Holy Boldness

00:01 I want to greet you this morning in the name of Jesus. Let the church say amen. It is a wonderful day to be alive. It's a good day to be here and to be able to open our copies of the scriptures together. So I invite you to turn in your copies to Acts chapter four. And we're going to be looking this morning at holy boldness, 00:22 boldness in the name of Jesus Christ. And we're continuing on in this series in the book of Acts. And in chapter four, we have really what could be looked at as the first wave of opposition to the gospel post-Pentecost. And of course, we know that there have been many, 00:41 many waves of opposition and persecution and suffering and death for the cause of Christ. And this is the first wall of opposition that the apostles ran up against. And we see many, many times since then the opposition and persecution. 01:03 I don't know how many of you are familiar with the name Brother Yun. How many of you are familiar with that name? A Chinese brother who experienced, who was a leader in the House Church movement in China. And because he would not join the three self churches, which is the state-sanctioned churches in communist China, 01:24 he was on the government's watch list. He was saved miraculously by the Lord and experienced many miracles in his life. But toward the end of his time in communist China, he's still living today, but not in China. He was exiled to Germany. But towards the end of his days in communist China, 01:44 he had had his legs broken and he was tattered. His body was broken and tattered and shredded. And he was in a cell in solitary confinement. And he was instructed by the Lord, and his testimonies are well documented. 02:04 He was instructed by the Lord 02:08 that he was going to be set free. And he got up one night and walked. The Lord laid on his heart to walk towards the gates and just keep walking. And as he walked towards the gates, the gate opened. And he walked through several rooms where it was like he was invisible. 02:30 No one could see him. And he was delivered from prison that night. And the tightest prison that you have in communist China can't hold a man. What do you do with him? And so they exiled him, I think, to Germany and where he lives today. And he does traveling. He comes to the U.S. 02:48 from time to time. But when you read his book called The Heavenly Man, he testifies in there that the Chinese churches have a goal of taking the gospel to the Middle East. And there's what is called the Jerusalem Road from China to the Middle East, to Jerusalem, to Israel. 03:08 And their goal is to, through thick or thin, through the severest opposition to them and to their movement, they intend to take the gospel all the way to Jerusalem from China. And a beautiful, beautiful, powerful story. 03:27 But he makes a statement in that book that I've been pondering on. And the reason I share it this morning is because in the name of holy boldness, what do you do with a people that you've done everything to and you still can't stop them? These people are fearless, these Chinese Christians, because they've lived through the worst of persecution, 03:47 many of them, and are fearless. 03:50 And they're invincible almost. And they have no fear because of the boldness of the name of Jesus has taken them through extreme persecution and extreme temptation, extreme opposition. 04:05 It makes whatever a little opposition we face seem like just role play here in America. And they pray in China for the church in America that we would experience persecution, that we might also know the boldness of the name of Jesus and be purified in the church in North America. 04:24 With that in mind, we come to chapter four this morning. And the healing of the blind man, the lame man, happened in chapter three. And in verse one, it says, "Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed, that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 04:44 And they laid hands on them." I don't think they were just playing around here, folks. They laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. "However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. And it came to pass on the next day that the rulers, 05:05 elders, and scribes..." Listen to this pedigree of people who they have aroused and awakened. Verse six, "...as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest were gathered together at Jerusalem. 05:21 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, 'By what power or by what name have you done this?' Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for doing good or for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? 05:39 Let it be known to you all that to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. 06:00 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.'" So here we have point one of the message this morning from our text is the proclaiming of the name of Jesus, the proclamation of the name of Jesus. 