All right, amen. So Acts chapter number four. Of course, if you remember last week, we had the healing in the gate beautiful,
and this is kind of, that story is continuing on here this week when they're being accosted by, you know, the Jews, the Pharisees,
and the scribes, and obviously they're going to end up putting them in jail here. But there's this great phrase here in verse 13,
which I really like. When they come up to them, you know, and they confront them, of course, in verse seven, you know,
they had set them in the midst and they asked them by what power, what name have you done this, referring to that great miracle
that was done. And all these people are getting saved, you know, the 5,000 people are believing, so they get upset,
these Pharisees, these scribes, and they're confronting them, they're dragging them in, they're surrounding them.
You know, I have to imagine it's a pretty, you know, difficult situation to be in, pretty awkward to be, you know,
just surrounded like that. But Peter has this great, you know, Peter, just as it says there in verse eight, of course,
which is the key to being able to do things like what Peter did, to be able to respond in this manner,
that Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, ye rulers of the people and elders of Israel.
So, obviously, the key to, you know, we've been reading a lot of the great preaching of Peter here,
and Peter will go on to write, of course, 1 and 2 Peter. We're going to see other exploits that he does.
Obviously, a very powerful preacher, a very, you know, a great man of God that was used mightily,
but noticed it's that he was filled with the Holy Ghost, okay, and that's obviously an application we need to be making
all the time in our lives, that we need to be filled with the Spirit, not with wine,
we're in his excess, that we need to be making sure that we're walking in the Spirit, not the flesh.
So, again, that's why we're being able to read so much about what Peter is doing,
but then he has this, you know, he kind of, you know, they confront him, and he kind of, he doesn't back down,
and he kind of lets them have it some more, and he says to them in verse nine,
if we this day be examined by, of the good deed done to the impotent man by what means he has made hold,
be it known unto you all and to all the people of Israel by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
whom he crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him did this man stand here before you whole.
So, again, you can see the great boldness of Peter. We're just saying, well, you guys are the ones that crucified.
Oh, you want to know how he did this? It was by Jesus, you know, the guy you crucified, right?
So, you can see the boldness of Peter here. That's the, and people would say, oh, how confrontational,
how, you know, that's not a very diplomatic answer, you know,
but what did the Bible tell us in verse eight? That he was filled with the Holy Ghost, right?
So, boldness sometimes really is kind of putting things back on people. It's calling out sin.
It's reminding people of the fact that, you know, sometimes we're guilty of things.
Obviously, we're not going to be guilty of what they're guilty of in this story,
but, you know, we could apply this in our own lives. You know, sometimes we come to church,
we hear the preaching the Word of God, the preacher gets up, preaches a hard message,
it strikes a little closer to home than we'd like, but we have to ask ourselves, is it biblical?
Is he filled with the Holy Spirit? And if that's the case, then you know what? We just need to change, okay?
So, again, I'll point that out when I see it because of the fact that's something we need to be reminded of,
that being filled with the Spirit isn't always just turn you into this soft, nice, you know,
easygoing, soft-spoken, gentle little lamb of a Christian.
Sometimes it turns you into that bold lion who is going to call things out. You know, that's what we need.
We need boldness. We want to be able to stand up against sin and preach against sin.
We want to be able to go out there and boldly proclaim the Gospel as we ought to
and not sheepishly go about the Christian life, you know, just tiptoeing through the Christian life.
We want to go through the Christian life with boldness. And the key to that is the Holy Ghost.
It's the Holy Spirit. It's something that obviously the sealing is something we all have,
but the filling of the Holy Spirit is something that Christians can live their entire lives without.
Christians can go their entire life as a Christian and never know the filling of the Holy Ghost.
And that's a shame. Obviously, Peter is not suffering from that.
Peter is being filled with the Holy Ghost, and we see him being very bold,
and he's reminding them that they are, in fact, the ones that are responsible for the death of Christ.
Verse 11, this is the stone which is set at naught of you builders, which has become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
So, you know, tell that to the Billy Grahams of the world. Tell that to the popes of the world.
Tell that to all the ecumenical false prophets of this world that there's only one name under heaven whereby we must be saved.
And that's the name of Jesus Christ. And that's Peter being, again, filled with the Holy Ghost saying there's no other way.
Christ is the only way. Jesus said, on the way of the truth and life, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.
There is salvation. There is not salvation anywhere else besides in Christ.
And that's not a popular message. That's a bold message today.
Because what are you telling people when you say, hey, you know, there's, outside of Christ there is no salvation.
You're saying the Muslims are going to hell, the Hindus are going to hell.
You're saying every other religion is a false religion that's leading people to hell by billions.
That's a very bold statement. And not a popular message, but, you know, that's what the Holy Spirit will do for us.
It will make us bold to just boldly proclaim the name of Christ.
And again, verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
so they're saying these guys are very bold to be speaking like this,
telling us that we crucified Christ whom God raised up from the dead and that there's no salvation outside of him.
So they see this boldness of Peter and John and they perceive that they were unlearned and ignorant men.
Now, I remember reading that on, early on in my Christian life,
and that statement stuck, just jumped out to me that these were unlearned and ignorant men.
You know, and you kind of, well, what's going on here? Is it calling them stupid?
You know, obviously that's not what it means here.
It's not meaning that, you know, that Peter and John were just these backwood bumpkins
who just, you know, couldn't tell their right hand from their left hand.
They couldn't count to five, you know, and I'm going to preach on this for a minute because,
you know, sometimes ignorance is something that is glorified within Baptist churches, within IFB churches,
you know, and I'm not saying every person that gets up behind the pulpit or every Christian
or even every Bible believer has to be some kind of a rocket scientist,
but, you know, we don't want to glorify ignorance in our lives.
Ignorance is not something to be proud of.
Being somebody who is unlearned in some respects is not something that we should glorify and flaunt
and wear like some kind of badge of honor, okay? It's a shameful thing.
And I already preached on this a little bit a couple weeks ago on my Sunday morning sermon,
The Wells of Wellness, and we talked about wisdom,
and we looked at how much the Bible puts an emphasis on learning and gaining knowledge and having wisdom,
and we're going to talk about it a little bit more again tonight.
Go over to 1 Timothy chapter number 4, and I've only scratched the surface on how much the Bible talks about this.
I'll remind us again, Proverbs, a book that professes to be able to make one wise,
is one that talks a lot about us learning and getting knowledge.
It says in Proverbs 19, it says,
Also that the soul be without knowledge, it is not good, okay?
So this idea of, well, you know, I just don't know nothing, I just, you know, I'm just a simple country, whatever,
you know, that's fine, I'm not against people, you know,
I'm from the state where they coined the term hillbilly, okay, Michigan, and that's where it comes from,
a lot of people don't know that, but you know, and I get that,
I get that some people are just going to be a little bit more earthy and just a little bit more down home,
and I'm fine with that, but you know, here's the thing, that's not an excuse to be ignorant,
and we certainly don't want to get up and glorify ignorance in front of God's people
and teach God's people that it's okay to be without knowledge,
because the Bible says that it's not good to be without knowledge,
we should be people that seek knowledge, that seek understanding, that seek wisdom,
and that seek to learn throughout our entire lives,
not just graduate, you know, from high school and then just forget what it means to learn,
we need to be lifelong learners, you know, this is something that will preserve us into our old age,
it will keep us sharp, and we should be learning things well into, you know, our later years in life,
and never give up on learning, we should always be seeking that, okay?
