BOLDNESS

ACTS CHAPTER 4

Sermon of the Week #200703 – January 21, 2007

Peter and John went up to the Temple at the hour of prayer, and saw a certain man lame from his mother’s womb who was carried daily to the door of the Temple, which is called Beautiful, to ask alms of them that entered into the Temple. The lame man saw Peter and John about to go into the Temple and asked to receive alms. Peter said, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk. Peter raised him up; and straightway his feet and anklebones received strength. The man leaped up and walked, and went into the Temple with Peter and John, walking and leaping, and praising God.” This man’s action brought on the preaching of the gospel again, and many that heard the Word believed, and the number came to be about five thousand.

The priests, captain of the Temple, and Sadducees, being troubled by the message about Jesus and the resurrection, arrested Peter and John and put them in jail. To preach Jesus and the resurrection says more then the fact that Jesus was raised from the dead; it includes all that the Lord’s resurrection means to us.

For us now, the resurrection means as Paul said in Philippians the third chapter, “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, if by any means I shall attain unto the resurrection from the dead.”

Then again in Titus the second chapter, Paul reveals that the resurrection of Jesus means: we can look for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.

And beyond all this, the resurrection of Jesus leads us to the anticipation of Revelation twenty-two, “And they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and they have no need of light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.” This is what the resurrection of Jesus means to the Christian; and this glorious truth troubled the priests and elders of the people.

However, Peter and John are not the only preachers who are in jail. Many a preacher is in the pulpit prison. One such preacher wrote one time, and told me that he likes the message I preach, but he had to preach the gospel within the framework of his denomination. His message was clear; his conscience was not bound by the Word of God, but by the directives of his denomination. But there are many preachers that serve autonomous congregations, who are not free either. Prisoners of the pulpit serving a life sentence in the framework of what people want to hear.

So Peter and John were put in jail for the crime of preaching Jesus and the resurrection. There isn’t anything the Devil hates more than the preaching of Jesus and the resurrection, and Paul explains why in First Corinthians fifteen when he said, “If Christ is not raised our preaching is vain, your faith is vain, ye are yet in your sins, they that have fallen asleep in Christ have perished, and we of all men are most pitiable.”

The Devil murdered the human race when Adam and Eve disobeyed the Lord in the Garden of Eden. Jesus spoke of this event in John chapter eight when He said the Devil was a murderer from the beginning, and standeth not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

Every person since that day, who rejects the fact that Jesus arose from the dead, believes so because he is inspired by the same Devil that deceived Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Now consider this. The court that convened was a kangaroo court. Annas, the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, as well as two other noted rabbis, and some of their kinsmen. They put Peter and John in the midst. The officers of the court sat in a circle with the two fishermen in the center.

This reminds us of the Psalms of David in chapter twenty-two where it is said in regards to the crucifixion of Jesus, “For dogs have compassed me: and the assembly of the wicked enclosed me.” Then again in Psalms one hundred eighteen, “They compassed me about like bees.” So in this case with Peter and John, they circled around them like a pack of hungry dogs and a swarm of bees.

The last time Peter faced such a situation before this court was at the trial of Jesus when a serving maid pointed him out as a disciple of Jesus, and he cursed and swore he did not even know Jesus. Remember too, the first time he was recognized by his speech. Peter had what some think was an obnoxious Galilean accent. So there they are, and to use the terms of David, “encircled by ravenous dogs and a swarm of bees”.  How will they react to the charges that are made now? The charges being, “By what name and in what power have ye done this?”

Peter was polite, respectful and bold; he said, “Ye rulers of the people and elders, if we this day are examined concerning a good deed done to an impotent man, by what means this man has been made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised up from the dead, even in Him doth this man stand before you whole. He is the stone that was set at naught by you builders which is made the head of the corner. And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven that is given among men whereby ye must be saved.”

When the council heard the boldness of Peter and John and perceived they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled and took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.

Peter had politely told the council they were the ones who crucified Jesus. Not only did he say they had crucified Jesus, but he pressed upon them that they were the ones that did it, and furthermore God raised Him from the dead. But beyond that He told them Jesus was the only way of salvation.

People have not changed. They are not ready to hear that Jesus is the only way in this “please everybody” world to be saved. While they may agree that Jesus saves, they insist there are other religions that save also.

According to Peter there is no other way. In fact Peter agreed with the Lord Jesus. Jesus said in John fourteen, verse six, “No one cometh unto the Father but by Me.” Some might say there are other great religious leaders, and Jesus is the best of the lot. That is not good enough. There is no second best, or third best. Jesus is not the best way of several ways to go to Heaven. According to Peter and his Lord, Jesus is the only way.

Peter reminded the council that they were being charged for a good deed done to an impotent man. It appears that the council thought that doing a good deed to an impotent man was a crime against society. Is there any difference in the world now? It seems that being a Christian in the eyes of many is a crime. The name of the Prince of Peace must not be used in public prayer; it is offensive. Of course they are right. It is offensive to the Devil, and to all those whom the Devil has inspired.

This should come as no surprise to the Christian because Jesus prayed in John seventeen in the longest recorded prayer in the New Testament, “I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them because they are not of the world even as I am not of the world. I pray not that Thou take them out of the world, but that Thou should keep them from the evil one.”

So the hatred of the world for Christ and the Bible is to be expected. In fact it may be worse than that, because Jesus said in John sixteen, before He prayed that prayer, “The hour cometh, that whoever killeth you shall think that he doeth service unto God.” Incidentally, the radicals who brought Nine Eleven upon us thought they were doing their god a favor.

