Rev Jim Lyons_'The Church on Trial'_19th Apr 26

As we continue in our series in Acts of the Apostles, our Bible reading can be  found in Acts chapter 4 verses 1-22. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

As we continue our studies in the book of Acts, we're now into chapter four, and we are considering the first twenty-two verses. So Acts chapter four. And we'll commence to read at verse one. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people, and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. And it came to pass on the next day that the rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the High Priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. And when they had set them in the midst they asked, By what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation in any other. For there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marvelled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus, and seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For indeed that a no notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they may speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorify God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old, on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. Amen. We look to the Lord for his blessing, not only as we read it, but as we think about it as well. As we venture into chapter four, just after the healing of the lame man, and then Peter's preaching after that, we break into this section which began at chapter three and runs through to chapter four, verse thirty-one. And here we see the church on trial. This has arisen out of that miracle of healing, and especially the preaching of Peter upon the resurrection of Christ. Here are the seeds of persecution, and of course, there's plenty more to follow in that train, which proves the world does not always like the message the church presents about the Lord Jesus. It was true in the first century, it has been true down through the years of church history, and it's even true today. But this opposition that came didn't come without warning. Jesus prepared his followers well, and the Lord Jesus said that as he would suffer, so would they, and because they are not of this world, then the world would hate them. The synagogues that were so much part of their lives as Jews would not now be a comfortable safe space for them, as they would become ostracized, and some would kill them in the name of service to God. How could they ever forget the words of Jesus in Matthew ten? Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves, but beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. So as we consider these verses we've read together, we divide them into the following three parts the response made, the interrogation faced, and the decision taken. So first of all, with the response made in the first four verses. In this section, it is the response to Peter's sermon, chapter 3, verse 11, 12 through to 26. And the first part of this comes here in verses 1 to 3, and it reveals a response of agitation and of hostility. In verses 1 to 2, we find the source and reason for it as we read them again. Now, as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed, that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Now the focus is always upon Peter and his sermon. But the little details are important, because it says, Now as they spoke to the people. So we draw from that that Peter's not preaching alone, but John's involved in this proclamation as well. These groups were agitated because they preached about the resurrection. This would have been would have especially ticked off the Sadducees because they didn't believe in the resurrection and they didn't believe in miracles. And if someone has rightly quipped, that's why they were sad, you see. This was heading one way, and this comes in verse three. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. Years ago, such a thing would have been unheard of in our Christian circles, yet probably in at least the past two decades, this kind of thing has been on the increase. It is a regular occurrence to hear of preachers, or if you're a Facebook scroller, you will see here and there videos of preachers being arrested just for preaching the gospel in the open air. And of course, we've a pending case coming in Korean and Wednesday. Recapping from chapter one, the Holy Spirit has enabled these believers to be effective witnesses in Jerusalem. And you notice at the end of chapter two, we highlighted that 3,000 were saved and baptized. It didn't finish with that, but every day it says as the chapter concluded, people were being added to the church. So we see great blessing with signs and wonders being done to accompany the preaching of the gospel. Then we have this hostility, which leans us into the repeated principle that when God is blessing, the enemy is near and very active, ready to rise and oppose. Any sign of moving forward in gospel work, in kingdom work, will be met with satanic opposition, plans to halt the progress. When Nehemiah, we looked at that recently in studies, when Nehemiah took a real interest in Jerusalem and its broken down walls, he sought to get involved. So with the king of Persia's permission, he set out to return to Jerusalem. After he surveyed the damage and spoke to the people, they resolved to rise and build by setting their hands to the work. As soon as they did this, Satan's cohorts, Sanbal, Tobiah, and Geshem, laughed and despised them. Then when they actually engaged in the rebuilding program and got to work, the enemy furiously mocked them and sought to discourage them. So when God blesses and pushes his work forward, Satan seeks to push back through discouragement and outright hostility to halt the progress. In the case of Nehemiah, and also in the setting here in the early church, although there were setbacks, there were discouragements, there were many problems, yet the work progressed. And from that, we need to seriously take the challenge of commitment to the work of God. And also we need to be encouraged that the work is not ours, but it's his. Satan may seek to draw the progress down to a crawling piece, but he will never, never, never defeat the purposes and strategies and plans of the Lord Jesus. So here we have the