Delivering the Truth

Acts 4:1-4 ESV

1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

Today marks the first Sunday in the month of June, which means that today, we will begin to study and work through a new narrative in the Bible, and with this being the month of June, an even numbered month, that means that today we will begin to work through a narrative that is found in the New Testament.

And the narrative that God has led me to present to you, the congregation here at West Decatur Church of God is a narrative that involves persecution, unfavorable situations, divine assistance, courage, but most of all, faith in and dependence on God.

Throughout the month of June, we are going to be looking at the account of the Apostles Peter and John before the Council in Jerusalem found in the fourth chapter of the book of Acts.

So, as we begin to examine this account, the first thing that we will notice is that the account begins by saying, “And as they were speaking to the people…” so, what this tells us is that these apostles had already been speaking to the people who were gathered at the Temple about something, and they were continuing to do so.

But what were they talking to the people about? And what led up to them having the opportunity to speak to such a large crowd of people?

Well, in order to find the answers to those questions, we need to look at what happened in the previous chapter of this book, chapter 3.

In chapter 3, we see Peter and John going to the Temple. And as they were going, they encountered a man who had been lame, unable to walk since the day of his birth. This man was brought to the Temple every day, and every day he would ask alms, or beg for money from those who went into the Temple.

Well, when Peter and John entered the Temple, the lame man asked them for money just like he did everyone else. But when he asked, the apostles told the man to look at them, which he did, expecting to receive some money from them.

But when he looked at them, Peter said: “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” then Peter took the man by his right hand, lifted him up, and at that the man who had been lame and crippled his entire life was now walking, running, leaping, praising God!

Well, this certainly caught the attention of everyone who was gathered there. And when they looked to see what was going on, they recognized that the man who was walking and leaping and praising God was the lame man who sat at the gate every day.

The people were shocked to say the least, and while everyone was in shock, observing what had just happened, Peter and John took advantage of the opportunity and told everyone there that this man was healed by the power of Jesus, the same Jesus they had crucified. And they told the onlookers that if they would trust and believe on the name of the Lord Jesus, they too would be healed, not from physical illness, but from spiritual death. They took this opportunity to preach the Gospel.

Well, when we arrive at our reading for today, we see Peter and John continuing to preach the Gospel to the crowd that was gathered. And while their preaching of biblical truth garnered some positive attention from some eager listeners, it also garnered some negative attention from some who weren’t so eager to hear it.

Let’s go ahead and look at the first verse of our reading, where it speaks of this, as it says:

Acts 4:1 ESV

1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them,

So, it says that two specific groups of people and one specific person approach Peter and John as they preached the Gospel to this crowd.

The first group of people that it presents are the priests. The priests were charged with observing the Law of Moses in the Temple by officiating worship services and carrying out the religious rites that were mandated in the first five books of the Bible: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, or what is also called the Pentateuch.

Because of their position as those who led the worship of God, these priests held a great deal of influence amongst the Jews.

We then see that the captain of the temple was among those who approached these apostles. The captain of the temple was in essence, second in command behind the High Priest as he was head over the temple guards. His presence here was the equivalent of the chief of police showing up with an arrest warrant.

And last but not least, we see the Sadducees among this group. Sadducees were typically aristocratic and held positions of political power. While the Sadducees were in the minority in Israel, they held the majority of political power.

They were also vehemently opposed to the idea of anything supernatural. While they believed that there was a God and though they claimed to follow the first five books of the Bible, they did not believe that there was any kind of afterlife whatsoever: no Heaven, no Hell.

And because this was how they felt, they certainly did not believe that there was a resurrection of the dead. Neither did they believe that supernatural beings such as angels or demons even existed.

But these Sadducees, priests, and the captain of the temple all approach Peter and John as they proclaim the Gospel to the people. And verse 2 of our reading tells us the attitude that these men had concerning what was going on as they approached these apostles, where we read that they were:

Acts 4:2 ESV

2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

They were greatly annoyed when they came upon them, and we see at least three reasons why they were annoyed with them here in this verse.

First of all, they were annoyed simply by the fact that they were teaching people. These were the disciples of the Man Whom these Sadducees and priests had crucified. And now here these disciples are, teaching the doctrines of the Man Whom they had crucified on their own turf, the Temple.

They were also annoyed with the fact that these disciples were teaching in the name of, or, by the power and authority of Jesus.

