Amen, wait till we get to Psalm 119. Amen. We are in the book of Acts. You ever. Picked up a square bale of hay. It's not that bad, really. Not too heavy. You know, some of you ladies are kind of crafty, and maybe you'd pick one up. I remember there were a few summers there where my grandfather would pay me $6 an hour to toss hay bales on the trailer. Piece of cake, right? There's nothing to it. But you stack a few, and it piles up, doesn't it? Sweat drips. Your muscles ache. I'm hot. I'm itchy and honestly this is a lot like work. So now we're in Acts chapter 4. Now in the first three chapters It has been smooth sailing. There's not been a whole lot of resistance. It's all going well. The kingdom is inaugurated. The kingdom has come. It's advancing. Thank you, Lord. The Spirit has fallen. The gospel is being preached. Sinners are being saved. The church, you remember, goes from 120 people to over 3,000. And it's beautiful. But then Acts 4 arrives. And Acts 4 introduces us to the reality of kingdom advance. There will be resistance to our labors for the Lord. It's not all cute and cuddly. It's going to take work. So in Acts 3, you remember, a crippled man is healed and the way of peace is proclaimed, the hope of heaven is offered, but still it angers men and the evil one rages. And so the church must be asked, did you think that you could make six dollars an hour just by lifting one measly square bale of hay? No. It's going to take some work. The church will not ascend the hill of victory without making it through enemy fire. So, in essence, in Acts 4, welcome to the war. But hear this, even as bells stack and shots fly, God has a harvest. Today from Acts 4, verses 1-4, the battle and the rattle. Stand with me as we honor the reading of God's Word. A new chapter, but you remember that we're still connected here to this whole event. Verse 1, And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed. The number of the men came to about 5,000. Father, help us with this short section here. Lord, let us not be discouraged that the gospel annoys. Let us not be dissuaded that there is resistance. Let us rather be encouraged that many who heard the word believed. Your word will not return void. Men may do what they will, but it will not stop the advance of the kingdom. And I pray, O God, that we be encouraged by this truth. Lord, increase our love for Christ and for the people in this area. Lord, let us not, let us not, let us not sit back on our hands and just hum a tune while those around us are perishing. May we bring the gospel to them and trust Your sovereign work. Lord, even this morning we ask that You would awaken dead sinners, bring them to life, encourage the church, challenge those who have not taken the things of Christ seriously. We pray it all in Jesus' name, Amen. maybe seated so we have made it through a full three chapters and acts and and honestly There's not been much conflict. Now, I know that in Acts 2 we have that little issue of the mockers, but that seemed really like a footnote here to the church and its expanse. There's been no real, up to this point, significant opposition. But now we get to chapter 4, and it's upon us immediately right there in the opening verse. And as they were speaking to the people, the priest and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees, came upon them. In fact, the phrase there, came upon them, in the original, it has the connotation of suddenness. So, everything's going right, a man's healed, the gospel's being preached, and all of a sudden, opposition arises. Perhaps the Lord's words from Luke 21, 12 echoed in Peter and John's heart. They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for My name's sake. So two points today. Number one, the battle. The battle. So here is the battle. For the first time since its public inception, the church must face public opposition. I don't know how many this is here, but listen, I mean, it doesn't give us a number, but look at verse one. All of a sudden, here's the priests and the captain of the guard, so that's singular. So there's at least two priests, because it's plural, the captain of the guard, that's singular, so there's two, three, and the Sadducees, so there's at least two, because they come upon, but it's probably more than that. So at the very minimum here, you've got five, a group of five coming up, but that seems way too low. A group of men all of a sudden come upon John and Peter. And these men, what you need to know about them, the captain of the temple, the priest, the Sadducees, just think here, leadership and also money. The Sadducees were, one commentary notes, pragmatic conservatives. Pragmatic conservatives, you probably remember from your Sunday school days, they denied the resurrection and they didn't want to be weird. That's one way to put it. They wanted to smooth out the rough edges of Judaism in order to make it palatable to their Roman overlords. So they want to try to marry, if they can, their Judaism with their Romish ways or Roman ways. The Sadducees, they would have been a wealthier group and they had heavy influence in the priesthood. Now, the first thing I want to mention here, number one under this heading, is the Apostles' love for the people. Number one, the Apostles' love for the people. A point here to make is that if you read this whole account in Acts 3 and into Acts 4, it takes like five minutes. Less than that. So you can get the impression that all of this is