Books of the Book: Acts

Rejoicing and Trial

Three Angels Broadcasting Network

Program transcript

Participants: Jim & Mark Howard

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Series Code: ABOTB

Program Code: ABOTB00009B


00:01 Welcome back to "Books of the Book."
00:03 Before our break, Mark,
00:04 we were taking a look here in Acts 5.
00:09 And we'd just read this amazing statement that the counsel
00:14 and specifically the high priest said in verse 28.
00:18 The high priest says,
00:20 "Did we not strictly command you not to teach this name."
00:24 As they have all authority over the apostles.
00:26 Exactly, and it seems interesting to me that
00:30 they felt that because of that position of high priest,
00:35 because of their authority
00:37 as counsel members and rulers of the people that
00:40 that position itself gave them
00:43 all of the authority that they needed.
00:45 Over the consciences of men. Exactly.
00:47 Exactly, and we see that we have to be very careful
00:51 not to ever feel that position
00:53 in it of itself is what provides authority.
00:55 We should respect position. That's right.
00:58 And I believe that the apostles did respect position,
01:00 but when that position
01:02 contradicted with the Word of God
01:05 and the clear will of God, their answer was quite clear.
01:09 In verse 29, we pick up and it says,
01:12 "But Peter and the other apostles answered and said,
01:14 We ought to obey God rather than men."
01:18 Now, this is another bold statement.
01:20 What's bold about it is, is evidently,
01:23 he's saying "Did we not strictly command you." Right.
01:25 And he's saying, "Well, shall we obey your command
01:28 or shall we obey the command of God."
01:30 And that's pretty much saying
01:32 that you're very contrary to what God is saying.
01:34 That's right, and to the Jews,
01:36 the high priest was the voice of God.
01:38 That's right. And so to call that high priest
01:40 not the voice of God was serious at time?
01:42 That's right.
01:43 But it does make very clear that because of the clarity
01:47 and distinction between what the high priest was saying
01:49 and the clear will of God.
01:51 The apostles were free to obey God
01:54 and contradict what the high priest
01:56 was saying and commanding.
01:58 Now they could have stopped right there.
02:00 But you know, they had the floor,
02:02 so they might as well give the gospel again.
02:04 So in verse 30, continue and say,
02:07 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus
02:10 whom you murdered by hanging on a tree."
02:12 And so they started right here
02:14 and they once again placed the guilt
02:17 back on these religious leaders,
02:19 helped them once more to recognize.
02:20 They were trying to- the high priest was saying,
02:23 "You're trying to put this man's blood upon us?"
02:25 And instead of backing down from that
02:27 hey simply say, "Yes, you are the ones who murdered,"
02:30 bringing it right back to them.
02:32 And the whole reason for that was so that they could do
02:35 what they did in the very next verse.
02:36 Verse 31, "Him, God exalted to His right hand
02:41 to be Prince and a Savior." Isn't that wonderful.
02:46 "Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel."
02:50 The same Israel that you are guardians of us
02:53 as high priest and leaders.
02:55 "And forgiveness of sins."
02:57 Here's that hope again
02:59 that Peter and the apostles always connected
03:01 with their clear, honest denunciations in many cases.
03:04 That hope of forgiveness of sins.
03:07 And then verse 32 says,
03:09 "And we are His witnesses to these things,
03:11 and so also is the Holy Spirit
03:13 whom God has given to those who obey Him."
03:16 Now, there's a couple of aspects,
03:18 it's almost the elements of salvation
03:20 and it's very short little statement.
03:22 It says "That God exalted Jesus to be Prince and Savior
03:26 to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins."
03:30 Now I have to comment on this,
03:31 because you know, we recognize
03:33 that God gives us the gift of forgiveness.
03:37 But too often we view the gift of repentance
03:39 as something that is our part and forgiveness is God's part.
03:43 But according to this passage
03:45 'repentance' which is that desire of the heart
03:50 and that ultimate turning away
03:52 from the things of my own selfish heart
03:54 and things of this world to the things of God.
03:57 And sorrow for sin.
03:58 That's right. Heartfelt.
04:00 The heartfelt conviction and sorrow for sin
04:01 and that turning back to do what's right.
04:04 The only way that can enter into my attitude
04:08 is through the power of God.
04:09 I can't manufacture that.
04:12 And so it's not a situation
04:14 where we have to clean ourselves up.
04:16 and then we come and God will forgive us.
04:18 You know I remember, when I was young,
04:20 we were young together at home.
04:22 And every once in a while
04:26 things would get really crazy and mom would-
04:28 well she'd have a maid come
04:31 and just to do a little cleaning, you know.
04:34 And I remember a couple of times
04:37 right before the maid came mom was so busy.
04:41 She was going around, picking up doing all these things.
04:44 You know, she is working all day,
