ACTS 4:1-12 PREACH IN THE NAME OF JESUS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 4:1-12 Preach In The Name Of Jesus

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. And we're going to be here in Acts chapter 4 this evening, looking at verses 1 through 12. And so let's take a moment and read through this passage. Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 12. Here's what it says, starting in verse 1.

Verse 4. Verse 4.

Verse 7.

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 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

Verse 11. Verse 12.

Here in Acts chapter 4, we're jumping into really the middle of an account of something that has been going on that started in Acts chapter 3, which is what we looked at last week. In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John were on the way to the temple.

And as they're on the way to the temple, they passed by this guy who has been lame from his mother's womb. He's over 40 years old. And every day he's brought to the temple and laid there by the temple gate. And he begs for some kind of gift, some kind of alms. And that's how he makes his living because he had no other way of supporting himself.

And so Peter and John have probably passed by him many times. We even talked about last week, Jesus probably passed by him many times because it was the main gate of the temple. But at this time, God decided, you know, I want to heal this guy. And so Peter and John are walking by and the guy asked them for alms and Peter senses what the Lord is doing and he pays attention to him. He makes eye contact with him and says, you know, I don't have silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you.

And he says, in the name of Jesus, rise up and walk. And the guy is miraculously healed instantly that moment. And he's able to get up and walk. And it says that he goes into the temple walking and leaping and praising God.

And it causes quite a stir, as you could imagine, as there's all kinds of people in the temple, they're coming together for the time of prayer. Here's this guy shouting and screaming and jumping and hooping and hollering. And so people are paying attention and they're starting to recognize, hey, we see this guy every day when we come to the temple. He's the lame guy that's outside, but now he's walking. And how has this happened?

And so the people gather around Peter and John to find out what is going on and how did you guys do this?

They're celebrating this miracle that has taken place. And as Peter has this opportunity now, this crowd has gathered, he begins to preach to them about Jesus. And he gives them the gospel message and he tells them about the name of Jesus. And there's power in the name of Jesus for healing as well as for salvation because Jesus, of course, is God who became man and died upon the cross for us.

Well, that's the backdrop. That's what's happening in Acts chapter 3 as we now walk into Acts chapter 4, and now the religious leaders get involved, and they're not happy about this situation. As we look at Acts chapter 4 verses 1 through 12 this evening, I've titled the message, Preach in the Name of Jesus.

Last week, we saw there's power in the name of Jesus. And so because there's power in the name of Jesus, we are now encouraged to preach in the name of Jesus. And that's what we see take place here in Acts chapter 4. Now, as we talk about preaching in the name of Jesus, I thought about changing the title a bit. And instead of using preach, use something else. Because I

I think we often get this idea in our heads that, you know, preaching is for preachers. And so the preachers preach and other people don't have to preach because that's the preacher's job. But the reality is, and what I would encourage you in, is that preaching is something that all of us as believers are called to do. It tells us here in verse 2 that the religious leaders were disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

What does that mean to preach? What is Peter doing as he's preaching that in Jesus there is resurrection from the dead? The word preach means to announce or to declare or to proclaim publicly. It's open declaration and it means to make things open and clear.

And so that is what Peter is doing here. Again, it's not just something that Billy Graham and Greg Laurie and, you know, famous preachers are called to do, but this is something that every believer is called to do.

We, of course, often refer back to the Great Commission of Matthew chapter 28, where Jesus called us as disciples to go and to make more disciples and baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit, and teach them all the things that Jesus commanded us. It's our commission for us as followers of Jesus. We all have this call, this commission to preach, to announce, to proclaim publicly that in Jesus Christ,

there is the resurrection from the dead and so we are called to preach now peter and john are put on trial

as these leaders try to figure out how this happened. They're trying to understand what's going on and why are you doing this? Why are you saying this? How did this miracle take place? And so as we see them as really an example for us, that's what we're called to do. As we do the things that God has called us to do, as we take steps of faith, as we attend church on Sundays or Wednesdays,

God calls us to proclaim why we do what we do and how we do what we do and to testify that it's done in the name of Jesus. And so I want to encourage you this evening to preach in the name of Jesus as we look at the example of Peter and John here in Acts chapter 4. There's four points that we'll walk through in this passage, beginning in verses 1 through 4 with point number 1, and that is preach resurrection in Jesus.

One of the things that God has called us to boldly, openly declare and proclaim is that, number one, Jesus resurrected from the dead, but then also those who believe in him will be resurrected like he was. That there is this promise of resurrection to all of Jesus's followers in the same way that Jesus resurrected. Let's look again at verse one and two. It says, now as they spoke to the people,

So as this crowd is gathered and Peter's, you know, preaching the gospel to them, there, it looks like, you know, a little bit interrupted. There's a little bit of a disruption as the religious leaders now rush to the scene.

