Last time we saw that the Resurrection of Jesus Christ changes things—it changed people!
1 Pet 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
It was Peter who wrote this wonderful truth. Was this the same Peter who denied the Lord three times? Can this be the same Peter who after the crucifixion of Jesus told the other disciples, “I’m going fishing?”
Last time we ended discovering that there had been a change, a big change in Peter. He who once timidly denied knowing Jesus, was now courageously declaring Him.
Today we are going to further explore this change in Peter. We are going to look at (1) the power behind the change; (2) the boldness from the change; (3) the confidence from the change; (4) the wonder of the change and (5) the company of the changed.
1.) The Power Behind the Change
In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8 Paul writes, “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”
In Acts 1:3 Luke chronicles that Jesus, “also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.”
The Book of Acts also records that before Jesus ascended to the Father, He met one last time with His disciples and told them “not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father.” He tells them, “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)
The disciples did just as Jesus commanded and waited. On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit did come and breathed power upon this new group of believers and He has been filling believers with His power ever since.
On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit gave the disciples the ability to preach the wonderful works of God in the languages of the foreigners who were in town for the holiday (2:11).
In town there were Parthians and Medes, Elamites and Egyptians, Libyians, Cyrenians and Arabs. The disciples were preaching in their languages. As a result, the crowd began to wonder what was going on and describes the strange behavior of the disciples as drunkenness.
Peter stands up as spokesman; he is not a coward anymore. He preaches a sermon that shows that Jesus is indeed the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. Peter boldly concludes his sermon with these words found in Acts 2:36, "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Peter would go on to preach no less than two more times and in Acts 4:13, we find these words:
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
It is from this verse that we will take our text because it is this verse that lets us know that Peter and the other disciples had obviously changed and the change was noticed. They were bold; they were courageous because they had been filled with Resurrection Power by the Holy Spirit.
There was power behind the change. It wasn’t Peter’s power. As we saw earlier, he had none of his own. Jesus promised that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them and that is just what happened.
This power is still available. If you and I are to overcome our weaknesses, fears and inadequacies when it comes to doing the will of God, like Peter, we need this power.
2.) The Boldness from the Change
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John….
Acts 3:1 records both Peter and John going up to the temple to pray. Don’t miss the fact that Peter has come out of hiding and is not afraid to walk right into the temple where the enemies of Jesus hung out.
At the gate of the temple, they meet up with a man who the Bible describes as “lame from his mother’s womb and being carried along…”
The man is at the temple begging for money but Peter says to him, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk."
He then takes the man by the hand, lifts him up and the Bible says, “immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.”
Of course this miracle gets the attention of onlookers and draws a crowd. Does Peter run and hide? No! He is a changed man and begins to preach Christ and the Resurrection.
Peter says, "Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go. But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.”
Notice the change in Peter! He has changed from cowardly to courageous. Before the resurrection, when asked whether or not he knew Jesus, Peter swore up and down that he “didn’t know the man.” But now Luke writes in Acts 3:15 that Peter declares himself to be a witness of Christ.
When Jesus Christ gets a hold of you there is going to be a change; a transformation!
After Christ was raised from the dead, the Holy Spirit came to indwell the believer and to fill the believer, giving them power and with that power came boldness.
But the power and boldness was not released until two things happened: (1) the church was on one accord and (2) the church prayed.
A careful study of the Scripture reveals that each time believers prayed with one mind and in one accord, the Lord comes down and uses His people to accomplish great things.
* Acts 1:14 - These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers. (Peter stands in verse 15)
* Acts 2:1 - When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. (Peter stands to preach in verse 14)
* Acts 2:42 - And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. (Peter and John enters the temple and heals a man (3:6) and preaches powerfully afterwards)
* Acts 4:31-33 - And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness. Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common. And with great power the apostles gave witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And great grace was upon them all.
