Acts 4:13-22
Please remain standing and turn
in your copy of God’s word to Acts chapter four. Our reading will be the fourth
chapter verses 13 to 22. I lost my voice, excuse me, I
drank a swallow of water. Try another one here. Let’s see if we can do this. All right, Acts chapter four,
beginning at verse 13. Let’s ask for God’s blessing,
pray with me. Our Lord, we thank you for your
word. We pray that as it is read, you would give strength to my
voice, but give Holy Spirit clarity to each of us that we might read
and understand that we might hear and believe and that we
might respond and do what is What is required of us help us
in the name of Christ? We pray amen the Word of the
Living God from Acts chapter 4 beginning at verse 13 this
is speaking of the Sanhedrin when they saw the boldness of
Peter and John and 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 had been
performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread
no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no
more to anyone in this name. So they called them in and charged
them not to speak or to 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 40 years old. Amen. The word of the living God, you
may be seated. I think we understand from our
upbringings, but also from our knowledge of the scripture, that
to obey those in authority over us is to obey Christ. We understand from the scriptures
that we’re to work heartily as unto the Lord, not offering lip
service or eye service to our earthly masters. But if we have
a, if we have a job, our number one job is to please our boss.
The second part of our job, I was always told, was to get paid.
The third part of the job was to cash the check, take it straight
to the bank, don’t lose it. But we understand that our job
when we work is to please our boss. As we work unto the Lord,
we can’t help but please those who are over us in an earthly
way. Romans chapter 13 tells us to obey the civil magistrate. We’re to give honor and respect
to those who bear the sword. Our God has given the civil magistrate
to bear the sword to punish evil, but also to reward good. They do not bear the sword in
vain. Children obey your parents and
the Lord. Ephesians 6, 1 tells us it’s
a commandment with a promise. Remember the fifth commandment,
the 10 commandments, honor your father and mother, that it may
go well with you in the land, the Lord your God is giving you.
Lots of commands in the scripture to obey those who rule over us. The fifth commandment, honor
your father and mother is explained further in our shorter catechism
or larger catechism. It says we are to give. proper
respect, honor, and obedience, not just to our parents, but
to those who have their places. They have their seats of authority. So we’re a student in school.
We do what the teacher asks. We’re out on the streets. We
obey a police officer. We go to court. We sit under
the authority of that judge. We’re citizens of Burlington,
or Graham, or Hall River, or Mebane, or Saxapahaw, or Gibsonville,
or wherever it is we live. We have local authorities. We
have a governor over our state. We have a president over our
nation. We have senators and representatives, congressmen.
We have people over us. And our God has commanded us
to give obedience where obedience is due. But the question comes,
is there ever a time when we disobey? We disobey for good
biblical theological reasons, those God has put over us. Should
a child ever disobey their parents? Should a citizens ever disobey
their civil magistrate? Should a congregation disobey,
at least in our case, the elders of the church? Is there ever
a place, is there ever a time, is there ever a situation where
a God ordained authority whom we should ordinarily for the
sake of Christ obey, is there ever a time where we should say
what they have asked, what they require is ungodly. It’s unbiblical. We have a statement
in our confession of faith that says this, God alone is Lord
of the conscience. God alone is Lord of the conscience
and he has left it free for men to live their conscience. We examine the word of God. We examine our theology. We examine
what is good, right and true. And we live out of those convictions. We live a principled life. But
what if, What if another God-ordained authority says you must do this,
you must do that. Is there ever a circumstance?
Well, rewind to 2020. Back in March of 2020, I think
it was around the 8th, there was a state law that said churches
may not meet. I think we squeezed an extra
Sunday out of it because around here, we like to come to worship.
We like to be together. We like to give praise to God.
And so we squeezed one more Sunday out. But then there were about
eight weeks where we didn’t have service. And for me as the pastor,
it felt like the twilight zone. This is my calling. This is my
duty and my job. I wake up on Monday morning with
the stress of Sundays just six days away. It’s my vocation. It’s what I live and breathe
to do. But it’s also what you live and breathe to do. We live
to worship God. We live to be in his house. We
live Monday through Saturday one way. But we rest, we worship,
we gather on the Lord’s day. And so back in those days, it
was strange. And we went those eight weeks
and we talked about what should we do? What should we obey? Should we disobey, should we
have church? We made it those eight weeks.
And then I believe a case went before the court in North Carolina
against our governor. And that case was heard and was
won. And so the governor could not
tell churches what to do or what not to do. And so we returned
to church outdoors. Some of you remember the weeks
we had under the trees, the weeks we had under the beautiful early
summer, cool weather and the misty mornings, and then the
sun would kind of peek out from those trees as the service would
end. And then we made our way back in here. Um, how do we think
about the government telling the church that you can worship
or that you cannot worship or, or, or that you have to do it
in this way or that. And so here, here’s a, here’s
a way to think about that. What are the 10 commandments?
I am the Lord, your God. I brought you out of the land
of Egypt. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not
make for yourself a graven image. You shall not take God’s name
in vain. Fourth commandment. Remember the Sabbath day and
keep it holy. That’s a big one. But then we have these other
five or other six commandments. They’re our duty towards our
fellow man. Honor your father and mother. Do not murder. Do not commit
adultery. Do not steal. Do not kill. No, I said murder. Murder, adultery, steal, lie,
covet. Yeah, so murder. Don’t commit murder. So we’ve
got two commandments that are pretty big here. Worship God,
honor the Sabbath, and then don’t take life. Now we understand
from our catechisms, as it’s explained, it explains the commandments. There are requirements. Don’t
take the life of others. There are things that are forbidden.