So I'm pointing this out because it does say there that they perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men,
that was the perception that these rulers of the people had of Peter and John,
they looked at what they said, and they were kind of taken aback by the boldness,
because they were being so bold and so confident to speak, and so, in that way,
with the knowledge and understanding, I mean, you know, he's there quoting Isaiah,
he's quoting scripture at them, and they're kind of taken aback
because they're perceiving that they were unlearned and ignorant men, okay?
And it's not saying that they were stupid or something, it's not saying that they were dumb, okay?
That's not what it's saying there, I don't believe anyway.
And the Bible tells us that we need to be people that seek wisdom, okay?
So it would be kind of silly for God to use men like Peter and John who are just kind of dumb people or something,
and people who are just glorified ignorance, and then the Bible's going to tell us to not be that way,
so obviously we've got to kind of figure out what's going on here.
Before I get into that, I want to just point out, again, the fact that we do not want to glorify ignorance,
that we want to be people who seek knowledge and seek to understand and seek to learn and grow,
and I'm not saying we all have to be able to do high math or understand the complexities of
all the different sciences that are out there,
but we should be able to be people who are getting better in this area to some degree.
If there's a job that we're involved in, if there's a skill that we have to perfect,
we should learn at that skill, we should learn how to get better at our jobs,
we should learn how to become more efficient and things like that, okay?
1 Timothy 4, look at verse 12,
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers,
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity,
till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine, okay?
So he's saying be an example in all these areas, right?
At the end of verse 12, you get all those different examples where Timothy was supposed to be an
example unto the believer, okay?
But I believe that verse 13 is tied in with that.
How is he going to be the example that he should be?
He's supposed to give attendance to reading?
And that one thing right there is enough to just turn the lights out on people,
that people just tune you out.
Oh, he's going to talk about reading.
Reading is something that we should be doing.
Reading is something that will make you a smarter person.
Reading will be something that will help you in life.
And even if you say, well, what are we supposed to read?
Even just the act of reading.
Read the Bible, obviously.
Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
That's talking about the scripture.
We should be at the very least reading this.
But even beyond that, reading is something that we should be doing.
I believe that.
And I think sometimes people, they don't read, and a lot of times they take it for granted.
They take it for granted what a privilege it is to even be able to read,
to have an education, even just an elementary level education of knowing, reading, writing, and basic arithmetic.
I mean, do you realize what an advantage you have in the world just by being able to read?
I mean, it used to be that people, it was only for the very privileged classes in the world
that were able to receive an education like that.
But today, we have it en masse, right?
And look how far we've come as a society as a result.
I mean, look at all the advances that have taken place because of the fact that people were just taught how to read en masse,
that there was an emphasis put on something as simple as reading.
And I get it that reading sometimes can be difficult.
It's not the most exciting thing.
There's so many other things today that can distract us and pull us away and entertain us.
But you know what? We should give attendance to it.
We should give attendance to reading.
If we don't want to be perceived as ignorant and unlearned people, we should be reading.
We should be, of course, reading the Bible, but read other things.
And again, as I was beginning to say, you don't have to read these deep, thick books or something.
Read something you like. Read something that is entertaining.
Read something that will at least gauge you just so you get in the very act of reading.
You know, I heard a really good formula. I heard somebody talking about this.
And they're talking about a good way to advance as a reader is pick out the basic novel.
Pick up nonfiction or excuse me, pick up the fiction and start reading to a place where you can sit down and read
and comprehend and do it consistently for like 30 minutes, 30, 45 minutes.
You can read that and then and then start to advance your reading, then start to read more difficult works of literature.
You know, and it'll amaze you some of the things that if you start to read other works, I mean,
it'll amaze you the understanding that people have just about, you know, humanity.
You know, just other other fellow humans who have a perspective to share.
OK, you say, why should we read? Well, you know, you might learn something about yourself.
You might learn something about life. You might learn something about the world that you're a part of if you read.
And obviously, the Bible is our ultimate source. It's where you get all wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
It's the greatest source of learning is the Bible. We understand that.
But you know what? It's also OK to read other books, to read other things.
OK, start there. You know, just read read the Louis Lamour.
No, I shouldn't say that because I've never read a Louis Lamour novel in my whole life.
I don't know what's in them. OK, now if you start.
But, you know, even if it was something like that, you know, you got to read the Little House on the Prairie series.
OK, maybe you find that entertaining even as a man.
I don't know. I've never one of those either. But that's what I'm saying is you just find something that you hey,
it's not necessarily going to teach me some great truth or something that it's just it's just entertainment.
Because a lot of reading is just entertainment. Before they had television and everything else.
That's what they did to entertain themselves. Just read books. Right. People love stories.
But, you know, if you would just start there and just do that for a while and just get in the habit of reading
and learning how to read better and understanding what you're reading and how to sit down for a longer period of time.
Then you can get into the more, you know, difficult books of literature, the classics or whatever they're out there.
And some of the classics even out there, some of the things I've heard about them.
I don't know if I should recommend any of those either, but give attendance to reading.
Obviously, the Bible is the primary thing, but we can read other things. Give attention to exhortation.
You know, the teaching of the Bible, the exhortation.
You know, be there for the preaching the Word of God, learn from the preaching the Word of God and give attendance to doctrine.
Now, I mean, doctrine, it can be a very exciting thing, but also it can be a very dry and just matter of fact thing, can't it?
Because that's all doctrine means. It's a teaching.
You know, if you've heard if you how many sermons you've heard on baptism, how many sermons you've heard on eternal security.
You know, when doctrine starts to get preached, you need to give attendance to it, even if it's something you've already heard.
You know, a lot of people get to the point in their Christian lives where they just think, oh, I've heard everything there is to hear from that preacher.
I'm not going to go. And they they quit church.
You know, they go somewhere else or they just get out of church completely because they just get this mentality.
They've learned it all. You know what? Here's the thing.
One, that's not the case ever. Nobody knows everything. It's impossible.
And there's things that we have been taught that we forget all of the time.
Right. But, you know, here's the thing.
Even even if even if it is something we've heard before, we should still give attendance to it.
We should still hear it again. We should still be reminded of these things to be have them brought to remembrance once again,
though we knew them already. OK, give attendance to it. Verse 15. Meditate upon these things.
What are the things that we should be thinking about? What are the things that we should be filling our minds with?
These things, things like that we get from the reading, from the exhortation, from the doctrine.
We don't want to just come to church or just pick up our Bible, you know, check it off the list and then just,
you know, straight away forget what manner of man we were after looking into that that mirror of the word of God.
We don't want to just come and hear what the preacher has to say and then to not think about it until the next time we're in church.
The next time we open our Bible, we need to meditate on these things, you know,
because that's when we really start to understand the deeper things and we actually take the time to allow our mind.
And I'm not saying, you know, every waking minute. But and I know I've already kind of touched on this,
but, you know, we should make a point of trying to think about the things of God throughout the day, every day.
It'll give us a deeper walk with the Lord and give us a deeper understanding.
Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine, he said in verse 16.
Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee.
