(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Amen, so we're going to get through most of Acts chapter four this evening. Of course, we went through the first few verses. Last week we talked about how we kind of looked at the success of the apostles and how many people they were getting saved and how that relates to us being in the last days and them being in the last days, but we're not at the end yet. We looked at that at the first part of the book of Acts. Just looking at just the successes that the early church was having and comparing that to what we can see today. So we're going to start off in about right around Acts chapter four in verse number 13 this evening. We're going to go up to about verse 31 and then I'm going to roll those last few verses into Acts chapter five. So we are going to start Acts chapter five next week, but there's kind of a different idea that is presented there that I want to roll into what happens in Acts chapter five. So we're going to finish up the main idea of Acts chapter four this evening. So look down at verse number 13. What have we seen so far? We see Peter and John and here they are at the beginning of Acts chapter four. They were put in jail or put in some kind of confinement overnight and 5,000 people got saved. But then there was this guy that, remember, they performed a miracle themselves. So this wasn't Jesus that did this. They healed this man that was at the gate, beautiful, of the temple. Everybody knew who this guy was. They healed this man. He was sick for a long time, so people knew that this was a great miracle. His life was a testimony that he was healed. Look at verse number 13. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, so of course they get out and the very next morning they just keep preaching Jesus. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John and believe that they were unlearned and ignorant men. So this is super important here. They marveled. So this is the Pharisees and the Jewish leaders here at the time. They marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus. So this is interesting right here, verse number 13. Because the Bible here says that Peter and John were unlearned and ignorant men. It's not being mean. It's not, it's saying that they were just, they were ordinary people is what it's saying. Now there's people out there today and you will, if you're a soul winner, if you've been soul winning for longer than a month, you'll find these people that say, you know, because look, you can't get saved unless you believe the Bible is the word of God. And you will find people out there that just say that, yeah, but man wrote that book. And you know, I'm sure all of you have heard people say at the door, yeah, but you know, what do you think about the Bible? Well, that's just man wrote the Bible. All right. So here's the thing. If man wrote the Bible, if Peter and John and Matthew and Luke and Paul and all these people, all these, you know, dozens of authors that wrote the Bible, if it was written by man, which it, we know it couldn't have been, but if it was, these men were geniuses. They were geniuses of the scripture. I mean, for Peter and John to be able to write, you know, the things that they wrote in the New Testament that perfectly matches without error, every single thing that was written by other authors of scripture in the Old Testament, they would have had to have been, you know, Bible scholars, scriptural scribes, just geniuses in themselves, but they were fishermen. They were just fishermen. And even the Pharisees here themselves say, these are unlearned and ignorant men. How could they know these things? And so they deduced that they had been with Jesus. They had actually, they're apostles. They were witnesses. But the point is they were unlearned and ignorant men. So that would have to be false if the Bible was written by man. They would have had to been geniuses. But then even if they, let's say that they were geniuses, it still makes no sense for these geniuses to make up this lie, to study their whole lives, make up this lie, write these scriptures, and then, you know, get nothing out of it except, you know, poverty and torture and death. It makes no sense that they would do that. Okay. Of course, we know that they were moved by the Holy Spirit and that's where the Bible came from. But the point is even the Pharisees here knew that they were unlearned and ignorant, which is why God chose them, by the way. God operates that way, which is why, you know, God only had Gideon take 300 men. You know, this is why God does this. So God shows His power and not our power. So you think, you know, well, I'm not the, I just met somebody like this a couple weeks ago. I'm giving the gospel to somebody and I'm giving the gospel to this kid and he's just like, well, you know, I'm just not the smartest kid out there. And I'm like, well, you know, the gospel is very simple and God uses unlearned and ignorant men in the Bible. That's what, that's Peter and John. So this is God, how He operates so He can show His power. So He can show His power. So here's these men speaking with