Glorying in the Cross: Prayer and Salvation
Summary
In the book of Acts, chapter 4, we find a profound moment where Peter and John, after being released by the authorities, return to their community and report all that had transpired. The early church's response was to lift their voices in prayer, acknowledging God's sovereignty and the fulfillment of His divine plan through the events surrounding Jesus' crucifixion. This passage highlights the theological depth of prayer and the centrality of the cross in the Christian faith.
Prayer is not merely a spontaneous act; it is deeply rooted in our understanding of God, humanity, and the world. The early church's prayer reveals a profound theological awareness, recognizing God as the Creator and Sustainer of all things. They understood the nature of humanity's rebellion against God and the inevitability of persecution for those who follow Christ. This understanding is crucial for Christians today, as it provides a framework for interpreting the challenges and opposition we face.
The cross of Christ stands at the heart of the Christian message. It is not an accident or a mere reaction to human actions; it is the fulfillment of God's eternal plan. The crucifixion was foreordained before the foundation of the world, a divine act of love and justice. Through the cross, God reconciles humanity to Himself, satisfying His justice while extending mercy and grace. This profound truth challenges common misconceptions about the cross, emphasizing that it is not merely an example or a demonstration of love but the very means of our salvation.
Understanding the cross is essential for authentic Christian faith. It is the ultimate test of our beliefs, revealing whether we truly grasp the depth of God's love and the seriousness of sin. The cross is where God's justice and mercy meet, providing the only way for humanity to be reconciled to God. As Christians, we are called to glory in the cross, recognizing it as the source of our salvation and the foundation of our relationship with God.
Key Takeaways:
- Prayer is a theological act that reveals our understanding of God, humanity, and the world. It is not merely about speaking words but about aligning our hearts with God's truth and purposes. In times of crisis, our response in prayer reflects the depth of our faith and our reliance on God's sovereignty. [06:43]
- The cross of Christ is central to the Christian faith, representing the fulfillment of God's eternal plan for salvation. It is not an accident or a mere reaction to human actions but a divine act of love and justice. Understanding the cross is essential for authentic Christian faith. [13:25]
- The crucifixion of Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of the world, demonstrating God's sovereignty and purpose. This truth challenges common misconceptions about the cross, emphasizing that it is not merely an example or a demonstration of love but the very means of our salvation. [37:40]
- The cross is where God's justice and mercy meet, providing the only way for humanity to be reconciled to God. It is the ultimate test of our beliefs, revealing whether we truly grasp the depth of God's love and the seriousness of sin. [46:44]
- As Christians, we are called to glory in the cross, recognizing it as the source of our salvation and the foundation of our relationship with God. The cross is the center of everything, and it is through the cross that we receive every blessing and are reconciled to God. [56:53]
Youtube Chapters:
[00:00] - Welcome
[00:08] - Introduction to Acts 4
[02:25] - Peter and John's Healing Miracle
[03:33] - Confrontation with the Sanhedrin
[04:46] - The Church's Response in Prayer
[06:43] - The Theological Nature of Prayer
[09:16] - Understanding God and Humanity
[11:28] - The Crucifixion in Prayer
[13:25] - The Centrality of the Cross
[18:23] - The Test of True Christianity
[22:46] - God's Sovereignty in the Cross
[29:23] - Misunderstandings of the Cross
[37:40] - The Cross Foreordained
[46:44] - God's Justice and Mercy
[56:53] - Glorying in the Cross
Study Guide
Bible Study Discussion Guide
Bible Reading:
- Acts 4:23-28
- 1 Corinthians 2:2
- Isaiah 53:5
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Observation Questions:
1. What was the reaction of the early church when Peter and John reported their experience with the authorities? How did they express their understanding of God's sovereignty in their prayer? [01:45]
2. In Acts 4:27-28, who are the groups mentioned that were gathered against Jesus, and what does this reveal about the fulfillment of God's plan? [02:04]
3. How does the sermon describe the nature of prayer as seen in the early church's response? What does this suggest about the relationship between prayer and theology? [06:43]