We need to take heed unto these things that our profiting may appear unto all, he said in verse 15.
You know, what's the point of reading? What's the point of exhortation? What's the point of doctrine?
What's the point of learning? It's to benefit other people.
You know, and a lot of times people get an attitude of, well, I'm not going to learn anything because, you know, I don't need to know this.
I don't need to know that stuff. I'll be OK. It's just me. Right.
But we're actually robbing other people. We're robbing other people of opportunities to teach them and instruct them.
You know, what if somebody comes to you with a question? Hey, you know, I know you've been in church for a while.
You know, I had this question about the situation that I'm in and I know you read the Bible.
What do you think about this X, Y and Z? Right. And, you know, it'd be a pretty shameful thing to just go.
Because you didn't give attendance to these things, you know, and then it's then you realize real quick, it's not just about you.
It's about other that your profiting may appear to all so that you can profit anybody.
Obviously, we're not going to all know everything. But, you know, we shouldn't none of us should not know.
None of us should should be people who know nothing. OK, that we don't want to be that person either.
It's obviously impossible for us to know everything, but we don't want to be the person that knows nothing.
So that when someone comes to us with a basic question or something that we should know,
and then we're just stuttering and stammering, we don't know. It's a shameful thing. OK, so give attendance to these things.
And I'm touching on this again because in Acts they perceive that they were unlearned and ignorant men.
What does he mean by that? Does he mean they were dumb? They didn't know what they're talking about?
No. OK, it means they weren't trained and brought up like these men were.
They weren't these so-called intellectuals. That's what I believe is going on there.
Because remember, it's they perceived it. It was their perception.
I mean, Peter here, going back to Acts chapter four, you know, he's quoting scripture at them.
He's quoting Psalms. He's quoting Isaiah to them. He's quoting Psalm 118.
The stone which the builders refused, the same has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
It's a great passage that he's quoting here. So it's not that he was unlearned and ignorant in the sense that he didn't know the Bible.
And he didn't know what he was talking about. OK, what I believe is going on.
They were unlearned and ignorant because they weren't brought up in the same pharisaical schools and under the same,
you know, teachers and tutors that these people had. They weren't part of that intellectual circle.
OK. And, you know, in a lot of ways, we can relate to that, some of us, in some sense.
You know, a lot of times people want to discount the preacher simply because he didn't go to some seminary somewhere
and have his mind filled with a bunch of lies because he didn't go somewhere
and pay a bunch of money to have people cause him to doubt in the word of God.
And then they'll just write a guy off because, oh, well, he didn't go to, you know, some theological seminary somewhere.
When really, you know, those places a lot of times just make you more ignorant of the word of God.
They'll just take the faith right out of you. OK. And people get on a high horse about these these colleges and things like this.
People, you know, have really, I've heard people just talk down to pastors and other people in ministry
just from that high horse of, you know, having a degree, having a diploma.
You know, they'll hear a preacher say something they don't like and they'll just say, oh, you ignorant fool.
You've never went to some Bible college. You never went to, you know, you don't have some degree in something.
You know, you didn't go to some seminary and get trained up. You're an ignorant and unlearned man.
And yet those same men of God will know the Bible ten times better.
You know, what they're mad about is actually something that's biblical.
You know, they'll hear them preach against something that they they they're just they're the ones that are ignorant of what the Bible actually says.
They get triggered. But oh, oh, oh, they went and they got a degree somewhere.
So now they can really talk down to somebody else. They can talk down to an actual man of God.
It's pathetic. So I think that's kind of what's going on here.
You have these guys that are in the certain, you know, intellectual circle.
They've gotten this specific education that Peter and John Fisherman.
Right. Just blue collar guys were not a part of. So now they're seeing they're perceiving that they were not like them.
Ignorant and unlearned. Not in the sense that they were dumb.
They knew the scripture. He's quoting it. OK. But in the sense that they weren't part of their same circle.
And I love Psalm 118. I should have had you turn there, but I'll just read it to you.
This is kind of this is where he's quoting from. He said, the stone which the builders refuse.
The same has become the head of the corner. Right. That's what he said in verse 11.
This this is the stone just set at not a few builders, which has become the head of the corner.
That's not an exact quote, but that's what he's referring to.
OK, proving that he wasn't ignorant and unlearned in the sense that he didn't know the Bible.
OK. They didn't know prophecy. He didn't put these things together.
And it's interesting. He just quotes Psalm 18 verse 22.
But then it goes on in that same passage in Psalm 118. It says in verse 23.
This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
And isn't that something that, you know, it's this thing of the resurrection and and the church being started.
It's a marvelous thing in our eyes. Right. That's what it says in Psalm 118.
The stone, you know, which is which which the builders feel that the same has become the head of the corner.
Right. That's a marvelous thing to them. That the that the nation of Israel rejected them.
And they're saying, this is marvelous. This is something that we marvel at.
This is something that puts us, you know, we're taken aback by. Right.
And Peter and John are seeing this play out right in front of their very eyes.
They're seeing the head, that cornerstone being rejected by the very people he would think would have known to accept him.
Right. To whom, you know, whose are the fathers to whom were committed the oracles of God.
Right. The Jewish people that day who had the Old Testament.
It's marvelous to them to see this taking place. This is the day which the Lord hath made.
We will rejoice and being glad in it.
They were glad, you know, that the fact that, you know, God was moving, that God was working.
And this is kind of leaning into my next point. We don't want to be people glorify ignorance.
But at the same time, we don't want to be people who over glorify intelligence and learning.
OK. And become, you know, overly intellectual.
All right. And again, I'm not making the case for not learning.
I think I just spent a few minutes, probably a little bit longer than some people would have cared.
I don't know. Making the case for being a person who gives attendance to these things,
to reading, exhortation and doctrine, to meditate upon these things that are profiting may appear at all.
OK. But, you know, maybe you say, well, you know what, I'm just I'm not going to be some super smart person.
And I get that we're all not going to be as intelligent as everybody else.
You know, some people are more intelligent than others. That's just the way it works.
You know, that's that's no fault against people who who are less intelligent, you know,
or maybe, you know, haven't taken the time to develop their minds in that way.
That's, you know, or maybe where we are might even be limited a little bit in our faculties.
OK. But as you said in some 119, this is the day which the Lord hath made.
I will rejoice and be glad in it. You know, if that's you, if you if you sit there and think,
well, you know, I'm never going to be, you know, considered the smartest guy in the room.
And you know what? So what? What do you know? Think about what you do know, though.
You know about the gospel. You know about the Bible. You know about Christ.
You know about salvation. Be glad in that. You know, and this is kind of leading in my next point,
is that we don't want to over glorify learning either or intelligence because people could swing in the other direction.
Where their life just becomes all caught up in just learning intellectualism and just, you know,
you know, just just and then then they kind of get in the ivory tower and start to talk down to other people who,
quite frankly, just might not have the faculties to be able to achieve that level of learning.
You know, and that's perfectly natural to have people at all different levels. God made us that way.
But, you know, some people are just not going to be as intelligent as others.
And we don't want to swing in the other direction either. We want to find balance.
And you know what I found is that the most humble people that I know are often the most intelligent people that I know.
It's a very, you know, I don't know what to call it, you know, but I found it to be true that, you know,
some of the most intelligent people I've ever met are the most intelligent.
