O Sovereign Lord (Acts 4:23-31, Jeff Kliewer)

Let's pray. Oh Sovereign Lord, why does this nation rage and so many people fight against your name, against your word?

Lord, you are sovereign over us. We trust that you are the sovereign

God, that you have this world in your hand, that you work out all things according to your good purpose and according to the counsel of your will.

This morning, Lord, we pray that we would see that truth afresh, more clearly and distinctly than we've ever seen it before.

And Lord, this would not just be an academic exercise, but rather,

Lord, that you would teach us to trust. Teach us to trust you in your plan.

Teach us to rest in your plan. But also to step out in boldness, with courage, empowered to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth in Jesus name.

Amen. Charles Spurgeon is one of the best known names in the history of the church, really.

He is probably the most read author in church history.

He preached in around the year 1850, began preaching in London. But for those years of his preaching, his sermons were transcribed by someone sitting on the front row and would be distributed and sold for a penny in London.

They were also wired to America and Australia, to Europe and the mainland, and distributed across the world.

And for 38 years, he preached the gospel and preached the word. His sermons have become the most voluminous writing by any one person published in history on any one given topic.

And Spurgeon was a force of nature. If you've never heard of Charles Spurgeon, well, hopefully you will today.

And remember him because he is probably the most influential preacher of all time.

They call him the Prince of Preachers. He grew up in a preacher's home.

His dad was a preacher, as was his grandfather. But by the age of 15, he was not yet converted.

One day, in a snowstorm, he headed to church. But because of the the storm that came in and began to increase more and more, probably like the one we had last weekend, where it just came in just unexpectedly and so powerfully, dropping, you know, a foot of snow within a few hours.

Spurgeon was driven into a small Methodist church before he could make it to the church he was going to.

And that morning, there were only 12 people in attendance. And the minister himself was snowed in and wasn't able to get there to preach.

So a shoemaker stepped into the pulpit and he took for his text,

Isaiah 45, 22. Look to me, all you nations of the earth. Look and be saved, it said.

And this shoemaker simply preached, look to Jesus. Look to Jesus.

And at one point, he pointed out Spurgeon and said, you look miserable. Called him out right there on the front row.

Well, Spurgeon heard that word, and his soul was strangely warmed from that cold snow.

His heart was lit on fire, and on that day, he was born again. Through simple preaching.

The power of God, not the power or the wisdom of man. And Spurgeon went out and began to teach a

Sunday school class at the church he was attending. And by age 18, he was called to be a pastor out in the countryside.

Before his 19th birthday, that church had grown to 500 people at age 18. He was called to a church in London, where when he began, the

New Park Baptist Church was 200 people. Before his 20th birthday, it was filled to capacity with 1 ,200 people attending.

So they moved to the the Surrey Hall, which seated 5 ,000. And before his 21st birthday, it was filled to capacity.

By his 23rd birthday, they were in a 12 ,000 seat stadium, the music hall, and it was so packed in there, that one of the balconies actually collapsed, and seven people perished.

On a Sunday morning. At that time, they built the famous Metropolitan Tabernacle, which seats thousands and thousands and thousands of people, and he preached multiple times a day.

But suffice it to say, Spurgeon was the Prince of Preachers. And you take a step back, and you wonder, what was it about Spurgeon, his preaching?

Or a hundred years before him, George Whitefield, which brought the Great Awakening to America.

What was it about Spurgeon's preaching that captured people's hearts and minds and devotion?

I think it's two things married together. One, Spurgeon upheld the sovereignty of God.

He preached a high view of God, a God who is in control and has great power.

But on the other hand, he preached the responsibility of man, and Spurgeon was an evangelist.

He called people to believe in Christ, and he warned of the dangers of not believing.

He painted a vivid picture, and he called people to faith, and those two things together, evangelism and the sovereignty of God, which is also the title of J .I.

Packer's book, which I would recommend. Write it down. Probably the best tome on this particular subject.

