Obey God Rather Then Men — Shane Idleman

The Duty to Obey God Rather Than Men

The title of the message is obey God rather than men. Obey God rather than men. And where that comes from is Acts five. We're gonna be in Acts chapter five verse 29. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men.

So the context is interesting because we say that, now that sounds interesting. I mean, I could say that, but these people are standing against the officials that could throw them in jail. Technically could kill them.

But he's standing in front of policemen, a modern day policeman, and he's saying, we're not going to obey you, we're going to obey God. And that's the context. So I'm gonna get into that in a minute. But when he says we ought to obey God, I want you to remember this.

This is not, the word ought is not neutral here. You know, we're saying, hey, you ought to go here, or you ought to consider this. It's not that type of ought. This is a responsibility. It means to be bound in duty by moral obligation.

So in the same way that a soldier is bound by duty to the armed forces, guess what you are bound to? God, to do what? To present the gospel, to go out and to make a difference. We are bound. It's not like you ought to do this.

The ought there means we are bound to do this. And if we think about it, I was just thinking about those songs we were singing, It's Well With My Soul, and the little baby being born. And if you picture that, I just hold a five-month-old yesterday, and just looking at that life, and that was born to die.

That was given for me to not die eternally. So I'm bound. It shouldn't be like, oh, I'm bound. I ought to do this. I have to do this for the person who bought me with a price. So that's what the picture he's painting here.

Jesus was obedient unto death, even death on a cross. We forget that, that he had to fulfill the will of God through obedience. And while we're on this topic, obedience leads to the filling of the Spirit as well as knowing God's will.

If you want to be filled with the Spirit, and you want to know God's will, guess what? We have to be obedient. And sometimes the church has made that into a bad word. Like, oh, we gotta obey, we gotta do this.

But really, it's allowing God to work through you, and being in a position of obedience is being filled with the Spirit, so now I can do the will of God. I can speak boldly because of obedience. I can live my life for Christ.

I have tremendous joy and peace because of that word obedience. So the disciples here said, obey God rather than men. That's what we need to do. So what does that look like? Well, let's get to it. Acts 5, verse 22.

The Apostles' Deliverance and Bold Witness

The apostles are on trial again. But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, indeed, we found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.

So it's like prisoners here going to our local station, being locked up in jail. You've got the LA County Sheriff sitting outside. There's no way they're getting out. They go to get these prisoners because of their arraignment, and they're not there.

Where did they go? They just vanished. They've disappeared. So that's what's happening. Now, when the high priest and the captain of the temple, he was in charge of the temple guards, and the chief priest heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be.

I bet they did. Here's their prisoners, gone, and they're wondering, well, I don't know what's going to happen. So somebody came and told them, saying, look, the men who you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

So it's interesting. They were released from prison. What would most of us do? I'm getting as far away from, but they went back to the temple. They went back to the temple. And this was so interesting today, this week, actually.

Boldness Comes from the Spirit and the Word

Studying the Sermon on the Parallel sometimes are amazing, because I'll get Facebook messages. What seminary did you go to? Who are you to say this and that? And what, you know, this and that? We have to remember, as believers, you don't go and talk to somebody because of your master's degree.

You don't come with your PhD in your back pocket. You don't have to be a president of a Bible college. You come in the authority of the Word of God. That's your authority, and the truth just stands. So that's all they were doing.

They were uneducated and untrained men. They were going, how are these people uneducated and untrained men? But wait a minute, they'd been with Jesus three years. These men were filled with the Spirit of God, so they came with the boldness and the authority of God's Word.

That's all you had to do. That's it. You don't have to worry about this and that. I'm not qualified. That's the enemy. You're just a little child. A little child has more boldness than us. They'll boldly talk about Jesus Christ.

I've got my kids inviting everybody to the Christmas thing on the 18th. Teachers and this, and gymnastics instructors. I'm like, I'm embarrassed. But that childlike faith, and it's interesting. When I met with that priest on Friday, this is what makes them squirm in the seats.

This is what they can't answer. And it was getting a little, you know, he was upset and irritated, and I said, I told him, I said, with all due respect, if you have the truth and I'm on my way to hell, why can't you sit and dialogue?

I said, the reason is because truth invites scrutiny. Error runs from it. You just bring the truth with the power of the Spirit. See, I've heard people bring the truth, and it's just, you might as well just go sit at a cemetery.