And I think that speaks to their humility. When you know somebody has way more knowledge than they let on.
When you know somebody who could just, you know, really go deep on subjects and really explain things very thoroughly
and very deeply, where it would be very hard for people to follow along even and comprehend,
who could speak at a very, you know, high level of intelligence.
You could speak very eloquently or very intelligently about certain subjects and they don't do it.
They don't go there. You know, to me that just makes that, to me that just says that's a more humble person.
Right. I'm not saying you have to be smart before you can be humble. Okay. Obviously we can all be humble.
Okay. We don't all have to have a PhD to figure out how to have humility. Right.
But, you know, at the other, I guess what I'm getting at is it's okay to be,
if you're someone who has the ability to become more intelligent, by all means do that.
If you have been gifted and if God has given you the ability and if you've exercised your mind
or if you've been brought up in a certain way to where you still have the full use of your faculties
to where you can really expand your knowledge and become very intelligent in some area, by all means pursue that.
It's going to help you immensely and it's going to profit other people as well.
Just don't get lifted up. Don't get puffed up in that knowledge. Remain humble.
You know, and I would say that probably, you know, the case is that people who have more intelligence,
more learning, more understanding, they might have to work a little bit harder at remaining humble
and not allowing themselves to be lifted up with pride. Okay.
So don't overglow. We don't want to glorify ignorance and we don't want to overglow or glorify intelligence either.
Okay. God has made us all at different levels of intelligence and we need to understand that that's just the way it is.
Let's go over to Matthew chapter 21. Matthew chapter number 21.
You know, the same crowd is the crowd that Jesus kind of, you know, kind of put them in their place too, right?
Because this is the circle that, you know, people that would over glorify their intelligence,
that would get puffed up and lifted up with knowledge, it's the same crowd that's, you know,
giving a third degree to Peter and John in Acts chapter four right now.
It's the scribes, the elders, the rulers of the people, right? It's the same people that resisted Christ.
It's the same people that were, you know, trying to, you know, ultimately crucified it.
You know, and Jesus, you know, he kind of, you know, put them down too.
He kind of put, took them down a few notches, didn't he?
You know, in Acts chapter four it says, they saw and perceived, right?
They were upset at what about Peter and John that they were teaching what was, what they were upset at what was being taught, right?
Not that the fact that these men were teaching, but what they were teaching, what they were teaching is the resurrection, you know, through Christ.
That's what they didn't want to hear.
They were grieved, it said in verse two of Acts four, that they taught the people and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
And so that's what they were upset about.
And it was what was being taught.
And it just goes to show that, you know, they were very intellectual people perhaps, but also very ignorant.
But it is interesting how often Jesus kind of called them out on maybe not being as smart as they thought they were, right?
Matthew 24 verse 42, Jesus said to them, did you never read in the scriptures, right?
And that's a phrase that he brings up a lot.
Did you never read?
And remember who he's talking to, scribes and Pharisees, the people you think would have done the most reading.
And you kind of wonder, it's like, well, is that the problem?
Did they not read or is it that they read and never understood?
You know, I think Jesus is saying it in kind of a mocking way.
He's not just going, well, you guys' problem is you just never read.
You know, if you read this, you know, you'd be all set.
I think what's going on here is that they read and they didn't understand because the natural man cannot receive the things of God,
neither can he know them for they're spiritually discerned, right?
But he's kind of saying in a mocking way, didn't you ever read, right?
The stone which the builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.
This is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes.
Obviously, if they're scribes, you know, people who in a lot of instances had committed entire books of the Old Testament to memory,
you know, they probably would have known that scripture.
So I think Jesus is kind of saying it in a mocking way.
And it's kind of reminding us that even though we might be well read,
even though we might be more intelligent, have more understanding and more knowledge than other people might,
you know, there's still a possibility that we could be lifted up with pride.
You know, and that's something we have to look out for.
We want to stay humble, right?
Stay humble or get humbled.
That's a good model to live by.
Go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 1.
1 Corinthians chapter number 1.
Because again, you know, we don't ever want to talk down to people.
We don't ever want to get in our learning, you know, get the superior attitude that somehow we're better than other people.
Just because we know something.
You know, and people can get this even just over salvation.
Or they know something about the Word of God.
Or some, you know, new saved believer comes in and who doesn't is ignorant of certain things about the Word of God.
And people can even, you know, treat that other brother or sister in Christ poorly simply because they don't know something.
But here's the thing, you know, none of us was born with the knowledge that we have.
Lest I'm mistaken, you know, unless there's someone out there as some kind of a freak, you know,
where you were just, you know, at birth you just knew all the stuff that you know today.
We all had to learn that, right?
But I've seen this in Christians and it's amazing, you know, how quickly Christians can forget how ignorant they were at one point.
How they had to come to church and learn certain things and go through certain things and they had to, you know,
maybe learn some things the hard way or have somebody kind of correct them on certain things.
And the Bible tells us in Romans 12 to be at the same mind one toward another.
Mind not high things but what? Condescend to men of low estate.
That's how we're supposed to be. Like Jesus who took upon himself the form of a servant.
Right? And became like man. He was found like a man. Okay?
That's the attitude that we should have. To condescend to men of low estate.
You know, and not just say, well, you know, this person's beneath me. I know more than this person.
You know, I've been at this longer. I'm more intelligent. I've learned all these lessons.
You know, and that's an attitude that can creep in. We don't want.
Mind not high things but condescend to men of low estate.
Because honestly, you know, as far as the world's concerned, that's the men of low estate is what often makes up the church.
It's just a fact. You know, we don't have a lot of powerful movers and shakers in our church.
You know, and that's not something I desire. It's not something that, oh, we're really missing out on having a senator or a mayor or some chief or whatever in here.
You know, some corrupt politician who's just interested in lining his pockets.
Truth is, a lot of these politicians would probably get kicked out of church like this.
But, you know, we want to condescend to men of low estate because often that's who God is going to call to build the church.
You know, men of low estate. Men who don't have some pedigree.
You know, people who aren't going to, you know, necessarily be lifted up and exalted by the world.
Okay, look at, you say, well, I don't know about that. Well, look at 1 Corinthians 1, verse 26.
For you see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh. Right?
Wise men after the flesh. Not, he's not saying not many wise men. Like, you see how many, not many, you know, intelligent people are called.
He's not saying, see how much, see you're all just a bunch of dummies. That's not what he's saying.
It's wise men after the flesh. Right? The big shots of this world. Wise men after the flesh. Not many mighty, not many noble. Right?
The elite, the ruling. Not many of them are called. Now, it says not many. Okay? He didn't say none at all. He said not many.
Because also, you know, we don't want to look down on people who maybe do have our mighty, you know, who are noble.
Because even those people can get saved. Right? All things are possible with God.
You know, who then can be saved? Hey, all things are possible with God. How hard is it for the rich to enter into heaven?
But you know what? All things are possible with God. So even if sin did, you know, some, you know, it is possible for a big mover or shaker to get saved and join a church, you know, and be a blessing.
But what Paul is saying here is that it's not many. And probably in some cases, you know, the smaller a church is, it's none at all.
Not many wise men of the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Verse 27,
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.
But God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.
