I stood in the courtroom, the judge turned my way, said looks like you're guilty, now what do you say? I spoke, your honor, I have no defense, but that's when mercy walked in. Mercy walked in and pleaded my case, called to the stand, was God saving grace. The blood was presented that covered my sin, forgiven when mercy walked in. I stood there and wondered, how could this be? Someone so guilty had just been set free. My chains had been broken, I was born again, the moment mercy walked in. Mercy walked in and pleaded my case, called to the stand, was God saving grace, the blood was presented that covered my sin, forgiven when mercy walked in. 

The blood was presented that covered my sin, forgiven when mercy walked in. Thank you, Ray, for that good song. What an encouragement it is to sing about God's grace and mercy. The truth of the gospel. And I was thinking, as we were singing those songs, that we never get past the gospel. I was thinking about that when I taught through the book of Romans and spent so much time in the book of Romans, that really what that great doctrinal treatise of Paul is, is an expanded explanation of the gospel. We never get past that, that the grace of God is for our justification by faith, and the grace of God is for our sanctification by faith as well. 

So I just appreciate the songs this morning, the message in those songs about God's grace and mercy. We're going to be studying Acts chapter 4 this morning, continuing our verse-by-verse study through the book of Acts, and as I've studied through Acts 4, and I've pondered the events of this chapter and the persecution of the early church, and how they responded, how they viewed this circumstance, it makes me sad for the modern evangelical church, especially in America. I believe that the doctrine of political correctness has been a very effective weapon for Satan against the proclamation of the truth. The greatest sin we can commit in our culture today is to offend someone, but the problem with this is that the gospel by its very nature is offensive to carnal man. 

To preach the exclusivity of Christ in a world of religion and paganism and carnality is to offend men to their very core. To challenge their self-righteousness and emphasize their total inability is to cut them to the quick, just as Peter did on the day of Pentecost. And I'm afraid that we in the church have been greatly influenced by this desire to not offend, to not be the crazy one, to be the unloving one as they see it, to be the outcast because we stand for and proclaim the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It's so much easier to compromise, to keep our mouth shut, to go along to get along, and many times I think we have taken that route in the church, especially in America. 

In one of Haddon Robinson's sermons on prayer and evangelism, he spoke of John Knox, and particularly he spoke of his grave in the inscription on the stone that read, "'Here lies a man who never feared the face of clay.'" Haddon said, "'Don't put that on my tombstone, because the truth is that many times I have kept my mouth shut. I have failed to speak the truth because I feared the disapproval of men.'" My friends, the example we see in Acts 4 of Peter and John are men who feared God more than they feared men. And this is the key to the growth of the church, the power of God manifest in the proclamation of the gospel and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fact is, the gospel is offensive, especially to religious men. But it is our very life, our very purpose, to preach that gospel in this world so that men might believe and be saved, so that God will be glorified. Christ must be preached. Paul said, "'Woe is me if I don't preach the gospel.'" 

And this ministry has been committed to each one of us as members of the body of Christ, the church. We see great boldness in these believers of the early church. And I pray that through our studies, through these chapters of the book of Acts, we will be stirred up to be bold in the same way, fearlessly, lovingly, joyfully proclaiming Christ and the good news message of salvation in Him. 

Let's look at our text in Acts 4, beginning at verse 23. It says, "'And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, 'Lord, You are God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them. Who by the mouth of Your servant David has said, 'Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You appointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 

Now Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.' And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, and neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 

Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated, Son of Encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money, and laid it at the apostles' feet." 

Well, I've given you four points on your outline. First we're going to look at partners, second at praise, third providence, and fourth provision. Well, again, we marvel at what an amazing time this must have been. The apostles were being used to do all of these tremendous signs and wonders and powerfully, fearlessly preaching the truth to every creature. They were simply living in obedience to Christ's commands. They were in complete and total dependence on Jesus and His life and power in them. And they were wholly committed to preaching the message of truth, of good news, the gospel. 

