The Book Of Acts | Standing Firm In Persecution Part 3 (June 28th, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

Well, good morning and uh welcome today, church.

It is so great to have our staff back together again to record.

It's so kind of weird almost to see John and Jeremy here.

I've gotten so used to doing this in my living room and just super thankful now to be doing this differently.

I just want to, of course, welcome all of you back to our little miniseries that we've got going on here in Acts chapter four.

It's a bit about how we as Christ followers can stand firm while being persecuted for being Christ followers.

Now, I think that we're all well aware that the average Canadian Christian doesn't experience things like imprisonment and beatings or the threat of death as much as other faithful believers do around the world.

You know, but we read a verse like 2 Timothy 3, verse 12, which says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

2 Timothy 3:12

You know, and you can't help but be cognizant of the fact that if we're gonna follow Jesus for real, okay, not just like paint on a face and you know pretend that we're believers, but if we're gonna follow him for real, then persecution will be a part of our story in some way.

Okay, so again, we ask, how do we handle this?

How do we handle this?

You know, how can we ensure that we remain faithful to God when people are awful to us?

How do we stand firm?

That's a question that we're really asking.

And well, today's passage is all about the concept of prayer.

All right, prayer is an indispensable tool that we must employ as believers, as the church, when we are persecuted.

It's our it's our lifeline.

You gotta think of it like that.

It's our it's our weapon when we are hated and when we are oppressed.

So I just want to read our passage here uh in Acts 4, starting in verse 23 and reading down to verse 31.

It says, When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the peoples plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Lord, we thank you so much for this passage, Lord.

This whole chapter, it's just been a breath of fresh air to us, Lord, as we think about the fear involved with persecution, the pain involved with all of it.

Lord, we confess that uh now when we face those things and when we face those things later on, Lord, we will absolutely need you.

God, we will need your Holy Spirit, we will need your strength, we will need you to help us in every sense of that word uh to be faithful, to honor you, to not back down, to not crumble and fall, but Lord, to stand firm.

And so would you help us to do that?

Would you build up a church that is strong and mighty in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, full of faith and full of joy, willing to go into the dark places, into the nitty-gritty areas, and and and come face to face with whatever trouble might come, uh, because we proclaim your word to the glory of Jesus Christ.

Or would you do a work in us uh here today?

We pray all of these things in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Okay, well, uh, here we go.

First thing, okay, how to stand firm when I am persecuted.

And uh the whole thing this morning is about prayer.

Remember, we mentioned that.

You know, how we're to prayerfully respond when the heat of persecution gets turned up, right?

And the temperature just gets hotter for us.

Uh so again, here's the first thing.

We got five things today, but we're gonna move very quickly uh through all of them.

So I will prayerfully, first thing, rally together with my church community.

Hey verse 23.

Take a look at this here with me.

It says, When they were released.

Hey, so you remember that the Sanhedrin, the religious council from last week, um, they had arrested Peter and John.

They had they had harassed them, they had threatened them, and then eventually released them due to their fear out of what the crowds might think.

You know, well, we know that the crowds gonna love Peter and John, and they are praising God, and and and they're, you know, we don't want to offend them, we don't want to push them away because we we have power over them and we don't want to lose that.

And so they felt like they had no other move to do other than to release Peter and John.

Okay, so continue in verse 23.

When they were released, Peter and John went to their friends, okay, and they reported to uh what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

Verse 24.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God.

Okay, pause right there.

Okay, pretty straightforward, I think.

Peter and John, they are released and they go straight to their friends.

In other words, they went to the other disciples.

They went to their church, it says, and and and and they relay the events that they had just experienced at the hands of the Sanhedrin.

And their immediate reaction, it says, when they heard it, it was to was to rally together and and pray, to pray as a church community.

It says that they lifted their voices together to God.

I mean, what a powerful picture.

What an amazing model that that is for you and I of what should be our first move when we're persecuted.

It's to pray.

That is what we should go to.

You notice a couple of things about the church's response here.

Notice how their first instinct is not to uh problem solve their way out of this.

You know, we need to we need to put our heads together, we need to strategize uh a plan forward.

That is our that is our first instinct.

No, they don't do that.

And it's not to say that that would be bad or wrong.

I mean, we need to use the wisdom that God has given us.

We need to look at the scriptures, we need to think through, you know, how to work our way forward and all of that.