4. According to the sermon, what is the significance of the cross in the Christian faith, and how is it portrayed as central to the message of salvation? [13:25]
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Interpretation Questions:
1. How does the early church's understanding of God's sovereignty, as seen in their prayer, challenge or affirm your own view of God's control over world events? [22:46]
2. The sermon emphasizes that the crucifixion was not an accident but part of God's eternal plan. How does this perspective affect the way one views suffering and persecution in the Christian life? [37:40]
3. What does the sermon suggest about the common misconceptions of the cross, and how does understanding the true purpose of the cross impact one's faith? [24:52]
4. How does the sermon explain the meeting of God's justice and mercy at the cross, and why is this understanding crucial for authentic Christian faith? [46:44]
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Application Questions:
1. Reflect on a recent crisis or challenge in your life. How did your response in prayer reflect your understanding of God's sovereignty and your faith? What might you do differently next time? [06:43]
2. The sermon highlights the centrality of the cross in the Christian faith. How can you ensure that the message of the cross remains central in your personal faith journey and in your interactions with others? [13:25]
3. Consider a time when you faced opposition or misunderstanding because of your faith. How did you interpret this experience in light of the early church's understanding of persecution? [10:26]
4. The sermon challenges common misconceptions about the cross. Identify one misconception you have encountered and discuss how you can address it in conversations with others. [24:52]
5. How can you cultivate a deeper theological understanding of prayer in your daily life, ensuring that it aligns with God's truth and purposes? [07:15]
6. The sermon emphasizes the importance of glorying in the cross. What practical steps can you take to make the cross the foundation of your relationship with God? [56:53]
7. Reflect on the statement that the cross is where God's justice and mercy meet. How does this understanding influence your view of God's character and your relationship with Him? [46:44]
Devotional
Day 1: Prayer as Theological Alignment
Prayer is a profound theological act that goes beyond mere words. It is an expression of our understanding of God, humanity, and the world. In Acts 4, the early church's response to persecution was to lift their voices in prayer, acknowledging God's sovereignty and the fulfillment of His divine plan. This moment reveals the depth of their faith and their reliance on God's sovereignty. Prayer, therefore, is not just about asking for things but aligning our hearts with God's truth and purposes. In times of crisis, our response in prayer reflects the depth of our faith and our understanding of God's nature. [06:43]
Psalm 145:18-19 (ESV): "The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desire of those who fear him; he also hears their cry and saves them."
Reflection: In what ways can you align your prayers more closely with God's truth and purposes today, especially in the face of personal challenges?
Day 2: The Cross as the Fulfillment of God's Plan
The cross of Christ is central to the Christian faith, representing the fulfillment of God's eternal plan for salvation. It is not an accident or a mere reaction to human actions but a divine act of love and justice. Understanding the cross is essential for authentic Christian faith. It challenges common misconceptions, emphasizing that it is not merely an example or a demonstration of love but the very means of our salvation. The cross is where God's justice and mercy meet, providing the only way for humanity to be reconciled to God. [13:25]
1 Peter 1:18-20 (ESV): "Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you."
Reflection: How does understanding the cross as the fulfillment of God's eternal plan change the way you view your own salvation and relationship with God?
Day 3: The Cross Foreordained
The crucifixion of Jesus was foreordained before the foundation of the world, demonstrating God's sovereignty and purpose. This truth challenges common misconceptions about the cross, emphasizing that it is not merely an example or a demonstration of love but the very means of our salvation. Recognizing the cross as foreordained helps us understand the depth of God's love and the seriousness of sin. It is a reminder that God's plan for salvation was intentional and purposeful, not a reaction to human actions. [37:40]
Ephesians 1:4-5 (ESV): "Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will."
Reflection: Reflect on the idea that your salvation was part of God's plan from the beginning. How does this impact your understanding of your identity and purpose in Christ?