And notice who is gathered together here as they rush to the scene. It tells us it's the priests.

So these were those who were serving in the temple. They were, you know, helping people with their sacrifices. And so they, of course, would be there in the temple area. The captain of the temple, there was actually like a security team. The Levites would be there to make sure things were going smoothly within the temple courtyard and all that area. And so, you know, the police chief is there. And then as well, the Sadducees are there.

And Sadducees was a group of religious leaders. And so they, as religious leaders, were responsible for the Temple Mount. And so as we see these leaders, these Jewish leaders, come to the scene, we could first of all understand this was appropriate. It was not surprising for them to get involved in this. It was appropriate for them to get involved.

In the same way, if after service tonight, someone's out in our parking lot and preaching and shouting things and a crowd gathers, Richard's going to get involved. I'm going to get involved. Rick's going to get involved. We're going to find out, hey, well, what's going on? What are you saying? What's happening? Why is this crowd gathering? It's appropriate for that to take place.

And so these religious leaders are really doing what they're supposed to do and seeking to find out there's a commotion, you know, there's this gathering, what's going on and what is taking place. But the bad part of their response and the part that reveals their heart is found in verse two. It says they're being, they were being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

So first off, it was appropriate for them to respond, to find out what's going on. But then, of course, they have this agenda that is opposite that of what was taught by Christ and by the followers of Christ. And so they are greatly disturbed because specifically it mentions they were teaching and preaching that in Jesus there is a resurrection from the dead.

Now, it's interesting that the Sadducees are specifically mentioned here. There were two main groups of religious leaders there in Jerusalem or in Judah, and that was the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, you might remember during Jesus's ministry, he had a lot of interaction with the Pharisees, and there was a lot of back and forth, and the Pharisees really came against Jesus strongly and

The Sadducees were there as well, and they were often part of those discussions, but they're not specifically mentioned as much as the Pharisees are. But here we see the Sadducees are specifically involved, and part of the reason why they're greatly disturbed in this is because the Sadducees did not believe in resurrection. It's kind of interesting to kind of do a little bit of comparison to what we live with today and what was going on back then.

They had two major groups of leaders within the nation of Israel, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. Now, the Pharisees were, maybe you could label them very conservative leaders.

they believed the Old Testament scriptures and they held fast to them as well as a bunch of other laws and stuff and traditions that they had developed. But they were very strict in keeping and holding to those things. And so they were conservative in that sense. And they believed what the scriptures said.

But then the Sadducees were, maybe you could kind of label them as liberals. They did not believe in the supernatural. They did not believe, they did, you know, say that they believed only the first five books of the Bible, you know, the Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. They said that they believed that. They discounted all the rest of all prophecies and

spiritual things, like they discounted all of that. And so they had very loose interpretation. They didn't believe a lot of the things that the scripture talked about and said. And so there was these two groups that were predominant in the nation of Israel in this time.

And it's, again, similar to our time. And so here's this group, and they're the ones in power right now. The high priest at this time is a Sadducee. And so he does not believe in the resurrection. And so this is an important point for them. This is something that they're wanting to defend. And so they come against this situation. Now, you might remember in Matthew 22,

The Sadducees did approach Jesus, and they came up with this story about, well, there was these seven brothers. And the first brother married this woman, and he died without having kids. And Moses' law said that then the next brother is supposed to marry her. And

try to raise up a child in the dead brother's name. And so the second brother married her, but he died and they didn't have kids. So then the third brother married her, and then on and on until the seventh brother. And so now in the resurrection, which they don't believe in, but in this supposed resurrection, whose wife is she going to be? And they thought, we've trapped him. We've shown how ridiculous the whole idea of resurrection is.

But Jesus corrects them pretty clearly and says, you're mistaken because you don't know the power of God and you don't know the scriptures. And so the reality of the resurrection is clearly taught in the scriptures, but these guys flat out denied it. And so as they hear Peter preaching resurrection in the name of Jesus,

They are upset. They're greatly disturbed, it says here in verse 2. And so they rush in to disrupt the situation and take charge of what's going on. It was a big deal for them.

this idea of resurrection. We'll see later on in Acts chapter 23. Remember when Paul the apostle is on trial and the Jews are accusing him before the Roman officials. And Paul's there on trial and they're getting nowhere. And Paul realizes there's Pharisees and Sadducees in this panel that's accusing me. And so he shouts out concerning the hope and resurrection of the dead, I'm being judged, Paul says.