06:20 Now, in order to get this perspective here of this passage, we have to remember that a person's name in scripture speaks about all that they are. And we've talked about that before. And so when you talk about the name of Jesus, we're talking about all that he is, his entire personality, all his authority, 06:40 all his character, and all his position. The name of Jesus. When we speak the name of Jesus, we are calling upon heaven and earth to bear witness to the personality, the authority, the character, and the position of the Lord Jesus Christ. 07:01 Now, if that doesn't make us bold, then we're missing the whole point of the passage in chapter four. And so we have the proclamation of the name of Jesus. And so what we have here is a miracle performed in the most public of places in the temple, the court of the Gentiles. This court was, 07:21 as we've said before, was a highly visible place. And how many of you know that God does his best work when it's not in secret? It's open. It's open. He wants everybody to know what he's doing. And you say, "Well, Lord, just answer my prayer, and I'll promise to keep it quiet. I won't draw attention." No, he wants us to broadcast that. 07:43 And he wants his work to be done in such a way that the world may know who he is so that we can glorify him. But not only that, but so that we might experience him in the fullness of his name. So they were doing this in the court of the Gentiles. 08:00 And in this court of the Gentiles was where anyone could come. This is where the money changers that you read about in the gospels when Jesus overturned the money changers and chased them out and let out the animals. And that all happened in the court of the Gentiles. And so that's where this miracle was taking place. 08:22 And everybody saw it. And everybody wondered what was going on. And everybody heard the testimony. And so this attracted the attention of the rulers and primarily the Sadducees for a couple of reasons. The Sadducees were in tight with the Romans. Now, we are given here the explanation in verse three, 08:41 which is accurate, that the Sadducees were opposed to the preaching of the resurrection. They did not believe in the resurrection. They did not believe in spirits, angels, and demons. They did not believe in miracles. And they did not believe in everlasting life. 09:03 They were the liberals of the day who did not believe a lot of core biblical doctrines. And they were in tight with the Romans. The high priest was most often a Sadducee. 09:18 In fact, just doing some studying on this yesterday, I discovered that the Sadducees and the high priests owned basically the temple of the court of the people here. 09:33 And they were in charge and making money from the selling of the sacrificial lambs and the sacrificial animals. And so they would sell those at a high price to people that couldn't bring their sacrifice with them to Jerusalem. And so it was a money-making scheme. It was a money laundering operation, if you please. 09:54 And so this was another reason that they did not want this kind of uprising, was not only because of the doctrine that was being taught, but that it was going to step on their relationship with the Romans. Rome appointed the high priests from certain influential families. 10:14 Notice the families are mentioned here in verse six. And so Rome, whereas in the Old Testament, the high priests were hereditary. So it would be passed from one family member to another family member, another family member, another family member. 10:35 By this time, Rome was passing out the position of high priest to the highest bidder and whoever could be the most favorable to Rome and get things done. They were a political party, basically, is what the Sadducees were. And political brokers with Rome, 10:55 powerful, powerful people. And they were opposed to the Pharisees. We know a lot more about the Pharisees from scripture. They were the ones who were the conservatives of the day. They took the law seriously and added to it. 11:10 And that's where they got in trouble with Jesus because they attempted to see themselves as justified by the keeping of the law and hypocritical lifestyles because they claimed to keep the law, but they were guilty of breaking the law in their hearts. And these Sadducees and Pharisees were often at odds with each other. 11:29 But they would form political networks to try to convince the Pharisees of the Sadducees' power to do the right thing, what they considered the right thing. 11:39 So what I'm saying is it was a political mess that these disciples and apostles were standing up against. 11:48 The highly powerful families, in fact, of the high priests between the years 37 BC to 67 AD, there were 27 high priests and approximately that. And they were all from about six families. And so these families were powerful. 12:08 And so you read there in verse six, "As many as were of the family of the high priests were gathered together..." This is the power center of Jerusalem and of the Jewish people at this time. This is the group of people that condemned Jesus. We're not talking about the crowds here. 12:29 We're not talking about the people of the common people who followed Jesus into the triumphal entry. This was the power center that opposed him, that collaborated with Rome, with Pilate, to say, "Crucify him, crucify him. 12:49 These are the people." And in that setting, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said, "Rulers of the people of the people and elders of Israel." That's whom he's addressing. 