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- Preaching the Living WORD through
the Written WORD - 2 Tim 4;:2 - |
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THE
MODEL PRAYER AGAINST OPPOSITION Acts 4:24-31
(8/25/13) Grace Bible Church, Gillette, Wyoming Pastor Daryl Hilbert I. PRAYER IN LIGHT OF OPPOSITION (Ac
4:24-28) A. Address to the Sovereign Creator (Ac 4:24) 1. Having gone back to the leadership and
the church, Peter and John reported all the events and discussion that took
place at the hands of the Sanhedrin (Ac 4:1-23). 2. The church responded in the only
appropriate manner, which was lifting their voices in prayer to the Lord. 3. They appealed to God, the Sovereign
Creator of everything. Their conception of God as Sovereign Creator was
biblical (Ex 20:11; Ne 9:6; Ps 146:6) and absolutely
correct. For that is exactly Who God is. If God is not Sovereign
Creator than He is not God, then they should pray to another. If He is God
then He is the One who “made the heaven
and the earth and the sea, and all that is in them.”
Therefore, God is an all-powerful Being, capable of doing and controlling all
things. It is this all-powerful God to whom the church brings their
opposition before. B. Prophecy About the Opposition (Ac 4:25-26) 1. The early church was also aware that God
sovereignly prophesied about man’s opposition to Him and His will. David’s
writings were divinely inspired and God prophesied that the Gentiles would
rage against Him. In fact, David wrote Psalm 2, which is a premiere Messianic
Psalm. In that Psalm, David prophesied that the nations would take counsel
against the LORD and against “His Anointed,” Jesus the Christ (Ps 2:1-2). 2. Psalm 2 prophesies about the Tribulation
Period, when the kings and rulers will “gather together” (sunagō
- assemble together) against Israel, the LORD,
and His Christ (Re 2:26–27; 19:15). Christ will return and the nations are warned to honor
the Son (Ps 2:10-11) or be judged by Him (Ps 2:9, 12). Though a reference to
the Tribulation, the apostles see this as an initial or analogous fulfillment
of the prophecy. In that sense, the fulfillment of Ps 2:1-2 was transpiring
before them. C. Identity of the Opposition (Ac 4:27) 1. Indeed (“truly” epi alētheia - on the basis of truth), they literally identified the
ones who were fulfilling the prophecy and opposition. 2. That opposition was first
and foremost “against” (epi) God’s
holy Servant Jesus. Jesus is depicted as the “Holy One” a reference to the
Messiah (ton hagion - especially in the sense of
“set apart “as God’s Spokesman and Messiah - Ps 16:10; Is 5:24; Lk 4:34; Ac
2:27). As Peter previously mentioned, Jesus was God’s Servant (Ac 3:13,
26; 4:30), a name that signified God’s obedient Servant (Jos 9:24; Ro 1:1;
2Pe 1:1) and ultimately the Messiah (Isa 42:1; 49:3; 52:13; 53:11 cf. Isa
61:1-2). 3. Jesus was “anointed” (chrio
- touch with oil as a symbol of inauguration, chosen) by God, making
Jesus the Christ (Christos) (Messiah - Is 61:1; Ps 2:2 cf. 1Sa 10:1;
15:1; 1Ch 11:3; 2Sa 1:21; 12:7). 4. Four opposers were named by Peter: Herod, Pontius Pilate, Gentiles, and
peoples of Israel. a) When Jesus was arrested
and taken to the Romans, Pilate sent Jesus to Herod, being under his
jurisdiction (Lk 23:6-7). At this point Herod could have acquitted Jesus.
Instead, he had Jesus mocked and beaten before sending him back to Pilate (Lk
23:11). So Herod, in opposition to God’s Messiah,
receives part of the blame for the crucifixion of Christ. b) Perhaps somewhat sympathetic to Jesus’
innocence, Pilate acquitted Jesus five times during His trial (#1 - Jn 18:38;
#2 - Lk 23:14 (also Herod Lk 23:15); #3 - Jn 19:4; #4 - Jn 19:6; #5 - Mt
27:24). Nevertheless, Pilate had the authority to prevent Jesus’ crucifixion,
but did not. Therefore, under Pilate’s jurisdiction, and because of outside
pressure, Jesus was crucified (Mt 27:26). c) The “Gentiles” would
certainly be represented by Pilate and Herod. However, nowhere is
it written that the Gentile people rejected the ruling of Pilate and
Herod. So since the Gentiles did not oppose the
ruling, they were in opposition to God’s anointed. d) The “peoples of Israel” receive the brunt
of the sin of commission. When Ps 2:1 states that the “people” were “devising
a vain thing,” the early church certainly applied it Israel (the leaders and
people). When the religious leaders arrested Jesus, it was for the sole
purpose of putting Him to death (Jn 18:31 cf. Jn 5:18). At Jesus’ trial, the
Jewish people chose Barabbas over Jesus (Mt 27:20-21), were not satisfied
with an acquittal, and echoed the cry, “Crucify Him, Crucify Him” (Jn 19:6
cf. Jn 19:15). It follows then that both Israel’s leaders and Israel’s people
were in opposition to God and His Messiah. Indeed, by their own admission
they said, “His blood be on us and on our children”
(Mt 27:26). D. Sovereignty Over the Opposition (Ac 4:28) 1. The Scriptures explicitly teach the
sovereignty of God over all things (Is 46:10; Ps 33:11; Pr 19:21). Here the
early church acknowledges God’s sovereignty in their prayers. In fact, prayer
itself is an act of acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty. 2. It begins with God’s “purpose” (boulē) which is an “inward thought process leading toward a decision”
(Friberg), also called the counsel of the Godhead. God’s
counsel is often described as the free (Ac 4:28), immutable (He 6:17),
unsearchable (Ro 11:33), predetermined (Ac 2:23), “will” (Ep 1:11) of God
contained in God’s Word (Ac 20:27). 3. Whatever God purposed He “predestined.”
