There came also a multitude out of the cities round about unto Jerusalem, bringing sick folks, and them which were vexed with unclean spirits: and they were healed every one. Then the high priest rose up, and all they that were with him, (which is the sect of the Sadducees,) and were filled with indignation, And laid their hands on the apostles, and put them in the common prison. But the angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life. And when they heard that, they entered into the temple early in the morning, and taught.
Delivered From Evil to Preach LIFE
Beloved of the Lord……Psalm 118:9 says, "It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes." Psalm 146:3 says, "Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help." Many of us this week trusted the Supreme Court would rule against the individual mandate of Obamacare. The majority however ruled in favor of this new health law, so that anyone now who refuses to buy insurance is a criminal. As we celebrate the Fourth of July this week, as we celebrate our freedoms, we might wonder what freedom is left? If our health is in the hands of our government, can we be free if a panel of 15 will determine our fate?
Though
the government has the power of the sword, and our bodies are thus in
their hand as was Christ before Pilate, Christ used Pilate for the
salvation of our soul. "We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us." Moreover,
just as the Lord allowed the Sadducees to capture and imprison the
apostles, His good plan was to deliver them from evil by the angel who
opened the prison door. Hasn't Christ, the Angel of the Lord likewise set us free from the devil's dominion? "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." By faith then we see the kings of this world as defeated. Their best laid plans to erase the Gospel and Christendom are like the scribbled drawings of little children. "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision." Whatever their plan, God's plan is greater, higher, more powerful, and immutable. God has planned out your salvation dear believer, and "our citizenship is in heaven." The Lord then will surely deliver you from every evil work and take you to heaven. Being
delivered then from all evil, let us remember to preach the words of
this life, that Jesus is our Bread of Life, and all who believe in Him
will be saved. "If any man eat of this bread, he
shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I
will give for the life of the world."
Our sermon is thus divided into three parts today: FIRST those
who live godly shall suffer persecution, SECOND the Lord and His angels
deliver us from evil, and THIRD, we are delivered to preach the words
of this life!
I. Those who live godly shall suffer persecution. Jesus said, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you." In today's lesson it was the high priest and the Sadducees who were filled with angry jealousy concerning the apostles. Their preaching was readily being received by the people. The Bible says, "believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women." The apostles, Peter especially being named, were healing all the sick brought to them. God's mercy was so great, that when the very shadow of Peter passed by the sick, they were healed. Even with the word "shadow" we can find comfort. Psalm 23 says, "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me." When the wicked of the world rage against us and persecute us, even if they put us in prison, God is still on our side. We are protected under the shadow of His wings. Psalm 18:8 says, "Keep me as the apple of the eye, hide me under the shadow of thy wings." Psalm 36:7 says, "How excellent is thy lovingkindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings." Psalm
57:1 says, "Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my
soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my
refuge, until these calamities be overpast."
Sometimes the calamities believers endure is persecution. "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution." When
our own government becomes the persecutor, by faith we must remember
God sees and knows all that is going on, and "God is angry with the
wicked every day." "The Lord shall have them in derision…..yet have I set My KING upon My holy hiss of Zion." Regarding
our Supreme Court today, or our President, or Congress, it is God
Himself who put such in power, and though many are against Him, He will
use them in such a way that His name will be magnified on earth. Therefore have faith dear believer! Revelation 2:10 says, " Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some
of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation
ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life."
II. The Lord and His angels deliver us from evil. God, of course, had a good plan, a good reason for allowing the Sadducees to capture the apostles. His Words of Life would be preached in the Temple the very next day. "The angel of the Lord by night opened the prison doors, and brought them forth, and said, Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." This angel may have been Gabriel, who once spoke to Mary, or he may have been white and shining like a star. We don't know. He may have had wings like the Seraphim in Isaiah, but we don't know. What we do know is that God used an angel to deliver the apostles from evil. They were delivered from evil to preach LIFE!
Throughout the Old Testament we find God using angels as messengers, guardians and protectors. Christ Himself often took on the form on an angel in the Old Testament, and He was called "The Angel of the Lord." Hence
we can picture Christ with wings like an angel, and we are safe under
the shadow of His wings, yet Christ is far above the angels, and higher
than the heavens. Jesus is God Almighty, Creator of the heavens and earth. He also created the angels, "in the beginning" and they continually bow before Him saying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory!"
It is also Christ, the Father, and the Spirit who send their holy angels to protect the little children, even infants. Jesus
said, "Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I
say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of
my Father which is in heaven." No matter how little or small, we are not to think less of little children. Though they be weak, they are under God's special care, just like the aged, weak and elderly whom we are to honor. Concerning the children, the face of these angels always beholds the loving face of their Father in heaven. It is the Father's love which preserves the little children in this dangerous world where the devil is a prince. Thus
we can speak of Guardian angels who watch over children, though we need
not believe God assigns one angel per child, as some falsely teach. Protecting children on earth, these angels keep the feet of children so they do not fall off a cliff or suffer harm. This makes me think of a young single mother I once knew. She had been given a large picture of an angel guarding the children. She hung this picture above the crib of her baby. But there was a great fire in her apartment, quite damaging. Both mother and child were safe, but the child's bedroom was almost completely destroyed. The only thing left in the room untouched by fire, was the picture of the angel guarding the child, above the crib. Such was God's good lesson to the young mother. All
this agrees with Psalm 91 which says, "There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his
angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone."
This doesn't mean however, that nothing bad will ever happen to us, God's children. That
is why we pray in the Lord's Prayer, "But deliver us from evil", "We
pray in this petition, as the sum of all, that our Father in heaven
would deliver us from every evil of body and soul, property and honor,
and finally, when our last hour has come, grant us a blessed end, and
graciously take us from this vale of tears to Himself in heaven." While most often God protects and delivers us from evil, He may test our faith and allow something bad to befall us. Joseph was sold into slavery. Daniel was cast in the lion's den, and Nero fed Christians to the lions. Yet these believers are now in heaven, and where is Nero, or Pilate, or the Jews who stoned Stephen. Which life will we hold most dear? If God thus allows it, it is for His glory and ultimately our salvation. Thus
when we thus pray "deliver us from evil", we are also asking God "To
take from us, or help us to bear, and turn to our own benefit, the cross
with which He afflicts us." If we do not have the strength to be a martyr, He may allow us to spend time in prison, but whatever He allows, "God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will
with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to
bear it." Job 5:19 says, "He shall deliver thee in six troubles; yea in seven there shall no evil touch thee." Let us then not be discouraged, but encouraged with the Word of Grace. The Bible says, "All things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory."
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