Responding To Persecution

Acts chapter four, we continue our study in the book of Acts, we're in the section where the church begins to receive persecution and in that area of persecution they learn to trust in the Lord and to lean upon him. There's a story that's been told by Bob Richards, who's a former pole vaulting champion, about a skinny little kid who loved football with all of his heart. This isn't Rudy, but the story sounds similar if you know the story of Rudy. Practice after practice, this kid gave everything that he had, but he was half the size of the other boys on the team and he got absolutely nowhere.

At all the games, his attitude was hopeful that he would get to play, but he sat on the bench and hardly ever played. He was a teenager and he lived alone with his father and the two of them had a very special relationship as the story goes, and even though the son was always on the bench, the father was always there at every game in the stands cheering. His dad never missed a game. This young man was still the smallest of his class when he entered high school.

His father continued to encourage him, but also made it very clear that he didn't have to play football if he didn't want to, but the young man loved football and decided to hang in there and just wait it out. He was determined to do his best at every practice and perhaps he'd get to play when he became a senior. All through high school, he never missed a practice nor a game, yet he remained a bench warmer all four years. His faithful father was always in the stands, always with words of encouragement for him.

When the young man went to college, he decided to try out for the football team as a walk-on. Everyone was sure that he could never make the cut, but he did, and the coach admitted that he kept him on the team because he put his heart and soul into every practice and at the same time, he provided the other members with the spirit and the hustle that they badly needed. The news that he had survived the cut thrilled him so much that he rushed to the nearest phone and called his father. His father shared his excitement and was sent season tickets for all the college games.

In the third quarter, when the team was 10 points behind, a silent young man quietly slipped into the empty locker room and put on his football gear. As he ran onto the sidelines, the coach and his players were astounded to see their faithful teammate Max Asin. Coach, please let me play. I've just got to play today, said the young man. The coach pretended not to hear him.

There was no way he wanted his worst player in a close playoff game, but the young man persisted and finally, feeling sorry for the kid, the coach gave in. All right, he said, you can go in. Well, before long, the coach and the players and everyone in the stands could not believe their eyes. This little unknown, who had never played before, was doing everything right.

The opposing team couldn't stop him. He ran, he passed, he blocked, and he tackled like a star. His team began to try. The score was soon tied, and in the closing seconds of the game, this kid intercepted a pass and ran all the way for the winning touchdown. The fans broke loose. His teammates hoisted him onto their shoulders. Such cheering you never heard.

Finally, after the stands emptied and the team had showered and left the locker room, the coach came in and noticed this kid still sitting quietly in the corner all alone. Coach came to him and said, kid, I can't believe it. You were fantastic. Tell me what got into you. How did you do it? He looked at the coach with tears in his eyes and said, well, you knew my dad died, but

did you know that my dad was lying? The young man swallowed hard and forced a smile. Dad came to all my games, but today was the first time he could really see me play, and I wanted to show him I could do it. That young man rested in his father's love and encouragement. In spite of the circumstances, in spite of the fact that he kept being pressed down,

We need to be resting in the love of God and living to seek to please him, in spite of the circumstances, in spite of the pressures surrounding us. Now, last week in the first 14 verses of Acts chapter 4, we looked at the reasons for the persecution that came upon them, and in verses 1 through 4, we noted that the first reason that the persecution came was simply because they proclaimed the word of God. They were faithful to proclaim God's word, and when you do that, it's politically incorrect. That's not the norm.

Your Christianity, your religion is supposed to be a private thing, according to today's society, and even on Watch Politically Incorrect, or whatever it's called, the show the other night, and they were talking about the Bible being taught as literature in several schools. Some schools are bringing it back, and there's a real anathema against that by a lot of people. There were some congressmen on, and there were some teachers that were on, and there

persecution, and as Peter and John stood in the temple area and told people about Jesus, they were arrested, and they were jailed, and they were then brought in for interrogation. So just proclaiming the name of God, proclaiming the word of God, will bring persecution into your life. Then, the second thing they did was they actually trusted in it. They trusted God's word, that God meant what he said, and they staked their lives on that.

