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Persecution has been around for a long time. In the first three centuries after Christ, Christians were thrown to the wild animals, they were crucified, they were turned into human torches, they were tortured in many different ways. Thousands of martyrs died with a calmness and serenity that confounded their tormentors. According to tradition, all the apostle's died a martyr's death except John. But persecution did not destroy the church. Persecution purified and strengthened the church. Persecution strengthens the church in the same way trials strengthen individual Christians. The church emerged as a dominant force in the Roman Empire. The church Father Tertullian said: "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." In our day in the Western world, the church rarely faces physical persecution. In the Western world, Satan's attacks are much more subtle. In the West, instead of threatening the body, Satan uses our egos and our pride. Satan has destroyed the spiritual effectiveness of the church without having to kill individual believers. Satan tempts us to live self-centered, complacent, worldly lives. This is more effective in keeping people from being attracted to true Christianity than killing Christians. But in other parts of the world, Christians are being martyred every day. In many of those places the true church is stronger than the church here in the United States. I have prayed for revival many times for our nation. I have concluded that the only way we will see revival in the churches of North America and Western Europe is through persecution. The believers who live godly, Christ-centered lives will inevitably come into conflict with the satanic world system. Acts chapter 4 records the first outbreak of persecution against the church. I. THE SOURCE OF POWER (vv. 1-11) [Read vv. 1-11] In verse 1, the priests mentioned there conducted the evening sacrifice. The captain of the temple guard was the chief of the temple police force which was composed of Levites. The temple police force was responsible for maintaining order on the temple grounds. The Sadducees were one of four groups that made up first century Judaism. The others were the Pharisees, the Essenes and the Zealots. Although the Sadducees were small in number, they were highly influential. They were the dominant religious and political force in Israel because the high priests during that period were all Sadducees. The Sadducees were mostly aristocratic, wealthy landowners. They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead or in any future rewards or punishments. They did not believe in the existence of angels and the spirit world. Now the Pharisees had their own issues but at least they believed in the resurrection of the dead and in the existence of angels and the spirit world. The Sadducees were the theological liberals of their day and were the first to persecute the church. Verse 2: They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Two things upset these leaders: - Peter and John were teaching but had no credentials.
- They were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
The leaders had executed Jesus as a blasphemer and now the apostles were proclaiming Jesus as the resurrected Messiah. Peter and John spent the night in jail. But many who had heard their message believed. The next day the Jewish leaders had Peter and John brought before them. They asked the question: "By what power or what name did you do this?" They were referring primarily to the healing of the crippled man. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed." The source of their power in healing and preaching was the Name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The same is still true today. Prayer for healing is done in Jesus' Name. The source of the power to preach or proclaim the Gospel is the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer. The early Christians did not say in dismay: "Look what the world has come to." They said: "Look what has come to the world." Jesus had told the disciples that when they are brought before the authorities, they were not to be anxious about what they would say. The Holy Spirit would teach them in that very hour what to say. Without the Holy Spirit, we are only saying words. With the Holy Spirit, we are proclaiming the truth of God's Word in a way that can change a person's heart. The Holy Spirit works in both the speaker and the listener. Verse 8 tells us that Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit. That means that the Holy Spirit had control over every part of Peter's life. Peter wasn't holding anything back. His life was not his own. He was now an instrument in God's hand. He was experiencing the truth of Galatians 2:20: I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. This was no longer Peter. It was the life of Jesus flowing through Peter. In a sense, he lost his identity in this world. It was no longer about Peter; it was about Jesus. An absolute surrender to the Holy Spirit is the key to successfully handling persecution. II. THE SOURCE OF SALVATION (v. 12) Acts 4:12 = "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Not only is Jesus the source of physical healing but He is also the only source of spiritual healing. It is through Jesus that we receive eternal life. I read of two seminary students who decided to go door-to-door sharing their faith. They knocked on the door of one house and when the door was opened they discovered screaming children and barking dogs. The mother who opened the door seemed exhausted. One of the seminary students said: "We would like to tell you how to receive eternal life." The mother looked at her screaming children and the barking dogs and said: "No thanks, I don't think I could stand it." Heaven will be different. Our parenting responsibilities will end. Deliverance from the devastating effects of sin comes only through Jesus Christ. Peter said: "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." Peter wasn't introducing a new truth here. He was repeating what Jesus had taught earlier. Jesus had said earlier: "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 1:12 = . . . to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. That salvation is found in no one else is a hard pill for the world to swallow. That Jesus is the only way to heaven goes against the grain of our society. Christians believe in an exclusive Christ in an inclusive age. Because of that, we are often accused of being narrow minded or intolerant. There are many people in the world who believe that there are many paths to heaven. They may say: "How dare we as Christians insist that our path is the only one that leads to heaven?" Because we as followers of Christ know in our hearts that what the Bible says is true. And the Bible says there is no other name by which we can be saved. There is only one name under heaven that has the power to save and that name is not yours or mine. We can not save ourselves. We can only be saved in the Name of Jesus. Jesus the Son and God the Father! Those are the only names people take in vain. Those are the only names people use when they swear. They don't take Buddha's name in vain or Mohammed's name in vain. But it doesn't really matter because they are false gods anyway. It is sad that the name of the one true God is taken in vain. I don't hear a lot of swearing so when I do hear it, it actually kind of shocks me. I work with Pastor Will; he doesn't swear. I work with Robin; he doesn't swear. I work with Chandelle; she doesn't swear. I work with Kimberlee; she doesn't swear. So recently while on vacation, I heard a couple guys swear, it sort of shocked me. I was reminded how foolish it is to swear and how serious it is to take the Name of the Lord our God, our Creator and Savior, in vain. There are basically only two roads in life. In Matthew 7 we read: 13"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Think of a divided highway with about 3 lanes going in one direction and just one lane going in the other direction. The 3 lanes represent the broad road that leads to destruction. The 1 lane represents the narrow road that leads to life. It is tempting to cross the median and join those in the broad road heading in the other direction. That's where the bright lights are. That's where the action seems to be. Traffic is lighter on the narrow road that leads to life. Traffic is heavy on the road that leads to destruction. There are so many going down that broad road that we begin to think that perhaps it is permissible to join in without consequences. We may begin to think that surely all those people can't possibly be going down the wrong road that leads to destruction. Perhaps you have become weary of traveling down that narrow road because of the bumps on the road. Keep in mind there is a rest area ahead. III. THE SOURCE OF CHANGE (vv. 13-22) Acts 4:13 = When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. Peter and John were doing the things Jesus did because they had been with Jesus. I tend to believe that serving Jesus is directly proportional to the amount of time we spent with Him. If we spend time with Jesus and He ministers to us, encourages us, strengthens us and fills us with hope and joy, we will have a desire to serve Him. Spending time with Jesus will change us because He is the source of change. |