I believe that Peter was able to speak with boldness because the Spirit of God empowered him in direct proportion to the prayers of the people of God and their unity.
Someone as aptly said, “No prayer; no power. Much prayer; much power.” I think that we can also conclude from Acts, “No prayer; no boldness. Much prayer; much boldness” and “No unity; no power. Much unity; much power.”
3.) The Confidence From the Change
Related to the boldness that Peter received was another change: confidence. But I didn’t say “self-confidence.” Peter’s confidence was in the Lord.
In Acts chapter 4 Peter and John were thrown in jail for preaching the Gospel. Listen as they are interrogated:
Acts 4:7-8 – “And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said…”
Following the story you will find that the Sanhedrin could find nothing on which to hold them. Verse 16 says, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.”
When Peter and John were released, one of the first things they did was pray. But listen to their prayer:
The Bible says in Acts 4:24 “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them…”
In verse 27 they acknowledge that it was God who “anointed” both Herod and Pontius Pilate and the other enemies of Jesus to do His bidding; work that resulted in the death of His Son.
In other words, they were acknowledging that God was in charge! Confidence is having the proper perspective of who’s in charge. Peter and the other disciples knew that God was sovereign and even the enemies of the Gospel were nothing more than puppets whose strings God controlled.
God wants us to place our confidence in Him. The BGE rate hike didn’t catch God by surprise—He may have even orchestrated it Himself to get some of us to look to Him. The war in Iraq is under His watchful eye. Those nuts in Iran, Korea and China are no concern to Him.
Proverbs 21:1 says, “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.”
This kind of confidence is rapidly fading from society because it is no longer encouraged and shaped in the hearts of our children at a young age. The nurturing of confidence in God begins long before one becomes a Christian.
The way it works is that a child grows up having confidence and assurance in his or her father. Daddy is “God” to that child. The father’s role would then be to transfer the child’s confidence from himself to God. A healthy child would then grow up to have an unshakable confidence that God loved him and that God “had his back.”
For example, in school, “sticks and stones” thrown (literal or figurative) would hurt but for only a while. Little Johnny or Susie would run home to Mama or Daddy and find love, security and healing.
As an adult, when “sticks and stones” are hurled, the adult child would know that he or she could now run to their “Heavenly Daddy” and find love, security and healing. The Psalmist knew this and writes:
Psa 61:1-3 - HEAR my cry, O God; Attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, When my heart is overwhelmed; Lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For You have been a shelter for me, A strong tower from the enemy.
Psa 86:14-15 - O God, the proud have risen against me, And a mob of violent men have sought my life, And have not set You before them. But You, O Lord, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, Longsuffering and abundant in mercy and truth.
Psa 23:4-5 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over.
What has happened today is that confidence in God has all but vanished. This plays out in the shooting and killing we hear so much about.
What happens is that when those “sticks and stones” are hurled, neither does the child nor the adult know to Whom to run. They have no one to place their confidence in but themselves. So rather than “running to the Rock that is higher than I” they pull out a gun or a knife.
The Scripture says to put no confidence in the flesh (Phil 3:3). The moment we put confidence in ourselves or our human abilities we are obligated to defend them. When you have placed your confidence in the flesh and someone offends you, you reach for fleshly weapons.
But Paul says in 2 Corinthians 10:4 “for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.”
In Acts chapter 4 Peter and John had confidence in God and when attacked the Bible says, “they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: "Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them…”
Acts 4:25 "who by the mouth of Your servant David have said: 'Why did the nations rage, And the people plot vain things?
Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth took their stand, And the rulers were gathered together Against the LORD and against His Christ.'
Acts 4:27 "For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together
Acts 4:28 "to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose determined before to be done.
The Spirit of God was reaffirming in their hearts that the battle wasn’t theirs, it was the Lord’s. The temple guards and Sadducees weren’t after them because of who they were but because of whose they were. Thus they continued to pray:
Acts 4:29-30 "Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word, by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus."
