There Is Salvation in No One Else
First B Jackson
2024-11-24

Automatically transcribed. Where this and the recording disagree, the recording is the record.

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And they were confused because they understood. That everybody understood it in their own language and that reversal of the Tower Of Babel experience where man was gonna build something so that they could be greater than God and God confused their languages and now, God has torn down that barrier and created such a unity in the body of Christ in the church that they could communicate freely and he said, y'all are going to be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria, and even to the uttermost part. So, that was in chapter one. Chapter two, when the Holy Spirit comes, they were all gathered in one place and this is sort of a summary statement towards the end of chapter two. All the believers, there were about 3,000 added on the day when Peter presented that first sermon on the day of Pentecost.

All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. They were listening to what the sent out ones. Apostle means, one who is sent out and these were capital A apostles sent out by Jesus. All believers devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, getting together was important to them, not just getting together but really caring enough about each other to know that we're together on this, that I've got somebody who has my back. I have somebody who will help.

I have somebody who'll comfort. Apostles teaching and fellowship and the sharing in meals including the Lord's supper but not limited to that. Table fellowship in the New Testament especially we'll see it a lot in Acts. Table fellowship where you extend the table to someone is huge. It's really really important.

The Old Testament way is like this. They're supposed to be a light to the nations, a light to the Gentiles, but it was really kinda like we're not gonna extend the the table, but in the New Testament, it's wide open now. So should have been a little more wide open in the past but sharing in meals including the Lord's supper and to prayer and if you if you look at these, these are the things that we really ought to be devoting ourselves to still today. I had somebody after the second service last week say, why didn't it say singing? I don't know but it doesn't say singing right there.

Often it says, and they sang a hymn and departed. So, it's like a closing song is normal. I don't know but I don't know. I think that in the midst of fellowship and in the midst of singing about the apostles teaching, you can sing about that. It's a good way to remember stuff.

I don't know why it doesn't say it but it doesn't say it right there but apostles teaching fellowship, sharing the meals, and the prayer. Chapter three, we saw Peter and John going into the temple, normal temple service in the afternoon, 03:00 service for prayer and ablation which is it was the time when they would do some of the sacrifices and they're going in with an understanding, profound understanding about Jesus being the ultimate sacrifice but Peter and John are going in. They notice a man who was there and crippled next to the gate. They looked at him. They asked him to look back at them.

They saw him and they paid attention and then silver and gold have I none. What I do have, I'll give to you. Lift him up. So, this is just a little background. Through faith in the name of Jesus, this man was healed.

Y'all know how crippled he was before. You saw him out there. Faith in Jesus name has healed him before your very eyes is a good summary of how the apostles put it after the fact, after they were in Solomon's colonnade right there near the temple and on the Temple Mount. That's the way they said it and faith in the name of Jesus is doubly emphasized here. So, it is the the subjective faith of the guy towards Jesus or maybe toward Peter and John towards Jesus.

It is their faith that they've been given, exercised, and placed in Jesus, but it's also the objective faithfulness of Jesus characterized by calling it in his name. It is what Jesus did. His substitutionary atonement, redemptive suffering was available. So it's both directions. It's it's listed here doubly in that.

So I went through some applications drawn from the text last week, and I had sort of a turn at the very end, and at the danger of sounding repetitive, here they are again. If you are drawing applications from the text and you are looking at it from the point of view of being Peter or John, do I really see people who are suffering? That's a good thing to consider. Do you just walk past them? Do you intentionally walk past them without looking?

Do I really see them? Do I want for them to see me or hope they won't notice? Peter and John said, look at me. Right? Do I give what I have to help others in Jesus name?

If I have been given a gift freely by God, do I share it freely? Freely, freely, we have received freely, freely, we already give. So do I give what I have? And they said flatly, silver and gold have I none. You know, don't have any money for you, but what I do have, I'm gonna pass along to you.

Having been established on the good old gospel way and they were. They had heard from Jesus. They they knew how treacherous legalism was and they knew how hard licentiousness was and they were established on the good old gospel way. And they made mistakes from time to time. Peter said that man was not healed by his power nor by his godliness.

