OPEN: In the 70’s there was runaway hit movie starring Sylvester Stallone, entitled "Rocky."
Many people, including myself were unaware that the movie was based on a real life boxer named Chuck Werner - otherwise known as the Bayonne Bleeder (because he bled so easily and freely throughout his fights).
Werner was a good fighter, but not really a "great fighter," and so when he was scheduled to fight the great Mohammed Ali almost everyone figured he wouldn’t last through the first few rounds. He was a 20 to 1 underdog and just before the bout, Ali had bragged: "I’m getting paid $1.5 million to fight this pug, and it’s fool’s gold. This sucker is a cinch." He went on to predict he’d knock Werner out in 3 rounds!
That’s not the way it turned out. Werner prepared harder for that fight than any he had ever had before. As a result, not only did he last thru 15 rounds, he actually knocked Ali down with one of his punches - something very few of the best boxers had accomplished.
After the fight, Ali praised Werner by saying "There’s not another human being in the world that can go 15 rounds like that."
According to the AP’s account, "For 14 rounds, and most of the 15th, the big, awkward, barroom brawler from New Jersey stood toe to toe with the world titleholder, taking Ali’s best shots without buckling."
APPLY: The "Bayonne Bomber" shouldn’t have been able to last in the ring with Mohammed Ali for 3 rounds... let alone 15. He wasn’t nearly as good a fighter as Ali had been. And yet he did what few of the best could do: he stayed on his feet to the final round, and he gave nearly as good as he got.
That’s the stuff of legend
The tale of heroes
The plot line of a dozen different movies
It’s the story of a lost cause,
A fighter past his prime,
Outmatched and beaten
And yet coming back in the final rounds to arise victorious, beating the more powerful and talented opponent.
I. What we’ve read about this morning (in Acts 4) is the story of one such hero...
A man named Peter, or Petros. A man whose name meant the Rock - or Rocky.
Here in Acts 4, we’re seeing Peter as a man of boldness and courage.
A man who is willing to face down the Sanhedrin - the ruling body of the Jewish nation.
A man who not only intended to preach Christ no matter what the cost... but who preached with a boldness that most of us would envy.
BUT, not more than 2 months earlier, Peter was a beaten man.
He had stepped into the ring with a better opponent, a demonic force who knew few equals... and he’d been beaten badly.
And Jesus had warned Peter: "Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat." Luke 22:31
And (in the early goings of this conflict) Satan HAD hurt Peter badly
* Not only did Peter end up denying Christ 3 times before the crucifixion
* But AFTER the crucifixion, John tells us that Peter and the other "disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews" (John 20:19)
Now, there are some who might say, "Jeff, do you mean to say that Peter¡¦s failures were because... the devil made him do it?"
Well - yeah - partly.
For one thing, Jesus DID warn Peter that Satan had demanded to sift him like wheat. That tells us that there was something going on - behind the scenes - that we don’t know much about. A spiritual struggle between the powers of darkness... and a mere mortal named Peter. A battle Peter never could win on his own.
In like fashion, we’re warned that, as Christians we’re engaged in the same kind of spiritual battle Our conflict is "not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." Ephesians 6:12
In other words, when we step into the ring for Christ:
When we become Christians,
When we go to church
When we spend time in prayer
When we talk to others about Christ...
...we are facing off against Satan himself
II. From the moment you said that "Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God," Satan’s objective was to take you out of the fight.
To do what ever was necessary to bring you down morally, mentally, or physically. To hurt you so badly you’d never be much of a threat to his plans and purposes.
That’s what he tried with Peter. And he nearly succeeded.
And that is the first thing I want you to see in this sermon: Satan is not an opponent you want to take for granted. As Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:8 "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour."
Now who do you suppose he wants to devour??? You. And me. And anyone else who would stand in his way. Therefore we must be self controlled... and alert. This is not an opponent we can take lightly.
The letter from Jude has a particularly interesting insight on this. In Jude 1:9 we’re told:
"...even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, ’The Lord rebuke you!’"
Did you catch that? Even the archangel Michael - one of the most powerful of God’s angels -didn’t try to take Satan on by his own power and strength. Instead, Michael, used the power of Jesus to overcome Satan.
Revelation 12 tells us that as Christians that’s how we overcome Satan as well.
"They overcame (the devil) BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death." Revelation 12:11
The reason Satan nearly destroyed Peter was that Peter wanted to defeat evil his own way. When it came to how Jesus’ ministry was to be run - if Peter didn’t want Jesus to do a certain thing that he (Peter) didn’t approve of - he had no intention of allowing it to happen. At one point, he even rebuked Jesus:
Mark 8:31-32 "(Jesus) then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him."
He had the audacity to rebuke Jesus? Can you imagine that?
But, when you or I try to run our Christian lives OUR way, in OUR strength, by OUR wisdom - we’re rebuking Jesus as well. We are telling Him that we can do our Christianity without Him. We don’t need His influence, His input, His oversight, His power in our lives. We can do it ourselves.
And the moment we do that... Satan’s got us.
III. That’s how Peter used to do things
Once Peter was a man who was used to overcoming his problems by his own strength
Once Peter was a man accustomed to forcing his will on others
Once Peter was a man who used to getting his own way
But now (here in Acts 4) he’s a different man. Notice, what he does differently
In Acts 4, we find that the Sanhedrin isn’t happy with Peter’s preaching so they ask: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
Or, in other words: "Just who do you think you are?" or "How dare you do this without our permission!"
