Cross Carriers and Crown Wearers

00:01 You want to stay with your Bibles right where you were as Brother Jason was reading. That is our text for the morning. 00:08 I've entitled the message "Cross Carriers and Crown Wearers." "Cross Carriers and Crown Wearers." So what we have here in the book of Acts chapter 5 is a continuation of what had happened on chapter 4. But as we look into this passage this morning, 00:27 I'm reminded of a 1988 presidential, vice presidential debate. And some of you would not remember that. But I remember seeing it on the media. And Dan Quayle and Lloyd Benson were the vice presidential candidates. 00:46 Lloyd was the vice presidential candidate for Michael Dukakis. And Dan Quayle from Indiana was the vice presidential nominee for Bush 41, George H.W. Bush. 01:00 And I remember the line that was just astounding and that kind of lives in infamy or maybe famously, depending on which side you would come down on politically. 01:15 But Quayle was extolling his virtues and promoting himself and that he had experience in the Senate, experience in politics, and had the same level of kind of experience that would be needed to be president if something unfortunate should happen to President Bush. 01:35 And so he was promoting his abilities there. And used as an example of his experience, John F. Kennedy, better known as Jack Kennedy. And he said that he would have that kind of level of experience in order to carry on the duties of president. And what happened next was just astounding. 01:58 Lloyd Benson took that opportunity to say this. He said, "I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. You, Senator, are no Jack Kennedy." And I mean, the crowd erupted. 02:19 You could tell which side they were on in that presidential debate at that time. But I'd like to just say this morning that as we look at this passage of Scripture here, we have some things that have been done at the hands of the apostles that people say they claim to be apostles today. And I want to say to them, "Sir, you are no apostle. 02:41 You are no apostle as we have here in the book of Acts." And with all the personalities that claim to be special kind of leaders or apostles, in fact, to claim to be an apostle or a miracle worker on the level of the New Testament apostles is misguided at best and deceptive at worst. 03:00 But worse yet is to claim to be a cross or crown wearer without being a cross bearer. And so that's what we want to look at this morning. And so we look at this verses 12 through 16. 03:14 And we have a description of what was happening in the early church at the end of the account there in chapter 5, first part, where Ananias and Sapphira had lied to God and lied to Peter and were judged by being instantly dead there on the spot. 03:33 And they buried him on the spot. And so what we have here is we have the summary of that description in verse 12 through 16. And then we have the imprisonment, the trial, and the suffering of the apostles in verse 22 through 32. 03:50 Then we have the advice of a prominent Pharisee in verse 34 through 40, that man being Gamaliel. And then we have in 41 and 42 the description of the apostles' response to these events. Chapter 4, there was also an arrest. 04:11 You recall that when Peter and John raised up the lame man and said, "Rise up and walk." And he did. And it caused quite a stir. And the council, the Sanhedrin, arrested them, took them into custody, and gave them a prohibition, a warning. 04:30 They were not to preach anymore in the name of Jesus. They were not to talk about this man. They were not to preach in his name. And in fact, to understand, "Did we not strictly command you," verse 28 of our text, "you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine and intend to bring this man's blood on us." In other words, 04:49 you haven't been doing what we told you to do. Or you have been doing what we told you not to do. And they said, of course, in this case, "Then we ought to obey God rather than men." And in chapter 4, after that arrest, they got the prohibition and a warning. And they prayed as a church to the sovereign Lord for boldness. 05:11 And God answered that prayer. He answered their prayers for boldness. And by the time we come to chapter 5, the boldness had settled in. And they were boldly proclaiming the Lord Jesus Christ after having received the prohibition. This time, they received a beating after which they no longer prayed for boldness. 05:32 They rejoiced. They prayed prayers of rejoicing that they had been worthy to bear the cross for the Lord Jesus Christ to say that, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. 