happening sort of rapid fire, but we have a clue in verse 3 that it wasn't. So in verse 3 it says, And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. Now we need to do some thinking here. Remember that John and Peter had come up to the temple at what hour? The ninth hour. That's in Acts 3. So 3 p.m. Now it's evening. So this is around the time of Pentecost. So this is still the summertime. And so that puts sunset maybe around 8 p.m. Minimum, then, when the word evening is used, I would argue that we're talking about 6 p.m., but maybe even all the way as late as 8 p.m. So the idea here is, this is important because this means Peter and John were ministering to the people here, not for a few minutes and all this happens, but they were laboring for hours. So they'd come up to the temple at 3 p.m., now it's evening, somewhere between 6 and 8. So anywhere between 3 and 5 hours, they're laboring among the people. And the point I'm trying to make here under this point is that they weren't required to go up to the temple. There's nothing in the Bible that says you have to go up to the temple. You know, Jesus come, already fulfilled these things. Rather, they go to the temple is because they put themselves around where people were. in order to bring them Christ. They didn't say, you know what, let's have an event and we'll invite all those people to this event. Rather, they said, this is where people are going to go and this is where we're going to take Christ to them. Don't forget, I'm going to flip back, don't forget in the book of Acts, Acts 1a, Acts 1.8 says, but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth. But they're taking this idea of being witnesses in Jerusalem a very serious matter. So what are they doing? They're going to be witnesses. They didn't have the mindset of many churches today that says, well, you know, if something comes up today, I'll try to share Jesus. Or, you know what, I'll just invite someone to church. No friends, consider, they had a strategic mentality, we are going out to be witnesses today. That's what they did. We are going to go where people are, and we're going to not be silent about it, and we're going to give them Christ. If you fail to plan, then you what? You plan, to fail. So the point I'm making here is we must not think of evangelism as something that just happens in the church, although it can, but also we must be strategic in our communication of the gospel. And I want to encourage us about something here. What was it that caused Peter and John to labor among the people for hours? To give up their whole afternoon from 3 p.m. to the evening among the people? Yes, they loved Christ. Yes, they were obedient to Christ. But don't overlook the fact that they had love for the people. They had compassion on the man who was lame. They loved the people. And I want to argue here for just a second, a brief second, may God give us a heart like this for the people of Perry County. If you have a view of God that leaves you cold towards sinners, you have a wrong view of God. If you think of God as like, well, God's sovereign, and if the people of Perry County, they better just come to church. We have a healthy church. We preach the gospel here. We do good things in the church. If they want God, they better come over here and get Him. No, no, no. If we love the people of Perry County, we'll take Christ to them. So we see the apostles' love for the people. Secondly, we see their labor of preaching. Now, love will cause you to labor. Look at the text, verse 1, and the pronouns are important. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They Who is the they? It is both Peter and John. And this is important. It's important for you to even understand how Luke is writing the book of Acts. It's important because what Luke has done in chapter 3 is just give a summary, a summary of the gospel labors of these men, and he only gives for us a summation of just Peter's sermon. But you need to understand, it wasn't just Peter preaching. And it wasn't just Peter ministering. The text says they, both John and Peter, were teaching and proclaiming. Teaching and preaching. So you have this ministry that's happening here in this afternoon, some three to five hours, and what are they doing? They're not out there passing out water bottles and saying, you know, it's hot today, in the name of Jesus, drink a cold cup of water. That's not what they're doing. Okay? What is it that they are doing? They are preaching Christ and teaching the way of salvation. Verse 2, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. I'll pause for a moment here and ask this question. Why does Providence Baptist Church periodically go out and preach Christ outside the walls of the church? Answer, it's what the apostles did. Well, some may say, no, no, no, you're misreading that. They only went to where crowds wanted them to go, where people wanted to listen to them. Is that what the text says? The text says in verse 2 that there were some there greatly annoyed at the preaching of the gospel. I am afraid that if some lived then, who are alive today, they would have called these people troublemakers. You're just out there causing trouble. Don't go out in public. Stop bothering people. These people are just out there trying to have a good day. They're just trying to secure their righteousness by their own works, following false teachings. Just leave them alone. You know what? You know what people need in