What we see here in this time, in the beginning of the church age, is a group, a body of Christ-centered believers, a Christ-centered church. They were partners in Christ, in the gospel ministry. Remember we saw this back in Acts 2 at verse 42, it said, And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers. The word translated fellowship is koinonia, and it literally means partners. They were partners in the gospel. They were of one mind. They had one focus. 

In verse 23 of our text, it says, Being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. They were excited, my friends, to have been persecuted for the cause of Christ. They went eagerly and told their companions, literally it says, they went to their own. Those who were one with them, who were like-minded, who were gospel-focused, Christ-centered. And this was true of the whole church. Every member was in agreement. They had all things in common, it says. There was an amazing oneness in the body of believers. And this was manifest in the fact that their central purpose was to preach Christ. His burial, His death, burial, and resurrection. This is the very thing, you know, that had gotten them into this situation of persecution. Preaching Jesus. 

And this was the very thing that they were warned and severely threatened against. That they were to no longer preach and teach in that name. And my friends, we will see in the course of our text today that this was the very thing that they longed to do more. They would not be silenced by the disapproval of their religious friends or family. They would not be dissuaded by the rulers and the leaders of their time, of their government and the threats that were made against them. They would not even be moved by the persecution and the threat of physical harm. They were fixed on Jesus. They were set on abiding in Him one day at a time, trusting Him, glorifying Him, and preaching Him everywhere that God would give them the opportunity. They were partners in the gospel. 

And next, we see in our text that the reaction of a Christ-centered church to persecution is praise. Look at verse 23 again. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. And when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that's in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David has said, Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. 

They remembered the words of Matthew 5.11 where Jesus said, Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely for My sake. Blessed are you, happy are you, when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil. What a perspective! What an attitude! What a truth! The truth is, my friends, that all kinds of wonderful things come when the church is persecuted. God works mightily through and blesses those who are such powerful witnesses for Him in the world that the world attacks and persecutes them. The Scriptures tell us that God brings glory through persecution. He brings growth through persecution. He brings salvation through the witness of those who are persecuted. He's working in all of this. 

And if we can get hold of this, if we can believe and trust Him, and yes, praise Him for the persecution for being counted worthy to suffer for His sake, then we will understand what it is to be Christ-centered in our preaching and in our praising. And we will learn what it is to depend on Him and need Him and abide in Him. It's true that this was a special time. And God was doing signs and wonders and buildings were shaking and all these things were happening. And this is a description of what happened here in the lives of the early believers. And not necessarily a prescription for us now in our ministry. But that does not mean that there should be some sort of deadness in our lives and ministries, lacking power. 

The same God is still working with the same message about Jesus to bring about the salvation of lost men for His glory. And He's still doing it through His body, the church, the individual believers today. And I believe, my friends, that if we are so Christ-centered, so focused on preaching Christ and praising Christ publicly before this world to every creature, not only will we see more persecution, but we would see more fruit and more of the power of God working in our lives to accomplish His purposes. 

We are so afraid of offending. So afraid of not being liked. Of being an outcast among our peers and our family. I just see such a contrast with the church then and so much of the church today in our culture. And my thought sometimes is, well, we can't be so bold in our world today. I have been many times accused of being too, I don't know, forthright with my words. Sometimes people respond by saying, well, you know, I wouldn't say it like that. I don't know if I'd put it that way. But I look at the boldness and clarity with which the disciples spoke here in the book of Acts. The fearlessness with which they preached and the focus with which they lived their lives daily. 

And I fall so short of their example. I succumb so easily to the pressures of this world to keep my mouth shut, so many times. Paul said to Timothy, all who desire to live godly will suffer persecution. I have to ask myself, how much persecution do I experience? I'm not saying we should look for it, I'm not saying it's necessarily a direct correlation to my faithfulness, but I do know that there have been seasons in my life when I have been so consumed with Jesus Christ and so filled with His love and His word and His passion for lost people that I have prayed and I have witnessed and I have written letters and I have spoken boldly the truth. 