Evangelism and the sovereignty of God were married together in his preaching. I have some quotes from Spurgeon.

I think he's done enough in the kingdom of God to warrant our attention and to be heard.

Spurgeon taught the sovereignty of God, that God is sovereign over all things, in fact, predestines all things that happen.

And here's what Spurgeon said about his own preaching. He questions those who would question him, because he would preach such a high view of God, and so often speak of sovereignty.

He says this, I question whether we have preached the whole counsel of God, unless predestination with all its solemnity and sureness is continually declared.

And so he would hardly go a sermon without mentioning it. Now picture Spurgeon, this great big man.

He would lift up his Bible, and he would thunder, God gave me this great book, and if he put anything in it that you think is not fit to preach, go and complain to him.

Spurgeon preached the sovereignty of God, because he found it in the book, and he wouldn't listen to the criticism that would try to silence him from talking about it.

He says, I have often been accused of preaching doctrines that can cause a great deal of hurt.

I am here to say that they have caused a great deal of hurt. But the hurt has not been to the cause of morality and truth, the hurt has been to Satan.

It has crushed the kingdom of darkness. Spurgeon was used of God perhaps more than any preacher in the history of the world.

And this is what he says, has been the instrument of death to the enemy, a high view of God, and a low view of man.

Ian Murray describes Spurgeon's preaching this way, he says Spurgeon with one hand, he placed the audience in a vice grip, saying, you cannot believe.

Quoting Romans 8 7, he says, you are not even able to repent and believe.

But with the other hand, a vice grip saying, you must believe, and then he would squeeze until there was such upheaval and consternation that the sinner is begging

God to save them. He would put two vice grips on the people.

One, he would present such a low view of man, that a man is not even able to repent and believe in Christ.

Not even able to do it, Romans 8 7. And yet on the other hand, he would proclaim

Christ and lift him up and say, you must believe, repent of your sins and believe, or else you will be lost.

Two vice grips, and the two are so seemingly contradictory and incompatible, that it leaves the sinner squirming in the seat.

All that you can do is cry out to God, God have mercy, God have mercy. You begin to beg for mercy, and that's where revival sprang from.

Spurgeon says, the sovereignty of God is a treasure that we must cling to.

These are old truths, and we must come back to these old paths. Yes, Spurgeon preached the sovereignty of God, but he was not the first.

Probably the greatest evangelist of all time, if Spurgeon was the greatest preacher so far that the world has ever seen, and Whitfield was the greatest evangelist.

Leading that first great awakening, preaching those 18 ,000 sermons up and down the coast of the

United States. He preached the same way that Spurgeon did. In fact, Spurgeon said that he had but one model in ministry,

George Whitfield. That's who he looked to, and who did Whitfield look to? A couple hundred years before him, a man named

Martin Luther. Preaching the sovereignty of God. That Augustinian monk, a thousand years, more than a thousand years before,

Luther was Augustine, who preached the sovereignty of God, and I would say 300 years before Augustine, it was

Paul himself on the very pages of this book, and that's where we're going today. Yes, the great men and preachers of old.

Augustine's theology carried the church for a thousand years, you realize, until corruption took over, and Luther reformed the church back to what was the message of the church.

I am not here to preach any man, or any man's system of theology. What we are talking about today, we are not talking about it because I love to talk about it, although I do,

I confess, you guys know me. It's my favorite subject to talk about, a high view of God and a low view of man.

It's not because I want to talk about it, or the great preachers of old have, it's because it's in this text, in this text,

Acts chapter 4, verse 23 and 31 is where we are today. We're simply going through the scriptures.

Here's the main idea. God is sovereign, and man is responsible.

Both of these must be maintained if we are to be healthy and productive in our

Christian lives. Let go of either of these precious truths, and you'll begin to become unbalanced, and spin out of control in your

Christian walk. Both of these. Have you ever heard the term, antinomy? An antinomy is like a paradox, but it could be an apparent paradox, or contradiction.

It is not a contradiction necessarily, but it looks like that. For example, here's an antinomy. This statement is false.

