In our Previous Episode...

Most of us remember the Saturday morning cartoon shows or Wonderful World of Disney, some were something of a humorous, kid friendly soap opera

There’s no preaching from v. 12 to the end of the chapter without understanding the context

The Apostles have been preaching in the temple, arrested, imprisoned, released by the angels…and went right back to the preaching

The consternation among the council must have been palpable

Now they were—finally—before the priests and Sadducees…and whoever else was invited to the inquisition.

This drama has been building since the mass of healings and miracles referenced in 4:13 ff

People were coming in droves…now the showdown

We have three major points, many sub-points to this message

BTW, falling down on the job with my normally well thought out alliteration

An Incomplete Question

Seems like the apostles may have jumped in before they had finished—there is no question here

We Told You Not to Do This!

Apparently, they thought they could incite fear in the men—WRONG!

There was a tacit acknowledgement that their teaching was filling the city

Likely weakening their power base…remember, they acted out of Jealousy

You’re Trying to Make Us Guilty

Well, yeah...

They’d been given the opportunity to repent—what Peter had said to the crowd had been applicable to them

Within this, it appears that the priests recognize a power within the name of Jesus

They don’t want preaching done “in His name!”

Acts 3:13 ESV

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release him.

…but they continued in conscious, deliberate disbelief

There’s also a connection with Deut 21:22–23 ““And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.”

A Comprehensive Answer

Almost like Peter cut off the question by responding—they were unable to respond to Peter’s reply…but that’s for next week’s lesson

Reminds me of a speaker asking for questions and someone has to tell a story—often a self-aggrandizing one

Note: God of OUR fathers....He is still addressing the priests, etc., as part and parcel of the same group as they themselves—the Jewish race, God’s chosen people

We Must Obey God....

…rather than man

This is the single-most critical point in this piece of the narrative

The underlying word bears a quick note: used twice in this paragraph; another time in Acts, quoting Paul’s words; once in Paul’s letter to Titus

You Killed Jesus!

Back in Chapter 3, Peter acknowledged the ignorance of the crowd in general

Acts 3 14-17 “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. And his name—by faith in his name—has made this man strong whom you see and know, and the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all. “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.”

He doesn’t seem so kind this time

God Raised Jesus

This was close-on to the resurrection—the miraculous nature of that likely still had their heads spinning

Peter puts the fact out there: this was an act of the God of our Fathers

He’s still liking the work of Christ with the Jewish nation, the Jewish history, not severing what was happening from the well-known history of their people

Showing the next step of God’s plan of redemption to all mankind

God Exalted Jesus

Looking at the place Jesus now holds

Philippians 2:8–9 ESV

And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name,

He sits at the right hand of the Father—the position of power

He is the Leader—by an act of the Father

He is the Savior—by the plan of the Father

The Competent Witnesses

Apostles

Remember, a mark of a true apostle was to have known Jesus

They were the eye-witnesses; unshakeable eye-witnesses

Holy Spirit

We have already seen the linkage between Christ’s exaltation and the Holy Spirit’s coming

Acts 2:33 ESV

Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.

The Spirit all owed them to be competent witnesses

Jesus had told them John 16 13

John 16:13 ESV

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come.

WITFM?

That name

Let’s take note that it is dominantly believer in Christ who are singled out for persecution, oppression

There are others; but the majority of oppressed peoples are those attached to the name of Jesus Christ

Zeroing in on We Must Obey God rather than Man

Herein the single-most important point in this portion of the narrative

Present active—expresses necessity…also the continuation of action

As the Apostles didn’t just make their stand a one-and-done event

So must our obedience be…a continuing pattern of action

Begs the question, what demands does man—not God—place upon our lives?

Where must we make this choice

Here’s one ripped from this week’s headlines:

The battle over complementarianism v. egalitarianism

Played out in the battle at the SBC annual meeting

It would have been easier to follow the way MAN is directing

It would be easier to toss in the towel and go with egalitarianism—letting women be pastors in clear violation of Scripture…but in line with the ways of man

The messengers at the annual meeting did the right thing—overwhelmingly choosing to obey God, rather than man

Our obedience is empowered by the Holy Spirit, relating to the Spirit being a witness, v.32

After looking at the works of the flesh in Gal. 5 19-21

Galatians 5:19–21 ESV

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

These are the directions man pushes us

We ought to obey God, rather than man, exhibiting the fruits of the Spirit

, Paul examines the “fruit of the spirit” in Gal 5 22-23

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

In this, the Spirit witnesses through us as we obey God rather than man