Whatever He predestined He carries out by His own sovereign “hand.” 4. The early church correctly applied the
sovereignty of God to the crucifixion of Christ (Ac 2:23). They were also
inferring that that the opposition against their ministry was according to
the predestined purpose of God. Therefore, they directed their petitions
toward God and His sovereignty. II. PRIORITIES IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION (Ac
4:29-31) A. Enablement to Preach (Ac 4:29) 1. However, they did not necessarily pray
for their own safety. What they prayed for had a much greater priority for
them than their own lives. It was a prayer that requested the opportunity to
continue to preach and to do so boldly. 2. They appealed to God’s sovereign hand to
take not of the opposition’s “threats” (apeilē
- strong threat of punishment) and hold back the opposition against their
divine commission. 3. As “bond-servants” (doulos
- slave, free will slave), their divine commission was to speak God’s
word. “Word” (logos) can mean message or the corpus of Scripture. Here
it suggests the message of the Gospel (Christ’s death and resurrection)
through their testimony and explanation of prophetic Scripture. 4. In addition, they prayed for “confidence”
(parrēsia) which refers to the freedom
to speak without fear. So they were praying that
they would not have external opposition from the Sanhedrin nor internal
opposition from their own fear. B. Divine Confirmation (Ac 4:30) 1. They asked God to continue to “extend” (ekteinō - lit. stretch out) His hand
in the outworking of healings, signs, and wonders which would confirm their
message. 2. They themselves, as well as their
message, would be confirmed as having authority from
God’s “holy Servant, Jesus.” C. Divine Answer (Ac 4:31) 1. They received an assurance that God had
answered their prayer and that the Holy Spirit was present. God confirmed His
answer by literally “shaking” (saleuō
- rock or totter similar to an earthquake) the place where they met. 2. At the same time, they were
filled with the Holy Spirit. They had already received the Holy Spirit
on the day of Pentecost (Ac 2:4), so why were they filled again? The
receiving of the Holy Spirit is called “indwelling” (1Co 6:19) and “sealing”
(Ep 1:13; 4:30), indicating that it is permanent. Filling on the other hand
is something that the believer is required to repeat over
and over (Ep 5:18, lit. “You must keep on being filled with the
Spirit”). 3. It is in the book of Acts that the most
prominent characteristic of the filling of the Holy Spirit is
observed. The apostles “began to
speak the word of God with boldness.” III. OBSERVATIONS AND APPLICATIONS A. Prayer is the first response - In regard to prayer, the church is to follow the model of
the early church. Whenever there is opposition to the ministry, the church’s
first response is to lift its voice to God. B. Pray in spiritual agreement - The church’s
voice as well as its heart must to be in agreement
concerning God’s will. The church must be in agreement about the priority to
grow spiritually and seek to minister. If the church is not trying to achieve
spiritual maturity, then it has already arrived, that is, arrived at
spiritual immaturity. C. Pray in light of God’s sovereignty - The
church must understand God as the sovereign God that He is and that His plan
is already established. Therefore, there will be opposition to the church and
its ministry. D. Pray with the right priority - The
church’s priority must be concerned, not with personal comfort, but with the
ultimate purpose of speaking the Word with boldness. The church’s freedom is
the internal freedom to speak the Gospel openly and boldly, in spite of any
local or governmental opposition. E. Pray for Spirit-filled living - In order
to accomplish our Divine Commission, the church must be
continually and repeatedly filled with the Holy Spirit. Every believer
must yield to the Scriptures in every area of life (Church, Marriage,
Relationships, Work, Behavior, Fruit of the Spirit) to live obedient
Spirit-filled lives. |
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