Acts Chapter 5:17-42

Even when things go bad, even when things go poorly, you need to rejoice. Christians should be filled with joy. Are Christians known for rejoicing?

We're known for being sour and dour and baptizing vinegar. And you know what? God never intended that. He intended us to be filled with joy that was so contagious that the world would say, what happened? Something's different about you now. I want what you have.

What is it? We should be filled with joy. And certainly you can always find a reason not to be filled with joy. Everyone of us can have a reason. We could list this more. I shouldn't be filled with joy because of X, Y, and Z.

You know what? But you always have a reason where you can be thankful and praise God. Always.

Which will you focus on? How often as believers we look at the world and go, oh, the world's going to hell in a hamburger. Or should we stop and think, you know what? God has put us right in the middle of a bunch of people that don't know Him. And now there's an opportunity to share the love of God with some people that don't yet know Him. Welcome to Cross the Bridge with David McGee. David is the senior pastor of the bridge in Kernersville, North Carolina. Today, Pastor David explains why we should be filled with joy as he continues in the book of Acts, chapter 5.

Here's David McGee with part 2 of the teaching, The Work of God Continues. Turn with me to Acts, chapter 5, verse 17. It says, Then the high priest rose up and all those who were with him, which is the sect of the Sadducees, and they were filled with indignation, they're mad again, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

Verse 21, And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together with all the elders of the children of Israel and sent them to the prison to have them brought. Now, they got out of prison. I want you to notice what they did. They went and hid, didn't they? Is that what it says? They went and they were afraid for their lives and they found a hiding place.

That's not what it says. Guys, they went back to the temple. Either these guys have the most serious case of short-term memory that we've ever observed in mankind or they didn't care about the beating or about prison. They went back to the temple.

There's something significant in that for us. If you're here this morning and you've asked Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you've been set free. You've been set free from a prison far worse than a steel and a concrete one. You've been set free from a prison, depression, anger, bitterness, hostility, loneliness, bondage of all sorts. You've been set free. Why have you been set free? Same reason. In part to tell others. In part because God loves you. But once you've been set free, you know what we should be doing?

Tell people because everybody deserves a chance to hear the gospel. And that's what these guys were doing. They weren't afraid of being in prison.

They weren't afraid of being beaten up. They went back to the temple. Let's read on verse 22. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported saying, Indeed, we found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the doors.

But when we opened them, we found no one inside. Verse 24, Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. Verse 25, So one came and told them, saying, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. God has a sense of humor.

Can you imagine? I mean, you know, you're these religious hypocrites and that means people that are all about the law and not about Jesus. I had to explain that because they really, you know, they became extinct several years ago, right? It was a joke.

Okay. So these religious hypocrites, they're trying to throw these guys in prison. They throw them in prison and then they turn around and it's like, you know, it's like one of those balls.

You kind of duck under the wire, keeps coming back up, keeps coming back up. And they go, Hey, yeah, the guys you threw in the prison, you shut them up talking about Jesus in the temple. They're in the temple telling people about Jesus. I mean, God is, God's cool.

God's awesome. Verse 26. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence for they feared the people lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council and the high priest asked them. Now, before we continue, let's look at this. You know, if you pulled people and you said, I'm throwing you in prison for telling people about Jesus and you locked them up and all of a sudden they appeared again in the same place telling people about Jesus again.

Wouldn't you pause to scratch your head to go, what happened? Do you see these people had become so hypocritical and so unaware of their own sinful condition that they were so focused on what was going outside of them that they became friend, literally stupid. They became stupid.

They became ignorant about what was going on all around them. Do you understand? I can do that.

You can do that. We get so concerned with what's going on around us that we forget what God is trying to do through us and in us. And that's what happens here. Verse 27, the high priest asked them saying, did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us.

Man, your attention please. What an awesome verse. What an awesome accusation. You're filling Jerusalem with your doctrine and you want the blood of this man talking about Jesus. You want the blood of Jesus on me.

Absolutely. May this be the accusation people around here have of us, that we're filling the triad with our doctrine. Not our doctrine, the biblical doctrine, what Jesus had to say. May that be the accusation that we want Jesus' blood on people. Not literally.

That's an analogy, if you will. It's symbolic that we want people to be forgiven by the blood that Jesus shed on the cross. I want that.

I desire that. And you know what? Again, God is doing that here. God is using us. And if you're here and if you're praying for us and praying for me and praying for this ministry and you're serving and you're giving or you're doing any of the above, God's using us to reach the world. God's using us to bring God's doctrine to touch people, to move around the world. Now, maybe you're sitting here going, Oh yeah, you seem to talk about that every time about inviting people and proclaiming the gospel. Man, you know, when are you going to quit that when everybody hears?