05:48 In verse 30, they talk to these officials about hanging Jesus on a tree, which was a disgrace. And here in verse 41, they were rejoicing that they could participate in the disgrace with the Lord. And they were rejoicing that they had been counted worthy to do that. 06:09 So what can we learn from this narrative for us today? Well, let's look at a couple of issues that evolve and develop from this passage that we need to answer. In verse 12 and 13, it's a little bit confusing. So we need to work on that a little bit to see what actually is being said and promoted here. 06:30 Verse 12 and 13, "And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people." Now, that is very important to understand that the apostles were uniquely qualified, uniquely gifted in doing these signs and wonders and miracles. 06:50 Over in chapter 2, verse 43, you may remember this on the day of Pentecost and following, that "the fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles." Through the apostles. There's no evidence that this was widespread signs and wonders by a whole lot of people. 07:11 They were done through the apostles. In chapter 3, verse 6, it was again Peter and John, Peter specifically, that raised this man up to walk in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. "Rise up and walk." So again, it was Peter. 07:32 If you look down in verse 15, it was again Peter that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. And they were all healed, healed of their sicknesses, of their unclean spirits. 07:53 And God was doing a mighty work. God still can do a mighty work. God still does mighty works. But not on the same capacity as what we see the early apostles functioning. And so what we like to say is this functioning here is more descriptive than prescriptive. 08:14 In other words, descriptive, this is to describe what was happening in the early church. Prescriptive would mean that this ought to happen everywhere all the time. No, this is descriptive. And that's what we said at the beginning of the book of Acts is we need to ask the question when we read this, is this descriptive or prescriptive? 08:34 Is it a description of what was happening? Or was it a prescription that should happen everywhere? If you want to get an example of that, look down in verse 42. If this is descriptive or prescriptive, "Daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ." Now, 08:54 if that's descriptive, it's telling us what happened. If it's prescriptive, then it means that we always ought to meet in the temple and daily from house to house. No, we would agree that that's descriptive. No, it's prescriptive that we preach the gospel, preaching Jesus Christ as Lord. But it's descriptive as to what the setting was that they were experiencing this. 09:14 So enough said about that. But how do we understand verse 13? Verse 12, "And they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch, yet none of the rest dared join them. But the people esteemed them highly." Now, who are they talking about with these impersonal pronouns? The apostles, we know who those are. 09:36 "And they were all with one accord." Who's that? "Yet none of the rest dared join them. And the people esteemed them highly." Who is he talking about? And if you do a little study in the commentaries, it's divided. 09:51 The opinions are divided on whether or not who's they're talking about here with these "they" and "them" and "those." And so let's unpack this a little bit. Some would say that the "them" in verse 13 is referring to the church, to all believers, 10:11 that all believers were among them at Solomon's porch in one accord. And the church, none of the rest dared join the church. But the people esteemed the church highly. The unbelievers, the community esteemed the church highly. 10:27 And so this would be an indication then that the unbelievers were maybe afraid to join themselves to the church unless they were truly converted because they saw what happened to Ananias and Sapphira. That'd be one way of interpreting this to say that the "them" is referring to the whole church. 10:46 People were not joining the church unless they were truly converted. And the unbelievers esteemed the church very highly and esteemed them very highly. Now, another way of looking at this could be that the apostles and the church were so far superior in their argument for Christ that the leaders, 11:09 the religious leaders, were in no position to come to Solomon's porch and argue with them because they were so convincing with their evidence and their argument and their Scripture that Jesus was the Christ that the religious leaders had no argument against them other than to say, "No, no. 11:28 Don't do this." Slap their hands, throw them in prison, beat them up, and threaten them. And so that would be another way of looking at this, to let them know that the apostles' argument and evidence was so clear that none of the leaders could contend with them. That would be a possibility as well. 11:47 But the interpretation here that I think makes the most sense in the context is that when he speaks of the apostles, then many signs and wonders were done among the people by the apostles. And they, the apostles, were all with one accord in Solomon's porch. 