Acts 05_17-42 Who Can't Handle the Truth

Read Acts 5:17-42 – A guy who had avoided the scale for a few years finally got the nerve to step on, but couldn’t read the numbers. He got off, grabbed his glasses, got back on and said to his wife, “What do you know? These glasses weight 50 pounds.” That’s a man living in denial – something many people do with the eternal spiritual truths of the Word of God.

The Bible says, “There is a way that seems right to a man (reasonable, sure, truthful), but its end is the way of death” (Prov 14:12). What seems so right can be fatally wrong. Here we see how 4 groups of people view God’s truth. All think they have it right. They serve as a warning to all of us.

The Council: Attacking the Truth (17-28)

A. Emotionally Driven – Out of the blue, the apostles are arrested and put into prison. Why? For preaching? For the miracles? For speaking of Jesus? Yes, peripherally. But mainly the opposition 17c) “were filled with jealousy.” They were used to being top dog – to getting the chief seats – to being deferred to and called Rabbi. They were used to being at the top of the totem pole; they liked it there, so they were filled with jealousy. The Green-eyed monster had them by the throat, so they sprang into action – legal or not.

They typify people who attack God’s truth out of an emotional rejection, not intellectual. It’s not that God’s Word is demonstrably wrong; it’s not that people can’t believe; it’s that they don’t want to believe. They are in denial.

Richard Dawkins, one of the new atheists who claim they reject God for intellectual reasons, was asked in a debate what proof would change his mind. He replied “even if a 900-foot high Jesus strode in and said, ‘I exist. Here I am,’ I would not change my mind.” Rejection of truth is not an issue of the mind; it’s an issue of the heart; and it makes intelligent people turn dumb.

God knew this. Psa 14:1: “The fool says in his heart, ‘There is no God.’ What drives this intellectual suicide? They want to call their own shots. Answering to no one. But in so doing, they violate what deep down they know to be true. Rom 1:19: “For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.” But – “by their unrighteousness [they] suppress the truth.” Truth attackers, therefore, live lives of denial – because they choose to.

B. Divinely Enabled – God enables attacks on truth? How can that be? Well, in the same way all actions are divinely enabled. Those who oppose the truth willfully ignore that every move they make is only possible because God allows it. At one point in His trial, Pilate asked Jesus, Jn 19:9b, “Where are you from?” Jesus didn’t answer which ticked Pilate off. Jn 19:10: “So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11) [now watch] Jesus answered him, “You would have NO authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.” Even the power to reject comes from God.

Look how this truth plays out with the apostles. They’re thrown in jail. Okay! 19) But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out.” Catch the humor. The Sadducees didn’t believe in angels. So, God sends angels to undo the arrest! It’s Psalm 2 all over. In Psa 2 David tells how “the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord” (2:2). Like these guys! Going against God’s apostles. But what’s God doing? Psa 2:4: “He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.” What fools rejecters are. God gives them just enough authority to hang themselves unless they come to their senses.

So the high priest sends for the apostles. And guess what? The guards are in place and the doors are locked, but inside, it’s empty. They eventually find the apostles preaching like before, and bring them in for questioning. But they never ask the obvious: “Okay – how’d you do it? How did you get out? Never asked. Why? Bc the opposition is living in denial. They don’t ask bc they don’t want to know. This is so beautiful! God is giving them irrefutable evidence that He is in charge, not them – and they refuse to see it. They never ask because they don’t want to know. But they’ll never be able to stand before God and say, “You didn’t show us. You didn’t reveal yourself.” God will answer, “Let me count the ways.” He used humor here to overturn their arrest; He showed them in a much greater way when He when He raised Jesus from the dead, overturning their verdict that He was a blasphemer. But you get the point. Those who oppose God can only do so on His authority.

It’s grace urging them to re-think, to repent. But they refuse. Nancy Pearcey tells of lecturing at Harvard one time showing how the Xn worldview is superior to naturalism at explaining life as we find it. It was a powerful refutation of a natural worldview which can explain how things work, but has no idea how they started. Afterward, one prof came up to her, visibly shaken at the criticism she leveled at those who refuse to look beyond the material world. He said, “We know our theories don’t explain ordinary life outside the lab. But why throw it in our faces?” Why? To give them a chance to reconsider, to re-think, to humble themselves before that God who gives them the rope to hang themselves. To attack truth is a serious business, Beloved.

II. The Apostles: Affirming the Truth (29-32)

This was a re-run for Peter and John. The question they get isn’t a question at all. It’s a diatribe. 28) “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” What do the apostles to do? Affirm the truth they affirmed before. “Yes, we are teaching in Jesus’ name. And yes, you do have His blood on your hands. But there’s good news. There’s hope. God took what you meant for evil and made something wonderful out of it.” 30) “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31) God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”

“Admit it. You killed Him. But God raised Him and put Him at His right hand as Leader and Savior who forgives all who call on him.” “Leader”. In 3:15 He calls Him “author (same word) of life.” The word means pioneer or founder. Peter’s saying Jesus the One who reverses the wages of sin which is death. Jesus is opposite – the author, founder, pioneer of life. Heb 12:2 says, “looking to Jesus, the founder (same word) and perfecter of our faith.”

