From His Heart

Speaker 1

Today on from His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve. You'll be encouraged to have more courage in your Christian life.

Speaker 2

I love the one-time motto of the French Foreign Legion, which says this: If I falter, push me on. If I stumble, pick me up. If I retreat, shoot me.

Hey, there is no retreat in the Lord's army. And there's no room for cowardice in the Lord's army. God has not given us a cowardly spirit, a spirit of fear, but one of power and love and sound judgment.

Speaker 3

There is treasure, there is hope that you always dream love he can heal every scars of real truth, real love, real.

Speaker 2

From his heart.

Speaker 1

On this July 4th across America, we celebrate the passage of the Declaration of Independence by the Continental Congress, done on July 4, 1776. The declaration announced the political separation of the 13 North American colonies from Great Britain, in essence creating the United States of America. That separation was made possible by the courage of many great soldiers seeking freedom from England, the taxes, the laws, and wanting autonomy from that leadership.

We'll use that as a jumping-off point for today's message that highlights an even greater courage that needs to be professed and lived out in our lives. The lesson is called the courage of a good soldier because you and I are to be courageous soldiers for the Lord in these difficult days. We're living in a time where people desperately need to stand up for Jesus as soldiers of the cross. It's time that we speak the truth courageously, with authority, with power, and with conviction.

And we'll learn three insights about the courage of a good soldier. Today, the message is one of seven in Pastor Jeff's series, Soldiers of the Cross. You can find out more about this or listen to messages that you may have missed this week when you go to fromisheart.org; it's our gift to you for your support this month.

Now, though, open your Bible to the Book of Acts and turn to chapter four. Here's Pastor Jeff to begin describing why it's vital for Christians to have the courage of a good soldier.

Speaker 2

Now, in order to be a good soldier, you have to be disciplined and you have to have courage. You can't be a good soldier if you are a coward. God has not given us a cowardly spirit, a spirit of fear, but one of power and love, judgment. So what do you do if you're here today and you say, good grief, I really struggle with this thing called courage? I really struggle to be a brave, outspoken Christian. I mean, what do you do if you really struggle with fear? Well, we all struggle with it. Here's the good news. When we see the disciples, they started out so fearful. Remember, when Jesus was arrested, all of them fled. And he told them that you're all going to flee because of me. And remember, Peter said, no, no, I'm not going to flee. I'm willing and ready to go with you to prison and to death. He said, are you really, Peter? Because before a cock crows twice, you're going to deny three times that you even know me. Peter said, no way. I would never do that. And what did he do? Just a few hours later, he went out and did it. He denied that he even knew Christ. He was scared when a servant girl said, surely you're one of them. Oh, I don't know this man. I don't know what you're talking about. He cursed and he swore. I don't know the man. That's Peter.

But now Peter has a transformation, because Acts chapter two, the day of Pentecost. He is filled with the Holy Spirit, and the spirit of power is in him. And he becomes a courageous and bold witness. And what God did for him and for the other disciples, God can do for you. Now, Acts, the book of Acts, gives us and shows us where the persecution came to the early church. And it shows us how the disciples were courageous in the face of persecution, in the face of threats, and in the face of intimidation. You know, Acts 2, they get the Holy Spirit. Peter preaches on the day of Pentecost. 3,000 respond to the message. 3,000 were baptized. The church went from 120 in the upper room to 3,120 grew like crazy. And the church is born.

Acts chapter three tells us about a beggar, a blind or a lame beggar. He'd been lame from his mother's womb. He's over 40 years old. He sits by the gate called Beautiful, and he begs alms. And Peter says, hey, I don't have silver or gold, but what I do have, I'll give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene. Rise up and walk. And this guy, all of a sudden, he is healed, healed by the name of Jesus. And he's walking and he's leaping and he's praising God. And everybody notices. Hey, that guy used to be the lame beggar. And here he is praising God. He is healed. How did that happen? And Peter used that to launch into a sermon and lifted up the name of Jesus and told everybody, it's by the name of Jesus that this man is healed. And he was the one that you guys crucified. Pilate wanted to let him go, but you said, no, not this man, but Barabbas. What shall I do with Jesus? Crucify him. Crucify him. And he preached Jesus, and he preached very straightforwardly.