12:07 And yet none of the rest dared join them, the apostles. But the people esteemed them, the apostles, highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. Now, why would this be important? 12:23 Well, because I think what you could say is that what Luke is writing here is that the apostles and the church, or the apostles, were given unique authority and power to establish the gospel in this setting. 12:41 They were given unique authority and power to establish the gospel in this setting. Now, to think about the book of Acts in relation to the end of the book, the end of the book, who was Luke, the writer, traveling with? He was traveling with Paul. 12:58 What was one of the things that happened in Paul's ministry over and over and over when it came to Paul being an apostle? It was challenged. He was continually being challenged as an apostle. "Why do you say you're an apostle? You didn't walk with Jesus. You didn't follow Jesus. But I saw Jesus," he would say. 13:16 And the proof of his apostleship was that he also worked signs and wonders. So what I think is happening here in verse 12 and 13 is the apostles' authority is being established. Their unique gifting is being established. And then at the end of the book of of Acts, 13:38 we're going to see that Paul also had that unique call and gifting and ability. Just go and turn over to chapter 19, verse 12. I want to show you something. Because in chapter 19, verse 12, it's something else that is not prescriptive but descriptive. 13:58 And this had to do with the ministry of Paul. Chapter 19, verse 12, "So that..." Okay, verse 11, "Now God worked unusual miracles by the hands of Paul, so that even hankerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, 14:18 and the diseases left them, and the evil spirits went out from them." You see, an unusual set of situations, an unusual set of circumstances where they sent these hankerchiefs... By the way, if you get a hankerchief in the mail and says, "This was prayed over, and now you're going to expect a miracle," just don't worry about it. 14:38 It's not legitimate. 14:43 But it was in the ministry of the Apostle Paul. 14:45 So if you have the Apostle Paul whose ministry was always being challenged by the unbelievers and by the believers, some of them, and you have Luke writing the book of Acts, traveling with Paul, and hearing that, and needing to establish the fact that the apostles were uniquely gifted and qualified to establish the church age, 15:06 you can see that in verse 15, Peter was also having these unusual kinds of miracles that I think this would bear weight. That what we're seeing here is Luke trying to establish the unique gifting and calling and office of Apostle capital A, 15:28 limited to the 13. The 13, 12 with Matthias, as we saw in chapter 1, but also the Apostle Paul in chapter, well, later in the book. So if there are those that claim to be apostles on the same level as what we have today, I would just say there's no more room in the... 15:49 There's no more vacancy in the room of apostleship. Those roles have been filled, and they were adequately filled. And there's no more vacancy. 15:59 Now, if you mean apostle by some other small A kind of thing from Luke or Ephesians chapter 5, if you want to interpret that as ongoing ministry, then it could be applied to an apostle being a sent one, someone who is sent out as a church builder, as a missionary, 16:17 or as an establishing new territory in the in the kingdom of God. But those do not come to the same level as what we have here. So why is this important? 16:30 Because continually, continually, continually, the apostles were being elevated as mere men to being Christ's representative in that day and time and age. Now, that doesn't mean they were infallible, contrary to what those who would promote Peter as being the first pope would say, 16:50 that Peter, when he sat in Rome as the first pope, which I don't believe he was, but there are those that do, and that he would speak what's called ex cathedra. And that would mean that when he sat doing his papal responsibilities as Papa Peter, which is what pope means, 17:09 Papa, Papa Peter, and when he would speak ex cathedra, he was speaking for Christ. And anybody else who speaks ex cathedra would speak in the place of Christ, in the place of Christ. And of course, Peter did that in writing Scripture, but so did Paul. And so did Matthew and some of the other apostles. 