(34:06):
preaching the gospel, ismartyred owing to his faith.
And today in America, I don'tthink any of you in here has
been imprisoned for your faithand hopefully that will never
happen but we do face rejection.
I'm careful to call thatpersecution because of what
(34:29):
other people are going through,but we are ostracized, we are
hated amongst many people today.
Some, even in this room, havelost your jobs because of your
Christian beliefs.
You're laughed at and I'll justsay this you might not be put
(34:53):
to death in this country foryour faith, but being rejected
in those ways I just mentioned,it's not.
That's not nothing.
As a matter of fact, psychologytoday reported that MRI studies
show that the same areas of thebrain become activated when we
experience rejection as when weexperience physical pain.
(35:13):
Rejection hurts.
We learned that from an earlyage.
So there are consequences manytimes for sharing the gospel.
There are internal challenges,external challenges that can
lead to really discomfort, ifnot death in some places.
But how are we to respond tothis?
(35:35):
Just very quickly.
Number one we respond withloyalty to the Lord, Jesus
Christ.
We take it like a champ thehurt, the pain, the ridicule,
the persecution.
We're loyal to Jesus.
Look at verses 17 through 20.
But in order that it may notspread, these are the temple
(35:55):
leaders talking no further amongthe people.
Let us warn Peter and John tospeak no more to anyone in this
name.
So they called them and chargedthem not to speak or teach at
all in the name of Jesus.
I love this, peter and John,just not to speak or teach at
all in the name of Jesus.
I love this.
Peter and John just answered tothem.
Whether it's right in the sightof God to listen to you or
rather than to God, you mustjudge.
(36:15):
For we cannot but speak, butspeak of what we have seen and
heard.
In other words, threaten us allyou want, but we're preaching
the gospel.
So I don't care if peoplelaughed at you.
I care.
It doesn't really matter howthey respond.
You keep preaching.
What if they laugh at me?
What if they reject me?
I hate that for you, but theireternity depends on you sharing
(36:42):
the gospel with them.
Can I be blunt?
Get over it.
Get over it.
Get over it.
No matter the consequences, wemust decide today.
Jesus, loss of job, whatever itis, we're going to be loyal to
you.
We're not going to hide it.
Number two we respond torejection with prayer.
(37:05):
Acts 4, 23 and 24.
When they were released, theywent to their friends and began
gossiping about the templeleaders.
Is that what it says?
They got on their phone and hada pity party, got on Facebook
and posted how horrible the youknow president of the temple is.
(37:27):
We can't wait till the nextelection.
No, they got together withtheir friends and reported what
the chief priests and elders hadsaid to them.
And when they heard it, here'swhat they did they lifted their
voices together to God.
We call that prayer.
It could have been just asinging as well, but we know
that they prayed and I want topoint your attention to what
(37:50):
they prayed first.
And now, lord, here it is.
Look upon these threats andgrant to your servants to
continue to speak your word withall boldness.
They then pray.
Stretch out your hand to heal.
Signs and wonders are performedthrough the name of your
servant, jesus.
In other words, back us up,lord, show others that this is
(38:12):
real.
But the first thing they ask isLord.
They don't ask Lord, take usout of this.
Let them be nicer, lord, sickthem.
Lord.
Some of y'all prayed that.
I know I might have prayed thata time or two in my life About
some of you.
No, I'm just joking, that was ajoke.
Not here.
(38:33):
Yeah, other churches, but nothere.
No, really they pray.
God, give us boldness.
Let us not worry about ourlives, just give us boldness.
Let me say this, this is worthwriting down God cares way more
(38:54):
about reaching the lost than hedoes our comfort.
God cares way more aboutreaching the lost than our
comfort.
In closing, the great news ofthis text is that persecution.
(39:18):
What we learn is thatpersecution will never nullify
the success of the gospel.
All this is happening 2,000 menplus women and children get
saved.
Bring it devil, bring itatheists.
You're not going to stop thegospel, because it's Christ who
(39:40):
builds His church.
Even the gates of hell shallnot prevail against us.
So here's what I want to leaveyou with today, just a kind of
to do All right.
So give me just a couple moreminutes here.
Number one I want you, alongwith me, to pray daily for
(40:01):
boldness.
I know it's scary, but I wouldlove this week for you to share
Jesus with somebody.
You don't know how to do this.
We'll help you.
Come see one of our pastors.
It's your job.
Pray for boldness.
But here's the other thing Iwant you to do, and this is
important I want you to rememberyour persecuted brothers and
(40:25):
sisters.
We tend to forget that there arebrothers and sisters in Christ
throughout the world that areexperiencing what the first
century church experienced OtherNero and other emperors.
On February, the 13th of thisyear in the Congo, islamic
terrorists brutally beheaded 70Christians with machetes and
(40:47):
large knives.
Did you hear that If you arediscovered to be a Christian in
North Korea, you'll likely bekilled on the spot?