And in those seasons, I have experienced greater trial and trouble and pushback and a sort of persecution than in other seasons of my life when I have become filled with all the cares of this world and my work and my hobbies and my entertainment. And I have not been much of a witness for Jesus Christ. I find that it's much easier to let the opportunities pass and not open my mouth in such times of being consumed with myself rather than filled with the Holy Spirit. So I found that how regularly I'm witnessing, handing out tracts, talking to people, writing a note, preaching the gospel, sharing the truth with others is a good gauge of my spiritual health. And I think with that comes a degree of persecution in my life. 

The question then becomes, how do I view that persecution? How do I deal with it and react to it? Here in Acts we see a pretty severe situation concerning persecution. The leaders of Israel had just crucified Jesus and now they had arrested Peter and John for preaching Christ. Soon they would stone Stephen to death and a great persecution would break out, and we see Paul and Silas in prison. Paul will be beaten, whipped, stoned and left for dead and run out of town everywhere he goes and generally hated for his witness of Jesus Christ. 

And how do we see the disciples of Jesus react to this persecution? What is their perspective on it? It's continual praise, my friends. They were singing hymns at midnight in their shackles. Not despair, not woe is me, but praise and rejoicing for what the Lord was doing in their lives. Verse 24 says they raised their voice to God with one accord and what did they do? They praised Him. They recognized Him as the Creator God, the Sovereign of the universe. And here they quote Psalm 2. This is such an amazing application of Psalm 2. 

Why did the nations rage? And the people plot vain things. The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. They see in these events a fulfillment of Psalm 2. They see the most powerful men of their time as plotting folly. These men could arrest them. They could beat them. They could take their lives. But the believers realized the greater truth that God is sovereign over all these things. That He is in control and is in fact working out His will through these evil men. 

And this is the great truth we see next in our text is the providence of God. In verse 27 they say, For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together, look at verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. The powers that be, the most powerful men of the world, the Jewish leaders in government, the Roman government, all the kings and rulers of their time came together as one against Jesus. They gathered to do evil. 

Peter had preached before that by their lawless hands they took Jesus and crucified Him. But as in Acts 2 we see here that all of this was in the providence of God. He was working all the way through this to accomplish His will. The rulers, the people, they were plotting vain things. They were raging against the truth, against Jesus. But it was pure folly. Satan and his demons and all the evil men of this world thought that they had won when Jesus was hanging on that cross, when they placed Him in His grave. But what they were really doing was accomplishing all that God's hand had purposed and determined before to be done. 

They killed Jesus, but death could not hold Him. He was not left in Sheol to see corruption because it was the predetermined purpose and plan of God to raise Him from the dead. Herod had aligned himself against God's anointed, but he was consumed by worms. Pilate knew Jesus was innocent, but succumbed to the pressures of the crowds and sent Him to die. And Pilate is in hell today. The people of Israel screamed, crucify Him, crucify Him! But His blood is on their heads and the heads of their children today. They all thought that they had the power. They said, let us cast His cords from among us. They thought they had won the victory, shown who was truly in authority when they put Him on the cross. But the truth is, God was sovereign through the whole affair. And they were simply accomplishing His will and purpose. 

And the disciples knew this. They recognized, believed, entrusted themselves completely to the sovereign hand of God. If God delivered Jesus, if He worked our salvation and His glory through the cross and the resurrection, then they could trust Him to work through their circumstances of persecution as well to accomplish His will. And He did. And they experienced it and saw the power of God and the hand of God working in and through them. And we still today see the hand of God working in our lives and in our world. 

The rulers of this world plot vain things. They think they are powerful. They think they are in control. They think they exercise power over us and over Christ. But what can they do to us? What can they do to us? Kill the body? We had better fear the One who can kill the body and cast the soul into hell. In our text today, we see the keys to a right perspective on persecution. We see partnership, fellowship in the gospel and preaching Christ. We see praise, always recognizing who God is and giving Him praise and thanksgiving for all that He is and does. And we see providence, knowing and believing that all that we suffer for His sake in this world is under His sovereign control and fulfilling His plan. 

