Acts 4:1-22
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Introduction
Introduction
In Acts 3, Peter and John used a sign gift that God gave them to create a platform where the Gospel of Jesus Christ was preached.
Acts 4:1-22 speaks of the response to the Gospel that was preached.
These 22 verses are sectioned into four areas:
Background
Proceeding
Dilemma
Verdict
Background - v.1-4
Background - v.1-4
Changing of the guard
During the Gospels of Jesus Christ, the main enemy was the Pharisees and Scribes
Matthew 23, Jesus pronounced a series of woes against the Pharisees and Scribes
Hypocrites
Matthew 23:13 - They shut up Heaven so that others do not enter.
Matthew 23:14 - They devour widows houses and for a pretense give long prayers.
Matthew 23:15 - You compass land and sea to proselytize the Gentiles with a damning message.
Matthew 23:23 - You pay tithe but omit the weightier matters of the law
judgement
mercy
faith
Matthew 23:25 - You clean the outside of the cup but the inside of the cup is filthy.
Matthew 23:27 - The outside is beautiful but the inside is dead.
Matthew 23:29-31 - You are no different than your fathers who killed the prophets.
Blind guides
Matthew 23:16-17 - It is ok to swear by the Temple, but not the God in the Temple - The Temple sanctifies the gold.
Matthew 23:18-20 - It is ok to swear against the altar but not the gift. Yet, the altar sanctifieth the gift.
Matthew 23:24 - Strain at a gnat and swallow a camel
Conclusion - Matthew 23:33
Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
In the Acts of the Apostles their is a new nemesis - The Priest and Sadducee -
And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them,
Who were the Pharisees and Sadducees and why a changing?
Who were they:
Pharisees and Scribes
The Pharisees were a religious order and political party in Israel.
Scribes were more than copyist of God’s word, they were the experts of God’s law. Lawyers and Scribes appear to be synonymous terms.
Scribes aligned themselves with the Pharisees.
The Pharisees believed in all the Old Testament.
The Torah - Genesis - Deuteronomy
The Prophets - Joshua,Judges, Samuel (1 and 2)Kings (1 and 2), Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Solomon, Lamentations, Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, Chronicles (1 and 2)
The believed in the super natural - angels, demons, after-life, resurrection.
They viewed oral traditions as authoritative.
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
They were more common people
The Sadducees and Priests
The Sadduccees were a political party and religious sect
They were collaboratively working with the Romans.
The Priest were predominantly Sadducee
The Sadduccees did not believe in the Supernatural. They did not believe in angels, demons or after-life.
They believed the Messiah had come during the Maccabees revolt in the 160’s B. C.
They only accepted the first five books of the Bible and rejected oral traditions.
They were more aristocratic
Why the change?
Isreal was divided into three sections:
Judea - South
Samaria - Central
Galilee - North
During the earthly ministry of Jesus, He spent the first year in Judea. The only Gospel write to record these events was John (2 and 3). Matthew, Mark, and Luke, picks up His ministry in Galilee. For much of the rest of His ministry, He spends in Galilee. Galilee was the Pharisees headquarters.
During the Acts of the Apostles, the church’s ministry took place primarily in Jerusalem, where the Sadduccees and Priests operated.
There is a lesson - Whenever the gates of Hell are threatened b y the Gospel of Jesus Christ, there will be push back. Beginning in Acts 4, we will examine the varied areas of push back by Satan and his minions.
Regardless of who the guard to wickedness is, the Gospel has power over the enemies of truth.
Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number of the men was about five thousand.
Consider the momentous and historic statement.
The Gospel preached in a place that hated truth.
The guards
The Sadduccees
The Priests
The Sanhedrin wanted Jesus dead.
The people wanted Jesus dead.
This was a place of darkness.
Yet, in this place of darkness, about five thousand men were saved.
Even though the preaching had stopped, the Holy Spirit was working.
Why is this momentous and historic
The condition of the people
Blind
Deaf
To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear? behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken: behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it.
Sick
Dead
Darkness
Dark understanding - Ephesians 5:8
They are hopeless - Cannot elevate their status.
Religion
Psychology
Philosophy
Science
Education
Many which heard the word believed.
This is not a simple belief but a transformative and metamorphic belief.
You have been profoundly modified from bad to new creation
How is this possible?
And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.
The Lord liveth; and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be the God of the rock of my salvation.
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving;
I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.
Salvation belongeth unto the Lord:
Thy blessing is upon thy people. Selah.
They heard the word
Disavowed the Holy and Just One
They killed the Prince of Life
Judgement - Every soul that does not hear, will be destroyed
Blessed in turning us from our iniquities
Repentance and faith in His name!
Proceeding v.5-12
Proceeding v.5-12
The setting - Sanhedrin
The leader of the Sanhedrin was the High Priest.
The Sanhedrin made up of 3 groups of people
Rulers - priests 24
Elders - Pharisees and Sadduccees - 24
Scribes - Mostly Pharisees - 22
The Sadducee were the majority party
Why were Peter and John standing before the Sanhedrin? For preaching Jesus and the resurrection.
The questions they asked
And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?
By what power - Sadducees
By what name - Pharisees
And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.
For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.
And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
The answer given
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Peter is filled with the Holy Ghost
Filled - Influence by the Holy Spirit.
We need to yield to God.
God will provide you the answer
But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Peter respects the positions of his accusers
Get them upset with the Gospel, not their ineffective ruling
Answer
He answers their questions without wasting time. The name of Jesus is the reason the man was healed.
You crucified Him
But God raised Him from the dead
You cannot stop God.
In answering their question, Peter says, the name is Jesus and the power is the resurrection.
The Captain of the guard, the priests, and Sadduccees could not stop 5000 people being saved.
Peter and John’s arrest provided a stage whereby the leaders of Israel can hear the Gospel.
Jesus is the stone
The stone which the builders refused
Is become the head stone of the corner.
Jesus is the answer - Acts 4:12
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.
Dilemma v.13-16
Dilemma v.13-16
Verdict v.17-22
Verdict v.17-22