And it caused such a dissension. It tells us in Acts chapter 23, verse 7, it says, when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. And the dissension was so sharp, it was so intense, that actually the Roman soldiers had to come in and get Paul because they were afraid that he'd be torn apart by them.

And so that kind of gives you a little picture of how seriously they took this. No way are you going to be teaching about resurrection. No way. We're not going to allow this. We're not going to keep it. It was a serious issue to them. And so when it says they're greatly disturbed, it's not exaggerating. This is something that was very serious and offensive to them. They rejected the idea of resurrection and specifically the resurrection in the name of Jesus.

And so because it disturbed them so much, they put a stop to it. Verse 3 says, And so they take them into custody. They're going to hold them overnight and put them on trial in the morning. They put a stop to it. But it's interesting. I like how Luke goes on into verse 4 to show they tried to put a stop to it, but they really could not stop the work. Verse 4 tells us,

Many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. It was just a couple chapters ago, back in chapter 2, the day of Pentecost, when the church kind of officially began, as the Holy Spirit is poured out upon them, and Peter preaches that 3,000 people were saved. Well, by this time, it says they've come now to be about 5,000. So in this time where Peter is preaching to the

The multitude that's there at the temple, we don't know how many specifically responded there, but now there's 2,000 more been added since Acts chapter 2. And so a great number of people have received the gospel and believed in Jesus. And so even though they try to stop the work, the work continues. And people believe in Jesus and are saved, and the church is growing. And so as we begin talking about preaching in Jesus' name,

We see the importance of preaching resurrection in Jesus. Now, the resurrection is, of course, a central part of the gospel message. And I said it a couple times over the past few weeks that

we kind of need to be careful as believers that we don't preach a message of morality, you know, that we just need to be good people. We need to like stop sinning. We need to, you know, stop doing bad things. And sometimes we can get caught up in that and it's a little bit more of a gentler message. And, you know, maybe sometimes people would be greatly disturbed about the gospel and it's tempting for us to bring, you know, kind of a lesser, a more gentler form. And again, I'm not saying that

We're supposed to offend people on purpose or, you know, abuse them or anything. But just that we need to be true to what the gospel message is. As you look through the book of Acts, one of the things that really stands out to me is that whenever there's a record of an evangelistic message going forth, when there's preaching involved, there's always...

Reference to the resurrection of Jesus. Let me just walk you through some examples of that. In Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost, when the crowd gathers together to see what's the roar about, what's this noise that's going on, Peter explains to them that the people aren't drunk, that they're not, you know, just, you know,

Taken over by alcohol and just acting crazy, but it's a work of the Holy Spirit. And then he goes on to give them the gospel. He quotes a couple passages and talks about the resurrection of Jesus. And so in verse 31, he says that David, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses."

And so on the day of Pentecost, Peter spent a good chunk of his message, a good chunk of what he was saying was regarding specifically the resurrection of Jesus, that Jesus died and rose from the dead. It's an important part of the gospel message as far as Peter is concerned.

In Acts chapter 3, as we saw last week, Peter gives the gospel to the crowd that gathers after the man is healed. And he tells them in verse 14, you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of Life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses.

And so he declares God raised Jesus from the dead, but he also presents himself and the other disciples, you know, as witnesses to say, we testify of this. It's not just, you know, some rumor that happened, but we're eyewitnesses. We saw that Jesus has been risen from the dead.

In Acts chapter 5, as Peter is preaching to the Jewish leaders again when he's on trial later on, he talks about the God of our fathers raising up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Then in Acts chapter 10, as Peter is preaching to Cornelius' household, the first Gentiles to receive the gospel and the Holy Spirit, he's talking about Jesus and they're familiar with Jesus and he says...

And so Peter here is preaching to the household of Cornelius, and he talks about Jesus, and he says, Jesus resurrected from the dead. It's immediately after that. While he's speaking, it says, that

that they receive the Holy Spirit. They're believing the words that Peter is sharing. They're believing the truth about Jesus and that he was resurrected from the dead. And it's then that they receive the Holy Spirit and they're born again and are saved. Now in Acts chapter 13, we shift over to the apostle Paul.

The Apostle Paul in his first missionary journey in Acts chapter 13, the church of Antioch sends him out and him and Barnabas, they go to the island of Cyprus. And as they're making their way across the island, they're preaching the gospel. And what are they preaching? Well, verse 30 specifically says, God raised him from the dead. They put him to death. They laid him in the tomb, but then God raised him from the dead.

