Our focus will be on verses 23 to 31, but I wanna begin reading in verse one, Acts chapter four. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and the elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, 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 and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, you are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of your servant David have said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. For truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word, by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. Neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. Nor was there anyone among them who lacked, for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles' feet, and they distributed to each as anyone had need. And Joses, who was also named Barnabas by the apostles, which is translated son of encouragement, a Levite of the country of Cyprus, having land, sold it and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our gracious and our glorious God, we thank you for the Lord's Day. We thank you for the privilege to gather in the house of God on the day of God with the people of God to worship you. We ask that you would be glorified in this glad hour. We ask that you would bless this coming year. We thank you for this transition and we pray that you would be merciful, that you would cause your face to shine upon us, that you would keep us in 2022. Help us to be faithful as individuals and as families and as a church. And as we consider this passage, may we be a praying church. May we know that that is a great privilege secured for us by our Lord Jesus Christ, wherein we can come to the Father through the Son and the power of the Holy Spirit and to lay out our burdens before you. And Father, we ask now that your spirit would guide and direct each one of us. We ask that you would wash us in that precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that you would truly sanctify us by your truth. Your word is truth. And we ask in the name and for the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen. Well, about a month ago, a month and a half ago, we prayed or we looked at a sermon on praying for the persecuted church. So in Hebrews chapter 13, the apostle Paul tells us to remember those who are in chains. This morning, we're gonna look at the prayer of the persecuted church. Now things may change in 2022. Some of us suppose that one of the new COVID variants may just be full on communism. So it is very important for the church to be full of prayer and earnestness at the throne of grace. to be zealous like the apostles, like the apostolic church, and to pray in a manner that is similar to what we find here in Acts 4. It is a scene of persecution. If you go back to chapter 3 in verses 1 to 10, Peter and John went to pray. They meet a lame man on the way, and by God's grace, they heal him, they restore him. And so they then preach a sermon, Peter does, in verses 11 to 26. So there's this healing, verses 1 to 10 of chapter three, and then a subsequent sermon in verses 11 to 26. That brought the apostles under public, into the public eye. It brought them under ecclesiastical scrutiny, and here they're butting heads with the religious leaders of their time. Now this was in fact the Sanhedrin, the highest council in Israel at this particular time. It was made up of 71 persons. And they had not only religious sort of boundaries that they tried to enforce, but also political. In fact, if you look at chapter four, at verse three, they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening." They had the coercive power of the civil state in order to jail those who they deemed appropriate for jailing. So there's this miracle of healing, a subsequent sermon, and then they're brought under ecclesiastical scrutiny. And specifically, we see them arrested in chapter four, verses one to four. They then address the council in verses five to 12, And then the council deliberates in verses 13 to 27 here in chapter 4. And on three occasions, the council admonishes these men, Peter and John, not to preach the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They forbid them, they prohibit that. And so the apostles come back now to their brethren and we find the prayer of the persecuted church. First, we'll look at the return to the brethren in verses 23 and 24a. Secondly, the prayer of the brethren in verses 24b to 30. And then finally, the response of the Lord in verse 31. Now God doesn't always right away answer our prayer, But he does here, and it confirms for us that the apostles, the apostolic church was on the right path in terms of their prayer in this current challenge or in this current situation. So notice in the first place their return. So we're dealing with the apostles, Peter and John. They're the ones who went to pray in chapter 3. They're the ones that healed the man. They're the ones that have come under ecclesiastical scrutiny. So they had been arrested, they had been questioned, and then, as I said, threatened. Notice in verse 17. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. Verse 18, so they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. And then in verse 21, so when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. So obviously, the Sanhedrin is very much opposed to the proclamation of Christ and Him crucified. And we notice that the apostles don't care. The apostles don't say, well, we see that it's displeasing to you, so we'll go ahead and toe the line and knuckle under and not ever preach in the name of Jesus again. No, it is wrong. It is contrary. It violates and transgresses God's demand and God's command that the gospel of Jesus Christ be preached to every creature. So rather, Peter and John do not submit. Peter and John rather resist. Peter and John acknowledge the higher authority of the Lord God Most High, and they submit to Him and to His rule. So they return to the brethren in the church, and notice in verse 23, being let go, they went to their own companions. This would have included apostles and brethren. And then Peter and John reported. all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. They reported that this man had been healed. They reported that there was a subsequent sermon. They reported that this incensed and outraged the Jewish Sanhedrin. They reported that they had been arrested. They had reported that they had been threatened. They had reported all of the particular details involved. And now we see the church's response. Look at what it says in verse 24. So when they, the church, heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord. That does not mean that everyone in unison said the same thing. Most likely there was one prayer, and yet the entirety of the congregation was in solidarity with him. It's like in our prayer meetings, one person prays on behalf of the church or the pastoral prayer. One man prays