the world today? They just need to know that you want to serve them and love them. Stop messing up their day with preaching. But listen, not only did these brothers preach, they posted about it. God preserved their preaching in a place with a much further-reaching influence than social media. Here is what they did, recorded forever for us in God's Holy Word. And they're not making a name about themselves, but about Christ. And they labored in preaching because preaching is the primary means of grace. Here's what our catechism says, question 94. We're going to get to that eventually. How is the Word made effectual to salvation? Answer. The Spirit of God makes the reading, but especially the preaching of the Word, an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation. Preaching. Preaching. The proclamation of Christ as a primary means of God converting sinners. Now, we know that inside the church. We get that. We understand that. It's biblical. It's right. But we must not be afraid to preach Christ outside the church. This is what we see Peter and John doing. Yeah, but if we do that, some people might get mad. Well, I don't have an argument there. That's true. Verse 2, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. I'm just going to tell you something. The gospel annoys people. These people want to stay in their sleep, they want to stay in their sin, they want to stay with their busy little lives. That's why, you know why Revival tarries in America? People are satisfied with living without it. They want to go to their ball games. They want to do their hunting. They want to watch their shows. They want to get on social media. Leave me alone about what God is doing in the world today. Leave me alone about Christ and the gospel. These people won't shut their mouths about Jesus and His resurrection, and the resurrection that is to happen when He returns. Now, are there people out there preaching who I think shouldn't be preaching? Yes. They're just out there preaching to agitate people. They're preaching law and no gospel. They're preaching a man-made law, their own things. I think that happens. There are people who abuse preaching for the promotion of self. I get all that. But listen carefully here. The gospel we preach is a gospel, is the gospel of provocation. The gospel annoys people. That's what the text says. They were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. You say, no, stop, just stop. Let's think about it. Let's have this strategy. If we just go outside these walls and live like Jesus, people will like us better. Well, here's a theological thought to consider. No one can live like Jesus better than Jesus. And guess what happened to him? They hated him and they killed him. That was just a religious leaders, was it? The crowds said what at his death, before his death? We want Barabbas! Crucify this man! Get him out of our lives! He's an inconvenience! You know, remember when he healed the demoniac? They said, get away from us! Right? You can't live like Jesus, better than Jesus, and they killed him. Luke 20 verse 1 and 2 says, One day as Jesus was teaching the people in the temple and preaching the gospel, by the way, preaching the gospel, The chief priest and the scribes with the elders came up and said to him, tell us by what authority you do these things or who it is that gave you this authority. So, here's what you have. Jesus teaching and preaching the gospel and it annoyed people. People got mad. Oh, well what about the apostles? The apostles teaching and preaching the gospel and people got mad. Oh, so what do we think is going to happen if churches today preach and teach the gospel? Why do we think our Lord Jesus Christ preached and taught the gospel and they got mad? The apostles went outside the church and preached and teach the gospel and people got mad. What do we think is going to happen if churches are serious, if Providence Baptist Church is serious about preaching the gospel? People are going to get mad. Now this is not a license to be a jerk. This is the reality that the message of salvation provokes the unregenerate heart. Why? Listen carefully to this. The gospel comes in and says to you, the world comes in and says, you are good, you are enough, You're going to make it. You're okay. You should love yourself. The gospel comes in and says, you are not enough. You're not enough. And you're not God. And you are full of sin. And the way you are living, it is not okay. God does not accept the way that you are. The Gospel comes in, and it says these things. But then it says, hey, but there's this man, his name is Jesus. There's this one who has paid it all, Jesus of Nazareth, who is truly God and truly man. He alone has fulfilled all righteousness. God will only accept His perfect righteousness. Your sins cry out for God's wrath. You're lying. You're lying. Your sexual immorality, your drunkenness, All of these things and more, they cry out for God's judgment and wrath. But Jesus has taken that on Himself and shed His blood as a substitute for sinners. When the gospel comes in, it says, your sin was so bad, Jesus had to die for it. But He didn't stay dead. On the third day, He rose again triumphant over sin and death and hell and the grave. And if you will receive Him by faith, if you will trust His perfect life, His substitutionary death, His justifying resurrection, if you will turn from your sin and you'll trust Christ alone as your only suitable and all sufficient