The Old Peter would have gotten angry and probably gotten into an argument with every member of the Sanhedrin... including the High Priest himself.
Anger and argumentativeness are usually dead giveaways that you¡¦re not letting Jesus lead you
Galatians 5:18-23 tells us:
"...if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.
The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: ...hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions (argumentativeness) , factions (choosing up sides)... I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
In other words, if you’re argumentative and contentious, you’re not being led by the Spirit of God... but by your sinful passions.
Peter, however, doesn’t get argumentative with the Sanhedrin. Look again at Acts 4:8-12, notice how Peter speaks:
"Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ’Rulers and elders of the people! (notice the respect)If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed.
He is ’the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.’ Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
Peter is gentle, respectful and he exalts Jesus. (Jesus is part of his conversation).
And this baffles the members of the Sanhedrin - who are used to arguments. They are good religious Jews. They are used to arguing about even the finest point of the law. Paul took advantage of that once when he was on trial before them. When he mentioned that he was on trial for because of his belief in the resurrection of the dead, pandemonium broke out. They loved to argue. But Peter didn’t argue...
When Peter finishes speaking, we’re told the Sanhedrin took note that "When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus." Acts 4:13
You see, when you’re led by the Spirit of God... you have courage, and conviction. But when (in addition to that) you are kind and gentle you’ll astonish some people, and they’ll note that you’ve been with Jesus.
That’s the first way that you whip Satan, by allowing God’s Spirit to guide up in your attitudes and behavior.
IV. But that’s only half of what you and I need to do to defeat this Satan.
In Acts 4, we find that the Sanhedrin dismissed Peter and John for a few moments while they discussed how to handle these two men. "Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus." Acts 4:18
Now, try to put yourself in Peter’s shoes here. If you had been him and the Sanhedrin had told YOU not preach in the name of Jesus anymore - what would you have done the moment you left that room? Well, I don’t know about you - but I would have gone out to the nearest street corner and I’d get to preaching. "You can’t tell me what to do!! If I want to preach... I’m gonna preach, and you just try and stop me"
I get into more trouble that way.
ILLUS: In fact, I did get into trouble once, doing that very thing.
Back when I was just out of Bible College, I went back to my home town. Even though I wasn’t an ordained preacher at the time, I was deeply involved in religious activities. One of the preachers I knew suggested that I write some articles for the local newspaper in its "Preacher’s Corner."
Being fresh out of Bible college, I was still idealistic - willing to tilt at windmills and slay dragons. I believed the goal of my writing was to defend the faith and equip the saints. So I wrote an article explaining why Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons were cults. As you can imagine - the Jehovah Witnesses and Mormons were not pleased by that. The next few weeks saw a flurry of letters to the editor. I am sure this may have increased the circulation of the paper for a short period of time... but I’m also convinced many threatened to cancel their subscription to the paper if I were not dealt with.
The Paper’s solution was to take me aside and explain that, since I was not an ordained minister, I would not be permitted to write for the paper again.
I was outraged. In response, Diana and I took our tithe and bought a block of space in newspaper - and I continued to write my articles and put them in that spot of the paper. Just let them try and stop me!
Now, that was wrong for any number of reasons. But I did what I thought was right at the time. And, do you know what I accomplished for all my efforts? Absolutely nothing!
Now... I want you to notice what Peter and John did differently. Upon their release, Peter and John left the Sanhedrin and... where did they go? (They went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them. Acts 4:23).
So, the 1st thing they did was NOT to go back out and preach. The first thing they did was to go and report what had happened to the church and gain their support (I didn’t do that).
Next we’re told that when Peter & John did this: "(the church) raised their voices together in prayer to God." Acts 4:24
So, the 2nd thing that happened here was that the church prayed about the problem they now faced. (I’m not even sure I prayed about my decision to buy that advertising space).
Jesus said: "...I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them." Matthew 18:19-20
In other words: if you want to shake Satan’s Kingdom... if you want to tear down the gates of Hell, then you need to pray. And you need to pray with other Christians. As one wise person once observed: "Christ’s soldiers fight best on their knees."
That’s what Peter & John did that day... they fought on their knees. And they fought together with the rest of the church.
...AND notice what happened when Peter & John did it God’s way:
"AFTER THEY PRAYED, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly." Acts 4:31
They prayed and they were then led by the Spirit, and given boldness to preach. Now, granted, they still disobeyed the Sanhedrin¡K they still defied Satan. But they only went out to preach after they had laid hold of all the power of Heaven.
CLOSE: We have a Tent Meeting coming up in a couple of weeks.
There is no one saying we can’t preach.
There is no one is openly opposing us or fighting us to keep us from trying to reach out to the community in this way.
But even so, we need to bathe this Revival in prayer.
We need to lay hold of the power of Heaven so that we can pull down the gates of hell in the lives of many in our community. So let us take this time to now to bow our heads and appeal to God for Him to work mightily in this upcoming Revival.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
Rocky – Preparing for the Fight (Matthew 16:13-28)
Rocky II – The Real McCoy (Matthew 17:1-9)
Rocky III – KO’d (Luke 22:31-62)
Rocky VI – The Comeback Kid (Acts 4:1-31)