boldness. I mean, think of, forget the Pharisees for a minute. Think of the people. Think of the witness that this was to the people as, I mean, thousands and thousands and thousands of people are getting saved here because they're seeing these men, look, they know who these guys are. These are fishermen that Peter and James and John, they all knew each other. You know, many of them were related. These are small towns. They knew who these people were, who their parents were, where they came from. And they're like, all of a sudden they're just speaking these, I mean, something great must have happened to these men. So that's why even the Pharisees say they must have been with Jesus. Okay, look at verse 14. But this is how God operates. It's all about God's glory, folks, not ours. Look at verse 14. And beholding the man that was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. What are you gonna say? The guy's with them, the guy's following them around. He's clearly healed and everybody there who ever went to the temple knew that this guy was disabled, that he's healed now. Look at verse 15. But when they commanded them to go outside of the council, they conferred among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle has been done by them is manifest to all that dwell in Jerusalem. And we cannot deny it. Turn to John chapter 12. So look what they say in verse 16. These are the leaders, okay? These are the leaders and they're trying to silence Peter and John. And they say, what shall we do to these men? For indeed, they say indeed a notable miracle. I mean, they're not denying the miracle. They're not denying the miracle. It's like, it's manifest, it's known, meaning everybody sees that this miracle has happened to this man. What are we gonna do? And then, you know, and then they say, and we cannot deny it. Look, they're not denying the miracle. Even the Pharisees themselves. Isn't this weird? Wouldn't this just be weird to logically read this story and not know what we know about the spiritual battle and how spiritual things work? Look at John chapter 12. Look at John chapter 12. Look, this is right here, this is the reprobate doctrine in the Bible right here. You are seeing it in action. And you know, the reprobate doctrine itself, you know, it's just what the Bible says. You know, we talk about this doctrine, it's just what the Bible says. It's not just in Romans 1, it's put into action in many places in the Bible. And this is a perfect example right here. Here are the Pharisees, they saw the miracle. They can't deny the miracle. So they're sitting there saying, what could we do? Well, here's what you could do. You could be like one of the thousands of people that actually believe them. That's what you could do. You could believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah. That would be an option. But that's not an option for them. They're sitting there and saying, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? It's definitely a miracle. We can't deny it. Everybody sees it. What do we do? John chapter 12 and verse 39. So you're saying to yourself, logically you'd say to yourself, why wouldn't they believe? I mean, that was the point of the miracles was to prove to the people, prove to people that Jesus was God, that these men had the power of God. I mean, that was the point. That was the point. Look at John chapter 12 and verse 39. But for some reason, these leaders in Acts chapter 4, they just, they couldn't trust on Jesus. They couldn't. They saw the miracles, they saw everything that everybody else saw, but they couldn't trust on Jesus. Why? Look at John chapter 12. Look at verse 39. The Bible says, therefore, therefore they could not believe. Because that, that, what Josias said again, had, had blinded, he blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted and I should heal them. He's talking about a prophecy here. Jesus is saying here, the Bible is saying is that God has blinded the eyes of the Pharisees that he's talking about here. He's like, he doesn't want them to believe. Look at verse number 40 again, he says, he, that's God, says, he has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their heart and be converted. Look, God hardened their heart. God made it so these people literally, I mean, literally the Bible says they could not believe. Doesn't that match what we see in Acts chapter four? It's just they're unable to believe. It's like everything's there. Five thousand people just got saved. Five thousand people saw it and they're just like, we believe on Jesus. Like we believe Jesus was the Messiah. We believe what you're saying. They saw the exact same thing, but they couldn't believe. Why? Because they turned, now, now we go back to Romans one and you can preach a whole sermon on that. They turned on the Lord. They turned on the Lord and God hardened their heart. God gave them over to that mind where they're just unable to believe. So these people, I'm trying to get you to understand, is these people that are after Peter and John here, they're on a different level than just the average Joe that may hear this, you