SUNDAY - MARCH 9, 2025 - "What Shall We Do PART 2" Acts 4:1-22

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Returning to the book of Acts, chapter 4, again today.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

If you weren't here last week, let me explain.

We are on part 2 of this sermon.

If you weren't here last week, we were looking at Acts, chapter 4, verses 1 through 22.

Acts 4:1–22

I finished the first point, I looked up at the clock as I started the second point and said you know what?

We better stop right here.

So we're coming back to finish up today, looking at that.

That being said, let's remember where we are in Acts.

I remember in Acts, chapter 3, peter and john were entering into the temple.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

They came across a man who had been lame from birth, sitting at the beautiful gate and they he was healed by the power of jesus christ.

Uh, there, the by the power.

Well, he was healed by christ through the power of the holy Spirit, using Peter and John.

He was healed.

Remember, peter grabbed his hand, he got up and walked, he went into the temple and then Peter began to preach in chapter 3.

He began to preach Jesus Christ to the crowds there at Solomon's portico.

And then what we found at the beginning of chapter 4, because Peter and John were preaching about Jesus, the temple guard and other leaders of the temple came and arrested them and kept them overnight there in the temple, and then we talked about how Peter and John, how they were arrested for preaching Christ, but how that affects us today, because what we saw was Peter and John.

They were living in obedience, yet they were being persecuted.

And for us, sometimes we understand that even though we are living in obedience, and even if we are living in obedience to Christ, that does not mean persecution will not come.

We can be living in complete obedience.

I think Peter and John were living in obedience here, and they faced persecution here by being arrested for preaching Christ, and that can happen.

That can happen.

We face persecution even though we are living in obedience.

Jesus told us that persecution would come.

He talks in the gospel of John of how he had been persecuted, and so would his disciples be persecuted, and so they know that that was coming.

So we talked about how, though, the challenge for Peter and John, and the challenge for us as we face this persecution, is to remain witnesses, to continue to bear witness to Jesus Christ, and so the question that we were seeking to answer was how did Peter and John respond to this persecution?

So let's read we're going to go ahead and just read all 22 verses of John, chapter 4, again this week, just to remind us where we were moving from last week.

John 4 · chapter mention

So, john, so Acts, chapter 4, starting in verse 1, if you are able this morning, would you please stand as we give honor to the reading of God's Word, acts, chapter 4, verse 1,.

Acts 4 · chapter mention Acts 4:1

And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus, the resurrection from the dead, and they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening, but many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000.

On the next day, there were rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family, and when they had set them in the midst, they inquired by what power or by what name did you do this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed.

Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by him.

This man is standing before you.

Well, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

But seeing the man who was healed standing beside him, they had nothing to say in opposition.

But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying what shall we do with these men?

For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it.

But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.

So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered them.

Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God.

You must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened, for the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

Let's pray together, god.

We thank you for today and we thank you for this opportunity that we have to open your word.

God, we pray that, as you are here with us and are enlightening us and you are leading us in all truth, that we will hear your word and you will change our lives forever.

God, we love you In Jesus' name.

We pray Amen.

So again, last week we looked at I felt like this passage.

I organized the sermon around two questions that had been asked in this passage.

The first one we looked at, we looked at last week, which we found in verse seven, and it said and when they were in with them in the midst, they inquired by what power or by what name did you do this?

By what power, by what name was this man healed and we saw the response of Peter and John.

We saw them respond by yielding to the Holy Spirit.

It says right there in the next verse, in verse 8, then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit and we talked about remember even back in Acts, chapter 2, that the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, but that was a different coming than any other time that the Holy Spirit had come, because he came and he stayed.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

Throughout scripture we saw the Holy Spirit come and then leave, and he would come upon people and leave them, but not this time when he came.

In Acts, chapter 2 2 he came and he remained and he stayed with them.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So when we come to Acts, chapter 4, does it mean that that Peter had to be refilled with the Holy Spirit?

Acts 4 · chapter mention

No, here's what.

Here's the understanding is that Peter yielded to the Holy Spirit, whom had already filled him.

He had already been filled with the Spirit and now he is yielding to the work of the Holy Spirit in his life.

He yields to the Holy Spirit and then what does he do?

But he proclaims the name of Jesus Christ in verse 12, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved.

We saw the response of Peter and John here.

We saw the response to the persecution in their yielding to the Holy Spirit and in their proclamation of the name of Jesus Christ.

So today we're looking at a second question that is asked in this passage.

It's not asked to Peter and John, but they do respond to this question and we find it down in verse 16 when they say what shall we do with these men?

The Sanhedrin had gathered and they asked themselves.

