ACTS 4:1-12: Of Mice and Men

SERIES: #5 Acts of the Apostles – Witnessing to Jerusalem

TOPIC: Salvation; Boldness, Forgiveness, Power, Preeminence, Regeneration
TITLE: OF MICE AND MEN - And Their Greatest Laid Plans!
[John Steinbeck by way of Robert Burns' famous poem, To a Mouse, which is often quoted as: "The best-laid plans of mice and men go oft awry (or astray)."]

TEXT: Acts 4:12 (1-12)

“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.”

[E-MAIL] My first e-mail address was acts_412; I choose that address because of what this verse means to me personally.

You see because of my background I identified with Peter and Paul … you know “the Foot ‘n’ Mouth” twins.

TRUTH/CONTEXT: Series Reminders – A Book of three acts 1) Jerusalem [1-7], 2) Judea & Samaria [8-12], 3) remotest parts of the earth [13-28]; A Book of three themes 1) Preeminence 2) Prominence 3) Power of Authentic Church

Several things to notice …

• Notice the arrested; not only Peter and John were arrested but the healed man as well. [v. 10]
• Notice the reason; speaking to “the people” disturbed the authorities. [v.1]
• Notice the taboo;

the apostles were preaching “the resurrection (of) the dead”

the Sadducees did not believe in an afterlife. [vv.1, 2]

• Notice the power; “in Jesus.” [v.2]
• Notice the fruit; “men … five thousand.” [v.4]
• Notice the arrogance; “they began to inquire, ‘By what power, or in what name, have you done this?’” … no concern for the man or the miracle
• an acknowledgement the miracle took place. [v.7]
• Notice the preacher; … he’s the same one who denied Christ three times …
• Notice the answer; Peter’s third sermon in a few days [vv. 8-12; ]
• Notice the attitude; they were Spirit-filled but courteous, guided in truth and power
• Notice the apostle threw the issue back in the accusers laps …
• Notice Peter’s Sermon

1. “if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man”
2. “by this name … this man [was] healed.”
3. “let it be known to all of you, and all the people of Israel”
4. It was “this name”…

• “whom you crucified.”
• “whom God raised from the dead.”

• Draws from the OT: “He is the stone …”, notice the tense and the change to a definite pronoun

1. Psalm 118:22 –

[He is ] The stone which the builders rejected Has become the chief corner stone.

2. a known psalm
3. a temple song
4. written during temple construction
5. quoted 6x in New Testament …
6. 3x by Jesus Himself [cf. Mark:12:10; Luke 20:17]

• Notice; also that builders rejected, not merchants or artisans or farmers or shepherds … a clear slap at those responsible for building
• Notice: the punctuation ending verse 12! A mark to end all marks! “by which we must be saved”

Bottom-line –

1. the power that delivered the man from his affliction came not from man but from God … all agree because it was universally understood such power could only be from divine;
2. by definition, deliverance from sin and from hell requires an even greater power … that power is still ours! It comes with some stipulations - courtesy, honesty, etc.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: What should be learned from the experience of Peter and John?
EXPANDED OUTLINE

I. WE SHOULD LEARN - WHEN GOD USES US AS HANDS OF HEALING

A. We might be apprehended for it
B. And we might be detained because of it
C. Whether legal and illegal

II. WE SHOULD LEARN - WHEN GOD USES US AS FEET TO THE LOST

A. We might be interrogated

1. We must be prepared to answer
2. We must use God’s Word to answer

B. And we might be persecuted

1. We must be prepared to respond
2. We must be prepared to suffer

III. WE SHOULD LEARN WHEN GOD USES US AS VOICES OF DECREE

A. We must nor fear to confirm

1. His calling
2. His decree

B. And must know who is to be proclaimed

1. There is “no one else”
2. There is “none other name”
3. “by which we must be saved”

APPLICATION: What can we expect in times like ours? Are our times that much different than the times of our text?

