What a friend we have in Jesus. The top five
of Pastor Jim's favorite hymns, that comes at
us at number four. Okay, what a friend we have
in Jesus. Spoiler alert, we will have sung all
five of my favorites in this sermon series. Why?
Because I wrote it. And so understanding that
we have a friend in Jesus, especially played
on that beautiful organ. Thank you, Joe. That
is, to me, just a little slice of heaven. The
words of that song, it's just so relatable. And
I don't know where you are when it comes to friendships
in your life. As I get older, I see how friendships
have changed over the years, how friends are
this new concept when you're in elementary school,
and friends are kind of a big deal. And that
truth really continues throughout life. That
if you think about it, friends, people that God
puts in your life, we're not talking about spouses,
though that should be your friend. If not, see
me in two weeks. I'm out of the office this week.
We probably should have a conversation if your
spouse isn't your friend. But our friendships
throughout our life change. I remember I had
two, if I had best friends, I've always struggled
with that term best friend. I don't know why.
It's probably something I'll work out in therapy.
But I had Andy Hulkin and John Foley, Jonathan
Foley. We lived about half a block from each
other all the time. We just, every day after
school, we would play in the cul -de -sac. We'd
play baseball. That was kind of our game. And
I thought about writing this. this sermon this
week, I haven't talked to those guys in probably
20 years. Yet I still remember that they were
my best friends. Right? John Foley was one that
really taught me a lot about baseball because
his dad was a big baseball guy. And going over,
we would always watch baseball together, and
that was really where my passion for baseball
came. And my friend Andy is really where my hatred
of cats came from because he had a cat named
Tiger that I swear was sent from Lucifer to end
my life. And so I will forever be scarred emotionally
and physically of that. But Andy, again, we had
a love of music together. Him and I were in a
band together growing up. And so just you think
about those friends. I want you to take a moment
about those friends you had in, let's just say,
middle school. Some people call it junior high,
but some people don't like that, Nikki. But middle
school, junior high, the friends you had there.
Think about it for about 10 seconds. How many
of you are still friends with those individuals?
That's amazing, right? That is phenomenal. Now,
how many of you haven't moved around a lot of
those that rose their hand? Because that's a
lot easier when you stay around. When you go
away to school, when you move, you do tend to
lose those relationships. But as we see in what
we're going to see in chapter 4 of the book of
Acts, Having a friend in Jesus gives us something.
And it's not something that we take in a consumeristic
kind of way, but it meets us where we are when
it comes to conflict, when we have pressure situations,
and suffering. Because what we're going to see
is the disciples, the apostles of Jesus, because
they had a friendship with Jesus, they saw him
do the teaching, they lived life with him for
three and a half years or so, they had... an
ally, an advocate to have courage in conflict,
peace under pressure, and joy in suffering. We
have a lot of scripture to get through, so we're
going to start in Acts chapter 4. We're going
to start the first three verses. The first three
verses, I call this the confrontation. So the
confrontation begins, and it's going to kind
of be this narrative that we're going to see.
So starting in chapter 4, verse 1 through 3.
And as they were speaking to the people, the
priests and the captain of the temple and the
Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because
they were teaching the people and proclaiming
in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And
they arrested them and put them in custody until
the next day, for it was already evening. Is
that it? All right. So that's where we are with
the first three verses. So they're preaching.
They're preaching Jesus. Again, they didn't take
preaching classes. They didn't do exegesis. They
didn't do cultural context or what we call hermeneutics.
They literally were preaching Jesus' message.
Jesus was killed. He was put in a tomb. Three
days later, he rose from the dead. That was the
gospel. Unadulterated, pure gospel. And then
all of a sudden the priests, the captain of the
temple and the Sadducees, were greatly annoyed.