on behalf of the church, such that it can be said that they prayed to God with one accord. John Gill says, and being on the one hand not over much terrified and cast down, and on the other hand not sluggish or careless and secure, they betake themselves not to plots, conspiracies, and seditions, nor to arms to defend and avenge themselves, though their numbers were large, but to prayer, that they might not be deterred by threatenings from speaking boldly the word of the Lord. It's a great observation. What do we do when the fires of opposition or persecution are turned up? We pray to God Almighty. We make our petitions known to God Most High. We come to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. With reference to corporate prayer, we attend, we come to church, we express to God worship and praise and adoration with our fellow brothers and sisters. We go to the throne of grace because Jesus has secured access to that throne of grace, such that we can, in the language of Hebrews 4, come with boldness into the very presence of God Almighty. So God Most High has given something to the church and yet oftentimes the church does not use that resource. It does not use the prayer meeting. It does not use that availability at the throne of grace to go to God with the petitions that affect us and to lay them out before one who hears one who cares and one who answers for his own glory and the good of his people. Now notice, secondly, the prayer of the brethren in 24b to 30. They first begin with an invocation. Invocation is just a big word that means to call upon. And so they call upon God Most High. They call upon the Lord. They don't pray to ancestors, they don't pray to friends, they don't whine and grumble and complain, but rather they call upon the Lord God Most High and they invoke Him as Sovereign Lord. Notice in verse 24b, Lord, You are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them This is a pattern replete in holy scripture You see it in nehemiah 9 at verse 6 when the children of israel come out of the babylonian captivity And they pray to god almighty. They acknowledge his sovereignty. They acknowledge the fact that he is creator They acknowledge the fact that he is ruler and over all things you see it throughout the psalter So many instances of prayers there coming to God and acknowledging His omnipotence. Acknowledging that the one to whom we go has the power, has the authority, has the ability to answer our prayers. And then you see it in Hezekiah, when the king of Assyria sends his spokesman to threaten Judah, you see Hezekiah take a brief refrain and pray to God. How do you think he addresses God? He addresses God in the same manner and in the same sense that the apostolic church did. We pray to the sovereign God of heaven and earth, the sovereign God who created heaven and earth, the sovereign God who governs all his creatures and all their actions. That's meant to encourage you. An invocation isn't simply calling upon God, but it's also understanding and rehearsing who God is. It's confessing Him. It's understanding. It's praying according to knowledge. It's realizing the target of our petition is the one who has absolute ability to carry out what He has promised and purposed. Matthew Poole makes this observation. He says the creation and government of the world is a good consideration to confirm us under all things that befall us here. Listen to that again. The creation and government of the world is a good consideration to confirm us under all things that befall us here. The God to whom we pray, the God we pour out our burdens to, is the God who made all things. the God who governs all things. And you'll notice that when they come to the application of Psalm 2 in their current situation. They know that this enmity from the Sanhedrin against them, they know that this rage of the nations targeting Yahweh and His Christ, and those who have solidarity with Christ, they know this is under God's sovereignty. They're not for a moment thinking, you know, Lord, you've lost control. You know, Lord, there's something out of your hand here. These people have gone rogue. They've become renegades. They've become mavericks, and they're persecuting poor little us. No, they never give any inkling of that whatsoever. They are through and through convinced that God is over even the threatenings of the Sanhedrin leveled against these men such that they stop preaching the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. Brethren, that is the vantage point upon which we pray. We don't come to a God who is crippled. We don't come to a God who is hindered. We don't come to a God who is neutered. We don't come to a God who is silent. We don't come to a God who is absent, but we come to the God who made the world and all things in it. We come to the God who governs all his creatures and all their actions. We come to the God who holds the hearts of all men in his hand. We come to sovereign power when it is time to pray. Now notice the application of Scripture to their particular situation. So they go from invocation now to what I'll call exposition. I'm not sure that's the best, perhaps application is better, but what they do is they understand their situation in connection to redemptive history. In other words, there is connection between the apostles, the people of God in this early church situation, and David, the psalmist who penned Psalm 2. Notice they make this prophetic announcement, or rather they underscore this prophetic announcement. Notice in verse 25, "...who by the mouth of your servant David have said..." Notice the doctrine of inspiration. How does God give us His Word? He does it through human means, but He does it through divine agency. In other words, the very words that David pens are those given him by inspiration of God the Holy Spirit. That's conspicuous. Notice, who by the mouth of your servant David have said." David didn't just look down the tunnel of time and think that someday there's going to be some opposition to God Most High. No, when David comes to write the Psalms, he's under the Spirit's inspiration and he's moved to write Psalm 2 concerning the mutiny of man. and the rage of the nations, and the reality that people don't want God, they don't want his Christ, and that is precisely what they point to here in the second Psalm. Who by the mouth of your servant David have said, why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things? The kings of the earth took their stand and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. The Psalm is messianic and declares that the rage of the nations in their opposition to God and his Christ will never be successful. You understand that, right? They may try, they will venture, they will certainly attempt, but Jesus Christ builds his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. That's the same emphasis in Psalm 2. When Ryan read that at the outset of worship, hopefully