"If it is from God you won't be able to stop it"

So our Bible reading this morning is in acts chapter 5. That's on page 1097 if you've got the church bibles. 1097 acts chapter 5, we're reading from verse 12. Acts chapter 5, feeling it verse 12. The apost souls performed many signs and wonders among the people, and all the believers used to meet together in Solomon's colonnade.

No 1 else dared join them, even though they were highly regarded by the people. Nevertheless, more and more women men and women believed in the lord and were added to their number. As a result, people brought those who were ill into the streets and laid them on beds and mats so that at least Peter's shadow might fall on some of them as he passed by Crowds gathered also from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing those who were ill and those tormented by impure spirits, and all of them were healed. Then the high priest and all his associates who were members of the party of the sadducees were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail.

But during the night, an angel of the lord opened the doors of the jail and brought them out. Go stand in the temple courts, he said, and tell the people all about this new life. At daybreak, they entered the temple courts as they had been told, and they began to teach the people. When the high priest and his associates arrived, they called together the Sanhedron, the full assembly of the elders of Israel, and sent to the jail for the apostles. But on arriving at the jail, the officers did not find them there So they went back and reported, we found the jail securely locked with the guards standing at the doors.

But when we opened them, we found no 1 inside on hearing this report, the captain of the temple guard and the chief priest were at a loss, wondering what might this might lead to. Then someone came and said, look, the people you put in jail are standing in the temple courts teaching the people. That's the captain went with his officers and brought the apostles. They did not use force because they feared that the people would stone them. The apostles were brought in and made to appear before the Sanhedron to be questioned by the high priest.

We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name, he said. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood. Peter and the hospitals. Other apostles replied, we must obey god rather than human beings. The god of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging him on a cross.

God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom god has given to those who obey him. When they heard this, they were furious and wanted to put them to death. But a pharisee named gamaliel, a teacher of the law, who was honored by all the people, stood up in the Sanhedron, and ordered that the men be put out side for a little while, then he addressed the Sanhedron. Men of Israel, consider carefully what you intend to do to these men.

Some time ago, Theudus appeared claiming to be somebody and about 400 men rallied to him. He was killed. All his followers were dispersed, and it all came to nothing. After him, Judith, the galilean appeared in the days of the census and led a band in revolt. He too was killed, and all his followers were scattered.

Therefore, in this present case, I advise you leave these men alone. Let them go. For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it's from god, you will not be able to stop these men. You will only find yourself fighting against god.

His speech persuaded them. They called the apostles in and had them flogged, then they ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus. And let them go. The apostles left the Sanhedron rejoicing because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name day after day in the temple courts and from house to house They never stop teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. This is god's word.

Great. Thank you, Jackie, for reading that for us so well. Please keep the passage open, page 1 0 9 7, 1 0 9 8, as we'll be going through that passage together. And let's pray for god's help. Further, we praise you that, your words, this your the Bible is your word breathed out by you, that every word of it is from you.

Therefore, give us attentive hearts help us to be ready to listen. And would you change us as a result of what we read, amen? Well, the question that we're going to be thinking about as we come through go through that passage this morning is this 1 that's on the screen. I've swiped the wrong thing. There we go.

How'd a question how no? There we go. How do Christians keep going when under attack? How do Christians keep going when under attack? We need to recognize that church is always under attack.

We've seen this in act. So as we've seen the gospel community, god's people, proclaiming the gospel. What we've seen is opposition has come pretty hard against them. Sometimes that opposition has been overt. It's been from outside It's been the authorities persecuting the church.

And sometimes it's been more subtle. So last Sunday, when we were thinking about Annanias and Safira, we were thinking about opposition from inside, which is a sort of false Christianity those who want gospel community, want to sort of have a part of it and have a status in it, but don't but that's not coming from the proclamation of the gospel. So we've thought about opposition from outside and problems within. And we need to realize as Christians, we should expect to come under attack from outside or from within. An albanian church leader put it, like this in a gathering of persecuted Christian leaders.