first part of the response. It's a negative response. It's a negative response, can't get another word. Yet it's not the only response. It is through positives we're told and negatives that a battery works. So although many reject it and many resisted the word that they heard, others received it gladly there in verse 4. However, yeah, all that's happening, all that's present. However, despite that, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. It's just like Luke throws this we bid in to encourage the readers of his book. Although these evil men are stirred to oppose, yet they cannot stop the impact of God's word as it is set forth in people's lives. We are aware of the hostility to God's work on the high street today among this generation, which may have a means of discouraging us, it may have a ministry of intimidating us, but let us never forget that God is at work causing his word to bear fruit. Very often, predominantly, where God's work is being blessed the most are in contrast, where there is great gospel restriction and severe work and severe persecution, they just seem to be the order of the day. But God's work still goes on. Though opposed, it still marches on because God's word is indestructible. Peter says later on in his epistle, it lives and it abides forever. Although the following familiar story has been disputed, disputed as fabricated by Christians to boast of their argument that the Bible is inspired. Nevertheless, this story has been verified by people who are scholarly. It concerns, of course, Walter the French philosopher. It says that among his many writings against Christianity and the Bible, he predicted in 1776, he said, 100 years from my day, there will not be a Bible on the earth, except one that is looked upon by an antiquarian curiosity seeker. As the story alleges, within fifty years after his death, in an ironic twist of providence, the very house in which he once lived and wrote was used by the Evangelical Society of Geneva as a storehouse for Bibles and Gospel tracts. The printing press, as it said, that he used to print his irreverent work, was now being used to print Bibles. So there is this two-sided thing in God's work. There is the difficulties, there are the challenges, there are the setbacks in gospel work, and the other side of it is that God is still working despite all of those negative points. And you might have in your Christian life individually, you might notice that. It wasn't a problem before I became a Christian because I was just going with the tide. You know, I was just going with the flow of Satan's plans for my life. But when I became a Christian, I think for the first time I realized, oh, there is a devil. That this stuff's real. That there is opposition to me becoming a Christian and seeking to grow as a believer. So there is a battle then in reading the Bible. There is a battle end that's fought in prayer. And maybe as a Christian, you're aware of that and you feel that, and that's what's going on. But yet we must realize that greater is he who's in me than he who's in the world. And so there is this opposition in our individual lives, and it's there in gospel work and in gospel churches. It's there. There's an opposition, there's a halting and a drawing back, even from commitment and seeking to get the work to go forward. And Satan can just be behind all of that, making people careless and indifferent. And the old word's laxadisical, isn't it? It's so easy for that to happen in my Christian life. Pull up the armchair, I'm at a certain age, pull up the armchair. That's not in the Bible. God will retire us when He wants to retire us, and He'll take us to heaven. So that's the first part here. What was the first point? Well, it was something anyhow. It was the response made. Got it. Secondly, the interrogation faced, verse 5, and I am including verse 13 in this. In verse 5, the ruling council or Sanhedrin met to investigate the matter of the healing of the lame man. This is, of course, the same group that would have condemned Jesus to death. So they have this in built bias against Jesus, so we couldn't really expect any fairness toward his followers. As you read verse 5, you can see that the priesthood was kept in the family to strengthen their power base, which would seem to be all the time corrupt. This ruling body had the right to investigate every teacher who came onto the scene, as that was their responsibility to protect the Jewish faith. But that didn't give them the remit or the right to arrest two innocent men who really had done nothing wrong but preach the truth. We can appreciate how intimidating this situation must have been for these two fishermen, as they are now before doctors of the law, theologians, and religious teachers, and of course the dodgy priesthood. It's almost humorous said, in the light of that in chapter 6, when you read that a great number of priests turned to the Lord. Despite all that they're doing, God's still working. Now this interrogation commences in verse 7. And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power or by what name have you done this? I like the way the Amplified Bible puts it. It says, When they had put the men in front of them, they repeatedly asked, By what sort of power, or in what name, that is, by what kind of authority, did you do this healing? They were talking down to them, in a sense, by asking, How can two fishermen like you bring about such a miracle? By speaking in such a manner they were showing the contempt that they really held toward the Lord Jesus and now his followers. They thought they were putting Peter and John on trial, but the smirk would be wiped off their faces. As all they really have done and were doing was to provide them with a platform from which to preach Christ to them. Then in verse 8 we have the fulfillment of Christ's words from Matthew 10, 19 to 20. That when they're brought, it said in Matthew before the councils, they were not to worry about what they would speak, for the Holy Spirit would give them the words to speak. Therefore we read in verse 8, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them. So as the need arose, so the Holy Spirit came and empowered Peter to do what God had set before him. This points out to our lives as believers today that we are to be in complete and utter