your hearts are thrilled. Though the nations rage, though the peoples plot vain things, though they raise their fist at Yahweh and against his Christ, God is not shaken, God is not moved. God doesn't say, oh, poor pathetic people, I'm gonna go ahead and do whatever it is you want. No, that's not it at all. God most high is in the calm dignity of his throne room where he is not shaken, he is not thrown off off the throne, and he is able to maintain that dignity. So go back to our text. Notice, why did the nations rage? The people plot vain things. Kings of the earth took their stand. The rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. While the second Psalm, along with Matthew 16, and just about everywhere that speaks to these things, promises there will be harassment from the devil and his servants against Christ and his, It is never the case that the devil wins. It is never the case that he is victorious. In other words, Jesus does build his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Brethren, that ought to encourage us at the throne of grace, whatever they throw at us. Whatever the devil who roams about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, whatever machinations he throws our way, good old Puritan word there, he will never be successful. He will never dethrone Jesus Christ. He will never shut down the church of Jesus Christ. Assaulted, attacked, beaten, bruised, broken, but never destroyed Why? Because this has been an old game with the devil and his minions from the beginning, this rage against Yahweh and against his Christ. But I would submit that the brethren that are praying this prayer see them connected not only to David and his psalm in terms of the rage of the nations against Yahweh and his Christ, but the rage that is against them as well. See, they're friends of Jesus. They're friends of Yahweh. They are pro-Yahweh and pro-His Messiah. So being pro draws from the enemies of Yahweh and His Christ the animus, or the enmity, or the persecution that we find in Acts chapter 4. So the early church understood the fight or battle they were in. One man says, here the point of the citation, Psalm 2, is to confirm from scripture that when the rulers of the world rise up against the Lord and His anointed one, their attacks are doomed to failure. That's a good reminder for us, isn't it? They're not going to win. They may try. They're industrious. They have some stick-to-itiveness, but they'll never win. Calvin says on the text, Hereby we may persuade ourselves that howsoever all men, both high and low, do wickedly conspire together against this kingdom, yet shall they not prevail. For what is all the whole world compared with God? See, while the nations rage and the peoples plot vain things and the rulers and the kings take their stand together and raise their fist against Yahweh and His Christ, what is Yahweh's response? He who sits in the heavens shall what? Tremble? Bite his fingernails? No, he'll laugh. He'll hold them in derision. It's at that point we see the revelation of the covenant of redemption, wherein Yahweh says to the Christ, you're gonna rule over them with a rod of iron. You're gonna shatter the nations with a rod of iron. You're gonna be the savior for all those who take their refuge in you. So God's response to the mutiny of man is twofold. One, judgment for those who continue to resist and reject and rebel against him, but two, salvation. for all those who by grace find their way into the kingdom through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ." So they make this announcement, or rather they highlight or underscore this announcement, and then notice the specific fulfillment. So verses 25 and 26 are Psalm 2, 1 and 2. Now note the application they make in verse 27. It says, "...for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done." So first of all, notice, "...truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with Gentiles and Jews, conspired against Him." So they apply Psalm 2 to the situation in the 1st century when Jesus comes in the 1st Advent. That opposition, that enmity, that rage, that desire on the part of the religious leaders to destroy Jesus. I mean, the similarities between then and now. They didn't want to just silence their opponent. They wanted to murder their opponent. They didn't want to just cut him off. They wanted him gone. They didn't want him to affect them whatsoever. So in their minds, crucifixion, death, execution, that's the only proper removal from someone we just disagree with in matters of theology. It's a horrific practice, and it's certainly satanic in its origin, that persons can't disagree without one or the other wanting to kill them. That is unconscionable behavior, and that's what the Pharisees did with our Lord Jesus Christ. In Luke 23, you can turn to see this mutiny. You can turn to see this conspiracy between persons who at one time were at odds with one another. Look at Luke 23, specifically at verse six. When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked if the man were a Galilean. And as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod. Again, nothing new under the sun. What is this politician doing? He's doing what so many politicians after him and before him did, pass the buck. Get rid of responsibility. I don't want to be looked at badly by the body politic. I don't want to make unpopular decisions. I don't want to have to deal with the fallout. I don't want to have to deal with principled obedience to law and order. Brethren, the better way to go for any man, woman, boy, or girl is principled obedience to law and order. But back to our passage, as soon as he knew that he belonged to Herod's jurisdiction, he sent him to Herod, who was also in Jerusalem at that time. Now, when Herod saw Jesus, he was exceedingly glad, for he had desired for a long time to see Him, because he had heard many things about Him, and he hoped to see some miracle done by Him. But then he questioned him with many words, but he answered him nothing. And the chief priests and scribes stood and vehemently accused him. Then Herod, with his men of war, treated him with contempt and mocked him, arrayed him in a gorgeous robe and sent him back to Pilate. Now notice in verse 12, that very day Pilate and Herod became friends with each other, for previously they had been at enmity with each other. So going back to Acts chapter 4, they take Psalm 2, 1 and 2, and they apply it to the present situation affecting our Lord Jesus. When Herod, when Pilate, when men who were previously opposed are now in solidarity against Yahweh and against His Christ. So back to Acts chapter 4, notice, "...truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pius, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together," but notice this, "...to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done." So it's not like in the invocation they acknowledge the sovereignty of