Amen. I think that Martin Luther's quote from 1521 at the Diet of Worms will help us as we prepare to hear from the Word of the Lord this morning. He said, unless I'm convinced, convicted by Scripture in plain reason, I do not accept the authority of popes and of councils, for they have contradicted each other. My conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and will not recant anything, for to go against conscience is neither right nor safe. God help me. Amen. And he spoke this before Charles V, who at that time was literally one of the most powerful men in all of Europe. But what Luther expressed there was not merely a personal conviction, it was also an enduring Christian principle, what I will call in this sermon, obedient disobedience. That is, disobeying man when necessary in order to obey God. Obedient disobedience. Christ is King. Just this past week, Tuesday, we celebrated Veterans Day. And America is thankful for her veterans. And we have a rich history as a nation. I hope, well, we do. I hope it continues. And that is not putting up with tyrants. But there's a Christian reflex in this. And what I hope to show today is this has to be applied, not just in these big historical moments, foreign wars, but brothers and sisters, this is everyday life. This is the everyday principle. And the principle is derived straight from the text in Acts 4, obedient disobedience. That's the matter that we take up today. So we continue the exposition, the book of Acts. What I'm going to do today is I'm going to start in verse one and read to verse 22. Now we're just covering 14 through 22, but just sometimes we've got to recalibrate our context. So stand with me and we are in Acts chapter four. I'm going to read verse one through verse 22. 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, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. On the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family. And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, By what power or by what name did you do this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, 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. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them. And whether it is 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 when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all were praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. Father, would you help us to understand the text this morning? For some of us, it needs to drive a great sense of awe and boldness, fear of the Lord, trembling before His Word. Lord, some of us need to carry this over into work next week to be able to confront, if necessary, or to stand against the things that we're being asked to do that are contrary to Your Word. We need to carry it into our homes, carry it into the public arena, Lord, to obey Christ, to obey God, to obey You, our Triune God, above all else, and when necessary, to practice obedient disobedience. Lord, some today need to be awakened from death to life. be healed like this crippled man was, except their soul. And they need to be stood alongside the church, just like this man was, to stand with them in the face of opposition and tyranny, to walk in truth. Lord, help us to be a church, no matter what decision is before us, no matter what crossroads is before us, that we would always be a church that would choose your will according to your word. We pray you bless that. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You may be seated. Law and order, that's good. It's God-ordained. Authority is good. It is God-ordained. Now, don't get mad at me, but government is good. It's God-ordained. Authority in the church, God-ordained. Authority and submission in marriages and the home, it's good, God-ordained. God has established in our world, by His wisdom and for our good, hierarchy. We're not against that structure for society. This is good, it should be celebrated, and Christians of all people should love authority and be able to model submission. Amen? Amen. But what we see in our text today, and it should be innately understood by believers, is that God has not given an unchecked authority or an expectation upon His people to submit to authority when that authority is demanding or commanding disobedience to God. Our confession actually cites Acts 4.19 in chapter 21 in this paragraph, paragraph 2, God alone is the Lord of the conscience. We all need to hear that again. God alone is the Lord of the conscience, and he has left it free from human doctrines and commandments that are in any way contrary to his word or not contained in it. Let's just practically hear this. Husbands, you are not the Lord of your wife's conscience. The pastor is not the Lord of the parishioner's conscience, and certainly the state is not the Lord of its citizen's conscience. God alone is Lord of the conscience. So in any and every circumstance, this refrain should pulsate through our veins, we must obey God rather than men. There will be times in our life that these two things walk hand in hand. Obedience to God, obedience to man, they walk hand in hand. But there will be times that you have to choose. And in those moments, we must have obedient disobedience. Meaning we disobey man, and we obey God. So with that in mind, let's consider our text. Number one, the Sanhedrin's obstinance. Number one, the Sanhedrin's obstinance, verse 14 through 17. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another, saying, What shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name." Now, I'm just going to give you a thought. This isn't even in my notes. It's just a thought. How did Luke know this information? There's a couple thoughts. Number one, and this is possible, the Holy Spirit just told him. The Holy Spirit just told him. When they took their little council together, this is what they said. And the Holy Spirit just told him and he recorded it. And that is certainly possible. And maybe that's how it happened. But I also know sometimes God works through means. And so I just wonder, I just wonder, it brings me great hope and expectation. Did someone in this council end up getting saved? So maybe someone in this council, some of these leaders, later on, there may be even just one person through this stand from Peter and John, maybe one person became converted. They came to Christ. And as Luke was writing this, the man told him, hey, I'll tell you what was said during that council, and he told him. Of course, it's the inerrant and fallible Word of God, the Holy Spirit's working through all of that, but it's just a thought. Interesting. It has nothing to do with the sermon, but it's just interesting. How did Luke know this information? Now, really what has to do with the sermon is this, you ever had a problem just kind of walk in on you? Well, the Sanhedrin did, literally. They had a problem, kind of walk in on them. They had a man who was, verse 22 says, over 40 years old, who'd been crippled for decades. Not just some guy. You know how sometimes in Perryville you might say, hey, have y'all seen that guy hanging around here? You know, like it's a new guy, and we don't know, like, who is this person, you know? This man had been around for over 40 years. He's over 40 years old, and had been crippled all his life. And now, the text says in verse 14, he's standing with the church. He's standing with Peter and John. He'd been healed by God. I might mention here that sometimes in life you have to make a public stand, right? Sometimes in life you have to decide, where am I going to stand? Am I going to stand over here with Peter and John? Or am I going to stand with the religious leaders? Well, the man makes his choice. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, he made his choice. But here's the great irony of the text. The apostles feared God and not man. The religious leaders feared man and not God. Look at verse 16. They're saying in their little counsel here, what shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. In other words, it's almost like, We would deny it. We wish we could deny it. We have a desire to deny it perhaps, but it's impossible for us to deny it because everybody's seen it and everybody's talking about it. And as soon as we go denying it, then we're going to have to deal with all the crowds. They did not care about the glory of God. If they really thought that what Peter and John were doing was against the glory of God, and they were really concerned about the glory of God, then they would have said, I don't care. I don't care if it's us versus a million people. You guys can't talk anymore because you're wrong against God. But that's not really what they're concerned about. They're fearing men. So, they stick their finger in the air. They say, which way is the wind blowing? and that's the way that they go. But they're stuck in a conundrum, because on one hand, they don't want the gospel preached, but on the other hand, they cannot find the power, the courage, the boldness to resist the crowds, because essentially they're cowards. And here's an aside, but you need to know this, but most often in the history of the world, tyrants are cowards. I give you an example. Why do communist regimes turn off social media? Why do they turn off outside news? Why does the leader of North Korea not want any outside influence come in? I tell you, it's not because everything's going great in North Korea. Truth scares them. And so they remain obstinate to it, and you see it here, just like the Sanhedrin. On the one hand, they could not deny the miracle, but on the other hand, they would not believe the message. In fact, more than just not believe the message, you need to listen to this point here that's just so obvious in the text, but it's a danger when you just break up verses like we do sometimes, it can be a danger to miss the overarching point. They're not just obstinate to the message, they're obstinate to the message going out. All right, so let's put it together. Verse 11, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other, listen to the word, name. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. And what is their response to that? Look at verse 17. But in order that it may spread no further among them, the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Now listen what is being presented before us. And that is, there is a man drenched in blood, his own blood, drenched in blood, nails through his hands, nails through his feet, a crown of thorns upon his head, soaked in blood. Why? Because without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. This blood, though, it can't just be the blood of anyone or anything. It can't be the blood of bulls and goats. That's not enough. It must be the blood of the spotless Lamb of God. His name is Jesus. That's His name. You understand that He has come and He has procured all righteousness? He has lived before the Father, obedient to the law of God that you have broken? And then he has suffered under the wrath of God on Calvary, shedding his blood for poor and needy and miserable sinners. He has been crucified, dead, and buried. And on the third day, he rose again from the dead. And here is the name that we're proclaiming. It is the name of Jesus of Nazareth. By the name of Jesus of Nazareth, you may be forgiven. You may be healed. Just like this man was healed physically, you may be healed spiritually. Spiritually, you may be raised from the grave. You may be forgiven and justified, declared righteous, the righteousness of Christ imputed to your account, adopted into God's family, joining in the church and being sanctified. Here's the name that we're proclaiming. In fact, just to make it tie in more, go back to chapter 3 and look at this. Chapter 3, verse 6. So this is the danger sometimes of preaching verse by verse. If you don't preach these large swaths of Scripture, you can forget that this is how it was said in verse 6. But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. What does he have? In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And I've told you that this physical healing is a type of the spiritual healing, because we see it's all connected together. It is the salvation that we need. And they are out there preaching the name of Christ for the salvation of the nations. And maybe even one of these religious leaders wind up getting saved. I mean, I don't think that's beyond the realm of possibility, as I kind of described there for a minute. They're giving Christ to people. And what is the response of the Sanhedrin? Not only are they like, no, we don't want Christ. They come up with the idea of not letting others hear this name either. So one commentator says this, whosoever puts them in silence, he endeavors so much as he is able to abolish the grace of God and destroy the salvation of men. These men did not commit some neutral action. This is a moral issue. It is an ethical issue. To silence the gospel is an endeavor to abolish God's grace and destroy salvation. It doesn't matter if it's the city, if it's the county, if it's the state, if it's the nation, if it's some professing Christian, if it's Christianity today that has just gone off the woke rails. It doesn't matter. If anybody says, stop preaching Christ, they are committing a moral action, actually the immoral action. They are trying to silence. the witness of the church. This is the Sanhedrin's obstinance. Secondly, the apostles' obedience. Verse 18 through 20. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. I just wonder, you ever imagine one of those, you know, the board meetings or something when somebody comes up with a great idea and it turns out it's just a flop, you know, and here they have this great idea. Okay, yeah, this one, yes, this is, yes, that's what we'll do. We're just gonna tell these guys who we've known been with Jesus, we're just gonna tell them to shut their mouths. That'll work. Verse 19, but Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened. Now just understand this word for charge there in verse 18. It's a heavy word. It was used earlier in Acts. Acts chapter one, verse four, where it says, and while staying with them, he ordered them, that is Jesus, ordered them not to depart from Jerusalem. So that's the same word. So they received a charge from Jesus. Now they've received a charge from the Sanhedrin. It's a strong word. I'm saying they are ordered by this council, do not preach. Do not teach. What does the text say? Not to speak or teach, verse 18, at all. At all. Do not preach, speak, teach at all in the name of Jesus. You want to know one sign of tyranny. One sign of tyranny is trying to silence grace. Whenever you have any kind of regime, I don't care if it's a government official, I don't care what country it's in, I don't care what state it is in, whenever you have somebody who is working to stop grace from being proclaimed, it's always the sign of a tyrannical spirit. But the apostles say in verse 20, they just can't help it. We cannot, verse 20, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. They could not help but just proclaim what they had been a part of. This message, it wasn't a team jersey, you know. If I had an Arkansas Razorback jersey right now, I'd take it off just to... just to illustrate this point. But this message, this reality, it's not a team jersey that they can just take off if things are going bad, right? They owned this message. Or to put it even better, this message owned them. They could not help but speak and preach and teach in the name of Jesus. Why? Because they had seen it. They had heard it. They had been part of it. This Jesus, He's who He says He is. He is the promised Messiah. He is the