Now we need to note in Peter’s defense he used a scriptural quotation from Jesus when he referred to the stone set at naught by the builders. That is a reference that Jesus made to some of these same leaders in Mathew twenty-one, verse forty-two as He spoke of Himself as the stone that was rejected.

They no doubt remembered that Jesus said a little more than that when he added, “He that falls on this stone will be broken in pieces and on whosoever it falls, it will scatter him as dust.” The chief priests no doubt remembered those words because when Jesus said it, they sought to lay hold on Him. No wonder they marveled at the boldness of Peter and John!

They would have marveled even more if they had known what John would record in Revelation six when he spoke of those who will call for the rocks of the mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him who sitteth on the throne. They will get their wish. The rock will fall on them, and the rock will be the Rock of Ages.

The council in this case brushed aside the boldness of the message with the charge that they were unlearned and ignorant men. Today the same charge is made regarding the person who believes the Biblical story of creation, the miracles, and resurrection. With all our scientific achievements, surely no one would believe those things anymore.

It seems, in the eyes of the world, that a person who believes the Bible story of creation, the resurrection from the dead, the judgment, and Heaven or Hell is plain stupid. On the other hand when a scholar such as Paul preached before King Agrippa the same message, governor Festus cried out, “Paul thou art mad thy much learning is turning thee mad.” It seems the world has the answer to faith; you either have to be stupid or crazy to believe the Bible.

That is what the world said exactly two thousand years ago, and times have not changed. So actually, unbelief is the most old-fashioned thing there is. Skepticism is as old as the Garden of Eden. Skepticism is as old as the Devil.

It is not difficult to find one hundred scientific people that believe the Bible, or who don’t believe it. Then again it is not difficult to find one hundred grade-school dropouts who believe, or don’t believe the Bible. The big difference between the two is not in their learning or lack of it; the difference is in the lack of faith of either side.

Paul gives us the reason for unbelief when he says in Second Corinthians four, “The god of this world has blinded the eyes of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn on them.” In other words, to use modern-day words, the skeptic has been blind sighted. Our prayer for them should be, “O Lord, let the glory of the resurrection of Jesus dawn on them.”

In view of these things it is easy to see why they perceived Peter and John had been with Jesus. That was a compliment that needs to be coveted. While we do not have the physical presence of Jesus it can still be said so others may see that we have been with Jesus.

When we were baptized into Christ it is evident that we have been with Jesus. The scripture says more than once that we were buried with Him in baptism. Others can see that we have been with Jesus as we observe the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week and remember His death on the cross. And the world certainly knows we have been with Jesus when we shout His name in public prayer. And hopefully they can see that we have been with Jesus in our manner of life. Remember too, that Jesus said, “I will be with you always even unto the end of the world.”

There is one thing about this court that tried Peter and John that we have in common with them. When the council heard the message of Peter and John, they had to make a decision as to what to do about it. The court did recognize that. They talked it over among themselves and said, “What shall we do to these men? A miracle has been wrought through them, and everybody knows it, and we cannot deny it.” They had to make a decision, and the decision was to threaten the Apostles not to say anymore about it.

Everyone who hears the story of Jesus today has a decision to make. It is the same decision the court had to make, and in the words of Pilate, the decision is, “What shall I do with Jesus who is called Christ?”

There is in this event a suggestive comment at the conclusion of this meeting that may be of help to many. The first thing is the man that was healed was standing with them, and they could not deny it. In fact, Peter pointed out that obvious fact in his defense when he said the man had been healed by the power of Jesus of Nazareth, whom they crucified, which God raised from the dead; even in Him doth this man stand before you whole.

This lame man that was healed stood by the Apostles as a testimony of the truth of the message that was preached. The preacher today has a hard time of it when the congregation will not stand with him in the preaching of the Word. The end result is the preacher will tell them what they want to hear, because it is hard to stand-alone.

There may be no greater service that a congregation can give to the Devil, than to rebuke the preacher for telling them the truth. And there is no greater help the preacher can give the Devil than to cave in to their perverted desires.

And the second thing about this man standing with the Apostles was the fact that the obvious truth the man that was healed was more than forty years old. Apparently if he had been under forty it would have been an easy miracle; but over forty was unbelievable without classifying it as a miracle. When I was a young man I heard a lady proclaim on her fortieth birthday, “I am forty years old today, and life begins at forty!” I thought to myself at the time, “What do you mean life begins at forty, you are practically dead already.”

There is a suggestion there for us today. It is the experience of many of us today who preach the gospel that most of the decisions that are made to become a Christian are made while young. It seems the longer you wait, the more difficult it is to experience the miracle of salvation. The longer a person waits the more hardened the conscience becomes, and the accumulation of more sin adds more guilt to their damnation.

The longer the unredeemed sinner waits, the more the Devil whispers into his ear the lie he told Eve in the Garden of Eden, “Thou shalt not surely die.”

So the council had to make a decision, and the decision was, “Let us threaten them that they speak henceforth to no man in this name. And they called them, and charged them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”

The Apostles did not leave with any misunderstanding, they said, “Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you rather than unto God, judge ye, for we cannot but speak the things which we heard and saw.”

It does not appear that Peter asked John what he thought we ought to do, or that John asked Peter what they could say that would please both Jesus and the court. There was no question about it. They knew they were accountable to God, and no one else.

According to Matthew Jesus had told them, “All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: teaching them all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo I am with you always even unto the end of the world.” So it is written, so let it be done.