God, they acknowledge the creatorship of God, and then abandon that thought when it comes to considering the current situation. They understood that what happened to Jesus was under the plan and purpose of God Most High. They didn't doubt sovereignty. They weren't fair weather fans with reference to sovereignty. If sovereignty goes our way, we typically like to confess it and embrace it. But if sovereignty doesn't go our way, then we start to question, well, is God really in control of all things? Because if he were, how could any horrible thing ever befall such a splendid person like me? That's not what they do. They acknowledge God is God. even over persecution, even over opposition, even over a Sanhedrin that threatens Peter and John from preaching Christ and Him crucified. They know that God is over even this. Again, this is the vantage point upon which we pray with great confidence. Go back to chapter 2. Peter's preaching reveals that he understands that everything that obtains is as a result of the decree of God. Notice in Acts 2.22, men of Israel, here, these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Notice verse 23, him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death. Peter does not accept at all the idea that the crucifixion was accidental, the idea that the crucifixion was a plan B, the idea that the crucifixion was an afterthought in the mind of God to make the best out of a bad situation, that Christ came offering the kingdom to the Jews, they reject it and so they crucify. That's not what happened. It was the plan and purpose of God Most High in the sending of the Son of His love to take on our humanity with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, and yet without sin, so that He might live for us, that He might die for us, that He might be raised again for us. This is God's decree. This is God's purpose. This is God's plan. And these brethren cannot be dissuaded by that, even in the midst of persecution. So notice, again in chapter 3 at verse 18, Peter affirms the same reality that God is in control of all things. Notice in 3.18, but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets that the Christ would suffer, he has thus fulfilled. Again, it should have not been a surprise to anybody. It should have not been the case, like, I just can't believe it. What do you mean you just can't believe it? That God is bringing to pass all of the promises of God that are yea and amen in our Lord Jesus Christ? That's a good thing. But the point here, brethren, is that God is sovereign even over the bad things in our lives. God has the ability to take crooked things and to make them straight. Joseph understood this in Genesis 50 at verse 20. You meant this for evil, but God meant it for good. And it was evil. What did they do? They put Joseph into a pit. The text later tells us that Joseph was crying out for deliverance from the pit while his brother sat around the pit eating their lunch. Talk about calloused wretches. You think you got problems in your family? Think about Joseph and the great calamities that man faced. And yet when all was said and done, he was a better theologian for it. You meant it for evil, but God overruled it for good. Acts 2, verse 23, the worst crime ever perpetrated by man in history was the crucifixion of Jesus. If the government arrested us today and put us to death tonight, it would be wrong. But we're not wholly harmless and undefiled. We've done something somewhere along the way, perhaps not worthy of execution by the state, but it's not the case that we're wholly harmless and undefiled. It's not the case that we have no sin. It's not the case that Pontius Pilate could confess three times of us, I find no guilt in this man. But with reference to Jesus, there was nothing in him. No speeding violation, no failure to report something on his tax form, no white-collar crime, no blue-collar crime, no lustful look, no rageful thought, no enmity in his heart that was unfounded or ungrounded. Our blessed Savior was innocent, and yet he was put to death, and Peter tells us that it was the predetermined plan and purpose of God. See, brethren, God Most High is most high over your good things, but God Most High is God Most High over your bad things as well. And we cannot abandon ship. We cannot abandon the sovereignty ship the moment things go awry. Well, I just can't believe it. Why can't you believe it? Do you have eyes? Do you have a mind? Do you have a heart? Have you read scripture? Did you see what happened to Daniel? Did you see what happened to Naboth? Did you see what happens to Abel? Do you see what happens to the godly in the history of the church? Do you see what happened to the Lord Jesus Christ? Do you see what happened to the Apostle Paul? Are you actually doubtful that bad things can happen to decent people in this modern world? If you are, you need to read your Bible more. You need to understand the scriptures. You need to understand the depravity of man. You need to understand the glory of God Most High, who is over all things. Notice in verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. So Pilate and Herod acting willfully, acting as responsible agents, are nevertheless doing the will of God, who had decreed and determined the death of Jesus the Messiah for the salvation of sinners. Now, again, Matthew Poole, he says, the apostles mind not so much second causes in what our Savior or themselves suffered, but see and acknowledge God in all, who makes a straight line with a crooked stick. I think that's helpful, brethren. I think I'm probably, you're probably aware of it. I'm preaching to myself in this sermon a lot. It is very easy to get filled with rage and enmity. It's very easy to get angry. It's very easy to get up in arms. It's very easy when you see footage of the Netherlands last night at a protest over lockdowns, having the police sick dogs on them. This in the name of health? It is outlandish, it is absolutely nonsensical, and it makes one want to get upset from time to time. But we need to come to this place where we understand that even in this, God is on the throne. That even in this, the Lord God Most High reigns and rules, and that is precisely what the apostles do here, to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. Now, before we move on, I just want to make this observation. What Psalm 2, 1 and 2 records against Yahweh and against His Christ is true for Christ's people. Again, solidarity with the Savior brings persecution and oppression from the enemies of the Savior. This is basic biblical teaching. Turn to Matthew's Gospel, Matthew chapter 10. Just a few passages, there are a lot more, but just a few to show this solidarity, Christ and His people. Matthew 10, verse 24. Disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant above his master. It is enough for a disciple that he be like his teacher and a servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of the household? Notice what he says. Therefore do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Turn over to John's gospel, John 15, the upper room discourse. The upper room discourse. Jesus doesn't sit in that room with them and just give them platitudes and promises of things that weren't gonna happen. Jesus prepares his apostles. Jesus prepares his disciples. He prepares them. He's the general, they're his soldiers. He's gonna send them out amongst wolves and they need to be harmless as doves and cutting as serpents. But notice in the Upper Room Discourse, Jesus gives them this same message, John 15, 18. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. You see that? All these things they will do to you for my name's sake, because they do not know Him who sent me. Notice in Acts chapter 9, Acts chapter 9, this conversion of Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus. Very intriguing what we find here. Specifically at 9-3, as he journeyed, he came near Damascus and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. Then he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? And he said, who are you, Lord? Then the Lord said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goats. Saul of Tarsus was persecuting Jesus? Yes. Yes, he was. When Saul of Tarsus persecuted the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, he persecuted Jesus. That's the emphasis. Turn over to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. And if you're asking yourself as you're turning, how is this a happy New Year's message? The alternative was the great white throne judgment in Matthew 25. So I'm just, I think we need to be encouraged to be a prayerful church. I think we need to be encouraged to be a prayerful church, faithful at the throne of grace. We all make resolutions, don't we? Or some do. Someone resolved not to make any resolutions in 2022. It's just the reality. We make these resolutions. As a church, we ought to resolve to be a praying people. 1 John 3.13, do not marvel, my brethren, if the world hates you. So going back to Acts chapter four, They invoke God, they appeal to His sovereign power, glory, majesty, the fact that He is creator, the fact that He is governor, the fact that all things in Him consist, and then they move on to the application of Psalm 2 into their current situation. And as we consider this, they are likely understanding that the Psalm 2 rage envisaged against Yahweh and against His Christ continues on in this new covenant era. Men still do rail against or rage against Yahweh and against his Christ. And they oftentimes do it with the church. They do it with the professing people of God. They do it with us because we are hopefully good representatives of what heaven's kingdom looks like. And so the apostles, the early church, had solidarity with Jesus in his suffering, but as well with the history of the people of God throughout its history. Genesis 3, we considered that passage in our confession study. In 3.15, I will put enmity between your seed and her seed. God puts the enmity there. It is a God-wrought antithesis that obtains between the righteous and the unrighteous or the wicked. And so the apostles understand that. Now it's in light of this that they move on to supplication in verses 29 to 30. So they invoke, they expound or apply scripture, and now they move to supplication or specific requests concerning their situation. Look at verse 29. Now, Lord, look on their threats. I want to say something that I hope is not confusing. I think it's quite actually simple. Not every passage says everything there is to say about a particular topic. Everybody understand that, right? Not every passage says everything there is to say about every topic. So we see here an example of the church at prayer specifically for government. Now I'm not suggesting they are praying for the Roman government. I'm suggesting they're praying for the Sanhedrin, which as I've explained had both a religious and a political aspect. They had the power of coercion, according to chapter 4, in order to arrest men and keep them in custody overnight. We see their coercive power as we move through the book of Acts, when they're constantly nipping at the heels of the Apostle Paul, and the Jews are turning him over at every stage to the Roman government, so that Paul can really get in trouble for all of his horrific crimes. So, suffice to say, they are praying for a governmental entity, specifically the Sanhedrin. When they pray, they acknowledge the situation, they know that God is a God of justice, and they say, look on their threats. But their prayer for the government at that point terminates. The prayer primarily is for them. In other words, how are we supposed to respond when the pressure comes? How are we supposed to function when the difficulties arise? If you ask the Bible, how can we pray for civil government? I've reduced it to three R's. First, we pray for their redemption. 1 Timothy 2, verses 1 to 7. You see that God, the Apostle Paul, tells Timothy specifically to pray. I entreat you, first of all, I urge you, that prayers, supplications, intercessions, and givings of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority. In verse 4, he highlights the fact that Jesus Christ is a Savior of all men. By that, he doesn't mean all men without distinction, but in the context, all men without exception, kings, Rulers, civil authority. So it is just and legit for the church today to pray for the redemption of our government authorities. Secondly, we can pray that God restrains them. Solomon, the wise man in Proverbs 21.1, tells us, in tune with God's sovereignty, that the Lord holds the heart of the king in his hand, and that he directs that heart the way he does the rivers of water. So Lord God, restrain them. We don't want the variant communism. Please keep that from us. That is a legit expression of biblical praying on the part of the people of God. When I was younger, they taught us of the horrors of communism. We forgot those lessons. Communism is anti-Christ. It is an absolute opposition and contradiction to the Lord of Glory. The most virulent anti-communists ought to be people of God in churches, because commies don't provoke or incite true religion. They clamp down on it. So restraint is a perfectly legitimate prayer for civil government. And then there's the third R, which is remove them. Remove them. Psalm 74 verse 11. Asaph prays that Yahweh withdraw his hand from his bosom and destroy the enemies of Israel. Again, that's the kind of praying we kind of shrink back from because we're filled with love in the new covenant as if God in the old covenant wasn't filled with love. Love is opposed to wretchedness, to wickedness, and to evil. 1 Corinthians 13 tells us love rejoices in what? Truth. Not lies, not deceit, not deception and falsehood. It rejoices in truth. So God Most High can either redeem, restrain, or remove. That