It's just to say that that that's not their first instinct, okay?

They they pray.

Neither is their first instinct to panic.

There's no, you know, hand-wringing, what are we gonna do?

They're not giving in to fear and and and shrinking back and just hiding away, you know, doing nothing, you know, screaming out for safety.

It's not that.

You know, let's say they don't make any unwise or or or foolish decisions in the heat of fear and panic that could negatively impact their situation any further.

They don't do that, not at all.

Neither do they vent about their situation.

They're not bad-mouthing the chief priests and the elders.

They don't take all of their anger to Facebook and some slander campaign.

They're not doing that uh at all.

No, they they pray and and they they do it together.

They do it together as a community of believers, which I think is just so significant.

They they recognize the strength in their numbers as they come together.

They know that there's the encouragement and support and camaraderie that's found there as uh a community, uh as a church, when they unify and they cooperate and they they collaborate around the idea of prayer.

And they put their heads, they put their hearts together, they just they just go straight to the Lord.

That's their their go-to move.

It's their it's their first line of defense, it's their first act of offense.

It's just like we're gonna pray.

That's what we're gonna do, guys.

You know, as we deal with persecution maybe now, you know, or or we receive more of it in the future, the degree to which we stand firm will be directly tied to the manner of our prayer.

You know, will we, Redemption Church, will we lift our voices together to God as it says here?

Will we do this now?

You know, as we're preparing ourselves and allowing the Lord to prepare ourselves for increased persecution uh in the days ahead, as we prepare ourselves for what for a time that we're really gonna need to rally together.

That's the first thing.

Here's the second thing how to stand firm when I'm persecuted.

I will prayerfully find perspective in the sovereignty of God.

I mean, how crucial is that for us?

Take a look at verse 24 again.

It says, And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God, got it, and said this.

They said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

Hey, that word sovereign there, that's a word we've looked at many, many times, okay, but it is a reference to the powerful control that God exerts over all creations, uh over all creation at all times and in all situations.

Okay, that this is where the church goes, you know, right off the bat as they pray is ideal.

Now you may be thinking, well, why?

Why is it ideal that they go to the sovereignty of God?

Well, because reminding ourselves of God's sovereignty when it feels like life is absolutely coming apart at the seams, uh it gives us that much needed fresh dose of perspective, doesn't it?

When persecution hits, I mean it's it's so painful and it's so hard on multiple levels.

You just think about the mental anguish of that, uh you know, the uh the emotional toil, the the the spiritually, it's it's taxing and and I mean physically, even depending on what the persecution is.

And in that that those moments, it's so easy uh for us as people to believe that there's no hope.

Because all we're experiencing and all we're we're feeling in our senses is just pain and and difficulty and fear, and so it's very easy for us to believe that there is nothing good happening right now, and nothing good will ever happen out of this.

This is completely out of control.

Okay?

Whereas a much more accurate uh understanding is that things are indeed out of control, okay, for us, okay, but but it's not even remotely close to out of control for the Lord.

God sovereignly reigns as much during perse uh times of persecution as he does during times of prosperity.

You need to remember that, hey, prayerfully so church, and find your perspective in that.

God is not just God during the good times and when you're getting the things that you want.

He is just as much God when everything is falling apart.

Hey, call that to mind as these believers do here in their prayer.

Oh, yeah, right.

Like, God, you know, you you made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them.

And if you have done that, if you can do something as epic and incredible as that, certainly you have this.

My circumstance, this situation that I'm going to is I'm receiving attacks from people who don't want to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ.

Okay?

Prayerfully allow that perspective, that truth to inform your hope.

Like, oh yeah, God is still in control here.

I I can calm down, allow that to impact your peace, allow that to impact your joy even as you suffer for being a Christ follower.

Now, speaking of suffering, second thing here, how to stand firm, third thing rather, how to stand firm when I'm persecuted, I will prayerfully remember that if Jesus suffered, so will I.

And verse 24, uh 25 rather shows us this regarding their sovereign God, look at it now, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit.

And here the early church, they quote uh Psalm 2, verses 1 and 2, which they understand correctly as a prophecy that pointed ahead to the events of the cross, events that were very recent and current to these disciples.

Psalms 2:1

And here's what that indented little quote there says from Psalm 2.

It says, Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plot in vain?

And remember the Romans, they were Gentiles, they were the ones who plotted against Jesus.