And until the whole world hears, you're going to keep hearing about it. Amen? Now, notice what they're doing. They're keeping the main thing the main thing. The doctrine and the blood of Jesus covering the sins.

They keep the main thing the main thing. Now, verse 29. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men. So Peter continues with a seeker-friendly message. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging him on a tree. Him God has exalted to his right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. Now, your attention, please.

I want you to notice something. Because Peter says we ought to obey God rather than men. And we need to understand. Peter is engaged in what we call civil disobedience. He is being disobedient to these authorities because he's being obedient to God. But we need to understand something because I've met a lot of people, and some of them were, I was trying to think of a more loving term, but quacks. They're quacks. And they come out saying, you know, you don't do this and don't do that and don't obey the government and don't do this. And, you know, it's like, well, what kind of nonsense is that? Now, if ever you're going to be disobedient to the government, which is illegal, you want to make sure that you have strong scriptural evidence and strong, solid scriptural reasons for doing that.

Why? Because we tend to be rebellious by nature. And we tend to look for reasons and excuses to be disobedient to civil authorities.

And rarely do we really come up with legitimate reasons here in the United States. Now, if you were overseas, you're in an Islamic-controlled country and they're saying don't share your faith, you know what? Share your faith. Be civilly disobedient. But if you're going to be disobedient to, well, let me widen that circle up. Not only civil authorities, but if you're going to be disobedient to your boss, if you're going to be disobedient to your husband or in a family, if you're going to be disobedient to a pastor or spiritual leader, make sure you have solid scriptural evidence for doing that. Not, oh, I've got a bad feeling.

No, no, no, no. Point to a verse, point to a chapter and say this is a problem. Peter mentions obeying God. What are some of the ways that we are to obey God?

Let me run through a couple real quick. Number one is study, read, and obey the Bible. God gave us this book. God gave us this book. He used man to give us this book, but God is the one that gave us this book. So be in this book every day, not just Sundays, not just Thursdays, but every day. Second thing, be an involved part of a church. God came up with the concept of the church.

That's not something man invented. And, yes, occasionally the church gets whacked out or, you know, the church as a whole gets off as they did in the Middle Ages, but God always, when that happens, sends a large-scale house cleaning. And you know what? And let me ask you, are you involved?

Are you engaged here? Or, you know, well, I come. I come to church. That's enough, ain't it? I come.

You know, there's not a ball game on. And I come, you know, it's not raining. And that's an incredible commitment you have. Now, coming to church is a great start. It's a great start, but that's what it is.

It's a great start. And over time, you should find yourself more engaged and serving God and participating in things that are going on. Now, third thing, be a good steward, not just the finances.

It certainly includes finances, but you know what? We are the vessels that God is using in the work of the ministry. He wants to use your gifts and your talents and your resources in order to help us reach people.

So be good stewards of what God has given you. And the fourth thing, be baptized. Be baptized.

If you were baptized, again, as an infant, you need to be baptized since you've made a commitment to Jesus. And again, Peter keeps talking about the same thing. What's he talking about? Salvation. He's talking about salvation.

Peter is speaking to people that have yet to receive Yeshua, Jesus, as their Messiah, as the Messiah, as the one who will save them from their sins. That's an important thing. And you'll notice, if you've been here for very long, every Sunday morning, the Gospel is presented in here. It weaves its way into the message because it's throughout the book anyway. And most Thursday nights, the Gospel.

Why? Because it's important. It's the first step in walking with the Lord. And it's not about what you can do for God. It's about what God has already done for you. He died for you on the cross that you could be forgiven, that you could start a life and have a relationship with Him. You're listening to Pastor David McGee on Cross the Bridge.

He'll be right back with more in just a moment. But I want to remind you of the free resources available to you on crossthebridge.com. There's a team of hundreds of people that will pray for somebody to be saved. If you have a loved one that needs to know Jesus as Savior, you need people to pray for them.

You need someone to present God's word to them. Every day we're presenting God's word to them here on Cross the Bridge with Pastor David McGee. We can pray for them as well just by simply going to crossthebridge.com and click on the Pray for the Lost button. All you need to do is put in the first names of the people you love that need to know Jesus as Savior, click on Submit, and immediately hundreds of people will begin praying for your lost loved ones.

What an awesome way to bring your loved ones to Jesus. Here's a word from Associate Pastor DA Brown. Hey guys, we want to take just a minute to pray for some cities in our listening audience, specifically Ashland, Oregon, and Baker City, Brookings, Canyonville, Cave Junction, Cloverdale, and Colton.

Lord, we thank you for these cities and everyone listening. Lord, we pray that you would pour out your Spirit on these broadcast audiences. Father, we pray that pastors would have wisdom in these cities on how to love their communities. Lord, I pray that people would put their trust in you. God, I pray that you would give the governmental leaders wisdom and discernment, that you would protect these cities, Father, that there would be peace in these cities, and Lord, that your word would be high and lifted up, in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Thank you, brother. And now, let's get back to David McGee as he continues teaching verse by verse. Well, let's see how they react in verse 33. When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill him. So, not necessarily a good response there.

