The Crossroads of Faith - Ben Stuart

Well, one of my daughters turned 13 yesterday. Yep, so we now have two teenage girls in the home. And we celebrated by playing laser tag. And I won't tell you all the details, but I will say that we, our team, primarily of middle school girls, dominated the fifth grade boys' birthday party. Crushed them, yeah. And part of it was because we challenged them for the high ground, so we were able to win. But probably most importantly, it's because we had superior numbers. Because my daughter Sparrow is an inviter. And so when we asked her about her birthday party, what she wanted to do, she said, I want to invite everybody in my grade. And she did. And so we had superior numbers, and we're thus victorious. But I mention it because that spirit, that inviting spirit, is also a hallmark of the early church. That God is on the move in the midst of us, and we want to invite you to join the party, making space for everyone. That's where we are. You can illustrate it this way. As we think about the Book of Acts that Luke wrote, it's kind of like this.

This is a Hoberman sphere. Some of you know this. Very popular children's toy in the 90s. Now, interestingly, used for a lot of breathing techniques. Have you noticed that? Online, people are like, breathe in and out, and something about it helps you calm down. I don't know. I haven't tried. It was made in the 80s by Chuck. Chuck Hoberman. And it was sort of an architectural marvel based on origami, that you could have a structure that could expand and contract, and yet hold its shape. And it was used, actually, in the Olympics in Salt Lake City. They liked the imagery of it sort of expanded, and all the nations were able to come into it. It was a huge one. And then it kind of collapsed as they all became one. And I mention this because it's a good picture of how Luke has been writing the story of the early church. That you see all through these early chapters of Acts, you see the church expend its energy outward to draw in more people. And then the very next chapter, there's sort of this condensing inward to focus on the culture of the team. And then they turn around and expands outward as they reach out to more people.

And then a return to the core of what makes us us as we focus on our core values. And you see through this early part of the book of Acts, there's this constant movement of internal culture and outward expansion. Of an inward focus on who we are and an outward focus on drawing more people in. See, some of you are getting calm now, even as I just kind of go in and out. Anyway, but that's the idea, right? Another way to think about the book of Acts is it's written a little bit like the locker room in the arena. That we get the privilege of sort of getting into the locker room of this team and watching how they talk to each other. What kind of culture the first believers in Jesus had. And then we watch them enter the arena as they go and fulfill the mission Jesus gave them to make disciples of all nations. Last week was the locker room. It was focused on how the church talks to each other. And really it was focusing on the idea then that everybody should pitch in. It's something that many of you know, especially if you're like a realtor or ever bought a house. It's all talk until you put some money where your mouth is, right? That money lets us see where your values really are. And you saw in the early church, they got to a point that said,

hey, if we're serious about this mission, everybody should contribute and pitch in. And you see people give generously to the mission of Jesus. And then you see other people try to use money to sort of advance their own fame and influence. And in these early days, if they want to distort the culture, the mission of Jesus for their purposes, God kills them. It's a pretty serious moment in the life of the church. And that's kind of where it ends. You want to be like generous Barnabas. You don't want to be like Ananias, right? And yet, as soon as it does that, that God says, hey, we should all pitch in and we're not going to bend this thing towards selfishness. God doesn't like people who use, to use his work for their own benefit and glory. But now we're back on the streets and we're going to see after we focused on the inward culture, we're back into a section about expansion. Now I know if you've been an astute follower of the series, maybe as I was reading this text, you thought, Ben, the beats of this episode sound familiar. A miracle in the temple, miracles in the temple, preaching,

they get arrested on trial before the leadership, say we must serve God rather than men, and then they let them go. That sounds exactly like the chapter four that you preached three weeks ago. And you're right. There are multiple overlaps on those passages, healing the people responding, an arrest in prison, and a courtroom confrontation. And so many of you may think, Ben, you've already preached this sermon. How embarrassing for you. Or you might think, Ben, is Luke out of ideas? We're only five chapters in and we're just going to repeat stuff. This is going to be a very long series. Well, don't worry. Be encouraged. This is not simply repetition. Carefully at it, you'll notice it's not just a repetition. It's intensification. It's actually something you see in the ministry of Jesus. There's kind of similar materials. They're healing preaching opposition and expansion. And then as you see a move again, there's more healing more teaching more opposition more expansion that you see. It's not just a repetition of themes. It's an intensification of them a building of pressure that