They had dismissed Peter and John and they asked what shall we do with these men?

Well, let's see how they got to the point of even asking this question.

Back in verse 13, it says Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished.

You know, back in the school year of 0102, I had the opportunity of serving at the Baptist Student Union at the University of Southern Mississippi.

I was an intern down there and I remember one weekend I had come home and visited mom, and I remember one weekend I had come home and visited mom and I went back to work that next week and I was talking to Chris, who was the associate BSU director, and he made a statement that kind of caught me off guard.

He said, grant, I can tell you went home this weekend.

And I said what I mean?

Why would you even say that?

Why do you say that, chris?

And he said don't get me wrong.

Anytime you speak, everybody that hears you knows that you're from Mississippi.

Don't misunderstand.

He said but when you go to Pontotoc?

But when you go to Pontotoc that accent gets pretty thick he knew that I had been home.

He knew that I had been around people from Pontotoc County just by the way that I spoke Now here, peter and John the Sanhedrin knew that they were uneducated common men.

The Sanhedrin knew that their education had been very limited, they were not religious leaders.

Yet they spoke with boldness and they were astounded.

They were astounded because these men had been with Jesus.

They had been with Jesus.

Not only were they speaking with boldness, but you come down and see later that it says that in verse 14, they saw the man who was healed standing beside them and they had nothing to say in opposition to that.

Not only were these uneducated common men speaking with boldness and with authority, but here they are.

A man had been killed.

Through the Holy Spirit working through them, this guy had been healed and he was standing there.

How were they able to do that, these uneducated common men?

It was because they had been with Jesus.

See, in the first century there was kids would go to school, but they didn't learn reading, writing and arithmetic.

Jewish kids grew up learning the torah, learning the, the old testament, law and the prophets, and they would.

They would learn these things in school and when they would reach an age, many of them would be sent home to to learn a trade, and but the the brightest were would come and they would be taken by the rabbis and they would become disciples of the rabbis and of the 12 that is standing here.

None of these apostles had become disciples of the rabbis we're going to see later in Acts, one of the apostles had been a disciple, but we haven't met him yet.

These guys, they were tradesmen, they were uneducated.

They were uneducated, they were unpolished, they were just common people, but they had been with Jesus.

And because they had been with Jesus, these religious leaders were bewildered and didn't know what to do, could only ask themselves what shall we do with these men?

We saw that they had been with Jesus and they couldn't deny the works that were happening.

They couldn't deny that these guys had been with Jesus.

They couldn't deny that this guy was standing there, had been healed.

He even says, right there, after they ask what shall we do with these men?

In verse 16, they say for that a notable sign has been performed through them, is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it.

There's no denying what has happened in the life of these people.

There's no denying what has happened in the life of this lame man.

There's no denying what has happened in the life of this lame man.

There's no denying what is going on with the apostles that they had been with Jesus and now they are teaching with boldness, that they are teaching with authority and that people are being healed because of the work of the Holy Spirit in their life.

There's no denying that.

Not only could they not deny the work that was happening.

Look what was happening with the people.

If you go down in verse 21, it says and when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people listen to this phrase, for all were praising god for what had happened.

All were praising God for what had happened.

All were praising God for what had happened.

They weren't praising Peter, they weren't praising John.

They weren't praising how amazing that these apostles were.

They were praising God noticing that these men had been with Jesus so they couldn't deny the work in their life.

And they didn't know what to do.

And it left them perplexed and it left them wondering and it left them guessing and trying to figure out hey, what are we going to do from here?

How are we going to move on from here?

And all that they were left with is in verse 18.

They said so they, that's the Sanhedrin called them Peter and John and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

All that they could do was say, hey, stop, can't do that anymore, stop it, cut it out.

Sounds like me talking to my kids hey, stop, I'm just kidding, they stop.

But we recognize right.

Hey, we, they couldn't do anything because they see the work.

Everybody sees the work, everybody knows what is happening.

So they just tell them to stop.

And then we see the response of peter and john in verse 19.

But Peter and John answered them Whether it is right, in the sight of God, to listen to you rather than to God.

You must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

Listen, peter and John came to a very stark realization.

Here's what they recognized it is more important what God thinks of them than it is of what anybody else.

Obedience to God is more important than anything else in their life.

They said listen, you judge for yourself if we should obey you or God, but we're going to do what.

We're going to speak of what we have seen and what we have heard.

They are bearing witness.

They're doing the very thing that they were told to do in Acts 1.8.

But you shall receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses.

They are telling of what they have seen and heard, which is what a witness does, and they were told to do that after the holy spirit came upon them.

The holy spirit has come upon them and now they are living in obedience and the persecution is irrelevant.

