In Peter Allison's sermon titled 'Communion Power,' he draws from Acts 4 to discuss the power of communion with both the saints and the triune God. The acts of Peter and John, healing a lame man and subsequently being arrested, serve as a backdrop for the importance of fellowship and prayer among believers. Allison emphasizes the apostles' response to adversity, highlighting their prayerful communion with God and affirmation of His sovereignty and love. He explains that the term 'own' in the scriptures refers to a specific group of people, the elect, who are united in faith. The sermon underscores the strength derived from the communion of saints, which is vital for spiritual encouragement and resilience. The Holy Spirit plays a crucial role, empowering the apostles and believers to speak boldly and endure persecution. The sermon also touches on the significance of doctrinal truths in prayer, which reinforce believers' faith and guide their actions. Ultimately, Allison advocates for a deeper understanding and engagement in the fellowship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a means to navigate trials and uphold the Gospel.

Please turn in your scriptures to Acts chapter 4. Peter and John went up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. They heal a man who has been lame from his birth. He's over 40 years old. And this leads to an opportunity to preach the Gospel.

And as they are preaching, they are arrested and thrown in prison for the night. Brought out the next morning to stand trial before the Sanhedrin, where they are, we saw last week, commanded not to speak or to preach or to teach in the name of Jesus anymore. And so we pick up this account as that trial concludes. Verse 23. Hear God's Word.

"...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, 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. For truly, against your holy servant Jesus whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done. 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 when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness." How sweet are Christ's words to our taste, sweeter than honey to our mouths.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, indeed Your words are life, They are truth. We ask that You would open Your Word to us this morning, that as we have heard it, it might be mixed with faith, that it may sanctify us, purify us, set us apart, Lord, as servants, as vessels. And I ask that You would sanctify my lips this morning as well. That through a vessel of clay, the riches of Your grace might be proclaimed.

Preserve my sinful lips from error. In Jesus' name, Amen. In his book on the Puritans, Joel Beeke lists 17 different ways that the Puritans used to promote piety. The first was well-focused, doctrinal, experiential, soul-saving preaching. The preaching of the Word is the first priority.

The second was reading and studying the Scriptures. The third, meditation on biblical truths. Meditation, pondering, thinking on the Word of God and what it means and what it implies for us. The fourth was frequent and lengthy fervent prayer. So no surprises there.

The prayer, the scriptures, the preaching of the Word and prayer. But the fifth was communing with the saints, particularly through meetings for spiritual purposes. I thought of a lot of different titles for today's message. I cycled through it. I won't bore you with all of the trials there, but when I saw this, I realized this is what is going on here.

There is communion with the saints and communion with the triune God. This means of spiritual strengthening is exactly what we see the apostles engaging in when they are released from prison and they're hearing in the court. The same people who have crucified Christ just a few weeks or months earlier have now threatened them, sternly commanding them not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus anymore. And we see their response is the communion of the saints and the communion with the Triune God. And so this message is titled Communion Power.

Fellowship. The fellowship of the saints and the fellowship with the Triune God. The first thing we read is that they go back to their own. When the chief priests and rulers released the apostles and the man that they healed, they went back to their own companions is the word in the New King James. But literally, they went to their own.

There's no noun in the Greek. It just says they went to their own. Now usually there is a noun that is paired with this word own. A noun that identifies what of their own is being referred to. Their own house, their own desires, your own ability, your own husband or wife, or whatever the case might be.

But in this case, there is no noun. And so That's why the word companions or friends or whatever is in your translation is italicized, because it's added from the context. But there's really a lot more going on here than merely going back to one's circle of friends to lick your wounds. Usually, in the few cases where this word is used without a noun, it's a reference to one's own people. And it's not just an amorphous people, It's not just an amorphous group of unspecific people that is in view, but it's a specific group of people that is in view.

In Titus 1.12, we see this use, One of them, a prophet of their own, said, Cretans are always... And so on. Here it is referenced to one's own people as defined nationally or ethnically. Cretans. One of the Cretans.

Or in John 1, 111, it says that Jesus came to His own and His own did not receive Him. Jesus came to the Jews. He came to His own people. And they did not receive him. He came to the church, which was the Jews, his own people, and he was rejected.

That is a specific group of people, those who were part of the church, the Jewish church. And in John 13, 1 though, we see, I think, the sense in how this word is being used here specifically. Now, before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His own hour should come, that He should depart from the world to the Father having loved His own. Having loved His own who are in the world, He loved them to the end. Here this reference, own, is to the elect.