needs a release an increasing of the stakes as this ministry has momentum and you see it here. A way to understand it would be to think of it like dating in dating. There is a repetition of familiar elements. You're talking to somebody flirting a little bit communicating you text you call you go to coffee you go to dinner and then for some amount of time. There's more texts and more calls and more coffee and more dinner and more texts and more calls and more coffee and more dinner and yet it's not meant to go just over and over in this loop forever as you do those things. There's an intensification of building up of internal pressure a little bit at first but as there's more coffee and more dinners somehow it begins to rise. Hey the question of where's all this going? What are we doing here? There's a tension that needs resolved and at some point it leads you to the crossroads of decision. Are we going to produce a ring or do you need to get out of the way so I can move on fish or cut bait? You don't have to decide on date one, but at some point this repetitions and intensification that requires a decision, right? That's the idea. Does that make sense? Y'all just got so quiet on the dating part. What's key about this text as it compares to chapter 4 is to see the similarities and differences together in chapter 4.

It was Peter and John the two lead Apostles who were arrested now. It's all 12 thrown in prison last one. Their arrest was more of an inquiry. What's going on is there's this disturbance in the temple now. It's hey, you disobeyed us and last time they were let off with a warning. Now they get a beating and the death penalty is discussed right last time. They were released by the leadership this time. The leadership wants to murder them and divine intervention is required to set them free last time. The gospel was spreading in Jerusalem. Now you see towns and villages bringing people in there's this intensification that leads to decision because at the center of all of this what's at the nucleus of this cell is the person and work of Jesus. What do you do with this man? Who is he to you? It's the pressure that's being put on this passage and it's the question being put in front of all of us, right? This is how the gospel works on you. Spirituality is not static. Faith grows and we're going to see every decision we make is a choice to move towards God and trust. I have faith in you or to move away in fear. I don't trust you. Right? And so this talk is not just about what happened back then

and the steps they took. It's going to be about our next step. What is God calling you to do? So we'll take it a paragraph at a time. And so the first paragraph starts in verse 12. Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's portico and none of the rest dared join them. But the people held them in high esteem and more than ever believers were added to the Lord multitudes of both men and women. So they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by at least a shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits and they were all healed. A couple points now a chapter ago. It was one miracle. Now there are many miracles. It's become the standard and I want you to notice what he calls them. He doesn't say miracles. He calls them signs and wonders. Why call them that that phrase is all over the book of Acts and it's by design. The idea there is it's language that's associated with Moses the major prophetic leader in the Old Testament who was a mouthpiece for God.

You see it in Deuteronomy 34. It said there's has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face none like him for all the signs and wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt. The point that Luke is making explicit is hey by doing these miracles. These men are being presented as prophets like Moses official spokesman for God and you know, they can speak as God's apostles his emissaries because God is affirming and authenticating them to the demonstration of his power through them. That's the interesting thing about the language. It says these signs and wonders were done among the people by the hands of the apostles that word by in Greek is the word dia means through the idea is that not so much that the apostles are doing miracles, but that God does the miracles, but he's doing it through them. And he's doing that because miracles are a way to authenticate the message and the messenger. It's God saying I'm with these guys and the miracles are called signs. Why are they called signs? Because signs point to something or identify something, right? That's what a sign is meant to do is to clarify. So in that sense, we have to clarify. They're not like DC signs, which are often confusing at best. Maybe even contradictory at worst. So some of you may be confused by that language. Signs are meant to clarify and point at something, right? And so these miracles are designed to be a clear sign pointing

at Jesus. God's saying I am throwing my power and energy behind this name. And he's doing it over and over again so that this activity kind of forces a reaction to the crowd. People have to do stuff. And what you see people as they're figuring out what to do with this different groups start to emerge the same kind of groups that are in this room right now, by the way. And what you see in this passage is it's actually gets a little confusing because I don't know if you caught it in the language verse 12 says the Apostles are doing the miracles. And then it says in verse 12, they were all together and then in verse 13, but none of the rest joined them. So they were all but none of the rest. And then the people held them in high esteem and multitudes coming to faith. And so you can get a little lost like, wait, who's the all? Who's the rest? Who's the people? Like, what are we talking about here? Well, there's kind of two major views. And one is that the all is all believers that if we've been looking over the last couple chapters, thousands of people have been putting their faith in Jesus. And so maybe it's hey, all thousand of them were in this temple portico and they're doing all these miracles and the rest are the rest of the people from Jerusalem that respect them, but don't want to get near them. Maybe because they're spooked because a couple of verses ago

Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead. And so they're like much respect for you guys. We're going to keep our distance, right? And yet some of them are crossing the line a multitude saying, hey, I want to go with you guys another view. And I think there's something to this. I actually think it's right. Is that the closest reference for that all is the Apostles and what you have is the Apostles are going every day to the temple and preaching Jesus and doing miracles, right? But it says the rest didn't dare to join them. I think that's possibly the rest of the believers in Jesus. Remember earlier in the text, they would all go to the temple and then they would all meet in homes. But then the last time they were in the temple Peter and John got arrested and maybe some of these believers said, you know what we love the message. But if you want us to do the mission of Jesus that could cost us and so we like to worship in rooms like here, but we don't want to go be a part of the work. I don't want to talk about him out there that might hurt my career goals. And so you have believers say I want to associate with Jesus, but I'm scared of what that might cost me, right? It would be like I remember when I was in seminary. There was a guy in school that told me the story. He said, you know, I'm around guys that are studying Jesus reading books after books about Jesus every single week. And he said I constantly ask guys to go with me to the bus stop to evangelize every Friday.

Let's go and talk about Jesus. And so he asked me and I went with him and I remember writing there. He said, you know for years now, I've been going into our seminary people who study Jesus and saying well, let's go talk about him at the bus stop. And he says you're the first person that ever said, yes, that there's so many that want to study him but don't want to talk about him out on the streets. Turns out I'm a terrible street evangelist, by the way. And so we should all do the work of evangelism, but I stay on my lane. Here we are, right? But the idea is maybe this group didn't want to go out there because it was too risky. Either way, as this movement gains momentum, there's a separation into different groups. There's the committed, the apostles who say I buy into the message and buy into the mission. Let's go. I want my life to count in Jesus name. Then there's the fearful. I believe in Jesus, but I'm scared to obey Jesus because it might cost me and I don't know if I'm willing to pay that cost. There's the investigating, the curious, they're hovering around the apostles. It says the people held them in high esteem. Some of the believers are scared, but as the apostles preach, more and more people are coming and saying, hey, we want to understand this.

We want to see this. What's going on? And you got people like many of you that are here because you're investigating. You wouldn't say I'm committed to Jesus, but you say, but I'm curious about Jesus. And then the last group we haven't met yet that we will shortly are those opposed. I hate this message. And so I hate the messenger. You're going to fall in one of those categories, right? And here we got the first three in paragraph one, a couple more notes on this paragraph. We'll move on number one. I want you to notice that the miracles are a big part about what stirs up interest in the masses. So just a little side point here Church. Let's pray for miracles. Why not? I mean, let's beg God and pay bold prayers that he would heal and restore and do things in our city that are amazing. We're not going to presume that he owes him to us, but he tells us to pray that he would move in power. So let's do it. Let's ask him for it. Right? Let's ask God to move in power. Number two, I want you to notice the church expanded because these people were bringing their most broken and needy friends. Did you notice that?

The people, the believers and nonbelievers, they see God at work, and even if they don't understand it, they're going back home to some of their most broken and hurting friends and you got to be here. I can't make it. Then I will drag your cot there. I don't know if I know what all is happening here, but I know something is and you need to be a part of it. Notice that's how the church grows is because people invited their friends and their loved ones. We did a survey last month. I'll give you more of the survey details later, but I got to tell you this, the number one stat when we asked, how did you get here to the church? 62% of you said a friend or a family member invited me. Every other reason was less than 20%. I found you online. I Googled you. I went to another passion event. Social media was real low. Far and away. How did you land here? It's because one of your friends said, hey, you should come. You should see what God's up to here. So let me challenge you. Who's your plus one that you're praying for? This is how the church has always grown. This is how ours is grown now. And number three, you see, the miracles are pretty fantastic. And we'll talk more about these on the podcast.