They are obeying.

See, I think it also brings us to a point where they recognize something else.

I think it also brings us to a point where they recognize something else the hero of the story is not Peter and John.

The apostles are not the heroes of the book of Acts.

The hero is Jesus.

He's the most important figure.

He is the most important person in the book of Acts.

He is the most important person in the book of Acts.

He is the most important person in all of Scripture.

It is all pointing us to Jesus and who he is and the work that he has done for us on the cross.

The most important thing is that there is no other name under heaven by which we may be saved, but Jesus and Peter and John have come in full recognition that be saved.

But Jesus and Peter and John have come in full recognition that the story is about Jesus.

So all that they can do and say Say Is talk about what they have seen and heard In Jesus.

He is the most important one, he is the hero of the story.

So the rest becomes trivial.

The persecution doesn't matter because it's about Jesus.

So he said we were going to answer the question how did they respond to persecution?

Here's what we've seen.

Last week we saw.

When persecution came to them, they yielded to the Holy Spirit who had already filled them.

They obeyed to the Holy Spirit who had already filled them.

They obeyed and remained witnesses proclaiming the name of Jesus.

And third, they trusted Jesus above all else, jesus above all else.

The persecution didn't matter because they trusted Jesus.

See, here's the thing Jesus is the life giver.

He is the one that brings joy, he is the one that brings hope.

And they understood that, no matter what humans did to them, jesus is the one that gives hope.

As much as humans try to take that away, it never can be taken away because Jesus gives it.

As much as joy can be taken, people, the world tries to take joy away, it can never be taken away because that comes from Jesus and from our relationship with him.

So, no matter what anyone could do to them, they were going to trust Jesus.

Now you can say Grant, of course.

Of course this is true, because we're talking about the apostles here.

We're talking about Peter.

Of course Peter, at this point in his life, of course Peter, he is going to obey, he is not going to deny Christ.

Of course Peter is going to do these things Because Peter has denied Christ.

And then he spoke to Christ on the beach of the Sea of Galilee and Christ forgave him.

And then Peter goes on and we even have books of the Bible written by Peter.

Of course Peter is going to do this.

Of course John is going to do this.

Oh my stars, how many books did John write in the New Testament?

Of course John is going to obey.

Of course John is going to do that.

They're apostles.

I'm not an apostle, and you're right, you're not an apostle.

But that does not mean that you can't trust jesus the way the apostles trusted jesus.

Listen over in the book of hebrews, in hebrews, chapter 11.

Hebrews 11 · chapter mention

We know this passage, this chapter so often.

We call it the the faith hall of fame, because you you see by faith that people did things.

You see in verse 4, by faith, abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice to Cain.

We see, by faith, enoch walked with God.

We see by faith, abram trusted God and moved his family.

We see by faith Sarah.

We see by faith Abraham again.

We see by faith Moses, all these great heroes of faith that we see here.

But then we come down to verse 32.

And hear what he says, what the author of Hebrews writes in Hebrews 11.32.

And what more shall I say For time would fail me to tell of Gideon and Barak, samson and Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets who, through faith, conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.

Women received back their dead by resurrection.

Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life.

Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment.

They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword.

They went about when skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and the caves of the earth.

This was not the apostles.

This is unmentioned.

Yeah, he mentions some names right there again, but as he goes down of what these people suffered, he's not just talking about people who are mentioned in the Bible.

He's talking about listen to me, he's talking about uneducated, common people who had been with Jesus so they trusted Jesus.

You could even make the argument okay, grant, fine, but these are people in the Bible.

Listen, there's some other stories that we hear of people who have suffered because of the name of Christ Polycarp.

Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna and a disciple of the apostle John, lived during a time of intense persecution against Christians.

When Roman authorities arrested him for refusing to worship Caesar, they gave him one final chance to deny Christ and live.

Standing before a crowd eager for his execution, the Roman official said Swear by Caesar and I will release you.

Revile Christ.

Polycarp responded with unwavering faith Eighty and six years I have served him and he has done me no wrong.

How can I blaspheme my king and savior?

The officials threatened him with wild beasts and fire, yet Polycarp remained steadfast.

They prepared to burn him at the stake.

He prayed aloud, thanking God for counting him worthy to suffer for Christ.

The fire was lit, but according to historical accounts, the flames didn't consume him.

Eventually he was executed by the sword, but his faith remained unshaken.

Again, you can say to me Grant, of course Polycarp would do that.

He was an apostle, he was a disciple of the apostle.

Listen, there are people all throughout history, even in the 20th century, a guy named Richard Wurmbrand.

Richard Wurmbrand was a Romanian pastor who suffered intense persecution for his faith under the communist regime.

