Unintimidated Preaching (Part B)

They were so preoccupied with their lifestyle, going the wrong way, that they just could not see anything because they could not believe. This was not magic. It was not the luck of the draw. They could not believe because they did not want to believe.

And don't we find people like this today? They do not want Jesus to be Christ. They do not want him to be true.

So they're not going to submit. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Acts.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with part two of his message called Unintimidated Preaching in Acts chapter four. There's no one in Israel that has seen Moses that is alive except John, Peter, and James, John's brother. And this is Peter and John, of course. I think James was pretty much a stabilizing force amongst the apostles, not James, the brother of the Lord, James, the brother of John. His death was really a big thing, but he was, because he's very quiet, you don't hear him say much, but he's always there. Why is he always there between Peter and John? And keep them separated, I don't know, but I do think it was just a, he's not even replaced after he's killed.

He can't. I mean, he just thought, well, I'm going off track. We'll get to that when he is martyred, but these leaders were notorious for covering up facts. I'm glad that doesn't happen anymore. The devil at this point didn't have to lift a finger. He had enough corruption in these men. All he had to do was just nudge them and they're off. And it's the same thing.

You probably know people like this in the workplace or this universe in the neighborhood. The devil doesn't have to do anything with them. They're just on the payroll now. And they're hauling the chili for the enemy every chance they get. Every time they're behind the wheel, they are on his errand. Proclaiming the name over an event, assigning a name to it is assigning ownership. And that's what Peter's going to do. This is Jesus Christ, God and Jesus Christ doing this. In verse 10, he'll do that. It's Christ is the performer of this miracle whom you killed.

Oh, did I mention you killed him? So what are the lessons in this? You don't win people by appeasing them. Oh, they don't hurt their feelings. You don't tell them the truth. We'll spring that on them later. It's like a bait and switch. It's illegal in the business world.

If you're caught, it's hard to catch them. Who likes that? Who likes to be drawn into the store and they withhold the truth from you and then they spring it on you after you get your hopes all up? Find out it doesn't come in your size.

It is stretched, just wear them for a week or two. Anyway, verse 8. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders of Israel.

This starts out very polite, does he not? Well, according to the New Testament, the Spirit of God is God. God the Holy Spirit. And so where it says Peter filled with the Holy Spirit, he's filled with God.

God is doing this. Now, there are these momentary fillings when the Spirit just fills us for a task, but there are many subsequent fillings. We cannot always overflow.

It's just not that much to us. But we can always be full. We cannot always flame, but we can always be hot. You know, if you have a campfire and you put enough wood on it after a while, you get those coals. It is hot. It doesn't have to be flaming. But it's ready to flame if you put some fuel on it.

And that is, I think, a parallel of being filled with the Spirit. I would hate to come up here. I don't tell you how many times I come into the pulpit and I don't know what to say. I'm a little nervous. I don't know, how's this going to go?

Are they going to recognize greatness? And then the Spirit just, you know, be quiet. Get going. Start talking.

How can I be quiet? Okay, anyway. Peter, had he not been filled with the Spirit, what would he have been filled with? Had he not been filled with the Spirit, we wouldn't have his sermon here.

We would not appreciate what is going on here. We're going to come across the seven sons of Sceva who confront a devil and they're not filled with the Spirit and we find out what happens. And they're not the only ones. And so it is one thing to be filled with the Spirit. It is another thing to have him flowing out. And he is the one that controls that.

But we can interfere. All we have to do is remain receptive, pliable in his hands. He is the potter and we are the clay. There are filled church goers and there are unfilled church goers.

And you can usually tell after a while, sometimes you tell right away. He said to them, rulers of the people and the elders. Thirty years later, Peter, writing to persecuted Christians in various places, he says, sanctify the Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you with meekness and respect. Well, he's giving, he's ready and he's giving the answer and he's respectful. Even though the truth is hard on those other guys, it's true.

You killed him. It would be disrespectful, would it not, to lie to them, to hold back the things that they need to hear, to give them a chance to be smitten in heart and repent. Paul said, let your speech always be with grace seasoned with salt that you may know how you ought to answer each one. Now, sometimes, you know, Paul went ballistic a few times. God will smack you, you whitewashed wall. He said when he told, we didn't put it exactly like that, but that's what he was saying when they struck him. I didn't know that was a high priest. I used to think Paul knew and I leaned towards, he did not know, but we'll get to that in Acts also.