We don't have time to go into all this right now. But the miracles God does as he wills. That's the last point I want to make here is that it says here at the end that all were healed. And so it's dangerous. If you take a passage like this out of context and say, okay, so if I trust God that I'm going to get my miracle, I didn't get my miracle. So God's not real. You know, hang on a second. In two chapters, Luke will be very clear that Stephen is a holy man, man of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and he'll get stoned to death, right? Not drugs, like they'll hit him with rocks till he dies. I feel like that wasn't clear. There will be people that get in jail and don't get out. The Apostle Paul, who does wonderful miracles, will be And he'll have to leave some team members sick. And you go, how does Paul, who does miraculous healings, have to leave Trophimus sick at Meletus? Because Paul doesn't get to decide when the power goes out. That's God's prerogative, right? These are not miracles on demand. These are miracles on mission. So does God do miracles? Yes, he does. And we should pray for them. But we're not going to presume on when he does it. Here he's moving in power through his apostles, authenticating the message, and the church is growing.

There's so much more we could say, but I will do it on the further end podcast. And if you have questions, let us know, but let's move on because more miracles, more people, more influence means more opposition. In verse 17, but the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees, and filled with jealousy, they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach this intensification and expansion brings opposition. Why? Because it always does. It always does. And this opposition comes from the Sadducees. Why them? Because they were the party with the most to lose. They were the party that had control of the city council, and they had worked out a compromise with the Roman Empire to have power. And so it was destabilizing to them when they see people who were a threat to their control. They sense a loss of power and they don't like it. They see the movement as a threat. The interesting thing is they don't see the miracles and pause to consider.

Is God really at work? They see a power they can't control and they don't like it. And so notice they do not engage in dialogue or conversation. They just say, I have to shut you down. So they use the power at their disposal. They arrest them. And then the other thing I want you to note is that they put them in public prison. What does that mean? It means it's a prison that's public. That's not where they put them before. The idea was we want to make a show of arresting you. We want to humiliate you in front of other people and thus discredit you. Some of you have felt things like this. Some of you, maybe when you had a newfound faith, you put your faith in Jesus and it started to affect your life, started to change some of your decisions, started to change your optimism, the way you see the world. You're starting to read the scripture and you get excited about it and some people around you find out about it. Some of you have had people that your friends, family. That when they see this isn't just a phase, but has some staying power in your life, they don't like it. And so what do they do? They start to undermine it. They start to say, Yeah, but did you see that preacher on TV? That's a charlatan and steals money. They forward you some articles about cults. They make fun of church, and there's just something about

it. They sense their loss of influence in your life, and they don't like it. And so they seek to undermine and discredit the faith you found. Others of you have felt this kind of energy when you've had some success, whether spiritual success or otherwise. When you're winning, there will always be people who are jealous of your success. And Luke here says these leaders are jealous, right? And the interesting thing is, notice jealous people never come out and say that. You know what I think is happening? I think I'm jealous of your success. Ping some of my insecurity. They never say that. They just attack you, right? And they use pious language to disguise their petty motivations. And so these people, they dislike the message. They dislike the miracles, but they hate the popularity, and they hate that it's something outside of their power. So they try to shut it down. And yet there's a third actor in this paragraph, and it's the one we often overlook and forget. You go, okay, there's two forces against each other, the Apostles and the Sadducees. Who's going to win? No, there's a third player on the field. God. If for some reason he's the one we're always counting out, right? But he gets to cast a vote.

And so the Apostles are preaching and the Sadducees throw them in jail. We're shutting you down. And then God sends an angel to set them free. The irony is the Sadducees were the second Jerusalem that did not believe in the existence of angels. And so God sends an angel to open the doors, right? Daryl Bach said it this way. This was the ultimate cosmic overrule of the Jewish leadership. The Sovereign Lord acts to free the Apostles. But notice the reason why the angel says go right back into that temple and preach life. Life. The miracles told with stunning brevity and an angel came and set them free. That's not the point. The miracle serves the message. Get back out there and preach life, life specifically to the people who presided over the murder of your King and Savior and friend Jesus. Remember, we're still weeks out from the crucifixion of Jesus in this town. And yet God says the very people who crucified my son. I am setting you free so you can go and offer them life. What do you want for your enemies? The person you disagree with online. What do you wish for their humiliation, their destruction, their imprisonment, or their redemption? God wants life for his enemies. Do you want those that for yours?

