FIGHTING AGAINST GOD
Text: Acts 5:33-42
Introduction
1. Illustration: When I first got interested in music, the first artist that I took a liking to was a man named Jim Croce. He is famous for songs like Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and Time In a Bottle. I was thinking this week of another one of his hits, You Don’t Mess Around with Jim. It talks about a tough guy named Jim, and the song says, “You don’t tug on Super Man’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Jim.” As the song continues, it introduces another character named Slim, who came to get his money back from Jim. When the two characters meet, Slim whips the tar out of Jim, and the people sing a different kind of story. “You don’t tug on Super Man’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with Slim.”
2. You could re-right this story to say, “You don’t tug on Super Man’s cape, you don’t spit into the wind, you don’t pull the mask of the old Lone Ranger, and you don’t mess around with God!”
3. The history of the Christian church is loaded with those who tried to stop it and shut it down, like the Soviet Union and China, but in the end, God always wins!
4. Read Acts 5:33-42.
Proposition: When ever someone tries to stop the Gospel or the church of Jesus Christ, God always wins!
Transition: In our text, we see the disciples have an…
I. An Unlikely Aly (33-37).
A. Gamaliel
1. Before this, the Jewish religious leaders had arrested the disciples and threw them in jail overnight. However, an angel of the Lord came and let them out, commanding them to go to the Temple and teach the people about Jesus.
2. So, they were arrested again, but Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, spoke the truth to them and said they must obey God rather than people. The result was, “When they heard this, the high council was furious and decided to kill them.”
a. The council was furious that the apostles refused to head their warnings and declared that they would not stop preaching about Jesus.
b. The problem with this is that they were not allowed to issue a death penalty, only the Romans were allowed to do that.
c. However, they could come up with some trumped up charge against them, just like they did with Jesus.
3. However, something very unexpected, and extremely unlikely happed. Luke tells us in v. 35, “But one member, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, who was an expert in religious law and respected by all the people, stood up and ordered that the men be sent outside the council chamber for a while.”
a. Like I said, an unusual character came to their rescue.
b. His name was Gamaliel, a Pharisee who was the other party in the high council, stood up and spoke on their behalf.
c. “Gamaliel was an unexpected ally for the apostles, although he probably did not support their teachings. He was a distinguished member of the council.
d. He stood up to speak to the assembly, but first he ordered that the apostles be taken outside so the situation could be discussed.” (Bruce Barton et al., Life Application New Testament Commentary, 492).
4. The scene continues once the disciples are sent outside. Luke tells us in vv. 35-37, “Then he said to his colleagues, “Men of Israel, take care what you are planning to do to these men! 36 Some time ago there was that fellow Theudas, who pretended to be someone great. About 400 others joined him, but he was killed, and all his followers went their various ways. The whole movement came to nothing. After him, at the time of the census, there was Judas of Galilee. He got people to follow him, but he was killed, too, and all his followers were scattered.”
a. He tells the council to think carefully as to how they were going to handle this situation.
b. He reminded them that a man named Theudas, who thought he was special, came around and convinced 400 people to follow him. However, he was killed and soon his followers disappeared.
c. He also reminded them that a man named Judas from Galilee appeared, and like Theudas, got people to follow him. But he also was killed, and his movement soon fell apart.
d. What he is telling them is that movements or fads come and go. Unless they have substance to them, they fall apart and come to nothing.
e. He’s telling them not to go all crazy about the disciples and their followers.
f. However, what he doesn’t realize is that he is being used as an instrument of the Holy Spirit to defend the disciples of Jesus.
B. Holy Spirit
1. Illustration: When my mother used to make jam, I would watch her pour wax over the top of the preserves until it was at the brim of the jar. She would then carefully wipe some wax around the rim itself and place the rubber-lined lid on tight. The wax and the vacuum caused by the cooling preserves would seal that jar so tight that it could have sat on a basement shelf for years, and the jam would have been good when finally opened. Sealed, preserved, protected. In our house, the dust didn’t have time to gather on those jars; but they could have lasted a long time if necessary. (Clark Tanner, When My Mother Used To Make Jam, I Would Watch,12/30/2000, https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/315/holy-spirit-in-believers-by-clark-tanner).