Not just mildly irritated, right? Greatly annoyed,
Luke's writer tells us. Because the apostles
were proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of
the dead. If we go back to the Gospels, it's
the exact narrative that the temple was trying
to snuff out. They paid off the guards. They
wanted to snuff that narrative. They wanted to
lie. They wanted to cover it up. They wanted
to deceive the people because they knew that
they knew that they knew that if people started
getting whiff of the fact that Jesus rose from
the dead, that he was the Messiah, he was the
Savior, and that people would put their faith
in him. And what did that mean for the temple?
A lack of? Anybody? No? Control. Someone said
control. The lack of control. They wanted to
control the people. They had a way of perverting
the temple for their own gain, their own authority.
And what this message was doing was undercutting
all of that with truth. The Sadducees denied
the resurrection. The gospel was a direct threat
to not only their theology, but their authority.
Because they have conflated those together. When
we look for human authority to define our Christ
-likeness, we are doing it wrong. Yes, are we
called to submit to the governing authorities?
Absolutely. But that's not for your definition
in Christ. Right? Republican, Democrat, that
is not, Christ doesn't define you through those
terms. Let's go even just a cut deeper to 214
Ridge Road. Being Christian Reformed does not
define who you are in Christ. You are a Christ
follower first. Period. End of that. Don't add
things to it. Does that inform all the rest of
yourself? It should. Right? That I am a follower
of Christ, so it should define how I live my
life. That's not any smart thing from Jim. That's
in the Word of God. Yet the Word of God cannot
be chained up as the authorities of the temple
were trying to do. Even Peter and John are arrested.
Many who heard the Word believed. They were arrested
for preaching Jesus. Believe me, as a preacher
in the United States, have I ever worried, 20
years now in the pastorate, have I ever worried
that I was going to be arrested for preaching
the gospel? No. Have I ever worried about getting
emails 10 minutes after service? Absolutely.
But that is not the same as getting arrested.
Those sending it might want it to feel the same.
It never does, right? Especially to those that
don't put their name on it. I don't even read
those. But understand that I've never had that
fear. In the United States, we don't necessarily
have that fear. And I count myself lucky because
I know stories where that's not the case around
the world. Right? We talk about this missionary,
Josh, that we just commissioned to go. Guys,
where he's going to be, Christianity is not the
world religion. It's not the tribes and village
religion. Islamic religion is there predominantly.
And he's going with not deep theology or hermeneutics.
He's going to go with the Word of God translated
in a language. He's going to trust and stand
on the Word of God much like Peter and John did.
And that is why Peter's going to give a defense.
And here's, well, let's read it first and then
we'll make that point. So starting with verse
5. On the next day, the rulers and elders and
scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, and Ananias,
the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and
Alexander, and all who were the high priest family.
And when they had set them in the midst, they
inquired, by what power or by what name did you
do this? Claire, can you go back to that first
slide of the scripture? These names, where else
do we see these names in scripture? Ananias and
Caiaphas. John and Alexander, not so much as
far as the Sadducees go. But where do we see
Ananias and Caiaphas' name before? What? The
crucifixion. Their names really only come up
during Holy Week. For something good? Why do
we have those names during Holy Week? They were
the ones overseeing Jesus' death. These were
leaders of the temple. Leaders of the church
in that time. I'd probably just call it the temple.
I'm probably not going to call it the church.
The temple at that time. The same council that
condemned Jesus now stands over Jesus' followers.
By what power or name do you do this? I thought
to myself, what a dumb question. These are supposed
to be leaders of the temple. Direct conflict
of the way, as we talked about. It wasn't Christianity
yet. That name didn't come for a couple hundred
years. But the way, the way of Jesus. They ask
these questions. For lunch, I'll put lunch on
this. For lunch, in a conversation with Pastor
Jim, why is this not the first time we've heard
those questions? Where else do we hear these
questions? You already answered, Nikki. You can't
answer again. These two questions, we hear that
this isn't the first time we've heard these questions.
Where else do we hear these? Calm down, let other
people get it. You already know it's probably
Holy Week. What? You're in college, so I'll take
you out for lunch anytime, even though that answer
was wrong. Junior high youth workers are hitting
it out of the park. Way to go. The rest of you,
you're on the bench. Let's get into the scriptures.
This has happened before when Jesus was arrested.
It happened again when he was teaching in the
temple. They know the answers to these questions.
But what they're trying to do, just the same
thing they did with Jesus, they're trying to
trap them. The irony here is they think they're
on trial, but the power of Christ is about to
be displayed again. Because the Holy Spirit,
remember, they had to wait for the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit just didn't say, peace out, I'm
gone, start the church. He's with them, with
us, every step of the way. Verse 8. Then Peter,
filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers
of the people and the elders, we'll get to verse
9 in a second. But Luke highlights this, right?
Luke's writer highlights that the Holy Spirit
is at work. Courage and witness is never self
-generated. Peter isn't doing this on his own
authority, out of his own power. We can't do
that because of what we prayed for a couple minutes
ago. The fact that we are at war with ourselves,
that good reformed theology of total depravity.
Does anyone know what depravity means? Dead in
sin. We are bent against God. That is what depravity
means. And we have that inside of us. Well, pastor,
I'm a believer. I'm a professed. I was baptized
as a kid. I made my professed faith. I'm a member
of the church. Absolutely. You're still a sinner.
That doesn't make you perfect. That doesn't make
you devoid of the need of the power of the Holy
Spirit. And Peter, foot and mouth disease Peter,
who denied Jesus, lost a rabbi. Rabbi restores
him in the book of John. is filled with the Holy
Spirit. The boldness you have in your faith,
now I'm going to qualify this, the boldness you
have in your faith is the power of the Holy Spirit.
Okay? Now get ready. That felt good. This isn't.
The dumbness we have when we speak out on behalf
of faith for our own volition is not the Holy
Spirit. That's depravity. And that's the rub.
There are times we love to get up on our high
horse, right, and just launch those grenades
at people in judgment or because you didn't do
what I wanted you to do, opinions or whatever
in the church, and we think it's the Holy Spirit
at work. But when it's guilt, when it's hurting
others, right, when it's trampling over people
or denying their right to be in the church, so
to speak, maybe that's a weird way of saying
it, but saying you have to be this way in order
to be a part of this, that's not the work of
the Holy Spirit. Now, I'm not saying it's not
the truth, different conversation. When we do
it to condemn, that is not the work of the Holy
Spirit. That is the work of our depravity. When
we do it as a Pharisee and a Sadducee, that is
not the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit
fills us with boldness, yes, absolutely. But
it's going to be a boldness that models the way
of Jesus. What does Jesus say? Let him without
sin cast the first stone. Yet, in church, we
love to be the first caster of stones. We love
to throw stones at people. That's not going to
be the power of the Holy Spirit. Holding someone
accountable to the truth of the gospel and the
truth of God's word can be done without stone
throwing. Yet for a lot of us, we like to just
take it. And for a lot of us, we like to hide
behind certain people, maybe the elders, and
we throw and then run. We do it in a cowardly
way. But Peter doesn't do this. This fulfills
the promise that Jesus gave in Luke 12. Do not
be anxious, for the Holy Spirit will teach you
what to say. So what did he say? Let's go with
verse 9. If we are being examined today concerning
a good deed done to a crippled man by what means
this man has been healed, let it be known to
all of you 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 is standing before you well.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by
you, the builders, become the cornerstone, and
there is salvation in no one else, for there
is no other name under heaven given among men
by which we must be saved. Peter is preaching.
He is filled with the Holy Spirit. He is preaching.
He is directly answering the question. The healing
came by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.
Could he have left it there? Absolutely. He doesn't.
He doubles down. Whom you crucified, whom God
raised from the dead. That is the narrative of
the gospel. That is the heart of our message.
Yet, Allow me a little grace here because I'm
preaching to myself first. Yet we love to find
ourselves in the middle of that. Not by the name
of Jesus Christ, not by whom God raised from
the dead, whom you crucified. We can pull out
the judgment and use that for our own gain when
we believe it suits us. And that's something
we have to be careful about as believers. That
we are a part of the narrative. We all claim
sinner. If you are not a sinner this morning,
you don't need to be here. Spoiler alert, we
all are. We were part of the people that crucified
Jesus. Though we were not there then, literally,
our sin is what took him to the cross. Our sin
is what he died for. And Peter, again, he's not
only going to double down, he's going to then
bring about a call for them. I don't look at
this as an altar call, but it's pretty close.
That he does not want to leave the leaders of
the temple without the full gospel message. Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other
name under heaven given among men by which we
must be saved. This idea of saved. This is a
new concept. Jesus talks about it. The church
rejected it. The church was never built in that
mode, the idea of salvation. Just like if I were
to talk, or if all of a sudden we were to do
an altar call in a Reformed church, there would
be some friction. I'm sure we would get some
emails. Because in the Reformed tradition, we
were brought up that we baptize our kids. We've
had 77 of those in the last seven years, praise
the Lord. That it's not because the baby that's
being baptized is desiring salvation. We don't
even know what the baby's desiring. Probably
for me to stop talking so I can go back to bed.
Not to waterboard them when it comes to their
baptism. But guess what? That's how I do it.
Understand that what we believe is that the Holy
Spirit is the one that's going to regenerate
your heart and that you're going to come to the
knowledge of your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
How? By understanding the bad news of your sin.
I've said it before. I'll say it again. When
someone comes and asks to make profession of
faith, the first question I ask is, tell me about
your sin. Exactly. Because if you can't tell
me about your sin and the bad news of sin, how
in the world are you going to tell me about the
good news of Jesus? And we all come to it at
different times. We've had 12 -year -olds. We've
had 96 -year -olds come to salvation in Christ
in that time. Praise the Lord. You remember Nuria?
Nuria White? Two Mother's Days ago, baptized.
A mere year later is now in glory. It's a beautiful
story. Salvation is found in no one else. The
Belgian Confession, Article 26, helps us with
this understanding. Jesus Christ is our only
mediator and advocate. We need no other go -between,
for he alone reconciles us to the Father. Understand,
this is what the temple hated. They wanted people
to have a works righteousness understanding.
If you give, if you do, if you sacrifice, you
will be favored in God's sight. It wasn't even
a salvation thing. It was just to find yourself
favored in the sight of Yahweh. So even the most...
Depraved of leaders, even the most perverted
of systems, have to be impacted by the gospel.
The council has astonishment in verse 13. Now,
when they saw the boldness of Peter and John
and perceived that they were uneducated, common
men, they were astonished. And they recognized
that they had been with Jesus. Leave that up.
Friends, that should be your desire for every
encounter in your life. Every encounter you have
with an unbeliever. And we all know, that's why
church still has a job. That they recognize that
they have been with Jesus. In the way I live
my life, don't I want the world to have that
understanding of me? And all that does is make
me mourn my sin. Because I'm a sinner just like
you. And you're a sinner just like me. And do
we want the world to be wrapped up in our sin?
Or do we want the world to be wrapped up and
astonished by a Savior that saved this guy from
sin? That's the gospel. It's not about what you
know. It's not the depth of your theology, though
that's good to have. And once you are a believer,
we want to deepen that knowledge and that understanding.
Romans 5, 2 Peter 1, talk about the growth, what
we call sanctification. But friends, that's the
goal. Whether it's the person that you just had
an encounter with in the checkout line, or the
waiter or waitress that mess up your meal at
your favorite restaurant, whether it's your boss
that you can't stand, or that neighbor that doesn't
cut their lawn on time. We talk about that neighbor
a lot. Everyone at Melbrook does a good job.
I don't know why that keeps popping in my head.
Can that be how we leave people in our encounters?
Do people recognize that you've been with Jesus?
Because I think that's the goal. That's what
we should desire in our life, in the way we live
out the gospel. They see the boldness of Peter
and John, uneducated, ordinary men. Absolutely,
it's why Jesus picked them. And they conclude
that they have been with Jesus. The greatest
credential for ministry is not education. Sorry,
Evan. Sorry, Mike. I know you're going to seminary,
but it's not education. It's not status. Okay,
elder. Okay, deacon. Okay, chair of a committee.
It's none of that. It's having communion with
Christ. It's that people can see your life and
go, they're a Christ follower. And I know a lot
of you have grown up in religious systems and
churches where your takeaway has not been that.
It's been something very different, maybe even
darker. But just remember, the greatest credential
you have for living out ministry in whatever
you do, whatever job you have, is that people
can see that you're with Jesus. I'd love it.
I'd love it if the narrative stopped here. It
would be so much better. But unfortunately, it
doesn't. So let's go on to the undeniable miracle
in verse 14. What shall we do with these men?
For that a notable sign has been performed through
them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
and we cannot deny it. They see the miracle.
These are uneducated men. These are ordinary
men and this guy can walk. They saw him at the
front of the gate beautiful. We talked about
that. Every day this guy was dropped off. Now
he's walking. They don't know what to do. It's
messing with their heads. So they can't control
it. They can't put their hands on it. They can't
manipulate it. So what are they going to try
to do? They're going to try to silence it. But
before we get to that, one point about miracles.
Sit with that word this week. I'm going to be
out of the office. We're going out of town for
half the week, and I'm going to be out of the
office, so don't email me about it. I'll get
to it the next week. But what do you do with
the word miracle? Miracles play so much in our
lives, and we sometimes don't see it as that.
Well, Pastor Jim, what's a miracle? It's something
I can't explain, but something that points to
God. That can be a healing. That can be a restored
relationship. You know that relationship that
is just dead as a doornail. You just know it's
broken. It's never going to come back. All of
a sudden it does. Guys, that's a miracle. We
get so afraid to use the word miracle because
we don't think we should be allowed to do it.
If you can't explain it and all you can do is
point to God about it, call it a miracle. It
is very okay. But the temple didn't like that.
So what do they do? They're pretty consistent.
They try to silence it. Verse 17. But in order
that it may spread no further among the people,
let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in
this name. You can't even say his name in this
name. So they called them and charged them not
to speak or to teach at all in the name of Jesus.
Pop quiz. This is the end of the church. True
or false? See, that's why I didn't put lunch
on that. That was way too easy. Right? There's
so much more of the Bible to read. This is man
trying to manipulate. This is man trying to do,
really. The abuse of power. This is an abuse
of authority. The leaders command them not to
speak or teach in the name of Jesus. This is
the world's oldest strategy. Sorry if you get
offended by it, but this is the world's oldest
strategy. Silence the gospel by intimidation.
There's no way you can believe that. There is
no way that you have to be quiet. We're going
to censure you. We're going to silence you. It's
funny. What is the better way to silence them?
Unfortunately, both these guys do get it in the
end. They get killed for it. But the temple won't
do it. The Romans will. Totally another rhyme
for totally another time. The world's oldest
strategy, silence the gospel by intimidation.
Someone hurts us, we're going to hurt them back.
Someone speaks against us, we're going to speak
louder. It's the oldest trick in the book. But
there's a bold response to this. Now friends,
We live in a world where we probably don't have
a lot. Maybe some of you are starting to feel
that. The idea of Christianity has become under
fire. Not as of late. It's been there. Always
have been. But that the world, the worldly powers
don't want us to live a life of a humble servant
of Christ. They don't. It's about authority.
It's about what I can get. It's about power.
All of those things. But there is a response
here. They could have just kept their quiet.
They'd be like, we're too afraid. We can't do
it. We're going to slink back. We're going to
just shut our mouths. They don't. And I think
it's because they walked with Jesus and saw all
the things, but they give a bold response. Verse
19. But Peter and John answered them, whether
it is right in the sight of God to listen to
you rather than to God, you must judge. For we
cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.
I love this. They don't get into a theological
argument. They don't try to discredit them. They
don't try to disrespect them. They basically
just calmly say, whether it is right in the sight
of God to listen to you rather than to our God,
you must be the judge. But we can only speak
to what we have seen and heard. They are the
true disciples of Christ. They walked with him.