In Somalia, al-shabaab, aviolent Islamist terrorist or
(41:07):
militant group, often killSomali Christians on the spot,
wishing to eradicateChristianity.
It's happening today, and wecould go on and on.
Listen, this is a report fromthe Open Doors website.
Let's sit with this for amoment.
380 million Christians that weknow of around the world suffer
(41:32):
extreme persecution 380 millionof our brothers and sisters this
morning.
7,679 churches and publicChristian properties were
attacked last year that we knowof.
4,476 Christians were murderedthat we know of for their faith
(41:57):
last year.
So I want to just compel you toremember and pray for your
persecuted brothers and sisters.
We're part of the family of God, and so I'm going to invite you
to an event that we're having.
I know this isn't a normalaltar call, but that's okay,
(42:22):
because the point of this eventis to raise our understanding
and awareness of what Christiansare going through in other
parts of the world.
So we did this last year.
This is a live stream event puton by David Platt, and it's
called Secret Church, and we'regoing to meet here at the church
for a live stream event onApril, the 11th, at 7 pm, and
(42:46):
we're going to pray and studyinto the night.
Well, why Friday at 7?
I like to be in bed by 9o'clock.
Anybody else?
All right, come on, but I'll behere, god willing.
And here's why the point of thisis to remember that our
brothers and sisters all overthe world have to come together
in secret, at weird times, allhours of the night, just to
(43:09):
worship together.
They could never do what we'redoing today.
So we're going to study God'sword and we're going to pray for
our persecuted brothers andsisters.
So if you want to do that,there is a cost to it.
It doesn't go to us None of themoney.
You're going to get a book, butyou can sign up.
You can get more information atthe welcome table, yes, or you
can look on the church app.
(43:31):
There's a link that you can getyour tickets.
It's about $25 right now.
It goes up the closer it getsto the event.
I want to encourage you todayto sign up.
So, no matter the challenges,here's what I pray that the
people of real life willcontinue to preach the gospel
with boldness.
And may God change Richmondwith the good news of Jesus
(43:54):
Christ.
Let's pray God how we love you,how we thank you for the gospel
, the good news.
We thank you for Jesus, theonly means of our salvation.
All right Acts, chapter 4, beginning in verse 1.
It says came upon them greatlyannoyed because they were
teaching the people andproclaiming in Jesus, the
resurrection from the dead, andthey arrested them and put them
(00:29):
in custody until the next day,for it was already evening, but
many of those who had heard theword believed, and the number of
the men came to about 5,000.
On the next day, their rulersand elders and scribes gathered
together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas
and John and Alexander and allwho were of the high priestly
(00:50):
family.
When they had set them in themidst, they inquired by what
power or by what name did you dothis?
Then Peter, filled with theHoly Spirit, said to them,
rulers of the people and elders,if we are being examined today
concerning a good deed done to acrippled man, by what means
this man has been healed, let itbe known to all of you and to
(01:11):
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 is standingbefore you.
Well, this Jesus is the stonethat was rejected by you, the
builders, which has become thecornerstone, and there is
salvation in no one.
Now, when they saw the boldnessof Peter and John and perceived
that they were uneducated,common men, they were astonished
(01:40):
and they recognized that theyhad been with Jesus.
But seeing the man who washealed standing beside them,
they had nothing to say inopposition.
But when they had commandedthem to leave the council, they
conferred with one another,saying what shall we do with
these men?
For that a notable sign hasbeen performed through them, as
evident to all the inhabitantsof Jerusalem, and we cannot deny
(02:02):
it.
But in order that it may bespread no further among the
people, and we cannot but speakof what we have seen and heard.
And when they had furtherthreatened them, they let them
(02:27):
go, finding no way to punishthem because of the people, for
all were praising God for whathad happened, for the man on
whom this sign of healing wasperformed was more than 40 years
old when they were released.
They went to their friends andreported what the chief priests
and the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, theywent to their friends and
reported what the chief priestsand the elders had said to them.
And when they heard it, theylifted their voices together to
(02:48):
God and said Sovereign Lord, whomade the heaven and the earth
and the sea and everything inthem.
Who, through the mouth of ourfather, david, your servant,
said by the Holy Spirit, why didthe Gentiles rage and the
people's plot in vain?
The kings of the earth setthemselves and the rulers were
gathered together against theLord and against His anointed.
For truly, in this city theywere gathered together against
(03:09):
your holy servant, Jesus, whomyou anointed, both Herod and
Pontius Pilate, along with theGentiles and the peoples of
Israel, to do whatever your handand your plan had predestined
to take place.
And now, lord, look upon theirthreats and grant to your
servants to continue to speakyour word with all boldness,
while you stretch out your handto heal and signs and wonders
(03:30):
are performed through the nameof your holy servant Jesus.
And when they had prayed, theplace in which they were
gathered together was shaken andthey were all filled with the
Holy Spirit and continued tospeak the word of God with
boldness.
