"Obeying God Rather Than Men" (Acts 5:17-42)

well turning your Bibles to Acts chapter 5 we're continuing our study of course of the book of Acts it's the history of the church first century we're moving to chapter 5 and the persecution has begun and it's gonna get stronger and stronger and you know we talked about this about neck I think if we put the slide we've talked about how problems have come upon the church sometimes there's problems within we saw that with the two believers have they lied in and they died and then there's gonna be problems without the religious leaders arrest the Apostles and we see that that's the way it is sometimes their problems are problems within and without believers and here's the thing usually when they're problems without that makes the church stronger usually when they're problems within that usually divides the church and destroys the church this morning we see the Apostles defense for a second time before the Sanhedrin and we're going to focus on the rest of their offense and the results how do they react what do they do I think there's a lot let me raise some questions just to think about why would the Apostles arrested how did the Apostles get out of prison who is Gamay Oh and what did he suggest and how did the Apostles react to this event I think there's some things there that we could apply in our lives as we look at the idea of standing for Jesus Christ in a fallen world well let me start with this by about just mentioning angels I mean who are they what do they do you know they're very powerful beings in fact human beings are fascinated with angels I can remember this goes all the way back to 1995 but I remember going on campus at OSU and going into the bookstore and they had their like the top 40 books actually they had the list of the top 20 books but in that list six of those books dealt with angels and when you start talking to people and say about angels people are interested in supernatural things that interested angels and so we could say well who are angels what do they do well this morning we're gonna see an angel an angel comes and lets them out of prison hebrews chapter 1 verse 14 says that angels are ministering spirits sent by god to minister to those to the believers and so today as we look at this we'll see angels we'll see what these men do with our apostles what the Apostles do and then how we can apply it in our lives let me give you a brief review as we begin it's the beginning of the church believers have been standing for Christ Peter has stood before a large crowd and proclaim the death and resurrection of Christ 3,000 people believed later on and everything happened a Greek crowd came again he proclaimed the death and resurrection of Christ five thousand men believe not just when didn't even count the women children just the men as we move into chapter five we see some problems develop both within without of the church we saw in the first 17 basic the first sixteen verses of this chapter we saw a problem from within a couple of the believers but basically sold some property took part of the money and gave it to the church but what they told was this was all of the money they basically lied they lied to God they lied to apostles but because they lied to God they died it was a problem within the body and it was handled very quickly as we look at this passage this morning beginning at verse 17 there's a problem outside the body from people from without or coming in let me give you the outline of the passage we're gonna see the Apostles going to be arrested we're gonna see the angel delivers them we see the trial of the defense and then we see the Sanhedrin is response to this whole thing and you know it's a long passage so we'll go fairly quickly through it we seek omegle stands up and talks and we see the results of the whole thing now try to remember this and this is a key problem from outside almost never hurt the church in fact it makes it stronger problems from within destroy the church break the unity and the testimony of the believers so remember that as we go through this that's why I think that this problem within the church in chapter 5 verses 1 through 16 was handled so quickly because in that early church that was great division and unity in love and so we'll see that well let's see what happens this morning end and after after Ananias and Sapphira died you remember people went whoa we're not gonna try to be apostles that's for sure we'll there are great people but we're not going to get involved with them but what we found out is people we're believing all over the place there were people trust in Christ all over the place the apostles were doing signs and miracles if you look at chapter 4 verse 14 it says and all the more believers in the Lord multitudes of men and women were constantly added to the number some more and more people are believing so when you see this first century there's just all kind of people trusting in Christ and the believers the numbers the believers are getting bigger and bigger and bigger in fact we're gonna see when we get to next week there's a problem because the church is getting bigger and bigger and bigger and we'll see what happens well look what happens now the apostles are proclaiming the truth and the religious leaders don't like it look at verse 17 but the high priest rose up along with his associates that is the sect of the Sadducees and they were filled with jealousy remember most of the high priests were of the sect of the Sadducees you remember that were the Pharisees the Sadducees that with the essence there are Herodians there were all different groups of people the Pharisees were the ones that basically said they were the legal estates that we keep all the laws and all the rules or rituals the Santa si said oh we believe the Bible and everything but we don't we don't believe the supernatural things we don't believe in angels we don't believe in resurrection and these these people or the priests and they were the leaders now you remember that Peter is proclaiming Jesus Christ died and what rose again they're proclaiming resurrection that makes these high priests the Sadducees really angry because