cornerstone, the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promises. He is the antitype. All the types and the shadows point to Him, and He is the antitype. He is the fulfillment. They could not stop. They had lived with Jesus. They had been part of, now, the Holy Spirit through Christ, building the church. They were full of the Holy Spirit. They were under His influence and ownership. They could not stop because God had changed who they were. God had forgiven their sins. You know, one result of the forgiveness of sins is the adoration of Christ. You remember that Jesus teaches that, that woman is weeping and washing his feet and wiping her feet, wiping his feet with her hair. And Jesus, the point of the whole story there is Jesus is saying, you're forgiven much, you love much. Isn't it something that someone says, oh yeah, I've been forgiven of my sins, but there's nothing in their life about loving Christ. These apostles had been forgiven much. Yes, Peter. Yes, John. These stalwarts of the faith that we think. They had been forgiven much. And they loved Christ. And they could not help but preach Him. So in one sense, I'm kind of trying to say this, like, yes, does the gospel produce courage? Yes. Yes, it does. But it's more than that. It's more than that. It's like if someone said to you. Stop breathing for one hour. You'd say, look, I literally. Even if I wanted to, I literally cannot do I cannot stop breathing for an hour, it is literally impossible. The believer will stop breathing before he will stop preaching Christ. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak." We cannot! Stop speaking! You might as well tell me to stop breathing! Stop eating! Stop, make my heart stop beating. I can't do any of those things. And I'll not stop preaching Christ either. I cannot stop. It's not just that the gospel produces courage. Amen, it does. Amen, it produces boldness. Yes, yes, yes, yes. But there's something intricately, a reality here whereby we've been changed. We're new. We cannot help but give Christ. This is what they're saying. And I might mention here as a reminder that this grace you've heard is available to you. This blood-soaked man crucified to a cross of wood, bearing the sins, scoffing and shame and guilt, He can be your Savior too. Are you cowardly? Are you guilty? Do you still live in your sin and shame? I've got good news. Our Lord Jesus is able to take the spiritually crippled, like He did that man, and stand them alongside the church. To take the spiritually dead and bring them to life. The one who spoke creation into existence can also shine light in your heart. The gospel is hope. You don't understand. You're right, maybe I don't understand, but I do know some things. God doesn't justify the cleaned up or try hard. He justifies, the Bible says, the ungodly. There is no hope this morning for you if you're rich in spirit or even if you're middle class in spirit. But if you're poor in spirit, yours is the kingdom of heaven. because the foreign spirit looked to Christ as all their hope for a right standing with God. Is that you? Don't you see the obvious gospel before you that we've prayed even from the opening prayer, that we've sang together, we're preaching now, this is the gospel, you see it every week, look to Christ, look to King Jesus and be like the man in verse 14. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. You trust the merits of Christ alone for salvation before God? As confidently as this man stood before the Sanhedrin. And by his wounds you may be healed of every iniquity, every sin, every law-breaking. Repent and believe the gospel and understand that those who trust Christ own no other master. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge." I wonder. I just wonder. I don't know if it happened or not. But Peter and John were well-versed in the Bible. They may not have been educated in some sort of school for the Pharisees or whatever, but they knew their Bible. And I wonder if Shadrach and Meshach and Abednego crossed their mind here at this moment, when those men stood before Nebuchadnezzar and said, Oh, Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. We will not bow. And thus Peter and John say the same thing. Oh, Sanhedrin, you don't even understand. We play before an audience of just one. Just one. You may think this, they may think that, the others at home, they may be whispering, but the eyes of our King are upon us and we will obey Him. Calvin says it this way, the preaching of the gospel doth please God and therefore it can for no cause be suppressed. For no cause. The gospel is our hope. It is our ground for justification. It fuels our sanctification. It secures our glorification. It will topple all other kingdoms. It will destroy satanic strongholds. It will forgive sinners. It will comfort the downtrodden. It will embolden the weak. It can for no cause, no cause, be suppressed. not for cultural sensitivity, not for political correctness, not for the whims of tyranny. It doesn't matter who gives the order. The answer is no. We will not stop proclaiming the name of Jesus Christ, even for professors. Professors, I mean, not people who work at colleges, but people who profess Christianity. They come in and they say, well, we just don't like that strategy. We think we've got a better plan. We think we've got a better idea. And we say, no, no, no, for no cause will the preaching of Christ be suppressed. For no cause. We'll preach Christ. This is obedient disobedience. How could Peter and John be this way? Well, remember last week, verse 13. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized they had been with Jesus. So they say in verse 20, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. These uneducated common men had set their eyes on Christ who is the name above all names. All hail the power of Jesus' name. Let angels prostrate fall. Even angels fall at the name of Jesus. And these men had the audacity to tell the apostles, stop telling people about Christ. No. You don't understand. King of kings, Lord of lords. They had tasted and seen that He is good. They were full of and owned by the Holy Spirit of God. They hadn't just signed a card, checked a box, joined a club, prayed a prayer, walked an aisle, dabbled a little bit in the church. They had experientially encountered the living Christ. They would not have comprehended the modern saying, well, I'm in a relationship with Jesus. He just wants me to be happy. Even if that means disobedience, he just wants me to be happy. Literally had someone say that before. They couldn't have grasped that absurdity. Because for them to know Jesus was to love them, and because they had been forgiven and justified and changed, they desired to obey Him no matter the cost. Are you getting that here? No matter the cost. Let me just remind you of something. These men had seen with their own eyes what the cost was of denying these religious leaders authority. They had seen it with their own eyes. They had seen their Lord whipped. They had seen Him crucified. They had seen Him killed. They knew the cost. But they said, no. There is no cost too high. The only eyes they cared that were on them were the eyes of their resurrected and ascended king. He watches them from his throne and they will obey him even if they have to disobey others. The Sanhedrin's obstinance, the apostles' obedience. Thirdly, the church's obligation. The church's obligation. I understand they kind of get out of this easier than some meetings have gone in the history of the church. Verse 21, and when they had further threatened them, they just threatened them. They let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all, we're praising God for what had happened. That was verse 21. So there have been some meetings that haven't gone so well. People have been burned, tortured, killed. But the overarching point stands in all that you cannot eliminate Christianity. It cannot. All things are in subjection under Christ's feet. His kingdom will prevail. And so the church today, local churches today, they have the obligation, and I would add a joyful obligation, but they have the obligation nevertheless to mimic the early church here. What am I saying? To obey God above all others. When there is divergence between God and man, the church is called, local churches are called to have obedient disobedience before God no matter the personal cost. What I'm saying is that this doesn't just serve as some neat little story in the Bible, but this serves as an example that we are to mimic and follow. We must obey God. In this fallen world, there ought to be authority and order. But when that authority comes into conflict with the revealed will of God, we must listen to God and not men. John Trapp put it this way, better obey God with whom we must ever be than men with whom we have but a little while to continue. There is one, I'm telling you this morning, there is one with eyes that are flames of fire, the Bible says, that his eyes are ever on the church. When we are alone, His eyes are upon us. When we are together, His eyes are upon us. When we are in private, His eyes are upon us. When we are in public, His eyes are upon us. The eyes of the living God are upon us. And above all else, we seek to please Him over and against anyone or anything else. Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, the apostles say. But here's what you need to know. This isn't just in defiant moments. It's every day. We will listen to God every day. Now hear me for just a second. Hear me. We will listen to God every day. Some of you need to tell your cell phones in the morning, I don't have time to listen to you. I've got to listen to God. You need to tell your television set, your computer, whatever the case may be, I will not listen to you, because first, I will listen to God. Don't expect, I'm saying, to be full of courage before magistrates if you don't find the desire in any part of your day to open the Bible and pray this, Speak, Lord, for your servant heareth. So I'm just saying we have the obligation to speak on behalf of the Lord, but how can we do so if we are not first listening to the Lord? Listen to how they say. But Peter and John answer them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God. And you don't listen to God unless you're hearing Him from His Word. So is your conscience, this is an important part as we talk about our obligation, is your conscience captivated by the Word of God? There is so much compromise and cowardice in churches today simply because of having no conscience molded by the Word of God. So that means we gotta be serious about preaching and teaching and reading and knowing the Word of God. It must be a central priority for us. We're not going to speak for God, we're not going to stand for God, unless we're first what? Listening to God. To hear from God, that we may listen to Him more and more and more, and to the world not at all. I'm saying it's only the church resolved to listen to God that will be the church refusing to obey the voice of tyranny in the world. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. Okay, yeah, but the schools, but okay, but the school said, but the governor said, but the president said, but the government said. But haven't you read this Christian publication? Have you read it? This magazine, this blog article? No, no, but there was this conference speaker, and have you listened to it? But he said, no, no, didn't he turn on the news? The media said, no, no, no. Let me know and hear first, above all of these other voices in the world today, what hath God said? What hath God said? in any mandate, at any level, opposed to that, I will not obey. This ought to be our resolve. Now, sometimes this comes in obvious, blatant, forceful packaging. You can't meet as a church. You can't pray. You can't preach. Sometimes it becomes very obvious. So what is our answer? Our answer should be like here in verse 19. Do you think the Lord is going to, is the Lord going to be okay with that? Yes. It's not that, oh yeah, you have permission to do that. No, no, you must do that. You must. We will listen to God and not you. By the way, this isn't us just possessing some sort of a point from the text I want to make. It's not us possessing just some rebellious spirit. Like we don't want to just defy authority for the sake of defiance. Look at verse 21 for just a second. When they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them. They couldn't find a way to punish them because of the people for all were praising God for what had happened. So let me just make a point there. May there be nothing in our lives to charge us with before the authorities. Like Daniel. You know what happened with Daniel? They want to get rid of Daniel. Well, how can we get rid of Daniel? Oh, I know how we can get rid of Daniel. He just talks terribly to these groups of people. Or he has a secret habit that we know about. No, no. They had nothing. They could not charge Daniel with anything except this one thing. Obedience to God. So I'm saying this isn't just being rebellious for the sake of being rebellious. It is in this very specific time when authority of man conflicts with the authority of God's instruction, we are employing in a holy and humble manner, obedient disobedience. This is our obligation. This goes for the wife whose husband is asking her to sin. This goes for the employee whose boss asks you to sin. It goes for the parishioner whose pastor asks you to sin. It goes for the citizen whose government asks you to sin. Now, I said just a second ago that it comes in sometimes obvious, forceful packaging. Obvious mandates that are blatantly against God's Word. Sometimes I think that can be easier, but listen, we serve a great enemy who's not so obvious sometimes. So sometimes these come across in a subtle manner with the faint hiss of a serpent. Things like this. Cancel worship out of love for your neighbor. Don't be so heavy on law and gospel, sin and judgment. Don't be so doctrinally precise. Using words I don't understand. Don't worry. Stop. Let's just love people in the name of... Let's just all get along in the name of Jesus. Or maybe you go into work tomorrow and the boss says, hey, listen, hey, look, you wanna marry Christmas? Yeah, and so does Sally, you know, she's got three kids at home and her husband left her. And look, if you don't fudge these numbers, she's not gonna get a Christmas bonus. These are real world things that we have to face and men will strive and contrive all sorts of excuses and reasons for God's will not to be carried out. And sometimes they're going to come across in subtle and plausible ways. But I'm saying if we're setting our minds on the things of God, if we're setting our eyes upon the words of God, if we're setting our hearts upon the glory of God, then we're going to obey God and not man. But Peter and John, verse 19, answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. The Scripture is alive. And there's another application here I want to give you. It's very apropos to our cultural moment. That is, secularism has infected all of us more than we fully realize. Secularism, I'll just define this way, the idea that there is a separation between where Christ reigns and where He doesn't reign. Look, teacher, I get it. You're a Christian. Great. Pray at home, but not at school. And we said, OK. You can personally be against homosexuality and abortion. But you can't bring those things into the public square. And we said, OK. And they told us, you know, everyone, this is America, everyone has a right to worship what they want, how they want to, or not at all. And we said, okay. And we heard the government is neutral. The government's neutral. Okay. Trust