And last in our text this morning, we see provision. In verse 29, it says, "'Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word by stretching out Your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.' And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness.'" 

As I study these historical accounts of the early church, I keep trying to place myself in that scene, to try to understand what was happening, to wrap my mind around the events and the reactions of the believers. And it's so very difficult because I can't imagine being arrested and thrown into jail and then threatened by the judge to not preach in the name of Jesus. It's so foreign to our culture, to our experience in this country over the last couple hundred years. We can now, for the first time in our history, begin to see the potential for these things, to begin to fathom how such persecution could take place even here in our lifetime. But we've not known it. 

We've read about it in other countries. Missionaries tell us about it. I know for me, when I went to India, it was almost surreal to be in that place and to hear the believers there talk about it. I remember when we traveled to Philip Samuel's place up near Guntur, India. We stayed in the orphanage there and our room was on the roof of the building. And we could look out of our windows over the beautiful mountains that surrounded that place. We had an anniversary celebration for Philip and his wife in the first couple days we were there and many people came from all over, mostly walking many miles. And there were perhaps 200 people there for the celebration and I preached for that service. And after that service, we went up to our room and a man came up to us who was an evangelist. 

He told us that he had just come down from the tribal villages up in those mountains that we could see right from our windows. He showed us pictures of these little boys. He said that he had traveled to this village previously and had preached the gospel there and that some had believed and been saved. And one of the notable converts was the former medicine man of that tribe. He became a believer and apparently became a powerful witness for Christ and against the pagan religion of that community. Our new friend told us that when he got back to that village just the day before that he walked down and came to the celebration, these boys came running to him and said to him, they have killed our father. Apparently, the religious men had taken this powerful witness of Christ who was the father of these young boys and had stretched him with ropes and beaten him with clubs, intending to kill him. The boys told the missionary that they beat him and beat him, but he would not die. 

So they set him ablaze and burnt him to death. We don't know this kind of persecution. But many in history have. And many around the world do today. How do we handle this kind of thing? What is our understanding of it? And how should we react when any kind of persecution for the sake of Christ comes? The example of the early church, the Christ-centered church, their example for us is one of praise, of thanksgiving, and amazingly, stunningly, a prayer to God, a request to God for provision to endure more. The disciples did not pray for deliverance from this suffering. They did not say, praise God, you got us out of that one. Now we'll just lay low and not say a word. We'll kind of let things cool down, and Lord, You keep us out of trouble. 

Verse 29 is absolutely amazing in our text. After this entire ordeal, what did they say? Lord, look on their threats and grant Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your Word. Throw us right back in there, Lord. We want to preach Your Word more boldly. Help us not to fear, not to be quiet, not to heed their threats, but to trust Your provision, Your grace, Your power to speak all the more boldly. I think it was the next day after that man came to see us at Philip's orphanage, it was within the next couple days that Guy and I got in the van with Philip and a few other men and headed up into the mountains, into those villages to preach. As we were traveling up the winding road admiring the beautiful papaya fields and the sunflower fields and the shepherds guiding hundreds of goats down the road there, Philip said, it's good that there are six of us this morning. The villagers are less likely to get rough. 

Then he said, last time we came up here they got a little rough. And Guy's head snapped around and he said, what do you mean by rough? I don't recall that Philip ever answered. But I'd already committed myself to the providence and provision of God having experienced the great trauma of riding in a motor vehicle in the cities of India. So the comment didn't upset me at that time. When we got there, the men were working in the fields far from the village and we didn't have any trouble and we met a young couple who were believers living in that context and it was a very encouraging time. It was an interesting moment in that van. I don't really understand physical persecution. All I can do is trust the Lord that if it is His will that I suffer such things that His grace will be sufficient in the moment. 