From the very beginning of Paul's missionary journeys, this was an essential message of the gospel as part of what they preached. In Acts chapter 17, as Paul was preaching to that group of philosophers and thinkers over in Athens, he said,

Again, there he talks about the resurrection from the dead and talks about how the Lord proved that this is the one to come to for salvation. He proved that by raising Jesus from the dead.

The one you're going to stand before, the one who's going to judge all things, he's the one that God raised from the dead. Paul is making the point there in Acts chapter 17. And then finally in Acts chapter 26, when Paul stands before Agrippa, he's on trial. He's appealed to Caesar. They don't have any real charges to give before him. And so Felix brings in Agrippa and says, you know, can you hear him out and maybe try to give me some ideas on what I can, you know, send with him to Caesar? And

And so Paul is encouraged, invited to speak for himself and to give a defense for what's going on. And so he preaches the gospel. He shares his testimony and he declares the Christ would suffer, that he would be the first to rise from the dead and would proclaim light to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles. He says, this has been fulfilled. The scriptures declared this and it took place. Jesus has risen from the dead.

And it's interesting, again, Paul makes the point there, Jesus is the first of the resurrection. Not only did Jesus resurrect from the dead, but the promise for those who believe in Jesus is that as a believer in Jesus, you also will experience that resurrection. All who believe in him will also be resurrected. It's a central point here.

to the gospel message and to the message that was brought forth over and over and over again throughout the book of Acts. And now as we continue on the book of Acts today, as we continue on the ministry of Jesus Christ, it needs to be a central point. It needs to be central to the things that we share. It needs to be an important part of our message to the world around us. There's resurrection in Jesus Christ. He rose from the dead, but the promise is,

is also for those who believe in him. They will be resurrected from the dead. Now, the timing of this is interesting because again, we're preparing to celebrate Easter, the day that Jesus resurrected from the dead. And I would suggest to you that we need to be in prayer and we need to be, as we'll see in the next point, filled with the Holy Spirit because I believe God wants to give us some opportunities to preach resurrection in Jesus's name.

As the world around us, you know, it's a holiday. We all know it. Everybody celebrates it. It's a good opportunity. It's possibly an open door for us to preach the gospel and specifically to talk about, to declare openly and publicly Jesus resurrected from the dead and those who believe in him will also be resurrected. Well, back now in Acts chapter four, continuing on in verses five through eight, we have point number two, and that is,

We are to preach filled with the Spirit. Let's look at 5 and 6 again. It says,

So it was the people who were locally there on the temple who immediately responded as Peter was preaching to the crowd. But now he's been taken into custody. He's been held overnight. And now in the morning, there is an official gathering of the Jewish leaders. And you can see that in verse 5, it says, the rulers, the elders, and the scribes were gathered together, as well as the high priest and his whole family. This is...

the group that would be collectively referred to as the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin was the Jewish, they were the Jewish lawmakers, they were the Jewish court. It would be kind of like the Jewish version of our Supreme Court as well as Congress. And so they were kind of a combination of both. They were the lawmakers, but also they were the court that would decide on the difficult cases.

And so this was a very official gathering. The Sanhedrin are gathered together here first thing in the morning. And now Peter and John are going to be called in to testify before them. In verse 7, it says, Now, as I mentioned before, the response on the Temple Mount was partly appropriate. They needed to find out what was going on. What's this commotion? What's this crowd? And so they were called in.

And again, here, as they ask Peter and John, what is going on here? What is the name or the authority that you have to do this? It really is an appropriate question.

someone comes in working miracles, it's appropriate to say, okay, what's the message? What are you about? What's really going on? Because we've seen and we've been told in the scriptures that there are false teachers and false prophets. There will be false teachers and false prophets and there will be deceiving signs and wonders. And so just because there are miracles taking place does not mean that it's of God. We have to check the message first.

And so that's what they're doing. Now, again, we know what goes on from here. We know that they're actually, their hearts are not right in it and they reject the message, but it is appropriate that they ask the question. And so it's not immediately wrong that they would have this meeting or ask these questions. But the problem starts as they discover the facts and they reject the truth that's found in Jesus Christ. But it's appropriate for them to say,

Hey, you need to give an account. What's the message? What's the authority that has been given to you? By what power or by what name have you done this? Well, then in verse 8, it says, And then he's going to go on now and to give his account and to boldly proclaim the gospel message.

Peter here is demonstrating great boldness in his response to the Sanhedrin. I don't know if I want to ask for a show of hands or not, probably not. But have you ever had to testify in court? Have you ever had to stand before a judge? Now, I have. And I remember that. And it was, you know, probably one of the scariest moments of my life.