I still hope he knew and just, he was hot, man, smacking him like that. I mean, punch me, but don't slap me. Well, don't do either.

How about that? Anyway, grace, you know, speaking with grace, you know, speak to people as though you're speaking to the Lord is a good pattern. Treat everyone the way you want Jesus to treat you within the limitations that exist. Verse nine, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well. And before I get it to let it be known part, Peter in verse nine, he's pointing out how silly this is. So I help a guy out and you bring me to court.

I mean, what is it? It's not like I was helping him rob a bank, an accomplice. The man is begging. Incidentally, the man must have had some connections to be, to have that prize spot at the gate to the temple. Why did he get to be there? He evidently was recognized by people.

So he was a regular. And that's just an interesting side note, part of the story. But Peter is saying this man, he's been there for years. No one's done anything about it.

He's healed now. And you're fussing about this. Do you know how silly you look? Well, these guys were so deep into themselves. Truth didn't register anymore with them.

Facts just did not register. Sometimes you can see this in an inflated moment where someone is angry or hysterical and you can't reason with them. But these men, this is how they were all the time. You either were with them or in conflict against them. And few were in conflict with them. Who could withstand them?

You'd lose your job messing with these guys or your life. They wanted to kill Lazarus by having the audacity to be raised from the dead. And John wants to point that out. He says, oh, by the way, we were there. This happened. We want you to know this happened. So that when you find yourself dealing with evil, dark people, you're not, oh, this strange thing's happening to me. I ain't been singled out.

No, they are out there. Verse 10, he says, Peter's speaking, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. So he seizes the moment. They asked him what name, verse six, and he tells them, and he adds, you killed them, but God overruled you.

God did not agree with you. Now what happens? He says, whom you crucified, the senseless arrest. Why didn't they interrupt? Why didn't they say, who do you think you are? I think they were too dumbfounded. I think his spirit was so coming out of Peter that they were flat on their feet.

It was just like, I can't, this Galilean is a terrible accident. He's using his words wrong, you know, because they judged him by their speech, and yet he was flaying them with the truth, whom God raised from the dead. Why did they not refute that statement right now? Why did not someone say, oh, that's what you said? Or no, he did not.

Why did they just allow this? Because it was true. They had no evidence against it, and they had evidence for it. It wasn't like, well, we can't prove that he rose from the dead. Someone come along, yes, we can.

And here are the facts. Since when do you buy off, you know, Roman guards that you all did because you knew that they told the truth, you'd have to face the resurrection of Christ. Anyway, Peter says, you murdered him, but he did not stay dead on your behalf. And he is the one that has healed this man, and I'm the instrument. And by him, this man stands here before you, he says in the bottom of verse 10. Months earlier, Peter stood warming himself by the fire, so confused about his faith, his identity in Christ. Now he has no doubts about who he is and who God is and Christ, and the Holy Spirit is just empowering him to take charge.

Verse 11, this is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. So he's using a prophetic metaphor as he points to the crime against their Messiah. He says they're the ones that did it, and again, you get nowhere covering up the gospel. It doesn't mean we're rash with our words, but if you're in dialogue with somebody about Christ, we tell the truth, and we work towards telling that truth. We do not suppress the truth.

We are quite vocal about where we stand. I believe in Jesus. I believe he is the Son of God. I believe he died and rose again. I believe he paid for us all.

I believe he is the way to heaven and there is no other way. This is what I believe. And if you don't like it, that's you. That's not me. If you would like to know more, then I'll tell you, but I'm not giving you my email address. Well, am I the only one that does not give out his email address to even anybody? The CIA could call up, Rick, can we have your email address?

They don't call you? Okay. Anyway, he's quoting Psalm 118 and he's applying it to them. He adds that part. The stone, which you builders rejected, is not vague about this. This is old school preaching. This cornerstone is a big part of their law. It comes up in Psalms and Isaiah and Daniel and Zechariah. The New Testament, the chief cornerstone metaphor, Jesus used it in Matthew 12, 21. Paul used it twice, no less than. Peter uses it again in 1 Peter.