is a specific petition that the church has legitimacy to pray with reference to their civil authority. Now back to our text. They understand the opposition, they see the rage of their enemies, they understand the nature of the battle, and let us see how they pray. So when we pray for redemption, restraint, or removal, let's not neglect to pray for ourselves on how we're supposed to conduct ourselves in the midst of oppression and persecution. Notice verse 29. Now, Lord, look on their threats. Great place for them to invoke the removal clause at that point, but they don't, and I'm admitting that, and I'm acknowledging that, but there's other places in the Bible where men do invoke the removal clause. But here it's now, Lord, look at their threats and grant to your servants. See, here's the rub, brethren. Whatever happens from out there, whatever happens within here, whatever happens in God's big world, there's always our response to it. There's always our reaction to it. There's always the way we think through it, the way we strategize about it, the way we conduct ourselves in the midst of it. And I think it's biblically right to ask God, to make us proper vehicles in the midst of oppression and persecution to advance His cause. See, for them, that's what was important. It isn't their safety. It isn't their happiness. It isn't their freedom or liberty. And again, brethren, throughout Scripture, those are legitimate petitions for us to make to God Most High. Remember the principle, not every text says everything that can be said about everything. But in this particular situation, when the men of Jerusalem have admonished them, have commanded them, have threatened them not to preach Jesus in the city of Jerusalem, look at how they respond. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your word. the request for courage to speak the word of God. This request reveals the understanding of their primary focus. What's the primary emphasis for a Peter and a John in redemptive history? It's to speak the word of truth. What's the primary emphasis for the Apostolic Church in the Roman Empire? It's to speak the truth of God. What's the primary purpose for Peter and John in a city controlled by a godless Sanhedrin? It's to preach the word of God. See, that is a never-changing article of our true religion. That is a never-sacrificed aspect of our relation to our God. So they understand their primary calling, speak your word. Daryl Bach says, the early church knew that its key priority was the mission of preaching Jesus to a needy world. Beautiful, right? All these things are happening. Everybody's gone awry. They're forbidding us to preach in the name of Jesus. So Lord, look upon their threats and grant to us the ability to speak your word. But then notice, it's not just speak your word. They don't want to just stand out in the corner with their hands in their pockets and their latte in their hand and give a little Jesus juke to the persons passing by. They want to preach with boldness. They want to preach the word of God the way the word of God is supposed to be preached. This isn't the word of man. This isn't the ramblings of Peter and John. This is the word of the living and true God. Samuel Davies rebuked the king of England when he looked away for a moment during a sermon and spoke to his wife. He says, the beasts of the field stand in awe when the lion rages. You must listen to the word of the living and true God. Where's that caliber of preacher today? What about John the Baptist who put his finger in the face of Herod and said, it's not lawful for you to have your brother's wife. Something so basic, something so foundational, something so fundamental. Could we find a preacher today to stand before the royalty of our day and decry their sin and wretchedness? Could we find a man who stares not and cries aloud, lifts his voice like a trumpet and tells the herods of our age, no, it's not right what you're doing. No, it's not right to murder babies. No, it's not right to murder old people. No, it's not right to ban conversion therapy. Heard that explained recently. Somebody well said, a guy from ARPA. He said, if conversion therapy is like shock treatment, we're getting the paddles and we're putting them on people's head to get the bad out of them. I don't want shock therapy. I don't want conversion therapy. But if conversion therapy is preaching Christ and Him crucified, identifying sin or sexual sin as sin and saying that it's wrong, if that's conversion therapy, then we're going to be wrong because we're not going to sacrifice and we're not going to shave off the rough ends of what God's word has to say to our generation. So back to the text. Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that withhold. boldness, they may speak your word. They don't ask God to smash the Sanhedrin. They don't ask God to smash Caesar. They don't ask God for God to save all of the Sanhedrin. They simply ask that in light of the persecution or oppression that is obtained in their lives, They would be faithful. They would do their job. They would not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God. The apostle in 1 Corinthians 4 at verse 2 says, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found, what? Faithful, not famous, not celebrity, not the best guy on the face of the earth, the happiest kid. Know that they'd be found faithful proclaimers of the word of God. Do you ever just get to those points in your life where you just want to grab people by the neck and give them a shake? And I mean that metaphorically. I don't make it a point to go out and grab people by the neck and give them a shake. But it's like pastors preach. Preach! Say it! Preach! Preach! Preach! That's the job. It's preach. Everybody here has a job, right? Everybody here has a task. Everybody here has a function. Everybody here has a vocation or a purpose in this life. So does every man in a pulpit, and that job is to preach. And that job is to preach as far as God is willing with boldness, the truth of Holy Scripture. Now, they understood or had this boldness previous to this particular point, but they don't assume that it's always going to be the case. In chapter 3, verses 12 to 26, when Peter preaches, he preaches with boldness, and they understand that. Notice as well chapter four at verse 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus. What a great text, hey? I'm all for seminary provided the seminary is a good one, but just because there is a seminary doesn't mean it's a good one. So it would be better to have untrained and uneducated men who spent three years with Jesus versus some apostate or liberal seminary where they come out woke. That is absolutely positively unacceptable in terms of biblical Christianity. So we see that the civil authority, authority himself, saw or perceived the boldness of these men. So when we come to the prayer, they don't just assume that boldness is always going to be there. You've probably heard before that word unction. God send the unction of the Holy Spirit. Lloyd-Jones makes this observation. He says, I don't know what unction is, but I know when it's not present. Basically, unction meant when the Spirit of God came upon a preacher and he brought it, he proclaimed. He did what the prophet was told to do. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet and proclaim or declare to Jerusalem our sins. So there is this unction, this power, this boldness, this accession. Read about it in Ian Murray and his studies in terms of the Puritans and Puritan preaching and Martin Lloyd-Jones, same sort of a thing. But with reference to this, they don't assume that God will always supply them with boldness. Neither does the Apostle Paul. Turn to the book of Ephesians. We have this mindset of the Apostle Paul that he was eight foot tall and bulletproof, and that's just not the case. The Apostle Paul, well, before we're on your way to turning to Ephesians 6, here's what Paul was like. Here's how Paul describes himself. He says, I was with you in weakness and fear and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. So for Paul, he says, I didn't bring anything to the table, but the spirit of God came and he brought everything to the table. And that's what you witnessed. And in Ephesians chapter 6, notice after giving his teaching on the whole armor of God, he says that the people of God are to pray. Verse 18, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. And for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains, that in it I may speak boldly, notice, as I ought to speak. He didn't just rest on past performance. He didn't just say, well, I'm the mighty apostle Paul, and that accession to power will always be evident and prevalent. No, he says to the church in Ephesus, pray for me. Brethren, pray for pastors, pray for preachers, pray for men that are supposed to be proclaiming the truth of God's holy word, that they don't shrink back from declaring it. that they're able to say with the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20, I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. He's able to say, my hands are clean. And in that, he's invoking the memory of the prophet Ezekiel. Because God said to Ezekiel, if you warn men and they still continue in their sin, they're going to be destroyed, but not you. But if you don't warn men, if you don't caution men, if you don't tell men to flee the wrath to come, then that'll be upon your head, son of man. So the apostle takes that same sort of attack when he addresses those Ephesian elders. Now back to Acts chapter 4. We see that God, or they go on to ask for miracle. says that with all boldness, they may speak your word and then by stretching out your hand to heal and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. The request for miracles was not to dazzle. It was not to impress. It wasn't just to get the multitudes to come, but it was rather a means by which God would confirm their word as being his word. And it was a means by which God would extend the kingdom of his grace to needy sinners. That's what we see in the life and ministry of Jesus. That's what we see here in the life and ministry of the apostles, that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Now let's look finally at the response of the Lord. We entered a vortex at about 1210. The clock just moved amazingly fast. So I apologize. We're going to go a few minutes over, but that's it. Notice in the response by the Lord in verse 31. And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with all boldness. You see that back in chapter 2, in verses 1 to 3, on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit comes in power, and that is attended by phenomena. It is attended by shaking. It is attended by thundering. It is attended by lightning. It evokes the memory of Sinai in Exodus chapter 19. Remember the children of Israel are prohibited from going up on the mountain, from getting near the mountain, from touching the mountain. But what do they witness? They see the clouds. They hear the sound of thunder. They see the presence and the magnificence of the glory of God most high. And the same thing is true in this apostolic prayer meeting. Now, this does not mean every time we pray, this has to be the result. No, God is sovereign in these sorts of tokens, these sorts of emblems. But in terms of this particular one, when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. That's the purpose of the filling of the Spirit in this particular instance. filled with the Spirit in Ephesians chapter five, so that we can sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. So we can teach and admonish one another in our singing unto the Lord, so that we may submit to one another in the fear of the Lord. So there's various purposes with reference to the filling of the Spirit. And here specifically, it is to grant the petition that they themselves offered up, that God would enable them to, with boldness, speak the word of truth. So God affirms, God confirms, God shows His approbation to this particular supplication or petition by answering them. In other words, there's increasing persecution, there's increasing opposition, there's increasing turmoil, there's the civil authority in Jerusalem commanding us that we cannot preach Jesus anymore in their city. Lord, grant us boldness. What does God do? He grants them boldness. So many times we fall prey to what James condemns. You have not. Why? Because you ask not. You don't go to the throne of grace. You don't go to the Father through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. You treat prayer as an accouterment. You treat it as an attachment. You treat it as something that's not intrinsic to the life and ministry of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's intrinsic to the life and the ministry of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. A praying church is what we must be in a time of trouble for the church. And that is precisely evident in this passage. They pray for boldness, God gives them boldness. Drop down to verse 33. Verse 33, And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. That's a beautiful confirmation that they were on the right track in terms of supplication relative to their recent prohibition from preaching the gospel of Jesus in Jerusalem. God, we're not going to do what they say. And God, we're going to engage in contrary behavior. And while we engage in this contrary behavior, we not only want to do it, but we want you to make us very bold in our doing of it. We want to do it in such a way that it brings glory to you, that it brings honor to you, and that it, get this, brings genuine help to sinners. See, when the churches shut down, when the ministers shut up, is that an expression of love? No. What does man need desperately right now? What does man need