17:31 All right. At any rate, what we have here is a power of God at work. Let me just say this by way of application. God is still the same God today. He is still powerful. He still changes lives, and He still works miracles. Just maybe in a little bit different setting, 17:53 but He's still opening prison doors. We see it happen. If you've been sentenced to prison, and I hear it regularly, men that have been sentenced to prison, and they've given their hearts to the Lord. And for some reason, whatever God has a call for them on the outside, and He releases them from literal physical prisons. 18:14 I know a man, read a man by the name of Dimitris Dudaman, who was delivered from the electric chair in Romania. And I knew him personally. Heard his testimony, read his book. Trust that he was telling us the truth. He was delivered from the electric chair, I believe, not once but twice. And so God still does work, and He still does miracles. 18:35 He still opens prison doors. He still gives grace and suffering in all kinds of suffering, whether it's suffering at the hands of the Sanhedrin, whether it's suffering because of a sermon you preached, whether it's suffering because of a testimony you gave, whether it's suffering because you stood for righteousness, or whether it's just, whether it is suffering to conform Christ, 18:57 us to the image of Christ. God gives grace in suffering. And He still heals, and He still delivers from all kinds of afflictions. Let us not think that God cannot and does not do these things. 19:09 However, we must be aware that this was a unique time in the history of the church, the establishment of the church in the kingdom and the church age. So He still hears us when we cry and when we call upon Him. Now, we go on down into the next passage, 19:29 part of this passage, and we find the apostles imprisoned. This is the second wave of persecution. Verse 17, the second wave, the high priest. They were jealous. The word indignation there can be translated jealous. They were filled with jealousy, not jealousy for God's glory like we are to have, 19:49 be jealous for the glory of God, but jealousy because of a robbing or potential robbing, a perceived robbing of their own glory, that they were losing control. They were losing control of the people. They feared losing their control in leadership with Rome, in connection with Rome. And so they were filled with jealousy. 20:09 Jealousy will cause many people to do many ungodly things and taking people 20:16 into their own hands and trying to establish their kingdom instead of God's kingdom. So the civil and religious authorities moved in. They took all the apostles in this case. In chapter 4, it was Peter and John, chapter 3 and 4. And here in chapter 5, it's all of them. So they're really getting down to business here. 20:36 And in verse 19 through 25, we have the great escape, the great escape, how that the officers somehow... We are not given details. Maybe we're not given details because the apostles really didn't know how it happened either. But in the details in Peter's or in Paul's life in Acts 16, was their shackles fell off. 20:57 And Peter had an experience in chapter 4, I believe it was, where he was released from prison. But here, all of them are being released from prison, and the doors are still locked. In fact, I think when they went in... This is a personal opinion. But I think when they went in to find these men and they were not there, I think probably whatever was binding their hands and feet was probably still locked up too, 21:19 just for a fact. And so it wasn't like some of them were unlocked and some of them were locked. I think everything was locked up just like they'd have been there. And so they were confounded here. They were saying, "What would the outcome be?" Verse 24, I think that's probably saying it mildly. "What is this going to... What is this going to do? How's this going to turn out?" And they were, 21:42 of course, in big trouble as a Sanhedrin, the great escape. They pulled these men together with them and without violence, verse 26, without violence. Why is it that people must feel like they must resort to violence? Why is it that people feel that they must resort to violence? 22:02 We're living in a violent age, in a violent day. And it's unfortunate. It's horrible. It's terrible. Almost every day, almost every week, we hear of several shootings, of stabbings. 22:13 We hear of of of guns and knives and and all kinds of things that are that are violently used to to inflict suffering and even death on people around them. It's a characteristic of the last days, as it was in the days of Noah. 22:33 So shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days of Noah, they were giving in marriage and eating and drinking and being married and giving in marriage until the day came when they entered into the ark, and the floods came then. And so what will be in the days of the Son of Man? 22:47 One of the things we don't often think about in the days of Noah was that the earth was filled with violence, violence. So we have international violence. We have terrorism. But this here was a nonviolent situation. Verse 26, "We want you to come with us." All right. 