Think about those words. To say this statement is false, is a truth claim, that you are claiming to be a true statement, and yet you've said within that statement that this statement is false.

It seemingly contradicts. In fact, it's an antinomy. Antinomy, anti meaning against, from namas in the

Greek law. Two laws that seem to be against one another.

Two things that seem incompatible. This is what we're talking about this morning.

God predestines every last thing that happens on this earth, good and bad, and man is responsible for our choices.

We are creatures that make free choices, according to our will, and according to our desires.

It's an antinomy. Light is both a particle and a wave, unless science has changed on that.

When I grew up in high school, that's how we were taught. It has some characteristics of waves, and some characteristics of particles, and it doesn't make sense as either, but it has to be both.

Maybe science has changed, because science is constantly changing, and yet the Word of God, Isaiah 40, the grass withers, flower fades, but the

Word of God remains forever. Antinomies.

Is God one, or is he three? Both. Is Jesus divine, or is he human?

Both. Does this word that we read come from God, or from man?

Both. Is God sovereign, or are we responsible for our choices?

Both. So let's read it. Acts 4, 23 to 31.

When they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priests and the elders had said to them.

And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who threw the mouth of our father

David, your servant, said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage, and the people's plot in vain?

The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the

Lord and against his anointed. For truly, in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant

Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the

Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant

Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Brothers, sisters, this text truly has the power to change your life.

I want to accomplish three things today. One is to be simple in a complex topic.

To go through this text, verse by verse, making seven short points to draw out for us from the text.

This is exegesis, drawing out from the text what Luke is meaning to tell us, and what we are supposed to hear from the author's intent.

That's one. Number two, I want to correlate what we are learning here with a few other scriptures, so you see that God has presented a truth that doesn't contradict itself, but is one consistent testimony.

So we'll look at a couple other scriptures to tie into what we read here. And then finally, I want to show how this is applicable.

And this is where I think I've fallen down before in preaching this subject. I think I've maybe been a little too heady.

And not shown why this matters. I was having lunch with the brother about a year ago.

Maybe he'll remember. We were at the Indian restaurant, and I shared about how this truth had impacted my life, and how it's shaped how

I think, and how I respond to opposition, and how I respond to suffering in my own life. And we were just having a one -on -one conversation.

It was real. It was authentic. And I point to these truths as the thing that have shaped me, perhaps more than anything else.

In the midst of suffering, to trust God. He's teaching us to trust. These truths are academic, and they are heady.

But there's so much more than that. If you will take the time to know what this is saying, and to believe it, it does change your very life.

And I want to camp out there at the end. I have ten points of application. They're just brief, each one, but they tie together into this theme of trusting

God. We need to understand this word. So these are three areas that we'll go through quickly.

First, seven observations from the text. Number one, notice in verse 27,

Herod, Pilate, the Gentiles, the Israelites are all exercising creaturely freedom according to the intentions of their own hearts.

These are not people being played like puppets. These are not robots or automatons who are just acting because they have no will.

No, these are real creatures who each have an intention. So look at verse 27.

For truly in this city there were gathered together against your servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both

Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel. Notice, four distinct groups are mentioned.

Herod, that wicked king over Israel, although he didn't deserve the throne, truly wicked man, a murderer.

What was his intention in his heart? Power. To be rid of this

Messiah, this claimant to the throne, this rival. Herod had nothing but hatred for Jesus, and his heart led him to do what he truly wanted to do, what he was responsible for,

Herod. Pilate, what's his intention? Pax Romana.

He represents Rome. He's the emperor. He simply wants

Jerusalem at peace. He doesn't want an upheaval. He doesn't want an uprising. He washes his hands of the whole situation and lets him be crucified because it's easier than standing up for the truth.

He's responsible for his decision. The Jews reject their

Messiah. They want a conqueror. The intentions of their heart are to follow one who will lead them to freedom in this life, who will conquer

Rome and ride in and give them deliverance, and they reject this suffering Messiah. And the

Gentiles. What are these Roman soldiers doing? Exactly what their hearts choose to do.