And if you remember from lastweek, we say this is the Word of
God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God.
(03:52):
Let's try that one more time.
This is the Word of God for thepeople of God.
Thanks be to God.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Well, I am moved this morning.
My spirit is moved and I hopeyou feel that same way is moved,
and I hope you feel that sameway.
The most rewardingaccomplishments in life,
(04:40):
generally speaking, do not comeeasy.
Theodore Roosevelt said thatnothing in the world is worth
having or worth doing unless itmeans effort, pain, difficulty.
And you know, when I thinkabout things that are rewarding,
accomplishments that arerewarding in our lives, I can
think of no greateraccomplishment than leading
(05:01):
someone to the Lord Jesus Christ, than leading someone to the
Lord Jesus Christ.
I can think of no greateraccomplishment than sharing the
gospel with someone who is farfrom God and having them respond
in faith, only to have theireternity changed forever.
(05:21):
But I'll tell you this sharingthe gospel, leading others to
Christ, it's not easy.
I'm a preacher of over 20 yearsand it's not easy for me at
times.
I think most of you, if you'rea real follower of Jesus, I
(05:42):
think you would say yes and amenthat there's someone in your
life right now that you wouldlove to lead to Christ.
Actually, raise your hand ifthat's you.
There's somebody in my liferight now, at work, at home,
that I would love to lead to theLord Jesus and yet there's a
hesitancy to even share thegospel.
Why You're not alone?
(06:05):
Because it's actually difficult.
It can be.
I've got good news for you thismorning.
We're not the first generationto face challenges when sharing
the gospel.
So last week we're going throughthe book of Acts and last week
we were in chapter 3.
(06:26):
Peter and John, two apostles,come upon as they're going to
the temple to pray.
They come upon a man who hasbeen lame from birth and daily
he would be laid at the templegate in order to beg alms.
He was dependent on the charityof others to survive, an
outcast, sick, unable to walk.
(06:47):
And Peter and John walked byhim and he asked for, you know,
some change.
And they look at him.
They said Peter says silver andgold I do not have, but what I
do have I give to you In thename of Jesus Christ, rise up
and walk.
And the man gets up.
It doesn't just walk, he leapsfor joy, praising God, doesn't
(07:07):
even have to learn to walk.
I mean, that's a miracle initself, just amazing.
Well, that gains a crowd, itgains the attention of many
people who are in the temple anda crowd begins to form and
Peter uses that opportunity toshare the gospel and in our text
(07:27):
today, in Acts 4, verse 4, itreminds us that that day 2,000
men, plus women and children,were added to the church.
They were saved, gloriously,wonderfully saved, in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
But today we find out that noteverybody's happy about that and
(07:49):
Peter and John face somechallenges there in the temple.
And if you'll take this messageto heart today, I believe
you're going to be greatlyencouraged and helped in sharing
the gospel.
I just believe this week youcould lead that person that you
raised your hand about to Christ.
How many would love that?
Amen, all right, four of you,all right.
(08:10):
So we're going to look at somechallenges, actually two.
There are many challenges thatpeople face when sharing the
gospel.
I'm going to look at two thismorning that we see in the text.
One I'm not going to spend asmuch time on this one, but one
is internal and one is external.
So the internal challenge insharing the gospel you could
(08:31):
call it fear or, let me be morespecific, perhaps you could call
it a fear of ignorance.
And what do I mean by that?
You know I've talked to a lotof church folks through the
years who said, you know, I'dlove to share the gospel with my
loved one, but I'm scared Iwon't have all the answers.
I'm scared Like I want them tohave eternal life.
(08:54):
But what if they ask mesomething I don't know the
question to?
They feel ill-equipped to evenshare the gospel.
Well, I've got great news foryou in the text today.
I want you to look at verse 13.
We're going to jump ahead justa bit.
Look at verse 13.
Now, when they these are thetemple leaders saw the boldness
(09:14):
of Peter and John, they wereboldly preaching the gospel in
the midst of these leaders whowere rejecting Christ.
They perceived that they werewhat Uneducated common men and
watch this, the temple leaders.
What were they Astonished?
Astonished by uneducated commonmen Now, I won't have you raise
(09:38):
your hand, if that's you allright.
And it says they recognizedthey'd been with Jesus.
And the question becomes howdid Peter and John astonish
these educated, uber-spiritualtemple rulers?
Well, there's two reasons.
(09:58):
I see here One, and I love this.
The text says verse 13, thatthey recognized that these two
men, peter and John, had beenwith Jesus.
Oh, that people would be ableto say that about us.
You may not have a degree intheology, you may not have all
the tenets of faith memorized,but, oh, if people can just see
that you've been with Jesus, youcan make a difference in their
(10:21):
lives.
Now I know that Peter and Johnwere quite literally in the
Jesus School of Ministry forthree and a half years and I
know that we are not physicallywith Jesus he is at the right
hand of the Father but we havethe Lord with us by His Spirit.