23:07 We'll come with you. And as we come, we're going to sing praises. We're going to testify to the goodness of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Say, if they came after us, what would be on our minds? What would be on our lips? What would be in our hands? Be clubs, spears, stones, rocks? Or would it be the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 23:27 Here, let me grab my Bible. If I can take anything with me, let me grab my Bible. By the way, you care for a verse? Let me share a verse with you. You're... And if they refuse that, well, you have God's Word hid in your heart. So the compromise, well, the accusation here has been heard before in the first four chapters of of Acts. 23:49 Peter and the other apostles answered and said, "We ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree." Now, that won't win you any friends or calm your enemies down. You murdered Him. That's what Peter said, by hanging Him on a tree, 24:10 a disgraceful tree. Verse 31, "Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses, and so is the Holy Spirit." Wow. What a message. What a message. Common denominator. You killed Him. 24:30 God raised Him. We're here to tell everybody about it. Very simple. Very simple. You killed Him. God raised Him. You rejected Him. God exalted Him. He gives the Spirit to those who obey Him as a testimony of the glorified Christ. 24:48 So then we come to the last part of this chapter where a man by the name of Gamaliel takes front and center stage. Gamaliel, he is referred to as a teacher of the law. He has also been referred to as a Rabbon. Rabbon. 25:08 There are several different words for Rabbi in the Hebrew and in Yiddish and in the Greek text as well. There is the word Rabbi or Rabbi. We pronounce it Rabbi, but it's actually in Yiddish and in Hebrew pronounced Rabbi or Rebbe. You may see that in some Jewish literature. Rabbi would be a teacher of the law, 25:29 a master, one who is called my teacher. My teacher, my great one. That would be Rabbi, Rabbi. Then there's the term Rabbon, which is a high-level Rabbi, which means our great one. 25:50 So this is not just my Rabbi, but this is our Rabbi. This is our Rabbi as a nation, as a people, our Rabbi Gamaliel. And he is referred to in history as a Rabbon, a Rabbon. This was not just an average teacher of the law. This was one of the social elites, 26:11 the spiritual elites, whose grandfather, some debate whether it's his grandfather or his father, was the man by the name of Hillel. Hillel had developed a whole following of Jews and Jewish religious people in the Jewish faith. 26:30 And he was oftentimes compared with the man Shammai. One was a liberal. One was a conservative. And you hear those words when you talk about Jesus' position on divorce and remarriage in Matthew 19. Was He promoting Hillel or Shammai? At any rate, you don't have to remember all that. 26:50 Just remember, we're talking about Gamaliel. We're talking about one who's up at the top of the religious and social and political totem pole. He was probably at some time also the leader of the Sanhedrin. He was a learned expert and authority in the Mosaic Torah, the Torah being the first five books of the Old Testament. 27:12 He was an instructor. His responsibility as a teacher of the law in verse 34, the teacher of the law held in respect by all the people. The teachers of the law preserved and interpreted the Torah and the traditions of the community. 27:35 They oversaw the synagogue worship and Scripture reading. They settled legal disputes involving ritual purity, marriage, inheritance, and civil matters. And they were moral exemplars embodying what the law taught. That's what they were to be. 27:54 That's what people looked at them as. So Pharisee named Gamaliel, Rabbon, Gamaliel, respected by all the people. He rises and is the man through whom at this time God delivers them. Again, this is a descriptive passage, 28:16 not a prescriptive passage. Not every time that a person gets in trouble for his faith, is this going to happen? But it happened this time. And the one who was instrumental, who God used to deliver them, was the man Gamaliel, Gamaliel. 28:34 Now, that should make some remember some some further biblical truths, biblical insights, and that we know that Paul, Saul, was a student of Gamaliel. And so when Saul Paul claimed his apostolic authority, 28:54 he also reminded the people that he knew the law probably better than most of them because he had studied in the history or in the school of Hillel under the hand and tutelage of Gamaliel himself. 