He loved His own people. Those that were given to Him by the Father. It's a definite group of people. The elect. It's the definite number.

Known only to God, but it is a definite number of people. Identified by name. When Jesus had come to His own, it's referring to His own people, His elect. In John 15, 19 it says, if you are of the world, the world would love its own. Here it's referring to just the opposite, those who are of the world.

You, because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore The world hates you. So this is referring to those that are the exact opposite, those that are outside of Christ, the world's own people. In 1 Timothy 5, 8, it refers to one's own extended family, but if one does not provide for his own, and especially those of his immediate household. See, this is one's people by blood or by marriage. That's a specific group of people, those who are your blood relatives or related to you by marriage.

So in this case, it's said that the apostles are leaving the company of the Jews and going to their own. To their own. In distinguishing, you see these saints that the apostles are returning to from the Jews that they just left. Luke is now putting those Jews outside the church. They're not their own.

They left those people and they went back to their own. Before Pentecost, you see, the Apostle John included the Jews as Jesus' own. They were the church. But now these unbelieving Jews, having rejected the Messiah and crucified the Lord of Glory, these unbelieving Jews have been excommunicated from the church. They are no longer Christ's own.

The unbelieving Jews have been cut out of the church. Not all Jews, just the unbelieving Jews. Acts 6 tells us that many of the priests believed. See, the believing Jews were not cut off. They remained in this church.

But the believers, the Gentiles, are grafted in. But see, when the believing people become so small, then the Lord calls us to come out of that group, to leave that group. And it's like an excommunication in reverse as the godly leave the apostate church. That apostate church is excommunicated. But the Gentiles are grafted now into the church as Gentiles.

So the church now contains Jews, the believing Jews and the Gentiles. And so these apostles go back to their own. That's not replacement theology. The church hasn't replaced Israel. It's sometimes said the apostles and Most of these people are Jews themselves.

These are Jews. They haven't replaced the Jews. They are simply the believing Jews who have come out of and left the unbelieving apostate Jews. And it is to these believing Jews that the Gentiles are added. And it is back to then this church that is called their own.

This body of believers that is called their own. That the Apostles go back and participate in the fellowship of the saints, the communion of the saints. They go back to the church and Luke says they report everything that the court of chief priests and elders had said to them. See, this is practicing the communion of the fellowship of the saints. This is what Acts 2 told us was the practice of this church following Pentecost.

In Acts 2, 42, They continued steadfastly in the Apostles' doctrine and fellowship, koinonia, in the breaking of bread and in prayers. You can see where the Puritans get their list of things that sanctify. You see, the communion of saints is one means by which saints are refreshed and strengthened. The communion of saints, the fellowship with believers, is one means by which we are refreshed, by which we are strengthened and encouraged and equipped. Paul told Philemon, I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers, hearing of your faith and love which you have toward the Lord Jesus and toward all the saints, that the sharing..." And that's the koinonia.

Same word. "...that the sharing, the fellowship, or the communication of your faith may be effective by the acknowledgement of every good thing that is in you in Christ Jesus. Paul says, we have great joy, Paul said, and consolation in your love because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed by you, brother. Through his fellowship, through this koinonia, through his sharing of his faith and his ministry to other believers, believers were refreshed and they were strengthened. And Paul watching this was greatly encouraged to see the saints being refreshed by Philemon.

The saints were refreshed by this godly example, by this fellowship or this sharing of his faith. Solomon makes this point actually in Ecclesiastes 4 where he says, "...two are better than one because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, one will lift up his companion. But woe to him who is alone when he falls, for he has no one to help him up again. If two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one be warm alone? Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him, and a three-fold cord is not quickly broken." You see, if we fall into sin, brothers and sisters in Christ can help to restore us with the spirit of meekness. It's Galatians 6.1. Those who are overtaken in sin, the brothers, are to come along. With the spirit of meekness, lest we also fall and seek to restore.

See, the communion, the fellowship of saints is vital. Blessed Paul told the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 1, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulations. Why? So that we might be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the comfort with which we have been comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ." That's the fellowship, the communion of the saints, comforting one another, restoring one another, encouraging one another through the Word.

It's the Lord, the Holy Spirit, that does these things, but He uses His people as His mouthpieces, as His hands and His feet, to build us up and to strengthen us. You see, fellowship is one means by which saints are strengthened to stand in the hour of trial. It's one means by which saints are encouraged so as not to grow weary in doing well. You remember the example of Aaron holding up, and her holding up Moses' hands. This is the fellowship of the saints.