He has not left us alone, amen.
And do you know that every timewe come together like this I
(10:43):
hope when listen, when you leavetoday and you go out to eat, I
hope your waitress or waiter cansay oh, that's somebody who's
been with Jesus.
Every time you open your Bible,every time we partake in
communion, every time we sing toour great God beloved, we are
with the Lord and we ought toleave that place.
(11:03):
Wherever we're at reading theword praying, whatever we're
doing, we ought to leave thatplace.
Wherever we're at reading theword praying, whatever we're
doing, we ought to leave thatplace shining with the glory of
God, because the world needs notjust religious folk who can
quote scriptures.
They need people who have beenwith Jesus.
There's another.
This just dovetails off thatfirst point.
(11:24):
But this is another reason Peterand John astonished the
educated rulers.
It's in verse 8, peter, filledwith the Holy Spirit, began to
speak to them.
They were filled and this is afresh, this present tense in
filling of the Holy Spirit which, remember, is for the purpose
of witnessing.
Matthew 10, 19,.
(11:48):
Let me just read this to youwhen they deliver you, jesus is
talking to the disciples andhe's warning them about the
persecution to come.
He says when they deliver youover, do not be anxious how you
are to speak or what you're tosay.
Watch this, for what you are tosay will be given to you in
that hour.
(12:08):
So this is not something thatyou just plan for.
And you know I'm going to sharethe gospel as a person, and
here's how the conversation isgoing to go and all that you
don't know, but here's what youdo.
You can trust the Lord thatwhat needs to be said he will
bring to your mind.
Now let me just give one caveathere.
The Holy Spirit uses what we'veput in.
(12:31):
Okay.
So if you never read your Bible, if you're not committed to
coming to church and hearing theyou know exposition of God's
Word week after week, the HolySpirit doesn't have much to work
with Now.
He could use a new believerwho's I mean heard one verse.
But I'm saying we've got ourpart to do.
(12:54):
But the truth is we know this.
We don't know how theseconversations are going to go
sometimes, but we just trust theSpirit.
Now there might be, to be sure,a question that's asked of you,
you know, maybe a philosophicalor deeply theological question.
You know, explain to me theproblem of evil and suffering,
(13:15):
and you might not have an answer.
You know, the Holy Spiritbrings to mind what you need to
say to share the gospel.
But there might be a questionthat stumps you and I want you
to write this down.
I'm going to give you thisprofound response.
Let's say you ready.
So if you don't know the answerto a question somebody asked
you, here's what you say.
(13:35):
Write this down, profound.
I don't know the answer to that, okay, please, please, do not
try and just wing it, and that'swhat people do a lot Just
simply say I don't know, buthere's what you say.
After that I'll get the answerfor you and you come to one of
(13:58):
our pastors that's what we'rehere for and you might ask me
something I don't know, andhere's what I'll say to you I
don't know.
Actually, I'll probably say youknow, this is not a good time.
Come back and ask me tomorrowand I'll research it.
No, I'll say listen, I don'tknow the answer to that but I'll
get it for you.
All right, here's the point.
(14:23):
The Holy Spirit uses ordinarypeople to do extraordinary
things.
Peter and John, commonfishermen who's my fisherman in
here?
Man, you are set up for God touse you in such a powerful way.
And what illustrations you havewhen you're on the lake with
(14:43):
your unsaved buddies about beinga fisher of men.
You know, and the Lord, youknow all that.
When you're on the lake withyour unsaved buddies about being
a fisher of men, you know, andthe Lord, you know all that the
Lord did around the lake, aroundthe sea.
I mean, it's a beautiful thing.
The Holy Spirit, god himself,uses ordinary people that's you,
that's me to do extraordinarythings, amen.
So that's the internal challengeof sharing the gospel.
(15:05):
You don't have to fear.
Trust the Lord.
But then there's an externalchallenge and we'll call this
rejection.
You're scared.
What if they don't listen?
What if they make fun of me?
What if they reject the gospel?
Look at verses one through 4.
And as Peter and John werespeaking to the people, the
(15:26):
priests and the captain of thetemple and the Sadducees came
upon them, greatly annoyed.
You ever feel this way whenyou're talking about Jesus with
somebody, you just feel likethey're annoyed by you.
That's all right, you're ingood company, because they were
teaching the people and theywere proclaiming in Jesus the
(15:46):
resurrection from the dead.
And they arrested them.
A man was just healed.
They arrested them and put themin custody until the next day,
for it was already evening, butmany of those who had heard the
word believed, and the numbercame to about 5,000.
So rather than celebrating thehealing, you have these Debbie
(16:10):
Downers who are man.
You've always got to havesomebody to ruin the party right
, and they're upset with Peterand John, annoyed so much that
they arrest them.
Think about that.
And the question is why are theyso antagonistic?