He said the church is always a suffering church, or it is not a church. And in our passage today, we come to the end of a section in the book of acts, and we're coming to the end of our sermon series in acts, and we are back with the early church facing persecution from the authorities. They're back under attack from outside, but what you notice here is compared to last time that we saw the church under attack, everything is cranked up a notch. Everything is more intense. So in acts chapter 4, the last time we saw them under under persecution, it began with Peter and John doing 1 miracle.

Now at the beginning of our passage, it's not just 1 miracle that's happening. There are many miracles. So have a look at verse 12. The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people. You've got many signs and wonders happening.

Now just as a little aside, I need to correct something that I said a couple of weeks ago. I can't remember whether I said it in the sermon. I certainly said it to someone after the service. I think I said something along the lines of it was only the apostles who performed what our class does signs and wonders in the book of acts. And I said that.

And then afterwards, I did a little more reading, and it didn't take long for me to realize I've got that wrong. There are others other Christians in the book of acts who perform signs and wonders. So I got that wrong, so apologies for that. But what we see here at the beginning of the passage is you've got many signs and wonders being done, not just the 1 miracle, like in chapter 4, but lots of them. And it would have been incredible to have been in Jerusalem at this time.

Many becoming Christians as they hear the message, that's what we're told in that opening paragraph. And many wanting people healed and demons cast out of people, people bringing people to these apostles for them to heal them, even people lining the streets we're told in verse 15. So that Peter's shadow might just fall on them. An incredible buzz, they must have been in Jerusalem. People lining the streets, bringing sick people just to have Peter's shadow go for them.

We're not told whether it did anything, but that's what they were doing. And this catches the attention again of the authorities. And again, this is all cranked up or not. Yes. You've got more miracles.

The Holy Spirit doing more, more things in people's lives, but also more opposition. It's not just Peter and John who are arrested, but verse 12, then the high priest and his associates, who are members of the party of the sadducees were filled with jealousy. They arrested the apostles and put them in the public jail. So it's all the apostles now. Okay.

So since the church Now, we should expect to come under attack. What does this chapter teach us to prepare us for whatever opposition may come our way? Whether that's on the big scale, for us as a church or whether that's on the small scale for you, if you're a follower of Jesus, and yet you're facing opposition. What should we expect and what should we how should we be prepared for it? Our first point from the passage.

We are not saved to be safe. We're not saved to be safe. Okay. We see that in the passage. The apostles, as I've said, are arrested.

They're put in jail overnight. And then they are miraculously freed. We learn, that an angel comes to them verse 19, during the night, and opens the door of the jail for them. And I wonder what you might expect would happen at this point. The the angel comes and opens the prison doors, presumably releases their chains so that they can leave.

Now if this was a Hollywood film or if this was a book that you were reading, Often, what happens next is that those who are freed are freed so that they can escape so that they can leave so they can end up on some beach in some paradise. All luxurious, no suffering, no struggles, with a cocktail in their hands, and lying on the beach. And that is not what the angel tells them to go and do. What does the angel tell them to go and do first 20, go stand in the temple courts and tell the people about this new life. Go back to the temple, which is where you were before, and tell everyone, proclaim, preach about Jesus and this new life.

And they don't waste a moment. They don't think, well, we've been in prison, so we'll have a weekend off They go straight back in. We're told, aren't we verse 21 at daybreak? They entered the temple courts. First thing they can the first opportunity they have, they are straight back in the temple to speak about Jesus.

And the result of this will be, and we'll go into the details a bit more in a bit. But the end result of this is going to be, they're gonna get, well, after the comedy scene where you can imagine the sanhedrin meat, Don't they? They meet and they call for the prisoners, and they're told, well, the prisoners aren't in the cell, and everyone wonders what's going on because the angel has been a polite angel and has shut the door and locked it after him. Everyone wonders what's going on. They open the door, and they find there are no prisoners there, and they think, Wait.