How many times did they use it and it's not recorded? The cornerstone is Christ and by rejecting their chief cornerstone, they showed that they were unfit to hold their office because they couldn't even recognize their own Messiah, even though he checked all the boxes and nobody else could or ever would. They were so preoccupied with their lifestyle going the wrong way that they just could not see anything because they could not believe. This was not magic.

It was not the luck of the draw. They could not believe because they did not want to believe and don't we find people like this today? They do not want Jesus to be Christ. They do not want him to be true, so they're not going to submit. The Bible gives psychoanalysis of its characters and has no need for the world to contribute.

The Bible holds these people up and said, listen, look at this guy. Now what do you see in him? You don't want to see that in you. Do you find it in someone else? Okay, what can you do about it if you find it in someone else? Avoid them?

Maybe preach to them. Verse 12, now this is one of the great verses of the entire Bible, a doctrinal verse. So you get verse by verse teaching. You get not only doctrine, you get context. You get how it happened and Peter is going to be very careful to tell them, Christ raised this man and he is the only one that can save your soul from hell and that is doctrine.

And then we let other people come along and give it all complicated names you can't even pronounce. I don't know why, but anyway, nor is there salvation in any other for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. The only true God could truly save a soul. Hosea, this is in their Bibles. And just remember, you know, all of our New Testament comes from ancient copies of the original manuscripts. We had no original manuscripts. Jesus quoted scripture. He had no original manuscripts.

They were copies and usually in the Greek, in the Septuagint. Of course, he being the author didn't need it, but my point is truth can be preserved in this way and it is preserved. Your scripture is challenging, but trustworthy. Hosea says this, yet I am Yahweh, your God, ever since the land of Egypt and you shall know no God but me for there is no savior besides me. So Christ is either Yahweh of the Old Testament or he's another savior. He's not another savior. He is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. He is God, the son. This is Peter laying it out to them that Christ has fulfilled the criteria and the right to be understood as the savior and many hate today and through the centuries hate the exclusive claims of Christ. Why does he get to be the only way? Because he's God.

That's why. Christians, go out and take mixed martial arts. You can pop people when they disagree with the gospel.

No, that wouldn't be us. We have to love them. Well, aren't you glad you were loved when Christ picked you out of the world and the way he did?

I am. Someone loved me enough to share the gospel and not back down from it. Even though I was winning the argument, they did not back down. The world hates these exclusive claims. The myth, you know, they always say Christianity is a myth. You know, your salvation is going to be a myth if you don't fix it. All roads lead to heaven. That's a myth. Think of the traffic jam.

They don't. It's mythological. God has said there's one road. It's an absolute truth. And Jesus warned of God's wrath for refusing him. And this is the state of the unbeliever. John 3 verse 36. He who believes in the son has everlasting life and he who does not believe in the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abides on them. The wrath of God.

This is our message that also we have no good news. If there was no wrath, it's just everything's the same. But there is.

Well, you better speed up. You've got several verses to do. For there is no other name in heaven.

That's what I'm sorry. I'm fighting humor or attempts at it. There is no other name under heaven. And this slams the door shut on every other religion on earth. If you think that Mary has something to do with your salvation, you believe in something that's not Christianity.

I don't care what name you give it. If you believe in Allah for your way, you do not believe that you're not going to heaven on those grounds. If you're a Hindu and you lost track of the gods they follow, this offends people. Well, do I have a right to be offended? Did you believe stuff like that?

If you're going to be offended that I disagree with you, don't I have a right since you're disagreeing with me? Well, but it doesn't work that way. By the time Christ came, all the major religions of the world were already in place except Islam. Islam would come several hundred years later. But all the others, they were already there. Judaism was presented with its next phase and of course they missed it. Those who remained in Judaism, they did.

Paul did not miss it. Well, he did it first. I can't wait to get to that. Who are you, Lord?

What do you want me to do? That typifies the entire Christian walk. Learning who God is, what he wants, how he does it, siding with him, asking him what my role is.

Such an exciting book. Man-made religions and rituals and regulations and deeds, they can become a great nuisance and detours from true salvation. John 10 verse 7, the name they hated was the only way to heaven. Jesus said to them again, most assuredly I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. That's pretty serious stuff in the days he was saying it. Given among men by which we must be saved because we are sinners, we need to be saved in ritual, birthright, and good deeds won't do it.

They're not enough. Verse 13. Now, you can stay on verse 12, do a whole series on verse 12. It's one of those verses. Verse 13, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, they perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. You see the boldness of someone and boy he's bold.