Savior, you will be saved. God will declare you righteous, crediting your account with the perfect righteousness of His Son who obeyed the law in every respect. By His grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, you will be declared righteous before God. in Christ. Now, to me, that sounds like the most hopeful, glorious message in all the world. There's not a message better than that message. That you can be cleansed, you can be forgiven, you can be justified. What do I got to do for this? I got to jump over a car? I got to sign something? No, no, no. You just got to receive Christ. You have to look to Jesus. But I can tell you from experience, you can be as nice as you can be with that message, but if you keep beating that drum, people are going to be, the text says, greatly annoyed. Verse 2, greatly annoyed. In my own life, I just, to give you this, I have literally been preaching John 3.16, and people cuss me. I've literally been preaching John 3.16, and a Methodist woman who called herself a pastor came up to me and said, that's not the gospel. As kind as I could be, preaching. But I'm telling you, out of love for people, we must labor in preaching. Okay, last point here, and I'll make it quick. The apostles love for people, labor in preaching. Now notice the opponents, number three, leveraging of power. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. So consider this for just a moment. Carnal men will use carnal means to silence the preaching of Christ. Carnal men will use carnal means to silence the preaching of Christ. They're not going to debate them. They're not going to out-preach them. They don't have the power of the Holy Spirit within them. So what could they do? They were left to resort to this, intimidate them, bully them out of their proclamation, cuff the preachers, and then we don't have to listen to the gospel anymore. Frankly, we see this today. Some, even professing to be within the church, would shame public evangelism. The pragmatic conservatives, we may call them. And then there are government interventions all over the world today that are silencing the preaching of the gospel. This is happening in so many countries. And I know that right now we live under God's mercy, I would argue, in the administration under Trump. But don't forget where we are culturally. Don't forget where we were just a few years ago. And don't put your hope in someone like Trump. Our hope is in Christ. But listen to me. One bad election. These things are happening here. One bad election. You don't have to believe me. I'm just going to tell you this is true. One bad election. And there are some even in our own town who would leverage power to silence the preaching of Christ. So do not sleep on this battle. The church today continues the battle in the preaching of the Gospel, fighting ultimately, remember what Paul says, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil and the heavenly places. Those opposing the Gospel today are part of a much larger demonically influenced battle. Don't go to sleep. And I would argue this. I don't think we're being helpful to not see the demonic influence in our world today. and not calling it out what it is. I'm not saying that every person who participates in a protest like No Kings or whatever is demonically possessed. I'm not saying that. But I am saying this, if you do not see the demonic powers at work and silly things like that, then you're missing the battle of our age. And the hope is what? It's not a political hope ultimately. The hope is the preaching of Christ. Don't go to sleep. For 2,000 years, carnal men have tried to silence the gospel. And there are times, and we're kind of in this age right now maybe, where even professing Christians can be tempted to think, well, yeah, maybe just you guys should tone that down a little bit, and let's work on nuance and winsomeness, like the Gospel Coalition and the silly things that they put out. But every time the church does that, she compromises. And then what happens is, the next generation, if there is a next generation in this nation, of faithful brothers and sisters, they have to pick up the pieces. So recognize what is before us. Recognize the opposition. Even the opposition is part of God's plan, because through the opposition, He's going to bring more glory to His Son, and He's going to bring other sons and daughters to glory. Don't go to sleep. This is the battle. Now point two. Number one, the battle. Number two, The rattle. This is for those who know their Bibles well. Verse 4, but many of those who had heard the word believed. And the number of the men came to about 5,000. Now, I chose the word rattle for those who can connect this from Ezekiel 37, 7. Ezekiel says this, so I prophesied as I was commanded, and as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling. And the bones came together, bone to its bone. So hear me church, as the battle is raging outwardly, and as the cross and the resurrection of Jesus Christ is being preached, as these officials waltz in with all their authority, and all their power, and all their pomp, and all their, you better be quiet or else God is doing something. What's He doing? He's rattling dry bones. He's calling sinners from death to life. The gospel is going forth and piercing hearts and God is resurrecting sinners from their spiritual graves by the heralding of King Jesus. Jesus Christ lives. He is King. He is coming again to judge the living