Acts: If God... | Guest Speaker: Davis Lee

Gamaliel was a uh a rabbi.

He was a Pharisee.

Um he was highly respected, and uh this morning he gives us some words that are uh I think important for us to hear.

Um he said, but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, um, thank you, Lord, for this church.

Um, thank you for Russ and his preaching week after week.

Um we just pray this morning, Lord, that uh you would move me out of the way and um you would be present and speak to me, speak to us, and uh show us your grace in Christ's name.

Amen.

Um the words that uh um were spoken there, I think, are very true.

Uh certainly the Jews needed to hear them then.

I think we need to hear them now.

Um and and I it's gonna help, I think, for us to kind of get a context for what's going on in the uh in the early church.

This was a really strange time.

And you'll recall a few weeks ago that uh Rust preached.

In fact, we're picking up exactly where he left off in Acts 5.

Um, he preached on Ananias and Sapphira, and that was a that was a strange event, and uh I wouldn't say it's even stranger, but it's just a it's a strange time.

It's a early in the church.

I mean the church is just beginning, but there are no buildings, there are no meeting places per se.

Um there are no startups and daycares or dentist offices.

This is just a group of people that are coming together and 12 ordinary men, um uneducated, and really, I think, and I think we'll see it today, no growth plans.

Um and a lot of what we see today is uh um is drama.

Uh I mean they are right there in the middle of uh the Jewish uh aristocracy, as it were.

And what we see are supernatural events that are taking place.

And while, yes, Jesus did miracles and healed people, it was kind of strange for there to be uh healings and miracles taking place, as we'll see regularly.

Um this was just not ordinary.

I think uh as we look at this, it's kind of difficult for us to relate to because it's it's so strange.

But think about it, even for the apostles and the early believers, this had to have been even stranger for them.

Um probably more difficult for them to take in than it is for us because we look at scripture and say, oh, this just happened, but but it but a strange time.

So I want to back up and uh pick up a few verses.

Um back up to verse 12.

So if you have your Bible, you can follow along.

If not, I'll just read and you can listen.

Um chapter 5, verse 12.

Now many signs and wonders were regularly being done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico.

None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

So right away we see many signs and wonders were regularly done by the apostles.

Um they were meeting in Solomon's portico.

Um, this is important because this is right in the temple.

This would be like, imagine if you if you would, um here we are in Marietta on the square, right at the fountain, crowds begin to form one day.

And the next day there are a few more, and the next day there are a few more, and then Sunday comes around, and you've got the six churches that are within a one-block uh distance.

Uh people are leaving the churches and coming to the square to hear these men, these just common, ordinary men talk.

And it gets bigger and it flows out into the streets and traffic is disrupted.

And the next thing you know, that the building owners are now or the uh the business owners are now, they're getting upset.

It's like, you know, this is this is not good because things are really disruptive.

And then the churches say, gosh, we're losing people.

I mean, our attendance is down.

We we've got to do something.

And so it it had to have been in a in a similar way for the Jewish leaders, it's like, we've we've this is really disruptive.

I mean, here these common people are kind of in our face, we need to do something.

And so that's that's what they're dealing with.

Um and you look at the apostles and the early believers and you say, well, how did they process all of this?

Um it it's it's easy for us, I think, to look at this and say, well, they must have had a plan, they must have had some kind of uh script they were following, but I kind of wonder if they did.

Um in fact, I don't think the apostles had a plan, I don't think they had a strategy.

Um I think uh they just were kind of showing up, and then they were telling people what they knew, or probably more importantly, they were telling people who they knew.

Um I don't think they really had control over what was happening.

They didn't they didn't clearly know what was going on, but clearly, because you can you can see this in the miracles and the things that were happening, and and it during the time of the church and even before, anytime miracles happen, that was a validation of God.

And and we see that here.

So I think it's pretty clear that God was in control, and and that's um point number one for us this morning.

Um if God is God, then He is in control, and we we see that here.

Um He has a plan, even if we don't see it, and so even if the apostles and the early church people, by the way, they weren't called the church at the time, they weren't called Christians, and I'm not even sure what they were called, uh just just common people, um it was a realization that they weren't in control, but they could see God working, and if God is in control, we can begin to relax and rest because he's got it.

We we don't.

Second point um, if God is God, then he will love us and meet us at our point of greatest need.

And and we see the very next thing that happened here is the apostles were taken to prison.

So the uh the Jews had to respond, they had to do something because certainly things were getting out of control.

But if you if you skip down to verse 17, um you see the the where the it says, excuse me one second, the the uh Russ preaching every week is is really cool, but I tell you, when you got to get up here and do it, your mouth gets dry.

So that was uh that was me taking a drink of water.

Um in verse 17.

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him, that is a party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in public prison.

