The Book Of Acts | Standing Firm In Persecution Part 2 (June 21st, 2020) - Mike Armstrong

Good morning to everybody.

Trust that you are already in Acts chapter 4 in your copy of the Bible.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

It was there that just last week we were introduced into a rather tense situation for Peter and John.

You remember how they were arrested and they were placed in custody overnight by the Jewish religious leaders who were in charge of temple governance.

And the issue was about how the lame man was healed.

That had caused quite a stir among the crowds, and they were all gathering around and clamoring for what was happening here, and they're all blown away.

But of course, we know that the religious leaders' real issue was less about keeping the peace and more about what Peter had to say.

Remember that he had preached the gospel.

He had preached that salvation was through the risen Christ.

Resurrection, of course, being an issue that the Sadducees in particular had issue with.

Theologically, they couldn't wrap their heads around that being a thing.

Okay, so through this whole incident here, the disciples have their first serious brush with persecution.

And it's in it's their response to this, Peter and John's, as well as the church as a whole, which we'll get into more next week, that you and I are given this amazing model of how to stand firm when persecuted.

Okay, how to how to remain strong, how to remain faithful to Christ and the gospel when you and I are treated badly for being Christians or even just believing the Bible.

And so for you, if you think about your life and you've ever wilted or crumbled or backed down in fear whenever someone has challenged you or harassed you or gone against what you believe and where you stand, or or if you fear that someday that situation is going to happen for you and you might fall apart and give into fear, well, Acts chapter 4 is for you.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

That's your book.

And so I want to read our verses here today, verse 13 down to verse 22.

Follow along with me.

It says this.

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

But in order that it may not be 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.

Lord, as we come before you, we um we celebrate Jesus Christ.

Lord, we celebrate our salvation that is in you alone.

Lord, we rejoice in the fact that we have confessed our sins, repented of our sins, and we are now resting in the righteousness of your Son.

Lord, as the only way that we are made right with you.

God, I pray that as we consider that, as we think about the gospel, I pray that that would propel us, power us through the persecution that we know has uh will come, or maybe even some of us are facing it right now.

God, I pray that you would be building up a church that is strong in the face of all kinds of opposition and hatred.

God, I pray that you would make us faithful to Jesus Christ.

We recognize that we are not strong enough in and of ourselves.

In any moment of fear, we could fall apart.

We know that.

And so, God, would you, by your spirit, just like we see Peter and John filled with the Spirit, Lord, I pray that you would fill us in those moments, Lord, and give us boldness and joy and courage that Christ may be glorified and may be exalted.

So, Lord, teach us about these things.

Lord, help us put some tools in our box that we can go to when we are persecuted, Lord.

Give us joy in these things.

Protect your church, Lord, glorify your son.

We pray it in his name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, here we go.

Here's the first thing.

How to stand firm when I am persecuted.

Three things today.

Here's the first one.

Develop a closeness with Jesus now so that I'm strong when tested.

Okay, so so remember again, by way of, you know, kind of catching us up here, uh, Peter and John were remanded into custody uh for the night.

And the next day they were hauled before, you know, this imposing tribunal and and grilled.

And if you think about it, it would have been very easy for them in that moment, how intimidating that would have been, standing before this group of intimidating men.

It would have been easy for them to just shrink back in fear, right?

And and to and to completely wilt under that and to say, you know what, guys, we apologize for disrupting the peace.

Right?

We apologize for what we said.

Next time we won't be so pushy about our faith, we won't be so upfront about it and and we'll back down.

They could have said that, or even they could have, you know, just kind of been been silent, but been been thinking through, man, like look at the consequences that happen here if I proclaim the gospel.

People don't like it.

People are upset.

It's landed me in jail.

Next time, out of self-protectionism, I'm not gonna say anything.

I'm just gonna keep my mouth shut.

I'm gonna be quiet and hope that everything just kind of works out.

Okay, but you notice here that that Peter and John, they don't do that.

Okay, not at all.

Right?

Instead, again, filled with the Holy Spirit.

That was Peter.

We saw that in verse 8.

He what does he do?

He's he stands firm.

He stands firm in the moment, you know, full of faith, full of conviction.

He just boldly asserts the gospel and that and that salvation is found in Jesus Christ alone.

All of that was really last week.

It brings us now to our verse, verse 13.

And this is how the Sanhedrin reacts now to what Peter said.