Peter and John realized they were mere servants of the Most High God, thus their confidence was in the Lord. Acts 4:31 says, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.”
There was a change in Peter’s life. There was power behind the change; there was boldness from the change; there was confidence from the change.
4.) The Wonder of the Change
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Some of you have heard the story of an event in my life that occurred some 20 years ago where I, as a young Christian, went out with members of my church witnessing. We were at the Woodmoor Shopping Center handing out tracts.
I was paired with a brother at the church named Nelson. As Nelson and I were handing out literature, we came across some Jehovah’s Witnesses. Nelson had never been to school but I had and also was fresh from studying what JW’s believed. I took one end of the strip to hand out tracts while Nelson took the other. Discovering us on their turf the JW’s split up to engage us.
I spent the next ten or fifteen minutes talking about why saluting the flag is not idolatry and why blood transfusions are not sin and how their teachings have deviated from Charles Taze Russell who was their founder and how earlier versions of their Bible, the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, once taught that Jesus was Jehovah. Needless to say, we didn’t get anywhere.
As I walked over to the other side to “rescue” Nelson, as I got closer I noticed that he wasn’t the one who needed to be rescued, it was the JW! Nelson was just finishing up giving his testimony about how “Jesus saved him from sin” but not only that but how “Jesus saved him from drugs and a life of promiscuity.”
The JWs was listening in complete silence with his jaw dropped in wonder and awe of what Nelson was saying.
The Bible says, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled.” This is what the power of the Resurrection can do! Uneducated and untrained fishermen confounding the wise and the learned!
Peter and John were accused of being “uneducated and untrained.” But were they really uneducated and untrained? “Uneducated” simply means “men uninstructed in the learning of the Jewish schools.” “Untrained” means “men of the common sort.”
What the people were marveling about is that Peter and John had never been to the Ivy League schools. They had never been to the schools of the Pharisees but if truth be told, Peter and John and the other disciples had a better working knowledge of the Scriptures than the highly trained Sanhedrin. How?
They had been taught by Jesus for 3½ yrs. Jesus both taught and modeled practical Christianity to Peter and the other disciples. This brings us to our last point.
5.) The Company of the Changed
Acts 4:13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.
Peter and John had been with Jesus! They were different! The power of God had been poured out in their lives! They had been in Jesus’ company and were changed men!
It reminds me of the account in Exodus 34 where Moses spends 40 days and 40 nights on Mt. Sinai. The Bible says that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai that the skin of his face shone because he had been with God!
No one spends time in the company of God and remains the same! Peter and John spent time with Jesus, the Word Incarnate and the Word Incarnate was in them as the Word Infused. It is like rubbing a magnet against a piece of iron—the power is going to rub off!
Peter quotes from the Old Testament several times during the first 4 chapters of Acts alone! In Acts 5, Stephen, one of the first deacons, was described as being “full of faith and the Holy Spirit.” Though Stephen wasn’t one of the 12, he still spent time with Jesus. The entire seventh chapter of Acts is a sermon preached by Stephen where he expounds from the Scripture concerning events in the lives of Abraham, Moses and David that led to the coming of the Savior Jesus Christ.
Have you spent time in the company of Jesus? Jesus will change you!
He will change you from a child of the devil to a child of God.
He will change you from a boozer and loser to a King’s kid.
He will change you from a thief to someone who gives.
He will change you from a liar to someone who can be trusted.
He will change you from an addict to one who gets his “fix” from the Spirit of God.
He will change you from one who speaks nonsense to one who has good sense.
He can clean your mouth and renew your mind.
He can change you from an adulterer to one who is faithful.
If you are antisocial, He can make you friendly.
If you are bitter, He can give you joy.
If you are anxious; He can give you His peace.
If you are envious, He will make you content.
If you keep company with Jesus, He will change you!
Somebody said, “He walks with me and talks with me and tells me that I am His own. And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.”
Have you been changed?
