Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning we are continuing our study in Acts and will be in chapter 4 this morning, chapter 4 continues the story line of when Peter and John have healed the lame man, they went through the temple, the healed lame man has stayed with them, they went out to Solomon’s Portico, which is a porch area and a crowd gathered to see the lame man that has been healed.

Peter filled with the Holy Spirit begins to preach a sermon, which is what we seen last week, Peter’s second sermon.

Chapter 3 closes with Peter saying to the crowd,

Peter in away gives an invitation, or a call to salvation, back in verse 19 of chapter 3 Peter had told the crowd to repent and turn back so that their sins may be wiped out.

Peter has now with the verse 26, given the crowd a chance to respond which brings us to the beginning of chapter 4.

This morning we are going to look at the first 22 verses of chapter 4 at No Other Name, as Peter and John will be arrested for preaching the name of Jesus to the crowd, the Jewish officials do not like this, as it was not to long ago they arrested Jesus and put him on trial and had him crucified.

There are three things from our text that we will look at this morning from the arrest and trial of Peter and John about no other name.

We will start off just looking at the first four verses of chapter four, therefore, if you are able will you stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word.

Pray

I. Proclaiming Jesus

As Peter and John were still preaching to the crowd the Jewish official came out of the temple and confront them, why?

Well, verse 2 tells us that they were annoyed that they were teaching people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.

The major source of irritation was Peter and John’s proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

The Jewish had executed Jesus as a blasphemer, and now the apostles were boldly proclaiming Him as the resurrected Messiah.

They no doubt viewed that as a direct attack on their authority.

Nor were the Sadducees pleased that the apostles were preaching the resurrection from the dead, the Sadducees rejected the idea of a general resurrection.

If Jesus had risen, they were exposed as heretics.

Therefore, not willing to tolerate Peter and John’s preaching, the Jewish officials seized them and took them into custody, placing them into jail to await trail the next day due to the time of day was later in the day, and Jewish law did not permit trials at night, even though that regulation was ignored in the case of Jesus.

They would stand before the Sanhedrin the next day the same Jewish officials that judged Jesus.

Even though they were taken into custody and placed in jail, this did not void the message that Peter had preached out on the porch to the crowd.

Verse 4 tells us that many of those who heard believed, even though it seemed like the situation went from good to really bad real quick, we must keep reading, cause now we are told, that many believed.

The number of men came to about 5,000, now that is not 5,000 people believed there on the porch, but a total of 5,000 believers in the Jerusalem congregation.

This is the last mention of a specific number in Acts; from this time on the church grew too fast to keep an accurate count.

Luke does, however, note that the churches continual growth throughout the rest of Acts.

We must remember that Jesus told the disciples on more than one occasion that they would face persecution, he did it in different ways, but he warned them or let them know to expect it and to be ready for it.

This was just one of those places, that Jesus warned them about persecution.

We might think, well, the way to avoid that persecution is to just not proclaim the name of Jesus and yea you are right, but if that is the choice you make then you need to ask yourself are you truly a disciple of Jesus Christ.

If you truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ, if you have truly accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savor, and have been indwelt with the Holy Spirit, then you cannot help but to proclaim the name of Jesus Christ.

And in spite of the opposition of powerful unbelievers, there is no stopping the kingdom of God manifested through the power of the Holy Spirit when Jesus is being glorified through the proclamation of His disciples.

II.

By the Name of Jesus

Now we come to the first time Peter and John stand trial for preaching and proclaiming Jesus Christ, the Jewish officials or otherwise called the Sanhedrin which is all those listed in verse 6, they bring Peter and John out and begin to question them.

They ask the question, even though they already know the answer, “By what power or in what name have you done this?”

The Jewish officials are in a sense asking the question of who has authorized you to do what you have done, who gave you the authority to heal this man, who has given you the authority to gather this crowd out on the porch and teach them, you are not Rabbi’s.

The Sanhedrin surely did not give them authority to perform healings or to teach, as again they are not Rabbi’s.

By asking this question the Jewish officials have now opened the door for Peter to address them, and to preach to them, and you better believe he is going to allow the Holy Spirit to use him and going to preach.

And like we are told in verse 8, Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit, God now is taking the opportunity to address, to speak to, to convict, to charge these Jewish officials, and Peter is his spokes man.

Now that Peter is filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, he allows God to speak through him, addressing the officials, he says, Rulers and elders of the people - if we are on trial for a benefit done to a sick man.

Peter is like do yall really, got us on trial because we healed a lame man that has been lame from birth, is that the issue here.

Like if that is the case, this is ridiculous.

Peter says if it is by what means he was healed, let it be known that it was by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, then Peter in away turns the tables on the Jewish officials, by saying, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead - by him this man is standing here before you healthy.

By pointing out that they executed Jesus but God raised him up, Peter showed them to be the enemies of God.

Peter refused to compromise the gospel by deleting what would offend the Sanhedrin.

He spoke courageously because he was devoted to the truth and entrusted the outcome to his Lord.

That is an example for all persecuted believers to follow.

Speaking of Jesus in verse 11, Peter states to the Jewish officials, that He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.

Jesus was the stone that was rejected by the builders - the builders are the Jewish officials - but Jesus became the chief cornerstone.

God made Jesus the chief cornerstone through His resurrection and exaltation, Jesus is God’s spiritual cornerstone of the church, Jesus has the place of preeminence.

verse 11 is quoted from Psalm 118:22

Then look at verse 12, this is a very powerful verse.

Here Peter gives what amounts to a direct invitation to the Sanhedrin to repent and embrace Jesus Christ to be saved.