It says, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, meaning that they were they were uneducated in matters of the Torah, in matters of the law.

Peter and John, they didn't go to the best seminaries, they didn't have a whole bunch of fancy degrees behind their names or plaques about their graduation hanging on their office walls.

They didn't have any of that.

And so the religious council, they perceive all of it.

They see, wait a second, these are just these are just regular guys, and and it says there that they were they were astonished.

You see that?

Literally, it means that they were struck dumb, right?

They were struck silent with amazement.

Okay, pretty amazing the response to all of that.

But then this, look at this, I love it.

It says, and they recognized that they had been with Jesus.

Hey, that right there, church, might be one of the most encouraging verses for us in all of Acts.

Because in an instant, these religious elite types are, you know, are struck by the realization that these regular Joe Blow fisherman, you know, type guys are now a force to be reckoned with simply because they spent time with Jesus day in and day out over three years, and it had transformed them dramatically.

As the Sanhedrin absorbs just Peter and John's boldness.

They're taken aback by it, and it would have immediately reminded them of all the times that they tried to go toe-to-toe with Jesus himself.

And of course, they were well aware of how challenging and quite frankly, embarrassing that always turned out for them.

You remember that from the gospel.

All right, so what does this tell us, church?

Well, it shows us that a major aspect to standing firm in the face of persecution comes from being close to Jesus.

As simple as that.

Just like Peter and John, the more you and I spend quality time cultivating intimacy with the Lord, you know, developing a closeness with Him now, in these days, the more He changes us, the more He matures us, the more He prepares us to stand firm and be strong later when times of persecution comes.

Does that make sense?

I think that that's you know a fairly straightforward concept for us, but but here's kind of my sense of how too many professing Christians approach this.

Yeah, we tend to think something along the lines of, you know, well, I hear that persecution is coming down the road, right?

It's it's gonna happen, and you know, it'll likely be far more intense than I've ever experienced to this point.

Okay, so my plan for when that time comes, you know, is gonna be to cry out to the Lord and ask for help and ask for him to give me all the boldness that I'm gonna need in that moment.

Now, at face value, that doesn't sound terrible.

That doesn't sound like an awful plan or anything like that.

Because are we going to need boldness in those moments?

Are we going to be fearful?

Are we gonna be tempted to falter and quit and and give in to our terror or despair?

Of course, right?

Are we gonna need to cry out for the Spirit to fill us in those moments like he does Peter?

Yeah, totally.

It's gonna be the case, definitely.

Okay, but what I suspect that is that too many Christians come at it with the attitude of, eh, whatever, you know, like I'll just kind of tackle that problem, you know, if and when I get to it down the line.

Okay, but in the meantime, I'll just continue to just, you know, keep doing my own thing and hope that, you know, I'll just magically have the strength and magically have the strength of maturity to handle everything well when the time comes.

You know, do you see the foolishness in that?

I think there is foolishness in it.

Because the text is showing us here that the more you and I develop a close, thriving relationship with Jesus, that again, that intimacy on a day-to-day basis, the more you and I get prepared by Christ in those moments to have the maturity and to have the boldness and the strength and even the desire to stand for Christ when the heat's turned up on us by those who oppose God and the scriptures.

Hey, let me put it this way.

Hey, if you and I, if we if we care, you know, more now, while persecution is relatively low, if we care more now about our program and about our goals, okay, more than we care about Jesus and his goals, I'm not so sure that we can all of a sudden expect to care more about Jesus' goals than our own when persecution is high.

Right?

If if our hearts are oriented and the way we live and all of our thinking and the way we spend our time and our money and all of it, if it's oriented around our own comfort and and our own kingdom and our own glory now, we should likely expect to care about those very same things later when persecution strikes.

If we don't think Jesus is worth it now, okay, well, what on earth makes us think that we're gonna think that it's uh he's worth it later when there's more cost to us?

I think we've got to think about those things.

Okay, but if if by by by grace we draw close to Christ now, okay, and by that I mean by by by opening up the scriptures and reading it and getting to know him and understanding what life is to be all about.

And if we're developing, you know, like a thriving prayer life where we're communicating with him and bringing our concerns and our fears and our joys and all of that to him, you know, and we're we're plugging into the church and being united with other people who are broken like us, and we're all trying to figure out how to how to follow the Lord, you know, together.

