A Timely Prayer (Part 1 of 2)

It's easy for any of us when the news is filled with stories of political unrest, or social disintegration, to be tempted to ignore all that's happening around us. But is that what we're called to do? Today on Truth for Life, Alistair Begg tackles this question by examining a timely prayer that shows us how the early church handled persecution. Well, let me invite you to turn to the Acts of the Apostles and to chapter 4, and I'm going to read from the twenty-third verse to the thirty-first verse. When they—that is, the apostles, Peter and John—when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the peoples plod in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed. For truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant Jesus.

And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the Word of God with boldness. Amen. As we turn now to the Bible, that is the story of our hearts, that we need you, Lord Jesus Christ, to come and make yourself known to us so that it may be your voice that we hear by the Holy Spirit, and that might be to your endearing call that we respond, that it may be before your throne we bow. And so we need you, and thank you for the promise of your help. And we pray in your name.

Amen. Well, I want to take, actually, just part of a verse as our text for today, and it is part of the twenty-ninth verse of Acts chapter 4, which we read part of a moment or two ago. And in Acts 4.29, the people who have assembled there and have gathered in prayer say, And now, Lord, look upon their threats.

They were being imposed upon by the authorities. Look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. And that really is our text for this morning. The NIV translates it, Enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. And I referred to this—in fact, I called our study this morning—a timely prayer. A timely prayer, inasmuch as that it is as fitting and as necessary to pray this prayer today as it was when it was first uttered.

The Bible makes it clear that the whole church is to take the whole gospel to the whole world. And the world in which we live today is, of course, a challenging and a daunting place. I was reading this week a book by Bavink, the Dutch theologian.

I had dipped into it before, but I settled upon it this week for some reason, and it's fairly brief, and I just read it through. He entitled the book The Riddle of Life. And in the course of that, as he addresses various perspectives, he describes the various views that people have of the story and the unfolding of history. And when he comes to comment on the view of the world, which is peculiarly optimistic—a view of humanity which sees humanity as being on the road of constant improvement, sort of along the lines of, We've got to admit it's getting better. And the idea that if we just have a little more time, then we can get this correct—that the development and the progress of our world will eventually reach its fruition, its final point, its pinnacle. And commenting on this, Bavink says, when that will come, nobody knows.

Obviously, he doesn't subscribe to this view. But then he says, it looks more and more likely that our culture, based as it is on self-satisfaction, will at a certain moment collapse. And then we as humanity will face a worldwide calamity that will occur without warning. It may yet take a while, but there's no doubt it will come. Bavink wrote that book in 1939 on the threshold of the Second World War.

He died himself in 1965. And what he observes there, almost prophetically, is easy to tie in with any kind of survey of history, because it is obvious that cultures and empires rise and they fall. And I found myself sitting and wondering, if Bavink were able to return, if he could come back right now to the United States, would he find in some measure the extreme circumstances of today as something of a fulfillment of that prophetic word concerning a calamity which will actually be worldwide? Because here we find ourselves in a period of political agitation and social disintegration. And the question that is before us and that I want to study with you this morning is a straightforward one, and that is, What is the church to do? What is the church to do? What are we called to do? What does the Bible say we must do? Not, What do we want to do? What do we feel like doing? What will make us comfortable? And so on.

No. And in tackling that question, I want us to look not simply at this text that we have taken but to consider what gives rise to this particular prayer. Why is it that at this point in time, this small group of Christians pray expressly, enable your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness?

Now, we can't start back too far and work our way all the way up to this, but we do need to set it in context. First of all, you will remember that the apostles were commissioned by the Lord Jesus. Jesus said to them before his departure to heaven, All authority in heaven on earth has been given to me.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations. Then we find that he then says to them, Wait. So at the end of Matthew, it's go. At the beginning of the Acts of the Apostles, it's recorded that he said, Wait.

Wait for what? Well, wait for the promise of the Father. The Holy Spirit will be poured out upon you, and then you will be enabled to do that, which I have asked you to do. And, of course, we discover then that the apostles immediately, on the receipt of the coming of the Holy Spirit, begin to do just what Jesus has said. And they do it in a quite remarkable fashion—in a multilingual Jerusalem crowd.