In verses 5 through 14, they believed it. They not only proclaimed it, they not only said, well, this is Jesus whom you crucified, but whom God raised from the dead, but we believe, we trust that this is the one. When you not only proclaim the word of God, and the circumstances get rough, but then you trust in his word, and you are not afraid of what man can do to you, persecution is inevitable. So now we come to the last half of chapter 4, and we see that not only were there two reasons for the persecution, but we see that there are two responses to persecution when

300 points, dropped 300 points. It's a shaky economy. It's going to mean we're going to see job losses again. We're going to see unemployment go up. It's going to be a shaky, unstable time. So we're in the midst of the beginning stages of that, anticipated. It's a time when the church gets to be the church, and really reach out and uphold each other, hold one another up, because it's a shaky time, and persecution's coming.

If jobs are scarce, and you are told that you're going to get in trouble if you keep talking about this Jesus, what are you going to do? The persecution's coming. So what's our response in the midst of this? Well, Peter and John respond, and there's two different responses to the areas of persecution. The first response is they deepen their commitment to obey God's Word, no matter what.

They deepen their commitment to obey God's Word, to obey the Word of God. Look at verse 15.

Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, judge for yourselves whether it's right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. After further threats, they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them because all the people were praising God for what

had happened. The man who was miraculously healed was over 40 years old. Their commitment to obey God's Word deepened as a result of the persecution. That was the first response.

They acknowledged the fact of the truth of what was happening, and they were rejecting it. And that's the society around us in which we live today. They will see, for the most part, the truth of God's Word active in your life. And there will be some that will believe, but the closer we get to the time of the Lord's coming, the more we'll reject it. They'll reject the very truth of the Word.

Even the Sadducees themselves. Here in the last half of chapter, verse 16, it says, and we ourselves can't deny.

Literally, it says, the literal phrasing is, they commanded them literally not to open their mouths at all or teach in the name of Jesus. Don't say anything more about this, Jesus. Don't even open your mouths where His name is concerned. That intensity of a warning is happening in this country already, and people are being warned, especially right now where jobs are concerned in the workplace, because standing for your faith in Christ is a cause, many employers see, of division.

It's a place where division will happen. And so they want you to keep your faith private, and you're being warned not to talk about this Jesus. Keep your mouth shut. Satan is scared of the Word of God. Satan responds to God's Word. It's the Word of God, you know as well as I do, that Jesus used when He faced the severe temptations of Satan in the wilderness following His baptism.

It wasn't, well, I think, well, I think, well, I think, well, I think. It was God says.

club will come to the different businesses in Downey and solicit advertising from the businessmen to help support the baseball team, and they, for a certain amount, for a donation of $400 or more, you can put your business sign on the fence. Now you go to sporting events, any major stadium, and you'll see that the fence is just covered totally with advertising, and those that advertise on those fences pay the teams, pay the stadiums or the owners big money to advertise because it puts their name and information in front of however many thousands of fans that come to watch the game, and it's as profitable as advertising on TV. So they came to this Mr. DiLoretto and solicited his advertising, and the article says that

he wrote out a $400 check and submitted his sign to go on his face on the baseball field. Now his sign contained, quote, ten rules to live by, also known as the Ten Commandments. That was nothing new.

Still, the district removed all the signs from the outfield rather than suffer the children to see the Ten Commandments. We are in existence to educate, not to get involved in religious demands, the school district's lawyer told the Los Angeles Times. I can think of a lot of different entities that would like to come in and push their messages on kids. We felt the interests of the district were not being served.

The article goes on to say it has been appealed. Every court so far has favored Mr. DiLoretto and the posting of his sign, but the school

How do we know what God wants? Well, the disciples say here in verse 19 and 20 that we cannot help speak about what we've seen and heard. Verse 20, we can't help but speak about what we've seen and heard. What's he saying? Well, we can't help but speak really the word of God. These are the things that we heard from Jesus and saw him do personal account. They didn't have the New Testament yet.