And you know, as we're developing those things and hearts that you know love to live for his will, right, and and are all about his kingdom and all about his glory, then we stand, you know, a much better chance of someday having our persecutors say, like, uh, oh wow, like like that that that redemption church, though those people uh you know have been with Jesus, right?

And and you know what I what I know about him, I I see in them.

What an amazing thing that would be.

Okay, so so really what I'm getting at here is it's really important for us to have a plan, right?

Have a plan now.

Think about it this way.

If you if you you know were planning to you know run a marathon or or do a tough mutter or something like that, you would never plan to do nothing to train before you did that and then you know show up the day of and you know stretch the quad muscles out for you know 10 seconds each and then be like, all right, let's do this.

I'm gonna win.

Right?

You you would never come into it with that mentality and have those kinds of expectations.

The same idea here, right?

Right?

Have a plan to develop closest and develop intimacy with Jesus so that your maturity can stand the test of persecution when that day comes.

And so you might be thinking, well, Pastor, like what like how do I begin to do that?

That seems like a mountain too tall to climb.

Well, take it in kind of bite-sized chunks here, right?

It probably starts with just an honest assessment of where you're at spiritually.

Don't fear that, don't, don't ignore that.

It's it's good to face those things head on.

And think about like, where am I particularly weak in my relationship with God?

Right?

Where am I strong?

You know, what kind of what kind of help, outside help, do I need to help strengthen some of those uh weaknesses, those areas?

You know, what are some bad habits in my spiritual walk?

I mean, that's a good question.

What are some bad habits in my spiritual walk that have crept in over the last couple of months since we've been in this pandemic?

Maybe I've gotten really lazy and and I need to kind of work on that and think through some of those things in God's grace.

Maybe, maybe for you, it's like, what are some things I need to repent of?

There's some sin that's really in the way of true intimacy between you and God.

And you need to clear that out.

You need to talk to somebody about that.

You need to, you need to confess that to the Lord and and just be honest with those things, right?

That's that's certainly part of the plan.

Okay, your plan should involve getting others around you as well who can help you along the way.

You know, it's about getting accountability, having somebody that can pray for you in the area and knows you really well in the areas that you struggle in, that you can just fire a text off to and hey, man, need prayer today.

Right?

It's it's getting involved in our in our small group ministry and have other believers in our church who are marching towards the same goals.

We need to encourage each other and bear each other's burdens and love each other along the way and all of that.

If you're married, it's you know, it's talking to your to your spouse and being honest and real about that.

And how can we, you know, together and with you know, maybe our kids, if we have kids, how can we, you know, develop a plan where we are growing in maturity so that we can be ready when when life gets difficult?

If you're not, if you're not married, maybe for you, it's reaching out to to a friend or talking to somebody trusted in our church and just, hey, can you help me out with this?

And and I want to, I want to grow and I want to be mature so that I'm ready for whatever comes uh down the line.

Hey, on top of all of this, you know, a big part of of developing, you know, closeness with Christ, you know, comes through spiritual disciplines.

Spiritual disciplines.

I I love 1 Timothy 4, verse 7.

1 Timothy 4:7

It says, train yourself for godliness.

I love how uh the NASB says it.

It says, or discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.

Okay, think about how you can get into God's word and and and don't be afraid to you know just start small in all of this.

Start by five minutes a day.

I'm gonna open up the scriptures and read a chunk and then think over that.

I'm gonna, you know, pray for a minute or so and and and and or two minutes and give that time to the Lord.

And I'm gonna start there.

Do I want it to develop?

Yeah, sure, we've got to start somewhere.

Talk to people about prayer.

If prayer is an uncomfortable thing for you, or talk to people about journaling and where you're at and writing things down on a page, things like that could be so helpful.

Spiritual disciplines are what help us train us for godliness so that we can face challenges as they come.

I would just tell you this: don't be overwhelmed by these things.

Okay, okay, really, really try not to.

Don't be intimidated by thinking through spiritual disciplines and and and talking to somebody about your sin.

Or listen, if if these uneducated, common men can be transformed by Christ, so can we.

We're really no different than them.

So trust that God will draw near to you and reorient your heart and your attitude and your passions.

He will make you strong in him so that you can stand firm in him when you're tested when difficulty comes.

Okay, here's the second thing.

How to stand firm when I'm persecuted.

It's realize that even undeniable evidence of God's power can be ignored.

Hey, take a look at this starting in verse 14.

Okay, it says, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, okay.

So just time out for a second.

We're not really told why the guy is standing there with them still at this point.