Now, if you don't know the story that well, it was many years ago. OK, it wasn't yesterday. And it was all about traffic stuff. I had outstanding tickets and failures to appear and warrants for my arrest because of the failures to appear and driving without insurance and without registration and all that stuff. I just, a mess. And so finally, at some point, you got to face the music. And so I had to go in and stand before a judge.

And I remember just being freaked out because the guy before me got hauled off in shackles. And when the bailiff guy pulled the handcuffs, it was like cuffs with the long chain. And it was like you could hear it pulling you out of the desk. Cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling, cling. And I was like, you never know when you're in that situation. You don't know when you're next. It's just like they call you and then you go up. But I'm there freaked out. This guy totally just went to jail right in front of me. And then all right.

Gerald Simmons versus the people or whatever, however they say it. And I'm like, oh, no, now it's my turn. And now this judge was really irritated with that guy before him. I'm like, man, he put him in a bad mood. And he's like angry. And now I got to go stand before him. And I was really young. I was probably 21, 22, something like that. And man, I was so scared. I couldn't talk.

I mumble, aside from when I'm teaching. In normal life, I mumble. But even then, I was even more like... And I'm sure I made no sense whatsoever. I remember the judge asking me, are you going to represent yourself? And for the life of me, I could not come up with an answer. I just stood there and it was like...

I was in a great panic because I felt like anything I say, I mean, I could just sentence myself. I could be the next guy in shackles, you know, being hauled off because of all these traffic violations. Scariest question I've ever been asked. Are you going to represent yourself? Seriously, I've never been asked a more scary question. I mean, I was freaked out. Here's Peter.

standing before the Sanhedrin. This is the same group that tried Jesus and then crucified him. He should be completely freaked out. He should be mumbling and stumbling over his words and can't think straight. I mean, he should be incredibly intimidated. But as we go on to see, he's not. He gives a challenge to them. He gives a clear presentation of the gospel, clear accusation, you guys put Jesus to death. And he gives a clear

He's bold. How could he have such great boldness? Well, notice again in verse 8, it says, Here's the key to Peter's boldness.

It wasn't just-- some people are bold for no reason. They have no reason to be bold. And some people could stand before a judge, like I stood before the judge, and just lie boldly or just fight boldly without any real truth or merit behind it. But that's not what Peter was doing. Peter, who previously was scared when a little girl asked him, aren't you one of Jesus's disciples? Peter, at this time, standing before the courts, is bold.

And he's able to clearly articulate the gospel message because he's filled with the Holy Spirit. And we've been talking about the...

the importance of being filled with the Holy Spirit as we've been in the book of Acts, because it really is the work of the Holy Spirit in the church that gives the church power. It's what gives the people of God power to be a witness to Jesus. And you see clearly here, Peter is empowered by the Holy Spirit to be a witness to Jesus. He is preaching and he's filled with the Holy Spirit. And so he has boldness and clarity. And it says, Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them,

And so what he's about to say is directly connected to the fact that he is filled with the Holy Spirit. Let me ask you this. How much of what you say can be connected to the fact that you are filled with the Holy Spirit? If I'm telling the story of your day, how much of it can be said, and Rick said this because he was filled with the Holy Spirit.

And Pule said this, being filled with the Holy Spirit. How much of what we say, how much of our conversations can be directly connected to and say, this was because you were filled with the Holy Spirit. This is something that you and I need to consider. As believers in Jesus Christ, we will never be effective in our call and our commission to be preaching, will never be effective unless we are filled with

with the Holy Spirit. And being filled with the Holy Spirit is not a one-time type of thing. It happened for the first time at the day of Pentecost. But you see throughout the book of Acts, including here in chapter 4, the disciples and the church were filled with the Holy Spirit repeatedly. We'll see again later in Acts chapter 4 next week as we continue on in the passage. The church is filled with the Holy Spirit once again. We have the command of

of the Lord in Ephesians chapter 5, to be not drunk with wine, but to be filled with the Spirit. And the command is given in such a way that it means to be continually being filled with the Holy Spirit. It's an ongoing thing. So Dave Guzik appropriately asks, are you baptized in the Holy Spirit? A lot of times we might ask, you know, have you been baptized in the Holy Spirit? Or have you been filled with the Holy Spirit?

And probably for most of us, we could say, yes, I have been. But what about right now? As you walked into service this evening, did you do so filled with the Holy Spirit? Are you right now, currently, presently, ongoing, continually, always filled with the Holy Spirit? And that's especially important as we are attempting to do the work that God has set before us.