The preaching of Peter is accompanied by what you would refer to as almost a waft of the supernatural. And it is in relationship to that that in chapter 3 we're told that when Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, a man, a lame man from birth, was being carried and laid again at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate so that he could ask alms of those entering the temple. This was clearly… He would have been a fixture at this particular Beautiful Gate. People would have seen him on a daily basis. They would have known that he is poor, that he was hopeless, that he was a blind man, and he was a beggar man. He was lame, and he was a beggar. I don't know why I introduced him as being blind.

That is an accretion. He's not told that that was the case, is it? That a man lame from birth was being carried.

No. And what happens, of course, you can read in the beginning of the chapter 1–10, this amazing transformation, whereby, although Peter and John don't give him any money, they give him what they're able to give, and suddenly he's up and dancing around the community, and all the people saw him walking and praising God. And they said, Oh, isn't that the fellow that is usually there in the morning when we come to work asking for alms?

And the answer was, Yes. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Now, what then follows is that the responsibility falls to Peter to give an explanation for this. And it is quite wonderful when you look down at your text, if you will, and you see that as he addresses the people in verse 12. He begins by saying, Men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? Why do you wonder at this? Don't you think you would wonder if a man who had been in this predicament for so long suddenly was dancing around the bazaars and so on?

And then he says, Well, the reason that you shouldn't wonder is because think about it. Think about God. Think about the history of your people.

Think about all that God has promised and so on. And he provides a quite exceptional history lesson through the balance of the chapter, concluding, God having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. From your wickedness.

Well, of course, that stings, doesn't it? And therefore, it's no surprise when you come to the beginning of chapter 4 and we have the record of the beginning of persecution, certainly of opposition. And the opposition is coming from the Sadducees, an elite company of religious people, and they were at the head of a group that combined both Jew and Gentile. They decide that the best thing they can do is arrest these characters in verse 3. They put them into custody until the next day, because it was already evening, and then, gloriously, in verse 4, but many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about five thousand. So they said, What we'll do is we'll just shut them up, and presumably that will take care of the whole business.

And while they give them a night in the jail—during the night, as it were—the whole number is increased from three thousand to five thousand. God does this. This is what God does. Now, the way in which they are given the opportunity on the following day to set out their case is seized by Peter with great clarity and with great conviction. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, verse 8, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you 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 is standing before you well.

And he ties it in to their knowledge of the Old Testament. Well, what can they do about this? They were struggling, weren't they?

Because the conviction and the obvious impact in the community was unavoidable. They recognized that although Peter and John were not particularly educated, certainly not like the Sadducees, they were not from a peculiarly strong background, they were common men, and that only added to their astonishment. And furthermore, the man who'd been healed was standing beside them. And so, they said, Well, why don't we have a little private council meeting? I wish I'd been present for that.

I really do. Verse 15, when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another. And as soon as they were on their own, they said, What in the world are we going to do?

What will we do with these men? Because, after all, a notable sign has been performed through them, it's evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. Let me just say parenthetically that when God breaks in, at any point in history, by the power of the Holy Spirit, through his servant Jesus, it will be unmistakable.

Unmistakable. Because the man's condition was an impossible condition. He couldn't fix himself.

His healing was undeniable. He was standing there in front of them. And as we discover in verse 19 of the chapter, the preaching of the apostles was proving to be unstoppable.

So they called them and they charged them, Okay, I don't want you to teach at all anymore in the name of Jesus. And do you remember that great answer of Peter and John? Well, you've got to decide for yourselves. Is it right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God?

You must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And so, when they had threatened them a little more, they let them go. Now, all of that is by way of the background, which leads up to where our Scripture reading began, in verse 23.

And when they were released, they went to their friends, and they reported it. And on receiving the report, the people there lifted their voices together to God and then acknowledged that all that had taken place was under the sovereign hand of God. You see, my dear friends, unless we understand that God is a sovereign God, then it is almost inevitable that we will be buffeted and bowled over by the events which are clearly evidences of opposition and incipient persecution in relationship to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do not misunderstand all that is unfolding in these days as being explicable simply in terms of race or color or gender or any other thing. Man as man is opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and particularly when evidence of that gospel is undeniable. So it's no wonder that they lifted their voices to God and they prayed, and they prayed knowledgeably—or, if you like, they prayed biblically. They prayed big. They recognized this amazing juxtaposition between God, who is sovereignly in control of things, and yet the responsibility that was there in the person of Herod in collusion with Pontius Pilate. And, seeing things in light of the Scriptures, they take Psalm 2, and they say, Isn't this just exactly what the psalmist was on about? Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain and the kings of the earth set themselves?

