We Cannot But Speak of What We Have Seen and Heard!

Acts 4:19-22 ESV

19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” 21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

Today we conclude our series of messages concerning the Apostles Peter and John’s defiant stand for the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ against the Sanhedrin, the most powerful force, both religiously and politically that was found in Israel at that time.

This narrative has been filled with its ups and downs. It started with the healing of a man born lame, then Peter and John proclaiming that it was the power of Jesus that healed this man, then it described how Peter and John were arrested for their proclamation of the truth, then it speaks of the intimidating threat that the Sanhedrin was, and how they sought to silence Peter and John, and we then read of Peter’s divinely inspired response to the Sanhedrin’s threats, which was then followed with further threats by the Sanhedrin.

It has certainly had its ups and downs, and while we stopped on a “down” last week, today we end this series with an emphatic “up” as we look at Peter and John’s final declaration to the Sanhedrin and the ultimate fallout that came from it all.

Last week, we concluded our message by asking the question: “What are Peter and John going to do now?” and the reason why we asked that question was because the powerful Sanhedrin said to them, “We command you to no longer preach or teach or even speak in the name of Jesus any longer, or else! And you see all of this power that we exude… so you know that we can back our words up if we have to!”

Well, right out of the gate, we find the answer to the question of, “What are Peter and John going to do?” in our reading for today, in verses 19 and 20, where we read:

Acts 4:19-20 ESV

19 But Peter and John answered them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.”

Peter and John had been placed in a really tough spot here. They had been placed in the midst of these powerful men and were being commanded to do what they say, or else!

Now, what they could have done here, and what I’m sure many people would have also done if they were in a position like this is just say, “Ok, that’s fine, we won’t preach or teach in the name of Jesus anymore.” and then just walked out and kept on preaching in the name of Jesus anyway.

But that isn’t what they did. No, they can’t agree and submit to what the Sanhedrin commanded them, and they’re not even going to pretend like they’re submitting to them either.

Instead, they recognized that the Sanhedrin was indeed a powerful body who could do what they were threatening to do to them, but they confessed that an even greater Power than the Sanhedrin has commanded them to do the opposite of what the Sanhedrin was commanding them, and so, they were going to do what He, that greater Power commanded them to do.

I love how the apostles responded here. They basically say, “So, you’re powerful and you command us to not preach the Gospel. But God is infinitely more powerful than you, and He commands us to preach the Gospel, the opposite of what you’re commanding us to do. So, now, you tell me, who should we listen to? To you? Or, to God? Actually, let me put it to you this way, you are religious leaders, you claim to truly worship God, so if God commanded you to do something, what would be the wisest thing to do? Do what He commands? Or do what someone else commands?”

Knowing Who God is, knowing the infinite power that He possesses, and knowing that He is the King of the universe, the God of heaven and earth, knowing that even these men who Peter and John stood before, powerful as they were, possessed their power only because God Himself ordained it to be so, how ridiculous it would be to reason that He should be less revered and honored and glorified and obeyed than these men whom God Himself empowered and placed in these positions in the first place! He is the greater power, therefore, He is obviously the One Who should be obeyed!

This is how Peter and John reasoned, and they reasoned correctly. The Sanhedrin had commanded them one thing, but God had already commanded them to do the opposite of what the Sanhedrin was commanding them to do.

You see, the reality that Peter and John saw here was that the One Whom the Sanhedrin really opposed was God Himself. And what the Sanhedrin was commanding these apostles to do here was to also be opposed to God.

Well, their response was, “We are under God’s authority, and we will always obey Him above you or any other power. That’s what we have been commanded and called to do, and that’s not going to change, so you might as well get used to it!”

What boldness! What confidence in God! They stood before the most powerful men in Israel, and they defiantly told them to their faces that they were not going to obey them in this matter!

That, my friends is a tremendous act of faith! Do you know what that shows? That shows that Peter and John, as a result of being moved by the Holy Spirit, publicly proclaimed absolute, unwavering trust in a God Whom they legitimately believe is in control of this situation.