the science. There's no bias in science. Okay. Trust the media. These are just the facts, people." We said, okay. In fact, more than just okay, we all just said, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay. And we just kept barreling along. And look at our nation now. It doesn't take a very discerning person to see every religion in our country honored except Christianity. Biblical Christianity I say what I mean is if you speak against any other religion if you say anything against any other religion You are an uncultured insensitive bigot But if you speak against biblical Christianity you do so at the sound of laughter and applause all of this is the subtle and often not so subtle tyranny of secularism that is seeking to eliminate the influence of the church, that is saying to the church today the same thing the Sanhedrin said in verse 18. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Do whatever you want. Run around however you want. Dress however you want. Live however you want. There's just one little thing that we're saying to you, you cannot do. You cannot speak or teach in the name of Jesus Christ. And secularism says that today to the church. Do what you want. Run around. Have your little festivals. Gather together on Sundays. Sing your songs. Put them on YouTube. We don't care. We don't care. Just don't be faithful to the gospel. And what will we say? What will our response be? We should have stood stronger 50 years ago, 40 years ago, 5 years ago, yesterday. But the reality is, you can't go back in time. But God in His mercy has given us a new day. A new day. Today is the day of mercy and grace. We have this moment. I can't fix yesterday, I can't fix 50 years ago, but I have today. I have now. Repent of any complacency in our hearts and see disobedient obedience. Obedient disobedience is our call to action. We will not listen to the cultural elite, to the religious experts, when necessary, even the magistrate. We will not listen. if what they say conflicts with what God has commanded us to do. Baptists today are so spoiled. We have arguments today about whether or not baptism is, well, do you need to be baptized, whatever. In the 1500s, they gave Baptists the opportunity to recant And they said no. So they tied rocks to him and threw him in the river. I'm pretty sure that there'd be a temptation by some in this church to say, I ain't getting in the river. It's not a big deal. I'll obey man rather than God. He'll understand he's full of grace. I'm pleading with us to understand that's not the Christian principle. The Christian principle, the Christian reflex, the Christian knee-jerk reaction is, I'm going to listen to God. We don't just stand for truth because we're conservatives, right? It's because we're Christians. There are two genders only. Marriage is between one man and one woman. Our rights come from God. The pre-born child is a person. And the reason all these things are so is not because of some idea of conservatism. It is because this is God's world. It is His world and it's His rules. And it's fallen and it's under a curse, but God is redeeming sinners in Christ. Even the whole earth will be set free in the new heavens and new earth. And we preach these things, as I said, we stand for these things, not for just in the name of being a conservative, but in the name of Christ. We bring God's truth to bear on all of life with the gospel permeating all of these things. no matter the cost. That's why even in our day in the last couple years, we've got to be careful a few years. We've got to be careful with the GOP. So many things that we're in line with and we're grateful for, but as they drift into idolatry or sexual perversion or even accepting the murder of unborn children, we have to stand up and say no. Because our allegiance is not, first and foremost, to an idea of conservatism. And listen to even this, our allegiance, first and foremost, is not even to our nation. Our allegiance, above all else, is to this King. It's to Christ. And so this must drive everything we do. No matter the cost, we play for an audience of one. The voice that you hear today is still like in verse 18. Don't speak, don't teach at all in the name of Jesus. And God in His kindness has given the church a voice. You have an answer. You can just say Acts 4.19. Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge. God's given you your answer. I need to make this point. This isn't just the big picture stuff. Tomorrow or today, you take it into your home. Tomorrow, you take it into your work. You take it into all of life. King Jesus is watching and we must live for His glory. I go back to verse 14. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. Will you be like this healed man? God did not heal us to run from Him, but to stand with His church. Here's a quote from the Second Helvetic Confession, 1566. It says this, it is the duty of all believers, according to the Word of God, to separate themselves from those who do not belong to the church and to join themselves to this congregation, wheresoever God hath established it, even though the magistrates and edicts of princes be against it. Yes, though they should suffer death or bodily punishment. Wow. There's an obligation upon every soul to repent and believe the gospel and formally unite and stand with a gospel preaching church. And to stand with her even when and especially when obedient disobedience is required. We are in a war today for truth and it is our job to proclaim it. And every local church has an obligation before God to listen to Christ in the face of all other voices of opposition. R.C. Sproul puts it this way, if any authority under heaven comes to the Christian and tells him he may not pray, or preach, or worship, or tithe, or do any of the things God commands, that Christian not only may disobey, but he must disobey. Obedient disobedience. Don't be foolish about it. Don't be a jerk, but don't be a coward. Here we stand. We can do no other. We cannot help but proclaim and live out all we've heard and seen. We understand the Gospel. We rest our failures. And you've got to repent of cowardice in your life. I've had to do it too, and I'm sure I'll have to do it in the future. We have to repent of times that we were weak. And there's the person in line. I should share the Gospel with them. Oh, I just got busy. I let myself get stressed. We need to repent of these things. But we also need to know the Gospel is big enough to forgive us of these things. So run again to Jesus. He's not standing over His church with a finger ready to scold you. He's got His open arms open again. There is more grace, but you must repent. Trust Him. and then let us live for His glory. Here we stand. We can do no other. We cannot help but proclaim the truth of the Gospel. And I'm just telling you here, I don't know all that God is doing in this place, and I don't know the future of Providence Baptist Church. I can tell you, my desire is to be here until I'm here on this earth no more. I'm called home to heaven. I can say this, whatever the future may hold, I can at least speak about the past. God has done a beautiful thing here. I've seen it. Never in my imagination, I had imaginations when I first came here. What might happen if this becomes a healthy church? The things that have happened were not in my imagination, but now that God has done them, I look around and say, what a beautiful thing Christ has done. I hope you've seen that too, and the reality is, if you've seen that, we have to be like the apostles here. We cannot help but speak of what we have seen and heard. We've heard the gospel, and we've seen it in application at Providence Baptist Church. What else can we do here? The eyes of Christ are upon us. We'll speak the truth, and we'll just let everything fall. Can I say that as a Baptist? Let the chip fall where they may. We're going to keep preaching Christ, no matter the cost, because he's worthy. One more time, verse 14, we'll land the plane, but seeing the man who was healed standing beside them. Where will you stand? In these days, the middle ground has all but eroded away. It's always been that way, but at least the Lord and mercifully showing that to us. Where will you stand? It's either with truth or in opposition to it. Where will you stand? There are only two sides. You can't play the middle. You will either walk out of these doors, resolve to please man. Or resolve to please God. Choose this day whom you will serve. I can tell you this, the risen Christ demands and is worthy of your all, and He is full of mercy. Will you trust Him? Some of you, you have no hope of going out those doors and standing for Christ at school tomorrow or next week. You have no hope of standing for Christ at your work. You have no hope of standing for Christ at your family Thanksgiving. You know why you have no hope? Because you don't know Christ. But if you repent and believe the gospel, you can be saved today and then stand with us. And to the church, I say, will we be resolved to put this principle into application this week? Obedient disobedience for the glory of Christ. Father, would you help us? By your spirit, enable us, convict us, carry us, mold us, shape us. We thank you for this church. Lord, we do not walk out of here desiring to pick a fight, but I do pray that we would walk out of here with the resolve to stand, even if no one else stands, even if no other church will stand, even if no other Christian think tank will stand. If everyone else in the world decides tomorrow to bow the knee to the godless age, may at least Providence Baptist Church say we will not. We will not bow. Of course, God, we know just like you told Elijah 7000 who hadn't bowed the knee. We know that what you're doing in the world is so much bigger than Providence Baptist Church. And so we pray in confidence knowing that your people are all over the world and even in this county who will refuse to surrender. So God give us that kind of resolve. We pray today that those who have heard the gospel and need Christ and need forgiveness, they wouldn't foolishly walk out of here another day refusing Jesus, but they would repent and believe the gospel. Lord, if there's any cowardice in the hearts of your people today, I pray it's confessed and repented of and turned away from. And Lord, give us the resolve to do hard things when necessary to bring glory to Christ. May that be our driving passion in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand.