Acts - The Realization
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Recap:
Recap:
Peter and John were recognized as followers of Jesus:
Lived in the Spirit, they were bold, they proclaimed Christ
Were imprisoned overnight, were threatened to stop preaching about Jesus, and then were let go
Intro:
Intro:
We are going to see two things tonight from this passage:
1. The believers continued realization and understanding of who God is
2. What the believers do with this information
And we are then going to see how this can apply to our lives
Let’s read together
1. A Prayerful People
1. A Prayerful People
Right off the bat here we see, AGAIN (with sarcasm/drama), that the believers were gathered together, and lifted their voices up in prayer
It’s not coincidental that all through Acts the past couple months prayer has been a dominant theme
And it’s also not at all ironic that a group of people living in constant prayer were absolutely flipping their world upside down for Jesus Christ
We struggle so so bad with this for two reasons I think:
1. We think we are in control
2. We’re afraid to give up control because of what it could cost us
2. Sovereign Lord
2. Sovereign Lord
Notice the believers first words in corporate prayer.... “Sovereign Lord”
They knew God was Sovereign.
Now, we throw this word sovereign around quite a lot, I know I do, but tonight I want to try to really get you to understand what it truly means.
Because I’m convinced, we have to come to terms with this piece of doctrine if we are going to live lives full of the Spirit, boldly, proclaiming Christ
Sovereign:
What we mean by God is sovereign is this:
God finally and decisively controls everything in the world, from the millions of galaxies of stars in the sky, to the smallest dust mite that floats around in your room as the sun shines through the window
Charles Spurgeon, a great preacher from the 1800’s says this, “I believe that every particle of dust that dances in the sunbeam does not move an atom more or less than God wishes – that every particle of spray that dashes against the steamboat has its orbit, as well as the sun in the heavens – that the chaff from the hand of the winnower is steered as the stars in their courses. The creeping of an aphid over the rosebud is as much fixed as the march of the devastating pestilence – the fall of . . . leaves from a poplar is as fully ordained as the tumbling of an avalanche.”
God controls absolutely everything
This is comforting to us. Many of us in here call ourselves believers, people who’s eternal state rests in this God, this is great news for us.
, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”
The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2016). (). Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles.
But, the idea of God’s sovereignty can also be confusing to us can’t it?
The believers here in Acts, understood God was all powerful creator God as well, verse 24 tells us that, but they also understood if you look at verses 25-28, that if God is really Sovereign, then He also is the one allowing the evil that existed in their day to happen.
Gentiles rage and people plot in vain, kings themselves and rulers together set themselves against God’s Anointed --- Jesus Christ
Can you see what’s running through the believers minds as they’re praying:
Wait, God, this creator and sustainer of life, who controls absolutely everything that happens in the entire universe, allows evil to flourish?
He even allowed it to happen to the point where Jesus Christ was predestined and given up by God to be crucified.
Why?!?!?!
You guys want to know something, I see these same questions running through your minds. And I’ve had these same questions run through my mind as I see terrible things happen in our world today.
This means that God is allowing:
ISIS
The government of Myanmar (we talked about a few weeks ago) to perform ethnic cleansing
Abortions to happen
And the list goes on and on and on…and these are big picture things
It also means on a more personal note, God is sovereign over:
Your terrible day you had last week
The bullying that you face at school every day
The fact that maybe your family has fallen apart or is going through a really hard time
Your depression that you can’t seem to shake and you don’t know what to do, and you just want to end things
Your insecurities
And like the early believers, we sit here sometimes, maybe even tonight, and we’re asking God: WHY?!?!
But before we get into answering that question, can I point out something that we often forget though:
God’s sovereignty also means He is in control and allows:
Your good days to happen
Those friendships that you have
Families to function as they are supposed to
You to be confident
We’re often very quick to forget all the good that God ordains into our lives each day
But that’s just how we are with anything isn’t it? We could be having a great day, and one thing goes wrong, and boom, that’s all we think about!
Why does God allow suffering to happen?
The answer I think is two-fold
God gave us free will
God ordains everything that happens to happen for one reason alone, His glory… “working all things together for good”
Free will
Free will means we, as humans, when we were created in God’s image, were given the ability to make decisions and choices on our own, independent of God.
And we know what happened in the garden, and we know what happens quite often in our lives every day, we make the wrong decisions.
In the garden, when the self-centered decision was made by Adam and Eve, creation broke. Our bodies broke. Our relationship with God was broken.
And so entered shame (that is often the root of our insecurities and depressions), evil (which we see play out in murder of innocent babies, ISIS wiping out governments, and the tribe of Myanmar being ethnically cleansed by the government), the hatred of each other (which again is played out in our friendships that break, in the bullying we face or we give out each and every day)
We make decisions to serve ourselves, instead of God
Ordains everything
But here’s the good news, God, because He is Sovereign, can take all of that, since the beginning of time forever and ever, He has worked and is working all of this evil, all of these things that He allows.... FOR A SEASON…working all of that together for the ultimate glorification of Himself.
And the best news is, He’s invited us, the sinners, to be part of that.
How, because He ordained His son Jesus Christ, to be beaten and tortured, and ridiculed and mocked, and ultimately hung on a cross by that very same evil that we see in the world today, He did it all so that we can share in that glorification of Him.
2. The Believers Ultimate Understanding
2. The Believers Ultimate Understanding
Well, I said we’d look at what the believers were realizing about God, which was His Sovereignty.
And we’ve also seen that God’s sovereignty is Comforting and Confusing. But it can also be challenging.
But let’s not stop there, let’s see what they did with this understanding
Now remember, Peter and John had just been threatened by the council (same council that crucified Jesus) to stop speaking in Jesus’ name.
So they’re putting 2 and 2 together and realizing that life might get a bit bad for them here soon.
Jesus told them it would, they’re seeing it start to play out in their lives, they’ve remember God’s Sovereignty and that He didn’t spare His own son....
Look at verse 29 with me
They prayed for more boldness
They prayed that God would save more people through them
They accepted the challenge
They came back to the cross of Christ and realized that God’s Sovereignty rests in the finished work of Christ
They understood the trials that were coming for them, and prayed for boldness
They knew that their lives would be at a constant risk by continuing to preach Christ, and they prayed for boldness
Why?
Because their hope, it actually rests in that sovereignty of God
And you know what? Our hope, your hope, your salvation, it actually rests in the fact that God has to be sovereign.
God controls everything, and God allows evil to happen.
And because God allows it to happen, we have a Savior who redeemed us, who took our sins on the cross of Calvary.
Anytime I think about God’s Sovereignty, there are always these questions that pop in my head, it’s a very hard concept to grasp.
But let me tell you what helps me:
I go back to the cross
I remember that because God is in complete control, He was able to make a way for me to have eternal life, through the work of Christ.
And when I do that, it reminds me, and helps me to view God’s sovereignty as a very good thing, because it is!