Because there's no power in it. There's no spiritual unction. See, the Pharisees had the word of God. Jesus said, oh, do what they tell you to do. But don't do what they do. They are blind leading the blind.

There's no spiritual power. The letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. They're both together. You have to have the word of God with the power of the Holy Spirit, and it's like dynamite. It'll just knock them down because of that boldness.

So here we are, the men that were put in prison are standing back in the temple and teaching the people. Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned.

And when they had brought them, and they set them before the council, and the high priest asked them, saying, did we not strictly command you not to teach in his name? And look, you have filled all of Jerusalem with this doctrine, and you intend to bring this man's blood on us.

Witnessing, Fear, and the Great Commission

Couple things. Fear is the reason we don't share. Isn't it? Me too. Oh, goodness gracious, yes. Often, it's fear because we don't share. We don't wanna, fear prevents us from sharing, but faith is the opposite of fear.

And as you spend time in God's word, as you obey his principles, as you're filled with the spirit, you have to share. It's a byproduct of being filled with the spirit. So anytime we're very fearful, you have to wonder where that fear is coming from.

Often, it's coming from because we're not spending time with God. See, the more time I spend with God, the fuller I become of his spirit and you. That's one wonderful mark of obedience is being filled with the spirit.

Now, wisdom is needed here because you have to be strategic. When you're witnessing to people, I talked about last week, I'm not sure about the shotgun approach. You know, you have people just putting Jesus in everybody's face all the time.

Now, if God calls somebody to do that, that's wonderful, but often, there's strategic times where God will bring somebody in your life, he'll bring a circumstance, a situation into your life and giving you a platform to speak the truth to somebody.

An open door here, a closed door here, he brings and there's a platform for you to speak. And that's what they were given, a wonderful platform to present God's word. A relationship was built sometimes with people and then you're able to speak boldly in God's, with God's word.

Interesting, they said, the religious leader said, you have filled all of Jerusalem with your doctrine. You have filled all of Jerusalem and immediately, I thought of what we read months ago, Acts 1 -8, but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you and you will be what?

Witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now, this is interesting because this is actually a good platform for missions. If you, Jerusalem, you have Jerusalem here, the message is starting in Jerusalem.

You have Judea underneath Jerusalem, a lot of Jews were there. But then you have Samaria up above and that was what they would call half-breeds. The Jewish people would marry into the people of the land there, the different religions and they were not Jews, they didn't consider them Jews.

So Jesus is saying, go to Jerusalem, go to Judea, go to Samaria, and then go all to out the ends of the earth. So you have to answer this question, are you involved somehow in getting the gospel out there?

If you're not, you're missing one great commandment, to go and get it to Jerusalem, to get it locally, to get it out to the nations. That's what we're called to do, we miss that commission. We miss that we're supposed to get this out.

Filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. What is doctrine? Doctrine is a set of beliefs. So every religion has their doctrine. So what we do, what you want to do is make sure you have the correct doctrine.

Correct? We don't want to have the wrong doctrine, the wrong teaching. And this is why the inerrancy of scripture is so important, that we look to this as the final authority. Because without this, you have no authority.

Everything contradicts itself on every point. So let me take this long rabbit trail here. And the reason I want to talk about meeting with that Catholic priest, actually for two reasons. Number one, I don't like to just sit and pick apart other religions and other things, and it's not my heart, really.

I mean, I asked my wife, believe it or not, I don't want to debate, I don't want to argue, I don't want to be in your face. But God often calls us to boldly and confidently show the difference with scripture and what they're teaching.

Now if I didn't have, if I didn't do that, if I just said, well, that's gonna offend a lot of people, then I should just go get Sunday morning television, right? Where you're not offending too many people.

And God calls us to show a difference, and I'll talk about Mormonism or Jehovah Witness or different religions, and just all we're doing is showing what the Bible says and showing what this other group teaches.

The Gospel Versus Added Religious Traditions

Now how did this whole meeting come about? I did not really go out of my way to do this. I was asked to speak at a pastor's gathering in Santa Clarita on the issue of abortion and motivating pastors to take a bold stance, and there was a priest in the audience there.

And he was clearly touched. Like, you could see tears, he's wiping away tears. He wanted to talk to me afterwards. He was so touching, I'm so motivated. I'm like, what is going on here? This is interesting.