I have a quote that I'd like to walk you through. It's a little bit of a longer quote than I'm used to sharing, so bear with it just a bit. But it's by a man named Ironside, H.A. Ironside, great commentator, great biblical scholar. And he had this comment to say about being filled with the Holy Spirit. He says, some people have an idea that being filled with the Holy Ghost is a unique experience that comes from going to the mourner's bench and praying for a long time.

until suddenly an overwhelming sensation overcomes them. He says, that is just an emotional experience. It's just an emotional experience, he says. He says, we get this idea in our head. In order to be filled with the Holy Spirit...

He calls it the mourner's bench. Now, of course, you can kind of tell this guy's a little bit old school, right? So not necessarily from 2015 or 2016, you know, speaking these things. But he's saying, look, people, Christians, they get this idea like you have to go to a prayer meeting. You have to spend this time alone and just keep on praying and keep on waiting and keep on praying until you get this like rush over you or, you know, you get this sensation and you get this experience and you go, oh, right now I'm filled with the Holy Spirit.

And he just kind of summarizes all that to say, that's just an emotional experience. That's not necessarily connected to being filled with the Holy Spirit. But then he goes on to say this. It is when people walk in obedience to the word of God, when they do the thing the Lord tells them to do, that he fills them with his spirit and gives them power to carry on in accordance with his commandment.

So he says, look, you want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. It's not about being alone in a closet and praying until you get the sensation. It's about putting into practice the things that God tells you to do. If you want to experience the power of God, then obey the commands of God. If you want to experience the power of God, then do the work of God, in other words. And when people do the work of God, I like what he says, when they do the thing the Lord tells them to do,

If you want to experience the power of God in your life, do the things that the Lord tells you to do. And you'll find his power working in you. Now, we ask and we invite the Holy Spirit to fill us. And then we do what we're commanded to do. So many times as believers, we kind of wait for the Holy Spirit take over. You know, it's like, take me out of the equation. I'm just going to sit here and pray, Lord, you know, you do what you want to do. But I'm not personally actually engaging in the work.

I'm just waiting for, you know, some kind of like Holy Spirit possession. You know, it's like, I don't know what I'm doing and I don't want to do it, but here's the Holy Spirit like making my body move and making my mouth talk. And we kind of wait for it. It's like, okay, God, you know, you just take over and I don't have to be involved. But that's not the way that the filling of the Holy Spirit works. The Holy Spirit fills us and empowers us as we do the things that the Lord calls us to do.

And that can be a real problem for us when it comes to the idea of being filled with the Holy Spirit. I like what Dave Guzik says. He says, we spend our entire lives trying to avoid situations where we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Think about that. We spend our entire lives trying to avoid situations where we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

We know where we're uncomfortable. We know where we lack. We know where we're not strong. And so we spend our entire lives, he says, trying to avoid those situations. We try not to put ourselves in a situation where we have to rely upon God and have to rely upon the Holy Spirit. And Dave Guzik went on to say, get yourself in trouble for Jesus. Now, don't just go stir up trouble and get in trouble, but for Jesus alone.

Be a witness for Jesus. Put yourself in a situation where you have to rely upon the Holy Spirit for answers to questions about the Lord. Put yourself in a situation where you have to rely upon the Holy Spirit to give comfort to those who need comfort that would be from the Lord for them. Put yourself in situations where you have to rely upon God and be empowered by God so that you can do the work of God in ministering to the people around you. That's the idea.

And that's what Peter is doing here. This wasn't his comfort zone, but he's filled with the Holy Spirit. And so he's enabled by God as he depends upon the power of God. He's able to bring forth the gospel and preach resurrection in the name of Jesus with great clarity. And so again, as we consider the timing, as we continue to prepare for our Easter services, let me encourage you. Let's be filled with the Spirit.

and boldly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus. And I would encourage you to put yourself in a situation where you need the power of the Holy Spirit to work through you, to give you the words to speak, to give you the ability to minister, to give you the opportunity to share the gospel. Let's be filled with the Holy Spirit and boldly proclaim the resurrection of Jesus this year. Moving on to point number three, now found in verse nine and 10.

We are to preach the gospel. Verse 9 says, So here's Peter's bold response saying,

filled with the Holy Spirit, empowered. He's got great boldness. And here's his response. Now, it's interesting. As you look at his response, it's pretty short. Being filled with the Holy Spirit doesn't mean that you talk for hours. He is able concisely and clearly to be able to present the gospel to the Sanhedrin. But I like what Peter does here. First thing he does is he calls to attention the reality, this is a dumb trial. This is

He says in verse 9, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? If we're on trial for this lame guy now being able to walk, he's calling to attention, this is kind of a ridiculous trial. It's kind of a silly thing to be on trial for doing a great work. And as Peter is highlighting this, you can see that Peter, he's not intimidated. He's showing them this is not, this doesn't make sense.

It doesn't make sense for there to be antagonism against the work of God in this way. But then he goes on to clearly articulate the gospel in verse 10. He says, let it be known to you all. Again, he's boldly clear. He's speaking directly to them. Let it be known to you and for all the people of Israel. He's making a bold and public declaration that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

And notice what he says, whom you crucified. So he's talking about the gospel, but he's also putting them directly responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus. But then God raised him from the dead and it's by his name that this man stands before you whole. By the name of Jesus. We talked about it last week. There's power in the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus is not just, you know, a name that we attach, you know, kind of you could just replace abracadabra with the name of Jesus and then things magically happen. But the name of Jesus, it represents the identity, the will, the purposes, the plans of Jesus. And so when we pray in Jesus' name, we're saying we're lifting up these requests because, well, these are the requests of Jesus.

When Peter said, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk, he was saying, I'm an agent of Jesus. I'm representing Jesus. And if Jesus was right here, here's what he would say to you. Rise up and walk. That's what the name of Jesus is all about. And that's how they understood the whole idea of a name. It wasn't just your identification as opposed to the person next to you. It was the authority. It was the character. It was the nature of a person.

and so he says it's by the name of jesus this was jesus's will it was his power it was his authority that accomplished this peter says you want to know what name or what power i've done this with i'll tell you again great boldness here he proclaims it's the name of jesus christ now as peter says jesus christ is the name that we are operating under

The word Christ is not the last name of Jesus, but it's the word that means in Hebrew Messiah. It's translated from Hebrew Messiah, which means Savior. Here's what Peter is saying. Jesus, Savior. The promised Savior that God's been promising throughout the whole Old Testament, all throughout the scriptures, he's been promising that Messiah, that Savior, it's in the name of that Savior, Jesus from Nazareth.

highlighting specifically. So it's real clear. There's no confusion. There were other people named Jesus, but no, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the promised savior. The one, remember you guys put him on trial a while back. You remember that? He says that Jesus, God raised him from the dead. And it's by his name that this man has been made whole. Peter is able to bring great clarity to this message and let them know that Jesus Christ, the savior, crucified,

But God raised him from the dead, authenticating his claims to be that promised Savior, proving once and for all that he really is the promised Savior. And there's power in his name. You know, there's amazing simplicity to the gospel message. Peter clearly states the gospel here in one sentence, in one verse, verse 10. He clearly declares the gospel.

This isn't unique to Peter. The apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 clearly delivers the gospel message. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose again the third day. This is what the word of God said and this is what actually took place that Jesus died, he was buried, and he rose again. There's a great simplicity to the gospel message.

It's not some elaborate scheme or system that you have to figure out and memorize. Every one of us is capable of preaching the gospel because it's one sentence. It's the truth of what happened with Jesus. He died for our sins and he rose again the third day. Now, at the same time, of course, there's unsearchable depths to the gospel as well. And we kind of delved into that a little bit last year as we went through the book of Romans on Wednesday nights.

And Paul unpacked and just like, man, there's layer after layer. There's great depth to the gospel message, but it can also be articulated and clearly stated in one sentence. And so as we talk about preaching in the name of Jesus, we need to be preaching the gospel, being filled with the Holy Spirit to have boldness and clarity, not being ashamed of the gospel, as Paul said in Romans 16, because it's the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes in

We need to be stirred up again, to be encouraged, to preach the gospel, to be very familiar. And it's not very difficult to be that familiar with the gospel because it's simple. It's a simple message. It came at great cost, but it's a simple message. And we'll see that even further here in verse 11 and 12 for point number four. And that is preach that Jesus is the only way.

I missed a the in that point, I apologize. Preach that Jesus is the only way. In verse 11, it says, 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. Here in verse 11, Peter quotes from Psalm 118, verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone.

It's a verse that Jesus also quoted in his ministry, talking about the rejection of Jesus by the religious leaders, but that Jesus is the chief cornerstone. He is the most important person, the most important part of God's plan. Now, the Jews in those days were very familiar with this legend, and we don't know if it was actually true or not, but they knew the story. They knew the legend of when they were building Solomon's temple, they would not

fashion the stones on the temple mount they would fashion them in the quarry and they would cut them all the right shape and size and everything and then they would send them up as finished product and they would just have to set them in place

And so the legend was, the story went that while they're building the temple, they're getting the stones, they're putting them in place, and then they get this one stone from the quarry that doesn't seem to fit. They can't figure out where it goes. It doesn't seem to fit anywhere. And so they figure, well, it must be a mistake, and they cast it over the cliff. And so it just rolls down the hill, and they forget about it, and it took them several years to build the temple, so they keep on building it.