So they they were kind of just apoplectic, they were beside themselves, not knowing what to do, frustrated, I'm sure, because so many of the people were following them.

Um but I don't think, again, I don't think the apostles knew exactly what God was doing.

I don't think they really even knew what they were doing, but here they are.

Now they're in in prison.

Um it's a it's kind of a crisis for them because, by the way, uh Peter and John had already been in prison uh once, just a day or two before this.

Um, and here they are now, all of the apostles in prison, so they got them all this time.

And you've got to believe they're sitting in prison thinking, gosh, just a few weeks ago Jesus was here, and we know what happened to him.

So they they can't be certain what's about to happen.

Um, it's like, are we gonna be stoned to death?

Because as the Jews saw what they were doing, it was blasphemous.

But keep in mind the Jews held God in such high regard, they would not even utter his name.

And God is so holy, so separate, set apart, it was important in their minds to respect that.

And certainly that's true.

But for common, ordinary people to be doing what they were doing had to have seen that as blasphemous.

So here the apostles are sitting in prison, um, and they can't be certain what's going to happen next.

They truly were in a crisis.

And have you ever been in this situation, not in jail, but in a crisis where you just you don't know what's going on in life, you don't know what God is about to do next.

Um it's like, God, I can accept that you're in control, but but what are you doing?

Um maybe, maybe you're you're going through a difficult time emotionally, physically.

Um it's it's like, God, where are you?

I just I don't understand.

Um, you know, I can tell you in my own life I've had uh numerous crises.

Um I've had I've had a lot of time to have numerous crises, and a lot of them I think have been self-inflicted.

Um I think those are the more challenging ones because you don't want to admit, gosh, I've caused I've caused this difficulty in my own life.

Um probably one of my biggest ones was uh I I decided at age 51 that I was gonna walk away from my job.

Literally, it's like, would you fire me?

No, we won't fire you.

It's like, okay, I'm still leaving.

Um so leaving with no money and I'm gonna start a business because I have this big idea that I can start this business and and I can then be in the community and I can hire people and help people out, and it'll be a really good thing, God.

Um it was not a good thing, it was it was a complete colossal failure for about a year and a half, and I was fortunate I was able to get out of it within just a year and a half.

But it was it got to the point where I was making payroll out of our savings account.

Um, not good and uh scary.

Um during that time, it's like God, I was doing all of this for you.

And what are you doing?

What's going on?

I don't understand.

Um I can't tell you that God gave me an immediate answer.

Um, I can tell you He did give me an answer.

Um He gave the apostles here an answer.

We'll see it a little bit different than the one I got.

Look in verse 19.

But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all of the words of this life.

And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

So I didn't have an angel rescue me from my crisis.

Um I've never had that happen.

I've had some situations, that one in particular, where I would have welcomed that.

Um I didn't receive an angel, but I did receive Jesus.

And it's oftentimes I think when we go through struggling and difficulties that we we will draw nearer to him and we will begin to see him.

So even though I didn't know what was going on, um, God did.

He rescued me from my situation, and he's rescued me from many, many more.

Not the way that I would have wanted him to, or not the way I would have scripted it, probably better.

Um and I can tell you, every time he's rescued me, it's always been for the best.

The apostles got an angel, um, I got Jesus, and they did too.

So, what did the angel tell them to do?

I think this is really interesting.

He told them to teach all the words of this life.

And what is that exactly?

Um it's what we talk about every week.

It's the gospel, it's the good news.

Um what I need to hear, what they needed to hear.

One of my favorite uh authors that I listen to and preacher that I listen to a lot said this there is no depth to which humanity can go that God's love cannot reach and redeem.

As we look at ourselves, we may see only failure or disgrace, but this is neither the whole truth nor the final truth about who we are in Christ.

Jesus sees into the very depths of our shame and pours his love into those broken places.

God in Christ reaches all the way down into the depths of the human experience and pulls us all the way up into his very life.

It is staggering, but it is a case.

By rooting and grounding our lives in something so much greater than ourselves, God convinces us beyond our ability to comprehend that we are loved in a way that surpasses knowledge.

And I think that's just that's exactly what we experience, even when we go through crises, that uh what we most need to hear is that if God is God, if God is in control, if he loves us, then he's going to meet us at our point of greatest need.

It may not be exactly what you thought it was gonna be or what you even wanted, but if it's not what you wanted, it'll be something better.

Um, point three, if God is God, then I don't need to understand.

Um, this is a big one for me because um my entire life is like I'm not gonna believe it until I understand it.

And that's not what's going on here at all.

These events are hard for us to understand, but can you imagine if you were there?

I mean, it's not like they had scripture to look at and they say, okay, this is this is what's going on here.

I understand that.

No, it's just happening and it's and it's chaotic.

Um the night before Jesus was crucified, he he told the apostles something that would completely change their lives.