Right? It was by Jesus. Having been established on the good old gospel way, do I reach down and lift people up? Am I actively doing that? And if I do, then do I credit Jesus with the safe instead of thinking, look at me.

Look at what I did. It's pretty awesome. God has given me this. And I just, you know, no problem. Or do I say, no, Jesus did this, man.

The whole 12 step program that we just covered, it really does it really does go back to this power that is greater than ourselves. Right? It really does, and that is Jesus. Now, I did these. I prepared all that ahead of time, but then I got in here during the song service practice.

I got a realization that all of the struggle that I had been doing in myself to say, oh, is it gonna be that we're praying for the charismatic gifts and we want to lay hands on people all the time and and talk in tongues, or is it gonna be cessationist? Because I know in this room right now, we've got all of y'all. We're all in here. Right? Am I what am I gonna do?

How do I how do I stay true to the text? Well, say what it says. I did say what it says. And then I draw these straight from the text, and then I thought, maybe maybe we shouldn't consider ourselves identifying with Peter and John. Maybe we should be identifying with that healed man, because we were flat hopeless.

Boy. Do I really wanna be healed? Or have I become so accustomed to my way of life, the way that I live, that I don't really care whether I get healed or not. I'm I'm getting by. Am I open to a new and different way of living?

Am I willing to receive help from others? Do I understand that I am a child of God allowing him to now define me and not be defined by whatever my weakness was, whatever my sin was? When we went through the 12 steps and I kept putting up the slide of all the sins listed in the New Testament, all the vices, and if you say, it's just me. I'm a gossip. Oh, I'm not.

By the way, that's not my deal. So if you're wondering about pastoral confidentiality, I wish I hadn't said that out loud. I'm not a gossip. That's not my that's not my that's not what I struggle with. Okay?

I do know some people that will say that flatly like, oh, I'm just a gossip. I love to have a little item and I love to share it. No. I'm a sinner saved by grace. I know that I didn't deserve it but miraculously, God saved me.

Do I see a loving God moving in the lives of the people who have helped me? That's pretty cool. But he did. He clung to John and Peter. He clung to them.

He was clinging to them. And will I open myself up to a deeper personal relationship with Jesus, the healer? Step 11. Step 11 is I've sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God. Asking only for the direction, his direction for my life, the next step, and the power to carry it out.

That's good. Actually, Kirk Weaver was here last week and afterwards, he said, man, you ought to come up with some questions from the from that guy's point of view because I didn't have any slides on that. So, he and I came up with that. Acts three twenty six. Last verse of three and then we'll get into four.

What we really came to go through today. When God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you, people of Israel, to bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. That's a great summary statement of the first three chapters. It's like, this is God raised up his servant, Jesus. I know some of you think the servant is the people of Israel.

I know some of you don't know what the servant is but Peter is being very forthright in saying when God raised up his servant, Jesus, he sent him first to you, people of Israel. You missed him. Most of you missed him. To bless you by turning each of you back from your sinful ways. Now, the apostles were were Jewish guys mostly.

Most all of them were Jewish guys and they had recognized him and they recognized this. So here we go, four one through 39. Wow. Peter and John were speaking and they were saying this. Right?

While they were still speaking, this is a flow from chapter three verse one to four thirty one is all a story. You know, I love to have preached it at one time but this is the flow. While Peter and John were speaking to the people, they were confronted by the priests. Can you see a hierarchy there? Yeah, they did too.

While they were speaking, they were confronted by the priest, by the captain of the temple guard, they're heavy, and some of the sadducees. Now, if you wanna know a little more about these leaders, these leaders were all priests, captain of the temple guard. They were all likely various degrees of Sadducees or Sadducees. They believed Sadducees side of things. Now, we spend a lot of time in the church talking about Phariseeism.