13:02 These people have the power to shut this thing down politically and with dangerous persecution. 13:13 And of course, later on, they use this political power to try to keep them off the streets, as it were. And so this is the group of people that Peter is proclaiming the name of Jesus to. 13:26 And he says, "If you're going to judge us for doing a good deed, well, just know that this good deed was done through the power of Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead." There's the resurrection. They didn't like that. And it's through that that this man stands here whole. 13:46 I mean, this man's 40 years old. For 40 years, he's been being brought to the temple here begging alms. And he's off the welfare rolls today, folks, as of now. And there's nothing you can do to dispute it. 14:02 So they found themselves in a great dilemma 14:08 because of the preaching and the proclamation of the name of Jesus. Now, in the name of Jesus is where our power and authority lies. It is not in a political party. It is not in a political agreement. Remember years ago when I was pastoring out in Oregon, 14:28 there was one day at the church came... I don't remember if it was one man or two. And they were wanting to team up with the churches there in the area to stand for morality in government. And I don't remember what all the issues were at that time. 14:47 It was back in the mid to late eighties. And of course, the cultural warfare, cultural war was going strong. And they said, "We need your help." "Well, who do you represent?" "Well, we represent the Unification Church of such and such." And basically, they were Moonies. Now, 15:06 many of you don't remember the Moonies, but some of you do. If you're over 50, you probably remember the Moonies. And their teacher was Reverend Sun Mung Sun, Sun Mung Moon. And he had... I don't know how many wives he had. And he was standing for... Yeah, interesting. 15:25 Standing for morality in his mind. And he wanted to join with the churches in the area to help him win his cause, to maintain religious freedom and whatnot. Like I said, I don't remember all the details. 15:41 But when I found out who they represent, they did not represent the name of Jesus. They represented the name of an imposter Messiah who claimed to be a God, an imposter, a Messiah, a deliverer. And I said, "I'm sorry. We're not interested." "Well, 16:01 can we set up another meeting?" "No, there's no need for another meeting because we represent the name of Jesus. You represent something else. 16:09 There's nothing that we have in common that is worth having a conversation about if you're not here doing the kingdom of God's business." And so then I remember years ago having an opportunity in that same town where we lived. They would have a community event. 16:29 I don't even remember what it was. It was a rotary dinner or something like that. And they had invited local pastors to come and pray and pray for the meal. And so they asked me if I would come and pray for the meal. And so I said, "Well, I'd be willing to do that." So I came and prayed for the meal. 16:48 Then the thought struck me. Now, I wonder what kind of prayer these people are wanting. You know, when you pray in the public square, you kind of ask that question, "What kind of prayer are they wanting?" And I'll be honest with you that it would have been real tempting, real easy to end my prayer just saying Amen. 17:10 But I knew that would compromise the gospel. That would compromise the name of Jesus. "You want this man to come pray? I'm going to pray in the name of Jesus." And so we prayed in the name of Jesus. I didn't know what the outcome would be. I never heard of anything negative. But I never was asked to pray again in that setting. And I don't know what that meant. 17:30 But anyway, the particular name that we see in verse 12, "Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name among men by which we must be saved." And so we have the proclamation of the name, the particular name, Jesus, Jesus Christ. 17:51 There's no other name under heaven given among men that has the power to save. And if you go through the scriptures and you go through the New Testament, it is in the name of Jesus that we pray. We pray in Jesus' name. I know I've said this before, 18:10 and I don't want to be dogmatic about it. But we don't end our prayers by saying, "In Your name." We don't end our prayers by saying, "In the name of Your Son." We end our prayers by saying, "Speak the name of Jesus." In the name of Jesus Christ. That's where the power is. 18:29 The enemy trembles at the name of Jesus because Jesus is the Anointed One. He is the Messiah, the Christ. There is none other like Him. He has all authority and power and wisdom. And so again, I don't want to be dogmatic about that. 18:50 But pray in the name of Jesus. What's wrong with speaking His name? We'll speak the name of God. 18:56 We'll speak the name of a number of titles for Jesus. But speak His name, the name of Jesus. It is in His name that we ordain men to ministry. It is in His name that we baptize. It speaks of His power, authority, personality, and position. 