and the dead, and He will put His neck, His foot upon the neck of His enemies. But this Jesus is full of love, and He's full of mercy, and He's full of compassion, and God has sent Him for the propitiation of our sins, the wrath, satisfying sacrifice. He died, and He is resurrected on the third day. He is the completion of the law. He is the fulfillment of the prophets. He is the Messiah. He possesses a righteousness to give you that you cannot achieve. He has blood to wash you in such a way to make the foulest sinner clean. And He's building His church. Look and live. Look and live. He's rattling dry bones. I say this to the congregation for two reasons. First, some need to be saved today. Some need to look and live. You hear the gospel week in and week out. But you need to look to Jesus today. You need to repent of your sins and believe the gospel of King Jesus. Let God rattle dry bones. Even here, may there be a sound of rattling. This very moment. God has the power to resurrect the hardest heart among us, and I believe that He will, and He does save by His gospel. You've seen it already just in the last three years, the people that we've seen baptized here. God shaking sinners out of their death and into life. So the question is, or the command is, receive Christ. Receive Christ. Children, receive Christ. I want to be saved. Receive Christ. Look to Jesus and be saved. Adults, teenagers, everyone. It's by grace alone, through faith alone and Christ alone. Here's the reality. You know why any person won't get saved? Why any person won't get saved? You want to say, well, we've got to work through the doctrine of election. No, no, I'll make it even more simple than that. Do you know why any person won't get saved? They love their sins. They love them. Sin has gripped their heart and their mind and their desires. And they want sin. And they don't want Christ. And they hear the preacher, he's crazy. Sin will lead you to death. Sin will lead you to judgment. Sin is besmirching the glory of God. Sin will ruin your soul. And they say, but I don't care. I love it. I'm not going to quit. I'm going to keep going. And I'm preaching the gospel today. And I'm pleading with you. And I'm pleading with the Lord. Rattle dry bones. Look to Christ. You could be set free from your sins, and the chains, and slavery, and judgment that is to come. But it's only one way, looking to Christ. Verse 4 says, they believed. And you too must believe. That's one reason I preach this. Another reason I preach this is this. Children, you need to listen to me too. Maybe you won't need to know this for a year, five years, ten years, twenty years. One day you'll need to know this. One day you'll need to know this. Adults, one day you'll need to know this. You need to be reminded that this is true. So listen carefully. You can arrest men. You can burn men. You can find men. You can imprison men. You can shut their mouths. You can cut out their tongues. You can lock them up and throw them in the bottom of the ocean. You can put them in one of Elon Musk's rocket ships and send them to Mars. But you cannot stop the advance of the gospel. You put the preacher in cuffs, so be it. The Word of God is not bound. That's what Paul says. Verse 4, we see it. But many of those who had heard, but, I love it, but, all this commotion is going on. Here comes the people with the authority, you know, and I just see the mad faces they have. Stop preaching, you know. Arrest them. Get them out of here. But, many of those who had heard the Word believed, and their number of the men came to about 5,000. There are different opinions on this. I'll just give you mine. I think the text is saying this about the numbers. So I think that it's saying we're going from 3,000 total to 5,000 now. So it's a progression. We've moved from 120 to 3,000 to 5,000. Now, if you're like, no, no, no, I'm just convinced that we've added an additional 5,000 here to now make it to 8,000. Well, I'm not going to argue. That's fine. It's not worth arguing about. I think that Luke's whole point is that the gospel is at work and that Christ is building His church not only in spite of, but sometimes even because of opposition. I just have textual reasons that I think Luke is saying the church has grown from 120, 3,000, 5,000. I think that's progression. If you want to disagree, that's fine. Here's something more important that we need to take from this text. And that is, there's never been a time ever in the history of the world that the Word of God has ever returned void. But many of those who had heard the Word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. The Gospel ministry of Peter and John is not in vain. They may be arrested. It doesn't matter. The Gospel is bearing fruit. And so it will every time it's proclaimed. from Isaiah, and you tell me if God has rescinded it. Isaiah 55, 10 and 11. The Lord says, For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there, but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth. It shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. You tell me if this is still true today. You tell me as people stand on the street corner, as people stand in pulpits, as little children hear the gospel read to them from their mothers. You tell me. You think God's Word is going to return void? No. Now, there's an obvious something you have to deal with in verse 4. It doesn't say all. Look at verse 4. It doesn't say all. It doesn't say all those