BOLDNESS

ACTS CHAPTER 4

Sermon of the Week #200823 – June 8, 2008

In the third chapter of Acts, Peter and John healed a man; lame from his mother's womb that was carried daily to the temple at the hour of prayer. Peter had said to him, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth; rise up and walk.” Peter took him by the right hand lifted him up; the man leaped up 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 second recorded sermon in the book of Acts, and again many that heard the word believed, and the number came to be about 5,000. And now in the fourth chapter 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.

And now notice the identity of these first century un-believers, Sadducees, and scribes. The Sadducees were the liberals who accepted the first five books of the Old Testament, and rejected the rest, while most of the scribes were Pharisees that believed in the inspired word, including the resurrection of the dead. These two opposing groups united against Jesus and the gospel.   

And that is not all; the Devil and the world have always been united against the gospel of Jesus. At the trial of Jesus in Luke 23 when Pilate heard that Jesus was from Galilee; he sent him to King Herod because Jesus was of Herod’s jurisdiction. Herod examined him and sent him back to Pilate. Then Luke tells us Herod and Pilate who were enemies became friends that day, and the two enemies were united in their opposition to Jesus.

The world and the Devil are still united against the gospel of Jesus. It may be unlawful to use the name of the Lord in public prayer, but it appears that it is socially correct to blaspheme the name of Jesus before the public in film, radio, and television. There definitely is a conspiracy going with the world, and the Devil, against the Lord and his church.             

Now Peter and John are not the only preachers who are in jail. Many a preacher is imprisoned in the pulpit. One such preacher wrote one time, and told me he likes the message I preached, but he had to preach the gospel within the framework of his denomination. His message was clear; his conscience was not bound by the authority of the word of God, but by the directives of his denomination. He was a prisoner of the pulpit, serving a life sentence in the jailhouse of conformity.

 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 1^st Corinthians 15:16-19: “For if the dead are not raised, neither hath Christ been raised: and if Christ hath not been raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also that are fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If we have only hoped in Christ in this life, we are of all men most pitiable.”

Now consider this: The court that convened was a kangaroo court. Annas, the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, as well as two others named John and Alexander of whom we know nothing, plus as many as were of the kindred of the high priest. They put Peter and John in the midst, and the officers of the court sat in a circle, with the two fishermen in the center.

King David gives a description of the crucifixion of Jesus in Psalm, 22:16, “For dogs have compassed me: and the assembly of the wicked enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet.” Now Peter and John are enclosed in the circle and to use the words of David; Peter and John were encircled by ravenous dogs.  Now how will these two rustic fishermen react to the charges that are made by these sophisticated professionals, the charges being: “By what name, and by 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.” 

Peter had politely told the council that encircled them; 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. He not only said it once, he said it twice. In none other is there salvation. That was once, and then he continued, and neither is there any other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved, and that was twice.

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 14:6, “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 He prayed 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 that Jesus used 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 21:42 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. On that day they will get their wish. The rock will fall on them, and the rock will be the Rock of Ages.

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. The council brushed aside the boldness of the message with the charge 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; to be a Christian, you either have to be stupid or crazy to believe the Bible.

The human race has not changed in the last twenty-one centuries. In this day of space travel and computers many are too sophisticated to believe the old fashioned gospel of Jesus. So what else is new? But neither did they believe it in the first century. In fact unbelief in the word of God is as old as the Garden of Eden when the serpent said to Eve, “Yea, hath God said?"

That is what the world said exactly 2,000 years ago, and times have not changed. So actually unbelief is the oldest fashioned thing there is. Skepticism is as old as the Garden of Eden. Skepticism is as old as the Devil.

Now 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.

Actually there is no proof of a heaven where a number no man can number from every tribe, and tongue and nation shall live together for eternity. There is no proof of the resurrection from the dead; there is no proof of a place of eternal torment, in books of science, books of philosophy, or books of law. The only proof the Christian has is the word of God--the Bible. Actually the basic reason for our salvation starts on our belief the Bible to be the inspired word of God. It is written in 1^st Peter 1:25:  “But the word of God endures forever." Jesus said in Matthew 24:35; “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away.”

Paul gives us the reason for unbelief when he says in 2^nd Corinthians 4: "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, they said the same things Jesus said. That was a compliment that needs to be coveted.

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. They talked it over 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 preach in the name of Jesus. Everyone who hears the story of Jesus today has a decision to make. It is the same decision the court had to make:  “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. If this man who was healed had not stood with the apostles in preaching the word, no one would have paid any attention to them. So there were three men, not two, who preached the sermon that day. 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 ye 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 and was a testimony of the truth of the message. Paul says in 1^st Timothy 3:15,  “The church is the pillar and ground of truth.” The church does not make the truth; the pillars hold up the word of God on the ground of truth. The preacher today has a hard time, when the congregation will not stand with him in the preaching of the word, because the church sometimes has two sets of pillars; there are pillars, and there are caterpillars. The pillars help hold up the truth and the caterpillars, just crawl in, and crawl out. 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 my self at the time; “What do you mean life begins at forty, you are practically dead already.”

It is true spiritually 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 the wait, the more hardened the conscience becomes, and the accumulation of more sin adds more guilt to their damnation. The older 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”

Remember Jesus said: “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.