dependence upon the enabling of the Holy Spirit in the very challenges he sets before us in our Christian lives. Now Peter is ready to give an answer to their question, by what power and in whose name you have performed this miracle upon the lame man? And he does that here in verses 8 to 10. Rulers of the people and elders of Israel. If we this day are judged by the for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you hold. So here we have the cowardly, unbelieving, fearful Peter, proclaiming now the resurrection of Jesus, which was quite a bold thing to do. Given this is the reason why they're arrested in the first place. Who in the right mind would do such a thing? If you want a proof of the resurrection, here it is. Who in the right mind would do such a thing if Jesus wasn't raised? And what else could have brought about the change in Peter's life? And the unbelieving disciples' lives. Peter points to the Lord Jesus as a source of his miracle. He gives him the glory, and alongside this, he doesn't mess and hit the wall. But he says, You're the guilty ones here. You think I'm in trial? You're in trial. You have put to death the Lord Jesus. And maybe we should put point out that although Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, and I know it's evident, he was given great boldness, but he wasn't arrogant. And he wasn't rude. And he was most certainly not disrespectful. He recognized the office that these men held, but he plainly told them the truth. I know that people like me who stand on platforms and preach would always wear this Christian etiquette and like the Lord Jesus be full of grace and truth. I absolutely shudder and I cringe when I hear people being disrespectful, rude, and totally arrogant. We are not called to be like that. We are called to preach the truth, but we're to preach it in love. So later I'm bro, I'm not. He recognized these men's office and told them. The truth. Peter then proceeds to tell them what they've really done in verse 11, which is really a quotation from Psalm 118, verse 22. And there it says, this is a stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. In ancient building practices, the cornerstone was the principal stone. It was placed at the corner of the edifice. It was usually one of the largest and the most solid. It was also the most carefully constructed of any in that structure. It is so important in the building since all the other stones will be set in reference to it, thus determining the position of the entire building. So Peter bringing this to their attention, he's laying down the implication here that these leaders, being the spiritual builders of the nation, have left out and they've set out aside the most important stone, which is Jesus. The outcome of this was that in their lives and in the nation, their spiritual building is off square, and it was going to topple around them. The Lord Jesus came to them, but they rejected him. Yet God raised him from the dead and gave him to be the foundation and head of the church, his spiritual building, which wouldn't be exclusively Jewish. Make sure today that the spiritual building in your life is not lopsided, but build your life upon the Lord Jesus Christ, because as Jesus said, it's the wise man who built his house upon the rock. What then is your spiritual building being constructed of? Doing your best, being as kind as you can be, church attendance regularly or spasmodically. This is all like a building of a house of sand. And think about and I couldn't have thinking about the story of the three pigs. You know, we were taught as children and the big bad wolf. And for protection from the big bad wolf, the first pig built a house of straw. Don't know where you get the idea for that. The second built a house of sticks, and the third of bricks. The wolf came and he blew down the house of straw and the house of sticks. Yet they found a safe refuge in the house of bricks. So building your house with spiritual house without Jesus is like building a straw house or a stick house. And when judgment comes, it will crumble to pieces. But we need to build our spiritual house upon a solid foundation. That is Christ a solid rock. And Paul said in 1 Corinthians 3, didn't he? Upon no other foundation can man lay than that which has already been laid, Jesus Christ. So then in your life today, that's what you need to build your life upon. That's what you need to build your spiritual security upon. Upon Jesus Christ and Him alone. Then in verse 12, Peter goes on to make the point that not only is Jesus the source of this miracle, but he's the only way to God. He's aware of their great law observance, sacrifices, and dependence upon works. So he says it counts for nothing, because without Jesus in your spiritual building, it's all going to crumble in the judgment. So he says the famous verse, nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. You see, the apostles didn't believe in universal salvation. That somehow at the end of the day, it's all going to be okay. He's the only way to God. And you know you hear people saying, you know, if so-and-so has passed away and they were great guitarists, they're up there in heaven playing a great tune with God in heaven. No, they're not. If they haven't come by Jesus, they're not there. Unless we come by Jesus, we're not going to be there. Jesus said that himself in John 14, 6, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. And that's why the apostles preached this message. Because Jesus preached it. It's the truth. We cannot make our own way to God based upon self-effort or even based upon great ideas, as to believe in such and to live in such a manner is an absolute insult to God's provision of salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. Before leaving this section, I wanted to include verse 13, because it is part of the interrogation. And it's the impact of the interrogators. That's the impact that's been made upon them. So verse 13 says, Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled, and they realized that they had been with Jesus. Now, uneducated doesn't infer that they were less intelligent. Because we know under the inspirations of the scriptures that the Holy Spirit, they they wrote New Testament letters, and of course John wrote the Revelation. What it means