who heard the Word believe. It says what? Many. Many who heard it believed. Many, but not all. And even some were annoyed by the preaching of Christ. So, what do I do with that? Well, you're just going to have to... I don't... There's nothing to do with it. You just come to grips with the sovereignty of God. You just come to grips, friends, with the sovereignty of God. God is big enough. God is holy enough. God is good enough. You can trust Him. You must trust Him. Sometimes the word comes out and it annoys people. Sometimes the word comes out and it hardens their heart. And sometimes the word comes out and it saves, but never, ever, ever does it return void. It always accomplishes God's perfect purposes. So someone may ask, and people have asked this. People have driven by, rode down their window, people have come up, people have messaged me, people have called me. Hey, is preaching the gospel effective? Yes. Like what? Like how effective? Oh, I'll tell you how effective it is. One hundred percent. You see, no matter where Christ is proclaimed, He will receive the glory and His Word never returns void. For some, they will stand all the more condemned on the day of judgment, and God will be glorified because of His justice. For some, I love this one, they'll initially be annoyed and scoff at the gospel, but what God is doing is planting a seed, and in due time, that seed is going to sprout and bear fruit and bring a sinner into the fold. And for some, right then and there, God will use the gospel to bring them to faith in Christ, like we see in verse 4. But many of those who had heard the word believed. Believe. By the way, that word for believed, it's the word for faith. It's faith. Faith in Christ, sola fide, faith alone. This is the sinner's only hope. Friend, your only hope, to turn away from trust in self, to turn away from trust in sin, to turn away from trust in any other false god, to turn away from trust in worthless idols, and to put their faith in the finished work of Christ. Faith! Faith, that is receiving all that God is for you in Christ. Even me? Sir, preacher, even me? Yes, even you. If you'll receive Christ, if you'll put your faith in Christ, trusting in His righteousness, Trusting not in self, not in works. Trusting in Jesus alone as your only suitable and all-sufficient Savior. It's Reformation month where we remember and celebrate the five solos. This is at the heart of the Reformation. The heart of the Reformation is that Christ alone is our only suitable and all-sufficient Savior. And you are saved by grace alone through faith alone. And that faith alone is not faith in and of itself. It has an object. Christ. Faith alone in Christ alone. This is how they were saved. They believed. They believed what? Not the apostles in and of themselves. Not the church in and of themselves. They believed Christ. You remember what happens in the preaching of the Word? In the preaching of the Word, the voice of Christ is coming through. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. So as Peter and John are laboring, and maybe arguing, and teaching, and preaching, you know what some people are hearing? The voice of Christ. An audible voice? No, no, no. It's much louder than an audible voice, right? It's coming through and it's piercing their heart and it's bringing them to repentance and faith and they're saying, yes, I trust Christ. This is what we do. This faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the Word of God. So an application is, it's not enough that we have the gospel, brothers and sisters, we are to take this gospel to our neighbors and the nations. Because God is saving by even when we may not be able to see it. That's the point. That's the point. I mean, if you could go up just in that moment, I don't, they didn't use cuffs or whatever, but maybe they restrained them. But if you could go up to Peter and John in that moment and say, have you had a successful day of ministry? I don't know what they would say, but I can tell you that maybe they felt defeated. But as we zoom out and we see the big story, even as they are being arrested, thousands of people are coming to faith in Christ. I tell us this to remind us, too often all we can see is the battle. But behind the scenes, there's a rattle. Now, I know, I'm going to give an application to the home for a second. I get it. This text is not talking about the Christian home. This text is not talking specifically to mothers or fathers. I get it. But I do think there's an application here. You see, in the text there's opposition to the preaching of the gospel, but what God is doing, even despite opposition, is bringing sinners to Christ. Now, we're a church full of so many kids. Actually, right now, I'm kind of amazed. Kids, I don't hear a single peep, right? It's beautiful. But also, even when they're all crying, it's still beautiful. Just in a different way, beautiful. OK, moms. Some of you, several of you, stay-at-home moms, you're with your kids basically 24-7. What are you doing? Wiping bottoms, wiping noses. Getting frustrated. Cleaning. It never stops cleaning. Cooking. Okay, let me encourage you moms. Moms. Don't lose Jesus in all that. Keep bringing Jesus to your children. Discipline them. And give them Christ. Because you see, even in spite, and sometimes because of, the battles that may even happen in our home, God is bringing a rattle. Dads, it's the same for you. You're working, you get home, like, can I just