Where where are they? And then I love the fact it says, then someone came and said, look. Look. The men you put in jail are standing out in the temple court teaching the people. They're back, where they were doing exactly what they were doing when you arrested them.

Well, so they are then brought before the Sanhedron, the apostles. And the end result of that is they are gonna be flogged and released. So why did the angel release them? Why did the angel set them free? It wasn't so they could be safe.

They're rearrested and they're flogged. You didn't release them to keep them safe, but so they could speak. That's why you released them so they could go and speak. That does god prepare us for whatever may come. We are not saved to be safe.

Yet, we sometimes expect that that's why god has saved us. We think, well, if god has a priority for you and me, it's gonna be that life will be easy, that life will be comfortable. As if god promises us just green pastures and quiet waters without mentioning the valley of the shadow of death or the darkest valley in Psalm 23. We need to grasp. God rescued you and me, if you're a Christian, he's rescued you so that we might go and be used by him on his mission field to be his people wherever we are, in your workplace, school, university, in your street, with your neighbors, to be god's missionary to those people because it's of the greatest importance that people hear of Jesus.

You could compare this incident with another later on in, the new testament. In the book of Philipp, Paul is in prison. The apostle Paul is in prison. And he writes Philipp, the the letter while he's in jail, and he's obviously there for some time. And god doesn't send an angel to release him.

And in the letter you read, he thinks he might die in prison. And yet, Paul tells them the result of him having been in prison in that letter her. He says this. Now I want you to know brothers and sisters that what has happened to me has actually served to advance the Goss school. As a result, it has become clear throughout the whole palace garden to everyone else that I am in chains for Christ.

And because of my chains, most of the brothers and sisters have become confident in the lord and dare all the more to proclaim the gospel without fear. So in that incident, when Paul is in prison in Philip, in and he's writing to the Philippines, he's saying, I am in prison, and the result has been more people have heard the gosh my prison guards have heard the gospel. I've talked to them about it, and the people outside the prison have become more bold in speaking about Jesus. So this is all good. So put that together with what we've just seen in In acts, the angel releases them so that they can go and speak.

In Philipp, Paul is in prison and speaks. The big thing is they speak, that they can proclaim the gospel and can do it wherever they are. And the result is people hear about Jesus. So for us too, god has a task for us, each 1 of us. Not saved you for safety, but to be on his team, and to go and take risks for the sake of the gospel.

And that is wherever god has got you, but maybe for some, you're thinking, actually, I wanna go to places. Maybe the lord is calling you to go to place where the gospel is not known, parts of the world, which are dangerous. All parts of the world, which are safe. You can go there too. We would do well to read of those who have gone before, who have gone to other parts of the world and have risked their lives for the sake of others hearing the gospel.

I'd encourage you 1 book like that would be, this 1 by John Piper. Called filling up the afflictions of Christ. It's a good book. He he focuses in on the lives of 3 people, William Tyndale, Adaniram Judd, and John Patton who risked their lives so that others could hear about Jesus. It's inspiring stuff.

Get hold of it and read it and be inspired about those who said, actually, it is worth going to others, even at the risk of our lives, just to focus in on 1 of them, Adaniram Juddson. He, took the gospel to myanmar, Burma, you know, it is. And before going, he he got married, to a lady by the name of Anne Hassel Time. And the letter he wrote to her father is a famous letter, and it's worth, there you go. There he is, Adam Arum Johnson.

He wrote a letter to this woman's, father. He'd met her. He'd known her for about a month. And he wrote this letter to her dad. I presume they hadn't got married yet.

I don't think they had. But this is the letter he wrote, imagine writing or receiving this letter. I have now to ask whether you can consent to part with your daughter early next spring. To see her no more in this world, whether you can consent to her departure, and her subjection to the hardships and sufferings of a missionary life, whether you can consent to her exposure, to the dangers of the ocean, and to the fatal influence of the southern climate of India, to every kind of want and distress, to degradation, insult, persecution, and perhaps a violent death. Can you consent to all this for the sake of him who left his heavenly home and died for her and for you.

