Praying Boldly. Lesson Fourteen Acts 4: 23-31

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1 Praying Boldly Lesson Fourteen Acts 4: In last week s lesson, Peter and John have come under the tyranny and opposition of the Sanhedrin and spent the night in a prison cell, perhaps in some holding cell somewhere on the outer wall of the temple precinct itself. And the Sanhedrin warned them not to preach any more in the name of Jesus. And now we are following Peter and John as they make their way from the prison cell to some location in Jerusalem where their friends are gathered, and we pick up our story at verse 23. This is an extraordinary passage. It's one of the most exciting parts of the whole book of Acts. It says something to us about a number of things, but it says something to us about the significance of prayer and the power of prayer, and what it is they prayed for in a crisis when their lives and their liberties were being threatened. I. The Priority these early Christians gave to prayer (vv a) Peter and John make their way to the place where their friends are gathered and what do they do? They tell their friends what's happened, and immediately immediately! they lift up their voices to God. Prayer was like breathing to them. They didn't have to think about it, they didn't have to debate about it, they didn't have to plan or organize, they just did it. So, the group immediately prayed. It was the instantaneous response to a crisis. They prayed. They lifted up their voices. They gave it priority. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said that the ultimate test of our profession of faith is our prayer life. II. The Pattern of their prayer (vv.24b 28) This is a prayer in a crisis. They haven't premeditated what it is that they're going to say; the thoughts and words just spill out. Sometimes all we have time for is an arrow prayer.

2 Acts Lesson Fourteen page 2 Notice how their prayer begins: "Oh Lord, it is You who made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them..." It is interesting that most of their prayer is from Psalm 2; they are praying Scripture; praying God s words back to Him. This is interesting because only a few weeks before this, they knew the words of the Scriptures, but they really didn t understand them didn t understand what they were really talking about. Jesus had told his disciples repeatedly that in order to fulfill the Scriptures, He would be arrested by the chief priests, delivered over to the Gentiles, tried, beaten, crucified, and raised. Several times on the way to Jerusalem to be arrested and crucified, he told his disciples what was about to occur, but they just didn t get it. Now, they are a different group they get it. It s all come together for them now. Persecution arises and they pray God s words back to Him. Notice that the prayer begins with the words "Sovereign Lord" (v. 24). This is the first time in Acts that a prayer has begun in this way. Why? Because that is exactly what needed to be said in praise on this occasion. God is sovereign. God is in charge, and it is his deepest determination to exalt Christ. These early Christians were saying, in effect, "How marvelous this is! How wonderful to know that by the grace and power of God those who believe on and follow Jesus Christ are on the winning side. The word, Lord, is not the usual word for Lord. The word Lord appears 7836 times; it is the Greek word kurios. Only ten times is another Greek word used. The word used here is the word despotes in Greek. It is the word from which we get our word despot It's the word that those in Jerusalem would have readily associated with a slave owner So, why did they use this word? Because God s might and power and sovereignty and control were exactly what they needed. What they were affirming is that our God is stronger than the Sanhedrin. Our God is stronger than the Roman Empire. And then they reference the second Psalm.

3 Acts Lesson Fourteen page 3 Why do Peter, John, and the others quote this psalm on this occasion? What the "kings of the earth" did in that psalm is precisely what the Sanhedrin had been doing. They had done it with Jesus. Now they were doing the same thing with the disciples. Psalm 2 goes on to describe what God's response is to such arrogance. The rulers of the world are taking up arms against the Almighty gathering up their weapons, missiles, tanks, and guns to fight God and cast off his chains. But what does God do? Does God tremble at the united opposition of the world? He does nothing of the sort. What does He do? He laughs at them_ (v. 4). Then, He points to the Lord Jesus Christ and says, "I have installed my King on Zion, my holy hill." (Ps. 2:6). The Sanhedrin had killed Jesus. But God raised Jesus from the dead, brought him to heaven, and then seated him upon his holy hill of Zion. He made him King of Kings and Lord of all the earth. Now the rulers were starting down the same path with the disciples. They prohibited the disciples to preach in the name of Jesus. But the disciples replied that God would exalt Jesus; the leaders couldn't do anything about it; and as for them, they would praise him for what he would do. What these disciples have seen is the fulfillment of prophecy. They've seen the second Psalm fulfilled in their ears and before their eyes. And do you notice what he says in verse 28: "...To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur." For these early Christians, the doctrine of the sovereignty of God brought them the assurance that everything, that all of history every event, every detail, every circumstance, all the good things, all the bad things, all the evil things are all part of a divine plan and purpose. And to these disciples, the cross and all the ugliness of it, and all the brutality of it, and all the evil of it that wicked men were plotting together, as the second Psalm is saying, to destroy the Anointed of God, the Messiah, Jesus was all by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God.

4 Acts Lesson Fourteen page 4 You remember, Peter said those very words on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. For these early Christians, predestination meant for them that the chaos of the last two months and the brutality of the Sanhedrin was all under the control of a sovereign God. Their persecution was not outside the plan and purpose of God ;it was inside the plan and purpose of God. This is where the one in persecution finds final, ultimate comfort. This is in the plan of God. That's how the Book of Genesis ends, in the story of Joseph. They meant it for evil, but God meant it for God. Psalm 76:10 puts it this way: He causes the wrath of men to praise Him. II. The Petition in their Prayer (vv ) After introducing the prayer and speaking of God as Lord and Creator and Sovereign, and quoting the second Psalm, and reminding themselves of God's predestinating activity, His total control, what is it that they ask for? What they asked for is shocking and unexpected; they pray for boldness If anything describes the difference between us and the first-century church, it is our lack of boldness. Yet we see in Acts a sudden transformation. Just a few days before, the Apostles had been in the upper room hiding, cowering, terrified, locking the doors for fear of the Jews, and now here they are, standing up against the highest authority in the land without fear. Much had occurred to change them: the resurrection, Pentecost with the accompanying noise and most important the indwelling and filling with the Holy Spirit. The resurrection galvanized the faith of the early church. When they saw the risen Christ, when they saw His victory over death and over His enemies, when He burst alive from the tomb, a faith was born in the breasts of the Apostles and the disciples that the whole world could not extinguish. Adding to the power of that faith was the power of Pentecost, in which God the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they began to proclaim the Word of God fearlessly to the whole world (Romans 1:16). IV. The Product of the Prayer (v.31) Well, the place shook - God came down.

5 Acts Lesson Fourteen page 5 Notice what Luke says: that the place shook, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. They have already been filled with the Holy Spirit previously; they were all filled with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. But now they're filled again, and Luke seems to say to us, that sometimes in situations of crisis, issues that will demand of us extraordinary courage and extraordinary wisdom and resourcefulness, the Spirit comes and fills them again, and they spoke with boldness. God answered their prayer. Martin Luther wrote: "Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also. The body they may kill; God's truth abideth still His kingdom is forever." Are you willing to pray like that? If half a dozen of us prayed like that, it would change the shape of this church. If we began to pray like these early Christians did on this occasion, it would change us forever. Lesson Fifteen Satan Goes to Church Acts 4:32 5:11