It says, The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his anointed, his anointed being Jesus.

Verse 27 now.

Okay, so Psalm 2 is talking about Jesus.

Okay, both Herod, that's Herod Antipas, and Pontius Pilate, because these are the guys who are considered uh the kings of the earth, mentioned in verse 26.

Okay, so Herod, Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles, the Romans, and the people of Israel, even, which is a huge ouch.

The Jews were co-conspirators with the Gentiles against Jesus, says to do there whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And so right there is the sovereignty of God again.

Christ's death, it was all part of God's overall plan.

It was predestined, meaning that it was, it was preordained or foreordained by him to take place.

I mean, notice here how it's it was also, it goes hand in hand with human responsibility.

You need the Gentiles, remember the Romans, even unbelieving Jews, all of them, it tells us here, are guilty for the part that they played in Jesus' death.

Okay, now by recounting Psalm 2 here and the suffering of Jesus as these believers pray, you know, coming out of their own experience of suffering, the church, what's happening here is they're getting their hearts and their minds to the place of accepting, okay, that that suffering through persecution is a component of the Christian experience.

They understand, you can see it through their prayer here, that that because Jesus suffered, so will they.

Okay, now so will we as well.

Okay, so so listen here.

As you suffer for persecution, okay, or or as you maybe are bracing yourself for uh more of it to come, uh remember uh something like the words of uh Peter, okay, from 1 Peter 4 verse 13.

1 Peter 4:13

I love this verse.

It says, but rejoice, okay?

Rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad even when his glory is revealed.

It's clear, Jesus suffered, and as his followers, you and I will too.

Okay, let's prayerfully, as a church, let's remember that truth, right?

Let and use it to fight against that false idea that so easily infiltrates our minds and our thinking that that this life here should should really be about ease and comfort.

Okay, it should be about the the Canadian dream, right?

Right?

But understand, we live in a fallen world, a world that is marred by sin.

And and so suffering and persecution, it's all just part of the program.

And beyond that, uh God's glory is actually revealed as we suffer, 1 Peter 4 tells us, which means that we can and should actually rejoice and be glad, right?

That we're feeling pain and being harassed.

Well, well, no, but that God's glory is being revealed for that very reason.

After all, living for God and his glory, that that's why we're here, right?

That is why you and I exist.

It's why we're on the planet.

That is your purpose.

Okay, so let's let's prayerfully then, church, stand firm as we remember these things, remind our hearts and our souls of them.

All right, how to stand firm when I am persecuted.

Fourth thing.

I will prayerfully pursue boldness over personal comfort.

Now, our previous point obviously has teed this up uh fairly well for us, and just love this response here uh by these disciples, the early church, and it's a verse that I have I have shared with you many, many times.

Verse 29, look at this.

It says, And now, Lord, look upon their threats, okay.

The threats of the religious council towards Peter and John, obviously.

Okay, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word.

That's the gospel, okay, with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

I mean, don't you just find that verse so inspiring?

Right?

I love it so much.

When these believers, their backs are against the wall and they're being pressed and they're being hated, they're being harassed, they're being arrested, they're being thrown in prison, all of that.

They notice they don't just run away.

They don't say, okay, we're done.

We can't handle any more of this.

Right?

They don't run towards whatever thing in their lives at that point would just make them feel more comfortable and safe.

No, they're like, the gospel of Jesus Christ must continue to go forth.

Right?

It must.

You know, this is what we have been tasked with by the Lord Jesus Himself.

This is the great commission to go and make disciples by proclaiming the gospel.

Right?

This is what we have to do, this is what we must do, this is our mandate, which means that letting, you know, or quitting or or or letting go of fear or letting fear rule us or or or pursuing comfort above all else.

Like we're we're just not gonna go there.

We're not gonna chase after that.

We will pray instead for Holy Spirit infused boldness into us to see this mission carried out, okay, no matter the backlash that we get, no matter the personal cost to us.

Incredible.

I mean, that's that's the word for it.

And and truthfully, the only right response whenever Christians are told to stop proclaiming Christ.

We just simply don't.

Right?

We're not gonna stop.

You know, and if we lack the willpower and we lack the courage and we lack the boldness to obey Christ in these things, which let's be honest, we we we probably will at some point.

Right?

We're we're frail, we're we're just human, we're gonna crumble.

We can't expect to be Superman all the time through all this.