This is how the Christian feels. Go tell them about life. And I want you to notice how the committed believer responds at daybreak. They began to teach in verse 21. No hesitation. Jesus is Lord. We have our marching orders. Let's go. And before the sun's up, we're getting after it. That's how you do it. And meanwhile, back at the ranch, things are getting confusing. I don't know if you felt it. These next couple of verses read to me like a Three Stooges sketch. It says, now when a high priest came and those who are with him, they called together the council and all the Senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison. So they returned and reported. We found the prison securely locked and the guard standing at the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priest heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. And someone came and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people. And the captain with the officers went and brought them in,

but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. I mean, it's got a Monty Python vibe to it. And that's intentional. Why is Luke doing that? He's trying to show you this is not the collision of two equal and opposite powers. God wins, right? Interestingly, all the official authority is on the side of Sadducees, and yet they're the ones that are like, kind of bumping into each other, can't find the guys they locked in prison. The point is the official position doesn't matter when God enters the equation. When God is on the move, you can't stop this, right? And that's what we see here. The Apostles have no worldly authority, but they are not afraid because they trust God. Interestingly, it's the authorities who are afraid of the mob. They're worried about not having the amount of public opinion they need. Be careful of being tyrannized by public opinion. That's slavery and death, and the committed believer has put to death that fear, because this paragraph is a challenge to faith. Do you think God exists or not? Do you believe God exists and reward those who seek him? The Apostles did. So when the angel said, go back into the temple and preach, they didn't go, whoa, whoa, whoa, that's gone bad a couple times. And if we do it, I mean, like, they're the Council. They're the Council.

God, we can't do that. They don't do that. God says, go, we go. Well, the Council's there. Yeah, we're going to sort that out. And you see a boldness, not an arrogance, but a boldness because I believe God rules. Do you? Even over your boss? Our actions tend to betray what we believe. Now in verse 27 comes the face off. And when they had brought them, they set them before the Council and the high priest questioned them and said, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name. Notice he can't say it, the name Jesus. Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. The Peter and the Apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as leader and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. That's your key verse. And we are witnesses of these things and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Couple things. Number one, the leaders are incensed for two reasons. Number one, as they said, we told you to stop talking about this guy.

And yet you have filled like a cup the whole city of Jerusalem with this teaching. Interestingly, when the Great Commission was regiven in Acts chapter 1, it said that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. You'll be my witnesses to Jerusalem, Judea, and to the ends of the earth. Here it says Jerusalem is filled with your teachings. You're like, oh good check. Okay, we got that one. All right, let's keep going. So he didn't know he's checking off the list. But he says you filled Jerusalem with this teaching when we told you not to and you keep accusing us of murder. You keep trying to put this man and again, he can't say Jesus his name, his death on us. You're trying to say we have some accountability for the death of Jesus. Now, the funny thing is Peter responds and Peter's response if you caught it was basically, yeah. Yeah, that about sums it up. Yeah, actually, that's a great summary. Yes, you did tell us to stop and we didn't stop. And the reason why is because we must obey God and not men. What's the implication there? You religious leaders are not on the side of God. God is calling us this way. You guys have missed him, right? And holding you accountable for the death of Jesus. Yeah, he says because the God of our fathers, that is the

God of this Old Testament, the God who created all things, the God whose solution to our sin was a Savior. I'm sending a Messiah, the seed of David, the Lion of Judah, the God who promised that guy, that God raised Jesus. He put his vote on Jesus. He shone a light on that man by raising him from the dead that you killed by hanging on a tree. So God pointed a light at him and said that's my guy and then you killed him on tree. Now, why I mentioned the hanging on a tree? That's kind of a weird detail and a weird way to say it. Again, it's a quote from Deuteronomy in the Old Testament that if you would hang someone up on a spike of wood, it was you were declaring to the culture that had to look at the suspended body, that person's cursed by God. That was the point of why you would do that. And so Peter is saying you declared that Jesus was cursed by God. And so you spiked him up on a Roman piece of wood. But God raised him from the dead and not only raised him from the dead, exalted him to his right hand. He says Jesus is now seated on the throne with God. Again, not a moral teacher, not an inspiring figure. He is seated on the throne with God as leader and Savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. So he's saying, hey, you're out of step with God, not us. You declared him cursed by God. God exalted him and let him sit at the throne. So somebody's wrong about Jesus and we don't think it's God. That's Peter's argument.