But I do understand the kind of social persecution that we experience here. And I see the effectiveness of it in silencing the believers. The threat of being disliked, of being ostracized or categorized may in some ways be more effective than beating believers. Regardless, I want to learn to follow the example of the disciples here and their great desire to speak the truth with more boldness. To ever be pursuing opportunities to preach the gospel to every creature and to trust God to provide by His grace and power the means to endure whatever comes and rejoice for suffering for the cause of Christ. This is what we are called to, Peter says. 

Now in the last part of the chapter, we see the Holy Spirit highlight again the central focus of the church, the Christ-centered church. And we see the koinonia, the partnership of the believers in this endeavor. Look at verse 32 with me please. It says, Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power, the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold and laid them at the apostles' feet. And they distributed to each as anyone had need. 

And Joseph, who was also named Barnabas, by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it, and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. They were of one heart and one mind. Oh, that we could say that about the church today. They had all things in common. My brothers and sisters, this is because they all had one purpose. They were united in the central goal of preaching Jesus Christ, and everything else was secondary. Houses, lands, wealth, everything was sacrificed gladly, willingly, of their own accord, not forced by the government, but of their own accord they were willing to give and graciously give to the need of the furthering of the gospel. 

All the believers were Christ-centered. They were set on preaching Jesus. They met together for strengthening through the apostles' doctrine to be equipped, as Ephesians 4 says. They praised and sang in worship to God, thanking Him, asking Him to provide His grace and boldness and opportunity. They fellowshipped together. They shared with one another. They stirred each other up. But all of this was for the express purpose of preaching the gospel to the world. The church is so many things today. It has so many endeavors, so many ministries, so many programs, so much fluff. I wonder where the apostles' doctrine and the preaching of Jesus Christ fits into all that. 

Sadly, I think it often gets lost. My wife often gives me a hard time because I tend to lose my focus when I'm working around the farm. I'll wake up in the morning with a plan to accomplish some task and when I go out to work, I may start on that task and then I need a tool or something, so I'll go to the barn or I'll go to the garage and I'll see some other project and I'll do a little work there. Or maybe the sheep or the cows need some water or one of them gets loose and then I see that this needs attention or that needs attention. 

And I have so much going on, so much distraction in accomplishing all these other things, that I forget what I started on. I think that's often the way it is in the modern church. I have to tell you, I can't handle much. I can't do too many things at once. I really need to focus on something and exercise discipline to complete it and do it well. And this is true spiritually as well. I can get distracted chasing some theological system of men. Or I can get distracted in doing all kinds of good things, serving, ministering in the church or in programs. And these things can be good and profitable. 

But if I'm not very careful, if I don't maintain discipline to focus on the Word and prayer and fellowship and evangelism, then it's easy to get distracted and forget the very purpose for which I am here. And in that busyness, the gospel gets lost. I start to minister to people in every way, except the only way that really matters. And I begin to lose my focus. And when I do that, when I forget that our partnership is in the gospel, when I cease to praise God continually and recognize His attributes and His providence and depend on His provision for His purpose according to His Word, then the power is missing. 

We love to see the power of God demonstrated and on display in this book of Acts and all the great things God was doing in this time to build His church. And we may wonder sometimes where the power is today in our life and ministry. Not in signs and wonders, but in fruit. Acts 4 reminds us that the power in the provision of God is in the working of His Spirit through the bold preaching of His Word. And that this can only come about as we are focused on His purpose by His power, by His provision to enable us to preach Christ. 

My friends, it is the gospel that is the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes. And if we're going to be a church that manifests that power through our ministry, then we're going to have to be first and foremost a Christ-centered church. This is the lesson we see from the early church, from the example here in the book of Acts. 

Let's close in prayer. Father, we thank You again for Your Word. We thank You for this place that You've provided where we can gather and all the believers that You've brought here, Lord, to worship, to sing of Your grace and mercy and to praise You, to have fellowship, Lord, and to study Your Word. Thank You that You make the truth clear to us, that You have given us the Holy Spirit to teach us, to guide us into all truth. And thank You, Lord, for the ministry that You've given us, the Word of reconciliation, the gospel truth that we can share with men. And thank You, Father, that You work by Your power to accomplish Your plan for Your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.