For the sake of perishing immortal souls, for the sake of Zion and the glory of god. Can you consent to all this in the hope of soon meeting your daughter in the world of glory with the crown of righteousness, brightened with the acclamations of praise, which shall redound to her savior. From heathens saved through her means, from eternal woe and despair. And her father said it was up to her, and they went. They knew they weren't safe to be safe, but to go and speak.

They do for us. You're not saved to be safe, but to go trusting in the lord, to go and speak of Jesus because millions in this land, and millions abroad know nothing of the life he holds out to us. Second thing, god's mission is unstoppable The apostles are brought before the San Hedram, the court, who remind them that they had been told not to speak about Jesus. And yet they say that the apostles have fooled Jerusalem with their teachings. And they say you are determined to make us guilty of this man's blood because it was a Sanhedron who, who sentenced Jesus today.

To which the apostles then reply, giving their defense in verse 29. Let me just read their defense. Peter, in the apostles replied, we must obey god rather than human beings, The god of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead whom you killed by hanging him on across. God exalted him to his own right hand as prince and savior that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgiveness and forgive their sins. We are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit whom god has given to those who obey him.

Now this is pretty standard response from the apostles when they are accused. This is what they normally say. You've told us we shouldn't speak, but god's told us we must. And so we will. And they speak of Jesus' death and resurrection.

They basically use this as another opportunity to preach what they've been preaching all along about Jesus. And they talk about Jesus' death and resurrection in terms of what god has done, what the Sanhedron have done, and then what god has done. What god has done, it's, they say, is to raise Jesus from the dead. That is what god god has done. Here is the central event of Christianity.

Jesus risen from the dead. God raised him from the dead. What did the Sanhedron do? They're the people who killed him. You killed him.

By hanging him on a cross. More literally, you killed him by hanging him on a tree. And to be hung on a tree, it says in the Old Testament is to be under god's curse. This was utter humiliation. Degradation for Jesus to nail him to a tree.

That's what you did. The apostle said. That's what you did to him. But god, we are told, exalted him. You humiliated him.

God exalted him. Raised him up to his own right hand as prince and savior, that he might bring Israel to repentance and forgiveness, forgive their sin. In other words, he's saying even to the Sanhedrin in front of him, even to those Israelites in front of me, and he's saying, god did this, he raised him from the dead exalted him so that you might repent so that you might receive forgiveness. Their defense here is to appeal to the Sanhedron that they too can be forgiven. Striking, isn't it?

You humiliated Jesus god exalted him. And god did this so you could be forgiven. We'll have a you today. I this isn't my main point at this moment, but yet it's a significant point in the passage, isn't it? And is throughout the whole of these early chapters of acts that god raised Jesus so that you could be forgiven too.

These Sanhedron, they were very religious, but yet they needed to repent. Just being religious doesn't do it for anyone. He repented, turned to Jesus, been forgiven. Well, the San Hedron want to put these apostles to death. But a pharisee named gamaliel speaks up.

And, he gives an argument, and I wonder what you make of it, He basically says, let's not kill them. And his argument runs like this. He says there've been other significant leaders who've come in the past, who've been killed, and their followers have been dispersed. So he picks on 2 of them. He says, theudas, verse 36.

So you need to be over the page. Fudas, he he was won, he was killed, and his followers dispersed. Then verse 37, Judith, the galilean, that's not the Judith who betrays Jesus. That's another 1. Judith, the galilean.

He too had followers, but he was killed, and they were dispersed. And the to sum up his argument, you get the it there in verse 38. Therefore, he says, in the present case, I advise you leave these men alone, let them go for if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from god, you will not be able to stop these men. You'll only find yourselves fighting against god.