And so Peter's letting them know you are in trouble. You have missed it. God affirmed him. You killed him. God exalted him and notice in verse 31. This is the core of the text. What this passage is about. He made him leader. Archegos is the name of it. Arche, the first, the trailblazer, the guy who cut a trail, the pioneer, the guy who established our city, the king, the guy who's in charge of all of us. He made Jesus leader, Savior. Yes, forgive you of your sins. Yes, that's what he offers. He's offering you repentance. What does that mean? It means you're going the wrong way. And you, even you, counsel that commanded his death. He's calling you to repent, turn and he'll forgive you. You'll get forgiveness of sins. And then he says, we're witnesses to these. things. In the Old Testament, any accusation had to be substantiated with at least two witnesses. 12 of them are standing there saying we saw it all. God has done it. All right. He appointed witnesses. We saw everything I just said and the Holy Spirit's with us. Notice he invokes the Trinity.

God shone his light on Jesus, Jesus raised from the dead and the Holy Spirit is unleashed miracles through us to affirm this message. The whole triune deity is on our side and the power of the Holy Spirit can be yours too. For those who obey him. So he's telling them repent and submit that Jesus is leader and Savior and he will forgive you if you repent and obey him. That's the message. I want you to notice Peter doesn't make it personal. Peter's not castigating them. Peter's not trying to overthrow them. Peter's not trying to get a seat on the council. Peter's not trying to kill them. Peter has put away his sword. He did that in the garden. Those days are long gone. He's looking at these men and he's offering them rescue and in that it's truth. You're a sinner, but it's truth with grace and the moment you understand that you can repent and be forgiven. That's how the gospel speaks to its enemies, right? That's what Peter does here. But at the center of it all is an authority. Who do you think is in charge? Right? Some of you have felt some of this maybe with family members. I don't know if you've ever experienced this where you maybe had a newfound faith in Jesus and shared it with some family and friends and you told them because you experienced that

rush of man. I was a mess and I knew it. I knew I wasn't what I was meant to be but but he forgave me of my sin. I don't have to carry the shame of my failure anymore that I don't have my all my tragedies define me but I can be defined by his victory and you're so excited. You tell your loved ones you want them to know and some of you had that experience where you tell someone you love about it and they reject it and they say something like. What do you think you're better than me? You saying I'm not a good person and they make it personal. You think you're better you saying I'm not good. How do you respond to that? The response is this isn't about what I think and what I'm saying. I'm telling you I was a sinner and I was dead and Jesus forgives and he offers life God raised him and I'm going with him and what happened to me is available to you. You just take it back to the person of Jesus and that's what Peter does here. No, it's about him. He is the leader. He is the authority. We bow our knee to him. Ooh, they do not like that. And in verse 33 it says when they heard this they were enraged and wanted to kill them. They liked a religion where they stayed in charge. A lot of us like that.

Give me some spiritual words to use maybe some breathing techniques. Give me some moral improvement paths, but don't tell me to submit to someone else's authority. No, especially not in the areas. I like control. Don't tell me that somebody else is Lord over my money, my decisions, my bedroom. Don't tell me that somebody else has an authority over me. No, I'll take forgiveness or mercy, but don't tell me about authority. Don't call Jesus leave your leader call him inspiring figure. And so here these guys say we want you to stop saying that name because we want to keep in place a religious authority where we stay in control and that's the contention. That's what they want. And Peter says I'm just telling you God raised him from the dead seated him on high. He's the king. He's our leader and there's forgiveness and blessing for those who obey him. They don't want it. And so they're ready to kill the messenger. It's going real bad, but then an unexpected figure steps in to save the day. I don't know if you notice this who stops the council from killing them. Verse 34 a Pharisee. Huh?

