2025-05-04 St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Welkom

ABSA BANK, WELKOM

4052 0411 25

Cheque account

Welcome

Scripture Readings

Chorus ♪ C Father I place into Your hands

Chorus ♪ C From The Rising Of The Sun

Chorus ♪ C Whoso Offereth Praise

General Confession said together.

 Almighty and most merciful Father, we have strayed from Your ways like lost sheep, we have left undone what we ought to have done,  and we have done what we ought not to have done. We have followed our own ways and our own desires and we have neglected and broken Your holy laws.

Have mercy on us Lord.

Restore those who repent and confess their sins  according to Your promises declare in Jesus Christ our Lord. Grant, merciful Father, for His sake, that hereafter  we may live a righteous and obedient life,  to the glory of Your Holy Name. Amen. 

 Assurance of forgiveness said by the minister standing.

 Almighty God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, does not desire the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live.  He has given authority and commandment to His ministers to declare to His people that He pardons and forgives the sins of all who truly repent and believe His holy gospel. 

 Therefore, let us ask Him to grant us true repentance and His Holy Spirit, that we may please Him now, and that the rest of our life may be pure and holy so that at the last we may come to His eternal joy through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

The Lord’s Prayer said together. 

Our Father, which art in heaven,

Hallowed by thy Name,

Thy kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

In earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread;

And forgive us our trespasses, 

As we forgive them that trespass against us; And lead us not into temptation, But deliver us from evil.

For Thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, For ever and ever.  Amen. 

The Ten Commandments

Minister:

Our Lord Jesus Christ said : “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it : Love your neighbour as yourself.  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments”. 

Congregation :

Lord have mercy on us, and write these commandments in our hearts and minds to keep them. 

Hymn:

♫ In Christ Alone (Stuart Townsend)

Janet will now read the Old Testament reading to us from the NIV pew bible.

She begins with “Hear the Word of God as it is written in Psalm 33”

She ends with “This is the word of God”.

Congregation: “Thanks be to God”

Jenny

will now read the New Testament reading to us from the NIV pew bible.

She begins with “Hear the Word of God as it is written in John 21:1-14”

She ends with “This is the word of God”.

Congregation: “Thanks be to God”.

Hymn ♫ At the name of Jesus

Sermon

A. Peter preaches to the Jewish leaders.

1. (1-4) The arrest of Peter and John.

Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.

a. The captain of the temple: This refers to the police force of the temple precincts. The captain, together with the priests and the Sadducees, all came together to arrest Peter and John.

i. Came upon them: Boice says that the emphasis in the original indicates that they stopped and seized Peter and John suddenly. “They must have said, ‘Enough of this,’ grabbed them, and taken them away.” (Boice)

b. Being greatly disturbed: The Sadducees would be greatly disturbed that Peter and John taught the people and  preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead; they did not believe in the afterlife or the resurrection at all.

i. We can say that they were arrested on suspicion of teaching dangerous ideas – such as that Jesus was raised from the dead, and for healing a man who had been crippled his entire life.

c. Put them into custody until the next day: Normally, this would be an intimidating experience for Peter and John. Suddenly arrested, greatly disturbed officials, handled roughly (laid hands on them), threats made against them (Act_4:21 implies this), thrown into jail. The entire atmosphere was intended to make them afraid.

i. Act_4:21 mentions further threats. If there were further threats, there must have been prior threats. “If you keep preaching we will arrest you and beat you.” “If you keep preaching we will harm your family.” “Remember what we did to Jesus.”

ii. By all outward measures, Christianity – the movement of the followers of Jesus – was very weak at this early point.

• They were few in numbers.

• They were inexperienced in leadership.

• They were commanded to not fight back; they were not militant.

• They were opposed by institutions that had existed for hundreds of years.

iii. Boice notes that Act_4:1-6 lists no less than 11 different groups or individuals opposing these followers of Jesus.