And I have three reasons whythey are so antagonistic, and
(16:35):
this so applies to our lifetoday, as we share the gospel
with the lost.
They're antagonistic becausethe gospel challenges them in at
least three ways.
You ready Number one.
The gospel challenges theirauthority, or their power, if
you like.
Okay, so here's who arrests.
Peter and John, number onepriests.
(16:58):
These are ordinary priestsperforming the evening sacrifice
.
They're part of the religiousleadership amongst the Jewish
people.
Then you have the captain ofthe temple guard, the chief of
the temple police force.
They're not playing.
Then you have the Sadducees.
The Sadducees are this sect ofJewish aristocrats, very rich,
(17:24):
that wield a great deal ofreligious, social and political
power.
And Peter and John stand beforethis group of men, these
ordinary common Galileanfishermen, and look at verse 7
in Acts 4.
And when they had set them inthe midst?
(17:45):
I mean, they're surrounded bythem, and not just them, by the
way, but other leaders of thetemple as well.
At this point, here's what theyask by what power or by what
name did you do this?
Now, that's a really tellingquestion, because the name has
(18:08):
to do with authority.
What they're really asking iswho gave you the authority to
walk in the temple, cause aruckus and start teaching a
crowd of people?
I mean, just imagine.
I sympathize with them just abit, because imagine somebody
walking in as we're singing thismorning, off the street.
We don't know them and theyjust take it upon themselves.
(18:30):
They come and they lay hands onsomebody.
Pray for them in Jesus' name,come up and just start preaching
to you.
I would probably ask them,after security escorts them out,
by whose authority are youpreaching?
You see, this is very important.
(18:52):
In verse 10, peter makes itclear it's not on their
authority that they're coming,but on the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ.
This is a problem.
This is a problem Because theimplication is that the temple
leaders are not the ultimateauthority of Peter and John,
that there is a greaterauthority, even of Caesar, and
(19:18):
so their power is threatenedwhen they call someone else Lord
and we say we're not going tolisten to you.
We've got a higher authority.
And you know, today many rejectthe gospel, not because they're
offended by Jesus being aSavior, necessarily, but because
he is Lord.
(19:39):
And the implication there,because our culture loves we
talked about this a few weeksago they love autonomy, the
right to govern their own lives.
They want to be Lord of theirown lives and if Jesus is Lord
of their life, that means thatthey no longer are and that is
offensive.
Jesus challenges authority.
(20:00):
In Romans 10, verse 9,.
If you confess with your mouththat Jesus is Lord and believe
in your heart that God raisedhim from the dead you will be
saved, beloved.
The most basic and fundamentalconfession of Christianity is
(20:20):
that the risen Christ Jesus isLord.
You know, in our, let's say,the American church there's a
popular erroneous teaching.
It's called easy believism andthey'll take one verse, like
John 3.16, a wonderful andbeautiful verse, that says you
(20:40):
know, if you believe in him,believe, you know, you won't
perish, you'll have everlastinglife.
So a lot of preachers, a lot ofpeople sharing the gospel,
they'll tell somebody who'sliving in sin.
They'll say listen, well, allyou have to do is pray a little
prayer with me.
That's not how the Bible saysyou're saved.
Just pray a little prayer withme and ask Jesus into your heart
(21:04):
, and then you know it's likeall you have to do is believe in
Jesus and His death, burial andresurrection.
Now the demons in hell do thatand shudder with fear.
That's intellectual belief andthat's not saving faith.
That's intellectual belief andthat's not saving faith.
Peter was just asked in chapter2, he shared the gospel and
(21:28):
people were cut to the heart andthousands of people asked Peter
, what do we do?
And Peter didn't say just praya little prayer and ask Jesus
into your heart, repent and bebaptized for the remission of
sin and the gift of the holyspirit.
So we've got to be careful here.
(21:48):
But because there is this idea,that's a beautiful truth that
jesus is a friend of sinners.
Are you thankful for that?
Do you believe that?
But see, that has beenmisinterpreted.
It's been very misinterpreted.
It doesn't mean that Jesus isjust okay with sin.
Think about the woman caught inadultery.
(22:10):
What did Jesus say?
Go and sin no more.
In Luke, chapter 5, luke tells agreat story of Jesus eating
with a group of tax collectors,one of them being Matthew, who
becomes a disciple.
And this is the part where wesee that Jesus is a friend of
(22:30):
sinners.
He's eating with them and thePharisees, the religious leaders
.
They are appalled that Jesuswould do such a thing, because
to them to eat with thesesinners was to condone their
lifestyle.
But that's not what that verseis about Jesus being a friend of
sinners.
Here's verse 32 in Luke,chapter 5.
(22:53):
Here's Jesus' response to thePharisees I did not come to call
the righteous, but sinners.
To what Repentance?
He's not condoning theirlifestyle.
Beloved, he meets us where weare downtrodden, heavy laden,
deep in sin, and he offers usgrace.