And they said, That's exactly what was happening here. And I suggest to you that is exactly what is happening here—that the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers set themselves, against the Lord and against his anointed. I say to you again that the sovereignty of God—a God who is unfolding his purpose from all of eternity—is at the very heart of biblical Christianity.

Notice what they say. Lord, you made heaven and earth. Then they say in verse 25, Not only are you the one who made, but you are the God who speaks. You made, you speak. And in verse 28, And you decide. What has happened here has happened as a result of the hateful animosity in light of Psalm 2, expressed in Herod and Pontius Pilate, who, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, were amassing their forces against Christ.

But that was only doing what your plan had predestined to take place. And now, Lord. And now, Lord. I wonder how we would have finished that. And now, Lord, we want to come to you again and ask for you.

We might have finished it, perhaps. And now, Lord, please remove the threats. When they say, Look upon the threats, they simply mean take them into consideration. Or we might have said, Please stifle the opposition. Or we might have asked, And now, Lord, please keep us from persecution.

But no. And now, Lord, grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness. This is why I suggest to you this morning that it is a timely prayer. For surely the great need of the hour in the church of Jesus Christ is simply this—for Spirit-filled, Christ-centered boldness. To speak your word with all boldness. Jesus, remember, quoting the Scripture, says, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. The prophets make it clear that the grass withers and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord will endure forever.

So this is it. This is what he was promising before he left them. Jesus says, And I will send the Holy Spirit, another one, who will come and who will lead you into all truth.

What an amazing transformation! Read again Peter's sermon on Pentecost. Consider his ability to answer here and compare that with what he was like only a matter of weeks before, when he stumbles before a lady who accuses him, suggests to him that he's a follower of Jesus.

No, I don't know Jesus. And now, such boldness! By the power of the Holy Spirit.

Aware of the fact. Now, what is happening here is that the promise of Jesus has come to fulfillment in the giving of the Spirit, and the giving of the Spirit is revealed in Peter's ability to do this with the accompanying signs that sit as foundations in this time. We will hear more about the Apostle Peter's bold and courageous declaration of the Gospel tomorrow as we continue this message on Truth for Life with Alistair Begg. Well, we hope you've been enjoying listening to the Encore 2021 series, Alistair's most requested messages from the past 12 months. Let me recommend a USB drive that contains a decade's worth of some of Alistair's most popular teaching. It's a collection called 10 Years of Favorites. This is one of our most comprehensive compilations of Alistair's teaching. It includes 123 messages on dozens of topics. 10 Years of Favorites is perfect to pop into your car's USB player so you can study God's Word during your daily commute or when you're on a road trip. You can order the collection of 10 Years of Favorites for just $5.

You'll find it in our online store at truthforlife.org slash store. In addition to providing resources that feature Alistair's teaching, we also recommend books that will help you deepen your relationship with God. And today you'll want to request a devotional titled None Else, 31 Meditations on God's Character and Attributes.

That's a long title. The book is actually quite brief. It contains 31 short daily readings that take a closer look at what God reveals about Himself in Scripture. We can never know too much about God, and He wants us to know Him more. This devotional, None Else, will help you do just that.

Each day you'll ponder a different aspect of God's nature so that you can know Him better and trust firmly in His character in your everyday life. Request your copy of the book None Else today when you donate to support the Bible teaching you hear on this program. You'll find the book in the app, also online at truthforlife.org slash donate or call us to make a donation and request the book. Our number is 888-588-7884. If you'd rather mail your donation along with your request for the book, write to Truth for Life at PO Box 39 8000 Cleveland, Ohio 44139. When the early church faced persecution, they could have gone to God seeking protection or deliverance, but they decided to do something very bold instead. I'm Bob Lapeen.

Hope you can be back tomorrow to find out what they did. The Bible teaching of Alistair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life where the Learning is for Living.