Sermon Tone Analysis

We must obey God and not men...

We must obey God and not man…

“But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.”

And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.

But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.”

Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

And someone came and told them, “Look!

The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”

Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council.

And the high priest questioned them, saying, “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.”

But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.

And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

After Pentecost, the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ spread rapidly in Jerusalem as Spirit-empowered witnesses shared the Gospel with the lost.

Signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of the Word of God, and no one could deny that God was at work in a new way among His ancient people.

But not everyone was happy with the success of the church.

The “religious establishment” the “Jewish Leadership” that had opposed the ministry of Jesus Christ, and then crucified Him, took the same hostile approach toward the apostles.

Jesus said, “ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you.

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, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.

If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

If they kept my word, they will also keep yours.”

, “I have said all these things to you to keep you from falling away.

They will put you out of the synagogues.

Indeed, the hour is coming when whoever kills you will think he is offering service to God.”

We see in the book of Acts that these words are being fulfilled as well in this passage before us this morning.

It was the age-old conflict between living truth and dead tradition.

Think about what Jesus speaking about dead tradition.

Jesus said, “No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

Neither is new wine put into old wineskins.

If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed.

But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved” ().

Rather than patching up the traditional practices of righteousness within religious Judaism, Jesus has come to offer real growth in kingdom righteousness, which is like when new wine is put into fresh wineskins.

Hugh Latimer once said, “Whenever you see persecution, there is more than a probability that truth is on the persecution side.”

This persecution was firmly brought on by the apostles, refusal not to preach and teach the Word of God, the one and only true God!

A pure and powerful church will inevitably provoke a hostile reaction from the satanic world system.

Successful Christians and churches will make waves, and the world and Satan will retaliate with persecution.

“Indeed”, Paul wrote to Timothy,

“Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” ().

Reflecting on the persecution he faced in his ministry Peter also wrote this,

, “For what credit is it if, when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure?

But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God.”

We must always remember, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

“Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you”

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We are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,” if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.

Let us pray…

We must obey God and not men… though arrested by men.

, “But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.”

The high priest and his associates had three reasons for arresting the apostles (and this time it they arrested all 12 of them) and then they brought them to trial.”

Should this text surprise anyone who has been following this story?

Because of the power and effectiveness of the church it is spreading like wildfire and the leaders of Judaism are finds themselves in bitter opposition.

They are rattled, jarred, shaken, and alarmed by the continuing growth of the church through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They are caught off guard by its influence and the fact that it is meeting the spiritual needs of the people.

So we see here in the text, that the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect called the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy.

At this time we understand that Caiaphas was the high priest, a member also of the Sadducees and he as well was filled with envy at the popularity of this new organism called the church.

, gives us some insight to the climate that existed as we see how Peter and John were also persecuted and arrested as well.

, “And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

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

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

The Jewish leadership had sought every-way possible to shut down this new movement at all costs, fearing that it would signal to the Romans that they are rebelling and provoke a reaction from them.

If that happen then they might lose their privileged leadership positions and power over the people.

While the Pharisees led the opposition to Jesus in the gospels, we see here that the Sadducees led the chief opposition to the early church and the apostles.

The rise of the church of Jesus Christ threaten the very seat of their power and the spiritual balance of their nation.

Think about, the very man that they had just murdered for being a fraud, the apostles are teaching that He has risen from the dead.

Not only risen from the dead, but this Jesus is the very power, the provision, perennial substance behind all the amazing miracles, healings, and the signs and wonders that are happening right before their eyes.

This could not and would not be allowed, tolerated, and given any more oxygen!

Their hold on power was fragile enough without the apostles teaching salvation through faith in Jesus Christ.

So, what did they do?

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison; they were not giving any special treatment or upgraded accommodations but they were place in the public prison in the general population with common criminals where they had no control.

But the apostles submitted knowing that God was in control.

“Control seems preferable to what we typically think of as its opposite--chaos.

But I want to suggest that the opposite of control is not chaos.

It is trust, and trust is far preferable to control.

We want to control because we fear the outcome of letting God be in control.

We fear we won't be taken care of, won't have what we need, or will be taken advantage of.

But trying to be in control is futile, because in reality there is very little that we can control.”

But these actions by the Jewish leadership only served to increase the commitment of the apostles.

The apostle’s commitment was that they must obey God and not men, even in the face of their arrest.

We must obey God and not men… trusting in an angelic release by God.

, “But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.

And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach.”

This passage in the text includes the first appearance of the ministry of angelic releases from prisons in the book of Acts.

There are two more later on in the book of Acts, which would show the world that the power of the gospel could not restrained the human prison bars.

Look at

, “About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.

He killed James the brother of John with the sword, and when he saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

This was during the days of Unleavened Bread.

And when he had seized him, he put him in prison, delivering him over to four squads of soldiers to guard him, intending after the Passover to bring him out to the people.

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.

Now when Herod was about to bring him out, on that very night, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and sentries before the door were guarding the prison.

And behold, an angel of the Lord stood next to him, and a light shone in the cell.

He struck Peter on the side and woke him, saying, “Get up quickly.”

And the chains fell off his hands.

And the angel said to him, “Dress yourself and put on your sandals.”