And the Bible says when the religious leaders heard what was going on, they were upset. Acts, chapter 4, verse 1. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came upon them being greatly disturbed because they, Peter and John, were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message, heard the word, believed, and the number of men came to be about 5,000. The church is growing from 120 to 3,000 to now 5,000 men, plus women and children. There are a bunch in the church in Jerusalem, but the disciples.

Now I want you to notice some insights in Acts chapter four about a courageous soldier in the Lord's army. Three insights. Number one, courageous soldiers know that boldness has consequences. If you're going to be bold and speak openly and plainly and powerfully for the Lord, there are going to be consequences with that. These guys got arrested. Well, why were they arrested? Because it says in verse two that they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. The group of religious leaders, priests, captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees. The Sadducees and the chief priests. Those one and the same. The chief priests were all Sadducees. And the chief priests and the Sadducees, they ran the temple. And so they didn't like what they were hearing. These guys were part of the Sanhedrin. We're going to run into them in just a couple more verses. They were the ones that crucified Jesus. They were the ones that brought him to Pilate. And now all of a sudden, Peter is preaching about Jesus and the resurrection and calling people to put their faith and trust in Jesus. And it says they were greatly disturbed. That means they were displeased, they were offended, they were worked up, they were annoyed. That's a strong word. They were ticked off. What are you doing preaching in this name?

And so they arrested him and they put him in jail until they could come the next day before the Sanhedrin. Listen, why did they do that? Because they were preaching the truth. And you mark it down, the world will always be disturbed. Truth, whether it's the world of godless government or whether it's the world of self-righteous Judaism as these men represented self-righteous Judaism. They're so far from what God wanted, they said about Jesus, they see the long-awaited Messiah and what's their determination about him? He is Beelzebul. He is the ruler of the demons. He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of the demons. I mean, when the son of God, God in the flesh is right before them, that's how wrong they get it. And they crucified the Lord Jesus. Disturbed by the truth.

Hey, when we proclaim the true gospel, the unwavering gospel, the narrow gospel, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. When we proclaim that, people get disturbed; the world will get disturbed. And you say, what is the world? The Bible says that the whole world, First John, chapter five. The whole world lies in the power of the evil one. The whole world is cradled in the lap of the evil one. And the evil one hates the truth of the message of Jesus. Why? Because you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Shall set you free.

I don't know if you saw Matt Walsh on Dr. Phil just the other day. He was debating the issue of transgenderism. And they brought him on. He's a conservative and an author and a commentator. He wrote a book about Christianity is no place for cowards because we need to be courageous for Jesus. Well, he came on there and these guys that are dressed up like girls and think they're girls and talk about, well, trans women are women. And he asked the question, he said, what's a woman? A woman is whatever a woman says. What's a woman? How do you, you can't use the term woman if you don't define woman. So they're like you define woman. He said, a woman is a female. A person who has XX chromosomes, a person who has female reproductive organs, that's a woman. Well, we don't look at it like that. We say that a trans woman is a woman. He said, you can't even define the word.

Well, the crowd is all cheering for the guys dressed up like girls. And this one guy, he's got a beard and he's dressed up like a really creepy looking girl. And anyway, so he confronts them. Well, they said after that taping, they said, we have been traumatized and we're having trouble sleeping since our encounter with Matt Walsh. That horrible person who asked us to define the word woman. Matt Walsh said, you know what he said? I have more people saying stuff about me and my family in one day than they've had their whole lives. People say the most awful things about me because of the stand that I take. And he said, I sleep like a baby. You know why?

Speaker 1

Because.

Speaker 2

Cause I stand in the truth. That's why. The world will always be disturbed by the truth. And the world will always try to intimidate the truth. Always try to intimidate the truth. Now people are hearing Peter's sermon and they're responding, says verse four. But many of those who heard the message believed. And the number of the men came to be about 5,000. Wow. It's growing. And people are believing. And the religious leaders are getting very nervous because we thought we got rid of this Jesus guy when we crucified him. But now they're preaching in his name. And now people are responding. And these people, Peter and John and the others, they're very popular with the people.