And again, he's saying after the flesh. Because people, I don't want people to read this or hear this and think that God just chooses, you know, dummies or something.
And that it's okay that we should glorify being ignorant. And that's not what he's saying. It's as far as the world is concerned.
And he does that to confound the things which are mighty. He used a couple of fishermen to confound the mighty Pharisees, to confound that great intellectual circle, that great religious sect that had ruled over the people,
you know, for all those years. Hundreds and hundreds of years are being confounded by simple fishermen.
Not stupid people, ignorant men in the sense that they weren't brought up and learned like they were. They didn't go to all their, you know, didn't get all the learning that they had.
But what did they know? They knew the Bible. They had the Holy Spirit. That's who God uses, right?
Humble people will be filled with the Spirit. You know, the things that the world would call weak and foolish, that's who God is going to use to confound the things which are mighty.
Verse 28, the base things of the world and the things which are despised by the world hath God chosen. Yea, things which are not to bring and not things that are.
You know, and that's really true. Because when you think about it, you know, and I don't want to be taken the wrong way,
but when you think about it, when you think of some of the ways, you know, certain preachers, you know, our pastor, other preachers that we know,
the world would look at some of these men of God and they do this. They mock, oh, you meet in a strip mall.
They would look at this church, a church like this, and they, oh, you meet in a warehouse. Oh, it's such a small group of people.
Oh, he doesn't even have a formal education from some seminary somewhere. You know, and yet those same men have made waves in the world.
The same men have, their voices and their message have gone around the world. I believe that literally.
They've got, I mean, when some sensational story breaks and, you know, Pastor Roger Jimenez, you know, is a great example of this.
You know, meeting in a space much like this. People in the world would look at that and say, he's weak, he's despised, he's base.
You know, what, he's not part of some great powerful movement. He doesn't have a bunch of letters behind his name.
You know, he doesn't have all these, you know, credentials that the world would insist upon.
And yet it's his message that has gone around the world. Pastor Anderson, others that we can name.
Simple, humble men who just, like Peter and John, got filled with the Holy Spirit, knew their Bible, and just had the boldness to preach it.
That's who God uses to confound the mighty. You know, so don't ever think for a second that that can't be you.
You know, you sit there and say, well, you know, who am I? Who are any of us? Who are any of us?
We're nobody. We're just simple people. Oh, I could never preach. I could never go out and preach the gospel. I could never be used by God.
Oh, yes, you could. You know, the person that God can't use is the proud, puffed up, arrogant jerk who thinks he already knows everything and can't be taught anything.
Who's going to just try to get all the glory for himself. That's who God's not going to use.
The person that, you know, the less you think about yourself, the more likely God could use you.
Honestly, the less full you are of yourself, the more God can fill you and use you in a mighty way. It's true.
God uses the base things. God uses the weak things of this world to confound those things which are mighty.
And that's a powerful thing. Think about that, what it's saying. It confounds them.
It takes mighty powerful things and just they're flabbergasted. It's a marvelous thing in our eyes.
That's what God does and that, you know, God could do that for any of us.
So I believe that's something we can get out of this message here. Peter's just being so bold, doing this great miracle, preaching this powerful message.
And these guys are taken aback by it. They're put out by it. They're confounded by it.
And one of the things that they just can't wrap their minds around about this is the fact that they know these are ignorant and unlearned men.
That these are just simple, hardworking, blue collar, working class fishermen.
You know, they don't hail from some great, you know, pedigree. They don't come from nobility.
And yet here they are bringing thousands of people. Five thousand people are listening to their words and believing it.
And it goes back, you know, this is the Pharisees' problems the whole time. Envy. You know, they're envious.
They were envious at Christ. They were envious, you know, they wanted to hang on to the power for themselves.
They wanted, they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.
You know, they wanted to be heard in the marketplace. You know, they wanted to be seen praying and having all these long prayers, going about in long clothing.
They wanted all the attention. So when somebody else comes along who's not looking to just glorify themselves,
but actually glorify God and is used in such a powerful and mighty way, they're jealous. They're envious at that.
They're confounded by it. And it's, you know, nothing's changed. Nothing's changed.
It's the same, same situation today. Simple men of God will get up behind a pulpit and open up an old-fashioned King James Bible and just say it like it is.
And that message will go out and it'll speak to people's hearts. People will get saved. People will join churches. People will change.
You know what? And other people will see that happening and they'll be envious.
They'll be envious that some guy in a strip mall somewhere is running hundreds.
You know, while some guy's got a big old building, it's empty. Big Baptist buildings with nobody in it.
It's just slowly dying off. And they'll just lash out at other men of God. They'll just lash out at the preacher.
Where does it come from? Envy. A lack of humility. Okay?
So that's kind of the message I wanted to bring out of this portion of scripture tonight is that we need to stay humble.
Not in the sense that we just want to be, you know, just pearl bumpkins who just don't know nothing.
You know, we want to be people who learn. We don't want to be ignorant in the sense that we don't know anything.
But we don't want to overemphasize intellectualism either. And there's got to be that balance there.
Look, if you're still in First Corinthians chapter one, he says there in verse twenty eight,
and the base things of the world and the things which are despised have God chosen you,
the things which are not to bring to not the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.
So why does God choose the why has God chosen us to do his work?
Why has God chosen, you know, people such as ourselves who maybe aren't the most eloquent
or the most sophisticated or the most powerful people in the world?
So that no flesh should glory in his presence. You know, if I ever managed to preach a message that actually blesses somebody,
it's like, well, glory be to God. You know, praise God for his word, because it's his word that makes a message good.
You know, you go out there and you humbly and meekly knock on a door and just simply preach the gospel.
You know, you might stutter, you might stammer. You might have to backtrack.
And, you know, it might be a little awkward experience preaching the gospel. Somebody gets saved.
Well, all glory to God then, you know, because that's who God can use, right?
The guy who's just out trying to glorify himself.
Let's move on the story. It says in verse 18,
and they called them and commanded them that this always this this just every time I've read it,
it just it just humors me because it's it's like trying it.
They're asking the impossible here. I mean, think about being Peter and John.
Think about everything that they've seen, because that's what they say.
We can't help but see this, speak the things we've both seen and heard.
Right. And they're asking that they just they just healed a guy that had been laying well into his 40s from his birth.
They just saw 5000 people get saved. They just experienced the day of Pentecost.
And now these guys are to come along and say, well, OK, you need to shut up now.
Stop preaching. Stop that. It's such a it's such a ridiculous request.
And I'm going somewhere with this. They call them and commanded them not to speak nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Yeah. Why don't you go catch the wind while you're at it?
You know, because think about who they're talking to and everything that they've seen, who's not going to talk about this.
Oh, sorry, we didn't realize we're being so offensive outside.
Well, I didn't realize we're stepping on your toes. Oh, I'm sorry that that this bothers you.
We'll stop. OK. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you,
to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
It's like we're saying is think about how stupid your question is.
It's a nice way of putting it or a fancy way of putting it. Right.
Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you or unto God judge ye.
He's kind of putting it back on them. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.
You know, and we don't we don't might not get cornered necessarily like these guys are being cornered.
But we have people that try to stop us today, don't we, who want us to just stop talking.
I was thinking about this. We actually got a call. This is something that happens from time to time where, you know, some local police department will call the church.