is they were not educated in the schools of the rabbis. Yet they could still handle themselves in public speaking and very well. The only reason these interrogators can give for the boldness and the power and the ability is that they have been with the Lord Jesus. Because they've already interrogated Jesus, they've already condemned Jesus, so they can see some resemblance between Jesus, these followers. And it all it makes all the difference in the world, doesn't it? Between being full of knowledge and even having all the correct answers to being with Jesus, because that's what leaves the mark upon a person's life. That's what makes the difference. But these men have been in God's school. They were called by Jesus, they spent time with him. He sent them forth to preach. But what shaped them, what made them into the men that they were, was the time spent with Jesus. That's what makes the difference. When we went to Bible college, it was called the Faith Mission Bible College and Training Home. Because it wasn't just about learning, it was about developing the individual and preparing them as individuals for the ministry God wanted them to do. There was an emphasis upon learning, probably not at university level, but nevertheless, but there was a greater focus upon getting to know God. So our principal, Dr. Peckham, frequently spoke of the importance of being handled by God. Learning is important. And in many quarters, it's essential in 2026. But we have to be careful to maintain a good balance. Some years ago, I've told the story before, I read about a firm of solicitors. There were two partners in the solicitor's business. One was called Mr. Head, and the other was called Mr. Hart. Hart as an H A R T. The business was prosperous, but after some time, Mr. Hart had taken on well. And after further tests, it was revealed that he wasn't going to live very long. So one day his partner, Mr. Head, received the sad news that his colleague, Mr. Hart, had died. And as it went on to say, Mr. Head was now working alone. Do you know that can happen in your Christian life, and that can happen in my Christian life? That can happen in ministry. That it's all head and no passion. Both those sayings have got to work together. So that's the response that was made, the interrogation faced, and briefly as we finish, the decision taken in verse 14 to 22. The Sanhedrin have witnessed the boldness and the power of these apostles. They also have the man who was hailed standing before them. And verse 14 says, They are lost for words. Then in verse 15 to 16, they send Peter and John out of the council meeting to give them space to confer. They're in a quandary, because they know we've got to do something with these men. We just can't let this thing carry on. But they can't deny the evidence before them. So in verse 17 they came to the decision to command these two men not to preach or to teach in the name of Jesus, and to try and stop this great work spreading. This is what they told them in verse 18. Yet they may as well have told the monkey to stop claiming trees and eating bananas, which is evident from the response that these men made in verse 19 to 20. But Peter and John answered and said to them, Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. Their main concern, Peter and John's main concern, was not about what's acceptable, it was not about what is popular, but what was the right thing to do. The outcome was the release and the release without charge. Peter taught in his epistle that we are to obey the authorities. But when it's evident from practice that when those authorities conflict with God's word and God's will, we ought to obey the latter, which is what they were doing. The decision has been taken. So in verse 21, they sent them away. And although things seem rather bleak in the light of their arrest, their imprisonment and trial, and although it may have been a setback in the eyes of some, it may have been a little discouraging for this early church. Yet despite all that, God was with them. And it is amazing what can be done when God sets an individual or God sets a group of people in a certain situation, they trust him fully for the courage and the power to do the right thing. When David shared in Psalm 18, in the context of difficulties from various enemies, one of those being Saul, he said there were those who hated me. He said they were too strong for me. They confronted me, he said, in my calamity, in the day of my calamity. But then he says, But the Lord was my support. So the decision was taken by this ruling body. Peter and John just kept on going. They just went and did the next thing. And they went back to the church. And they reported, of course, everything that had happened. And then they prayed together. So they didn't view it as a setback. They went back to the church, gave the report, and prayed. And there's something about that, isn't it? Missionaries go out, they come back to the church and they report to the church. That's the way it should be. And they pray together. And of course, they're praying for not that the authorities would come and sort those boys out there. Not going for a protest march, nothing like that. They're just praying and they're seeking God for courage and power. And they go out and preach again, and God blesses them again. It's absolutely amazing. So the decision was taken by the ruling body, but Peter and John just kept on going. And they did the next thing. And that's what we need to do. We just keep on going and we do the next thing. Whatever God has for us as a people. So the church is in trial. It seemed that the Sanhedrin were in trial. But God helped Peter and John. And God will help us in our various challenges in life. We may not be before a group like that. We may feel like we could never do that. I certainly would don't feel like ever do that. But you know, God sets us into situations that are bigger than us. Far bigger than us. And our tendency is to run from them. Our tendency is to think about our own ability, to think about our capabilities in that situation. And God says, No, I put you in there so that you will see your total inability, that you will then trust in me and depend upon me with all your heart to give you what you need to do the right thing in that situation. And we have to trust Him.