I wonder what you think about logic. Is it right? Is it good logic? Is it a good argument? Well, I think the answer is yes and no.

The logic seems to imply that you could you could apply this to any situation, and therefore you could just be a pacifist to sort of fait a list. Because if anything is of human origin, it will fail, but if it's from god, it will succeed. But, of course, there's plenty of things that are of human origin that do seem to succeed that need to be stopped. I mean, this wouldn't work. For instance, if there's an evil dictatorship, you go, well, no, you should oppose that.

You should do something about it and not just say, well, if it's human origin, it'll fade. And this isn't being presented to us as teaching of the apostles that we need to submit. And this is gamaliel's reasoning. But what he says in verse 39 is true. He says If it is from god, you'll not be able to stop these men.

You'll only find yourselves fighting against god. Now that is true, isn't it? If god is behind this, if god is doing something, you won't be able to stop this. If you fight against Christianity fight against god's mission to bring people to faith, you're only gonna find yourself fighting against god. It is unstoppable, like an express train that that just cannot be stopped or like those big rugby players, you know, the the really big ones, where they don't have much pace, but they've got a lot of momentum going forward.

And they charge through the lines, and opposition can be hanging off them, but they can still keep going. The opposition were no more effective than if they were just clothes pigs attached to their clothes as they just charge through, and nothing will stop them. So too would the golf people may try opposing the gospel, may try stopping it, but they will never succeed. Not completely. God's mission is utterly unstoppable.

I mean, we see it here in this chapter, don't we? That they're arrested, but and the angel frees them. They're they're re arrested, brought back in, and yet the words of someone who is not a believer prevails, and they're released. Paul in prison. Stays in prison, but yet the gospel still goes out.

It's just unstoppable. However much people try to hold it in, try to keep it back, try to stop it going forward, yet it just goes out. And we still see that today. Even if persecution is at its strongest. If god wants the church to grow in an area, it grows.

Over the years, we've heard that about China. I I think we're hearing that more and more now about Iran. Opendoor statistics, say that in 20 14, just over 10 years ago, there were about 370000 Christians in Iran. Now there are about 800000. So it's double.

In that time. And you hear of more and more coming to faith, and that's just in the country. I mean, there plenty of others who've come out of the country who have gone to places, gone to church, and seem to be coming to faith. Seem to be quite a lot from Iran. Don't forget in Iran.

Those who convert from Islam face arrest and being given long prison sentences for crimes against national security. Numbers of double. If the law wants the church to grow it, well, can't stop it. And there's been lots of talk in this country about a quiet revival. The church attendance has been growing.

And that's really encouraging. Particularly, it's supposed to be amongst younger men. That the church is growing. Wouldn't it be great if that turns into not just a quiet revival, but a real revival of people repenting, turning to the lord, being forgiven? And we can say of that.

If it is from god, no 1 will be able to stop it. And that shouldn't lead us to be passive. Faterless, just saying, well, if it happens, it happens. No. That should lead us to being active.

Praying and preaching and speaking. See people come to faith. See what the lord will do. And if you aren't a Christian this morning, it's great. You're here.

Just this idea that this is unstoppable. I I want you just to notice, this is the big thing God is doing in the world at the moment. Is people coming to faith in Jesus? That's the big mission. That's the big thing god is doing.

Will you become a part of it? Learning to god, coming into personal relationship it through Jesus with the living gods, because Jesus will return 1 day. So don't put it off. Don't say, I'll think about that another tire. That's for later in life.

No. It's for now. Well, the apostles are not executed, but they are flogged. Now it would be easy to brush over that, but that is no small thing. To be flogged was not a light punishment.

And with all that's gone on, it is a warning that if they keep going, worse could happen. But yet, what did they say? What do they how do they respond verse 41? The apostles left the Sanhedron rejoicing because they've been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name day after day in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah. It's amazing that they're just they just don't stop.