know, hear this preaching and just say, yeah, I'm not sure or yeah, I don't know. Okay. So they, they, they literally couldn't believe these people in Acts chapter four. Look at verse 17 of Acts chapter four. But that it spread. But see, here's what they were doing. They couldn't believe, right? So they couldn't believe what Peter and John were saying, but that wasn't good enough. And this is really going to be the point of the sermon tonight. These people that, that they don't have the ability to believe, look, they're alive. They're breathing. They're walking around on this earth. Are these people not alive? Are these people not, I mean, they put Peter and John in prison, in jail. They laid hands on them and they would do much worse if it wasn't for, you know, some things that we'll read about a couple of verses. But the point is, is that they're alive and they're done. They're alive and they're on this earth, but they, God has hardened their heart. They can't believe God did it, but they turned on him first. Okay. I'm not going to preach through Romans chapter one, but look at verse 17. But that it, but the point I'm trying to make here before I move on is that it's not good enough that they can't believe. They want to stop them from speaking. They want to stop Peter and John from telling the message that they're saying. Look at verse 18. And they called them and commanded them to what? To not speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. They're saying, they're basically saying that we're going to listen to God, not you is what they say. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Look at verse number 21. So this is what these people do. So this is what these people do. They couldn't believe. They saw the same miracles. They don't have the ability to believe. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them. See, they're trying to figure out a way to hurt them, but they couldn't because look at verse number 21. Because of the people. For all men glorify God for that which was done. So they wanted to hurt these men. They would have killed these men if they could have got away with it. They wanted to do much more than just put them in prison. So they're threatening them, trying to get them to stop, trying to get them to stop saying this message. But they fear the crowds. They fear the people themselves. Turn to Ephesians chapter six, Ephesians chapter six. So here's the thing. It was because the people that were listening, that they were not able to actually do the evil that they wanted to do. See folks, rulers are evil. Many times. In the Bible. And today, you will see evil people in high places of power. The Bible even says that we should look out for this. Look at Ephesians chapter six in verse number 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood. That's us. But against principalities, against powers. That means, you know, authorities. Against rulers of the darkness of this world. Against spiritual wickedness in high places. So this is what we're seeing in Acts chapter four. We're literally seeing spiritual wickedness in high places, is what we're seeing. And they're only held back by this crowd of people that were interested in what John and Peter said. We're going to deal with the same things today. We will deal with the same things today. I'm telling you today, in this country and other countries all around the world, there is spiritual wickedness in high places. And it's way above us. This is why, you know, this is why I don't, you know, look, I like conspiracy theories as much as the next guy. Okay. And I like talking about conspiracy theories and I like, you know, what if this and what if that? Did you hear maybe this and all this? And look, I think that a lot of these things are based in, you know, Ephesians six, 12, because look, there's wickedness in high places. I don't really beat myself, you know, beat my head against the wall trying to figure out exactly what happened on 9-11, for example. I don't beat, you know, I got my own theories on what happened to JFK, but I'm not going to sit there and just like spend hours and hours and hours of every day trying to figure out like who killed JFK. Because here's the thing, we will never know. We will never know because that wickedness is so high above our heads. We just have to ask God about that when we get to heaven. You know, what was with this and what was with that? It's enough for me to know, you know, even the wars and even a lot of the COVID stuff. I mean, it's enough for me to know that there's just spiritual wickedness in high places. So I just generally don't trust a lot of stuff that comes from the top down. All right. But look, ultimately what happens on those levels, we will just never know because we will never be at that level. We'll just have to ask God about it when we get to heaven. Even like, even, and I've kind of seen this, even at higher levels in corporations, you will just never really know the depth of that darkness. I've bumped up against a couple of those people a few times and, you know, it's kind of, it's a completely different world with different