29:10 To establish that he was not a newcomer to the debates. 29:17 And so Gamaliel argues and makes a case for through reason and moderation, makes a case for moderation and and and and release and giving them freedom because he says, 29:36 the basic argument is is that there were some men who rose up to start things, Thudas in verse 36. He had a following join him, a number of men, about 400 joined him. He was slain, and they who followed him were all scattered. 29:56 Verse 37, there was Judas of Galilee. This probably took place in about AD 6. Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And through those illustrations, he makes the case for releasing these men, 30:17 going easy on them because if it's not of God, it's not going to go. It's not going to work long term. If it is of God, it's going to go no matter what you do to it. And you don't want to be found in a position of arguing against God. Now, that is an interesting argument. 30:37 And some people would say that now that's not just descriptive but prescriptive. That's how we ought to handle all controversies. Well, that's not how they handled this controversy. But that is not inspired advice. It does not say that the Holy Spirit was speaking through him, 30:57 although he may have been given heavenly wisdom for this situation because there are a lot of religious movements that have not been stopped, that have not been from God. So his argument does tend to break down here. 31:12 If you look, if you take that that line of thinking to some modern-day movements, Mormonism, you shouldn't try to stop Mormonism because after all, if it's not of God, it's going to fail. Well, it hasn't failed yet. In fact, it has millions of followers. And if it's... But it's not biblical. 31:32 And it's unbiblical. And it's anti-biblical. And so it can't be from God. But if it's not from God, it'll fail. If it is from God, it'll succeed. And you don't want to speak against God, so you can't go after Mormonism. No, unsound argument for things that are direct violations of Scripture. 31:51 Maybe a sound argument for those that are not direct violations of Scripture. But that didn't even work in the case of Islam. 32:00 Islam, a rising up of people in the Middle East, has almost almost equaled the spread of Christianity through the years. And one cannot say that Islam is of God because it prospered. They cannot say that if it hadn't been from God, it wouldn't have prospered. 32:22 Except you can factor in the sovereignty of God in there. And God obviously allowed this to take place. And that's another story of discussion for another day. But we're looking at his argument here. 32:34 But nevertheless, while this is not necessarily inspired advice, it was used by God to release the apostles. God used him to protect the little flock from destruction. 32:52 There is no evidence that I'm aware of that Gamaliel became a believer in Jesus. But God used him as a moderating voice in this time, at this setting, in this situation for this problem. And God can even use unbelievers. Amen? 33:10 God can even use unbelievers when it advances His purpose. So you read the rest of the account. They decided, we agree with Gamaliel. We will listen to his advice. Verse 40, "They agreed with him. 33:29 And when they called for the apostles and had beaten them..." Well, they didn't get off totally. "Beaten them with a cat of nine tails, probably." Probably the 39 stripes that were allowed, 40 stripes allowed by the Old Testament law. 33:44 39 stripes was usually administered just to make sure they didn't miscount and violate the 40. I read somewhere today or this week that they would they would beat them in in groups of three to help keep track of the of the number of stripes. They would beat them twice on the back and once on the chest. 34:05 Twice on the back, once on the chest, up to 39 stripes. So this was not a pleasant experience. So how do you explain the rejoicing in verse 41? How do you explain the rejoicing? That they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name. 34:29 I don't know how you do that unless you have been filled with the Spirit of God, which is true in their case and in our case in verse 32. "We are His witnesses to these things. 34:45 And so also is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." Let me just say about that verse. God does not give the Spirit to enable and equip people to disobey Him. 35:00 God gives the Spirit to those who have been made a decision to be obedient to the Lordship of Christ and to the walking in the Spirit. So how do you explain this? Well, in order for them to be crown wearers, 35:20 they recognize they must first be cross bearers. 