They talked with him. They had friendship with
him. Belgian Confession, Article 7. Scripture
alone is our rule of faith. When human authorities
contradict God's word, obedience to God must
come first. Submit to the governing authorities?
Absolutely. Until they call you to actively sin.
Then I'm not saying that we need Christian anarchy,
because that's not a thing. But understand that
at some point we may have to stand. And say,
for that I cannot do. Because it is against my
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And no, that does
not mean that gets you out of a speeding ticket.
That's not what we're talking about. Go deeper
and grow up. Friendship with Jesus means allegiance
to him above everything else. I'd love to say,
they said it, they were able to baptize the Sadducees
and the Pharisees, it was all good. Unfortunately
not, there's still two more verses, verses 21
and 22, what I call the aftermath. And when they
had further threatened them, they let them go,
finding no way to punish them because of the
people. For all were praising God for what had
happened. For the man on whom this... sign of
healing was performed was more than 40 years
old. I could go into a deep dive of what that
meant. We don't need to. But notice, they threatened
him again, tried to intimidate him again, but
released him. The man was healed, was over 40
years old. His lifelong disability made this
miracle undeniable. God's grace does silence
fear and does embolden faith. What a friend!
We have in Jesus. All the things we sung about,
I break down to these points, and yes, I will
be landing the plane. And here's the thing about
landing a plane. Here's the thing. How many of
you would very much appreciate a pilot that when
he says, we're going to descend now onto whatever
town, and then all of a sudden, is that a good
landing? No, it's smooth. It takes time. Landing
gear has to come out, right? There's a moose.
You've got to pull up. All the things. So here
I'm going to land my comfortable plane with five
very quick, Sarah, very quick points. Friendship
with Jesus brings courage in conflict. Friendship
with Jesus brings courage in conflict. Two, you
cannot silence a heart. That has been changed
by Christ. You cannot silence a heart that has
been changed by Christ. When grace grips you,
witness becomes natural. Like the healed man,
you can't help but leap and praise God. Third,
the gospel will always face opposition. The gospel
will always face opposition. Whether cultural
hostility, spiritual apathy, fear of rejection.
Every age, every time, and every place has its
Sadducees and its Pharisees. The question we
have is, will we still speak? Four, the Spirit
fills ordinary people with extraordinary witness.
Some of you may be thinking, I don't have much
of a testimony. I've been in church all my life.
I've always known Jesus as my friend. And one
day I came to the understanding that he was my
Savior. Friend, do you not hear how amazing that
is? That in a world that wants to pull you right
and left, up and down, you stayed the course?
I would love for that to be my testimony, but
God had to slap me across the face multiple times.
And I know at least 60 % of you feel the same
way in a statistic I just made up, but it's probably
true. And fifth, Christ's friendship sustains
us under pressure. Whatever that pressure is
for you, I don't know. That pressure could mean
a variety of things. But being close with Christ
gets us through this. They had been with Jesus.
That's what made the difference. Intimacy with
Christ gives us peace when the world stands against
us. So remember to whom you belong. You belong
to Christ. And if you're here this morning and
you don't know if you are, Find me after service.
Find a prayer paramedic. Maybe you've never confessed
Lord as Savior. Let's make that today. Because
today, October 12th, 2025, we'll be standing
then as your testimony date of the day that you
and Jesus became friends when you recognize him
as Lord and Savior. Church, this is our moment
to stand firm in grace. The same Spirit that
filled Peter fills us. The same Jesus who stood
with them stands with us. And when the world
says, be silent, may we too say, we cannot but
speak of what we had seen and heard. Please stand
if you are able. And let us close together with
our closing prayer. Lord Jesus Christ, you are
our Savior and our friend. When the world stands
against us, help us to stand with you. Give us
courage to speak your name, wisdom to live with
grace, and hearts filled with your spirit. Strengthen
us to proclaim that there is no other name under
heaven by which we must be saved. Amen.