You know, or some manager from some apartment complex will call the church or some private resident will call.
You know, or we'll be out door knocking and people will start, you know, saying this is you can't solicit this neighborhood.
Stop. And they honestly it's as dumb as request is this to me.
It's like we can't help but speak the things which ain't hurting. Like it's like, don't you understand what we believe?
They must not. I mean, it's like, well, we believe that, you know, we're not only are we doing it because we're commanded to go and preach the gospel to every creature,
but we actually believe in a place called heaven. We actually believe in a place called hell.
We actually believe that salvation is by grace through faith and that it's easy to be saved.
You know, we're sitting on a spiritual gold mine here called Salvation.
And you expect us to just zip because, you know, you don't want your precious little peace and quiet to be disturbed by, you know, a little.
You might actually have to tell somebody I'm not interested. Right.
It's a stupid request. When the police officer calls the church and wants to explain to us how,
you know, some statute somewhere that some was written down in some book by man somewhere, you know, Trump's the Bible.
Trump's, you know, even the Constitution. Right. You know, but beyond.
So what the Constitution with ultimately God is an authority.
That's what it reminds me of. Hey, stop that. We can't help it.
You know, and you know, and a lot of times, you know, and I'm going to get into some and go to Romans 13, Romans chapter 13.
So what do you do when these cops call? Do you give them a hard time?
Do you call you call them back after they left the voicemail?
I'd really appreciate it if the pastor or somebody the church would return my call.
But what one my policy is, if you don't tell me why you're calling, I'm not calling you back.
People just say, here's my name and number. Please give me a call.
Nope. Because I've called those numbers back. And you know what? You find out why they're calling.
And it wasn't any reason that you want to talk to them. A lot of time they just want to give you an earful.
Right. And, you know, the Scottsdale police, whoever was calling our church, wanted to get a hold of us.
I'm sure he's not trying to commend us on the great job we're doing soul winning.
You know, he's probably got a call from an apartment manager who's all mad and upset.
You know, some HOA representative is going to get, you know,
the authorities involved to stop us from doing what we're doing by, you know, citing some law that they made up somewhere.
Say, is there a law? I don't know.
You know, and now ask me if I care. I don't. Even if there is a law, I don't care.
Well, aren't you afraid of the words you do? They're going to take you to jail? Take me to jail.
Take me to jail. And that's what, that's the, you know, what a crazy world.
You're going to lock somebody up without just trying to preach the gospel.
Well, that's not it. You know, we're locking up because you're trespassing. Well, lock me up then.
Now, I don't want people to get the wrong idea. You know, what do we do when the people like that call?
I just don't call them back. You know, there's nothing to say to them.
And honestly, a lot of times these police officers, they're just, you know, they just have a report.
They just have paperwork to fill out. They just have to check the box.
You know, did you attempt to make contact to the, you know, the violator or whatever?
I don't know what the paperwork reads. Did you reach out to the church? Yes, I did.
Did you get a response? No, I didn't. He can close the case and actually go on to something that matters.
You know, we're going to call the cops. Call the cops until there's people, you know, there's a bunch of people down here with Bibles.
They've got Bibles and they're dressed nice and they have sweet little kids with them.
Get here quick. Hurry before they open the Bible up and read it to somebody.
You know, that sounds crazy, but that's exactly what they're saying.
You know, what's even crazier is they respond to that.
And the worst ones are the Chandler Police Department.
Man, I guess Chandler is such a safe place because there's got nothing better to do than go harass a bunch of people from a church.
It's crazy.
And they can show up with all their squad cars and they can get out by, you know, have a half dozen officers show up somewhere we're selling, which has happened.
And they can tell us how we're violating some policy.
And, you know, I'm not even going to even get into the semantics and the word games of whether or not we're actually breaking law.
I'm just going to say, you know what, we'll be back and we'll stop knocking it when we've knocked every door.
That's our response. Beyond that, there's nothing else to say to them.
And they'll say, well, just so you know, we'll be arrested.
Okay, see you next week.
And you say, well, where do you get that?
Well, you know, it's kind of takes me back to Acts chapter four. It's kind of the same story, isn't it?
Stop that.
Can't help it, bud.
You know, and we're going to obey God and we have been commissioned by God and they can mock that and they might not understand that.
But the fact is, we've been commanded to go and preach the gospel to every creature, every single one of them.
You know, and obviously we're going to start in the places where we're a lot less likely, you know, where it's the people you're actually preaching to that you might have to be a little bit more worried about.
Then, you know, the squad car pulling up, right? You go to the safe neighborhoods and that's where the cops get called.
You know, those are the people, those are the ones you really have to look out for sometimes.
But anyway, you know, obviously we're going to start with the poor.
You know, that's where we're going to go where we're less likely to have, you know, these confrontations with, you know, the local authorities.
But I guarantee you eventually it's going to happen even here.
You're going to have that apartment manager, you know, and let me just say, you know, we don't want to antagonize people either.
Because sometimes people hear a sermon like this and they get all fired up and it's like, yeah, let's go mix it up with them.
I don't try to antagonize people when I'm out there, you know, which isn't always easy.
But I try not to, okay? Sometimes people make it really hard, right, when they have some smart aleck answer and you just, you got a good one.
You want to fire back, right? But, you know, and a lot of times these cops, they're just doing their job, you know.
And I thought about calling that guy back. I said, you know, I'm going to call him back and I'm going to tell him what the Bible says.
How we, you know, if he wants to cite law to me that we can turn to the, you know, Supreme Court case, which would take place back in the 70s.
A lot of how it's not soliciting and that, you know, no one single person could speak for an entire, you know, apartment complex.
I mean, think about how ridiculous that is. One person says, oh, you can't be here. You're speaking for everybody.
What about the people that want us here? Can we be there? You know?
You know, but I was like, I'm not going to even get into it, you know, because maybe that cop is just, he's having a long, he just wants to get the case clear.
He's probably glad I didn't call him back. He's probably like, please don't call back. I'm just, I'm supposed to do this, right?
So we don't get the wrong idea, you know.
Look at 1 Timothy. Did I have you go there? Sorry, I should have had you go there. 1 Timothy.
Actually, you know what? Romans 13 is where I had you go, right? Okay, just stay in Romans 13. I'll read to you from 1 Timothy 2.
He said, I exhort, therefore, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.
I'm going to preach this because some people sometimes in church, they don't like the idea that, you know, that not every cop is some wicked reprobate that it's okay for us just to hate on.
And sometimes people have the wrong view of authority, okay?
And I'm not trying to get up and make the case that, you know, all these cops are great either. They're all people though at the end of the day.
Sometimes we have to learn to just separate, you know, the person from the position and understand that every single person is a person regardless of what role they're fulfilling.
They're still, you know, judge each person as they come to you, okay?
Anyway, for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
That's what we're trying to do. We just want to live a quiet and peaceable life. We just want to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
We just want to love God, go to church, preach the Bible, learn the Bible, do the things of God. That's what we're trying to do.
That's why we pray for the people that we pray for. That's why we pray for kings and they that are in authority, that they would leave us alone, okay?
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God who have all meant to be saved and common to the knowledge of the truth, okay?
And there's this kind of this thread I want to like develop here from Acts 4.