04:46 she is doing, you know, she is so busy.
04:48 She can't possibly get to it all but now all of a sudden,
04:50 she's going you know, very intensely
04:52 and I said, "Mom what are you doing?"
04:54 She said, "Well, the maid is coming."
04:56 And it seems strange to me.
04:58 That we would clean up before the maid came.
05:00 But that's exactly what people do.
05:01 They feel like they've got to clean up.
05:03 They've got to stir up that desire.
05:06 Friends, we cannot have
05:08 an interest and hunger for spiritual things
05:10 and genuine spiritual desire unless we first come to Jesus.
05:14 And then Jesus gives us
05:16 that conviction, that gift of repentance.
05:19 And then that leads
05:20 to the beautiful experience of forgiveness.
05:23 And then it doesn't end there
05:24 because after we receive that forgiveness.
05:26 It says, we become witnesses immediately,
05:31 so every Christian is a witness.
05:33 And we receive the Holy Spirit
05:35 which God gives to those who obey him. Obey him.
05:38 It reminds me of John 14:15 where Jesus said
05:42 "If you love Me, keep My commandments,
05:45 and I will pray the Father,
05:46 and He will send you another helper."
05:49 That's right. "The Holy Spirit."
05:50 So when we make the commitment to follow God.
05:53 He then gives the Holy Spirit in a fuller way
05:57 than the Holy Spirit was in our life
05:59 before bringing conviction to us.
06:01 But we received the Holy Spirit in a fuller way
06:03 when we make a commitment to follow him.
06:05 And that's what said here.
06:06 The only way the Holy Spirit
06:08 is going to fall on the church today in marked measure
06:11 is if we are surrendered to obedience to God.
06:15 That's right, and I think that's an important point there, Jim,
06:17 that we were talking about surrender or commitment.
06:19 Sometimes we read obedient and get the same thing.
06:21 Those who obey Him,
06:23 oh, I've got to start obeying and clean my act up.
06:25 But obedience is lot more about our attitude, our commitment.
06:29 And in this particular case those who have-
06:31 who choose to follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit.
06:35 We'll receive the power of the Holy Spirit.
06:36 We'll receive the power to follow through.
06:38 And not only they'll receive the repentance
06:41 that's true sorrow for sin
06:43 and the power to follow through in your decisions. Amen.
06:45 Yeah, so that is very powerful.
06:47 Now, it's interesting that once again
06:50 what we see is an opportunity for repentance here.
06:54 An opportunity for the Jewish leaders to respond
06:57 and they do respond, but it says in verse 33.
06:59 "When they heard this, they were furious
07:03 and plotted to kill them." Wow.
07:07 And so you know, repeatedly we're finding this
07:10 in the apostles this was a-
07:12 this was kind of a dangerous job.
07:14 Right, it was a risky business preaching the gospel.
07:17 And it says that they were furious.
07:20 Now, my Bible has a marginal reading,
07:21 they were cut to the quick.
07:24 Once again, this is a word the Bible is using to taught,
07:26 to explain the conviction of the Holy Spirit.
07:28 They were convicted,
07:29 but it's really important for us to understand.
07:31 I guess, sometimes people get the idea
07:34 that if I'm convicted by the Holy Spirit.
07:36 Well, it's a Holy Spirit and he reaches through
07:37 and actually he's able to convict me.
07:39 Then that's all that's needed,
07:41 I'll automatically make the right decision,
07:43 but the Holy Spirit never forces us.
07:45 God never forces our decision.
07:47 He brings the conviction and leaves the decision to us.
07:50 And as a Holy Spirit brings conviction
07:52 and urges them to make the right decision,
07:53 we see that their response is far from a positive one.
07:58 They are- they are cut to the quick,
08:00 but they respond by wanting to kill the apostle,
08:02 silence the message.
08:04 And we have to be ever so careful.
08:06 You know, in on two notes here.
08:09 When we feel conviction
08:10 sometimes we feel something that makes us angry.
08:13 We can assume that the preacher must have said it wrong,
08:16 because it made me mad
08:18 and I don't think anybody ever got mad at Jesus.
08:20 Well, that's not true at all. That's right.
08:22 And if we look at scripture,
08:23 that very well may be my heart responding
08:26 to the Holy Spirit's conviction- In a wrong way.
08:29 In a wrong way. Negative way.
08:30 And so I need to be aware of that.
08:32 The other thing is when we are sharing the truth with others.
08:34 It's so common for us when I-
08:38 we share with a friend or a loved one
08:40 and they get upset or angry or hurt.
08:43 Like the rich young ruler went away sorrowful,
08:46 we assume that we must have done something wrong.
08:49 But it may very well be that we allow the Lord to use us
08:51 and something right happened.
08:53 And the conviction
08:54 of the Holy Spirit has come upon them.
08:56 So we need to recognize that,
08:57 when we're looking at conviction. That's Right.
08:58 Now, right here in this passage right after it says,
09:01 they're furious and they plotted to kill them.
09:05 Fortunately, as we keep reading,
09:06 there is a voice of reason there in the council