I mean, you'd think he'd be, you know, just like, who's this guy? Obviously I didn't get into the Reformation and Sola Scriptura and Catholic tradition, things like that, I just preached like I normally would.

And so that started the conversation, and then one of his parishioners came to me and asked, well, why can't you and Catholics just get along? Like, why can't we just put all of our differences aside?

So, well, where can I start? It was all very cordial, very nice, and I started with Mariology. I started with Mary and Purgatory and all these things, and they said, well, that's, you know, she said, that's taught.

You have to go to Purgatory to have your sins be purged of your sins, your guilt and your shame. And I'm like, well, what was the point of the cross? Why do Jesus and something else? Because you have to remember something.

The whole point in Galatians, when Paul says that if an angel or anything preaches any other gospel than what we have preached, let them be accursed. What was he talking about? Galatian, he was saying, who has bewitched you?

Are you going to finish in the flesh what began in the spirit? So the church in Galatia was adding these things to the gospel. Yes, Jesus plus this. Yes, Jesus plus this. And anytime you do that, that's another gospel because the gospel is complete.

Christ is an all-sufficient Savior. My debt has been paid in full and so is yours. There's no purging that needs to take place. So that's where, that's where the conversation started. She said, would you like to speak to, can you speak to my priest about these issues?

I'm like, hmm, this'll be interesting. Sure, I'd love to do that. Now, this next part, I've been praying about it all week. And I'm like, I don't know, I might offend some people, maybe not, maybe like, uh-oh.

But I just need to share my heart and hopefully it'll help some people. But I was actually gonna counsel this appointment. I'm like, I'm not gonna waste my time, what's the point? This is, Morgan, remember, I just was so excited.

This one day, it's Thursday, I'm gonna counsel or I'm hoping they're counseling. God, can you just have them email me? This is a waste, who's gonna, it's an hour away, he's got 5 ,000 people, like, he's gonna convert me and I'm gonna convert him?

I mean, it's just pointless. But I was really going for the lady. But then right at that moment, I go, oh, that's right. I ran to my journal and a year ago, December 11th, well, it's today, actually, right?

2015, I woke up at 2 a .m. and had a dream that I was preaching to a couple dozen priests. They began to walk away, but other people began to gather and you would see people being changed by the gospel.

I wrote that in my journal at two in the morning. I don't write stuff like that very often. And I go, I can't believe this, I'm going tomorrow. I'm ready now, you're not gonna, a flat tire's not gonna stop me.

But that's on that point that we talked about, dreams are different things. They never make you do anything. You don't get weird by it, but it's a great confirmation. I've never dreamt anything like that in my life, enough to wake me up, get up, and write it down.

Because why am I, this is the weirdest thing ever. I could see this now playing out. And now I'm gonna meet with a different one down there later because of this interest. So that's how it came about.

Scripture as the Final Authority

Now the main point is this. The whole thing I started out is we cannot believe the Bible and the traditions of the church. In the same way, I cannot believe the Bible and other books of other religions.

You can't believe both, you can't have both. One is authoritative and the other must come underneath it. When it comes underneath it and you see it's an error, you throw it away. That's how Christianity was built.

And they begin to chide me a little bit, saying, you know, I had two of them there, the lady and him, and well, you just, you've only been around since Martin Luther, the Protestant Reformation, oh, whew, whew, whew.

No, we go back 2 ,000 years to Christ. He is our head, he is our king, he is everything. The church founded in whatever day he founded the church. We don't have a correct day, but that's when the church was founded.

Around 350 AD, the Roman government married the church and all the corruption began to come in. Constantine would bring in different things. And if I had time, we could go through, it's called Issus, I-S-I-S, that this Egyptian goddess was called Mother of Heaven.

But all these things that they attacked to marry came from that time period. So the church started to get really drifting away. So the Reformation, Protestant means protest. So the Protestants were protesting.

You had Martin Luther in Germany and Urich Zwingli, Switzerland, John Calvin in Switzerland. Urich Zwingli was, forget where he was at in a different area, Switzerland, that's right, and Geneva, John Calvin, and then John Knox, Scotland, you had John Hus, William Tyndale, even earlier than that.

So they're all going, hold on, back, back to Scripture, back to Scripture, we have to come back to the Scripture, we're going way out there. The perpetual virginity of Mary means she was always a virgin, always.