I think in this realm and in our context, we probably struggle more with Phariseeism than we do sadduceeism. So, you'll hear that come up more often. It actually comes up more often in the Bible But the Sadducees were the people who were officially in charge and they had been since the Hasmonean Dynasty from about a 140 or so BC. It had been a Sadducee line. So, for me, growing up in a little Baptist church, it's like, I don't want to be in Pharisee.

I don't want to be a sad you see because they're always so sad you see. No. I just want to be a goat. No, I just want be a sheep. It's not a goat.

I want to be a sheep. Yeah. That was a Sunday school song we sang. Right? I just wanna be a sheep.

I don't wanna be a sadducee. I didn't know what a sadducee was. I'm gonna read something for you. The sadducees were the priestly and lay aristocracy who had ruled the Jews in religious and political matters at the behest of foreign overlords. So, the Romans had been in charge for some time and the sadducees were complicit with that.

They also believed in written Torah but not the oral Torah, right? They they were sticklers for what is written but they would not build any hedges outside of what was written and the Pharisees did. The Pharisees in order to show their holiness like would go beyond what was written and the sadducees were like, well, you really gotta read that into the text. That's not really there and they were in charge and so, during the Hasmonean times, they didn't believe that anyone but the priest should be instructing the people in spiritual matters. So, we think of the Pharisees generally, they wear a black hat, right?

They're they're bad guys. In the New Testament, we generally think of Pharisees as bad guys except for Nicodemus. He's a good guy, you know? Maybe Joseph of Arimathea. We got a few of em.

They're they're alright but the rest of em are bad guys. Well, in truth, the Pharisees were of the people. They were very very pious people and not not in the hypocrisy sense. They really sought after being actually pious. They believed the the Pharisees were right wingers, if you want to put it that way, and the sadducee were left wingers.

So, complicit with the Roman government, they had a measure of power that they did not want to lose, and so, they believed that the messianic age had dawned with the Hasmoneans in the second century BC. Like I said, a 140 or so BC. So, they felt like they were already in the messianic age and they were the ones in power and they were acting as Messiah. That'll mess with your mind. But the Pharisees didn't believe that about them and the Pharisees didn't believe that about themselves.

Anyone making messianic claims was at best mistaken and at worst, they were political revolutionaries posing a threat to their comfortable position because they were the ones that were the landed gentry as it were. In matters of doctrine, they considered themselves traditional, but they held only to the written Torah, they rejected the oral Torah, they rejected the sayings of the fathers which the Pharisees accepted. One doctrine that they found particularly upsetting and difficult that they did not find in the written Torah was resurrection from the dead. And they were very very dogged about the belief that there was no resurrection of the dead. Don't even say that.

Don't even mention that. That's not in our politics. Can't do that. So, seizing Peter and John was the next step. The sadducees.

That's who they are. Do you feel like you know who the sadducees are now? So, written Torah, they did go by what was written but they they fell down on the, hey, we're in charge and we get to say what it says. The Pharisees should not be preaching that nonsense and Jesus, we see him blasting the Pharisees for their hypocrisy but he doesn't often blast them for their theology. Not often.

He does sometimes. He does bless the Sadducees for their theology and he does bless the Sadducees for he actually calls them ignorant because they don't understand what it is that they're reading. Well, they're trying to read it. Y'all know what confirmation bias is? Come on.

Through COVID, you didn't learn what confirmation bias is? Really? Confirmation bias is when you look at information and you only note things that already agree with you rather than changing your mind by reading something that disagrees with you. So, Jesus would say, hey, I know what you're trying to do. You're trying to make me make me look like a fool here by asking me about marriage, blah blah blah because you don't believe in resurrection.

I get that but you don't understand what's even written. You You don't understand the quality and condition of your heart won't allow you to understand it because you've already made up your mind. So, that's the sadducee position. Now, these leaders were very disturbed that Peter and John were teaching the people. Period.

I could put a period there. It's not a period but they were upset because they didn't believe anybody ought to be teaching the people, not the Pharisees who had studied. They just studied a different branch, right? These leaders were very disturbed. The sadducees that Peter and John were teaching the people.

