Friday, November 18, 2016, 2:53 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song “All Through the Night.” Speak, Lord,
your words to my heart. I read Acts 5
(Select vv. NASB).
Filled with Jealousy (vv. 17-18)
But the high priest rose up, along with all his
associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with
jealousy. They laid hands on the apostles and put them in a public jail.
The apostles were performing
many miraculous signs and wonders among the people – healing the sick, and delivering
from demons, etc. The number of followers of Christ was increasing, as well.
And, the religious leaders in the Jewish temple were filled with jealousy. They
had been jealous of Jesus, too, which is one of the reasons they had him killed
on a cross (See: Matt. 27:18). Just as they had been threatened by Jesus’
popularity among the people, they were now threatened by the Apostles of Christ
and their ministry among the people. And, so they sought to take them out.
So it is today. There are
religious and political leaders among us whose goal it is to stop the spreading
of the “whole message” of salvation from sin, and to silence the full gospel’s
messengers. And, so they lie, deceive, manipulate, and twist the truth to their
advantage, and do everything they can to discredit the whole message of the
gospel and its messengers. They do something similarly on a global level with
regard to sovereign governments, too, for their goal is not only to discredit
the gospel and its messengers, but it is to do away with sovereign nations, so
that they can bring the whole world together under one totalitarian global rule
of government and a one-world (all inclusive) religion.
One of the angles they are apparently
working now is to try to discredit independent news agencies by claiming they
are fake news, as opposed to the mainstream media, which they try to convince
us is the real news. But, mainstream news is largely fake news, and some of
which they are calling fake news is probably legitimate, which is why they have
to discredit it, though I don’t know this for a fact. I just know that they are
going all out to try to discredit what is truth so that they can convince the
people to believe the lies, both in the world of government and within the
church.
First they tried to prove
that the full gospel message was teaching works-based salvation instead of the
grace of God, and they were largely successful in convincing a vast number of
people to reject the whole gospel in favor of a diluted version, which does not
crucify its followers with Jesus in death to sin and in resurrection to new
life in Christ. And, now they are on a serious campaign to try to discredit the
full (whole) gospel message and its messengers by crying “hate-speech,” “intolerance,”
“bigotry,” and “uneducated; ignorant,” and the like. Their goal, again, is to
bring all the people of the world together in unity under a one-world (all
inclusive) religion, which accepts all religions as viable, and which accepts nearly
all walks of life as good and pleasing to God (to them, a higher power).
Stand and Speak
(vv. 19-26)
But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the
gates of the prison, and taking them out he said, “Go, stand and speak to the
people in the temple the whole message
of this Life.” Upon hearing this, they entered into the temple about
daybreak and began to teach.
Now when the high priest and his associates came, they
called the Council together, even all the Senate of the sons of Israel, and
sent orders to the prison house for them to be brought. But the officers who
came did not find them in the prison; and they returned and reported back,
saying, “We found the prison house locked quite securely and the guards
standing at the doors; but when we had opened up, we found no one inside.” Now
when the captain of the temple guard and the chief priests heard these words, they
were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this. But someone
came and reported to them, “The men whom you put in prison are standing in the
temple and teaching the people!” Then the captain went along with the officers
and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were afraid of the
people, that they might be stoned).
We must not be afraid of
their threats, or their lies and deceptions, or their manipulations of truth, or
their attempts to discredit us and the whole gospel message. But, we must keep
speaking in Jesus’ name, and we must keep teaching the full gospel message of
salvation from sin.
So, what is this whole (full)
gospel? It is that, not only did Jesus die on a cross to deliver us from
eternal damnation and to give us the hope of heaven when we die, but he died
that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; that we might no longer
live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us. When we believe in
Jesus, we are crucified with Christ in death to sin, and we are resurrected
with Christ to newness of life. We put behind us our old lives of living to sin
and self, and we put on our new lives in Christ Jesus, “created to be like God
in true righteousness and holiness” (See: Eph. 4:17-24; Ro. 6:1-23; Ro. 8:1-14;
Ac. 26:16-18; 1 Pet. 2:24).
We Must Obey God! (vv. 27-32)
When they had brought them, they stood them before the
Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders
not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with
your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the
apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers
raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. He is the
one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant
repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses of these
things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
We should expect that if we
are truly following Jesus Christ with our lives, and if we are teaching
(sharing, preaching) the full gospel message of salvation from sin, that we are
going to be hated and persecuted by those who oppose the full gospel message.
They are going to put all kinds of pressure on us to try to get us to fold, to
give up, or to compromise our faith and convictions, but we must remain strong
in the Lord and in his mighty power. Daily we must put on the armor of God (Eph.
6:10-20) with which to fight off Satan’s evil attacks against us, for truly he
is the one behind all this opposition. And, even if they threaten us with
death, we must keep on preaching Jesus Christ, him crucified, and us crucified
with him in death to sin; and him risen, and us resurrected with him to newness
of life.
They may even use the Word of
God against us to try to get us to obey them rather than God, so, even though
the Word of God teaches us that we must obey the human authorities over us, if
any authority tries to convince us to follow them in disobedience to God, we
must always obey God instead of men (or women). So, if the preaching of the
gospel is outlawed, we keep preaching, because people need to hear the message of
salvation so that they can believe in Jesus, and so they can be saved from
their sins. As ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ it is our job to turn
people from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so they may
receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith
in Jesus Christ (Ac. 26:16-18). This is the essence of the gospel message.
All Through the Night / An Original Work / December 7, 2013
Based off Various Scriptures
Blessed are you when you’re
persecuted
Because of your faith in
Jesus Christ.
Blessed are you when people
insult you,
And falsely say what leads
folks to doubt.
Rejoice and be glad, for your
reward is
Great in the heavens. You’re
not alone.
When you are persecuted in
one place,
Flee to another. God will be
there.
You will be hated by all the
nations
Because you testify of God’s
grace.
Many will seize you and
persecute you,
And put to death the
foll’wers of Christ.
Yet, do not fear what humans
may do to you,
For I’m with you all through
the night.
I tell you, love your enemies
with my love,
And forgive as I forgave you.
Pray for those who do evil
against you.
Rest in my love and grace
from above.
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