they don't believe in resurrection and so look what happens it says that then the high priest rose up along with his associates that is the sect of the Sadducees and they were filled with jealousy now at this point we don't know whether the high priest has anise or Caiaphas because they both sometimes called high priests and and these legacies did more anything supernatural resurrection so it says they were filled with jealousy why are they jealous think about this why are they jealous well because the Apostles are teaching about resurrection and they don't believe in resurrection the people are listening to the Apostles not listening to the priests priests are jealous about that and then they were afraid they would lose their authority and control over the people so they're saying this is bad news these people aren't they're talking about resurrection we don't believe in resurrection these people all the people who listen these people they need to be listening to us if we're not careful people are going to turn away from us and the Apostles are gonna have all the the people following them so here's what they decided to do they went out in verse 18 they laid hands on the Apostles and put them in a public jail by the way public jail was really a horrible place that I think they did it in a public jail so that everyone could see that the Apostles got arrested it wasn't just Peter it was all the Apostles were arrested and put in a public jail here's what they figure okay we killed Jesus okay that should have stopped it it didn't stop it these people are doing stuff we got to get these leaders if we can get these leaders we can stop this whole thing look at verse 19 but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the gates of the prison and taking them out said to them go stay and speaking to the people in the temple the whole message of life in in the night an angel came and got them out of prison now God sends one of his ministering spirits there sent of course they're given to serve men and to serve God and let's talk about angels for just a second angels are very very powerful beings if an angel appeared in here we would probably all bow down because there's such powerful beings one angel in the Old Testament killed 185 thousand Assyrian troops one angel and when you think about angels we always say okay there's good angels and bad angels we think of angels who who follow God and live for him and that's current we call those good angels or elect angels and then there's angels that have rebelled with Satan and we call those demons that's what we mostly say and so there's two different groups of angels this is a good angel this angel was sent by God to let them out of prison when you think about angels I mean there's an angel called Gabriel he's the messenger angel there's Michael who's called the Archangel there's an angel Lucifer who is actually the devil so that's at least three angel names that we know during the night angel came open the gates of the prison and took them out no let me just what about the other prisoners and what about the guards and what about the locks somehow the angel came and just opened all the doors put everybody in like a stupor or asleep or something pull them out shut the door and said and here's what I want you to do verse 20 look what he says go stand and speak to the whole people in the temple let's go speak to the people in the whole message of this life and they tell him to do this go stand and speak in the temple that's what they had been doing they'd go to a temple every day at Solomon's portico and they would stand up and they would proclaim about Jesus Christ he says go do that go to the temple and notice what he says speak the whole message of this life see the message that they're proclaiming and the message that we proclaim is a message of life see Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life he is the resurrection and the life whoever believes in Him will never perish but have eternal life over and over the message that we proclaim is the message of life first John 5 11 through 13 he who has the son has life who does not have the Son of God does not have life these are not written to you that you might believe in the name of the Son of God that you may know you have eternal life so if you have the son you have life they're proclaiming a message of life see we come into this world what did in trespasses and sins were spiritually dead we're in darkness when we trust in Jesus Christ as Savior he gives us life eternal life so it's so powerful and so when we see this he says the angel actually tells them you go and you speak the whole message of this life when we go out these doors our message it's not that Jesus I'll make you have a happy life our message is that Jesus gives you eternal life go and tell notice the angel Lord is telling them the exact opposite message of the religious leaders religious leaders that don't talk about Jesus they say go telling everybody about this life this is what we're to do we go out this door these doors we go into the campus go in this community we go in our neighborhoods we're going with a message that brings life so amazing well what happens upon hearing this they interview the temple about daybreak and begin to teach they did exactly what they were supposed to do when it became morning they went into the temple really early in the morning as you know they there was a guy that would one of the priests would stand at the top of the temple and he would wait ahead a trumpet and as soon as he saw the Sun break the the horizon he would blow a trumpet they would open the temple gate doors and people would come in as soon as the doors were open the Apostles came right back into the temple went to Solomon's portico and began to proclaim the message it says they begin to teach and the way it's written in the Greek it's like they kept one going they kept one go when they kept on teaching they did exactly what they're supposed to do by the way that's exactly what we're supposed to do we're supposed to do whatever God tells us to do well watch what happens now then when the high priests this is deal verse 21 now when the high priests