19:18 Name of Jesus Christ. It is in His name that we have been given eternal life, John 20:31. And that by believing in Him, in His name, you may have life. It is in His name that we have forgiveness of sins, in Acts 10:43, that through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins. 19:40 It is in His name that Paul cast out the demon out of the girl who was following him around, harassing him. And she was even telling the truth. 19:49 But she was doing it under the power of a wrong spirit and being a distraction and and and being a false source of credibility because she was instructing the people that it's okay to to to listen to these men. They speak the name of the the true God. 20:06 And Paul got vexed in His Spirit and told the demon in her to come out of you in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus. And so it is His name by which we make disciples. It is His name by which we anoint with oil, in James 5:14, "Anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. 20:26 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up." And so they were seen here in this particular name, verse 13, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. That's what we're talking about here this morning, is boldness. The boldness of Peter and John. 20:44 "And perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men. They marveled." I mean, this is the elite class of highly trained rabbis, having been trained by the elite rabbis of Hillel and Shammai, the two rabbinical schools of the day. 21:07 And they noticed that these men with their crude fishing accents and their Galilean accents were untrained by those rabbis. They were untrained and unschooled. The other translations say that they were unschooled and ordinary or common. 21:29 They were uneducated and untrained. The idea is they didn't have specific training for what they were doing. 21:36 And this is not an excuse for being untrained if we have opportunity. But the fact of the matter, the point is that no matter how much training or how much schooling, how much education, or how much lack of education you have, no matter your social status, whether you're fluent or you're not fluent, 21:58 whether you're articulate or you're not articulate, the issue is, have we been with Jesus? We may be untrained, but we can still use the name of Jesus as a reflection of our personal and intimate knowledge of Jesus Christ and experience with Him. 22:18 So what do we do with these men? And so seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. There's not a whole lot that they can say. And so they put him out of the room, verse 15, or out of the area. Took him... This was probably in the Sanhedrin's council. 22:37 And when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, "What shall we do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further..." Let's contain the damage here. 22:58 "So that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name." So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. Now, at this point, there was no law, no other law that forbade them from doing so. 23:21 And so we can't very well... We can't very well beat them up. We can't very well persecute them. This is a new thing that we're experiencing here. And so we've got to pass some legislation, as it were. We've got to make a rendering. We've got to make a ruling on this. And so we're going to prohibit the name. 23:42 Prohibit the name. We had the proclamation of the name. We had the particular name. Now we have the prohibition of the name. The prohibition of the name using the name of Jesus. And so that was communicated to them. And later on now, after about chapter five, six, and seven, 24:00 we find that getting in trouble again with the same group of elites. And by then, they're getting beat up. They're getting persecuted. They're being physically assaulted because they have defied the Jewish council. 24:20 And so we see here the basis of their courage. The basis of their courage. "But Peter and John answered and said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.' So when they had further threatened them, 24:39 they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed." Reminds me of our prison ministry cookie distribution. 25:01 Some years ago, I got a letter from an inmate when we go into the prison there, into the cell blocks, and into the dormitories, and pass out the cookies, and then sing Christmas carols and have prayer with the population there. And sometimes there are some people that don't like that because they're infringing on... 25:20 You're forcing me to listen to you. You're infringing on my freedom from the gospel. And... Excuse me. I'm tickling my throat. 25:32 And so a man wrote in the office, and he says, "I'm going to sue you folks for doing what you're doing." And so I called the chaplain, said, "Chaplain, what should we do with this letter? 