• Groups: Priests and the Sadducees (Act_4:1); Rulers, elders, scribes (Act_4:5); and others from the family of the high priest (Act_4:6).

• Individuals: The captain of the temple (Act_4:1); Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander (Act_4:6).

iv. “They were declaring: We have the power. If you are allowed to preach, as you have been preaching, it is because we have permitted you to do it... Anytime we want, we can arrest you and carry you off to jail.” (Boice)

d. The number of the men came to be about five thousand: Despite the opposition coming against the gospel, the number of Christians kept increasing, growing to 5,000 from 3,000 at last count (Act_2:41). Opposition did not slow the church down at all.

i. Act_4:4 shows that the power plays, the threats, the intimidation was all ineffective. More people started following Jesus, not less.

ii. In the Western world, Christians rarely face persecution. Satan instead has attacked us with worldliness, selfish pride, a need for acceptance, and status. The martyr can impress unbelievers with his courage and faith; the self-centered, compromising Christian is despised by the world.

2. (5-7) Peter and John are brought before the Sanhedrin.

And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, “By what power or by what name have you done this?”

a. Rulers, elders, and scribes... were gathered together: This was a scene of power and intimidation. This same group of leaders had recently condemned Jesus to death, and they wanted them to know that they had the power to do the same thing to Peter and John.

b. By what power or by what name have you done this? The ideas behind by what power and by what name are virtually the same. In their thinking, the power resided in the name, because the name represented the character of the person.

i. We can say that in itself, this was a legitimate inquiry. These were the guardians of the Jewish faith; they naturally were concerned about what was taught on the temple mount. How they did their investigation may be faulted (with pressure and intimidation); also what they did with the results of their investigation.

3. (8-12) Peter boldly preaches to the Jewish leaders.

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 by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 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.”

a. Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit: He was instantly filled with the Spirit again, evident by his supernatural boldness and ability to speak the gospel directly to the heart of the matter.

i. The filling of the Holy Spirit Peter experienced in Act_2:4 (along with other disciples) was not a one-time event. It was something God wanted to continue doing in their lives.

b. If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man: The tone of Peter’s reply shows that he was not intimidated by this court, though humanly speaking, he should have been intimidated by the same court that sent Jesus to crucifixion.

i. For a good deed: Peter’s logic was piercing - why are we on trial for a good deed?

c. By the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth: Peter preached Jesus, the Jesus they crucified, the Jesus God raised from the dead, the Jesus who healed this man.

d. This is the ‘stone which was rejected by you builders’: The quotation from Psa_118:22 was appropriate. Jesus was rejected by men – by those leaders – but was exalted by His Father.

e. Nor is there salvation in any other: Peter didn’t merely proclaim Jesus as a way of salvation, but as the only way of salvation. The idea that there is no salvation in any other, and that there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved is hard to accept for many, but is plainly stated.

i. “Oh, how the world hates such statements! If you want to be laughed at, scorned, hated, even persecuted, testify to the exclusive claims of Jesus Christ.” (Boice)

ii. Instinctively, man responds: “Isn’t there some way that I can save myself? Isn’t Jesus just for those ones who can’t save themselves?” No. If you are going to be rescued; if you are going to be made right with God, Jesus is going to do it.

iii. Does this mean that everyone must make a personal decision for Jesus Christ to be rescued from eternal peril? What about the infant who dies? What about the person who has never heard about Jesus? We can say that God will deal with them fairly and justly, and those who are saved will be rescued by the work of Jesus done on their behalf, even if they lacked a full knowledge of Jesus. But what about you who have heard and perhaps reject?

iv. If someone wishes to believe that all are saved or that there are many roads to heaven or that one can take the best of all faiths and blend them into one; fine. Believe so and bear the consequences; but please do not claim this is the teaching of the Bible.

Notices

Collection

Praise God from whom all blessing flow

Prayer

Hymn ♫ Abide With Me (Tune Eventide - 5vv) [with lyrics for congregations]

Benediction

Doxology Now unto Him