They make willing choices to crucify because that's what their commander tells them to do.

These are no robots. The first point. There is a real creaturely will acting in each of these people.

Second point. The human heart, unless it be regenerated, is desperately sick and wicked.

Jeremiah 17 verse 9. It is enslaved to sin, not free from sin.

In fact, Ephesians 2 1 tells us the human heart is dead. Do you see that in our text?

Do you see the wickedness of the human heart? This is not a heart that's free. This is a heart that is bound.

Bound in sin. Number three. Gathering together against Jesus to crucify him was the worst evil in the history of the world.

We were just told in Acts 4 that Jesus is the precious cornerstone. Quoting from Isaiah 28 16.

Jesus is the cornerstone. The precious cornerstone. What happens here, according to the intentions of wicked people, is the worst evil in the history of the world.

The most sinful thing. Because the only infinitely valuable one, the only truly innocent one, that baby born to the

Virgin Mary, who lived that sinless life and did nothing but good and taught the truth all the time, never told a lie, innocent in every way, is slaughtered like a lamb.

The most evil thing ever done in the history of the world. Now look at point four. God predestined this.

Verse 28. To do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

That should blow your mind. The most wicked evil event in the history of the world was predestined by God.

Predetermined. It was according to his hand. His plan.

That's bullae. It's his purpose, his decree. He said that this would happen and ordained for it to be so.

It was predestined according to verse 28. Predestined to take place.

That means the crucifixion of Jesus was not God's plan

B. It was his plan A. From the beginning of the world.

Before time. Before there was a world. Before there was an earth or clouds in the sky or people on this globe.

There was a God in heaven. A God who was Father, Son, and Spirit.

Before angels were created. Before the foundation of the world. The Father, the

Son, and the Spirit. In that Holy Council. Decreed that this would be the course of the world.

That's what predestinate means. Before the foundation of the world. And so that Jesus would die was the plan of the

Father. But it was also the agreement and the will of the Son and of the Spirit. No one would take

Jesus's life. He would give it willingly. This point is essential moving forward.

It was voluntary. Yesterday I was at a play in Lancaster that I would encourage each one of you to make the investment to see.

It was playing in Lancaster at a theater called Sight and Sound in the place called Jesus. It runs through December.

It was so well done. It was moving. It was powerful. It is worth getting tickets and getting there before it closes at the end of this year.

But the thing that stood out the most to me was this character Nicodemus. And as all of the events of the life of Christ are culminating in the cross and Mary is reflecting back on holding that baby in the manger and then

Mary is seeing this son of hers grown and now crucified. A beautiful song comes in and the words go like this.

Was this always the plan for the Son of God and man?

Was this always the plan for the Son of God and man? Jesus is the

Son of God. He is the Son of man. Was this always the plan? And Nicodemus then comes in and says this was always the plan for the

Son of God and man. And through the play Nicodemus traces the prophecies that pointed to this.

The prophecies that God had decreed that this would be the case. This was always the plan for the

Son of God and man. Fifth, predestination and creaturely freedom are both taught in Acts 4.

The theological term for this is compatibilism. Some of you said when I taught this before that you thought

I made up that word. I did not make up compatibilism. That is a term. It means that human freedom and divine sovereignty are compatible.

Although they are an antinomy and we can't get our minds around how they fit together.

Deuteronomy 29 .29. The secret things belong to the Lord our God. But those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.

In the play I noticed how one was calling out, we teach our children these things.

I know that this is difficult and I warned the teenagers in the class before.

You're gonna find today's sermon difficult, and I'm glad. Because if you just take a little bit of this truth and grab on to it, it'll be more than what you had because this truth is difficult, and it's okay if you don't get everything.

I'm not just gonna repeat the very simple elementary teachings according to Hebrews 6, but move on to meet beyond the milk.

Because this is where depth in your relationship with God comes from. I think it's not too hard to grow a megachurch in this country.