Maybe it was a public gathering and he joined up with them in the morning.

Not too sure.

Luke doesn't really give us the details, okay?

But but when they they see the man healed, it says that they had nothing to say in opposition.

Like facts speak.

The guy's healed, right?

He was 40 years old, never walked before, now he can.

This is kind of wild.

They have nothing to say in opposition, but that doesn't sound good, okay, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, the council's all together now, they conferred with one another, saying, What should we do with these men?

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

Oh, really?

They're turning our corner here and they're embracing this whole situation.

Not so fast.

Next word, but, okay, not good.

But in order that it may not uh 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, they called them back in now, and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Kinda wild, right?

Like this is a crazy kind of interaction that they have with each other.

You know, at the end of the day, the council, they they just fully admit to themselves that a miracle's taken place.

Right?

They they can see it.

They're like everyone in Jerusalem can see it clearly, and we we can't even deny it.

Okay, but but but out of their out of their pride and and and their fear, those things are going uh hand in hand.

They're their fear of losing power.

That's what's going on here.

If if all the people all of a sudden turn to Jesus and start following the ways of Christ, are they gonna need the Jewish religious counsel anymore?

Probably not.

So they're they're they're they're arrogant, they're proud, but they're also fearful of losing power.

And so it says that they forbid Peter and John take a look from speaking or teaching in the name of Christ, right?

We read that.

Now, I I think it is really, really important that we understand what's going on here as we consider persecution and get ourselves geared up to face it.

It's that even when God does something undeniably powerful, and the evidence is just crystal clear, and and you can't really deny it.

Okay, even that, in that point, in that moment, there will always be some who flat out ignore it.

Right?

That's just the way it goes.

And again, it's a pride thing.

They're like, I I will not allow myself to be softened towards God or towards those who follow Him.

It's also a fear issue.

I'm afraid of what I might lose.

I'm afraid of giving up that thing that is super precious to my heart that I'm holding tightly to.

So I'm just gonna ignore the evidence that is clearly in front of my face.

Okay.

I think I just think it's so crucial that we as believers we get that.

Because I think uh sometimes Christians believe that, you know, if only I had the right words to say it, if only I was better with apologetics and knew a few more, you know, verses, then I could could convince that co-worker at my office to just put their faith in Jesus and stop harassing me about my faith.

Or sometimes I think we as believers kind of come at it with the attitude of, you know, if only that family member of mine had that experience of God's Power like I had, you know, then she would believe in God.

And then she would stop giving me the cold shoulder when it comes to matters of Jesus.

Now, uh, of course, I'm I'm not saying that it's bad to pray that the Lord would give would give you words, you know, to say to your coworker, or uh it's not wrong to pray that that God would show his power to the unsaved so that they would turn in faith to him.

Of course, I'm not saying that's great to say all of those things, to pray for all of those things.

Okay, but understand that it's God who saves.

It's not you that does that.

You just know that you could be as solid a Christian as there ever was.

And God could perform the most powerful and most miraculous miracle ever.

The healing of the lame man is a perfect example.

There's just evidence everywhere that God has done something great.

And people will still say, Nope.

I refuse.

I'm gonna harden my heart in this moment, I'm gonna ignore all the facts in front of me, all of the evidence, and they'll say, forget it, and they'll continue to ramp up their persecution towards you.

Now listen, I don't say any of that to fill you with dread.

I don't say any of that to discourage you, uh, not at all.

But it is intended to be eye-opening.

Okay?

You need to have a category for this in your mind.

Okay, you really do.

Don't don't rely on yourself to change somebody's heart, because you can't.

And sometimes God doesn't even change the person's heart.

The truth is, persecution will just always be a reality for even faithful Christ followers this side of eternity.

We're all we're always gonna face it in some way, shape, or form.

And with that being the case, you know, we as the church, you know, must, you know, entrust ourselves and and entrust our life circumstances and all of that to God's loving care while continuing to be faithful.

Okay, and that's that's really what this final thing gets at here.

Okay, how to stand firm when I am persecuted.

Third thing, commit to being faithful anyway, and leave the results to the Lord.

Okay, verse 19 starts to unpack that very thing, okay?

But Peter, it says, and John answered the counsel whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge.

Okay, in other words, uh, you guys tell us, should we be obeying God here in this situation, or should we be listening to you?

Okay, it is kind of one of those, actually continues here in verse, in verse 20.