And notice something. Peter had a choice. Peter could have given a watered-down version of the truth. Peter could have not said anything. He'd have been disobedient to God, but he wouldn't have gotten beat up, as we're going to see.

Thrown back in prison. Those things wouldn't have happened. But Peter made a decision. And sometimes we get the illusion that Christianity, it's all about us getting along. No, it's not.

It's not. That's not the picture that the Bible paints. And I know occasionally there's things I say in here. There's things I say in meetings that are filled with truth, but somewhat confrontational.

And I know that if I chose, I could not say them. But then I would be disobedient to the Lord. And so, you know, I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to water down the truth. I'm not going to come out here and go, well, you know, there might be more ways to heaven. Let's all stand in a circle, hold hands, and sing kumbaya.

You know, that, I mean, if that's what you're looking for, loved one, sorry, you're not going to find it here. I care enough about you, and I want to be obedient enough to God, that I want to share the truth. And that's what Peter was doing.

These guys got furious, and they wanted to kill them. And you know what? It's interesting. I can sometimes, and I guess you're getting glimpses in the pastoral ministry, and I don't know if it's encouraging you or not, but sometimes I'll sit with somebody and talk, and I can be their best friend when, oh, I love you, man.

I'm here. I'm solid, you know. And then the next week, I'm their worst enemy, and they're leaving weird e-mails and stuff. And you know what? It happens.

It happens. Paul says this in Galatians 4.16. He says, Have I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth? Again, if you're sharing the truth with somebody, they have a decision to make. Some of them will get angry.

Some of them will receive it. Praise God. But we're supposed to be speaking the truth. Now, see what happens next, verse 34. Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people and commanded them to put the apostles aside for a little while.

So he wanted a private meeting, and that's respectful. Gamaliel's got some wisdom, but I've got a serious problem with him, as we'll see, verse 35. And he said to them, Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves that what you intend to do regarding these men.

For some time ago, see it as Rosa claiming to beat somebody, a number of men, about 400, joined him, and he was slain. And all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. And after this man, Judas of Galilee, this is not the Judas that was a disciple, rose up in the days of the census and drew away many people after him. And he also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing.

But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God. Now, I appreciate the counsel of Gamaliel, and to be honest, for a long time I thought, well, Gamaliel, he's a good guy, that's solid, that's wisdom, you know. And even in the majority of commentaries that I read about the passage, yeah, Gamaliel was a wise man.

Gamaliel was a fence-sitter. The decision was to receive Jesus as his Savior. And he comes off with this, well, let's wait. That's never a wise decision, because you never know what tomorrow holds. I'm not a doom and gloom preacher.

I don't do the thing where you could drive out of here and get hit by a car or by a train or whatever. There is a reality in that. I mean, all the awesome promises that we have in this Word, do you understand tomorrow is not one of them?

And guys, I've seen it, painfully been in meetings, where all of a sudden a week later, I'm getting news that somebody in that meeting is no longer here. Don't be a fence-sitter. See, God is here this morning because he's working on hearts. He's offering each and every one of us nothing less than himself, his life. He's willing to make the exchange.

Think about it. He's willing to make the exchange with us to trade in your life and receive his life. What an amazing offer.

Friend, you'll never get an offer like that again. You know, if somebody this morning showed up and said, hey, I want to give you a car. It's new. It's right out front.

Here's the keys. Well, I don't know. Wait until tomorrow. I'm a little bit closer to accepting the car, though. Because I hear that some people go, you know, well, I didn't accept the Lord, but I'm a little bit closer because, you know, I heard it once again. Wait a minute, friend, you're hearing the Gospel that Jesus Christ died for your sins. And if you leave here today without accepting that or coming to him, you're not one step closer. You're one step further away because, once again, you've heard the truth. You've heard the love of God presented to you, and you've decided to turn away and walk away from that. That's not a good place to be, and I have to tell you that because I care enough about the people here to say that. And Gamaliel is in a very dangerous place. And, friend, man, I hope that is not where you are. I'm going to wait.

I'm not going to make a decision today, but I'm going to wait. Verse 40, and they agreed with him. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded them that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go. So they beat them again, and they're just being silly. I mean, either they're innocent and let them go, or they're guilty and throw them in jail, but they beat them and then they let them go. It's just the hypocrisy continuing.

So, certainly, they go and hide this time. Verse 41, so they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. I'm convicted. I mean, I had two bad days, you know, and getting over this throat thing. And, you know, this one day I was like, I was kind of bummed out. And then I was looking at this passage, and I was so convicted, because these guys get beat up and walk away smiling, somebody said something bad about me, I said, you know. And I was like, man, what a spiritual wimp. That's pretty transparent.