25:43 Should we be concerned about a lawsuit?" He said, "No." He said, "Just send the letter to me." He said, "I'll just put his name on institutional television and tell everybody that he's the one who shut down the program." Well, I mean, he was joking. But that would have been a way to solve it because everybody else wanted the program, 26:04 and he didn't. And so it was here. What do we do with these people that are glorifying God? That are glorifying God for the things that they have seen and heard and are believing in Christ? And if you think we have an uprising now, just try to shut this thing down, and you'll see what an uprising is. This is the thoughts that are going through their minds. 26:25 And so they threaten them further and forbid them, prohibit them to name the name of Jesus. So what was the basis of their courage? Verse 22, "Was the power of Christ, the power of Christ." Verse 23, or 23, he says, 26:43 "And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said, 'Lord, You are God who made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them, who by the mouth of Your servant David have said, 27:03 'Why did the nations rage and the people plot vain things?' The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ. 27:14 For truly against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. 27:29 Now, Lord, look on their threats and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." And so we have them coming back to ground zero, as it were, coming back to the assembly, 27:48 to the believers, and saying, "This is what happened to us. This is what they're saying. Let's call the church to prayer." And they called the church to prayer and to study the scriptures, and realizing that this is prophetically inspired or given them to prophesy from Psalm 2, 28:08 "Why did the nations rage and the people imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against His anointed?" And then it goes on in Psalm 2, if you know that Psalm, to say, "The Lord shall laugh at them. The Lord shall hold them in derision. 28:20 The Lord shall shall destroy them and and and and put an end to their to their rebellion." And so they're claiming this verse. So the power of scripture is is part of their their courage. 28:39 "And the futility of man..." So it's the power of Christ and scripture, the futility of man, verse 25 and 26. "The rebellion of man against God is futile. It will not prevail. And if we trust in that, we shall prevail, and we shall not be destroyed. 28:59 We shall not overcome." And I want you to notice something. I think it's very interesting. We don't see them in these prayers rebuking Satan, although this was satanically inspired, I'm sure. Satan had a hand in it. We don't... But we see them appealing to the sovereignty of God, 29:22 verse 28, "To do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done. Lord, that Your purpose would be would be brought forth, that Your name would be exalted, and that..." And they're not spending a lot of time chasing the devil down here. Rather, 29:42 they are bringing themselves under the authority of Christ, trusting in the power of Christ and the futility of man and the example of Jesus, verse 27, "For truly against Your holy servant Jesus." And they appeal to Jesus. And what happened to Jesus and how Jesus was faithful to the end. 30:03 Faithful before Herod. Faithful before Pilate. Faithful before the Gentiles. Faithful before the people of Israel. Faithful under the hand of opposition and persecution. Faithful unto death. And said, "Now, Lord, look at us and help us to be faithful. 30:21 Give us boldness that we may speak Your word and that Your plan, Your purpose, Your acts may be known among the people by stretching out Your hand to heal, 30:33 and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." And so the gift of the Spirit was also their basis of their courage. 30:43 Those four things: the power of God, the power of Christ, the power of the Word, the futility of man and his rebellion against God, the example of Jesus as He was faithful in the midst of the... in the face of opposition and hatred, and the gift of the Spirit, 31:02 which was given to them on the day of Pentecost, who has been given to us as well. And that the work of God may be accomplished and and come to fruition, to accomplish the will of God. And verse 31, "When they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, 31:23 and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit." Well, I thought they had already been filled with the Holy Spirit. No, this was a new filling. This was a fresh filling. An ongoing renewal of power and and and energy in the disciples and in the church. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the Word of God with, 31:43 say it, boldness. Boldness. The power of the name of Jesus gives us boldness. Look with me in a couple of scriptures. Chapter 9, verse 27. Chapter 9:27, "But Barnabas took Him and brought Him to the apostles, 32:03 and he declared to them how he had seen the Lord on the road and that He had spoken to him and how He had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus." This is Paul, Saul, in the early days of his conversion. By the way, that same Saul, who while he was in prison in Ephesians chapter 6, in prison in Rome, 32:23 said, "And pray for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, whereof which I am an ambassador in chains, that I may speak boldly as I ought to speak." That was Paul's prayer, that he would speak boldly. Chapter 13, verse 46. 