For those of you playing at home. You're like Pharisees. I remember them from the Gospels. They were the guys who were constantly haranguing Jesus and giving him a hard time. They were the number one adversaries of Jesus as he preached the gospel. How is a Pharisee now coming to the defense of Jesus's apostles? What is this? What changed? Well, a little something called the resurrection when a guy doesn't stay dead. Causes you to rethink some things. And so here Gamaliel and verse 34 says a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel a teacher of the law who is held in honor by all which is true the Mishnah actually he's spoken of an extra biblical sources. The Mishnah says when Rabbi Gamaliel the elder died the glory of the law ceased and purity and abstinence died. He was held in high regard as a holy man and here in this passage. stood up and gave orders to put the man outside for a little while sends the Apostles out. And he says in verse 35 men of Israel take care about what you do with these men. He's like slow down boys. And then he gives you his reason why in verse 36 before these days Thutis rose up claiming to be somebody number of men about 400 joined him. He was killed and all who followed him dispersed and came

to nothing after him Judas the Galilean rose up in the day of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered. He's like, hey, this kind of thing happens all the time little movements pop up and as soon as the leader gets knocked out the whole movement goes away. So when you're in control and something crazy stop pops up, you kind of got to watch for a while and say, hey, if the leader leaves this thing going to fall apart like, you know, fads come and go. Beatlemania is kind of over among the kids, right? I can show you videos of Elvis teenagers screaming and crying at his mere presence. I showed my children video of Elvis the other day. They were entirely emotionally unmoved. People die there the energy they can generate changes. That's Gamaliel's argument, right? He's just saying hey, we don't know but if it's man-made it's going to lose momentum. But his point is in verse 38. So in the present case, I tell you keep away from these men leave them alone for this plan or undertakings of man. It'll fail. But if it's of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God. He says, hey, I think you should be open to the possibility. That there really is a God really working and he might be on their team. And so they took his advice. It's interesting.

His argument is essentially rebellions underwritten by human authority collapse on their own. If God's at work, we can't stop it. That's his argument. Nietzsche said God is dead. The Beatles said we're more popular than Jesus. Now. I thought Christianity was in the rearview. The New Atheists who all wrote New York Times best-selling books thought they hailed the death of Christianity and they were all wrong. Resurrection seems to be our thing. That Christianity has a staying power. That's supernatural, right? Verse 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them. So I love it. They take their advice. I won't kill him. Go ahead and beat him though, right? Just just petty and very painful that beating could have actually killed him. You'd flogged him with whips. Anyway, then they charge them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go and then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. Isn't that wild? Beaten and humiliated, but I leave not bitter. I leave rejoicing because if I'm going to take a hit, let

it be for the name of the one who gave everything for me. And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ, the Messiah, the hero, the King is Jesus. So let's apply this and then get started. Gamaliel buys them some time. But at some point this repetition is an intensification miracles, message, presentation of the person of Jesus. And at some point this road leads to a fork. Jim Elliot, the missionary, said it this way. God, make me a crisis man. He said, I don't want to be a signpost on the side of the road. I want to be a fork that men must decide upon seeing Christ in me. He said, I want to be someone who's so aligned with Jesus that when you see Jesus in me, you have to decide I'm going with him or I reject him. And so at the beginning of this passage, we said there were kind of four groups, right? There was the committed that I believe the message of Jesus and I'm born again and I am on mission with Jesus. Let's go. And then there's the people that believe the message but are scared of the mission. The fearful. I like being here in church. I like the songs, but I'm scared if I really surrender my life, he might hurt me. It may cost me more than I want to pay.

You've got the investigating. I'm curious. I like you guys. For some reason I cried during the worship and I don't know why. And then you've got the opposed. I hate you. I hate what you stand for. I hate the message. So I hate the messenger. At some point these four reduced to two. I'm either going with Jesus and he's my Savior and Lord or I reject him. I'm the Lord and it's my life. It doesn't happen day one. Jesus is kind that way. He doesn't step in and say decide marriage or no marriage here. If we just met you like no, there's a dating process investigate the person of Jesus and he doesn't fear your questions. But the question on the table for all of us is will you take the next step? Gamaliel gave the next step to the opposed. Hey, if you rage against Christianity, maybe you're mad about abuses from spiritual leaders and maybe you're actually. valid in them. You might be at least as mad as Jesus was about religious hypocrisy. You might suddenly be surprised at the thought of, you know what, maybe I do think there is a God, and maybe I'm just open that that God has put his power behind Jesus. If you're opposed to Christianity, maybe the next step for you is to move from opposed to investigating. But no one changed history like this man. Let me decide. Some of you are investigating. You say, you know what, I've seen enough. I want to put my faith in him.