chill? No family worship tonight, right? Can't pray with my kids tonight, can't read them the scriptures tonight. No, no, no. You keep pressing on. You keep being faithful. Keep giving them Christ. Why? Because I'm confident that as we give our children Christ, that God in His due time, and it may be even for a long time to come, will save. I mean, it's not a guarantee that all our children will be saved. We don't have that guarantee. But we ought to give them Christ and have a great hope that He will save. And dads, even as you're leading in family worship, don't you love this? I love this. This is my favorite thing. Not really, but listen, you're teaching and you've just poured out your heart to your children about the gospel. And God has given you a sense of grace and peace. And you're like, I'm the next George Whitefield of family worship or something, you know? And there he is. There he is. Little Johnny sticks up his hand. Oh, God, you're going to save him tonight. I knew it. Praise God. Dad, do you think that you could put more pepperonis on pizza? Would that be okay? And you can just be so discouraged. I'm just trying to bring an application to the home for a second. The application is, despite the battles, God is faithful to use His Gospel to bring about His good purposes. You understand? So don't quit. Now back to the church, because the application here, the primary application is to the church. So I say to the moms, don't quit. To the dads, don't quit. But listen, here's the heartbeat of the text to the church. Don't quit. Don't quit. It doesn't matter what the world says. It doesn't matter what the people, the leaders of the community or even the religious leaders who have come with all their pomp and say, well, you know, this is how Jesus would have done it. You just need to be quiet. I say don't quit. You say, well, no one's listening. No one cares. I'm just facing persecution. I'm just facing ridicule. Okay, but God is doing the work. And for some reason, I don't know why, it sometimes seems that God is delighted to rattle the dry bones in the very moment that the battle seems the fiercest. They say that the darkest night is right before the dawn, right? The darkest of night, and then dawn is coming. And sometimes as the church is raging against the evil one, and waging war against flesh and the devil and the world, and as she's preaching Christ, it's sometimes in the moment of despair and crying out to God that at that very moment, God is saving. The Reformers had a saying, post tenebrous lux, after darkness, light. Every time Christ is proclaimed, we bring him glory. Listen to me. The church always wins when she preaches Jesus. We just have to come to grips with the reality that faithful churches will always and perpetually, until Jesus comes back, deal with both of these realities, the battle and the rattle. We will face outward resistance, hostility, persecution, attempts to shame, attempts to ridicule or forcibly stop the preaching of the Gospel, and sometimes, even at times, we will have to face battles even among our own ranks. The church is fighting amongst themselves. This is the reality of the church in this world, and it will be until Jesus comes back. But I'm arguing that simultaneously as we face all the things we can see, That's what I wish sometimes the Lord would pull back the curtain sometimes. Because all that we can see sometimes is just the battle, and the opposition, and the Sadducees, and the leading priests, and the captain of the temple. We can see those things, and the great annoyance. I can see it on people's face. and the quote-unquote friendly hand gestures they give you, and the words they say. I can see and I can hear all those things. But listen, behind all the things that you can see, God is working in the unseen realm, in the hearts of men, to bring them to Christ, to rattle dry bones. And this is the way the church advances. But many of those who had heard the word believed. And the number of these men came to about 5,000. OK. I don't know any other way to go. Do you? You look at a field of square bales, what are you going to do? What are your options? Pick them up one at a time. Keep going until the work is finished. Well, even more precious is the sinner's soul and Christ's glory. We work. We work. We work. There's an old hymn. We'll work till Jesus comes. But even in the midst of our work, it can get hard and the conflict heavy, but God is with us and the Spirit is working through us and Christ is worthy. There's no turning back. This is what God is doing in the world. Take comfort, church, in the battle and the rattle. Let's pray. Father, we pray that you would be glorified in this message, bring it home to our hearts. Lord, there are some believers here that need to be encouraged, they need to be spurred on, even tomorrow, to take the gospel into their place of work. even if it's just bring a track or a pamphlet or something to their boss or their co-worker. Lord, I pray that they wouldn't forget and they would do it. Lord, there are some perhaps who are battling with sin and forgetting the reality that Jesus Christ has set us free from sin. This is not the way we go. Turn them back, God. Turn them back and turn them to Christ. There are some perhaps who you need to rattle dry bones, unregenerate, dead, in love with sin. Shake them, O God. Shake them. Bring them to Christ. We pray it all in His name and for His glory. Amen. Would you stand? Let us sing.