I want to get to that.

This is amazing.

It says, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

And so this is one of those, you know, kind of sorry, not sorry situations or responses.

Like, sorry, guys, but we're we're compelled, okay?

We are compelled to speak of the things that Jesus has done and to teach about the things that Jesus Himself has taught us.

We we will not and we cannot stop doing those very things.

Okay, such such faithfulness to proclaim Christ no matter what, such such willingness to trust God no matter how the persecution itself uh shakes out.

Right, just leaving the results in the g in the Lord's hands, just just trusting his goodness and his sovereignty, knowing that he loves them.

You know, we're gonna trust our situation with him no matter which way this goes.

You know, verse 21, take a look.

It says, and when the council had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people.

Okay, so there's the pride, right?

There's the fear right there of losing the power, losing the influence over these people.

Okay, it says, for all, this is the crowd now, all were praising God for what had happened.

For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old.

Okay, so you see it there, right?

You see, you see persecution.

It's intense.

It it would have been scary even.

But but in the midst of this, the Lord is also doing other things.

He's drawing the people's hearts to him.

And notice how they were they were all praising him and giving glory uh to God.

I love, I love seeing that.

And I find it so so interesting how we see in the scriptures, and I and I trust that you've experienced this in your own life as well, that how how it seems like when when life is at its most bleak, right?

When life is its most difficult or painful, the the Lord just seems to like punch through with extra grace and and extra power and shows us that, hey, listen, I am still God here.

I'm still on my throne.

I'm I'm not getting off that.

I haven't been, I'm not, I haven't tumbled off.

Okay, I will never not I will never stop being God.

I love how God does that in those moments of difficulty, persecution specifically.

Okay, so when you think about the persecution that you might be dealing with right now, or you know, you're preparing yourself for some form of it to come across your plate in the future, uh, the point here is in your volition, in your will, in your spirit, commit to being faithful to the Lord no matter what, and just leave the results in his hands.

Trust him.

He is a good God.

Oh, that our prayer as individuals and as a church would be, you know, Lord, by your grace, do we have any hope of doing this apart from God's grace?

No.

We need your grace.

So, God, by your grace, would you help me to remain steadfast in the truth and unwavering in the gospel when I am being threatened and I'm being pushed to subscribe to the world's ideologies?

Lord, would you help me to trust you in the face of all manner of hatred and oppression, whether it be slander or abuse or even worse?

Lord, Lord, I trust you no matter what happens to me.

You move, you work, you keep doing your thing, you keep bringing glory to the name of Jesus Christ and use me to lead people to yourself.

Right?

That uh that oh, that that would be our prayer, that that would be our heart's desire today and going forward.

And church, I just want to pray uh for you and for myself, even right now, uh that this would be our heart, this would be our mentality and our our approach here as we just consider uh the difficult reality of persecution and the call to stand firm and be faithful.

Join me as I pray.

God, we uh thank you for this text, God.

We thank you for the inspiring example that Peter and John provide for us, Lord.

And we're not trying to give glory to man here.

We're trying to give glory to you because it is your spirit's filling that enabled them to do that.

And so, God, we recognize that we're in the same boat as them.

We're we're common, we're common people, we're nothing special.

Um, we're not the most educated, maybe.

We're we're not a lot of things.

But God, you are everything.

And God, we know that that through you we are able to stand firm.

And so we believe that.

Uh Lord, we trust you.

Father, I pray that as we think through the fears of what if what if I stand up?

What if I lose my job?

And what if family members despise me and turn their backs on me?

What if all kinds of other things maybe fall apart?

Uh Lord, I pray that we would trust you in the what ifs.

I pray that we would trust you in those unknowns, knowing that you will always be faithful to yourself, you will be always be faithful to your word.

I pray that we would remember the gospel, remember the joys of our salvation.

Lord, if there is anyone here listening to this today, God, who does not know you, I pray that today would be the day that they would give their lives to you, or they would surrender in repentance, Lord, repenting of their sin, admitting their sin before you, realizing that Jesus went to the cross for them.

Lord, that if if we would confess our sins, if we would believe in you, that you paid the price for our sins, we would be forgiven, we would be saved, we would have purpose in this life, we would have eternity all fixed and ready and waiting for us.

So, God, would you do that in someone's heart today?

God, again, make us a strong church in you, not in of ourselves.

Lord, do this, I pray, in Jesus' name.

Amen.