Immaculate conception means that she was conceived without sin, that she was, so was her parents without sin? So you gotta follow this back and you realize that you can't have two authorities. But the Catholic Church would say that the church is the pillar of the truth.

Look at Shane, do your research. Right, 1 Timothy 3 .15, the church is the pillar in support of the truth. But what does a pillar do? The pillar holds up the truth. So the church is to hold up the truth and everything else comes underneath it.

But the papacy, the Roman Catholic Church, and he said this, that you have to remove, that the Bible is our only infallible rule of truth. You have to take up that word only because decrees from the papacy are equal with Scripture.

So that's where it all starts. And you can throw in things like the Mary adoration and begin to elevate her and all these things that the Bible says the complete opposite. The Pope is preserved from the possibility of error when in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority, he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church.

So that would actually in many cases supersede the Scripture. So that's the dilemma with pastors talking about this is because you see a group of people that are in a lot of error, a lot of error. And actually it got to where he wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise.

I said, with all due respect, I just gave you 20 minutes. Now give me 20 minutes to hear me out. And the saddest part of this whole thing is I said, when did you repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ?

And he kind of wiggled, he said, do you mean when I became a priest? Like, no, when did you repent of your sin and believe in Jesus Christ? And kind of took a rabbit trail, and I'm like, oh my God, is it possible?

Is it possible? Yes, it's possible. Yes, because that's what I mean by religion and not a relationship. Religion and not a relationship. Do you know that when they take their vow, they take a vow of alter Christus, another Christ?

And during communion, when that body of Jesus is sacrificed every single time they take communion, they are operating as alter Christus, another Christ. They are breaking the bread and the blood of Christ.

They're putting him on the altar again and again and again. That's why you'll see the Catholic Church, the whole service is surrounded on mass. But the Protestant churches, or historical Christianity is really what I use, is surrounded around the word of God.

So they elevate this to being his actual blood and body from John six, that Jesus said, unless you eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you'll have no portion in me. All you have to do is read a few verses earlier.

When Jesus talks about the manna that comes down from heaven whoever partakes of me, believes in me, has received me, it has nothing to do with the literal, the body and blood, and they put Christ on the altar again.

His blood's being shed again, and they're operating as another priest, putting Christ on the altar. Now you understand why they have to go to communion. Every week, I sinned this week, I gotta get to communion.

I sinned this week, I gotta get communion. See, none of that is scriptural. The finished work of the cross is done, it's complete. So we take communion to remember the cross, not to put Christ back on it.

So you look at tradition, you look at the word of God, it's very simple. Christ is the only head of the church. Christ is the only head of the church, and I asked about the priest being confession, and confession, and confession.

Actually, back up a little bit. Altar Christus, another Christ, I almost thought lighting bolts were gonna come out of the ceiling. I was backing away because I can't even believe, and I said, this is borderline blasphemy, this is heretical.

Heresy means a self-willed opinion that opposes the truth. So somebody has a self-willed opinion that opposes the truth, it's heretical. That's where the word comes from, there's nothing wrong with saying that.

So ironically, I'm sitting there, and they told Martin Luther in 1517 that he needs to recant, and I'm thinking, no, no, you need to recant. You need to go back to the point of scripture, and he said, but God is revealing through the pope, through the Holy Spirit, truth on a consistent basis.

No, it's not, it's been revealed already. There's no scriptural support for celibacy. The priests were actually supposed to marry in the Old Testament. Do you have any, maybe this is where something that perversion is coming from?

I mean, this isn't the priest now that all these child abuse things are coming out, and I don't say that to make fun, I say it because you're going against the word of God, and all sorts of perversions will prevail.

Did you plan that? Oh, my goodness. I knew this was gonna be a tough one, and you have to understand, because what I did not want to do is be another person that pokes fun at the Roman Catholic Church, but when you have priests that aren't saved, when you have millions of people that aren't saved, we have an obligation, whether it sticks or not, to say, have you considered, have you considered that you might be caught in a false religious system?

Yes, yes, you are caught. What about, this is another sad part, purge. You know what purgatory is? That you actually, you have to go to purgatory and be purged of your sin. So, but if you look at Scripture, all Scripture, that we are set free because of the blood of Christ.

He paid the price, he, propitiation, he took the wrath of God. The scapegoat that's in the Old Testament, the sin and guilt, that's what the scapegoat was. They would put the sin and the guilt of the people, and they would let that goat go free, showing that the guilt and shame has been removed.