In 1948, he was arrested for preaching the gospel and spent 14 years in prison, much of it in solitary confinement or enduring brutal torture.

The authorities tried everything to break him.

They beat him, starved him, kept him in darkness for years.

Yet instead of renouncing Christ, wurmbrand continued to pray for his captors and even witnessed to his fellow prisoners.

He later said I have seen Christians in communist prisons with 50 pounds of chains on their feet, tortured with red hot iron pokers, and whose throats spoonfuls of salt had been forced.

They could not be broken.

Their faith was like solid steel.

All throughout history, people have understood that trusting Christ, even facing persecution, is better than anything man can do to them.

You may again say to me Grant, it's great, but I don't face persecution like this today.

Now, while there are people across our world that do, okay, you don't.

Let me give you a closer example.

When I was in college, in seminary, and even right after Amber and I got married, somebody said open spot on mission trip.

I said let's go.

It didn't take me long to pack.

I said come on.

Where are we going, didn't matter.

Then I got here at DeSoto Hills and we started going on some mission trips and led a trip Many of you went on.

This trip went to Peru on a mission trip.

I remember going on that mission trip and what some of you don't know.

We left for that trip on a Saturday.

On that Friday, before I was doing everything I could to be sick and not able to go on that trip, something had changed in my life.

I had kids could to be sick and not able to go on that trip.

Something that changed in my life.

I had kids.

My faith was wavering.

I said God, what if something happened to me?

Those kids need a daddy.

My faith was wavering.

I didn't know, but I had to come to a place in my life where I understood this the hero of my story is not me, it's Jesus.

The hero of my children's story is not me, it's Jesus.

And I had to come to a place where I understood and listen.

I'm telling you, I just honestly, I'm not always there.

There are mornings that I wake up and I struggle.

I struggle, but I have to remind myself this no matter what I face, I never face it alone and what Jesus gives me is far better than anything else that comes my way.

What Jesus can offer my family is far better than even what I can offer them.

I must trust Him.

How do we overcome temptation?

We yield to the work of the Holy Spirit in our life.

We obey the call of Jesus to be witnesses to what we have seen and what we have heard, and we trust Him above everything else.

I don't know where you are today.

Listen, some of you have never trusted Christ as your Savior.

Listen, you don't know.

You don't know the hope and the joy that comes.

You don't understand how to face the persecution that may arise against the church because you've never trusted Christ, you haven't experienced the relationship with him.

Listen, and I'm telling you, I'm pleading with you Let today be the day of salvation.

Trust in him.

Today, some of you have Some of you have.

Yet you are living.

Your faith is wavering, much like mine does.

Sometimes it wavers because we have sin in our lives.

Sometimes it wavers just because we're not trusting him fully.

And when that comes we have to come to a place where we confess our sins, because that is a sin.

We confess our sins.

And what 1 John tells us?

What John tells us in 1 John believers, what he tells us, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And if you are a believer who is wavering in your faith, maybe this morning you need to confess that sin.

I'm about to enter into a time of invitation.

I'm going to pray and then we're going to stand and sing as we are singing.

If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, hear me, let today be the day of salvation.

We invite you to come forward.

We would love to pray with you.

There are counselors who can take you and share with you how you can trust Christ, how you can be filled with the Holy Spirit, how you can have His power in you and have a relationship with Him.

Or, if you have that, you need to confess your wavering faith.

We'll be down here to pray with you.

Maybe you need to pray with us, maybe you just need to come and you need to kneel at these steps and do business between you and God.

If, this morning, you're looking for a church home as we are singing, we invite you to come down.

If you would like to join our fellowship as we seek together to yield to the Holy Spirit, as we seek together to obey and proclaim Him.

Obey Him as we seek together to trust Him above all else, we invite you to come and unite with us and let's walk through this journey together.

However, god is leading you this morning.

I pray that as we stand as we sing, you will listen to him and respond to the call that he is placing on your life today.

Let's pray together.

God, we love you.

We thank you for how you love us.

We thank you for how you love us, jesus, we thank you that you came and you lived and you died for us.

God, I pray that we recognize this morning that there is salvation in no other name under heaven but yours.

For those that are here that need to trust you this morning.

God, I pray that you are here that need to trust you this morning.

God, I pray that you give them the faith to follow you.

God, I pray for those who are here this morning and their faith is wavering.

God, I pray that this morning will be a time of confession where they can then trust you more.

God, whatever you are leading us to this morning, give us the faith to respond.

We love you, we praise you.

Jesus, it's in your name we pray Amen.

Thanks for listening to this week's sermon.

If you have any questions for our pastor, feel free to reach out at DeSotoHillscom.