Day 4: Justice and Mercy at the Cross
The cross is where God's justice and mercy meet, providing the only way for humanity to be reconciled to God. It is the ultimate test of our beliefs, revealing whether we truly grasp the depth of God's love and the seriousness of sin. The cross challenges us to understand that God's justice required a payment for sin, and His mercy provided that payment through Jesus. This profound truth calls us to a deeper appreciation of the cross and its significance in our lives. [46:44]
Romans 3:25-26 (ESV): "Whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."
Reflection: In what ways can you live out the reality of God's justice and mercy in your daily interactions with others?
Day 5: Glorying in the Cross
As Christians, we are called to glory in the cross, recognizing it as the source of our salvation and the foundation of our relationship with God. The cross is the center of everything, and it is through the cross that we receive every blessing and are reconciled to God. This understanding calls us to a life of gratitude and worship, acknowledging the cross as the ultimate expression of God's love and grace. [56:53]
Galatians 6:14 (ESV): "But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world."
Reflection: How can you make the cross more central in your daily life, allowing it to shape your thoughts, actions, and relationships?
Quotes
Prayer is something that tests us I suggested the first occasion that if you really wanted to know whether you're a Christian or not because you know people think they're Christian sometimes when they're I've no remote connection with Christianity if you want really to know the other Christian or not there's no better test in this whole question of prayer what you do in a crisis. [00:06:49]
What is to me so fascinating about this prayer is that it tells us something about the true character of proud, there are many loose ideas with a big out of prayer some people seem to think the prayer is the easiest thing in the world it isn't it's the most difficult that you ever there that's that, oh come on was pray no you can't you can talk to yourself but that doesn't mean you're praying. [00:06:35]
Prayer reveals all of us the character of our belief in God and then we saw last Sunday night that prayer also reveals the fact that we've got a true understanding of men in sinful men, and the state of the world tonight did you notice that as these people are praying they are revealing their knowledge of God and they're thinking concerning God they are revealing their understanding of human nature the human predicament men in sin the world rebelling against God they've got it all. [00:08:18]
The Christian always starts there he doesn't start with men don't misunderstand me the Christian doesn't even start with the Lord Jesus Christ he starts with God because the Bible and you don't understand the Lord Jesus Christ and his work unless you start with God the Father the eternal creator and the sustainer of the whole universe then you see they go on from there and they then work that second sock which we've already considered together and there they show that they are not surprised that the treatment they're getting. [00:09:35]
The very center of Christian preacher is the preaching of the cross the death of the son of God now we've already seen that you remember al Peter on the day of Pentecost he stood after he began to punish what did he preach about well he will be preached about the gift of our law he gave an expositional again over the incident of the healing of the lay men of the beautiful gate of the temple the moment Peter begins to preach and to explain what's happening to this man how he's been healed that it wasn't then but it was this Lord he again brings in the cross he preaches the cross once more. [00:13:55]
The cross is the very heart and center of the message and here in their prayer they do the same thing again now you see this is obviously therefore central and crucial then where you turn to the Ministry of the great Apostle Paul you find he did exactly the same thing read the report of his sermon attempt your Khimki severe as it's recorded in the thirteenth chapter of this book of the Acts 30 yet he explained it he expounded it and read the whole of his ministry you find these always doing the same thing but he has a boss summed it up for us once and forever in a most memorable prayer in the First Epistle to the Corinthians chapter 2 and verse 2 I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. [00:15:09]
The cross of Jesus Christ is something to which God responds and something which God uses I'll give the pictures the cross we are told is entirely the action of MIM these cruel men these members of the Sanhedrin these subtle Pharisees and scribes and Sadducees and doctors of the law these political theological people these ecclesiastics these men its direction they are entirely responsible they shouldn't have done it but they did it but God the Son opportunity in what they've done, God reacted to what they've done and God made use of what they've done and he made use of it in this way and this is one of the commonest modern explanations of the death of our Lord upon the trust and you you hear it from people who regard it as evangelical this is what they say God uses it in this way he looks at the world and he says though you have done that even that who my only-begotten dearly beloved son I still love you I still forgive you you shouldn't have done but you've done it but though you've done it though you've killed my only son I still tell you that I love you and I forgive even that you see what it saying that God reacts to what men does on the cross it man was acting God simply reacts to it but he takes hold of it and he was is it and demonstrates and revealed his great and eternal love to us others were there to that and say that our Lord Himself is doing the same thing on the cross he is looking at us and saying though you've done this to me I still love you that the cross is just a great Proclamation that God loves us all every one of us will do we know it or not and he's telling us on the cross them how much we may disobey however much we may violet is law. [00:32:40]