No, it's we're we we live in a world that and and and we're we're fearful and all of those things.

It's probably gonna happen.

But when that does happen, we follow the lead of the early church here and and ask the Lord to provide what we lack.

Lord, Lord, give us that that same boldness to continue to use us while you stretch out your hand, Lord, to do all kinds of mighty acts that that show this world.

That you are God, that Jesus Christ is Lord, and He has come to save sinners by His grace.

Listen, do you know this?

Do you know that Jesus Christ is Savior of the world and wants to save you from your sins?

Do you understand that?

Do you know that?

Have you embraced him?

I mean, that's why he came.

That's the reason right there.

Understand that your sinfulness, it deserves punishment at the hands of your creator, of a holy and just God.

That's sickening news.

That's a sickening thing to realize.

But the good news with that is that Jesus took all of your punishment, everything that you deserved upon himself on the cross.

That if you would admit your brokenness, admit your rebellion against God in the form of your sin and trust that what Jesus Christ did was for you.

And if you would believe all of that, if you would pray that to the Lord, you'll be forgiven and you will be saved.

I encourage you to do that today.

If you have not, if you still have questions about it, reach out to one of us.

We would love to talk to you and work you through that and pray with you.

And listen, church, if you've already done that, you've put your faith in Jesus Christ, do you have the boldness to proclaim that same message that you have received?

Right?

If not, or if you're being persecuted for it, or if you fear that persecution is going to come if I do it, so therefore I won't, listen, just prayerfully ask the Lord to give you the boldness that you require.

Ask him, Lord, Lord, would you would you strengthen me to be able to do this and have the courage to follow through on your command?

Pursue that.

Don't just flippantly say it.

Actually go after it.

Pursue that over and above whatever personal comfort your flesh naturally wants you to go after and pursue.

Final thing.

How to stand firm when I am persecuted.

I will prayerfully expect the Lord to be faithful to the end.

Verse 31 says, When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit.

So the Holy Spirit fills them again here.

It says, and they continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

The Lord comes through here and he gives them exactly what they asked for because what they asked for was what God desires to give them.

A boldness.

So that they would continue to share Christ despite the fires of persecution that they're facing.

Understand, church, that the Lord is faithful.

He is faithful to accomplish what he promises to accomplish.

And he promises a lot.

We know that from the pages of Scripture.

Here are just a few here.

How awesome is that! He does not work to establish our glory and pump up and prop up our agenda, all the different things that we want as we make the world about our own kingdom.

He's not doing that.

He's here to establish his own glory.

That's Isaiah chapter 48, 9 to 11.

Isaiah 48 · chapter mention

He also promises to forgive us and purify us when we repent.

He promises to save us and sanctify us.

We see that in 1 John 1, verse 9.

1 John 1:9

On top of all this, he promises to build his church.

That's a promise that we've looked at many, many times from Matthew 16, verse 18.

Matthew 16:18

And he promises now to equip us for the carrying out the tasks of ministry.

We see that in Ephesians 4, verse 12.

Ephesians 4:12

We are called to do a lot of things, but God isn't like just to go figure them out on your own.

No, he's like, I'm gonna actually give you the tools that you need to go and do that.

In our passage here, the equipping is what?

Well, the equipping is the giving of boldness, right?

To help them proclaim and stand firm while doing so.

Okay, what God promises to do, he is faithful to do every single time.

He can never be anything but faithful.

You ever thought about that?

How amazing is that to think about?

He's never gonna be less faithful, he's always fully faithful all the time.

So listen, church, lay the full weight of your expectation on that.

Okay, awesome.

Listen, stand firm in this.

When we're persecuted as a church, you know, and we cry out to the Lord together in prayer.

I mean, just look at what the Lord does here in Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

And then just try and picture and imagine what the Lord will do in us and what he will do through us as redemption church.

God, we thank you for uh your word.

We thank you for uh this amazing chapter in the scriptures that so challenge us and and fill us with joy and motivation to be faithful to you when we are harassed, when we are abused, when we are treated terribly uh for being followers of Jesus.

Lord, I pray that we would stand firm.

I pray that you would strengthen our our weak ankles and our weak knees.

Uh Father, we know that on our own we are weak, and so we need your Holy Spirit for all of this.

Lord, we confess that.

We know that.

God, give your church boldness to proclaim you to the glory of your name.

It's all of these things we pray in Jesus' name.

Amen.