To these Sadducees and priests that were present, Jesus was a big thorn in their side. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah, and many living in Israel at that time believed that the Messiah would defeat their Roman oppressors and rule as King from Israel.

Now, the Sadducees especially, held the high political positions that they did because they were under the thumb of Rome. The Sadducees recognized that staying on Rome’s good side meant political power and wealth for them.

So, the last thing that they wanted for these disciples of Jesus to proclaim was that Jesus was the Messiah and thus, a king, because they knew if they did that, Rome would become angry in that those in Israel claimed there was a king other than Caesar who rules over them, and if Rome became angry, then the political power and wealth stream of the Sadducees would come to an end.

And a third reason why they were annoyed was because these apostles proclaimed that Jesus raised Himself from the dead.

Now, this would annoy the priests present because if Jesus raised Himself from the dead, then that means that everything that Jesus said while He lived on earth is true. And if everything that He said was true, then that means that these priests were in for an eternity of trouble when they leave this world.

And this would also annoy the Sadducees because as I said a little bit ago, the Sadducees did not believe in any kind of afterlife, and so they certainly did not believe that there was a resurrection of the dead.

Now, because what these apostles were teaching was so opposed to what the priests and Sadducees believed, they knew that they couldn’t let these guys hang around and keep doing what they were doing, hence, they brought the captain of the temple with them so he could arrest them.

We see this in verse 3, where it says:

Acts 4:3 ESV

3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening

Now, these religious and political leaders would have questioned Peter and John before arresting them, but as our reading says here, it was already evening, and night-time trials violated the Jewish law. Now, of course, that didn’t stop them from trying Jesus at night, but they probably thought that making these apostles spend the night in jail would rattle them and make them more willing to cease their proclamation of the Gospel.

The reality is that these men, like many, many, many people both today and of all ages, hate the truth. The Lord Jesus Himself said: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”

This means that man, in his natural state, opposed to God, hates to hear the truth. And because that is the case, when man, in his natural state, hears the truth, although he knows deep down that it is indeed the truth, he will fight against it and seek to stifle it at all costs.

It's as though man, in his natural state, believes that if he doesn’t hear the truth or if he can stop someone from telling the truth, well, then truth won’t be the truth anymore… but that’s not how it works.

Nevertheless, that was the desire of these political and religious leaders. They didn’t want to hear the truth and so they tried to stifle the truth at all costs by throwing Peter and John in jail.

But regardless of the fact that they tried to stifle the truth, the truth still had its effect. We see this in the last verse of our reading, where it says:

Acts 4:4 ESV

4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.

I absolutely love it when you come across something like this in the Scriptures… “They threw the apostles in jail and kept them overnight, but…” the but here is what makes all of the difference. What the but tells us is that these political and religious leaders sought to silence and stifle the truth, but the truth still accomplished what it set out to accomplish.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, when a Christian faithfully proclaims the truth of the Gospel, it indeed has its effect. It always has its effect.

When one hears the Gospel and believes and is saved, it has accomplished its effect and God is glorified in saving that person. But when someone hears the Gospel and does not believe, it still has accomplished its effect and God is still glorified in justifiably condemning that person. In the end, it always has its effect and God is always glorified through it.

And in our reading, we see the proclamation of the Gospel effecting both ends of the spectrum. The political and religious leaders heard and were hardened; thus, it had its effect on them. But it is also written that that day, when the Gospel was proclaimed, many who heard it did believe and they were saved, thus the Gospel also had its effect on them.

Sometimes it may appear easier to live a politically correct life in a world that is becoming increasingly politically correct. And the politically correct thing to do is to not proclaim the truth. The politically correct thing to do is to be quiet and keep our mouths shut when it comes to proclaiming the Gospel and telling others the truth about the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

That seems easy… but beloved, God has not called us to something easy, God has not called us to something politically correct. No, God has called us to proclaim His truth, to proclaim His glory, to openly swear our allegiance to Him, and Him alone.

The proclamation of the truth of the Gospel will always have its effect. The question that all of us here today need to ask ourselves is if we like the Apostles Peter and John are willing to proclaim that same truth.

Peter and John knew that there was a great chance that people, even people in high places were going to be very angry with them for proclaiming the truth, but the wrath of man did not stop them from proclaiming it. No, they looked to what was unseen, they looked to Who was unseen and they reasoned that it was better to please Him, to glorify Him, to serve Him than to fall in line with what man says is acceptable.

May we have this same boldness today!

Amen?