and the associates came they called the council together even all the Senate of the sons of Israel and sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought now we've talked about this before but the ruling body of Israel because the Sanhedrin it had 70 people the high priest was one of the seventy there were 69 other men and they were the religious leaders many of them were Sadducees most of them were Pharisees but the Sadducees controlled everything and so they were going to bring the Senate together as they called it they're going to bring the Sanhedrin together and their plan was to go bring those guys they got in jail bring them back and tell them we've told you you can't talk about just Jesus anymore so they they sent for them but look at verse 22 but the officers who came to not find them in the prison and they returning reported back saying we found the prison door lock quite securely and the guard standing at the doors but when we opened up we found nobody inside they said go get those guys and bring them back here I'll sudden they come back and they look at everything we're the people they said well we went to the place the doors were locked the guards were there we opened it all up they weren't in there you can just send on what do you mean they went in there they went in there they want anybody in there the Apostles you arrested yesterday and put in there with the guards they weren't in there no they weren't in there how is that that's impossible no me tell you what the Sadducees thought they said this sounds like something supernatural but we don't believe in Supernatural right so we can't say this must be some supernatural thing we don't know what's going on and notice what happened verse 23 again we found the prison white securely and the guards are standing at the doors but we opened up we saw nobody inside then the captain of the temple guard and the chief priest heard these words they were greatly perplexed about them as what would come of this they're saying I don't know what's going to happen here because this makes us look bad and when we arrested these guys threw him in jail the plan was to bring him out this morning and soon we go back and we can't find them just makes us look really bad and we really want to look really good because that's the plan or watch but someone right in the middle of all this someone came and reported to them the man whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people a guy comes in and says you know those guys don't put in jail they're in the temple I mean we just went by the temple there's a whole bunch of them they're out there in the temple doing what they've been doing every day the guys you put in jail or in temple how could this be when we had them into jail and then they're right back doing the thing we tried to stop them to do let me just tell you something nothing can stop the work of the Lord nothing God's plans and purposes accomplish nothing it's not done man Hank Tom geo all they want to gods good god it can do is gonna get his word out this plan is to use us to go into this community with the message nothing can stop Dawn's plan nothing can stop the church the gates of Hell cannot work cannot prevail against it listen God's God's message is gonna get out we're gonna take this message we're gonna take it to the whole world and nothing could stop it well look what happened then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence but they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned the captain kept under the temple guard remember we talked about this several weeks ago that was the high priest and he was over everything and then usually there was another person who would be the next priest there was a guy called the captain of the temple and he he decided everything that happened in the temple that day oftentimes now remember this is not biblical because by the time this happened the Romans decided who would be the high priest not biblically biblically was supposed to be a descendant of Aaron and the oldest son after that well they weren't doing that anymore so this this temple this captain of the temple he most likely he most likely might be the next time priest he's very important man second only to the VIII high priest and so he went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence for they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned so he decides he says listen I will go into the temple and get these men so here they go these important religious men and they go when they find Peter and James and they said you guys got to stop and we want you to come before the Sanhedrin you know what the Apostles do they don't put up a fuss they said okay welcome they had to be really carefully they said they were afraid that the people might that they might be stoned see they were afraid because the Apostles have becoming well-liked by the people everybody's liking him why well look at this why were they so white well first of all they'd done miracles remembering we already saw in this passage and they had done some miracles and that people were getting healed and people were bringing people outside Jerusalem bringing in the apartment they were all being healed and so everybody says these are good people look what happened this person was very sick and now they're not sick this must be from God they second they have authority they spoke the Word of God see the authority is the Word of God and they were speaking it and third they worse the people were sick of religious traditions and legalism listen all you need to just put yourself under legalism it will not take long for you to go I hate to stuff this stuff is ridiculous where did all these rules come from what is what is all this this doesn't seem like what it's supposed to be by this time the average person they despised the Pharisees and the Sadducees and they were so sick of all the rules and the things and apostles weren't even talking about rules they were talking about grace they were talking about Jesus Christ they were talking about eternal life they were talking about living forever and so people are saying we like these guys and so when they the captain