In Acts 4, they're saying don't preach, don't speak anymore in this name.
We can't help but speak the things which we've both seen and heard. We can't help but go out and do what we're supposed to do.
We have to preach the gospel. We can't help this. You judge whether it's right for us to obey God or man, okay?
And in 1 Timothy, you kind of see that same thread, right?
He's saying, hey, pray for them that are in authority so we can live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty, right?
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior who will have all meant to be saved and common to the knowledge of the truth.
So the point again is that the gospel will be preached, the gospel will be preached.
Not so that, you know, we can be some defiant anarchist so that we can stick it to the man so we can burn the system down.
That's not what we're called to do, you know, and that's why I don't need to call the Scottsdale police back and give them a piece of my mind, you know?
And when they try to stop me from preaching the gospel, then we'll have a problem, you know?
But even then, it's not like I'm going to physically resist anybody. I don't want to get tased.
But this is something that's in the Bible, you know, that we are to be subject unto powers, okay?
Titus 3, put them in mind, right? This is Titus, he's being told, preach this. Put them in mind to be subject to principalities.
You know, principalities would be like a municipality, right?
It would be like someone who's been ruling, someone who's a principal, right, who's a prince.
Put them in mind to be subject to principalities and powers, to obey magistrates, right?
Obey magistrates, judges, rulers, you know, we are to obey them.
To be ready to every good work, you know, we should be ready to do every good work.
To speak evil of no man, to be no brawlers, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men.
You know, unless they're in some position that we don't like, unless they represent some kind of institution that we're against,
then we don't have to show any meekness towards them.
No, we're to show meekness unto all men, whether we like it or not.
And some people can get a real bad attitude sometimes about people that are in authority, and that's not the way it ought to be.
And look, I'm not saying there aren't bad people in authority, there are.
But you know what, we're to be subject, and we're to strive to be at peace with all men, to show meekness unto all men,
and not go out there trying to buck the system, you know, and do all these things.
And sometimes Christians get caught up in this stuff, where they get more concerned about, you know,
just standing up for some right or some liberty.
And look, I'm glad for those things, and there's a time and place for all that,
but it should never come at the expense of what we're actually here to do, just preach the gospel.
People get more enthused about that kind of thing.
You know, they want to spend more time wiring their license plate, so that when they can run through a yellow light
and have it fold down pneumatically, and not have their picture taken,
than they are about actually going out to preach the gospel.
You say, what are you talking about? I knew a guy, and it was some MacGyver stuff,
and it was some ingenuity went into it. I was impressed.
He had a little switch that he had wired in his dash in his car that he could flip,
and it would cause his license plate to lay down in the back, so he could run through yellow lights and speed.
Do they have the cameras down here? Not anymore? I think they still have in Phoenix.
You've all, okay, maybe not all of you, but some of us might have seen that flash, right?
They got us, right? I'll admit it. They got me on the camera one time, got a big ticket.
It was like $400. Remember that one? You say, how fast were you going?
I was doing $20 in a $15. $400. Man, I could have used that switch.
Or drive through like this. Oh, it's not me. You can't make out my face. I don't know. I don't know who that is.
When guys get more caught up in that kind of thing, where they're just trying to stick it to the man,
where they're just trying to beat the system, then they are actually trying to do the good work that we're called to do.
I'd rather just leave that stuff alone and maybe just take my foot off the accelerator and be less of an aggressive driver
and be more worried about the things of God. I know it's kind of a silly example,
but I'm trying to make an application here. People get caught up in these things,
and we're supposed to obey magistrates, and people don't like to hear this,
but this is what the Bible says, and this is what Titus was told to preach.
Put them in mind to be subject unto these things and the powers to obey magistrates,
to obey every good work. Speak evil of no man. We're not anarchists.
I think sometimes people get the wrong idea about what it means to be a Bible-believing Christian,
because we understand that the whole world lieth in wickedness. We understand that there are rulers in high places.
We battle against the powers and principalities in high places, the rulers of darkness of this world. We understand that.
But that's not every cop. Some of those guys are just sincere about what they're trying to do.
They really do want to help people. They are. There are some guys that just really, that's what they do.
Whether you want to have a discussion, whether or not they're misguided, I don't know.
But isn't it funny when we need one how quick we are to call one?
You're in Romans 13, right? I mean, I'm glad there's somebody out there doing some of these jobs.
I don't know why anyone would want to do them, but I'm glad it's not me. I'm glad I'm caught up in doing the work of God.
He says in Romans 13, verse 1, let every soul be subject unto the higher powers, for there is no power but of God.
The powers that are are ordained of God. So we are to be subject unto powers, to these principalities.
Now, obviously, ultimately, the greatest power here is God. Verse 3, rulers are not a terror to good works but the evil.
So when they become a ruler to good works, then obviously there's an issue.
When they start calling up Baptist churches and telling us to quit preaching the gospel, they're becoming a terror to good works.
But even then, you know, I'm going to strive to live peaceably with all men.
Verse 7, render therefore to all their dues. Let's back up to verse 5.
Wherefore must needs be subject not only for wrath but also for conscience sake.
For this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this very thing, which is to punish evildoers.
That's what they're called to.
Obviously, they're overreaching today. They've overextended themselves as their authority.
I get that.
But so should we all just quit paying our taxes? Should we all just take up that cause?
Fight the IRS? Because obviously, you know, they're taking our tax money and doing wicked things with it.
What they do with it is their problem. They'll give an account. I'm just here to being subject.
I'm just, as it says here, verse 6, for this cause pay ye tribute also, for they are God's ministers attending continually upon this thing.
Render therefore, verse 7, to all their dues. Like Jesus said, render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and the things which are God's gods.
You know, pay them their dues so we can go about and live our lives and serve God.
Rather than get caught up in fighting the wrong battles.
And I'm preaching this because people do this. Christians do this. They get caught up in fighting the wrong battles.
And I'm not necessarily saying they're even bad battles.
I'm not even saying that they aren't even, you know, maybe a legitimate battle.
That I could see why people would want to fight. But it's not the battle that we're called to.
God's not going to, we're not going to get to heaven. God's not going to slap us in the back and say, well done, standing up for the second amendment.
And I'm for the second amendment. I love it. I'm glad there's people out there exercising it.
You know what? But there's not, you know, there's a whole lot more people today standing up for the second amendment than the gospel.
There's a whole lot more people out there today sending up for all these liberties and rights and I'm glad they're there.
But where are God's people standing up for the gospel? That's who we need.
That's the good work that we're called to. Let the world fight those battles. Let them go out there.
They can't fight the battle that we're called to fight.
You know, the unsaved man who might, you know, be out there waving the flag and standing up for the Constitution and the second amendment and all these other rights and all our liberties.
Great. You know what? That guy, that unsaved man, can't fight the battle we're called to. Only we can do it.
So why would we go fight their battle? And Christians do this.
And that kind of stuff becomes more important to them in this world than the battle they're actually called to fight.
Yeah, but all the wickedness. You know what? They're all, be subject unto them.
You know, strive to be at peace with all men as much as it lieth in you.
You know, as wicked as our government is getting, as wicked as this world is getting, you know, I'm still living a pretty quiet and peaceable life.