09:09 because a Pharisee named Gamaliel it says in verse 34.
09:14 A teacher of the law held in respect by all the people,
09:18 commanded them to put the apostles
09:19 outside for a little while.
09:21 And then he began to talk to the people.
09:23 He essentially said, you know,
09:25 we've had this kind of thing happened before,
09:27 where different ones have risen up and claims to,
09:30 you know, have the truth
09:32 and be able to lead us down the right path.
09:34 And they start a little uprising
09:35 and then it died out and nothing worked out.
09:38 And we need to be careful
09:40 and he makes that point very clear in verse 38.
09:43 "And now I say to you
09:45 keep away from these men and let them alone
09:47 for if this plan or this work is of men
09:50 it will come to nothing.
09:52 But if it is of God you cannot over throw it.
09:56 Lest you even be found to fight against God."
09:59 And I don't know exactly where Gamaliel went
10:02 in terms of how he responded to this.
10:04 But I can say that this particular response
10:08 was a helpful response for the apostle sake.
10:11 And I believe that God was orchestrating this
10:14 in order to preserve them to carry the gospel further.
10:17 That's right. And as we read this.
10:18 I can't help to think, you know, we need to be careful not to,
10:23 too quickly approve something that perhaps God has condemned.
10:29 Or too quickly condemn something
10:31 for fear that God may have approved it. That's right.
10:34 We need to be thoughtful
10:35 and make sure that it agrees with scripture.
10:37 Yeah, sometimes we got to let
10:38 both grow together until the harvest.
10:39 That's right, the wheat and the tares.
10:42 And so yeah, he gives very good counsel there
10:44 and unfortunately for the apostles
10:46 it says in verse 40
10:48 "And they agreed with him
10:49 and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them.
10:53 They commanded that they should not speak
10:55 in the name of Jesus and let them go.
10:58 So they departed from the presence of the council,
11:02 rejoicing that they were counted worthy to escape."
11:05 No, it didn't say that, does it?
11:08 "They were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name.
11:11 And they daily in temple, and in every house,
11:13 they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus Christ."
11:15 So it's interesting here that you know,
11:18 sometimes we look at the deliverances.
11:20 Amidst, you look at the mighty miracles
11:22 and say, wow, that we want to be apostles,
11:24 but we don't take into accounts sometimes
11:26 that in the midst of it all,
11:27 God still allowed them to suffer. That's right.
11:29 And sometimes severely, they were beaten
11:31 and it's interesting that when they get out.
11:33 I mean they rejoice and we may say,
11:35 well, of course, they rejoiced, that they would let go.
11:37 No, they rejoiced,
11:38 that they were counted worthy to suffer.
11:40 And I think of statements and scripture
11:41 and the scripture is full of them,
11:43 then James says in his letter.
11:46 In James 1:2-3, "My brother encountered all joy
11:51 when you fall into various trials
11:52 because these trials produce your character."
11:56 They refine your character
11:57 and there're so many places in scriptures
11:59 they'll speak to us
12:00 of how trials are part of God's refining process
12:04 and we ought to rejoice
12:06 that we are found worthy to suffer for Jesus.
12:09 He will never let the suffering be more than we can bear.
12:11 It's always for our good. That's right.
12:13 And another thing about this particular suffering
12:16 after they beat them
12:17 and they talked about being counted worthy.
12:19 Notice what it says,
12:20 "They were counted worthy to suffer shame." Shame.
12:24 Shame, so it wasn't just that they suffered physical lashes,
12:29 but they suffered shame.
12:31 They were not well respected.
12:32 They lost their credibility, they lost their approval of man.
12:37 They lost their reputation.
12:39 And sometimes we seem to think that,
12:41 you know, we should be able to have both worlds.
12:44 Be an active godly Christian and at the same time
12:47 be looked upon, loved by the world.
12:50 And that's simply not the case.
12:52 They were counted worthy to suffer shame
12:54 and they rejoiced in that fact.
12:56 You look at verse 42 and it really is amazing,
12:59 it says, "And daily in the temple,
13:01 and in every house, they did not cease teaching
13:04 and preaching Jesus as the Christ."
13:07 So despite all the suffering it only stirred them to do more.
13:11 Sometimes we think that well, when things get hard.
13:13 When people get discouraged is because people are,
13:16 you know, giving them opposition.
13:18 More often than not, the reason people stop working
13:20 for the Lord is not because of opposition,
13:23 but it's because of complacency and prosperity.
13:26 They found that, that persecution
13:28 God allowed it to keep them pure
13:30 and they actually built in character
13:32 and were stronger for God as we saw.
13:34 Well, we've run out of time once again.
13:37 But we invite you back next time for "Books of the Book"
13:40 where we'll dive back in to the Book of Acts.


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Revised 2014-12-17