I think all you need to do is shallow it out and water it down. And you can grow in numbers very easily, but to grow in depth takes pressure downward.

Into the text. It takes diving in and learning and going deeper and that takes work and effort in the text.

Contend with this. Struggle with this. Verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

Sixth, this teaching that whatever God has predestined to take place includes the salvation of man.

And of course, you know the acronym TULIP, or maybe you've heard of that. Maybe you haven't. That refers to God's saving sinners and him uniquely being the one to do that.

His force alone being what saves sinners. We won't go into that today, but to just point out that this is a subset of the larger biblical teaching.

Total depravity, Romans 8, 7. Man is not even able to do it. To believe, not even able to please

God through faith. You, unconditional election, is taught in Ephesians 1, 4.

He has predestined us in Christ. We're the object of that predestination, unconditionally, before the world began.

Third, what's unfortunately called L, limited atonement. Better said, definite atonement, because there's no limit in what

God was able to do. Listen, God did more than what most evangelicals think.

He didn't just make man savable. He saved on the cross. He accomplished redemption in his blood on the tree.

And what is the limit? It's not to the value of Jesus's blood. Jesus's blood is so valuable, it can atone for all the sins of all people in any world in this universe, for all time.

The value of his blood is not questioned. The issue is intention.

For whom did Jesus intend his blood? And that's taught very clearly in John 10, verse 11.

I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd lays down his life for his sheep. And then later, verse 26, why is it that some don't believe you are not my sheep?

That's why you don't believe. Don't flip those two things. So the scripture teaches limited atonement, definite atonement, better said.

I stands for irresistible grace, that God's grace is irresistible. John 6 44, no one comes unless the

Father draws. And if he draws, they will be raised up. It's a certainty that the ones drawn of the

Father will be raised up on that last day, John 6 44. And P Perseverance, of course,

Ephesians 1, 13 and 14, teaches that he seals and keeps us for that day. Jude 1 24, he's able to keep us from stumbling and present us blameless before him on that day.

So yes, those are biblical doctrines. But the salvation of a particular people that God has predestined from before the foundation of the world is only a subset of this larger teaching.

What I'm telling you is that everything has been predestined. Not just the salvation of the elect, but every hair that falls from your head, and every tear that you cry, and even the sinful most wicked things that were ever done in the history of the world, and the sparrow that falls and dies.

It's an antinomy. We can't understand how it is that God holds us responsible when he is the one in control.

But don't sacrifice his control on the altar of human freedom. God is in control.

And so now we move to that last point that all scripture being God -breathed harmonizes with what is taught here.

Right here, taught in the text, our text, the Word of God, Acts 4 28, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

That correlates with the scriptures in general. How so? Well, I'll give you seven.

I won't have time to talk about each. You can breathe a sigh of relief. Take a breath.

You have it in your notes. Seven passages that I would like you to study, to see if these things are so.

Acts 17 11, be a Berean. Test these things to see if they're so. In Ephesians 1 11, we're told that God works all things according to the counsel of his will.

It's in the context of predestination. I mean Ephesians 1 4 and moving on.

It's not just that we're an elect people who believe in Christ, but all things happen according to the counsel of his will.

Proverbs 16 33, and we should remember this because we studied Acts chapter 1.

How did they decide between between Matthias and the other option? When they couldn't tell any biblical difference between them.

They cast lots. Proverbs 16 33 says the lot is cast in the lap.

But it's every decision is from the Lord. Even the most seemingly random occurrences in this world according to Proverbs 16 33 are from the

Lord. Daniel 4 35, even that King Nebuchadnezzar after he was driven to madness when he came back into that same mind.

He says this, all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing and he,

God, does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of earth.

And none can stay his hand or say to him, what have you done? God's will is being done perfectly.

John 6, I'm sorry, Psalm 115 3, our God is in the heavens. He does all that he pleases.