We can expect when we approach life in that name …

1. Efforts to silence us! [v.1]
2. Efforts to stir-up those with an opposing worldview! [2]
3. Yet we should expect abundant fruit … if Christ is preached! [4]
4. Arrogant, intolerant, and hypocritical treatment by those who disagree! [7b]
5. Yet we should expect the same power in us if we will just “give heed to Him” [8a; also a theme of series message #4]

How are we to respond? Keep quiet and take the politically correct route or …

[NEW SHERIFF] The Six Shooter was an extremely popular western, broadcast on NBC radio from 1953-54. Jimmy Stewart starred as Britt Ponsett, a Texas plainsman who was know as The Six Shooter.

On one broadcast (“The New Sheriff”; 6/10/54) Britt called a bully’s bluff … even though his gun was several feet away on a dresser. In his signature style, Stewart (as Ponsett) told the tough he could draw his gun anytime he wanted. The surprised crook stammered, “B-b-b-but you a-a-a-ain’t got your six-shooter.” Ponsett stepped toward the thug and drawled, “Things might not work out the way you think they will.” The Six Shooter’s bold confidence made the two-bit thug turn and run.

[DUEL AT LOCKWOOD] From the same program a tee-aged killer went after The Six Shooter in a town called Lockwood … he bragged to everyone if he ran into Ponsett he’d kill him. Well Britt showed up one day and he heard the quiet gunman had come to town, so he sent a messenger to warn Ponsett he was on his way. Ponsett didn’t wait … he rode out on the trail and waited for the kid on the trail.

The gunman found Ponsett sitting on his horse waiting for him; he asked, “Who are you?” He said, “Britt Ponsett” and laid a shotgun over his saddle as the tough started to draw. And he drawled slowly, “Why are you stopping? Go ahead, draw!”

Fantasies concerning life and its living are common to all people … one of mine is stepping toward the next illogical, irrational, relativistic humanist or atheist and saying, “Things might not work out the way you think they will.”

Only in my vision the rascal doesn’t turn and run; instead he comes under conviction, drops to his knees and pleads of God’s forgiveness.

CHALLENGE: Clearly, there is a present need for more boldness amongst the Body of Christ. Jesus didn’t die in order for us to become doormats for every godless heathen we encounter. After all, Jesus was not always the easy-going man popular mythology pictures! [Luke 19:45-47; John 2:13-17]

But I declare a truth to you; our fears are not due to obedience but disobedience … a greater fear of man than of God, a greater concern for the horizontal rather than the vertical.

I fear many of our brothers and sisters have become so fearful of the world and its minions they’ve been rendered stingerless in the battle for souls.

In spite of that we must also be …

1. Courteous! [8b]
2. Honest! [10]
3. Bold! [9,11]
4. Biblical! [11]
5. But powerful
6. And fearless! [12]

Somehow, we must train up men and women of greater courage Who will ignore political correctness and shun

• The lust of the flesh
• The lust of the eyes
• And the boastful pride of life

While we were yet sinners ...

Christianity, Expository, Homiletics,
Outlines, Preaching, Sermons

HE KNOWS: The Way We Take!

TOPIC: God's Presence
TITLE: HE KNOWS - The Way We Take!
TEXT: JOB 23:8-10

“Behold, I go forward but He is not there,
And backward, but I cannot perceive Him;
When He acts on the left, I cannot behold Him;
He turns on the right, I cannot see Him.
But He knows the way I take;
When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”

TRUTH CLAIM/CONTEXT:

THINGS ABOUT JOB -

• Possibly oldest book in the Bible; probably pre-Exodus [absence of “the Law” and presence of long lives, 42:16]
• Job asserts and explains a doctrine of divine providence
• More particularly it reveals that even good men suffer affliction
• Job exhorts us to bear afflictions [as does James 1]
• Without murmur or fingerpointing; nor complaint to God
• Job tells us to wait upon the Lord; deliverance and understanding are revealed in and through the storms of life [38:1]
• God’s ways are higher than ours [Isaiah 55:8, 9]
• God must account for His doings to no man [Ephesians 1:11]
• He is sovereign and just in all He does