It says in verse five, and it came about on the next day that their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. And Annas, the high priest was there. Annas ran the temple area. They used to call the temple area where they sold sheep and money changers and all that stuff. Where Jesus cleaned out the temple twice at the beginning of his ministry. At the end of his ministry, they called that the Bazaar of Annas. Annas used to be high priest. The high priest now was his son-in-law, Caiaphas. The high priesthood was governed by Rome. And you had to be a Jewish turncoat to even be in that. It was a political experience. And it's almost like working for the mob.

And so you have Caiaphas, Annas is there, the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of high priestly descent. All those guys that were involved in the trial of Jesus, when they said, what need do we have of further witnesses? What say, ye, he deserves death? And they spit in his face and slapped him in the face. And they decided that he needed to die. That's the group. And it says, and when they placed them in the center, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this?

Now when the court met the Jewish supreme court, The Sanhedrin, it's 70 elders of the people, these religious muckety mucks, plus one high priest. It was Caiaphas at that time. So you would meet and they would gather in kind of a semicircle as the court, and they would place you in the center. So here is Peter and here is John against 71 of the elders of the people, the high court in Jerusalem, all the muckety mucks with the chief priest presiding, the same usual suspects and the same rotten people who tried their savior, the Lord Jesus, and they're trying to intimidate.

And Peter and John are fishermen. It's going to go on to say they're uneducated and untrained men before all these guys that are so learned and so smart and have all their fine clothes and have all their degrees. That's who they stand up and have to present to. That can be an intimidating thing. I remember years ago, I interviewed at a church for the position of pastor. This was when I was in Houston. They had us in kind of a semicircle type deal. They all sat there, and then Debbie and I were just sitting there in this, like, this little table and looking around, and it was like, gee, this is fun. And it was just awful, you know, and they're asking all these questions, and, you know, it's like you're being grilled.

You know, it's like Joe Friday on Dragnet, you know, the lights in your face and where were you on September 3rd? You know, that kind of thing. So this is an intimidating experience. These guys on the Sanhedrin can rule against you and you can die. That's what happened with Jesus. And here's the thing. Peter writes in 1 Peter, chapter 3, do not fear their intimidation and do not be troubled. They weren't afraid. They weren't intimidated. They knew that courageous soldiers, bold witnesses for Christ. There are going to be consequences. Okay? That's just part of the deal.

Second insight. Courageous soldiers stand up for Jesus. Courageous soldiers stand up for Jesus. Now, here is the question. So they get them there, and they're in the semicircle. And when they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this? Oh, the name. You want to know the name? Let me tell you the name. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, stop right there. Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter, same guy just a few weeks before, cursed and swore and said, I don't know this Jesus. Now, he's filled with the Holy Spirit, and he's filled with power.

And he gets ready to speak to them, and he's not afraid. It's obvious that he's not afraid based on what he told them. And he knew that the Lord was going to provide for him. See, a courageous soldier, they trust the Lord for timely provision. God is going to provide for me in this hour when I'm called on the spot, when the spotlight is on me, the light is in my face and I'm being challenged and called to make a defense. Jesus had told those guys, when they arrest you and hand you over, do not worry beforehand about what you are to say, but say whatever is given you in that hour. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Holy Spirit.

Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit and he gives a response to them that has authority and power and conviction. See, a courageous soldier is gonna speak with authority, with power and with conviction. Why? Cause he's not speaking from himself. He's not speaking just what comes out of his mind. He's not speaking the word of the preacher. He's speaking the word of God. Then Peter, verse 8, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead by this name, this man stands here before you in good health.

