Holy Boldness — Part 1
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Peter and John said we didn’t do a thing. We were just the vessels God used to accomplish His plan!
We should desire to be the same thing this morning.
We should strive to be vessels sanctified and meet for the master’s use!
The Confrontation — (Vs. 1-3)
The Confrontation — (Vs. 1-3)
Peter and John “spoke” to the people...
If we want to lead the lost to Christ we have to speak!
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Culmination — (Vs. 4)
The Culmination — (Vs. 4)
4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
“However” — Nothing can thwart the plan of God!
The Cross-Examination — (Vs. 5—12)
The Cross-Examination — (Vs. 5—12)
Vs. 5-6
John Phillips — This was a gathering of the Sanhedrin. It was convened in the council chamber in a building just west of the Temple precincts at the near end of a bridge that spanned the Tyropoean Valley.
What an impressive crowd it was that gathered there that day to intimidate two Galilean fishermen.
The Sanhedrin was composed of seventy-two members—the high priest being the president of the court. The Sadducees, who dominated it, threw their weight on the side of the chief priest. A powerful minority was made up of Pharisees, a party to which most of the scribes (the professional expositors of the law) belonged.
Annas was the previous high priest. He had held the office for nine years, having been installed by Quicinius, the Roman legate of Syria. The fact that he was no longer the high priest made little difference to his power. From the time of his deposition in A.D. 15 until the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 66, five of his sons, a grandson, and son-in-law occupied the office.
Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas. He had been installed by Valerius Gratus, the procurator of Judea, in A.D. 18. Caiaphas had held sway for eighteen years and continued in office all through the period of Pilate’s term as procurator.
Just a couple of short months before, that unscrupulous pair had played a leading role in getting rid of Jesus. Now they wanted to get rid of the church.
Little or nothing is known of John and Alexander beyond the assumption they were members of the high priest’s clan.
Vs. 7
John Phillips — And there it was, out in the open, the crux of everything: the question of the name. Peter could not have been asked a better leading question. Unwittingly they handed him his text on a silver platter. Thus God makes the wrath of man to praise Him. The anger of Jesus’ foes is used to introduce the glory of His Name.
“Then Peter, “filled” with the Holy Spirit”
Where did Peter’s Holy Boldness come from?
The Holy Spirit!
The Bible says Peter was “filled” with the Holy Spirit!
The word “filled” used here speaks of being completely full! Filled to the brim to the point of overflowing!
And every time in the Book of Acts you see and overflowing of the Holy Spirit something major happens!
Can I tell you what we need in our society today?
We need an overflow of the Holy Spirit, amen!
Vs. 11
Peter was quoting...
22 The stone which the builders refused Is become the head stone of the corner.
Explain a cornerstone — Everything else is laid out according to the cornerstone.
The cornerstone had to be perfect. It lined everything else up. If it was off, everything else would be off!
21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord:
Without Jesus as the Chief Cornerstone of our lives everything is gonna seem a little off!
Vs. 12
“No other name”
The word “other” means different or of another kind and nature, having a different form or class.
There is no other!
The Conferring of the Council — (Vs. 13-17)
The Conferring of the Council — (Vs. 13-17)
13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
They “were” ordinary! But not anymore! Now they were extraordinary!
Why?
Because they had been with Jesus!
The Charge to Peter and John — (Vs. 18-22)
The Charge to Peter and John — (Vs. 18-22)
Closing
Closing
We need some bold Christians today.
We need some men, women, boys and girls to start standing up for Jesus!
We need some folks to get filled with the Spirit of God and go tell someone about our wonderful Savior!
Look back at Verse 20 at what it says there....
20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.”
If you have been born again, if you have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, then dear friend you have something this morning to tell the world about!
If you’ve been saved, say…amen!
If you just said amen dear friend, you have received the greatest gift ever given and it’s not a gift to be hidden away somewhere for only you to enjoy!
It’s a gift that has been given to you in order that you might share it with the world!
Adrian Rogers said we have a whole lot of cowardly Christians in the world today and I would agree with that statement wholeheartedly.
We can talk about football, basketball, baseball. We can talk about nail salons, and hair dressers, and different kinds of makeup and skin care lines.
But for some reason, we have the most difficult time talking about the one thing that should be the easiest thing for us to talk about and that’s Jesus!
Dear friend, if you find yourself in this category of being a cowardly Christian this morning, then we give the invitation here in just a moment, I want to ask you to come to this altar and ask Jesus for some Holy Boldness.
Now, here’s the irony of this request…some of you sitting here are even so afraid to come this altar that you will allow that fright to keep you in your pew.
You say, “preacher, I don’t have to come to that altar to pray” and you would be right in saying that…but if you’ll be real with yourself this morning, the reason you won’t come to this altar is because you’re afraid of what some folks may say or how they will look at you.
It has nothing to do with the fact that you can pray in your pew but it has everything to do with the fact that you are scared of what someone else might think of you.
Listen, what better place to practice gaining boldness than in the house of the Lord where there should be no judgment of your peers.
Dear friend, I’ll say this to anyone who sits in their pew and looks down their snout at someone coming to this altar and thinks they are better than that person…you need to be here more than they do!
There’s not a single reason every person in this house this morning shouldn’t come to this altar.
I assure you by the little paper in my Bible that I have to read every Wednesday night, there are plenty of needs to pray for and what better place to place those needs than on the altar of God!
I’m going to challenge you here in a moment when we give this invitation to come to this altar and pray.
I’m challenging you to pray for Holy boldness for yourself, for you kids, for the members that make up this Church.
I’m challenging you to pray that God would bring a revival about this nation like never before.
I’m challenging you to pray that God would do a mighty work right here at New Home....that hearts would be changed, lives would be altered, and that someone would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ!
The list goes on and on and on!
So many things that needs to be prayed for this morning.
And if you are here and lost, what I want to leave you with this morning is this…there is no other way.
Stop waiting for another way. Stop looking for another way. Stop searching for another way.
There is only one way to be saved and that’s through believing upon the Lord Jesus Christ!