It shows that they reasoned that if they were killed for their response to the Sanhedrin, then obviously it meant that it was God’s will for them to die there. And it shows that they reasoned that if they were set free in spite of their response to the Sanhedrin, then obviously it was God’s will for them to be set free and released.

They didn’t know what was going to happen, and to them, it didn’t matter what was going to happen, whatever might happen to them they were going to leave in God’s hands. The only thing that mattered to them was obedience to the divine command.

So, there it was, the words were said, the defiant stand was made, and there was no going back now. We asked, what Peter and John were going to do, and we see that what they did is stand firm in the truth, humbly obeying the command of God and humbly accepting and recognizing whatever would come as a result of their obedience as the will of God.

What needs to be answered now is, what is the Sanhedrin going to do about this?

The last two verses of our reading tell us what they do, when it says:

Acts 4:21-22 ESV

21 And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them, because of the people, for all were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man on whom this sign of healing was performed was more than forty years old.

They threatened them further… in other words, they told them, “We’re serious! We will punish you severely if you keep on preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus! So, you better stop it!”

I bet Peter and John looked at each other with a smirk and rolled their eyes and thought to themselves, “Didn’t we just tell them that we’re not going to obey them?! Why are they saying this again?”

And after the Sanhedrin finished with their threats, they set them loose and sent them on their way.

Now, our reading tells us why the Sanhedrin did this; there was no other way that they could punish them right then and there, the only thing they could do was threaten them.

I’m sure that if they had their way, they would have punished Peter and John severely, maybe they would have permanently imprisoned them, maybe they would have cut their tongues out so that they literally could not verbally proclaim the Gospel or talk back to them anymore.

But they couldn’t do any of that, and the reason why they couldn’t do any of that was because God had just wrought a miracle through them.

And it was an extraordinary miracle at that! Like we’ve said before throughout this narrative, this man had been crippled his entire life. Everyone knew him as the crippled man who sat at the gate of the Temple begging for money.

But something else that is revealed here that makes this miracle extraordinary is the fact that this man was over forty years old when the miracle happened.

Now, the reason why that is highlighted in the text is because after an extended period of not using your limbs, they start to shrivel and shrink.

Now, if this man had been crippled and unable to move his limbs his entire life and if he is over 40 years old at this point, then there has been at least 40 years of his limbs, whether it be his arms and legs or just his legs, where they sat idle, doing nothing.

So, his limbs, by this point, had to have been very noticeably shrunken and shriveled. But now they’re just fine! That is indeed an extraordinary miracle! And it was a miracle that God clearly wrought through these apostles, for no human could possibly do this!

Everybody there seen this, everybody there recognized that it was God working through these men, so what is the Sanhedrin going to do? Punish these men because God worked through them? That certainly wouldn’t look very good on them! There wasn’t anything that they could do, so they just let them go.

And so, we see that God was evidently in control of this entire situation. He placed the crippled man at the gate, He caused Peter and John to walk by him, He caused Peter to proclaim the healing power of Jesus, He healed this man so that the man may glorify God for his healing, He even directed the Sanhedrin to arrest the apostles so that He could fill them with His Holy Spirit and cause them to boldly proclaim the truth, and God even moved the people to be in awe and wonder of Him so that the Sanhedrin would release the apostles.

It was all planned by God, it was all orchestrated by God, and it all went exactly the way that God ordained it to go.

And you see, these apostles knew that when they walked into this situation. The command was, “Preach the Gospel!” but the outcome, the fallout, the result of them preaching the Gospel was all up to God. And whatever happened, whether it be that few believe, that many believe, that Peter and John be killed, or that Peter and John be spared, was already determined by God.

Peter and John knew this, they believed this, and because that was the case, they were ok with it. They knew that all that they had to do was obediently preach the Gospel and leave the results to God.

So, as we conclude our series of sermons on this great narrative, I ask you what I asked you last week… what are you going to do? Are you going to be obedient to proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ?

Will our hearers believe? Will they not believe? Will we suffer for proclaiming the Gospel? Or will we suffer no harm for it? These things have already been decided by God, all we need to do is preach the Gospel!...

Beloved, boldly, obediently proclaim the Gospel!

Amen?