And it and it is something that we need to hear because it's something that changed our lives as well.

So if you have your Bibles, look in John 14 and listen, and then I'll read along.

Just three verses, John 14, beginning in verse 16.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him.

You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you.

Jesus calls this abiding when he says the Holy Spirit will come and he dwells with you now, that's Jesus, but he will dwell in you.

Um the apostles had been with Christ before his ascension, and if you think about it, what what could possibly be better than being with Jesus?

And the answer, of course, is being in Jesus.

And that's that's exactly what they had.

Um, this relationship that they had with Jesus was so very special, but the relationship they they have now with Jesus through the Holy Spirit is even more special.

Um the good news is he's promised us that very same relationship, and so what the the apostles experienced, not all the drama necessarily, although we we're gonna have drama in our lives sometimes, um, but what he promised them was the closeness that they could have with Jesus, we can also have with Jesus.

Um we're not always gonna understand what's going on.

But then if if if God is in control, if he loves us, do we really need to understand?

I would like to understand, but do I really need to?

Um Sinclair Ferguson said this through the work of the Spirit, the Heavenly Father gives you to Jesus and gives Jesus to you.

You have him.

Everything you can ever lack is found in him.

All you will ever need is given to you in him.

And then D.A.

Carson said this this relationship that we have with Jesus through the Holy Spirit is is breathtakingly extravagant.

Extravagant because it's God's extravagant love that we actually get to experience, not just um in the big things like the drama you've seen going on here, but I love it when I get to experience Jesus' extravagant love, even in the little things of life.

Um, you know, the apostles they clearly had an understanding of this because they were beginning to behave as if they had nothing to lose.

Um God working in their lives, and I'm pretty sure they didn't know exactly what was going on, but then they didn't need to.

And think, think about this for a minute.

If I don't need to understand all that's going on in my life, but yet I know God's in control, and I know that he loves me, not loves the world, but loves me.

If I know that, then think about the freedom in that.

I can I can relax because he's got it.

And it it if if I don't get exactly what I think I need, then I know that I'm gonna get something a whole lot better.

Um and I don't need to understand that.

It's it's the for me, it's the this thing I struggle with every day.

Am I gonna be in control or is God gonna be in control?

And the truth of the matter is God's in control, whether I recognize it or not, it's a whole lot easier when I admit it.

Um so if God is God, then he is in control.

If he loves me, then I don't need to understand.

I just need to learn how to rest and abide in him.

And that's so much of what we talk about Sunday after Sunday.

Point four, and this is the last one.

If God is God, and I love this, then it's gonna be okay.

It's gonna be okay.

Um, and we see Peter here getting courageous in Acts 5.26.

Um as Sam, as Sam read a minute ago, um in verse 26, and the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

It was a big mob.

And when they brought them, they set them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, saying, We strictly charged you not to teach in this name.

Yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, you and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us.

But Peter and the apostles answered, We must obey God rather than man.

I love that.

But it's like, where did Peter get the good sense and the courage to say that?

That that did not come from Peter.

Um it came by uh we read a minute ago in John 14, abiding.

Because here's remember who Peter was.

He he was not the most accomplished apostle.

In fact, he was the guy that the night before Jesus' crucifixion, he fell asleep like the others did.

But even at the trial of Jesus, he's the guy that um denied him three times when he could see him just a few feet away.

That was Peter.

And you know, and I think a lot of times I'm I'm like Peter, um wrongly motivated, selfish, clueless.

Yet Jesus still loved him, and Jesus still worked through him, and it's no different than you and me.

I mean, we we don't get it right most of the time, but Jesus still chooses to work through us.

Um maybe even in spite of ourselves.

So, how did the council respond?

Well, well, they didn't respond very well.

In fact, in verse 33, it says they wanted to kill these men.

They were completely outraged.

Um, but if we jump down to verse 41, we read, after they were, by the way, beaten, and the the beating that they would have received would have been very severe.

Um I think I won't get into details, but it's not, it wasn't a small thing, it was a big thing.

But in verse 41, when they left the present of presence of the council, um, they were rejoicing, they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name of Jesus.

So what what was going on with them that they actually, in the midst of that uncertainty, in the midst of that suffering, that they were able to uh rejoice.

Um I I think it's simple.

Uh I think it's simple to see, I think it's hard to do, because it's it's them recognizing that if God is God, if he is as big and powerful as we know he is, then he's in control.

If he loves me, and I know that he does because of everything I see here, and and them in particular, they they've witnessed, then it's going to be okay.

Um in fact, it's going to be better than okay.

That's the gospel.

And that's the gospel they got to experience.

That's the gospel message that we get to experience.

Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, help us trust you.

However, you choose to work in our situations and write our stories.

You give and you take away, but you always do so to bring glory to yourself and good to us.

And we thank you so very much for that in Christ's name.

Amen.