We talked about John 6 44, but John 6 37 through 44, all that the

Father gives me will come to me and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. You have both there, the sovereignty of God, the ones given by the

Father will come and the free offer of salvation appealing to the will.

Whoever comes I will not cast out. The two married together in John 6 37. Genesis 50 20, the intentions of those wicked brothers of Joseph.

Selling them to slavery. Think of the horrors that Joseph went through.

When he sees his brothers, he says you meant it for evil, but God meant it for good.

He intended it. He meant it. Genesis 50 20 and then Isaiah 10 5 to 15.

You have an Assyrian army bearing down on Israel and God says he sends that army to judge and to destroy in Israel and yet he will hold the king of Assyria responsible for the intentions of his own heart.

So he is still responsible for killing and destroying Israel, yet God is the one that sent him to do it.

Isaiah 10 5 to 15. And so now I left some time more than usual to make application to this text because like I said,

I think this is where I've fallen down in the past. I'm passionate about these truths because I think it it helps.

I know what it's done in my life, but I want as a pastor,

I want to shepherd you in this way and say to you that if you will take the time to review these texts and bear down into them, these are ways it will change your life.

Number one, better sleep at night. Look at chapter 4 verse 25.

Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain?

The Apostles are quoting from Psalm chapter 2. In the plotting and the evil intentions of wicked hearts,

God laughs. He has decreed what will come to pass and the wicked maneuvering of people comes to nothing.

There's nothing to fear. Sleep well at night because God is sovereign.

Number two, improved mental health. Verse 24 and 25, when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said,

Sovereign Lord, when struggle hits you, look at verse 23, you go talk to your friends.

But if you leave it at talking, you undermine your own healing.

Talk to friends, but pray together. Turn to the sovereign

God who holds all these things in his plan. Learn to go together and pray.

Number three, joy even in suffering. Look at Acts 4 31, when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the

Holy Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.

The Apostles were experiencing joy in the movement of the

Spirit in their lives. Joy is a result of this kind of theology.

Four, calm in the face of opposition. Look how they look upon real threats and yet remain calm.

These are the people who crucified their Lord. And yet so calmly they say, judge for yourselves whether we should listen to you or to God.

We cannot help but speak the name of Jesus. This calmness in the face of opposition, 429.

Number five, optimism about what the future finally holds. If it's God who's working all these things together in your life, yes, he will bring you through the valley of vision as Michael read from today, the valley of the shadow of death.

Yes, he will bring trials, but when you recognize that every trial that's coming into your life is not just from man, that can be true too, but God has allowed it to come to you for a purpose.

Everything happens for a purpose. There is a meaning in all that happens under the sun.

When you gain that perspective, it changes your life. It really does. Your reactions will be different.

You will become an optimistic person. Not optimistic about this world and what tomorrow might hold, but knowing that the

God of Romans 828, who works all things together for good, will work it together in the end. And though you may have to go through suffering, you trust that he is a good

God. Spend time in this text, and this is the result for you.

But now notice five points that seem counterintuitive. The more you rest in the sovereignty of God, the stronger your work ethic will be.

Notice in verse 31, they're continuing to speak. They've been oppressed, and they've been pressed down.

They turn to the sovereignty of God. That's the Apostles prayer. They confess him as sovereign, the maker of all things, who governs all things, who fulfills these decrees of Psalm chapter 2, who predestined all things.

What's the result? These are the hardest working men you'll meet. Every one of them going to their death. Working till the end.

Even John out on Patmos still working as a 90 -something year old man. Driven, passionate.

This is the result of these doctrines. Seems counterintuitive. Refusal of a victim mentality.

That's what this world is pushing on us now. That everybody's a victim. Except for white men, you know, in America today.

Because they're the oppressor. You've always got to have an oppressor and a victim. The Bible says no to that.

Look to God. Turn your eyes off of man. A refusal of victim mentality.

Because it's God's hand and plan that predestines whatever happens. There's no victims in this system of theology.

Yes, there are sufferers, and we suffer sometimes righteously, sometimes unrighteously.