But then it came time for them to put what's called the capstone or the cornerstone, the final piece, the most important piece that kind of held everything together. And they didn't have the stone. They sent down to the quarry and said, hey, where's this stone? We need this stone. And they said, oh, well, we sent that to you years ago.

And we're like, no, we don't have this stone. And then someone remembered, oh, there was that stone that we rejected and we threw it over the cliff. And then they had to go down and bring it back up. And they realized the one that we rejected was actually the most important one. And Jesus said that of himself. And now Peter says the same thing to the Jewish leaders. You rejected Jesus, but he's actually the most important part of God's plan. He goes on in verse 12 to say, and there's

not salvation in any other. He's the most important part of God's plan, and he is the only plan of God for salvation. There's no other name. There's no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. No other opportunity for salvation. No other opportunity for forgiveness. No other opportunity for eternity with God.

And of course, the world around us says that's narrow, that's limited. And we would agree, yes, Jesus himself proclaimed this. In John 14, 6, he says, I am the way, not one of many ways. I am the way, the truth, the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. There's only one way of salvation. And when we preach, we need to preach that Jesus is the only way. And I know that's scorn, that's looked down upon, but also you need to understand there's a simplicity that comes from this.

There's a simplicity in the reality that Jesus is the only way. It's one of the things I love about going to In-N-Out. There's a simplicity. The only decision you have to make is how many patties do you want on your burger and do you want cheese? There's not, you know, but you go to, you know, BJ's or the Cheesecake Factory, you know, and there's like page after page after page after page. Takes you 45 minutes just to figure out what's on the menu and then you got to decide what you want.

That's what it would be like if there was not one way of salvation. Do you understand that? You're probably preparing for, if you haven't done already, doing your taxes, right? Imagine if salvation was similar to tax law in the U.S. I gave this illustration a while back. This is a little bit of a flow chart of deciding whether or not to use a particular form, whether it's the short form or the long form, for one aspect of the taxes that I have to file as a pastor.

So this is unique to, you know, pastors and clergy. But there's all these, you know, well, if this, then that, and if this, then that, and if this, then that, but not that. And then you go over here and you go back over there. And then it's all deciding which form you should use. It's not even having to do with, you know, the amounts or what the tax is yet. It's just, it's insanely complicated. And that's what salvation would be like if there was not Jesus saying, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

Can you imagine if there was many ways of salvation? Now, if everybody's saved automatically, no matter what you believe, that's not just. There's a lot of problems with that. And although some people like to believe that, but it doesn't measure up with who God is. It doesn't fit. All religions don't, you know, say the same thing. We don't all worship the same God. That's completely wrong. So if you say, okay, well, there is, you know, not every way, but there is some ways that

Well, then how do you discern what are the some ways? And how do you discern what are the right ways and what are the wrong ways? And it will very quickly look like this. And now your eternity is going to be based on, did you analyze this chart correctly? That is complex. There's no certainty. No, with the gospel, with the message that we preach, there's great simplicity. There's great clarity. You can know that you have salvation, that you have forgiveness, that you have everlasting life.

Because it's only found in one place. The opportunity is for everyone, but it's only found in one place, and that is in the name of Jesus. And so as we preach in the name of Jesus, we need to preach that Jesus is the only way. And so I want to encourage you, be filled with the Holy Spirit. Preach resurrection in Jesus' name. Preach the gospel message and preach that Jesus is the only way. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, I pray for each one of us this evening. Lord, I do pray that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us. Lord, that you would fill us completely to overflowing. Lord, that we might go forward and do the work that you've set before us to obey the commands that you've given to us. Lord, for our personal lives and living out

the life that you've called us to live, to be the man and woman of God that you've called us to be. Lord, help us and empower us to do that. But Lord, I pray also especially that you would empower us and enable us and give us opportunity to openly declare who you are, what you've done, and to give people an opportunity to have salvation in your name. I pray, Lord, that you would open doors for us this week.

And Lord, the next week and a half or so as we prepare for Easter, Lord, open up many doors, I pray. Give us opportunity to talk about, to declare, to let it be made known. And Lord, people will respond according to where they're at with you, and that's between them and you. But our responsibility, our commission, is to make it known. And so God, fill us, empower us, and give us a chance to do that, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

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