(23:15):
But he cleans us up as well.
We repent and turn to him.
Kevin DeYoung, great pastor,writes this that Jesus was a
friend of sinners not because ofwinking at sin.
He did not ignore sin, nor didhe enjoy lighthearted revelry
(23:35):
with those engaged in immorality.
He goes on to say Jesus was afriend of sinners in that he
came to save sinners and wasvery pleased to welcome sinners
who were open to the gospel,sorry for their sins and on
their way to putting their faithin Jesus, hallelujah.
So some reject the gospelbecause the gospel challenges
(23:58):
authority.
Secondly, it challenges thetemple leader's intellect.
I'm just going to spend amoment here.
The Sadducees listed in thefirst four verses did not
believe in angels, demons, thesupernatural, the resurrection
from the dead, the resurrectionfrom the dead.
(24:20):
Thus Peter and John Preachingthat Jesus is risen Is a very
big problem for them.
Because here's these common menSaying your theology, your
world view, is wrong.
Not everything can be explainedby science.
There is a supernatural realm.
(24:44):
And so for them to confess therisen Christ would be to commit,
within their circle,intellectual suicide.
And you know, today manyAmericans reject the gospel
because of intellectual pride.
You know, since theEnlightenment era we have many
(25:05):
who are what we callrationalists.
They believe that there's ascientific answer for everything
.
And if there's not, it justcannot be true.
They, like the Sadducees, denythe miraculous.
Not be true.
They, like the Sadducees, denythe miraculous.
(25:26):
But I'm just going to say it'smore illogical to believe that
there's not, you know, aspiritual realm.
I mean, come on, look at theearth, look at creation itself.
That's enough.
If you've ever watched a childbeing born, I mean it takes way
more faith to believe that thatjust happened by happenstance.
Right?
I love what.
(25:47):
I think his name is Paul Little,who wrote a book, what's it
called?
Know why you Believe.
It's a great book for highschoolers, by the way, to know
not just what you believe butwhy you should believe it.
And he says I'll never forgetthis.
In the introduction he says tobe a, a Christian, you do not
have to lose your mind.
There are historical andlogical reasons to believe in
(26:10):
the Lord, jesus Christ and Hisresurrection.
There's an overwhelming amountof evidence for that.
But the gospel does challenge.
It takes some humility.
It does challenge the intellectof the lost.
Thirdly, the gospel challengesthe, let's say, self-image or
self-righteousness of thosereligious leaders, and here's
(26:35):
what I mean by that.
Peter is preaching in verses 8through 12 to these men and he
calls out their sin.
He's like you crucified, yourMessiah, the cornerstone.
And then in verse 12, here'swhat Peter has the audacity to
say to these well-educatedtemple leaders.
Here's what he says there issalvation in no one else, for
(27:01):
there is no other name underheaven given among men which we
must be saved.
That's radical.
The religious leaders in thetemple.
They see themselves as uberspiritual, that they have on the
cloak of self-righteousness,putting themselves spiritually
(27:24):
above the quote-unquote commonJewish people.
And to assert that Jesus is theonly way of salvation is
extremely, extremely off-puttingto them.
Do you know what that impliesto them?
That they get salvation thesame way as the prostitute and
(27:48):
the drunk and the drug addictand the thief and the murderer
Boy?
That's offensive to aself-righteous person.
And you know.
The assertion that Jesus is theway, Not a way of salvation
today Is offensive tocontemporary people, westerners.
Jesus did not say I am a way tothe Father.
(28:12):
What did he say?
I am the way, the truth, thelife.
No one comes to the Father butby me.
And so that's offensive for tworeasons.
Listen to me.
Number one, when you say that,when you make that biblical
claim.
You're saying very clearlythere's not salvation in any
(28:35):
other religion, any otherreligion.
That means if you Believe inMuhammad and serve, you know the
Islamic religion, you're notsaved.
If you're a Buddhist, I don'tcare how faithful you are,
you're not saved.
If you worship the plurality ofHindu gods, I don't care how
(28:57):
faithful you are, I don't carewhat your culture is, you are
not saved.
There is one name through whichmen might be saved and that
name is Jesus Christ.
That's offensive.
It's offensive to many peopletoday.
They don't mind Jesus being away.
You know people.
Today, truth is relative right,which is the stupidest thing in
(29:19):
the world.
You do your truth.
This is my truth.
That's dumb.
Come on, I think we're gettingdumber.
I'm not joking.
So that's one reason it'soffensive.
Secondly, here's the implication, and this really flies in the
(29:41):
face of self-righteous people.
It says that you cannot be goodenough to have eternal life to
get to God.
Statistically, in America, thevast majority of people believe.
If they believe in heaven or inafterlife, you know what they
believe.
I'm going to get there by beinga good person.
(30:02):
See to receive the gospel.
This is why it's so offensiveTo receive the gospel, the good
news that through Jesus we canhave salvation.