He had already declared that the healing of the lame beggar had been done in Jesus’ name.

Now he goes further and proclaims that there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved.

Saved is a form of the same verb int the Greek used in verse 9 to describe the healing of the lame man.

So in verse 9, where it says, he was healed and then here in verse 12 it says be saved, those two phrases come from the same verb in the Greek which is sozo which means to save, deliver, protect, heal, preserve, do well, be made whole.

Not only is Jesus the source of physical healing, but He is also the only source of spiritual healing.

Deliverance from the devastating effects of sin comes only through Jesus Christ.

Peter did not invent that truth; he is merely echoing his Master.

There is salvation in no other name but by the name of Jesus.

The name of Jesus is the Greek version of the Hebrew name Joshua, which means, the Lord saves.

Jesus’ name, then, speaks to who he is, what he has done, and what he can do.

Salvation from sin, death, and hell is found in Him alone.

There is no other name, no other way to salvation, to heaven, to forgiveness of sins, but through the name of Jesus Christ, He is the way, the truth, and the giver of life, and therefore, no one can get to the Father, the is God the Father, except through a personal relationship with Jesus as Lord and Savior of their life.

III.

In this Name

Look at what the Jewish leaders observed about Peter and John, first is that these two men were Bold, they were not cowherds, they did not back down when they got arrested, they did not cower away when they were confronted, but they stood up and stood boldly in the face of opposition.

Which is great seeing as it had not been to long ago when Peter did deny Jesus when confronted, he did cower away and run, when confronted about being a follower of Jesus, when Jesus was on trial back in John chapter 18.

But now Peter is standing firm and boldly in his faith, in front of the Jewish officials, the formation of the Sanhedrin goes back to Numbers 11:16

This was what is considered the first formation of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish officials, they served as judges of the people to rule over the people and over the land of Israel.

The Sanhedrin was what we might call the Supreme Court, these officials had the ultimate authority in the nation of Israel.

The Sanhedrin was dissolved in 358 AD with the last binding decision being the adoption of the Hebrew calendar.

Peter and John are standing boldly in front of these high ranking officials being question, the second thing that these officials observe about them is that they are uneducated and untrained men.

Now what they mean here is that Peter and John had not went through any of the local Rabbi schools there, they had not officially sat under one of the official Rabbi’s for training.

Therefore, they considered them uneducated and untrained.

In today’s terms Peter and John had not been to seminary.

But the third thing that the Sanhedrin observed was that they had been with Jesus, this is where they got their training, they had spent three years with Jesus following him around, listening to his teachings, watching him as he interacted with people, seeing him perform miracles.

You can receive extensive, formal, theological education and have degrees after your name.

But if you have never been with Jesus in a spiritual relationship and enrolled in his school of discipleship, you will make no lasting spiritual effect on others.

It does not matter what kind of schooling we have, who we have sat under, or trained with, or who our earthly father was, if we have not had that spiritual relationship with Jesus, and are not indwelt and filled with the Holy Spirit we are no use to the Kingdom of God.

Sanhedrin have observed these three things about Peter and John, but verse 14, tells us that the lame man that was healed was standing, not sitting or laying, but standing there with them, therefore, the officials could not deny this miracle, and had nothing to reply.

The officials have the three men taken out of the room, so that they can discuss what they are going to do, they cannot deny the miracle, or even rule against it, by this time the news of it has spread across the city of Jerusalem, a lot of people have seen the lame man up and walking around.

Now they are trying to figure out how they can stop the spread of Jesus any further among the people of Jerusalem and out into the nation of Israel.

Why did they want to stop the spread the message of Jesus, well, first they did not agree with Jesus when he was on earth, and two, the fact that they had Jesus crucified and now that He has raised from the dead proves that he is the Messiah has incriminated them for his execution.

Now they want to intimidate Peter and John from continuing to speak in the name of Jesus Christ.

They bring the men back into the room and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus in verse 18.

But listen to how Peter and John respond to the Sanhedrin in verse 19-20.

These two men still standing firmly and boldly before these high officials, state you decide whether it is right for us to obey you or God!

Now Peter wrote about this very subject in his epistle to the persecuted Gentile Christians in Asia Minor.

Paul also addressed this in his letter to the Romans

But we must listen to what Peter and John was saying there as they stood before the Sanhedrin, they said, whether it is right in the sight of God for us to listen to you rather than to God, you decide, for we are unable to stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.

We must then wonder are Peter and John going against God’s teachings here to obey the law and be good citizens because ultimately God has set up those that are in authority.

Well, we are going to jump a head here in Acts just a chapter for a minute and see what takes place after they are arrested once again.

Peter and the apostles were once again out in Solomon’s Colonnade or the temple’s porch, people were bring sick people to them to be healed, and a crowd once again gathered and this drawled the attention of the high priest who had Peter and the apostles arrested.

Now other things go on but the part we need to see, is found in verses 28 and 29.

Their response to the high officials of the nation of Israel was we must obey God rather than people or some translations say, obey God rather than men.

Another words when it comes down to it God is the ultimate authority, if man, our government authorities make laws that go against God, that contradict God, we are to obey God first and foremost.

But even in that we are to accept the government’s authority over us in that time.

This is demonstrated by the fact that apostles did not protest being flogged, but instead rejoiced that they suffered for obeying God.

Even though the apostles knew they were doing the right thing they still took the punishment that was coming their way, because they were going against man’s law, but they were being obedient to God.

They took the beating and went out from the court, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to be treated shamefully, or to suffer on behalf of the name of Jesus Christ.