And I said, well, we don't need this. He goes, but what do I do with all this guilt and shame I'm feeling? What does he do? The priest, you, I don't know, you point 5 ,000 people in the right direction, hopefully you know.

But I said, that's where the blood of Christ comes in. You repent of your sin and you believe. There's no additional purging. You don't need a mediator, you don't need to sit and confess to a priest. You need to go straight to the throne room of grace because of the shed blood of Jesus Christ.

Listen, that blood is so powerful. That blood is so powerful that demons have to flee. Demons tremble in his presence. You can mention every other name but Jesus Christ, and you will upset. You will upset people.

Justification by Faith and the Finished Work of Christ

Listen to God rather than men. Salvation by works. Now, this is an interesting one because the Roman Catholic Church, well, at least he said that they do not believe in salvation by works, but if you read, just go online and read Catholic Doctrine.

If you die in a state before confession and communion, you've created certain sins, you will go to hell or you will be purged of those sins, and good works keep us in a state of justification. Jane, that's a big word, what's it mean?

Justification means just as if I had never sinned because Christ paid that penalty, the blood of Christ. I am justified, you are justified. It's called imputed righteousness. You take on the righteousness of Christ.

I don't deserve it, I don't understand it. I'm a sheer emotional mess when I think about it. But you can stand before him so our good works don't continue to justify us. I gotta stay good works. Have I been good enough that's gonna justify me someday?

No, it's already been paid. I walk and stand before God justified, and because of that, I want to work. I want to do good things for the one who set me free and saved me. So works, the Bible says that you work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.

You don't work for it, and you don't have to continue in it to sustain salvation. And I'm so glad I went because I never realized that the depth, because you hear things, right? I've never had the opportunity to sit down for two hours and just ask these questions.

And this is huge, though, this is another gospel. Like, well, not everybody believes in merry worship and different, well, you might want to take 14 of the statues down from the campus then. You might want to go and take some of the things off of the website, such as the Council of Ephesus.

Antipas of Bostra, a father in the Council of Ephesus, said, merry hell, you who acceptably intercede as mediator for mankind. This is another gospel. This is another gospel, and I talk to people all the time, all the time, they say, I was Catholic, but are you Christian?

I love Catholicism, but do you love Christ? You see what this is about? What it is, it's a man-made rules and regulations. I'm doing this, I'm doing this, I've got to get here, I've got to do this, I've got to do this, that's why there's no power with it.

And I say, with all due respect, sir, I've never heard a priest preach a powerful sermon. Why? Because they don't have the Spirit of God in them. You can quote Latin and say, Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed are thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.

And that's a vain repetition. There's no power in that. So you look at everything through the light of Scripture, and let that be the final authority. Anybody, anybody, and obviously he's getting a little upset, and I didn't talk like this, I was a little softer, of course, but I kept saying, but Scripture, but look at this, but papal authority says this, but how can you have two authorities?

And what I realized is, they're not an equal playing field. They put the Word of God under here, and make it convenient to fit their ideology, and their theology. So who are you going to listen to, God or man?

Who are you going to listen to? Are you going to listen to God or man? Because who you listen to is who you obey, isn't it? Who you listen to is who you obey. And sometimes God will open that door, and it's fear that stops us.

It's fear that prevents us from sharing that wonderful good news. Back to Acts 5 .29. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. There it is. So they just asked him, what are you doing, Peter?

What are you guys doing? You need to stop this. But Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered. Man, these guys wouldn't cut it today.

They'd be too hardcore. You gotta soften it up a little bit, Shane. Don't be so, man, no, that's what they did. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him, God has exalted to the right hand to be prince and savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sin.

And we are his witness to these things. And so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Now, back what I was saying earlier. The God of our fathers has raised up Jesus who you murdered by hanging on a tree.

Preaching Truth with Love Rather Than Seeker Sensitivity

And I thought about many years ago, some of you remember something, a movement out there that was called the seeker-sensitive movement. And I'm gonna be careful, because there's two sides of it, and there's good men divided on it.

But the point was, really, the point was you've gotta make church seeker-sensitive. You mean, boy, I wouldn't talk about half of what I just talked about if I'm trying to be sensitive. You have to be sensitive to those that are coming in.