and the officers came they took it very carefully because they knew that the people were really angry with them let's talk for a second because what you see on one hand is religion and what you see on the other hand is what I call true Christianity see religion is me and trying to do something to please God it's always works Christianity is God pleasing God and I'm talking about biblical Christianity see religion as always goes back to two works it always goes back to works where Christianity goes back to faith and so when you think of religion you think of people trying to do something just think of the religions in the world you know some people have to pray seven times a day some people have to make this trip they have to do this they have to do this they have to be willing to do this after humble when you turn to Christianity it's not what you do that saves you it's you take the gift of eternal life which comes from Jesus Christ who's done at all he died on the cross he paid for sin he rose again he gives you eternal life so there's a big difference between religion and Christianity so a lot of people say hey are you religious I go I'm not religious at all now I've trusted in Jesus Christ as Savior I'm a Christian now I know that the world takes Christianity and calls it a religion we know that but if you look at it biblically religion is man trying to do something to get to God Christianity is God pleasing God God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son well look what happened when they brought them they stood them before the council the high priest questioned them saying we gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name and yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us have you noticed that they won't use the name Jesus it won't say Jesus name they brought them before the council they stood them there and the high priest began to question them and here's what he said we gave you strict orders not to continue in this name one name in the name of Jesus see the name of Jesus is the name the name that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and they said you feel Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man not Jesus this man's blood upon us let me just say something about the name Jesus Christ you can go anywhere you want to and talk to all kind of people and all you have to say is God and everybody's happy oh I love God don't you love God I love God everybody loves God then you say Jesus is the way the truth and the life Jesus the Christ is the savior and you can make a whole bunch of people man you can go in any religious organization a whole bunch of religious people and you say God over and over and everybody's on your side you say Jesus and them alone you got a whole bunch of people mad at you these religious leaders won't even say the name Jesus because he's the way the truth and the life and he is the name given among there's no other name given under heaven among men whereby we might be saved except the name Jesus Christ look what it says they said you you you and you are your teaching you feel Jerusalem with your teaching and you attend to bring this man's blood upon us he's saying you're blaming us for his death so they were upset because they were teaching death and resurrection and they were blaming them for the death see they said you're trying to tell their buddy we killed him the truth is they did they did religiously just turned them over to the Romans or wrong is putting to death and then they don't they don't want to say they did it and so notice what it says we gave you strict orders not to teach in this name and we've told and you rusyn will you're teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us you notice they never said how did y'all get out of that thing because they knew is something supernatural they knew it was something miraculous they're not gonna say how did y'all get out and say angels oh but y'all don't believe in angels I'm sorry see so they never even ask how they got out they met they're afraid to ask it now I want you to see what Peter does because they says the Apostles speak but Peters the one answered says Peter and the Apostles answered Peter's probably the leader you realize not too long ago Peter was afraid in front of a servant-girl he was afraid to say he believed in Jesus and then after the death of Anna's direction of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit he stands up and he is publicly declaring over and over and over the truths of Jesus Christ so like look what he does here but Peter and the Apostles answered here's the simple answer we must obey God rather than men Peter's answer is we must do what God tells us to do rather than what min tells to do men that said don't speak the name of Jesus don't talk about Jesus don't tell that and they said no no we got to do what God told us to do Jesus had already told us you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem Judea Samaria almost further earth we've already been told that were to make disciples go in into the world baptizing people putting them in leading them to Christ identifying the Christ and then teaching them we know what we're supposed to do he says we have a commission it's to make disciples proclaiming Christ and training believers that's the same commission we have in it only supposed to do this that same thing the Apostles did they're going in a community and telling people about Jesus Christ and he died and rose again it's a heavy turn and if they trust him they have eternal life and the plan is to make disciples leading people to Christ and training equipment we go into this community with the exact same message that Jesus died and rose again whoever believes in them has eternal life our goal is to lead people to Christ and train and equip them let's make disciples same thing look what he goes on to say the god of Our Fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death by hanging him on a cross once again it's the same message the death and resurrection of Christ and he puts it backwards this time he says God raised up Jesus who you died who you killed that's the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ and just remember the central focus of every message in the book of Acts is the death and resurrection every time you watch it as we go through it so far we've seen every message and every message so far has said the central point the death and resurrection of Christ we're gonna see it our way through the whole book that tells us something that the message that we proclaim in this community is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and that all who believe in Him will have eternal life so Peter says we got to obey God rather than man the god of Our Fathers raised up Jesus who you put to death you put him on the cross you killed him and then he says these words he is the one whom God exalted to his right hand as a prince and a saviour to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins he's the one where's Jesus right now Peter says he seeth the right hands the throne of the Father he's the one that God has exalted see the bottom line is Jesus Christ left the glories of heaven became a human being humbled himself to be obedient to death even the death of the Cross whom God has highly exhausted and raised him up and seated him in heavenly places as Philippians chapter 2 verses 5 through 11 that's the truth Peter is saying that God has exalted Jesus to the right hand of the Father he is the Savior he humbled himself he died he rose again Wow and he comes he says he's one guy he's all the right hand to grant him as and he really causing two different things he calls him I think Prince and Savior look for first ball he calls him Prince he is the Prince the word Prince there means the leader it means the the one who makes it happen so he's the one that makes it happen he's also the savior and I mean that's key because that's what his name means the name Jesus means Savior John Matthew 1:21 you shall call his name Jesus he shall save his people from their sins he is the savior and the Prince and so he says he is the one that God is exalted as Prince Savior to grant notice repentance tears were a forgiveness of sins whenever he deals with Israel as a whole he always talks about repentance because repent means to change your mind I think I've got it up there did they needed to change their mind see they looked at Jesus as as as something wrong and they needed to understand that Jesus was the son of God the Savior and they needed to change their mind and put their faith in Christ and so he says to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins forgiveness of sins comes by faith it's always that way Jesus died and rose again and and all who changed their mind is they in this passage if they believe in him they will have forgiveness of sin and through the scripture you see that whenever people believe in Christ they get righteousness they get forgiveness and they get eternal life over and over that's what we see that comes by faith and that's what we have to do we clearly go into this community with this simple message Jesus died and rose again you believe in him you have life you believe in him you have forgiveness you believe any of your righteousness it all comes by faith look what he says and we're witness of these things and so was the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him he says we're witnesses of all this we're witnesses of who Jesus is how he died have it rose again has a sin to the right hand of the Father how is the one that gives eternal life we're witnesses this and so is the Holy Spirit he's proclaiming that the Holy Spirit's involved in all this as well and then when he says and who there's no spirit given to those who obey Him the word obey there has the idea of believing in him he says those who obey Him believe him believe him hell he says this is the will of God that you should believe in the one who has sin and so you get the Holy Spirit when you believe in Jesus Christ and that's what he's saying now watch what if what if you had been there and you won these religious leaders first of all you don't like the Apostles they're taking your place you you look bad they're blaming you for the death of this Jesus you don't like any of these things that are happening people are following these guys and and every time you turn around they're doing something miraculous and you're beginning to be worried about them and now they've told you again Jesus died and rose again you're the ones that killed him gods behind all of this the god of Our Fathers is the one who sent Jesus it's all in God's plan Jesus is the Savior and anybody will believe in him left forgetting us of sins what's their response when the message of Jesus Christ is proclaimed to people when we go out these doors and we have an opportunity to proclaim the message of Christ there's going to be one of two responses either people are going to believe that kind of trust in Jesus Christ as Savior are they gonna reject then this passage the religious leaders reject look what they do when they heard this they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them the word cut to the quick means to be enraged today they they are they were they were so angry let me tell you something they are ready to take these men out and stone them to kill them that's their plan in fact all they have to do just give another five minutes and it's over they're gonna grab the Apostles bring them out and kill every one of them but something stops it now you're gonna see a little bit later when you get to chapter 6 and chapter 7 there's gonna be a man named Stephen stands before these same people they get mad again but nobody stops them and they take him out and they kill him so this is just a view of something to come so look what happens when they heard this they were they were cut to the quick and they intended to kill them they said we're going to kill these people these religious leaders are angry they wanted to kill and right in the middle of this a man stands up and if you're thinking of this from a human standpoint the Apostles would say I'm sure glad that guy stood up but God's in control there's a man his name is Gayle he's a famous teacher in fact in this day in time he is the most famous teacher in all of