The Jailbreak (2)

Intro:

Do you guys have anything in your life that consistently happens that makes you think everything is always going to be against you?

Or maybe, just life in general, you just feel like things always seem to be working against you?

English Standard Version Chapter 2

7 Beloved, I am writing you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. 8 At the same time, it is a new commandment that I am writing to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. 9 Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. 10 Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. 11 But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Give me some examples

I’ll be honest with you, I’ve not had too many times in my life where I felt this way, but I think, and Savannah would probably agree with me on this, I tend to just let things happen and I really don’t get too worried or worked up by the goings on in my life.

Savannah example?

Read

Opposition

Well, let me assure you, if you were an apostle in the time period that we have been reading about in Acts, you got really used to opposition.

Expected

In fact, they woke up everyday, expecting severe opposition, and well, they probably woke up everyday wondering if it would be their last day

But let’s be clear on why they were facing opposition.

Often in my life, any opposition I face is usually self-afflicted.

I face opposition because I’m chasing after the wrong thing

I face opposition because I’ve chosen to do something that I shouldn’t have done

And those types of opposition are not what the apostle’s are facing

They aren’t doing anything wrong, they aren’t living for selfish gain

Sometimes we face opposition for other reasons, but usually they revolved around us in some way.

But see, the apostles, they were facing opposition for one reason and one reason alone, and that was Jesus Christ

Evident

Remember, we’ve looked at the fact that they were filled with the Holy Spirit, they were actively denying themselves the pleasures and treasures that the world had to offer, and they were living for the glory of God Himself....their faith was evident

And they were doing it in the face of extreme persecution, as we’ve already seen with Peter and John being thrown in prison

The religious leaders of the day were not about to let this Jesus guy, whom they had killed, they weren’t about to let his teaching continue!

Which is quite ironic if you think about it.

Christ told them to expect it, and they did, and they were starting to actively experience it on a daily basis

Here in this passage:

They were arrested for their testimony, for actively, day after day, preaching and teaching about Jesus, and they were thrown in a public prison

They were brought before the council and reminded they were told specifically not to do this anymore

The religious leaders get so angry they actually want to kill them!

Imagine you are an apostle. How do you wake up every day? How do you continue to share the Gospel in the temple, in the streets, day after day?

Have you ever had to wake up each day and head into something that wasn’t a lot of fun?

Some of you may call that school

Some of us may call it work

I remember when I worked on this chicken farm....

If you think you can live your faith in a way that avoids opposition, you are very mistaken. And if you have lived your life in this comfortable lifestyle and you think that is what a Christians life is all about, again, you are mistaken

Opportunity

But if there is one thing I want you to remember from tonight it is this.....almost always, in fact I think you’d be hard pressed to find an example where this isn’t the case…

Our greatest opportunity to further the Gospel comes from the opposition that very Gospel brings

Say it again

Look at the opportunity that their opposition afforded them though

They were thrown in prison, and God opens the prison doors and gives them a command:

they were all thrown in prison for their testimony

they were threatened to never speak about God

“Go do it again”

And right here the apostles have one of the greatest opportunities to point to Jesus don’t they?

the religious leaders wanted to kill them

Everyone knew they were in prison, the public knew it, the leaders knew it, and God releases them and says go back to where you were arrested and do it again!

And the apostles have an opportunity, and a choice to make:

If you were an apostle, what would you have done?

Embraced It

They embraced it. Their lives were not more important than the testimony of Jesus Christ

And look at verse 26 with me.

So, pretty much, when the religious leaders found them, again, in the temple square and not in the jail where they had placed them, they didn’t take them by force, because they were afraid of the crowds

Do you see the opportunity here, and what the outcome was because the apostles embraced it?

The people were in absolute awe. The crowds undoubtedly were amazed and quite possibly changed by the apostles testimony, by their willingness to face opposition, and their strength to continue to face it. But most importantly, the crowds were in awe of God himself, and Jesus Christ

But it wasn’t just the crowds that were affected by the opportunity the opposition to the apostles had brought....it was the religious leaders as well

As the apostles were standing before the council, it gives Peter and the apostles the perfect opportunity to share the Gospel with the very people that hated it the most!

Verses 27-32

Exclaimed It

And they did. They exclaimed it!

Now, I know none of us in this room enjoy facing opposition, in fact, as we’ve already talked about, we probably try to avoid it as hard as I try to avoid eating salmon cakes

But, what I want you to realize is the fact that:

This is God’s design for furthering His Gospel

See, we all think we can and we try to live our lives as believers, but believers who avoid any type of persecution or opposition

We’ll talk about God until someone gets offended, and then we’ll stop

Or we won’t talk about Him at all for fear that someone will be offended

How many of us is that true for tonight? And my hand is raised you all. I often look at my life, and then I look at the apostles, and at other believers who fully embraced the Great Commission, and I see this huge chasm between my life and their lives.