To understand the good news, youfirst have to understand the
bad news, as Tim Keller puts it,that we are more wicked and
depraved than we could ever dareimagine.
(30:24):
We've got to get that before wecan realize that we're more
loved in Christ than we couldever dare hope.
You've got to have both sides.
See, we are called by the world.
We're charged with beingelitist or exclusive right.
(30:46):
This is the exclusive religion.
Jesus is the only way, and onone hand, that's true.
You know Christianity.
We hold to that truth.
I mean, it's fundamental thatJesus is the way of salvation,
not a way.
But I love what Tim Keller usedto talk about all the time.
He said, yes, on one handChristianity can be exclusive,
(31:07):
but listen to this.
This is so good.
He argued that, on the otherhand, that Christianity is
actually the most inclusivemajor historical religion out
there, and here's why Everyother historical religion.
You know what it says.
If you want heaven, if you wanteternal life or what have you,
(31:30):
if you want to get to God, youdo X, y, z, a, b, c, 1, 2, 3.
It's on you and if you can dothese things.
They look different in eachreligion, then you can get to
God.
You can have eternal life.
And you know what that means,boy.
That's exclusive.
Let me tell you why.
Keller argues that.
What that means is that onlythe most disciplined, only the
(31:54):
most righteous, morally uprightpeople get eternal life, get to
God.
But see, christianity isdifferent.
It's the most inclusivehistoric religion out there.
Here's what Christianity claims.
None of us are good enough, butthe ground at the foot of the
(32:15):
cross is level ground.
Come all ye broken, come all yebroken.
Come all you heavy laden, comeyou worst of sinners.
In the Bible, the prostitutecame to Jesus and fell down at
His feet.
Your sins are forgiven.
The tax collector, corrupt taxcollector Listen, if an IRS
(32:37):
agent can come to the Lord, youcan come.
You can come.
Yes, the middle class, workinggodly father needs Jesus and
gets there by the cross.
But it's not just he that getsto come to God through Jesus.
(32:59):
It's again the drug addict,it's again the prostitute.
It's again every person sittingincarcerated right now.
That's why I love prisonministry to tell them the good
news that no matter where you'vebeen, no matter what you've
done, jesus welcomes you.
He bids you to come to thecross.
(33:19):
It's the most inclusivereligion out there religion out
there but that's a challenge tosomeone's self-image.
Who they think they're good.
They have to come to terms with.
(33:42):
I'm not good enough.
So what are?
The external issue with sharingthe gospel is rejection, and
what are the consequences ofrejection?
Well, in our text you have anarrest in verse 3, imprisonment
in verse 4, threats in verse 17,and ultimately it's persecution
and death for many of the earlychurch, many who are within the
early church.
In just a few chapters overchapter 7, stephen, faithfully
(34:06):
preaching the gospel, ismartyred owing to his faith.
And today in America, I don'tthink any of you in here has
been imprisoned for your faithand hopefully that will never
happen but we do face rejection.
I'm careful to call thatpersecution because of what
(34:29):
other people are going through,but we are ostracized, we are
hated amongst many people today.
Some, even in this room, havelost your jobs because of your
Christian beliefs.
You're laughed at and I'll justsay this you might not be put
(34:53):
to death in this country foryour faith, but being rejected
in those ways I just mentioned,it's not.
That's not nothing.
As a matter of fact, psychologytoday reported that MRI studies
show that the same areas of thebrain become activated when we
experience rejection as when weexperience physical pain.
(35:13):
Rejection hurts.
We learned that from an earlyage.
So there are consequences manytimes for sharing the gospel.
There are internal challenges,external challenges that can
lead to really discomfort, ifnot death in some places.
But how are we to respond tothis?
(35:35):
Just very quickly.
Number one we respond withloyalty to the Lord, Jesus
Christ.
We take it like a champ thehurt, the pain, the ridicule,
the persecution.
We're loyal to Jesus.
Look at verses 17 through 20.
But in order that it may notspread, these are the temple
(35:55):
leaders talking no further amongthe people.
Let us warn Peter and John tospeak no more to anyone in this
name.
So they called them and chargedthem not to speak or teach at
all in the name of Jesus.
I love this, peter and John,just not to speak or teach at
all in the name of Jesus.
I love this.
Peter and John just answered tothem.
Whether it's right in the sightof God to listen to you or
rather than to God, you mustjudge.
(36:15):
For we cannot but speak, butspeak of what we have seen and
heard.
In other words, threaten us allyou want, but we're preaching
the gospel.
So I don't care if peoplelaughed at you.
I care.
It doesn't really matter howthey respond.
You keep preaching.
What if they laugh at me?
What if they reject me?
I hate that for you, but theireternity depends on you sharing
(36:42):
the gospel with them.
Can I be blunt?
Get over it.
Get over it.
Get over it.
No matter the consequences, wemust decide today.
Jesus, loss of job, whatever itis, we're going to be loyal to
you.