Israel he throughout all of the history of the nation of Israel they have all these rabbis on these teachers they're only seven rabbis who have ever been called Rebbe on he was the first one in the history of the nation of Israel to be called Rebbe on this man right here who's gonna stand up he was Paul's teacher he was a famous teacher he had studied under a man by the name of Jaleo who was a famous rabbi as well what does he do but a Pharisee named Camille a teacher of the law notice respected by all the people stood up in the council and gave orders to put them in outside for a short time you can see it these people are so mad at getting up they're about to go he says hold it hold it hold it put these people out for a while put him out put him out so they put him out now he stopped it because he's respected by everybody now he's not a sad you see he's a Pharisee Sadducees don't really like him but he's so respected because if you said who's the best teacher in Israel the male that's the man so he stands up and when you think about this man he's a teacher while he was Paul's teacher he's a famous rabbi his son Yeshua became the high priest in 63 to 65 a day his son did he was a teacher of the law look what he says and he said to them men of Israel take care of what you proposed to do with these men he says be really careful what you're thinking about doing what does he say for some time ago Thaddeus rose up claiming to be somebody of a group of about 400 men join with him but when he was killed all the spoilers were dispersed and came to nothing he said you remember there was that guy named Thaddeus they're not sure when all this happened but this guy named steadiest rose up and and and and 400 men followed him and he was claiming to be something great and when he died his people went to nothing and then he says and after this after this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census has about hmm somewhere about 3-4 BC and they drew away some people after him and when he perished everybody followed him scatters he says listen there was some guy there's been people all along rise enough to claim to be something and whenever they died the people following him just dispersed oh nothing now what's he implying does Jesus rose up to be something and now he's dead and either enjoy if you just give it time these people will just scatter away and come to nothing because it is nothing or if he's really from God you can't fight this thing watch what he says so in this present case verse 38 I'm say to you stay away from me and let them alone for if and by the way I've got to tell you something the way this is written verse 38 says I say to you stay away from the men let them warm for if that is a third class EF in Greek which means if maybe it's true and maybe it's not if these men if this plan or action and we don't know maybe it is maybe you're not as a men it will be overthrown but look at the next verse but if it is of God that's the first class if if and it's true this is of God you'll not be able to overthrow them else you'll be fight found to be fighting against God he implies that he actually thinks this maybe from God this is the leading teacher in Israel saying if maybe it is maybe it's not from men you know perish if and it's true it's from God you can't fight it why do you think he stood up in his crib why do you think he protected the Apostles there are some people who believe by the way this is phrased that he may have become a believer and he's saying wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute if this is from men and we don't know if it is or not it'll go away if it's from God and it may be and you can't fight against it you'll be found fighting against God if it's men it's nothing if it's God nothing could stop it and that's what we said well ago nothing can stop God's plan so look what they did they took his advice and calling the Apostles they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus and then released him so he took his advice not to kill them but what they do they brought them in and they beat him and then when it says flog them don't think of like three or four lashes thirty-nine lashes in all of the history of reading these things they had 2/3 of the lashes wound their backs and one-third of the lashes were in the front so they beat them time and time again on the front and beat him time and time on the back listen it just wasn't a few lashes thirty-nine and then they let them go and what did they say them don't talk about these that this name of Jesus any more let me ask you of course do you think it's gonna stop them nothing's gonna stop them let me ask you a question what will stop us from proclaiming Jesus Christ it might be a bad look oh you're a Christian well yeah yeah well there's no big deal what stops us day in and day out from proclaiming the truth of Jesus Christ is it because we're afraid that would be embarrassed or did somebody make fun of us or that we won't advance in our job or you know our relatives I think we've lost it our parents will think we got in some kind of cult or something what stops us from proclaiming the truth well look what they did so they went on their way from the presence of the council rejoicing they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for his name they were not rejoicing that's what Philippians 1:29 says that you know the whole idea that counted the fact that were not only called to believe in him but to suffer for his sake the great privilege to stand for Jesus Christ but what else look at this and every day in the temple in from house to house they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ I love this because they continued to proclaim the message of Christ now I want to show you something it said every day notice in the temple that's a big meeting from house to house as little meetings they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus the Christ see that's what they did they met in the big groups and they proclaim the message and they did this and then they got into small groups and that's what we tell you that we can come together on Sunday mornings big groups but we need also to have