They had the living word right there. They had just seen him. They had just followed him for three years. They had heard his teaching. They had seen him minister. They had ministered with him. And they say we can't help but speak what we have seen and what we have heard of the Lord. We can't help but testify concerning the word of God. So they were consistent with saying we must obey God according to his word.

We have to obey God according to his word. What you and I see and hear from God is directly proportional to the time that we spend with him.

But when pressures come and crowds move, it's very difficult, unless you've been spending your own time with the Lord, not to follow the movement of crowds. A few years ago, we had the Summer of Mercy in Wichita, national right to life, Operation Rescue came to town and all. We went to the meetings and we went to the big one up at, I can't remember the name of the field there at WSU, but the old football field, 40,000 people in the field there, praising God and praying for the lives of the unborn. And then the rest of that week was the Summer of Mercy where people went to the clinics, went to Tiller's Clinic and went to the other clinic and blockaded the clinics in so many different ways.

They came in and they were taught the procedures of how to crawl up to block the door and to be arrested and all. And I'll tell you the truth, it was very difficult at the time to make a decision as to whether or not to go and actually do that or not. When we're sitting here in hindsight 2020 and we're separated from the situation, it's

I have to speak what He's saying in the situations that He's called me to. That will be directly proportional to my personal time with Him because then it's, then you know I'm taking a stand no matter what happens, Lord. I'm going to follow Your Word no matter what happens. See, there are times, I've talked to people before who've said, well, I'm just under a lot of persecution.

And the more I listen to them, the more I find out they're under the persecution because of their own foolishness, you know, some of their own foolish things that they've done that according to God's Word, that's not what grace is all about. You know, they just kind of foolishly stepped out in there and actually misrepresented Him and their suffering as a result of that. So we must obey God, absolutely, but we need to know what it is God wants us to do. Turn with me back to Exodus chapter one for just a minute.

Exodus chapter one, the book of Exodus begins with the birth of Moses and the children of Israel had gone down into Egypt. Actually Jacob and his sons came down when they found Joseph or Joseph found them.

But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your God. So worship the image of gold you have set up. We must serve God. It came down to that. It's all the way through scripture. That decision is there. We must serve God. We better know what it is God wants us to do. Because it may indeed cost us our very lives. Well, back in Acts chapter four, they couldn't decide what to do.

from all the different nationalities and culture groups and gathering together in the name of Jesus to bow and repent before the Lord. Man, what an awesome experience, what an awesome opportunity. This is where our strength is. And so often, see, we get to the point where we screw up, we do something that's foolish or we're offended by somebody and I'm going to stay away.

And the idea is if I've messed up, well, I can't go back there. I've messed up, you know, I've done this stupid thing and I just I don't want to go back there where everybody else is. And that's the enemy. This is where we need to be when we do those kinds of things. This is the place that accepts us. See, this is this is where we come because we're all this way.

We're all broken vessels, shattered and and crummy before God, except by his grace, except by his love and his blood. We have no hope. And we're all here for the same reason, because we love the Lord with all of our hearts and we're trusting in his grace and in his word and in his spirit to do that, that he wants

And they walk and leave him praising God. Here comes all these people and they're coming to Peter and John saying, wow, aren't you guys great? And they're going, no, it wasn't us. It was Jesus. And they're just telling them about Jesus. And all of a sudden they're arrested and in jail. And now before the big muckety mucks, and they're standing there and they're saying,

we're going to squash you like a nut unless you stop talking about Jesus. Well, we can't help but talk about Jesus. OK, we'll get out of here. And about now they're going, you realize what happened? Do you understand what we just went through? And they're going, I can't. You know, it's just now starting to process.