rules, let me tell you that. But it's a different operating environment where it's kind of like Gresham's law. You know, a good person is really never going to get there because the things that you would have to do to get there is just something that a good person is not going to do or that a Christian would never or should never do, okay? So it's the same thing in politics today. The same thing in politics, especially in the United States. You know, there may be a couple decent names there, maybe just a couple, like the extreme minority, but the point is if they want to stay in that power structure, they play ball to some degree. That's why they're kind of all similar, okay? But the point is, back to the sermon, the leaders, the leadership is where you're going to find the most evil, in the country, in, you know, spiritual places. It's already in place. We are there in this country. Look at Psalm chapter 125, Psalm chapter 125. You say, why? Why is there evil in high places? Look at Psalm chapter 125. Why is there evil in the leadership of, you know, religions? Why is there leadership or evil in the leadership of governments? Why is the evil there? Look at verse number three of Psalm 125. So we're looking at these evil leaders that are after Peter and John. Look at Psalm chapter 125, verse number three. For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous. You see that? You see what that says? It says the rod of the wicked, meaning this is what we're talking about. We're talking about a wicked ruler. It's talking about someone who's ruling with a rod. You know, Jesus is going to rule with a rod, but he's not wicked, okay? So the ruler, a wicked ruler, will not rule over a righteous people. So what the Bible here is saying is because we aren't righteous is why we have spiritual wickedness in high places, okay? Turn to Isaiah chapter one. It's literally having evil, spiritual wickedness rule over you is a judgment, the Bible says. It is an actual judgment. Look at Isaiah one and verse number 23, Isaiah one, verse number 23. The Bible says, thy princes, this is like, you know, your rulers, thy princes are rebellious and companions of thieves, man, if that's not us, I don't know what it is. Like our princes are, it's like your princes, your rulers are a bunch of thieves is what the Bible is saying here. Everyone loveth gifts, it means they can be bought. It means they can be bribed, they can be had, all they care about is money. How do you get to be somebody who is worth like hundreds of millions of dollars when you're, you know, you make like 100,000 a year, 150,000 a year as a politician? How is that? Can you explain, do we all know who I'm talking about here? But look, I mean, this is right here, that's how, because they love gifts. Because they have power and people give them things and oh, they can't take bribes, yeah, they find ways around, you know, getting money to these people that are in power. They follow after rewards. And then they're horrible judges. They judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cost of the widow come unto them. That means the first part of that verse is they're greedy, they take bribes, you can just buy them. And the second part is they don't care about anybody. They don't care about people that need help. So when all these people, you know, go into politics and just become, you know, hundred of, you know, billionaires or whatever, you know, they just become billionaires being a politician that pays them, like, really nothing. And you know, they don't care, then they get up and they say, we care about these things, they don't care about anybody. They don't care about anybody except enriching themselves. But the point is, is Isaiah chapter one is talking about this as a judgment on a nation. So rulers like this, you say, Oh, I'm so angry about these politicians like, look, it's what we deserve. It's what we deserve as a nation, because we're not righteous, is what the Bible is saying. So evil leaders equals judgment from God, is what I'm trying to get across. Look at Matthew chapter 21. But I mean, there's a there's a there's a silver lining here in Acts chapter four, because we see that we have these evil leaders, and they want to just they want to just like do harm immediately to Peter and john. But there's people standing in the way. And it's people that believe them that are standing in the way. Look at Matthew chapter 21, and verse number 25. Evil leaders have always feared the people, even in the Bible, look at Matthew 2125. The baptism of john whence was it from heaven or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, this is a quite a debate they're having here. If they should, if we should say from heaven, he will say unto us, Why did you then not believe him? But if we shall say of men, we fear the what? We fear the people for all john, all hold john as a prophet. So what they're saying here is, you know, they're being they're, they're, they're, they're being put on the spot to say, Did you believe john or not? And they don't want to give an answer. Because if they say that we don't believe john, then the people