. The apostles are at a crossroad. One way is the Sanhedrin. All they see there is death, envy and denial of the truth. The other way is Jesus – the author of life, proven by His resurrection. Guess which way they’ll go? 29) “But Peter and the apostles answered, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’” “This captain will lead us to life; you guys will lead us to death. We have to obey God; so could you if you only would. It’s clear His authority trumps yours. At every turn God has undone what you did. We’re with Him.”

Historian Will Durant, no Xn, writes in The Story of Civilization: “There is no greater drama in human record than a few Xns, scorned and oppressed by a succession of emperors, bearing all trials with a fierce tenacity, multiplying quietly, fighting the sword with the word, brutality with hope, and at last defeating the strongest state history has known. Caesar and Christ had met in the arena, and Christ had won.” The emperor Julian, after heroic efforts to wipe out Xnty finally gave up: “Thou has conqueror, O pale Galilean.” The truth of the death, resurrection and redemption of Jesus will always win out in the end. He is the proven Author of life and Savior of all who believe.

III. Gamaliel: Avoiding the Truth (33-39)

The apostles’ comments get quite a reaction. 33) “When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.” Adrian Rogers once said, “The problem with preachers is that no one wants to kill them anymore.” The apostles never had that problem. Their message was clear; the claims of Christ were compelling, and people either believed or wanted to kill them.

But suddenly, a mediator – Gamaliel. Interesting man -- one of Israel’s most influential teachers, grandson of the great Rabbi Hillel. At first, he appears as the voice of reason. He notes that there have been other religious zealots who led active revolts – Theudas and Judas. We know nothing of the first; the second is mentioned by Josephus. Both failed in their plots, making clear they weren’t with God The council can expect similar results of Jesus’ followers if God is not with them. And if, by chance, God is with them – well, you don’t want to be on the wrong side of that! All quite reasonable, so the apostles were released, after being beaten! Gam’s a hero! so

But actually, he’s just avoiding the real issue. First, it is not true that religion which is not of God automatically fails. Islam has been around for centuries. The same could be said for Buddhism, Gnosticism and any other number of isms. It was true of the Roman polytheism of Gamaliel’s day.

Yes, God will prevail in the end. Jesus says in Mt 16:18: “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Against all odds, the church did prevail and lives long after the Romans were gone. But if Gamaliel really believed God will prevail, he should have been advising examination of the claims of the apostles. If truly neutral, he’d have advised, “You better find out how these guys got out of jail. And, you better check out the claims they keep making about Jesus. Did His life really fit OT prophecies? What really powered His miracles? Did He really did rise again? You’re avoiding obvious questions that beg for answers.” He did none of that. Faced with credible claims that had eternal life-and-death consequences, he merely advised, “Wait and see!” That’s not neutrality; that’s a definite decision. As Warren Wiersbe says, “Gamaliel was voting ‘No!’ but he was preaching ‘maybe’.’” He’s urging them to join him in sticking his head in the sand!

A modern fable pixs Satan gathering his demons and announcing a prize for to counter a revival that has broken out. Many perverse suggestions are made. But the winner is Brimstone. He says, “First we’ll ask Mr. Smith if he wants to go to heaven. When he says, ‘Yes,’ we’ll tell him he must accept Christ.” Other imps jumped in: “Whose side are you on?” He said, “I’m not done yet. After we tell him he must accept Christ, we whisper in his ear, ‘But you don’t have to accept him now – just some more convenient time.” How many people have missed Christ bc they were waiting for that convenient time.

God advises fence-sitters. Heb 4:7: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.” There will never be a more convenient time. Gamaliel’s lethargy was the kiss of death for many – perhaps himself included. Truth avoided usually becomes truth rejected. Now is the time.

IV. The Church: Announcing the Truth (40-42)

Now look at the apostle’s amazing response. 40) “and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41) Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.” No doubt they remembered Jesus’ words in Mt 5:11-12: “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12) Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.” They didn’t just rejoice in spite of persecution; they rejoiced on account of it!

Richard Wurmbrand spent years in a Romanian prison for his faith. The torture was excruciating at times. Chunks of flesh ripped out with scars to prove it, in solitary for months at a time. Yet he was often overcome by joy – so much he’d stand up in his weakened condition and dance around his cell, confident the angels were dancing with him. Living the truth he claimed.

But notice this. In v. 18 they are arrested; v. 19 miraculously released. Gotta love that, right? But after being re-arrested, no miraculous release. No deliverance; only beating. So release once, but beating the next time. God is show us this: both are an expression of God’s love. Both part of His sovereign plan. That’s why they rejoice. They saw God in both events –good and bad. They knew the truth of Rom 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” I like the KJV – how unsearchable His ways. Don’t even try to search them out – just rejoice that He is winning, however good or bad it looks at the moment. And so are those who embrace His truth.

These men were no sooner released than they were back on the streets. 42b) “They did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” Once the truth has a hold on you, you’ll keep announcing it. They were unstoppable bc they knew God is unstoppable. What a way to live, right?

Conc – So, let me ask – do you affirm the truth of Jesus today, or are you on the attack, or avoiding it – indifferent to this life-changing message. Do you know God sent His own Son to pay the price for your sin so that you could have eternal life? Do you affirm that this morning? Will you? Or are you still blind to the truth of God in Christ. Someone once asked Helen Keller, “Isn’t it terrible to be blind?” She responded, “Better to be blind and see with your heart, than to have two good eyes and see nothing.” Beloved, I beg you this morning, see Jesus for the saving God that He is. Let’s pray.

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