I’m over here living a comfortable life, where I’m a believer, but I’m super comfortable. I sleep well, I wake up in comfort, I don’t face persecution daily, because I don’t make it a habit to fulfill the great commission

Because the truth is, if you are really living a life that’s focused on doing so, you will face persecution

- “ 23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”

Are you guilty of trying to save your life?

Observance

If we want to change this world by the power of the Gospel, it will often take the form of opposition in our lives. And with that opposition, there will come opportunity.

Lastly, that Opportunity will lead to Observance by others, and observance by even our enemies

If you look at verse 33, you’ll read that the religious leaders wanted to kill the apostles.

Just wipe em out. Solve their problem once and for all

But if you look down through, in steps Gamaliel (yep, the same teacher who Paul sat under)

And he encourages the council to not kill the apostles.

References some other men who rose up in the past and had followers

Maybe people claiming to be the Messiah

But when they were killed, the followers disbanded, ran away

And Gamaliel is making this point, if Jesus was just another false prophet, these apostles will eventually go away, and disperse

Enemies

But, and here’s the observance that even the religious leaders were starting to come around to:

Verse 39 - “but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!”

Even one of the members of the council was beginning it seems, to realize who Jesus was!

Our greatest testimony to our enemies is our willingness to suffer for the sake of Christ.

There is no other way!

Each Believer

But notice the response of each believer when they are released from the council, beaten by the council, told again to stop teaching in Jesus name

Verse 41 - “Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

Rejoicing

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.

They left rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer!

We read that and we start to think that maybe the apostles weren’t all there mentally. We read that and we just can’t process

They were beaten, and it wasn’t like, one strike with a club. They probably got it given to them pretty severely

And they rejoiced!

Every Day

And continued to preach Christ each and every day

They were emboldened by the fact that if they were of God they would not fail.

See guys, when we fall in love with Jesus, when we’re given the Holy Spirit, we are given the boldness and the bravery to face anything this world can throw at us.

Because our hope doesn’t rest in this world anymore, it rests in Him, it rests in eternal life with Him

Closing

Now, don’t hear me wrong tonight. What I’m not saying is that unless your are facing daily persecution you aren’t being the Christian you should be. I’m not saying that.

What I am saying is what often accompanies a believer who is living fully for the sake of Christ is persecution

And that very persecution is what leads to some of the greatest opportunities to further the Gospel

Closing Martyrdom Example

The Persecutor

Sergie Kourdakov

   I saw Victor Matveyev reach and grab for a young girl who was trying to escape to another room. She was a beautiful young girl. What a waste to be a Believer. Victor caught her, picked her up, lifted her above his head, and held her high in the air for a second. She was pleading, "Don't, please don't. Dear God, help us!" Victor threw her so hard she hit the wall at the same height she was thrown, then dropped to the floor, semiconscious, moaning. Victor turned and laughed and exclaimed, "I'll bet the idea of God went flying out of her head." But I was thinking, She's a real beautiful girl. I wished I had met her under better circumstances.

   "That's him. Grab him," I said, pointing to the twenty-three-year-old youth who was their leader. Some of our men rushed him and began knocking him around. Some of my guys were punching the others around, using them playfully as punching bags. I quickly surveyed the room and saw a sight I couldn't believe! There she was, that same girl! It couldn't be. But it was. Only three nights before, she had been at the other meeting and had been viciously thrown across the room. It was the first time I really got a good look at her. She was more beautiful than I had first remembered — a very beautiful girl with long, flowing, blond hair, large blue eyes, and smooth skin, one of the most naturally beautiful girls I have ever seen.

   Victor saw her too and shouted, "She's back! Look, guys, she's back again!"

   "Well," I shouted, "it doesn't look like you did such a great job the last time, Victor. You failed to teach her a lesson. Now it's my turn!"

   I picked her up and flung her on a table facedown. Two of us stripped her clothes off. One of my men held her down and I began to beat her with my open hand as hard as I could, hitting her again and again. My hands began to sting under the blows. Her skin started to blister. I continued to beat her, until pieces of bloody flesh came off on my hand. She moaned but fought desperately not to cry. To suppress her cries, she bit her lower lip until it was bitten through and blood ran down her chin.

   At last she gave in and began sobbing. When I was so exhausted I couldn't raise my arm for even one more blow, and her backside was a mass of raw flesh, I pushed her off the table, and she collapsed on the floor.

   Leaving her, I looked around, almost exhausted, to see how the rest of our group was doing. The young Believers were lying around the wrecked room. There was no point in prolonging the job, so knowing we already had the leader, I shouted, "We've got our man! Get the names of those people now and let's get out of here."