It's not what you probably want to hear about your pastor, but, you know, I mean, I'm not going to sit up here and be a hypocrite. I don't do this sometimes. I need to do this. And, friend, you need to do it, even when things go bad, even when things go poorly. You need to rejoice. You need to rejoice. The life lesson here, Christians should be filled with joy. They should be filled with joy.

Now, let me ask you a question. Are Christians known for rejoicing? Uh-uh.

We're known for being sour and dour and baptizing vinegar. And you know what? God never intended that. He intended us to be filled with joy that was so contagious that the world would say, what happened? Something's different about you now. I want what you have.

What is it? We should be filled with joy. And certainly you can always find a reason not to be filled with joy. Everyone of us can have a reason. You can list this morning, I shouldn't be filled with joy because of X, Y, and Z. You know what? But you always have a reason where you can be thankful and praise God. Always.

Which will you focus on? You've probably heard this story. There's two shoe salesmen that go to this tropical island to sell shoes. And one emails back and says, man, there's no opportunity here. Nobody wears shoes here.

The second one emails back and says, oh, man, there's incredible opportunity here. Nobody's wearing shoes yet. How often as believers we look at the world and go, oh, the world's going to hell in a handbasket. Or should we stop and think, you know what? God has put us right in the middle of a bunch of people that don't know him. And now there's an opportunity to share the love of God with some people that don't yet know him. That's rejoicing. And we can rejoice because of what Jesus did for us.

And certainly you can find reasons not to rejoice, but you can certainly find reasons to rejoice. Verse 42. And daily in the temple and in every house they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. Teaching and preaching. The word preach here in the Greek means evangelize or proclaim. To reach, if you will. And that's cool because you know what?

Our thing here. Reach and teach. If all I do every Sunday morning is give another gospel message, then the people who've already received Jesus can't grow. They sit here and they go, okay, I got this part, man. You know, I've been saved 20 years. I got this.

Tell me how to grow. So there needs to be that teaching and that reaching. And that's what we do here. We're supposed to be making disciples. And what that means is that we reach out to unbelievers. We see them become believers. And then we want to see the believers become disciples. And guys, this is as simple as it gets and it's as complicated as it's going to get here. Unbeliever, believer, disciple.

How do you become a believer? Well, it's a long process. It's like a 12-page form.

If you're interested, you can fill it out after a service. It's a religious ceremony. You got to do something. Be baptized. Take communion. You got to be sorry for long enough.

You got to read so many chapters. What do you got to do? Ask Him. Ask Him to forgive you of your sins. Tell Him you're sorry. Ask Him to give you the power to live for Him. It's just that simple. Friend, do you know for sure that your sins have been forgiven?

You can know right now. I want to lead you in a short, simple prayer. Simply telling God you're sorry and asking Him to help you to live for Him. Now, God wants you to pray this prayer so much that He died to give you the opportunity and the ability to ask Him to forgive you.

Please pray this prayer with me out loud right now. Dear Jesus, I believe you died for me that I could be forgiven. And I believe you were raised from the dead that I could have a new life. And I've done wrong things. I have sinned.

And I'm sorry. Please forgive me of all those things. Please give me the power to live for you all of my days. In Jesus' name.

Amen. Friend, if you prayed that prayer, according to the Bible, you've been forgiven. You've been born again. Jesus said He would not turn anybody away who comes to Him. And He came for those people who knew they needed forgiveness.

Those who were sick, not the righteous. So congratulations, friend. You just made the greatest decision that you will ever make. God bless you. If you prayed that prayer with David for the first time, we'd love to hear from you. You can visit crossthebridge.com to receive our First Steps package with helpful resources to help you begin your walk with Christ.

Or you can write to Cross the Bridge at P.O. Box 12515, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27117 and share how God is working in your life. You know, the Bible tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. But it does cost for us to come and bring that message to you and to others in your neighborhood through radio, through the internet, and through the mobile technologies that God has gifted us to be able to use. So if you'd like to support this ministry, please go to crossthebridge.com, click on the donate button, and ask God how much He would have you give, either on a one-time basis or a continuing basis each month to help ensure that the teaching of God's Word continues to go out through Cross the Bridge. Thank you so much. Well, DA, before we go, what are some ways that we can bless our listeners? Each day you can wake up with encouragement from Pastor David through the Word of God with his email devotional, life lessons to consider, a daily reading plan, and a thought to meditate on throughout your day from the heart of David McGee. Those are terrific, and it's easy and it's free, so folks, sign up today at crossthebridge.com. Thanks again for listening, and join us next time as David McGee continues teaching verse by verse in the book of Acts.