He must be dumb and untrained. You know, it doesn't make any sense. Well, they were carnal men. They couldn't tell what anointing was. They were natural men actually.

Carnal too, but natural. Natural means they were untouched by the Holy Spirit unto salvation. They perceived that they were uneducated and untrained. In other words, they judged them by their speech, yes, and they also judged them by what they were saying and how they were saying it. And they said these men have not been brought up in the schools of the rabbis. Their formal rabbinical training was not there.

That was their criteria. They lacked indoctrination into Pharisaism or Sadusism, the rabbis. Paul said, I was a rabbi. I was a Pharisee.

And I counted it all as rubbish. I had to get rid of all of it to learn Christ. Now he didn't get away from his academic grammar, mathematics, that education he retained. But the indoctrination he rejected, all of it. 2 Corinthians 10, for we do not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise.

This goes on to this day. What seminary did you go to? Look, I'm not against seminary. If you think you can't get raised up by somebody in the church, you've got to outsource your education, that's fine. Just don't go holding it over my head.

Don't think that that is the criteria. Jesus bypassed these men. He bypassed their writings, their rituals, and their lifestyle to their face, and they never forgave him for it. These apostles, uneducated according to their standards, the same thing they charged Christ with, John 7. And the Jews marveled, saying, how does this man know letters having never studied? Who said he never studied? He never studied with you, which is why he was, humanly speaking, why he was not corrupted like you. I don't get it.

People do this to this day. Universities find somebody who's very successful in Christianity who hasn't gone through their schools, they give them an honorary doctorate because they have to make a claim. Billy Graham, yeah, how many doctors did he have?

A whole bunch of them. He didn't earn one of them, not by their standards. He didn't go through the, you know, submit his theses, and he just preached the gospel, and they were like, wow, we got to get him on our side. And in those days, I guess you had to do it.

These days, I don't know, I have such disdain for it. There are pulpits in America, you can't get in them unless you've got a doctorate or a master's. You can't become a military chaplain without a master's degree in divinity. Who made that rule up? Some master of divinity, I guess, I don't know. But why? Why can't a person be anointed?

What about that? Well, he doesn't have to be anointed. He just has to have these credentials.

That's what these guys were doing. He doesn't have to have truth. He has to be one of us. So these untrained men, untrained with them.

Well, I have a lot more about this. We've got to get rolling. We're about out of time.

We might not make it to the end here, but we'll make it to heaven one day. So be encouraged. It's a very tempting thing to become a preacher from a pulpit and try to be eloquent, try to learn more words, add to your vocabulary so you can speak over everybody's head except for one or two people.

You can impress them. Boy, he just knows so much he can articulate. Paul said this, and my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. See, they mocked Paul. They didn't like the way he spoke his Greek.

And Paul said, you're not listening to what I'm saying. You're busy judging how I'm saying it. If I had very, very, very poor English and I told you that you want a million dollars, you'd know what I mean and you'd want to collect.

That's what ultimately counts. The vox and the verba. Well, see, that's those words. They make up those words and they make it into theology and you come across them and you start studying the vox and the verba and you realize this is stupid.

How about you just say what, you speak English, speak American. Well, we are going to have to pick this up again at, we're going to return to verse 13. So we've reached 13 and we'll start again at verse 13 because we want to keep beating up on people who think like that. There's a far side cartoon of these people stuck on an island and they're taking rocks to write help and the plane is flying over, but they didn't finish the P. So the P looks like an F and the pilot says, well, nevermind. It says health. See, let's just throw away what truth is and let's go with something else.

I hope you don't hate me for it, but if you do, I don't really care. You've been listening to Cross-Reference Radio, the daily radio ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel in Mechanicsville, Virginia. As we mentioned at the beginning of today's broadcast, today's teaching is available free of charge at our website. Simply visit crossreferenceradio.com. That's crossreferenceradio.com. We'd also like to encourage you to subscribe to the Cross-Reference Radio podcast. Subscribing ensures that you stay current with all the latest teachings from Pastor Rick. You can subscribe at crossreferenceradio.com or simply search for Cross-Reference Radio in your favorite podcast app. Tune in next time as Pastor Rick continues teaching through the book of Acts, right here on Cross-Reference Radio.