I don't really feel like I need to stand up and fight against some tyrannical government because I still can go about my business.
I can still go about it. Why? Because other people, the world, the unsaved, they can go fight that battle.
I'm going to fight this battle. That's what we need.
And obviously, where do you draw the line? When they start commanding me do sinful things, OK?
Because again, verse one in Romans 13, there is no power but of God.
The powers that be are ordained of God. Ultimately, God is the greatest authority.
When I'm starting being forced to do ungodly things, which has not happened, then I'll disobey.
You know, then I'll then I'll be more interested in fighting some worldly cause when they start getting in the way of me preaching the gospel.
And so far, you know, Officer so-and-so from the Scottsdale Police Department leaving a voicemail, a polite voicemail asking us to call him back.
It's not really him getting in the way of me preaching the gospel.
You know, some no soliciting sign, some mildly irate apartment manager really isn't getting in the way of me preaching the gospel, are they?
In fact, they're just making it more entertaining, to be perfectly honest. I get a kick out of it.
I mean, we were in a Mormon neighborhood last night, and man, I tell you what, I think maybe one person got saved.
And it was a lot of not interested, but there were some entertaining doors. I can't say everything that was said from the pulpit.
And it was the person at the door that said these things, not us. OK?
And it might not have been receptive, but it was entertaining, you know?
But you know what they didn't stop me from doing? Moving on to the next door and moving on to the next door and moving on.
Look from that person that will get saved.
So that's where I'll draw the line when they actually get in the way of me and the gospel and preaching it.
You know, Peter is disobeying here against these men because he's acting in obedience to the Great Commission.
That's the difference.
Peter's really, you know, he's kind of bucking the system, isn't he? Isn't he kind of sticking it to them?
Isn't he kind of telling them how it's going to be?
Yeah, because they're actually trying to stop him from preaching Christ.
They're not trying to take away his sword.
You know, that's not the line he drew in the sand. He's not upset because, you know, they're trying to take away some civil liberty that he has.
They're trying to get him to stop preaching Christ. And that's why he's being disobedient.
That's why he's lashing out. That's why he's being bold the way he is.
And let's just finish the chapter out. You say, well, was that right for Peter to do? Well, look how it ends.
God, you know, kind of, you know, confirms his actions and his response.
Verse 23, and being let go, they went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
So they go back to the church and they tell them their great soul winning story about how they got these people saved and they got confronted.
Those are the best soul winning stories.
I mean, it's great to go out and it's like, hey, we didn't have any problems and everyone was super nice and people got saved.
Super receptive. Hey, I love that story. But is that very entertaining?
No, it's not. I mean, it's just not. It's great. You know, it's very refreshing, especially for those of us that are the ones telling the story.
You know, hey, we went to we went to Detroit and people were just coming out. They're walking on the sidewalk.
They're catching up to us. They were just getting saved left and right. It's great.
You're like, OK, but when did the gang banger show up? You know, when were you?
Did the Bloods and the Crips shoot it out in front of you? No.
Oh, well, I'm glad those people got saved. It's a great story, but it's not very entertaining.
Peter here might have run into some confrontation, but he had an entertaining story.
Man, the Jews showed up, the Pharisees, the scribes, the rulers, the people, they were mad.
They're telling us to stop. They threw us in the hole. They kept us overnight. We were in jail.
Right. Great story. Right. We like we like the stories, the soul stories that got a little bit of action in them.
Right. And it goes back to what I was just saying.
Makes things entertaining when you get that irate individual.
But so they tell him the story. Verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together.
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. So you can kind of see like they're reiterating everything.
They just took place in God saying, attaboy. That's what I want.
That's what I'm looking for. Fighting the right battle. Getting getting involved.
Getting involved in what matters. Standing up for what really matters in eternity.
Let them let other people fight these worldly battles that aren't going to matter in eternity.
God's confirming this. And the multitude of them, that believer of one heart and one soul.
And they said that out of these things which he possessed was his own.
I already kind of covered this. This isn't promoting communism or anything. We were touched on that because it kind of says something similar in Acts 2.
You know, we could get another application out of this. That's the way we ought to look at the things that we own in this world.
None of the things that we have are our own. The vehicles, the homes, the clothing, the food.
Everything that we have that we call ours is actually God's. I'm not saying let's all pile it together like they did here.
Obviously we talked about the next two. There was kind of probably a unique situation.
I already covered that. But let's just make another application real quick. Hey, that's the attitude we ought to have.
None of the things that we have are our own. Everything that has come to us has come from the hand of God. That's another sermon.
And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great grace is upon them all.
So God is just confirming everything that just happened, saying this is good.
And they sell everything. They brought the prices of the things that were sold. They laid them on the apostles feet.
Distribution was made on every man according as he had need.
And then you have Joseph, who was certainly in Barnabas, being interpreted as the son of consolation, a Levite,
into the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.
Now this is going to play in more into the coming weeks here. We'll see what that might have led to later.
But what I wanted, the application I want to make in closing is notice in the story how what they're doing in the closing here
is they're orienting their lives to the gospel, right?
Everything that they're doing, maybe we don't need to do exactly what they're doing in the story, obviously,
but the tip we should take from this is that these are people that have oriented their lives towards the preaching of the gospel.
That has become the central theme of their lives, preaching the gospel.
And that's kind of what I've been building up to. That's a case I've been trying to make through the sermon, right?
And fighting the right battles, you know, being subject to magistrates, living peace with all men,
showing meekness unto all men so that we can live in quiet and peaceable life and preach the gospel.
That's how we orient our lives towards the gospel. They're doing this in a very specific way,
selling their lands, taking their possessions, distributing to every man as they had to eat for the reasons that we looked at a couple weeks ago.
But the theme is, the idea is that they've oriented their lives towards the gospel. That's what we need to do in our lives.
We need to orient ourselves towards the preaching of the gospel. That should be the central theme of our lives as Christians.
What else are you here for besides preaching the gospel? If we are the only people that can do it, why would we not make that the central theme of our lives?
I understand, you know, we all have lives and I understand that we all are busy and I understand we all have other things to do,
but those things should all be in the peripheral of our lives. Our central focus in life should be the preaching of the gospel.
Because we're the only ones that can do it. Because we're the only ones, you know, as God's people, I'm not saying just this church,
but those of us that are saved and have the Holy Spirit and have the word of God in our hands and go out and be like Peter and speak boldly on his behalf.
You know, we're the ones that need to, we're the only ones that can do it. Then you know what? That's a great burden that falls upon us.
We need to orient our lives that way. That should be what we focus on in life. Obviously we have other things we have to take care of.
You know what? But all those things feed into what? Preaching the gospel. I mean, that's what I see in the end of Acts, chapter 4.
They're selling everything. They're just like, hey man, this is exciting. We just want to preach. We just want to go out there.
Let's just, I got an idea. Let's just, all of us just sell everything we have. We'll all just live here.
We'll just distribute as we need, every man needs, and we'll all just go out and just preach and just spread this thing like wildfire.
And thank God that they did, because it did spread like wildfire and went into all corners of the earth,
and that's why the gospel has gone on even to this day. That's why you and I are sitting in this room saved tonight,
because people all the way back in Acts oriented their lives to the gospel. It's not a big ask for us to do the same. Let's go ahead and pray.