They are ministering to Moses so that he doesn't grow weary in his flesh. Because he is weary in his flesh and they're strengthening him. See, as the saints are comforted, as we bring the Scriptures to mind, as we bring the promises of the Gospel to mind, and as we say them and as we recite them, as we remind one another of them. But also, see, by sharing our experience, the Apostles, we inform others what kind of response to expect from unbelievers. We enable them to be better prepared to respond to rejection, the rejection of the Word of God.

And It's also an encouragement to us to see God's grace delivering His people unscathed. That's a great encouragement. It encourages the saints and it glorifies the Lord. It provides a future record for future generations to be encouraged and comforted. How many generations of saints have been encouraged and comforted by accounts like Fox's Book of Martyrs?

Or the many accounts of the martyrs that we get from the voice of the martyrs. It used to be, when I was growing up, Jesus to the communist world. And we get their program, their bulletin, their letter every month. And it would have accounts of those who were suffering and of God's deliverance and His protection and of their testimony in these times. This is a great encouragement.

This reporting of what occurred prepares and enables the church to pray with specificity, with particularity in both praise and in petitions. Because they now have more detail, and they can pray more specifically, they can pray more intelligently, they can pray with more understanding, They can bring more specific promises in their prayers. But thirdly, in bringing this report of what they have endured, the church is sharing in their suffering. Because remember, when one part of the body suffers, the entire body suffers. And in bringing this report, the apostles are enabling the church to join in their suffering.

Now this communion that we have with one another and that the Apostles have with the church there in Jerusalem, It's the result of the communion that we have with God. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. So this church, you see, having heard this report of the Apostles, now enters into communion with the Triune God. They lift their voices together in prayer. They raise their voices with one accord.

And they say, so when they heard that, they raised their voices with one accord and said, Lord, You are God. They raised their voices with one accord. That doesn't mean they all spoke together. What it means is one person spoke and uttered words which all heard and gave assent to with their hearts. And in so doing, giving assent in their hearts, they lifted their hearts up to God.

And that's the same as lifting our voice to God. When we lift our hearts to God in agreement with what is being said in prayer, we are lifting our voices to God as well. Because remember, our thoughts are known to God just as much as our words. The things that we think in our heart, God knows, even as if we had said it, because our thoughts are open and plain to Him. And so when all the people are praying and agreeing in their heart and are lifting their hearts to the Lord, the Bible says that they are lifting their voice to the Lord with one accord.

They are entering into communion with the triune God. They lift up their voices saying, Lord, Lord. Now that word Lord is not the usual word Curios which the New Testament uses to translate Jehovah It's the word despotase Maybe you recognize that word. So where did we get desperate from? Now While in the English there's a strong negative connotation to the word despot, that's not the case in the Greek word.

A despotace in Greek is one who has legal control and authority over persons, such as over subjects or slaves. It's a stronger word than just Master or Lord. It's a recognition that God is the Master who has legal control and absolute authority over all people. Not only over themselves. He is the Despotace, the one with absolute authority and control over even these chief priests and elders, the ones who crucified Christ, the ones who imprisoned the apostles and command them not to speak or teach in His name anymore.

It's a personal address as well. It's an evocative. So you could think of this as, oh sovereign, oh sovereign one. Lord. Next, they acknowledge that this despoteis is God.

Is God. The Creator God who made heaven and earth and the sea and everything that is in the heaven and earth and the sea. Everything that exists, including the people in that earth. You see, this is the reason why God has authority over every person on the face of the earth. If you have a modern translation, this declaration of the Lord is omitted in about 2% of Greek manuscripts that are objectively inferior in quality.

And these inferior manuscripts are followed by the modern translations based on the eclectic text. And so they don't have this God. Lord, who is God? You are God. He is God.

He's the Creator God. Not only is the Lord the despotace and the Creator God, He is also the God who speaks. And they quote from Psalm 2. David, we know, wrote Psalm 2. The Bible says that.

It says it right here too. It says it other places. But they say that in Psalm 2, God is speaking through the mouth of David. You see, as we read the Scriptures, Scriptures that were written by men, we are hearing the voice of God. It is His Word.

And He speaks in the pages of scriptures. And so they say, you spoke, the Lord spoke, by the mouth of your servant David. And they state then that it is God who ordained that Herod and Pontius Pilate and together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel crucified Christ. It was God who ordained that these people would crucify Christ. In crucifying Christ, they were doing exactly what God the Despotace, the one with the sovereign, who has all authority over all people, they were doing exactly what God had determined before the foundation of the world would be done.