You don't wanna step on that toe. You don't wanna step on that toe. You don't wanna close that door. So what's there left to talk about? It's fluff. And it's appealing. Everything's, it's seeker-sensitive.

Now, granted, do I wanna be sensitive to the seeker? Of course. We don't wanna blow them out of the water. We wanna be sensitive to what they're going through, sensitive to how they were raised, sensitive to the single mom who's trying to raise three kids who needs to be encouraged.

And we wanna be sensitive to all these things. But when we design our whole church service and our sermon around being sensitive to those who are not believers, you miss the whole point of preaching. The whole point of preaching is to encourage when it's time to encourage, to discourage when it's time to discourage, to build up and to pull down.

Actually, when God called Jeremiah, he called him in his youth. He said, before I formed you in the womb, Jeremiah, I knew you and I called you to be a prophet from among the nations. Jeremiah said, I am just a youth.

I can't do this. He said, no, you will do it. You will go to who I sent you and you will say what I tell you to say. You will pluck out and you will root up. You will build up and you will destroy. That's the call of preaching often.

So we're sensitive, we love you. Everybody's welcome. But you can't affirm every lifestyle. You can't avoid difficult truths because the word of God is supposed to go, oh, ow. I mean, that's how often a person's convicted.

They're not convicted only by just saying nothing and hope, man, you might want to try to read this someday and hope they just stumble on page 1 ,200 and write. The word of God tells us to talk to people and tell them, do you know that this is true?

Do you know that unless you repent of your sin, you are lost and oh, but Shane, that hurts. Yes, it hurts. Of course it hurts. So does surgery to remove the cancer. That little baby you're holding, what did that feel like five months ago when you had that baby?

It hurt. So pain often propels us in the right direction. So never be scared to tell people the truth, but be very careful. Be sensitive, be loving, be understanding, be gracious. And still, you can hold your ground.

God's Law Above Human Authority

This is interesting. This would be a whole sermon if I had time and we are witnesses to the things and we are his witnesses. The apostles are saying we are his witnesses to these things. We saw Jesus rise again.

We saw Jesus visit us. He commissioned us. We've seen signs and miracles. We are his witnesses. But then he says, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey him. Now the whole context here, we ought to obey God rather than men.

The whole context there is this law supersedes man's law. It used to be when the nation was founded that this was the foundation which every other law was built on. So this law supersedes God's law. I mean, God's law supersedes man's law.

That's the context. We have to obey God rather than men. So if we get pressure soon from the Supreme Court, should I start doing gay marriage weddings here on Saturdays? Why not, guys? That's not very loving.

Come on now, what's wrong with all of you guys? I can't do it. I can't do that. This has to, so the whole thing of civil disobedience, we don't recommend that. It's not a good thing. We're actually supposed to submit to government and submit to the authorities.

But when that authority tells you to do something that God has clearly told you to do, then that's where God's law supersedes. And we see this in all areas of our lives, don't we? At work many times. And you wanna be careful.

You wanna be sensitive. You wanna be led by the Holy Spirit. But that's the context is God's law is on top of everything else. And the church actually is that pillar that supports that truth. Now, here's a biggie.

Repentance, Faith, and the Gift of the Holy Spirit

So also is the Holy Spirit God has given to those who obey him. Now, unless I'm wrong here, and I could be, the context is that the Holy Spirit, once a person believes and is born again, the Holy Spirit resides within that person.

They are given to that person. The Holy Spirit cries out, but Father, the Holy Spirit bears witness that I am a child of God and that you are a child of God. So as that, the Holy Spirit, he's saying here, also bears witness that what is happening is true.

So not only do you have the disciples bearing witness, you have the Holy Spirit bearing witness in this whole event here that is true. So when a person believes in Jesus and the Holy Spirit comes and resides in them, that is the witness that these things are true.

That's why you cannot argue a lot of these things with atheists or agnostics or different people. They don't wanna, you're arguing because they don't have the Spirit of God. Nothing bears witness. So that's one of the greatest arguments, apologetics for the Christian faith is a changed life, a radically changed life, because now the Holy Spirit bears witness with God that I am a child of God.

And that Holy Spirit bearing witness with himself is confirmation. So that's what he's saying here. The Holy Spirit is bearing witness to this and he is given to those who obey God. If you have to rewind back a little bit, Acts 3, I believe it was 319, where Peter said repent and believe and you will experience times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.