desperately right now? He needs the blood of Jesus Christ, the son of God for cleansing from sin and rebellion. He needs the righteousness of Jesus Christ imputed to him and received by faith alone. When pulpits shut, when pastors shut up, when men do not do what God has called them to do in terms of a bold preaching of the Word of God, that's not love to people, that's not the second great commandment, that's not evidencing or manifesting or demonstrating to them that we have a genuine concern for that which they desperately need. Man in Canada desperately needs Jesus Christ the Lord. Man in Canada desperately needs the gospel of Christ. He needs blood atonement. He needs the righteousness of another. He needs Zechariah 3. He needs Psalm 2. How does Psalm 2 end? With David calling upon the judges, calling upon the rulers, calling upon the kings that surrounded Israel. And he tells them to serve the Lord with trembling. to rejoice in the Lord, to kiss the sun, lest the sun be angry and you perish in his way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. See, David understood that good foreign policy, first and foremost, was that the pagans repent and believe in Israel's God. That was foreign policy as David understood it. And with reference to our current situation, shirking our responsibilities, not proclaiming Christ and Him crucified, listening to the civil government when they get out of their lane and they step into our lane to try to silence us or shut us down, when the mass of humanity around us desperately needs blood atonement? That's not love, brethren. Love is to disobey at this point. Love is to do what God calls us to do. Love is to pray. to God to give us boldness to do our job to proclaim Christ to be crucified to every creature under heaven. Brethren, in summary, in conclusion, we have the theology in their prayer. They fortify themselves by calling on God the Creator, they interpret their present trial and difficulty in light of God's holy word, and they recognize the rage of the nations is ultimately under the sovereign hand of God. We see the supplication in their prayer. We can tell what is important with a man when we hear his prayers, can't we? The man says, oh Lord God, I just want a summer home. I just want great shoes for my feet. I just want a nice cozy bed. You kind of get the idea that temporal benefit is high on his priority scale. I'm not saying we should want the worst bed ever. We want to live in a hut and we don't want nice shoes. I'm not suggesting that either. All right, you got that? If I say I love oranges, that doesn't mean I hate apples. We forgot the lost art of thinking. You know, we used to talk about critical thinking skills. I'd be happy with just thinking skills at this point. Critical has obviously demonstrated itself to be a bit too difficult for this modern generation, so just a semblance of thinking would be delightful. But with reference to their prayer, boldness to speak the word of God, confirming miracles of God to highlight the name of your holy servant Jesus, and the absence of anything non-theological. They don't ask for their comfort. They don't ask for their ease. They don't ask for their joy. They don't ask that they wouldn't be persecuted. Rather, they ask that in the midst of all of the calamity, God help us to be faithful. That's it. There's your hopefully encouraging New Year's message. Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. Brethren, we're not gonna change the world. We're just not. We're not gonna make a dent, most likely. And I know that shatters delicate snowflake thinking today. The mass of humanity has come and has gone, and very few of them we even remember. So if you got these delusions of grandeur that you're going to single-handedly John Knox Canada back into some sort of semblance of true religion. I'm not a pessimist necessarily. My wife might say I am. I don't think I'm the most optimistic guy as the pessimist typically says I'm a realist. I just don't think it's going to happen. But moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. That's the call. That's the encouragement. That's what the Church of Jesus Christ is to pursue. Let us pray. Our Father, we confess that at times it's difficult to be faithful when all around us seems like it's crumbling. But we have the promise of God throughout the Old Testament. We see it in the Psalter. We see it in Psalm 46 so clearly and beautifully revealed. We see it in this apostolic prayer meeting. We see the reality that you are over all things, that you are the one who gives grace to his people. You are the one who fortifies us and who stabilizes us and who grants us the grace of perseverance so that we can continue to go forward. I pray, Father, for your blessing upon this church. I hate the division that has happened as a result of this pandemic. I know that I have contributed to it. I pray, God, that you would help all of us coming into this new year to just glorify you, to love one another, to remember Romans 14, As well, God, I pray for other pastors in this province and throughout this country. I thank you for those men who have stood fast. I pray they would continue to do so, that you would continue to bless them, that you would increase the grace that you give to them, that they may faithfully and boldly proclaim your word. For those pastors who perhaps have been struggling, I pray that you would empower them, that you would enable them, that you would grant them grace to meditate upon passages like these and find great encouragement and great comfort. to stand fast and to proclaim the word of God the way that John the Baptist did to Herod. As well, our Father, may you bless all of the churches in Canada, all of the churches throughout the world, that in the midst of crisis, our task remains the same, to boldly proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord. And as that word is proclaimed today, God, I pray that it would run swiftly and be glorified, that a multitude from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation would believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that a multitude would come out of darkness into marvelous light and know the joy of being found in Christ Jesus. As well, God, strengthen and encourage and build up all of your people. Second Peter gives us a high standing order in the life of the church of Jesus Christ. We are to grow in the grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. So God help us to be Bereans, help us to be diligent in our study of scripture, and help us to be steadied by it, and help us to be fortified by it as well. And we thank you for this time that we can gather together on this first Lord's Day in 2022. May you bless us, may you keep us, and may you cause your face to shine upon us, and may you be our portion and our lot. And we ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. We'll close with a brief time of meditation.