Now we might ask, why do they open their prayer by stating these doctrinal truths? It's not a recitation of doctrine just to state doctrine. God already knows these things, doesn't He? The people already know these things. It's not because they need to know these things.

There are several reasons I believe they are doing this. One, they are simply following the pattern of prayers in the Scriptures. This is the pattern not only of prayers in the Scriptures, but even of books in the Scriptures. When Paul wants to admonish churches, he opens with doctrine, and it's from that doctrine that he makes application to lives in the prayers throughout the Bible. They open with statement of doctrine, and then they apply that doctrine to their life.

For example, in Psalm 27, David begins, the Lord is my light and my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my life. He's stating doctrinal truths that he then goes on to apply. Secondly, in stating these doctrinal truths, we remember these truths, and we make them a part of our core beliefs that drive our practice. If we never say anything, we tend to forget it.

It tends to become unused. We need to say things over and over. It's important that we speak the truth to remind ourselves of the truth. When we state things, we add permanence to it. We might think about doing something, but when we state that we are going to do it, that adds more importance and weight to it.

Because now when we don't do it, we haven't just not followed our thoughts, but we've not followed our words. But it's also, they are also presenting their arguments. They are stating truths from which they will argue. I said they are engaging in communion with the Triune God. We have communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

We have communion with the Father's love. It's the Father's love that is the fountain from which all sweetness, all blessing flows. It is the source of all grace. And so what's the connection then between this despotace who created the heavens and the earth and the Father's love? See, it's this.

This is why they open their prayer with this doctrine. See, the sovereignty of God who made all things, who is all-powerful, who ordains everything that comes to pass from the littlest trial in our lives to the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. The sovereignty of God is a great comfort to us because God loves us. The sovereignty of God would not be any comfort to us without that truth that God loves us. That's why it is said that the Father's love is the fountain of all blessing, the source of grace.

Because God loves us, The fact that He controls all things is a great comfort to us because He's not only glorifying Himself with what He brings to pass, but He's also working good to those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Because He loves us. We know that His sovereignty is a great, great comfort. Because He's working good through it for us, as well as working glory to Himself. Now the apostles also identify this attack on themselves as an attack on Christ Himself.

Because when the church is conspired against, Christ is conspired against. When Christ is conspired against, His church is conspired against. When the church suffers, Christ suffers. Remember when God appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus in that bright light, and Paul falls to the ground and hears a voice saying, Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? Saul thought he was going to Damascus to imprison Christians.

And Jesus said to them, you're persecuting Me. Jesus said, well, Let me just go there a minute. Paul said then, who are you? Who are you? And Jesus said, I am Jesus whom you are persecuting.

And so trembling and astonished, He said, Lord, what do You want me to do? See, in persecuting the church, Paul was persecuting Jesus. We have fellowship with the suffering of Christ. The saints in heaven also join in our suffering. Not only does the body on earth, the saints on earth join in the suffering, Christ, we have fellowship with Christ in suffering, but the saints in heaven join in that.

Remember in Revelation 6, when the fifth seal is opened, John sees under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they heard. The martyrs in heaven. And they cry with a loud voice saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true until You judge and avenge the blood on those who dwell on the earth? They have this concern. They are part of the body of Christ, though in heaven.

And there is a communion in the fellowship of suffering. So not only do we participate in the suffering of Christ, in the fellowship of the suffering, but we also experience the consolation as well as we read earlier. For as the sufferings of Christ, Paul told the Corinthians, abound in us, so our consolation also abounds in Christ. Because we have communion with Christ, we have consolation in our sufferings. See, we've been called into fellowship of the Son.

God is faithful, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1-9, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. And Paul says in Philippians 3 that it was His life's passion that He might know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His suffering being conformed to His death. That was Paul's desire, is to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. Because to know Christ and the power of His resurrection is to be a participant in that. That's why Paul can say in Romans that we've been buried with Christ in baptism, because we've been united to Christ.

And so when Christ was buried, we're buried. When He rose, we rise. When He ascends into heaven, so do we. Because we have a fellowship in his sufferings, a fellowship, a communion with the Son. We commune with Christ in grace.

We commune with Christ in grace. Remember in the benediction that we sometimes use, now may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father. We commune with Christ in grace. It's both His own grace of His person, but also what I will also call purchased grace. The acceptance with God in justification, our sanctification that we receive from God, and the privileges that come with adoption into His family.

