The Blessing of Boldness

I. Introduction

II. The Blessing of Divine Power.

Acts 4:7 “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?”

A. Their power came through the Holy Spirit.

Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.”

Zechariah 4:6 “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, Saith the Lord of hosts.”

B. Their power came through the Authority of the Son.

i. Acts 3:6 “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk.”

ii. Acts 3:12–13 “And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? The God of Abraham, and of Isaac, and of Jacob, the God of our fathers, hath glorified his Son Jesus; whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let him go.”

iii. Acts 3:16 “And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”

III. The Blessing of Divine Persuasion.

Acts 4:8 “Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel,”

A. The Message of Jesus’ Work

i. Acts 4:9–10 “If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.”

B. The Message of Jesus’ Wonder

i. This Jesus whom God Hath raised from the Dead.

ii. Acts 3:15 “And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.”

C. The Message of Jesus’ Worth

i. Acts 4:11 “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

Now there is an interesting story that is told of the building of Solomon’s temple. It is declared that all of the stones for Solomon’s temple were cut and quarried and carved away from the temple site. But each stone was perfectly hewn out and marked for the place in which it went into the wall. Now Solomon’s quarries were up on the sort of northwest side of the city of Jerusalem near what is presently the Herod’s Gate. And you can go into those quarries today and see where these stones, these massive stones were cut out for Solomon’s temple. Also you can see the quarry, the area of the quarry for the temple that is now an Arab bus station and you can see where the stone was quarried out there.

Now according to the story, a stone was sent for the temple that was not marked and the builders didn’t have any idea where it went. They concluded that it was just sent by mistake from the quarry. You see, the temple was put together without the sound of a hammer or a trowel. Every stone was cut away from the site and brought. And each stone just was fit in perfectly without even mortar. Just interlocking stones without the use of mortar. And so this one stone, they didn’t know where it went; it didn’t seem to fall in the sequence of their building. They cast it aside in the bushes and a few years later as they were completing the temple, they sent the message to the quarry, "We’re all set for dedication. Where is the chief cornerstone?" And they sent back the message, "We’ve already sent it a long time ago. What did you do with it?" And the messages went back and forth from the quarry to the builders and finally, someone found over in the bushes, overgrown with shrubs the chief cornerstone which had been rejected by the builders but now was brought out and put in its place, the chief cornerstone of the building. That’s the story that is told of the building of Solomon’s temple. Whether or not that is so is not really a provable thing. But at any rate, here is the prophecy, and whether or not this related to the incident then, it does relate to Jesus Christ.

From the e-Sword HD app for the iPad. https://www.e-sword.net/ipad/

D. Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

IV. The Blessing of Divine Presence.

Acts 4:13 “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.”

A. They had been with Jesus.

i. The greatest accusation ever heard is that we have been with Jesus.

ii. Make sure that Jesus is real to You.

iii. They were ignorant unlearned and uncivilized men, but they had the presence of Jesus and were mighty Warriors for Christ.

a. Romans 8:31–33 “What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?

b. Romans 8:37 “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.”