35:26 They were expecting this kind of thing because Jesus Himself had told them, "If they hate Me, they'll hate you. If they persecuted Me, they'll persecute you." And by implication is if they hang Me on a cross, they'll be expecting that they'll also take your life. 35:41 "But rejoice," Jesus said, "and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven." How can that be? Except they knew that they were identifying with Christ and proclaiming His name. And that's where I want to end this message this morning with this question. 36:02 Are we really ready to suffer for Christ? You don't get ready at the moment when it is pressing in. You get ready before. 36:18 In other words, with your mindset, with your outlook, with your 36:24 cross bearing. 36:26 Bode Bokum was a preacher that just recently passed away. You may have read some of his books, seen him on YouTube. Powerful preacher, Black American, African American. Spent the last nine years in Africa teaching the Gospel, teaching pastors. 36:45 I believe he was back home in the States and was not afraid to call out his coworkers when they needed to be called out. Accountability in the larger church. Bode was just just died of probably a heart failure, a heart attack. 37:06 It was natural causes as far as we know. And right on the heels of of the death of Charlie Kirk. Before Bode died, he made this statement about Charlie Kirk and about us. And I found it interesting. 37:25 His statement went something like this: "Many say they would die for Christ." And the case can be made that Charlie Kirk, that was at least a good part of why he died, if maybe not the whole reason that he died. And so we look at that and say, 37:45 "Oh, I want to be like Charlie." And how many of you have heard that in the last couple of weeks? We want to be like Charlie. People want to be like Charlie. Let me tell you how you get to be like Charlie. And by the way, we don't need more Charlies. We need more Jesuses. We need more we need more Christ representatives, Christ followers. 38:07 And that that happens to line up with Charlie, so be it. But we don't need more Charlies. We need more Jesus followers. But how you get to that point? Boke Bokum, Bode Bokum. Say that 50 times without breathing. Bode Bokum said, 38:27 "Many people would say they would die for Christ, but are not willing to die to self." Most of us presently will not die for our faith. 38:43 But we are called to die to ourselves and follow Jesus. What in the world makes me think I could die for Jesus if I'm not willing to live for Jesus? 38:58 Will I somehow get a sudden burst of decision and grace? Yes, that sudden burst of grace happens. It happens to the martyrs. But there is in the martyrs a predisposition to give their life for the cause of Christ. It's like the songwriter Keith Green, 39:17 years ago, wrote in his song, you've heard me say it before, "Jesus rose from the dead, and you can't even get out of bed." All too often, that's true. That's true of us. 39:33 So the true church is not in any more danger of being snuffed out by Satan than it was in chapter five. God has a plan. He has a people. It is moving forward. It will move forward regardless of opposition. But at the same time, we as individuals may not survive the whole race. 39:55 I mean, we'll survive our race, but not we may not. We may be called to lay down our lives and not make it through unscathed, if you please. Tertullian said it like this. He was an early church leader. "Kill us, torture us, condemn us, 40:16 grind us to dust." Wow. Speaking to the Romans. "The more you mow us down, the more we grow." And you've heard it said that the seed is the blood of Christians. The seed of the church, the seed of the church is the blood of the martyrs. 40:37 A bishop in Uganda said, "Without bleeding, the church fails to bless." So in order to be a crown wearer, one must be a cross bearer. Jesus said, "Fear not. None of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison." And by the way, he cast some into prison. 40:59 He didn't cast everybody into prison. He asked some to die a martyr's death. He didn't ask everybody to die a martyr's death. But all of us have the responsibility to die to self in whatever realm that God calls us to do so. 41:16 "Hold fast, that thou no man take thy crown. And ye shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." I want to close this morning with what I found from Oswald Chambers. Sometimes I find Oswald Chambers a little frustrating to read. 41:37 If you've ever read Oswald Chambers, maybe you can share that. I know some people do. He has some wonderful ideas. But sometimes I'm not exactly sure how he gets from point A to point D. But anyway, he's got a good one here. And I'm going to read it to you because it is so much better than I could say it. And you have to understand the metaphor. 