are going to be mad because they believe john. So they fear the people even in john the baptist time, look at First Samuel chapter 15. You say, what about you know, but yeah, they're spiritual leaders. Look, even kings in the Bible feared the people. Look at First Samuel chapter 15, First Samuel chapter 15, in verse number 24, when Saul actually lost the kingdom because he didn't obey God, why did he not obey God? Look at his motive for that. Look at verse 24 of First Samuel chapter 15. Look at verse number 24, or at least this is the excuse that he gives and I mean, I partially believe the excuse not that there is any excuse for not obeying God, but look at verse 24. It says, and Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned. So this is when he didn't destroy Amalek. He didn't destroy he didn't utterly destroy the army and the nation that he was supposed to destroy. He says I have sinned for I transgressed the commandment of the Lord and thy words because why? Because I feared the people and obeyed their voice. So he let them keep the sheep and he let them keep the best of the animals. But go to Hosea chapter four in verse number six. So we see that, you know, it's historic, even in the Bible itself, that even wicked leaders fear people as they're fearing them in Acts chapter four. So that's at least, you know, a silver lining that as long as there is some people, there is a remnant of people that will push back against these wicked leaders that, you know, at least there's a chance to, you know, curtail their wicked plans. Okay, look at verse number six of Hosea chapter four. But ultimately, ultimately, this is, you know, where we're headed right here in Hosea chapter four. Look at verse number six. It says, my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because thou has rejected knowledge. I will also reject thee that thou shall be no priest to me, seeing that thou has forgotten the law of thy God, and I will also forget thy children. So look, the people forget God. The people aren't righteous. And that's why they end up getting wicked leaders with a rod over them. And you know, there is a remnant that can hold back that evil. But ultimately, if we just forget God, have no good knowledge of God, then it's just, it's going to be over for those people. Because it just frees as the people, as the people just completely forget the Lord and forget the knowledge of the Lord and forget his law. God says he'll forget you. He says, as you forget me, I forget you. I mean, it's only fair that God would forget us. So look, we wouldn't have evil in the first place if we didn't forget the Lord, to a degree, if we were a righteous nation. Go back to Acts chapter four, go back to Acts chapter four, all that to say this, they had some wicked leaders here. And these wicked leaders were trying to, you know, were trying to, you know, cause harm directly to Peter and John, and they would have done so if it wasn't for the people that believed them. Okay, look at verse 22. For the man, this is the man who was healed, the man was above 40 years old, on whom this miracle of healing was showed. And being let go, they went to their own company. So Peter and John go back to the church in Jerusalem, or the group that is forming there. They went to their own company and reported all that the chief priests and the elders said unto them. And when they had heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord and said, Lord, thou art God, which had made heaven and earth and sea and the sea and all that in them is. Who by the mouth of thy servant David hath said, why did they heathen rage and the people imagine vain things? So here are these people in verse 24. They hear, they hear that Peter and John went through this hard time that they were put in prison for a night and that they were just getting threatened and harassed by these religious leaders. And they just cry out, they just lift up their voice. And then they quote something that the prophet David said. Look at Psalm chapter two, Psalm chapter two. The kings of the earth stood up and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his Christ. They're quoting Psalm chapter two here. They're quoting a prophecy by David. Look at verse number one of Psalm chapter two, Psalm chapter two, verse number one. It says, why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed. So the point I'm trying to make in the sermon this evening is to explain to you that there's just this fact out there that the heathen rage. The heathen rage. And that's what the church here is experiencing for one of the first times. After Jesus has left, you know, look, they're having some great successes here. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people, we talked about this last week, are getting saved. It's success that we can't even wrap our heads around today. But the heathen rage against them. And you say, you say, why? Let's just look at this tonight. Let's look at this idea of the heathen rage. Because look, I'm telling you tonight that the heathen rage here in this church was crying out, lifting up their voices saying, the heathen are raging against us. I'm telling you, it's exactly the same today. It's exactly the same today. And you will experience it, especially if you are out there walking the streets, knocking doors, you will have the heathen rage against you in this life. Now, here's the thing, I'm quite happy. Like I'm for, you know, you all know, I'm for a free environment. I want to be out there and I'm for a free environment because as long as we're free to preach the gospel, I'm happy to operate in the free market of ideas. It doesn't really bother me that there's false gospels being believed by, you know, many different houses that we'll knock on every single week, because I'm happy to operate in a free environment because we have the best idea. You say, how can you say you have the best idea? I just had this debate with somebody who wanted to debate me. Look, I'm not out to debate people at all, out soul winning, not at all, but somebody wanted to debate me. How do you know that your interpretation is right? Well, I mean, first of all, it's the only gospel that we believe is the only way the Bible makes sense from front to back. The gospel, the true gospel. But I mean, how many times, and I've said this before, how many times, I mean, we all know different people from different like-minded churches, different soul winning churches and think of all the names right now that, you know, have gone out soul winning hundreds of times, yay, thousands of times, knock tens of thousands of doors and think of all the names that we've lost to the Mormons. There's none. You would think we'd lose somebody. I mean, if we're just operating and every idea is similar, maybe this one's a little better, this one's a little better, maybe this guy, you know, it's just all about who presents it better. You'd think we'd lose somebody to the Catholics, like, oh man, brother George came back and he's Catholic now. Oh, well. You know, you'd think that that would happen at least one time to somebody that we know out soul winning, but it never happens because we have the truth. So I'm happy to operate in a free environment because we hold the truth. We hold the truth. And when armed with the truth, the truth always wins. It's a promise God gives us. It's God's word that has power and when we're preaching it correctly, it's powerful every single time. So look, but the heathen, that's not what they want. And when I talk about the heathen, I'm not talking about, you know, Joe's six pack or whatever that goes to the Catholic church. I'm talking about these types of people. I'm talking, I'm talking about the leaders. I'm talking about the leader of the Catholic church. I'm talking about the devout, you know, Pentecostal pastor that we run into. And I've had these experiences with all of these people that I mean, I'm talking about the Mormon that I ran into just a week ago. Look, these people will rage against the fact that you're standing at their door with a Bible, period. You don't have to say a word. You will knock on some people's door, homosexuals, perfect example. You will knock on their door. They will be angry and upset that you're just standing there for a time seeing that, chase you out of their, out of their yard. I mean, threatenings, it's the whole thing. It's the whole thing. So why? So why? I mean, most people, I mean, I think you would agree. Most people, those 90%, right? That 90%, I mean, they're indifferent. They're indifferent that, you know, they're just busy. They just, you know, they just don't have time. They're indifferent. They're not upset that you're there. They're not happy that you're there. They're just indifferent. However, you know, especially outsole winning, you will find the false prophets. You will find, you know, look, we don't argue at all outsole winning. We are not, you know, we are not in the business of going to someone's private property and arguing with them. We do not do that here. I do not do that here. You know, we, you know, we don't have the culture. We go to someone's door and we nicely offer the truth. That's all we do. And you know, but the heathen rage. And most people, indifferent, some people will accept it. The heathen rage. The heathen rage at even the offer of the truth. Even the idea that there is somebody walking around with the truth, the heathen will rage. They will chase people down the streets. I've seen them chase people down the streets with a hammer. I have seen this. The heathen rage. They will get in their truck and they will follow you. They will walk behind you and harass you and threaten you down the street. It's happened. It's happened. If it hasn't happened, you know, to you, this is one of the reasons, by the way, that we always send a group of guys with a group of ladies because you will find the heathen raging out there. And it's, it's, you know, think about it. They just can't stand the sight of it. They can't stand it. So it's not that, you know, out in the world, think about this, out in the world it's, what do we hear today? It's all about tolerance. No it's not. That's not what they want is tolerance. They want to silence the Bible. They