13:46, we see it again. 32:44 "Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, 'It was necessary that the Word of God should be spoken to you first.'" And they're speaking to these Jewish people again, the Jewish unbelievers. They spoke it before kings. They spoke it before the priests. They spoke it before the Sanhedrin. They spoke it before Rome in boldness, 33:05 without hesitation, without apology. Chapter 14, verse 3, "Therefore they stayed there a long time, speaking boldly in the Lord, who was bearing witness to the word of His grace, granting signs and wonders to be done by their hands." Chapter 18, verse 26, 33:26 "So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue." This is of Apollos. "When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. He was a bold pronouncer of the gospel." Chapter 19, verse 8, "And he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months." Chapter 28:31, 33:48 we see it again. In fact, we see this wherever the people were filled with the Spirit, that there was a boldness that came on them that they would make known the name of Jesus. Speaking of Paul in the last chapter, the last verse of the book of Acts, preaching the kingdom of God and teaching the things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ with all confidence, 34:10 no one forbidding him. Oh, let me tell you yet about the name of Jesus. The name of Jesus, if you go through and you do a study of what is His name? What is His name? Because if we're talking about the name of Jesus, we're talking about all that He represents: His entire personality, His character, 34:29 His position, His authority. The Bible calls Him the Advocate, 1 John 2:1. He is the Almighty, Revelation 1:8. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Amen. The Amen. That is, so be it. Let it be so. He is the one... He is God's Let It Be So. 34:50 He is the Yahweh from the Old Testament. I will be what I am. I am what I am. I will be what I will be. And I have what you need when you need it. He is the Apostle of our confession. He is called the Arm of the Lord, the Author and Perfector of Faith, the Author of Salvation, the Beginning of the Creation of God. 35:11 He is called the Beloved Son, the Blessed and Only Sovereign. He is the Living Branch. He is the Bread of Life. He is the Chief Shepherd. He is the Chosen One of God. He is the Cornerstone. He is the Christ of God. He is the Consolation of Israel. 35:30 He is called the Creator in John 1, the Deliverer in Romans 11. He is the Door, the Eternal Father, the Faithful Witness, the First and the Last, the Glory of the Lord, the Forerunner of of of God, the Firstborn of God, the First and the Last. 35:49 He is God blessed. He is God the Lord. He is the Good Shepherd. He is the Great High Priest. He is the Head of the Church, the Heir of all things. He is referred to as a holy servant of God, holy and righteous one, the Holy One of God, the Holy One of Israel, the Horn of Salvation, the Great I Am, 36:09 the Image of God, Immanuel, God with us, Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth, the Judge of Israel, the King, the King Eternal, the King of the Jews, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He is King of the Nations. He is the Lawgiver, the Lamb. And that's only half the list. He is the Lamb of God, the Leader. 36:29 He is the Life, Eternal Life. He is the Light of the World. He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah. He is the Lord of All. He is the Lord of Glory. He is the Lord of Lords. He is the Lord of our righteousness. He is a Man of Sorrows. He is our Mediator, Messenger of the New Covenant, Messiah, Mighty God, the Mighty One, the Morning Star. 36:50 He is the Nazarene. He is the the Only Begotten God. He is our Passover, the Prince of Life, the Prince of Peace, the Prophet likened to Moses. He is our Redeemer, our Resurrection, and the Life. He is the Righteous One. He is the Rock of David, the Rose of Sharon, the Ruler, the Ruler of the Kings. 37:09 He is the Savior, the Seed of the Woman, the Shepherd and Guardian of Souls. He is Shiloh, the Dwelling Place of God with man. He is the Son of the Blessed One, the Son of David, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High, the Son of Man, the Son of Righteousness. He is the Source of Eternal Salvation. He is the Sunrise, the Day Star, which dawns on our heart. 