SELF-EVIDENT THINGS -

• We will not find God on the horizontal
• Forward and backward ... same as east and west
• Likewise, left and right ... Or north and south; it relates to general human orientation
• The mind of that age had the east as its forward orientation, ergo the west was backward ... no great mystery here
• God is everywhere present; we call it omnipresent …
• The most difficult of times to not see God is in the midst of our affliction
• In the morning the sun rising in the east, till NOON we watch and there’s no God to acknowledge
• We then turn to watch a setting sun for another half day; as it's final light lingers on the horizon …we’ve still not seen Him
• Then we look north, nothing; and south … still nada
• Yet we see His works everywhere that we do not see Him
• How do we not see God when we are looking north, east, south, and west?
• You will want to take bibles in hand and follow along in chapters 38 and 39.

I. WE DON’T SEE HIM IN …

• The foundation of the earth [38:4]
• The plot map of the earth [5]
• Its bases and cornerstone [6]
• The doors that hold back the sea [8]
• The garments for the seas [9]
• The boundaries for the seas [10]
• The dawn [12]
• The springs and recesses of the deep [16]
• The gates of death [17]
• The dwelling of light [19]
• The place of darkness [19]
• The storehouses of snow and hail [22]
• The division of light and the pathway of the wind [24]
• The flood’s channel [25]The thunderbolt’s way [25]

II. WE DON’T SEE HIM IN …

• The time of rain or the lack of rain [26]
• The making of grass seeds sprout [27]
• The Rain, dew, frost, and ice [28-29]
• The making of water as hard as stone [30]
• The ice caps [30]
• The chains of the Pleiades … the cords of Orion [31]
• The Constellations’ seasons … e.g., the Bear with satellites [32]
• The ordinances of the heavens [33]
• The making of the clouds to loose their water [34]
• The cause lightening [35]
• The cause of wisdom or understanding to a mind [36]

III. WE DON’T SEE HIM IN …

• The provision of food for the beasts and their young [39]
• Or for the raven [41]
• The time of birthing for mountain goats or deer [39:1]
• The freedom donkeys [5]
• The domestication of animals to serve man [9-12]
• The stupidity of the ostrich or withholding of understanding from her [17]
• The horse’s strength or his mane [19]
• The horse’s leap [20]
• The flight to the hawk [26]
• The eagle’s decision to fly [27]
  

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: Then Job answered the LORD and said,

"Behold, I am insignificant; what can I reply to You? I lay my hand on my mouth.”

Job 40:3-4

In verse 10 of our passage, the conjunction "but" affirms Job's faith in God remains intact in spite of His inability to see Him.

Verse 11 reads,

"Were He to pass by me, I would not see Him; Were He to move past me, I would not perceive Him.”

The quick Christian response is, “So?”

For Romans 8:24 says,

“For in hope we have been saved, but hope that is seen is not hope; for who hopes for what he already sees?”

Job expressed earnest desire to be in the visible presence of His God [v. 3]. To be permitted to argue his cause in person [v. 4]. But he knew in his heart his earnestness was in vain.

He looked to all points of the compass, N. S. E. and W. where he might rationally and reasonably expect to find God, but in vain.

• It is not with reason or rationality that we find God … we must reach the point that we see God’s passing in the works of His hands north, east, west, or south through the eyes of our heart by faith.
• It is natural for carnal man to look for things on the horizontal.
• It is his habit to look in all the wrong places for evidence of God’s passing
  

Yet, as we saw, the evidence is all around.

James was right, “Count it all joy when …”

When all is said and done, we “shall come forth as gold.”

"The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether. They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb."

Psalms 19:9-10

Homiletics, Job, Preaching, Sermons