Well, there are things forbidden, don’t take life, but there are
also requirements. We had to do everything possible
to promote life. So as Christians, as pro-life
people, you’ve got a disease, you’ve got a pestilence, you’ve
got a something that we didn’t at that time know a whole lot
about. And so all of a sudden you have the command to worship,
but you also have the command not to spread a disease that
may be deadly. We didn’t know at the time, did
we? And so we have this duty before God to worship him and
to gather, but we also have this duty not to, not to kill each
other. And so we, we as Christians have
this, um, this tension, which do we do? And so if, if our state
has a, well, they have a mandate, um, protect life. We should put
that pretty high up, shouldn’t we? But what happens here? The
question is really not, not in these two commandments, but what
happens when a state, what happens when a religious group, what
happens when maybe parents or a boss or a, Some authority in
this realm in which we live becomes, well, maybe tyrannical is the
word. That’s the case here in the book of Acts, the Sanhedrin,
the 70, the high priest, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the
religious leaders of the day, they’re holding tyranny over
the disciples. And they’re going to say to them,
don’t you preach the gospel? Don’t you do anything in Jesus
name. Don’t you do anything or else
you’re going to get it. We’re going to, we’re going to
slash your tires. Uh, we’re going to huff and we’re going to puff
and we’re going to blow your house down right there. They’re breathing
threats. Uh, we’re, we’re going to seize
your assets. We’re going to, um, oh, you name
it. They threatened it. Uh, but the
tyranny of the religious leaders. And so what’s a Christian to
do? What’s a servant of God to do
when he’s under obligation, under authority, but it takes a step
this way. It becomes tyrannical. It becomes
ungodly. Well, we take the example of
the apostles here. We must obey God. You judge whether
we’ve done right or wrong, but it’s our conviction. It’s our
heart’s desire to preach the gospel. It’s our heart’s desire
to heal in Jesus name. It’s our reason for living that
we do these things. Now, I can’t think of a better
example than what we have faced in our day and age. with restrictions. Can you worship? Can you not?
Can you gather? Can you not? That’s that’s been
before us these last 18 months. But I could see a day coming
and I’m sure you can as well. Stop preaching Jesus. Stop saying
he’s the only way. Stop saying that the Bible is
the only standard of moral authority in this world. Stop saying, stop
saying, stop saying. And what’s a church to do? The
church must continue to be committed to Jesus. The church must continue
to be steadfast to God’s holy word. The church must be courageous
under the breaths of threat and hardship. But the church must
also press on for what is The answer to the darkness and the
sin and the hardship. It’s the gospel. Only the gospel
can save. Only the gospel can reverse the
curse. Only the gospel can make all things new. Only the gospel
can unleash the blessings of God’s new creation work. I remember several weeks back
when we were studying the well, several months back studying
the The triumphal entry. Remember Jesus comes into Jerusalem
and he enters the city and the people lay down their coats,
they lay down their palm branches and they let him enter the city
saying, Hosanna, son of David, blessed is he who comes in the
name of the Lord. And the Pharisees, they come to Jesus and say, hush
them up. Hush up your disciples. And what
does Jesus say? If they don’t sing, then the
rocks will cry out. And one of the things we must
think about in our day and age, God will always have a witness.
God will always have a witness. It may be small and it may be
weak in some people’s eyes. There will be churches, there
will be people, there will be families, there will be Christian
institutions who, well, they give into the threats. They give
into the political correctness of the day. They give into the
desire to be with it, or posh, or bohemian, or whatever the
word is. They desire to be numbered among the favored in this world.
But God will not leave himself without witness. That’s one of
the great truths of the word of God, the witness of the church,
and God’s promise to his people. He will not leave himself without
witness. But one of the great things that
I think we can take great hope in, great assurance in, and we
are part of a church, part of a denomination, part of a family
of churches that holds fast to the word of the living God. We
hold fast to the gospel. We don’t give in to the politics
of the day. We don’t give in to the political correctness
of the day. We don’t give in to the watered
down church of the day. What a great encouragement that
is. But friends, it can be lost. It can be lost in a generation.
It can be lost in a few short years. But we think so much here
about Peter and his response. 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. Wouldn’t
that make a great church motto? Put it out on the marquee. For
we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. Hasn’t it
changed our lives? Hasn’t it changed our eternal
perspective? And so dear brothers and sisters,
we will keep on and keep pressing on in the gospel of Jesus. Pray
with me. Our Lord, we give you thanks
for your word. It is true. It is without error. It is powerful. When unleashed,
it changes lives. It pierces to the deepest part
of our lives, to the joints and to the marrow as a two-edged
sword, and it exposes what is true. And so, Lord, we pray that
your word would do its work in our lives, in our church, but
let your word do its work in the world this day. Let it reveal
sin. Let it show the grace of God
in Christ Jesus, and let it lead many sons and daughters to the
gospel of hope. We give you thanks, Lord, for
this truth, and pray that you would bless it to our minds,
hearts, and lives this day. In the name of Christ, amen.
We want to sing of God’s grace to keep us pressing on. 515 more
than conquerors, and we’ll stand to sing.