Now, Peter had just thrown out to them that this Messiah that you rejected, that you crucified very boldly in chapter three and he was saying, turn, repent, accept that it was true, that you missed it the first time but the door is still wide open. Come on in. He was hopeful in the temple that they would turn but the sadducees who don't believe in resurrection can't can't be Jesus. They show up. These leaders are very starved that Peter and John were teaching the people that through Jesus, there is a resurrection of the dead.

Oh, okay. It's against their platform. Can't teach that. So, they arrested him. That's what you do And since it was already evening, they only meet in the daytime.

They don't meet in the evening. Unless it's convenient, remember Jesus' trial? Yeah. They rest him. Since it was already evening, put him in jail until morning.

We gotta get the word out, get everybody here. But many of the people who heard their message believed it. Amen. They presented the gospel and people believed it. Go figure.

That's plan a. That's what Jesus said. I'm gonna build my church. You're gonna go out. You're gonna spread the gospel and people are gonna believe it.

Some of them are gonna reject you. Some of them will hear you later, but some of are gonna accept it. They did. They believed. So, the number of men believed who believed now totaled about 5,000.

Probably doesn't include women and children. So that's a growing church. 3,000 in one day, 5,000 men. It's getting bigger and bigger. Now, the next day, since they kept them in jello, next day, the council of all the rulers and elders and teachers of religious law met in Jerusalem.

That is probably referring to the Sanhedrin. Since it's the sadducees who convened the council, the Sanhedrin would have been who it was. So the Sanhedrin is those who sit together in Greek. That's what it means. The folks who sit together and they sat like this.

I got a better better drawing of this. But it's funny to me that this bottom position right here, right in the center that can see everybody is the main guy. N a s I. I'm not gonna pronounce it. I don't really know how to pronounce it.

And then the guy to his right hand is Ephesians, that's the number one guy. And then the rest of the 69 people are arranged according to their level of intelligence. That cracked me up, and I just can't imagine having this, you know, Iwana circle. They sat in a semicircle like this, and these are There are 71 of these little dots here, and they're sitting there like this. That's not enough.

That's an 1,800 representation of it. Here's another one. That's still not enough. That's not 71 people even in that one. But that's the way they sat when they met in their official proceedings, Listed in order like chairs in the orchestra.

Right? The smartest ones. That's right where they met at the the chamber of hewn stone, and it was like half of a threshing floor. It was half a circle and they sat like that. So, they could all see each other's faces and there were Peter and John and probably the guy who was clinging to them right there in the midst of them.

There might have been a few more people in the room but we know these people are in the room. Annas, the high priest was there. I don't wonder what number he was. Along with Caiaphas, John, Alexander, and all the other relatives of the high priest because that's the way it goes. Nepotism is not a new thing.

They brought in the two disciples and they demanded, by what power or in whose name have you done this? So by what power is under which authority and literally, how did you do this? And then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers and elders of the people. That is actually polite. It's friendly.

It's it's generous even. You are in this position. I am in this position. Rulers and elders of our people. Are we being questioned today because we've done a good deed for a crippled man?

Did we spend the night in jail last night because we were doing a good deed? Is that the way this ought to go? Just the question itself is a little embarrassing. Do you wanna know how he was healed? Did they just ask him?

How did you do this? By what? Authority. And actually, they had asked Jesus when he cleared out the temple. Think about this is the landed gentry.

These are the wealthy folks. These are the ones who would say yes or no to whose booth get in to be in the temple that Jesus cleansed. Not too long before that, when Jesus flipped over the tables and cleansed it with the cat of nine tails and the whole deal, these were the guys who were in charge. By name, Anas, Kyphes, we we know that these were the guys that were in charge and they were the ones that were frustrated. In whose name are you doing this?

And Jesus asked him a question that they knew in front of the people could not be answered and so they kinda slink away. Now, Peter is kinda following after Jesus saying, do you really wanna know? Are you asking the question just for the sake of the court here? Do you really wanna know how he's healed? Let me clearly state to all of you, to all of the people of Israel, write it down.