We are both sufferers and those who trust in God. It's not that that there's no such thing as oppression.

There is oppression. But no matter what comes of us, whether you're a slave oppressed by a ruthless master, or whether any other thing happens in your life, you refuse to be a victim.

This is the fruit of this theology. Again, counterintuitively, a higher priority given to prayer.

The context of Acts 4, 23 to 31, is prayer. Yes, it's a confession of sovereignty.

That's what they pray, but don't miss the fact that these are a people of prayer. These are the ones who show up on a

Sunday night to pray because they want to be in prayer. Go deeper in your theology, you'll be more likely to be at a prayer meeting.

I guarantee you. As counterintuitive as that sounds. You'll love to pray.

Because you'll recognize, see this is what it is. You begin to see God in everything.

The atheist says there is no God. He sees God nowhere. This system of theology sees

God everywhere. And everything depends on him. And we have access to him by prayer.

And so prayer becomes so central in your life. This is what they do. They're praying.

Two more things. Boldness in evangelism. Charles Spurgeon. One of the boldest evangelistic preachers of all time.

Jonathan Edwards with his sinners in the hands of an angry God. The spider dangling over the fire. Calling people to repent and believe.

A passion for souls. Witnessing day after day after day and no sign of slowing down. That comes from theology.

Did you know that? Counterintuitively, it comes from a higher view of God and a lower view of man.

That's what that caused. Spurgeon said that Whitfield, other men just live, but Whitfield seemed to be truly alive.

In fact, he said other men seem to be half -dead, but Whitfield is fully alive. He is all life, all power, all fire, all fury.

Where did that zeal to evangelize come from? Listen to Whitfield. He never preached a sermon without talking about the sovereignty of God.

Counterintuitively. Finally, a pioneering missionary spirit. What sends a young man to India in pursuit of souls?

What theology drives him there? Counterintuitively, it's a spirit filling that comes from a high view of God.

Seeking God in prayer, he pours out. That boldness is granted. Did you notice that in the text?

They pray. Verse 29, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness.

In closing, are you hearing what the culture is saying?

Do you realize that I think 4 ,000 churches close every month and only 2 ,700 open?

Have you noticed that our culture is departing from Christianity? Do you realize the opposition that we truly face on a day like this?

Do you realize what our children are up against? The remedy is not to water down the message.

The remedy is to push in deeper. To ground them in the deeper truths of the word.

I'm calling the worship team to come up. I have a prayer that I want you to pray. It's found right there in Acts chapter 4.

If you've been fighting against this doctrine, read it in the text and talk to God about it.

Like Spurgeon said, if you don't like preachers talking about it, complain to him.

But I know that this church likes it. Because this church loves the Word of God. This church has always been founded on the

Word of God. And so we don't run from texts like this. We accept them and we embrace them and we love them and we treasure them.

This is the sovereignty of God. Let's pray. Father, we look into Acts chapter 4 and we are taught by the

Apostles that you do whatever your hand and your plan predestines to take place.

God, that blows our minds. We cannot understand that and yet you teach us that again and again in your

Word. Help us to hold that truth with one hand and evangelism with the other.

Human responsibility to go out preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Lord, I pray for us as a people, as a church, that we will treasure your

Word and every truth found in it. And I pray God that you will make us a people that truly trusts in you.

Not man -centered, not stirred up by problems and issues in our own lives, but a people who see you everywhere, in everything.

A people that trusts in you, that trusts your hand like Nehemiah and Ezra and the hand of the

Lord was upon them to do these great things. We trust your hand. God, we trust your plan, your decree.

Help us, God, to trust. God, we pray that you would make each one of us like the apostles.

This morning, stir us up to boldness. We can't manufacture that on our own.

It doesn't come from within us. Lord, we need you right now to shake this place like you shook the place where they were meeting and stir up a zeal in your people.

A deep love for truth. Sanctify us by your truth. Your Word is truth.

Fill us with your Holy Spirit and send us out to preach the good news in Jesus' name.