They keep going, even after a flogging. And our third point last point is this. Suffering for Christ is a privilege. How would you respond if you'd been flogged for being a Christian or been ridiculed or you maybe lost your job for being a Christian. How do you respond?

Or if your family cut you off, I I've met Christians, you'd say they're they're on their road. Their families have just, disowned them for being how do you respond? These apostles rejoice. Now this isn't a call to enjoy suffering because if you've gotta go well with, you know, just bring it on. I just love suffering.

Bring it on. No. It's not bad. Is it? We're not called to enjoy suffering.

But it is to see that there is a privilege in it. Is a privilege. If for being a Christian or for speaking about Jesus, you're ridiculed, or you don't get promoted, or you lose your job, it's a privilege. They say here they They rejoiced because they've been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the name. Why is it a privilege?

Because you're just going where Jesus has trodden before. He was disgraced. I'm on a 3. And if we suffer, we're following in these footsteps. So as they, they rejoiced, they were considered worthy, considered worthy by who, by God.

God should choose me to suffer for Jesus. Honors in the kingdom are not like earthly honors, are they? Earthly honors are I don't know, a typo letters after your name, maybe maybe financial reward, position, power, honors in the kingdom are, well, in this life, teasing, rejection, redicule, persecution, danger, and in some cases death. So when we receive them, we can rejoice, not because you like them, but because you've been counted worthy to stuff. On the open doors prayer feed this week, we've been asked to pray for 7 pastors in Eritrea who've been in prison.

They've been in prison for 21 years. And it said, not 1 has been charged or brought before a court. They've had no legal representation. Their families have not been permitted to with them. And it says their plight epitomizes the suffering of thousands of prisoners of conscience currently held without charge or trial in error tray.

Review them and their suffering it's awful, isn't it? They're not gonna be enjoying. But yet, it is a privilege. And we need to pray that they see it as such, that it is a privilege that they have suffered and are suffering, disgrace for the name of June. And just to bring it to us, 1 application, I just want to encourage parents to help your children to be prepared ad for the suffering that comes from being a Christian.

Now it's not gonna be that kind of thing probably in this country. But there will come a point where your children will stand out from their friends for being Christians. It's gonna happen. In school. There'll be lots of ways they'll be different.

They'll find at some point things they've been taught by you will be very different from what they friends are taught what their schools are saying. How are they going to be ready to deal with that? 1 thing that you can do is to tell them about those who've suffered for the name of Christ and to honor those people, and to help them to see that when they suffer, it is an honor. When they speak to their friends about Jesus, their friends don't wanna know. Be proud of them.

Will you be more proud of them than if they do good grades? Good grades are a good thing, and they're not a bad thing. But to be faith faithful to Christ is of greater value. Honor that, we get teas for being a Christian. And you say out of them, so you It's great that you did that.

Ready for more thing more suffering that could yet come. And when you be ready to suffer for the sake of Christ, but we've seen 3 things. We're not saved to be safe. God's mission is unstoppable, and suffering for Christ is a privilege. And with that, we come to the end of our series in acts, and next week, we're gonna start a series in 1 Samuel.

I'm looking forward to that, though. It's gonna be fun getting into that book. I hope you benefited from this these studies in acts as well. I know I have. Let's finish this by praying together for 1 another.

I'm gonna lead this in prayer. Heavenly father, we, thank you for what we have seen in the book of acts. It had been amazing to see as the gospel has been proclaimed to see people coming to faith in the book of acts. We pray that would be true here as well that as we proclaim the gospel, that more and more would come to Jesus and be forgiven. Although, we're very pleased that you would help us though to be ready when opposition comes.

By the way, thank you that we can be gospel community together to love 1 another, serve 1 another, but help us to be ready and be prepared for when difficulties come. In our own lives or for us as a church that we would see we're not safe to be safe. But we would know that your mission is unstoppable that we would see suffering as a privilege. Help us. Help our children to be ready, to suffer for the sake of Christ, for the sake of the name, know the honor that it is.

Ah, man.