Broadcast this, that this man was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, the man you crucified. That's bold. He had already said it last chapter through faith in the name of Jesus subjectively placed in Jesus but Jesus's faithfulness that he walked out a perfect record and died on the cross and had it to pay forward to anybody who would believe has healed this man. He was healed by the powerful name of Jesus Christ Nazarene, the man you crucified but whom God raised from the dead. Wasn't the end of the story.

The crucifixion was not the end of the story. You thought it was gonna handle things but it didn't. Turns out, it's even better than you could have ever ever thought. The power that you hold, if you would just humbly agree to the plan that God has made, this will be the most marvelous thing you've ever seen. For Jesus is.

It doesn't say Jesus was. One of the hardest things about preaching a funeral is the word was. For Jesus is the one referred to in the scriptures where it says, the stone that you builders rejected has now become the cornerstone. The stone that the builders rejected. I think it's funny that he puts you in there.

The the stone that you builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. Psalm one eighteen, messianic Psalm. And then he clearly states, let me clearly state, he doesn't wanna leave anything to them guessing because they guess wrong. Let me clearly state, there is salvation in no one else.

God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Jesus is it. If it's not through Jesus, it's not going to happen. When Jesus said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. No one comes to the father except through me.

That's exclusive but God didn't have to make any way. He did make a way and that way is Jesus and there's salvation and no one else. If you're gonna have a Nawana memory verse for comforting yourself, this is it. I believe in you Jesus. I don't understand you.

I mess up a lot like the disciples, you know. But I know that that's where my salvation is. It's in the name of Jesus. I'm sure of that. There is salvation in no one else.

God's given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved and in our time, the exclusivity of the gospel is the hardest thing for our culture to accept because we're wide open to believe in anything you wanna believe even though even if it's absolutely obvious that it's not true. Right? Well, that's is that's that's what they believe. It's their truth. The gospel is true and it is capital t truth and it is an exclusive truth.

Now, the way that God gave the Jewish people the the sacrificial system and the way that he set up the calendar and the way that he set up all of this stuff that pointed to Jesus and then the way that Jesus fulfilled it shows that there is a way out and he is that way. So, I know you wrestle with this, and I know you wrestle with presenting this to people that it really is exclusive. If you just stomp your foot and say it's exclusive, and it's excluding you, particularly the person you're talking to, it's exclusive in that that it it is the way but anybody can take it. Anybody can take that way. Anybody can come in.

Whosoever can come in. It is the way. If there's one door out of a place, you have to go through that door to get out of that place and this is what he's saying. There's no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved. Just Jesus.

That's it. Now, the members of the council were amazed. Imagine they were. 71 of them sitting around. Let's see what they have to say.

Woah. That we crucified. There's a whole crowd of people yelling, crucify him. Yeah, but you were the ones in charge. The members of the council were amazed when they saw the boldness of Peter and John.

For they could see that they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures and if you ranked yourself in order of who's the smartest and you're vying for position to get closer to the NASI, whatever that is, For they could see that they were they were just ordinary folks, layman. They were just layman. They didn't have any special training in scripture. I mean, everybody had access to the scrolls. Everybody had time in church.

Everybody tended to memorize large portions of scripture but that wasn't special training. Special training was probably doctrinal. They didn't know the sadducees way, right? They saw that they were just layman which they didn't want layman to be speaking about God anyway. They wanted them just to listen to what they had to say.

The the land of Gentry Sadducees. They could see they were ordinary men with no special training in the scriptures and they also recognized them as men who had been with Jesus. That may that be said truthfully of each of us gathered here this morning. May it be that somebody sees us and may we be recognized as someone who's been with Jesus. You spend time with them, right?

Spend time with them. If if we are as Paul says to be imitators of God, how do you get to a place where you can imitate somebody? You spend time with them. Read the gospels. Read the Bible.

Read the prophecies. Read it so that you know it but also pray. Read God's word and pray. Lean into a relationship with Jesus. May we be recognized as somebody who has been with Jesus.