We're not going to hide it.
Number two we respond torejection with prayer.
(37:05):
Acts 4, 23 and 24.
When they were released, theywent to their friends and began
gossiping about the templeleaders.
Is that what it says?
They got on their phone and hada pity party, got on Facebook
and posted how horrible the youknow president of the temple is.
(37:27):
We can't wait till the nextelection.
No, they got together withtheir friends and reported what
the chief priests and elders hadsaid to them.
And when they heard it, here'swhat they did they lifted their
voices together to God.
We call that prayer.
It could have been just asinging as well, but we know
that they prayed and I want topoint your attention to what
(37:50):
they prayed first.
And now, lord, here it is.
Look upon these threats andgrant to your servants to
continue to speak your word withall boldness.
They then pray.
Stretch out your hand to heal.
Signs and wonders are performedthrough the name of your
servant, jesus.
In other words, back us up,lord, show others that this is
(38:12):
real.
But the first thing they ask isLord.
They don't ask Lord, take usout of this.
Let them be nicer, lord, sickthem.
Lord.
Some of y'all prayed that.
I know I might have prayed thata time or two in my life About
some of you.
No, I'm just joking, that was ajoke.
Not here.
(38:33):
Yeah, other churches, but nothere.
No, really they pray.
God, give us boldness.
Let us not worry about ourlives, just give us boldness.
Let me say this, this is worthwriting down God cares way more
(38:54):
about reaching the lost than hedoes our comfort.
God cares way more aboutreaching the lost than our
comfort.
In closing, the great news ofthis text is that persecution.
(39:18):
What we learn is thatpersecution will never nullify
the success of the gospel.
All this is happening 2,000 menplus women and children get
saved.
Bring it devil, bring itatheists.
You're not going to stop thegospel, because it's Christ who
(39:40):
builds His church.
Even the gates of hell shallnot prevail against us.
So here's what I want to leaveyou with today, just a kind of
to do All right.
So give me just a couple moreminutes here.
Number one I want you, alongwith me, to pray daily for
(40:01):
boldness.
I know it's scary, but I wouldlove this week for you to share
Jesus with somebody.
You don't know how to do this.
We'll help you.
Come see one of our pastors.
It's your job.
Pray for boldness.
But here's the other thing Iwant you to do, and this is
important I want you to rememberyour persecuted brothers and
(40:25):
sisters.
We tend to forget that there arebrothers and sisters in Christ
throughout the world that areexperiencing what the first
century church experienced OtherNero and other emperors.
On February, the 13th of thisyear in the Congo, islamic
terrorists brutally beheaded 70Christians with machetes and
(40:47):
large knives.
Did you hear that If you arediscovered to be a Christian in
North Korea, you'll likely bekilled on the spot?
In Somalia, al-shabaab, aviolent Islamist terrorist or
(41:07):
militant group, often killSomali Christians on the spot,
wishing to eradicateChristianity.
It's happening today, and wecould go on and on.
Listen, this is a report fromthe Open Doors website.
Let's sit with this for amoment.
380 million Christians that weknow of around the world suffer
(41:32):
extreme persecution 380 millionof our brothers and sisters this
morning.
7,679 churches and publicChristian properties were
attacked last year that we knowof.
4,476 Christians were murderedthat we know of for their faith
(41:57):
last year.
So I want to just compel you toremember and pray for your
persecuted brothers and sisters.
We're part of the family of God, and so I'm going to invite you
to an event that we're having.
I know this isn't a normalaltar call, but that's okay,
(42:22):
because the point of this eventis to raise our understanding
and awareness of what Christiansare going through in other
parts of the world.
So we did this last year.
This is a live stream event puton by David Platt, and it's
called Secret Church, and we'regoing to meet here at the church
for a live stream event onApril, the 11th, at 7 pm, and
(42:46):
we're going to pray and studyinto the night.
Well, why Friday at 7?
I like to be in bed by 9o'clock.
Anybody else?
All right, come on, but I'll behere, god willing.
And here's why the point of thisis to remember that our
brothers and sisters all overthe world have to come together
in secret, at weird times, allhours of the night, just to
(43:09):
worship together.
They could never do what we'redoing today.
So we're going to study God'sword and we're going to pray for
our persecuted brothers andsisters.
So if you want to do that,there is a cost to it.
It doesn't go to us None of themoney.
You're going to get a book, butyou can sign up.
You can get more information atthe welcome table, yes, or you
can look on the church app.
(43:31):
There's a link that you can getyour tickets.
It's about $25 right now.
It goes up the closer it getsto the event.
I want to encourage you todayto sign up.
So, no matter the challenges,here's what I pray that the
people of real life willcontinue to preach the gospel
with boldness.
And may God change Richmondwith the good news of Jesus
(43:54):
Christ.
Let's pray God how we love you,how we thank you for the gospel
, the good news.
We thank you for Jesus, theonly means of our salvation.
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