want to silence, it's not about tolerance. It's about threatenings. It's about harassings. Because you know, these people that want to silence the Bible, you know, whether it be the LGBT community or whatever, they're not just like, hey, you know, we just want to do our idea and you can have your idea. No, they want to silence the other side. They want to threaten the other side. And it's the same thing with the false prophets. They aren't just unbelievers. They aren't just agnostic. They're literally against God. The heathen rage. This is what this verse, or this passage in Acts chapter 4. The church in Jerusalem is just figuring this out. They're like, this is what David was talking about. The heathen is raging against us. I mean, you think about it. What are they trying to do? What are they trying to do today? I just read an article about this today. All these church shootings, or all these shootings are Christian white nationalists. What in the world? What are you talking about? Look, we're not for violence. This is spiritual warfare. But guess what? We have the best weapon. Of the Bible. It's spiritual warfare. That's all it is. Where's the violence coming from? Where's the violence coming from? Where's the people, you know, talk to some of the pastors that you know, and talk to them about what the threats they've received against their families. About the things people have said to them. About things that people have said to their children. But I don't know, is bombing a church, is that violent? We didn't do that. Are we for bombing anybody? No, but you know, it's exactly the opposite of the truth. But the Bible tells us this is what's going to happen, because guess what? The heathen rage. The heathen rage. They can't stand it. They can't stand the word of God. They can't stand. They can't stand God, is the problem. That's why the heathen rage. They're haters of God, the Bible says. They literally hate God. And if you represent him, they hate you. Oh, no, give me a break, it's all a lie. It's a complete lie. Look, folks, you can't hate something you don't believe in. Isn't that funny? I don't hate Santa Claus. I hate Santa Claus. I don't get up here and be like, Santa Claus, hahaha. Look, you shouldn't teach your kid Santa Claus, you know, about Santa Claus, because he's not real. I don't hate him. He's not real. I don't hate the Easter Bunny. The Easter Bunny's fake. It's weird. They can't, look, it's not that they don't believe in God, it's that they hate God. And they rage against him, just like we're seeing in Acts chapter 4. They're against God. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. So why? So why do the heathen rage? They're just crazy? Well, yes, but turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 5. They hated God. They turned on God. God gave them up. This, if you don't believe in this, it's not even a singular doctrine. It's like a philosophy of how God operates in the Bible. And if you don't believe it, if you are a pastor or a church, I mean, look, this one thing we're talking about tonight, if I'm a pastor and I have the right gospel, maybe I even go soul winning, if I don't believe this doctrine, it'll destroy my church. Because I'll bring all these people in and the heathen will rage against the church. They will destroy the church. Why? Because you know what they are? They are tools of Satan is what they are. Look at 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8. Because look, Satan is not neutral. Satan is not neutral. So you say, why isn't it just good enough where they can just have their way and we can just live in this libertarian society? Look, there is no this idea, look, I like the philosophy of being a libertarian, so I can get out there and preach the gospel. But really, it's not biblical, and it can't work. And here's why. Here's why. Look at 1 Peter chapter 5 and verse number 8. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, you see what that says? It says, it doesn't say that he just gone, he's off doing his own thing. He's literally against you. He's your enemy. He's against you as a roaring lion. And he's trying to devour people. I mean, uses these words like he's your adversary. These people, the reason they rage against the word of God, look, they're raging against God, not you. The reason they rage against God is because they are tools that Satan is using to silence the word of God. That's why they're against apostles. That's why they're against Peter and John here. That's why the heathen rage. It's Satan's agenda. Satan, look, Satan uses people just like God uses people. So you're going to have this conflict between people. But look, you know the thing about Satan, though? There's no defense. There's no, I should say, there's no defense with Satan. He's on offense all the time. Honestly, on offense. That's why they rage. Because that's the offense of Satan. He's constantly pushing. He's constantly roaring. He's constantly walking about. It doesn't say he's standing there. He's just constantly going around. Who can I get? Who can I get? Who can I get? Who can I attack? Who can I threaten? This is