Now, but since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them. Do you all see this as comically as I do? This is great TV. Chosen is getting there this year, I think. Right?

But since they could see the man who had been healed standing right there among them, can you imagine? They say the reason they sit in a semi circle in Sanhedrin 43. It says, the reason we sit in the semi circle so we can see each other's faces. And they're standing and looking at Peter and John and the guy who's standing right there with him. Peter's preaching boldly.

John, I'm sure is making mental notes. And then the guy is right there in the chamber of hewn stone. They could see him standing right there and they didn't try to deny what had happened. They had all walked past that guy. He'd been there.

Every day it says that as was their custom. Right? He brought this guy and he sat out there and all of them have walked past him. And he's standing right there. So they ordered Peter and John out of the council chamber.

We're going to have an executive session. Get out of here. We'll confer among ourselves. So in this executive session, it says, what are going to do? What are going do with these guys?

Political as it was. What are we going to do with them? They ask each other. Now presumably, Luke had interviewed people. He says, I interviewed everybody about this.

You know, I I went back and followed. Some of these guys probably turned to Jesus. But in the council chambers, this is what they're saying. What are we gonna do? We can't deny that they performed a miraculous sign even right here.

Peter says, it's not by my power nor by my godliness. I didn't do this. Jesus did it. We can't deny that they have performed a miraculous sign and we can't deny that everybody in Jerusalem knows about it. Everybody saw that guy sitting out there.

But to keep them from spreading their propaganda any further, we must warn them not to speak to anyone in Jesus name again. Just don't just don't do it anymore. Isn't that silly? Age of Messiah has come, but we thought it started a hundred and seventy years ago. We're not gonna back off of our line.

We're in a pretty good comfortable position here. We can't deny what happened. We haven't been able to do that sort of stuff. They just want them not to speak in Jesus' name again. So they called apostles back in and commanded never again to speak and teach in the name of Jesus.

Never. Don't do that again. That's that's bad. Really bad for us. Really bad.

Don't do it. But Peter and John replied, do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? Now, from their position, they are the ones ordained by God to be the the voice of God. But it's real hard when you feel like you're in that position to determine whether it's actually God speaking or my self interest speaking. And in this case, it's their self interest that's speaking.

Incontrovertible evidence had been offered and they'd rather go away with it from what they already believe. Just inconvenient. Gotta get them out of here. Do you think God wants us to obey rather you rather than him? We cannot stop telling about everything that we've seen and everything we've heard.

Amen. Cause there were people that have been with Jesus and he's awesome. John later would write, if we wrote down everything that he did, the whole world content could contain the books. Right? The council then threatened them further.

Well, but they finally let them go because they didn't know how to punish them without starting a riot. That's why. They they would rather have just been excused, you know, killed them, beaten them, hauled them off, but they knew that if they did, it'd start a riot. And they're the ones in charge under Rome, and Rome would then see that they had no power over the people, and so that's not good politically. So they warned them, they warned them further, stronger, wagging of the finger, and then they didn't know how to punish them without starting a riot for everyone around there was praising God.

Amen. People are coming into the family of God because of what had happened. A miraculous sign. The healing of a man who had been lame for more than forty years. It's congenital condition.

The man's over 40 years old and there's no doubt about it having happened. And so as soon as they were freed, Peter and John returned to the other believers and told them what the leading priests and elders had said and I just want to stop right here. What's that gossip? Was it gossip? It happened to them.

They heard what was going on. I mean, the executive session they didn't hear at that point. Luke had heard it before he wrote it down but no, it's not gossip. If it happened to you, you can talk to other believers about it. It's okay.

Now, when you start putting motive in there and start trying to bad mouth people, that's pretty bad but that as soon as they're free, they just told them what the leading priests and elders had said. They said, don't speak in Jesus name. Oh well, Jesus said to speak in his name. Who are gonna believe? Who are gonna follow?