And so they come and they share. And when they heard when the disciples heard this, verse 24, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. Literally, they raised their voices as one voice. You may be reading a translation. They spoke as they prayed as one to God. The idea is probably not that they all prayed the same prayer out loud together. It's that one probably let off in prayer and they agreed together as they prayed together.

But look at what they prayed. They began. They began first by acknowledging who God is. May I encourage you when you are praying, whenever you begin to pray, especially if it's you're in the midst of a harrowing pressing time, before your first words are, get me out of this. May they be just a time of acknowledging who God is. Just take a minute. And you see, that corresponds to the disciples prayer or that we call it the Lord's prayer

back in Matthew chapter six, when the disciples asked Jesus to teach him how to pray. And he says, when you pray, pray like this, our father, which art in heaven. You see, he was directing their focus to the Lord. And that's what happens here. They come and the disciples tell them everything that's going on. And the brothers and sisters realize, man, it's coming down, you know, the times are

here. It's going to be shaky. What do we, what do we do? Well, let's pray. Okay. And they began to acknowledge God for who he was. Sovereign Lord, they said, you who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in that.

So you're in control. The boss isn't. I'm not. You are. And now you brought everything into perspective. God's in control of the particular situation. God is not only over it, he designed it, he created it, and he's going to move in the midst of it. Okay, Lord, now I understand that I'm where you want me to be. So now I can be more directable by you. So they acknowledged his sovereignty and his creative power over it.

Then secondly, in verses 25 and 26, they acknowledged God's prophecies that God had already foretold what was going to happen.

So by that, it means that there's usually a fulfillment that happens in the immediate area of the prophecy given, which can be applied to that particular time frame. Then it has a secondary application that may span centuries, that may go down to the end of the age. A lot of prophecies in the Old Testament regarding Israel being brought into the land as part of the kingdom of God. Now, God brought them into the land of Canaan and gave them a land of Canaan in their lifetime, in their particular sphere of the prophecy.

But ultimately, it won't be realized until the end of the age when Jesus returns and establishes his millennial kingdom and then Israel will fully realize their inheritance in the land. Well, this is a prophecy. Psalm 2, verses 1 and 2 was a prophecy concerning the fact that the people had rejected Israel as God's chosen people. They had plotted against God.

They had plotted against Israel. They had raged against the nation and they had stood against them and fought against

You anointed me. And David writes that. And so it had an immediate fulfillment, but it had a secondary fulfillment. And they, the disciples here in Acts 4, take that and apply it to their situation. That's indeed what's happening. And they go ahead and specify Herod there, Herod and Pilate met together with the Gentiles and all the people of Israel to conspire against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed.

And they, they realized they're in the middle of that. Now they're, they're realizing that the reason they're raging against them is because of their stand for Christ. And so we can take that same scripture and apply it to us today as well, and realize that this was part of prophecy, that, that they will rage against us. They will reject us. They'll plot against us and stand against us because we're standing for the Lord.

We're standing for Jesus' name. It's amazing today, the things that people want in the name of tolerance. There's the whole big homosexual thing that's just, it's not going away. I mean, you know, there's a lot of, a lot of people who have the idea of just let them be theirs and we'll be ours.

she did, and miscarried a little boy, a typically foreign little boy that they named Timothy. And Rick called me the other night, the pastor at Calvary in Olathe, and he said, you know, he had questions as far as disposing of the body. What do we do? Do we have a funeral for a miscarry like that or what? And we talked about that. And then subsequently, their four-year-old has now been diagnosed with a fatal disease

and is in the process of, they're facing that. The only answer in situations and circumstances like that is God is sovereign and he's creator

this is just going to pile this on you as the enemy hurls it at you. But maybe you are really being persecuted for the stand that you're taking for your faith. Whatever, just realize they are accusing you. They are hurling these insults. Consider their threats, Lord, they pray, and enable your servants. Now, the first thing that caught me in reading this was they didn't pray to be removed from

the situation. You know, that's my prayer. I'm going into this trial, Lord. I want out of this trial. If this is happening and, you know, the leaks around the house or the water heater goes out or the car stops, get me out of this, Lord. Get me out. You know, I don't want to be in it. I want out of it. They didn't pray that. They don't pray that here. They say, consider their threats.