what's happening here. He uses the heathen to rage against the people preaching the word of God, Peter and John in this case, us, in many cases that you will see. But guess what? It's interesting because Satan doesn't play defense. He's just constantly just advancing forward, just walking around, just roaring, just devouring constantly. But you know what? The funny thing about Satan is he wins on defense. He wins on defense. Because look, that guy that isn't a wicked reprobate, that guy that isn't a wicked reprobate that just dies unbelieving, I mean, how many of these guys seem to think about? He just, you know, he just, I can't tell you how many funerals I've been to before I was even 30 years old, like this, just this nice guy. Just a nice guy that lived a nice life, that maybe had some nice kids, and he died just not believing. Satan wins. He's not a wicked reprobate. He wasn't, you know, some wicked guy, but look, guess what? You know, he's in hell because he didn't believe. Satan wins on defense. Satan wins on defense. You know, this is the funeral you go to, and they show all the pictures and all this, and you know, the guy loved his kids, like you're some miracle worker if you love your own children. But the point is, is just like, Satan wins in that case. I hate that when I go out and you meet that super nice guy out soul winning, and he's just, you can just tell he's got a good heart, and he's just, he's probably got a nice family, he's probably a decent father or mother, and you know, you just meet that nice guy, and he's just like, yeah, I just, was there something I could have said to get him to believe? Was there something I could have said to get him to care about his own salvation? Because look, even in that case, Satan wins. He wasn't turned into some evil person. He just didn't believe, and look, he's a sinner. He's a sinner. Look at Matthew chapter 12. This is why God says, so you see that Satan's constantly pressing forward. He's constantly on the offense against us, because we are the enemies for Christ. We are the ones carrying God's word. Satan uses people just like he uses, just like God uses us. Look at Matthew chapter 12. Now it makes a little bit more sense when you see that Satan, look, if he gets somebody to turn on God and hate God and turn into this wicked tool that he can now use to threaten the Christian, to, you know, commit violence against the Christian. Look, history in the last 2,000 years is just covered in violence against the Christian. Don't give me this. Christians are violent. Give me a break. Give me a break. But history documents it. History documents how stupid and opposite that statement is. But look, the point I'm trying to make is you see that Satan uses these wicked people to persecute, to cause tribulation against Christians, and even in cases where people can just be kept from believing the truth, even if they don't become wicked people. Satan still wins. This is why God says in Matthew chapter 12, like a lot of people read this and they say this is an extreme statement. But now that you see how the heathen rage and how Satan uses the heathen to rage, this should make more sense to you. Look at verse number 30. He that is not with me is against me. He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Because guess what? If there's just somebody that is just unsaved and just doesn't gather with God, he's just, he's scattering his children. He's scattering everybody he knows. He's just, he's on the wrong side. Satan's got him. That's what the Bible is saying here. That's why God is saying there's only one side. He's like, you're either with me or you're against me. Because Satan still wins in the case of the nice guy that just doesn't believe. That's why. It's easy to see like, oh, the heathen rage, evil. But Satan wins in that 90% group that we don't get saved. He wins there too. There's no Switzerland's with God or with Satan. And Satan has the advantage because he, I mean, he is just, he is real, he is relentless. He is relentless on this, on this earth. God realizes that only belief wins. So we're going to talk Sunday. We're going to talk Sunday about, you know, now this is why you need to understand that as the heathen rage, so this is what you can't be. And this, we'll talk about this in detail on Sunday morning. But the Christian today, the soul winner today, the Christian operating in his family, in his environment, in the world, the life that he or she is living, the Christian today, here's what happens. The heathen is raging against him or her. And then they just fold like a deck of cards. You say, oh yeah, but we're, it's a spiritual battle. Yes, it's a spiritual battle. But you must be strong. You cannot, because the heathen will rage against you. And this church in Acts chapter 4 is finding out that, I mean, wow, what David said is happening to us now. The heathen will rage against all of us. And if they don't rage against you, you're not being effective. And we'll talk about how to deal with that and how to handle that in a Christian way on Sunday morning. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.