Whom you crucified. I mean, he's calling them out. This is not a real mamby pamby. Let's be careful. How do I nuance this? No, he's just calling them out, just straight and plain. The name of Jesus. Jesus Christ. That means Jesus the Messiah. What did you guys, you religious leaders do with the Messiah? You crucified him. I mean, you talk about sticking, putting salt in the wound. I mean, it's like, oh, here you go. You crucified God's Messiah. What did God do in response? He raised him from the dead. And you know what those guys on the Sanhedrin knew that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

You say, how did they know that? Matthew, chapter 28. See, Jesus said there were soldiers that guarded the tomb because the chief priests said to Pilate, we know when that deceiver was alive, he said that he would rise from the dead. So give us a guard that can guard the tomb so nobody will get in there, because then the disciples will steal the body away. And then the last deception will be worse than the first deception. And so Pilate said, here you have a guard, 16 Roman soldiers guarding the tomb, or however many it was. I think. I believe it was 16. And they're guarding the tomb. I mean, what kind of a deal is that? What are you doing, honey? I gotta go. I'm on duty. I'm guarding a tomb. Well, for what? Well, so nobody steals the body. Okay? That ought to be a pretty easy gig.

Yeah, except when God raises his son from the dead. And when the guards saw the angel and the stone rolled away and the earthquake, they fell as dead men. And they went and reported to the chief priests and to the elders of the people, and they told them everything that had happened. And the chief priests got together and consulted and the elders and the scribes and all these Sanhedrin muckety mucks. And they said, what are we gonna do? Here's some money. Let's give these guys a big sum of money. And they're to say that the disciples stole the body. Wait. Ah, they know that's a lie. They know that's a lie, but that's what they're supposed to say.

And they told the soldiers, here you go. Here's a big sum of money. This is the lie that you are. And if you get into trouble with the governor, because their penalty for allowing their prisoner, so to speak, to escape is their own lives, they would be killed. And so if you get in trouble with the governor, we'll come to your aid and we'll make sure nothing happens to you. They're preaching Jesus and the resurrection. And these guys knew about the resurrection from the soldiers. And he tells them, God raised him from the dead by this name. This man stands here before you. They speak the truth with authority and with power and with conviction.

And I love this. They make things crystal clear. Crystal clear. Watch. Verse 11. He, this Jesus, the Nazarene. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the very cornerstone. Verse 12. And there is salvation in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. It's the name of Jesus. The one that you said was Beelzebul. The one that you said, crucify him. Crucify him, the one whom God raised from the dead. The name of Jesus. You can't get saved any other way than by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 4:12. Extremely clear.

Now, the job of a preacher and the job of any witness, it's not primarily to be clever, although there's nothing wrong with being clever. I mean, it's nice to be clever, but the job is to be clear. And Peter was like that. And I love that. Just very clear and very straightforward and doesn't pull any punches and you might not like what he has to say, but you're not confused by what he has to say.

Speaker 1

You're listening to From His Heart with Pastor Jeff Shreve today and the lesson called the Courage of a Good Soldier. It's from Pastor Jeff's seven lesson series, Soldiers of the Cross. As we heard today, we're living in a time where people desperately need to stand up for Jesus as Soldiers of the Cross.

In this inspiring series, you'll be strongly encouraged and given practical help that'll give you the courage to be what God created you to be, an effective influencer for the Kingdom. The series is also our special thank you gift for your support to From His Heart this month of any amount, and with that gift will include his companion booklet, the Lord's Army.

Both the series and the gift to From His Heart today. Call 866-40-BIBLE to get your copy, 866-40-BIBLE, or go online to fromhishart.org. The series is available on CDs, DVDs, a USB flash drive, or digital download. Again, call 866-40-BIBLE or go to fromhishart.org.

Well, that's it for today. Thank you for joining us. I'm Larry Nobles inviting you to be right back here next time. Don't miss the conclusion of the Courage of a Good Soldier, and we pray you'll have a safe, happy, and reflective appreciation for the courage our founders exhibited back in 1776. Happy Independence Day, and join us right here next time on From His Heart.

Speaker 3

There is tremendous truth. There is bless, there is hope that you always dream of. We can heal every scar.

Speaker 1

From His Heart is the listener supported Broadcast Ministry of Dr. Jeff Shreve speaking the truth in love to a lost and a hurting world. Remember, no matter what, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Find out more@from his heart.org.