Consider what the enemy is doing, what they are threatening towards us now, and enable your servants. Enable us. Strengthen us. Fill us in the midst of this situation. In Boston, there is a church that back when the United States was young, there was a pastor. The pastor there who was part of the revival that happened in our young country, his name was Phillips Brooks.

A couple of years ago, Ann and I had the privilege of being in Boston, and we went through his church in the area where he pastored. Phillips Brooks has written, quote,

Spurgeon has written something similar. He wrote,

God has a purpose. He is sovereign, Lord. He's creator God. He's created the heavens and the earth and the seas and everything that's in them, and in his word, he has told us the things that were going to come, but he's also told us of his faithfulness to us, to carry us through, to bring us to that desired end. The thoughts that he has towards us are thoughts of good, not of evil, to bring you that desired

end. I will never leave you, nor forsake you, says the Lord. He's given us his word. He's already given us the promises of his word, and so, Lord, what I'm in now, consider the threats, whether they're direct or from the enemy in a subtle, underhanded way, and enable your servant. Now, it goes on in verse 29. In the last half of verse 29, it says,

So, they prayed not only to endure, which I often pray, you know, Lord, give me the strength to make it. Give me the strength to endure through it, which is kind of a, it's just a halfway kind of prayer, you know. If God has said he's going to bring me from point A to point B, then I'm going to get to point B. I don't have to worry about that. It's unlike Jesus telling the disciples, get in the boat, we're going over to the other

side, and they get halfway out, and the storm's coming, and he's asleep in the boat, and they're freaking out because there's a storm. Well, he said we're going from point A to point B. If he said we're going from point A to point B, then we'll get to point B. He's told us he's going to bring us through. We get in the middle, and we freak when the storm comes, and we cry out to God, oh, enable,

give me strength, Lord, to make it, kind of a martyr's kind of prayer, you know, that humble, well, give me strength to make it, Lord. No, they prayed for boldness. Give us, enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. Paul asked for the same thing, Ephesians chapter 6. He just told the Ephesians and us about the armor of God. If we're going to go out into the world, make sure we've got the armor on because we're

wrestling with powers and principalities and spiritual wickedness in the high places, the enemies of God that are the spirit realm of God. We're wrestling with them, so make sure you have the armor on. And then after you have the armor on and have done all, then pray, then stand in prayer. And then right after that, in verse 19 of chapter 6, Paul says, pray also for me that whenever I open my mouth, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel.

preaching and it was all just because they came to seek the Lord, because they came to proclaim his word when the people came, that was their idea. They didn't go to heal the beggar. They pray now for boldness to speak God's word and that God will then just bring the miracles to affirm it, bring the miracles to verify. If we come together, that's why we don't have healing services.

We don't have services where we say, we're going to come and heal, come and see the power of God move, because hopefully the power of God's moving outside of here all the time. The power of God's going to be here tonight between six and eight o'clock. If you want to see it, better come and get it. If you miss it at eight, it's gone. Hopefully that's not the case.

Hopefully the case is that God enabled us to speak the word boldly and as he does that, as you do take that stand, it's your job or whoever, and you interface with that employee that's asking you, they're going through problems and they don't know what to do, and you begin to share the word with them and they respond and a life has been snatched from the pit of hell.

word boldly and affirm it with the miracles, affirm it with the other signs, whatever's necessary to affirm it, do it Lord. Father, we pray that this morning, that same thing for your people here. God, even though we're a small town, there's still a lot of people that have never surrendered their hearts to Jesus. They know about church and there's enough churches in this town.

They know churchianity, they know socials and potlucks and they know bickering over carpet and choir robes and everything else. They've seen all those things about church with God. Many of them don't know you. They've never seen Jesus. They've never seen the love of God.