What was called here a believer, because I believe who he is and believe in what he did for me. But some of you would say, you're a believer. I believe Jesus forgave me of my sins, but ooh, he better not touch my phone, my time, my money, my resources. But my eyes see, hand touch, my. And Jesus is saying, hey, I'm not just Savior. I'm leader. You're meant to obey me. I got a mission. I'm on the move, and I want you to move where I move. I don't know what the next step is for you, but I want you to take it, because this is what's on the table here. At the end of the day, Jesus is the fork in the road. He's the archegos, the authority. What will you do with this man? If you've come here for any length of time, you know or aware of my fascination with Tom Holland, the historian, not Spider-Man, and with Louise Perry. And I'm fascinated by both of their journey, because they've come to have to deal with Jesus through secular sources. For Tom Holland, it was the contemplation of history, that as he was writing books about other ancient cultures, it began to disturb him, that ancient cultures he was fascinated by would have found what he sees as deeply held and important morality laughable. That he believed in human rights, that every human being has dignity, that women and children have value. Spartans, they didn't think that. He realized, my belief system didn't come from nowhere. It came from Jesus of Nazareth. He said, I didn't want that to be true, but my study of history is forcing me out of opposition into investigation. He wrote a whole book on it, Dominion. Processing the values we hold dear come from this man. And yet he was asked in interviews, so are you a believer? And he said, no, but I find the person of Jesus captivating, because no one changed history like this man.

And then just recently, in an interview, I saw someone ask him, are you a Christian? And he said, yes, yes, I believe I am. That at some point, he was allowed by the graciousness of God to walk this road of investigation, repetition, intensification, and finally he realized, I can't just treat Jesus like a curiosity. Do I really believe he's Lord or not? And he said, I got to the place where I said, yeah, he is not just a curiosity. He's the king. I'm going with him. Louise Perry had a similar journey, although for her, it began in rape crisis centers. That as she helped women put the broken pieces of their life together after a traumatic experience, she saw it over and over again. And as she watched the ravages of broken sexuality hurt so many women, she began to say, I think there's a bigger cultural question that needs to be asked here. I don't think the way we're handling sexuality in the modern world is producing human flourishing. And so she began to struggle with how do I understand all this? And so she wrote a book called The Case Against the Sexual Revolution. She said, we bought in some ideas by removing boundaries, we would release ourselves into sexual freedom. I think the removing of boundaries has actually hurt us. And so at the end of the book, she, in a good way, says, I want to posit some solutions. I don't want to just shake my fist or cry about the problems. What are some solutions I would present? And she struggled with, what do I think is a healthy and redeeming sexuality? I think without even realizing it, as I was reading the book, I'm like, she's basically unpacking Ephesians 5. She's sort of stumbling onto an ancient path. And it's interesting, as I saw her in interviews, she began to say,

you know what, I think we need another sexual revolution. And if you look at the one that really made a difference and allowed women to flourish, it was the one that Christians did in ancient Rome. And so then she was asked, are you a Christian? And she said, no. She said, but I started going to church because I don't have their faith, but I want my kids to grow up to be like these people. I'm in the wake of their blessing. I'm seeing it. So I'm dragging the mat in with my kids and just, I'm curious about what's going on. And I saw her in an interview recently. They were asking her about these same ideas. And she said, you know, I understand that the arguments I'm making can be made from a faith perspective, but when I wrote my book, I wasn't doing them from that perspective. It was from a different angle. And she says, but now, now I am making these arguments as a Christian. A big smile broke out across her face. She's like, because I realized these things make sense because they are true and because they were given to us by a good God whose authority does not crush us. His authority liberates us. His authority doesn't hurt us. He's a good King. He's a good leader. He sets people free. Forgiveness and blessing are available to those who say, I'm going with him. So, friend, I don't know what your next step is for some of you is just come back next week. For others of you, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's showing up in all the different ways.

We're trying to help you. Welcome to church today. Core classes. I don't know what it is. Some of you, maybe God's calling you to say, you know what? There's this area you've been gripping on to because you're afraid of letting go of that thing because you don't know who you'll be, or you don't know how you'll comfort yourself without it, and you're holding a thing that's hurting you. And Jesus is saying, let me be authority over that. You don't want to, but I'm telling you, you won't regret saying yes to him because he doesn't just snatch things out of our hands. He replaces them with more beautiful things, better places for comfort, better places for peace. What's your next step? I just want you to tell him, yes, he's worthy of your trust. Our later and our Savior.