The death of Jesus Christ on the cross on Calvary Hill was something that was planned before the foundation of the world, Peter said it on the day of Pentecost and now let's listen to him year later when he writes is it people as an old men did you catch it when I read that portion of the first chapter of the First Epistle of Peter listen he says I would remind you that you were not redeemed with corruptible things of Vernon gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your father but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot listen who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world that wasn't anything in these last times for you who by him to believe in God that raised him from the dead and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God the trust an accident the crosses suppliers that saw something that might never happen and that need not have happened, the task really is something that God gives us my dear friends the trust was planned before the foundation of the world before the world was ever created before man was ever made God have planned the death of Christ his son upon the cross this is the explanation these men of Jesus whatsoever thy hand and the council determined before all the foundation of the world told ordained before dying before the creation of the universe before men that ever come into existence it was all planets but I can prove their people how do I prove it to you I prove it to you from the Old Testament. [00:37:40]
God's nature demands the sin should be punished and daughter said that many times over he revealed it time without end in the Old Testament in explicit language in all the burnt offerings of the sacrifice summed up in a great phrase without shedding of blood there is no remission of sin sin must be punished and the wages of sin is death you see God who like men man changes his law of doesn t until recently homosexuality was condemned as a crime but now we're going to change it not at all a crime indeed some of them are almost making it out to be the most wonderful thing surpassing every title human love men changes his law the silk himself, I'll tell you this God can't change his law why not well because he is the father of lights with whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning God is and what God says is eternal he can't modify the content if God cannot lie though Kenneth Oh second what he said and his own nature of all sins and sin cometh live in his presence he's a consuming fire and the wages of sin is death and every man who has ever sinned deserves to die it's inevitable jobs just righteous every matured amend so you're you see is the problem God's law before the creation of the world that men in his folly would listen to the devil and would in McKinstry does that mean then that the whole of humanity is to become science to death until not no that would have meant the triumph of the devil God for the sake of his own glory must save and heaviest people how can we do this he's created a man and the whole of humanity has come out of him the man was formed of all four with him what can he do. [00:48:44]
He sent His only Son into this world and he sent him into the world as I've already got it from Hebrews 2:9 he made him a little lower than the Angels for the suffering of death that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man he becomes a man the head of a new humanity and he takes our sins upon himself and God lays the, he has laid on him the iniquity of the whole God must punish sin and God has punished the iminium and because the astonish marries him in him god remaining just and righteous and true and loving can give me a free pardon and forgiveness it was the only way whereby a single individual could ever be forgiven his sins there was no other way at all if there had been God would of a doctor if there wasn't it necessitated the Incarnation it necessitated the world being made flesh it necessitated is going to the crash could have escaped of cause he could if a man my guy Sagan could be taken to heaven without dying or much more the Son of God, no but you couldn't forgive fulfill all righteousness in that way no no he has got to die he's got to die follow he's got a fare the wages of sin because a receive the punishment men children but in doing so they were telling us this eternal purpose of God the depth of the Son of God is the means of our salvation he died that we might be forgiven he died to make us good. [00:56:53]
The christianism in who is smashed and finished by the cross reconcile that God by it made a new man because of it receiving every other blessing directly flowing from pray that you may so see it but you shall never glory in anything save in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. [00:56:53]
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