37:30 And He is the True Light, the True Vine. He is the Truth. He is the Witness, the Wonderful Counselor, the Word of God. Is there anything more that you need? He is. I think somebody ought to say Amen. Is there anything too hard for Him? When we invoke His name, 37:48 when we have fellowship with Him as who He is and the name that He represents. Boldness. Boldness. In his book, Jesus Revolution, author Leith Anderson talks about an experience that he had. 38:06 He and several other men of God were traveling to a communist country where Christians were regularly being persecuted. And they had to spend the night in another country, which was a free country, before they could make their entrance into the communist country the next day. And by the way, for those of you younger than 50, maybe younger than 40, 38:26 you don't remember when the whole Eastern block of Europe was communist. All the Slavias and the Slavic nations and the whole Soviet Union and all of those those nations were closed countries. Today, there's more of a measure of freedom, although the curtain, the Iron Curtain, is a little bit... 38:46 uh has has a little bit tighter than it used to be. But Romania and Albania and all the all the countries there, they were they were closed. And so what do you do to get the gospel into the closed countries? Today, it's China. It's North Korea. It's Muslim nations. Yes, they're still closed. So they didn't have a direct flight, 39:06 and they were having supper with some fellow Christians. And while they were eating in a restaurant in a public place, there were some more Christians who came and joined them, begging them to take Bibles into the the closed country. They're not told in the in the illustration where that country was. Only what they went through in order to convince these men to do it. 39:26 And Leith Anderson, his initial response was, "No, I won't do that. It's illegal." And they begged and pleaded and begged and pleaded and said, "We'll be here tomorrow morning. You pray about it. We'll be here tomorrow morning with our with our delivery for you to take in." They prayed about it and still were not convinced. But when they got down to the common area that morning, 39:46 they found these people had brought a library of books to take in with them into the communist country. And so then they were faced with a dilemma. What do we do? And how do we do this? So they packed their bags. 39:59 They had them all full of Bibles and books and Christian literature. And so they were on their way, on the flight. And if you've done international traveling, before you get to your destination, they hand you a paper that says, "Fill this out. What are you bringing into the country?" Well, what are you bringing into the country? 40:21 What do we do? He goes on to say, "We couldn't lie. Are you bringing in..." There were a couple of things. They wanted the passport numbers. "Are you bringing in guns, narcotics, or literature?" Yeah, guns, narcotics, and literature, as if literature has the same power that guns and, well, Christian literature does, the name of Jesus does. 40:44 So they said, "We cannot say we're not, but we can't put down that we are." So they felt... They prayed, and they felt the Lord said, "Just leave it blank. Don't put anything down there." And so their hearts were beating in their chests, I'm sure. And they can't say that they were all that confident of their choice, but that's what they did. 41:06 And as they passed through immigration, surrounded by armed guards and immigration officers, their forms were carefully scrutinized. And all four of them were waved through. Now, maybe even some of you here this morning... I don't know if... 41:20 I don't see Jaden here this morning, but maybe have had similar experiences taking the gospel and Christian literature and Bibles, God's Holy Word, into closed countries. But he said, "What I remember next is the secret night meeting where we turned over the Bibles and literature to the Christians from the underground church. 41:41 Their faces still remain with me to that to this day." And Mr. Anderson said, "You may want to criticize my lack of courage," he said, "or condemn my actions as dishonest. 41:51 For me, I was suddenly in the sandals of Peter and John, who said, 'Judge for yourselves whether it is right in your God's sight to obey you rather than God.' For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard. 42:08 Neither can we help getting God's Word into those places." Boldness. Boldness. And then we have a hard time opening our mouth to our neighbor or someone at the grocery store. 42:29 We have a hard time saying the name of Jesus, as if it might cost us something minor. Oh, there's power in the name of Jesus. Use the name of Jesus in sincerity and in truth. It's not a magic formula. It is not a... It is not a mantra that you repeat over and over and over and over and hope the demons go away. 42:49 It is a representation of the person, the power, the authority, and the character of Jesus Christ. Use His name in prayer and open your mouth with boldness to stand for Him. Father in heaven, we thank You for this time this morning. 43:07 We thank You that You have made us Your creatures, Your people. You have made mankind, as we heard this morning. Thank You, Lord, that whereas we in our old nature were sinners, in our new natures, we are saints, 43:28 children of God. Lord, give us the full authority of the heavenly bank account that nothing that we need this week to stand firm and faithful will be denied. In Jesus' name. Amen.