We're following Jesus. So no, it was not gossip. There we go. Now when they heard the report, all the believers lifted their voices together in prayer to God. Oh sovereign Lord, creator of heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them.

Does that sound familiar to you? Yeah. If you've watched The Chosen, it sounds familiar. That's the way they say the blessing on The Chosen. It starts off like that.

But it's from Psalm one forty six. I'm gonna read the whole Psalm even if it's time to go. Praise the Lord. Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live.

I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don't put your confidence in the powerful people. There's no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth. All the plans will die with them.

But joyful are those who have got the God of Israel as their helper whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in him. He keeps every promise forever. If I mention a song lyric in here, y'all know the rest of the song most of it. Depends on the song but y'all know the songs, right?

I have done umpteen since I've been here and I can see y'all like going through it in your head afterwards. When they said this, it brings you back to the whole Psalm. It's a song. They all know. Don't put your trust in powerful people.

He gives justice to the oppressed. He gives food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down.

Literally, doesn't that sound just like this situation? The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. The Lord will reign forever and he will be your God, oh Jerusalem, throughout the generations. Praise the Lord.

You spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant. This is in the prayer. They're quoting scripture back to God in the prayer. You, lord, spoke long ago by the Holy Spirit through our ancestor David, your servant saying, why were the nations so angry? Why did they waste their time with futile plans?

Psalm two one, another messianic Psalm. Why are the nations so angry? Why do they waste their time with futile plans? The kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers gathered together against the Lord and against His Messiah.

The kings of the earth prepared for battle. The rulers plot together against the Lord and against His anointed one, which is Messiah, Christ in Greek. In fact, this happened here in this very city. For Herod Antipas, Pontius Pilate the governor, the Gentiles, and the people of Israel were all united against Jesus. Your holy servant whom you anointed but everything they did was determined beforehand according to your will.

It was you are sovereign and they are also responsible. And now, oh Lord, hear their threats and give us your servants what? What do you think that's gonna be? Give us your servants protection. Give us safety.

Give us daily bread. That's okay. What is it? What is it? Great boldness in preaching your word.

That's what they pray for. Amen. And has the sermon been difficult so far? Not not not because it's the truth. Has the sermon been difficult?

It is basically Jesus came and lived a perfect life. He had a perfect record that he could give. It was prophesied beforehand and if you'll take an honest approach, you'll see that. Salvation is available in his name. That's the message.

Give us great boldness in preaching your word. Stretch out your hand with healing power. Lord, may miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. If that makes you uncomfortable, I'm sorry. But I will say this, I I passed by somebody yesterday and they said, how so and so?

My friend of six and six and a half years ago, we started walking through the 12 steps together and I don't know this person. I was just walking by them and they said, how's so and so? They knew it was my friend. And I said, great. Sober is a judge.

Everything's great. Goes to a couple meetings a week. It's helped a lot of people get straightened out, you know, so. It's a miracle every single time that happens. Every time it's a miracle.

Stretch out your hand with healing power. Are you ready to have that thing whatever it is removed from your life? Amen. Humbly ask him. May miraculous signs and wonders be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And after this prayer, the meeting place shook and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and then they preached the word of the God. The word of God with boldness. Amen. They got exactly what they prayed for. They were praying for it and then they stepped on faith and started doing it.

And we'll see in the coming weeks that the plan of Almighty God is unstoppable. It will not be thwarted. So may we listen and obey when he speaks and when he moves. May we preach the word of God with boldness. I would say, I'll call you back your attention to the beginning where he was polite.

He was polite and friendly and winsome with that crowd. He did not shrink away from the truth, but he did go to him and say, listen, you've given us audience here, and yet we spent the night in jail last night, but you are the rulers and you're the elders of the people. Each person really is in charge of what they decide to do with their eternal destiny and so, approaching them with a bold claim of the gospel, loving them enough to invite them in. I think it's good. May we be preaching the word of God with boldness.

Will you stand up with us and we will sing a hymn and depart. No, we'll sing something and depart. Always. Oh, so good, Carl.