41:57 The metaphor that Scripture gives us is to be broken and crushed for Jesus. Like grapes, like a drink offering of wine in the Old Testament, a drink offering was poured out on the altar. Or that we would be poured out like wine before God in His service. 42:17 And broken, broken, the broken body of our Lord Jesus for the nourishment, the salvation of the world. And Lord, break us that we might be like that alabaster box that is broken and outflows the the the oil of joy and a sweet aroma. So that's the metaphor. 42:36 So I quote Oswald Chambers. "God can never make me wine if I object to the fingers He uses to crush me." So we want to be wine, but we don't want to be crushed. We want to be poured out, but we object to the to the way that God crushes. 42:56 "God can never make me wine if I object to the fingers He uses to crush me. If God would only crush me with His own fingers and say, 'Now, my son, I am going to make you broken bread and poured out wine in a particular way, and everyone will know what I am doing.' But when He uses someone who is not a Christian, 43:18 or someone I particularly dislike, or some set of circumstances which I said I would never submit to, and begins to make these the crushers, I object. 43:31 I must never choose the scene of my own martyrdom, nor must I choose the things God will use in order to make me broken bread and poured out wine." His own Son did not choose. God chose for His Son that He should have a devil in His company for three years. 43:50 We say, "I want angels. I want people better than myself. I want everything to be significantly from God. Otherwise, I cannot live the life or do the thing properly. I always want to be guilt-edged." "Let God do as He likes. If you are ever going to be wine to drink, 44:11 you must be crushed." "Grapes cannot be drunk. Grapes are only wine when they have been crushed. I wonder what kind of coarse finger and thumb God has been using to squeeze you. And you have been like a marble and escaped. You are not ripe yet. 44:31 And if God had squeezed you, the wine that came out would have been remarkably bitter." "Let God go on with His crushing because it will work His purpose in the end." Some of you are feeling crushed these days. It is not for us to say, "God, why are You crushing me? 44:51 God, why are You using this method to crush me? God, why? Why? I don't know. I object to this, Lord. I don't like this. I don't." And this speaks to me because in the in the health journey and the journey that we find ourselves on, oftentimes you say, "God, why? Why me? Why this? 45:10 Why now?" But God is the one who chooses the means of crushing and breaking so that we might be an offering for Him. Oh, to be a cross bearer. Not a cross like people have like down here. 45:34 It's nice and shined up and pretty. A lot of churches put a pretty cross up on the front of the building. 45:41 It's all polished and lacquered and shined up. Those aren't the kind of crosses that represent the cross of Christ. 45:54 Rather, I think we have one somewhere that we pull out at Easter time, an old rugged thing on a stand. Remind us that the cross is a method of execution. 46:08 Well, we'll sign up for the cross if it means the polished one, but not when it means a dismal one. One writer tells us about a conversation that he had with a mega church pastor. 46:25 The mega church pastor had had had had shown him and given him a tour through their new building. Beautiful building. 46:33 Beautiful like a cathedral, like a mega church with all of the the the trappings and the and the whistles and and and shiny things that technology brings to us. And as they left the building and looked up at the steeple or up the cross on the on the church, 46:55 the pastor said to this writer, he said, "How do you like our cross?" "Costs us $10,000." Put up that cross. 47:06 And the man of God said, "Hmm, time was when they gave those to us for free." You want to follow Jesus? You want to be a crown wearer? You get a free cross to get on daily. Let's pray. 47:28 Lord, 47:28 thank You for this encouraging message from 47:35 Acts 5. 47:38 Lord, I confess that I need a shift in my in my way of thinking about suffering and about persecution and about opposition and even the suffering that comes in this mortal human body as You as You shape 47:57 us and break us and crush us so that Your aroma might flow and and out out of us. 48:07 Lord, may what is in us as it gets squeezed, as the cup gets bumped, we heard this morning before Sunday school, may what sloshes out 48:20 be Jesus. So that one day we might be able to wear that crown that You have given and appointed for those who love Your appearing. 48:34 In Jesus' name. Amen. God bless you.