You see, we commune with Christ in grace. And part of those blessings, that communion, that fellowship, is that we have the privileges of His children in adoption, and we can come to His throne of grace and obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. That's the communion we have with the Son in grace. And so, the things that Christ has made available for us, we can possess. All of the resources in Christ that are sufficient for everything we will ever be called to do.

So right now at this moment, these Apostles come before the throne of grace to ask for boldness. They want boldness. They don't want to be cowered into silence in the face of the opposition of the priests and the elders and the Jews. That would be very easy, right? To be cowered into silence.

Because these are the people that killed Christ. And they remember how they were all scattered. None of them were even able to own that they were with Christ or His disciples. Peter denied Christ. So this was just a few months earlier.

They commune with Christ in grace, and as His children, They ask for boldness. They ask for boldness in Christ's name. Now Lord, look on their threats and grant to your servants that with all boldness they may speak your name by stretching out your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of your holy servant, Jesus Christ." They are asking for boldness, to speak the truth, and that signs and wonders might be done in Christ's name. A communion in the fellowship of suffering with Christ. They also have communion with the Holy Spirit.

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the foundation of our communion with the Holy Spirit consists in His being sent by Jesus Christ to be our Comforter. You see, the Spirit helps us to remember the words of Christ and teaches us what those words mean. Christ said that He would send the Comforter who would testify to everything that He had said, who would lead them into the truth. The Holy Spirit witnesses to us that we are the children of God.

And as the earnest of our salvation, He assures us of our salvation, of our acceptance in the Father. As the indwelling Spirit, He pours out the love of God in our hearts and is the Spirit of supplication enabling us to pray. And as the Spirit indwelling us, He makes intercession for us. He is the Paraclete, the one who is sent to come alongside of us. So we have communion with the Holy Spirit.

He is sent to be our Comforter. And we see this in when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled was shaken and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. That was a powerful witness to them that they were in Christ. That They were participating in the fellowship with God the Father and Christ the Son of God. This was a visible sign, a confirmation to them that their prayers were being heard, that they were in Christ, that they were His children, that they were accepted in the Beloved.

And you can imagine the courage and the boldness that that confirmation would give to them as they are filled again with the Holy Spirit. Now, they were just filled a little earlier the day before that morning when they spoke at the court. Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was given the boldness to say to the very people that were prosecuting them that it killed Christ, you killed Christ, the Lord of glory. And so being filled with the Holy Spirit, they spoke the Word of God with boldness. So what do we learn here in summary?

Well, one, they took this threat very seriously. They didn't dismiss it as nothing to worry about. But on the other hand, they weren't afraid either. We don't need to be afraid of these threats of God's enemies, but neither do we ignore them or treat them with disdain. To be afraid is to doubt God's promises, but to treat them with disdain or to ignore them pretending they are powerless is presumptive arrogance.

See, our power is utterly insufficient to thwart such threats. And so they take these threats very seriously. And they come back to the church and they report everything that is being said, and then they take them to the Lord in prayer. They pray about them. It's worthy of gathering the church together and having a prayer meeting over.

The things that we're going through in our life, sometimes we might think, well, I can handle that. But we should think, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I need the prayers of God's people to handle this. They took these threats seriously. They took this battle seriously.

They didn't presume in their own strength to be able to handle it. But on the other hand, they were not afraid or fearful. Secondly, we see that they pray the Scriptures. The bulk of their prayer is the Scriptures. They plead God's promises.

They bring their arguments to the throne of grace. Arguments that are based on Scripture. Arguments that are based on the promises of God, and the attributes of God, on His sovereignty, on His being the Creator as being the Despotace. They argue from the Scriptures. And thirdly, they take consolation in the fellowship of Christ's suffering.

They take consolation. We see them later on in the next chapter where they are actually rejoicing to be counter-worthy to suffer in His name. The design of the Gospel is that Christ might be ours and that we may be engrafted into His body and participate in the fellowship of His suffering and in His consolation. May the Lord give us this grace, The communion of the saints and the communion with the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Almighty Heavenly Father, we thank You for this precious communion that we have with one another because we have this communion with You.

With You as our Father, as the Lord, the Sovereign. With Your Son, Jesus Christ, our elder brother, the federal head in your covenant of grace, and with your Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son and who comes alongside of us, who is the guarantor of our inheritance. We ask, Lord, that we may know more fully this communion with You and this communion with one another in Christ Jesus. Amen.