times in which we get into the smaller groups so we can be accountable to each other and get to know each other and love one another and care about one another because it's hard to do it in a big group so that's why it's so important that we talk about small groups but notice this every day in the temple house the house they kept right on teaching and preaching the word preaching there it actually is the word in valley on which is the word we get evangelize from not only were they teaching they were proclaiming the message of Jesus Christ that's powerful and notice it says preaching Jesus as the Christ that means he's the Messiah he's the Savior Wow what a message so we see problems are developed from without the Apostles get arrested rulers leaders put them in jail angel get some out they finally bring him back in there they tell Peter to quit talking about it Peter says we're gonna obey God rather than men you're the ones that killed him God raised him up he's the savior he's the Messiah everything they're ready to kill him and this man then commit all stops it all puts them out says you can't stop it it was from God they bring them back in flip them and they leave and they say wow what a joy what an honor to be put to shame for Jesus Christ what an honor I was this is a years and years and years ago when I was coaching at Mississippi State and we were really fortunate we had like 18 coaches on staff in those days and what's so amazing is every one of the coaches were Christians every one of us and then some years went by and a couple of them left and they heard a new guy that came in one of the other assistant coaches and he wasn't a Christian and I remember sitting in the back in those days we had athletic dorms and I'm sitting an athletic dorm eating and he came in and I just met him two days earlier and he said hey I've heard about you I said what you mean he said I heard you're religious I said well no I'm not really religious I'm I'm a Christian I put my faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and I started to talk to him he said hey don't talk to me I think you're an idiot turn and I walked away that's kind of a little bit embarrassing because that was in front of some other people but you know what what a great thing to stand for Jesus Christ sometimes people gonna embarrass you if you stand for Christ they gonna say you actually believe that good night college kids you get on that campus and you stand up in those classes and you tell people you believe in Christ they're gonna be professors they're gonna be other kids they're gonna say you're an idiot to believe that kind of stuff you say well you may think I'm an idiot I'm not and I counted all joy to shuffler suffer shame for the name of Jesus Christ let me give you some applications first one is let's understand the difference between religion and Christianity religion is man doing something to please God what Christianity is God pleasing God just remember that we want to stand for the truth we want to live for Jesus Christ we want to understand that it's not what we do that gives us eternal life and that religion is man trying to do something to get to God but God's done it all and listen here's the truth I think I've got this as a slide I think the next one true Christianity but no go back go back there true Christianity bothers religion it does when you'd live for Jesus Christ it bothers religious people it makes them look bad because they're trying to do laws and everything else and you're talking about grace and salvation faith and and you have joy the joy of your salvation and and they they don't have joy cos legalism doesn't bring joy rules don't bring joy so just remember that understand the dearest reign religion to Christianity second let's always always obey God rather than man we got to do that as we think about that we get to go into this community with a message of Christ I think trust God and the trials and problems of life we've seen the problems the problems within problems without we've already seen it we have to live for Christ we have to obey the word we have to be men and women who live by the truths and the principles of the Bible in the power of the Holy Spirit we don't have to be afraid he'll never leave us or forsake us what should we fear we should rejoice if we suffer for the name of Jesus Christ now in our country we got it it's just you know I talked to you about persecution and how more people are being persecuted for Christ in the world than almost ever before and in our country but we're okay but you know it's gonna it's getting worse it's getting worse and worse and there's no telling what's gonna happen in the years to come we must always obey God rather than and and the last but not least clearly proclaim the gospel the gospel is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ it's the central message all the way through the book of Acts whoever believes in him will never perish but have everlasting life my prayer is this if there's anyone in this room who as you've come this morning that you've never really understood the way of salvation that you may have thought that you know trying to be good that's religion trying to do something to get to God but I want you to understand that Jesus came came and died on the cross to pay for all your sins and all our sins and he rose again conquering death and he offers to you a gift it's not your word for goodness or rice illness or anything it's the gift of eternal life and it's simply by faith you trust Christ as your Savior you believe that he will give you eternal life and when you trust in him he gives you eternal life so it's not your goodness your righteousness your faith your faithfulness or anything it's simply trusting in Jesus Christ for eternal life I hope and pray that everyone in this room has put their faith in Christ as you

Channel: Stillwater Bible Church

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Rating: 4.8208957 out of 5

Keywords: Bible Study, JB Bond, Stillwater Bible Church, stwbible, Stillwater Bible, Jesus Christ, gospel

Id: 0MiSr5yx9nA

Length: 40min 56sec (2456 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 12 2013