2. We have an Advocate in the Holy Spirit.
a. “But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. 27 And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry.” (Jn. 15:26-27).
b. The word Advocate is the Greek word paraklatos which means, “to call beside.” It signifies an intercessor, comforter, advocate, counselor. It was used in ancient Greek of an attorney who would come and defend a person in court.
c. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to be our defender, and he is always there to come beside us and defend us.
d. Whenever people or events come against us, he will always be there to come to our rescue.
e. We should not be afraid of anything the devil or the world throws at us, because the Holy Spirit is always there for us.
f. For this reason, we can trust in the Lord to always be with us even in the grimmest of circumstances.
g. He’s not just there to empower us to do ministry, but also to see that we are able to continue in that ministry.
Transition: We must also remember, when people are fighting against us, they are…
II. Fighting Against God (38-39).
A. Fighting Against God
1. So, after reminding the council of these other leaders who came to nothing, he says, “So my advice is, leave these men alone. Let them go. If they are planning and doing these things merely on their own, it will soon be overthrown. 39 But if it is from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You may even find yourselves fighting against God!”
a. His advice was, now that Jesus was gone, if what they were doing was all on their own, it would come to nothing.
b. He tells them to just leave them alone, to let them go and if there is nothing more to it this movement, like the others, would eventually go away.
c. However, he also tells them something very important. He warns them that if what the disciples are doing is really from God, to fight against them would be fighting against God, and that is never a good idea!
d. There is a lot of sense in what Gamaliel had to say. If there was nothing to it, nothing would come of it.
e. However, if God was behind it, they would be fools to stand in the way.
2. Fighting against God is worse than tugging on Super Man’s cape, spitting in the wind, or pulling the mask off the old Lone Ranger!
3. Fighting against his church is also a bad idea, as he has promised that no one will be able to stop the truth of the Gospel and the gates of hell will not conquer it!
B. Build My Church
1. Illustration: Russell Moore recounts a conversation with the evangelical theologian Carl Henry. As Moore and some of his friends were lamenting the miserable shape of the church, they asked Dr. Henry if he saw any hope in the coming generation of evangelicals.
a. Dr. Henry replied: "Of course, there is hope for the next generation of evangelicals. But the leaders of the next generation might not be coming from the current evangelical establishment. They are probably still pagans.
b. Who knew that Saul of Tarsus was to be the great apostle to the Gentiles?
c. Who knew that God would raise up a C. S. Lewis or a Charles Colson?
d. They were unbelievers who, once saved by the grace of God, were mighty warriors for the faith."
e. Russell Moore added: "The next Jonathan Edwards might be the man driving in front of you with the Darwin Fish bumper decal.
f. The next Charles Wesley might be a misogynist, profane hip-hop artist right now.
g. The next Billy Graham might be passed out drunk in a fraternity house right now.
h. The next Charles Spurgeon might be making posters for a Gay Pride March right now.
i. The next Mother Teresa might be managing an abortion clinic right now."
2. Those who oppose the Gospel, and the Church should beware, for they may soon find themselves accepting the Gospel and become members of the church. The Church of Jesus Christ cannot be conquered!
a. “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” (Mt. 16:18).
b. You can add to those names already mentioned, names like Josh McDowell, who once attempted to write his Ph.D. thesis to prove Christianity false. His research led him to Christ.
c. Or Columnist Lee Strobel, who attempted to keep his wife out of church, set out as an investigative reporter to prove Christianity wrong. It led him to Christ.
d. You cannot fight the Gospel or the Church, and to try and do so is dangerous!
e. It’s dangerous because you CANNOT FIGHT AGAINST GOD! You will lose every time!
f. Jesus has built his church and the gates of hell cannot conquer it!
g. You cannot be a part of the church and fight against God because you cannot fight against God, no matter who you are!
Transition: As His Church, we must…
III. Staying Faithful (40-42).
A. Continued to Teach and Preach
1. Gamaliel was obviously very persuasive, because as Luke tells us, “The others accepted his advice. They called in the apostles and had them flogged. Then they ordered them never again to speak in the name of Jesus, and they let them go.”
a. They took his advice and decided to let the disciples go.
b. However, they weren’t about to let them off easy. They had them taken out and flogged.
c. “In a flogging, leather thongs made into whips were beaten against the bared upper body of the bound prisoner.
d. The prisoner would be made to kneel, then the triple-strap whip would be beaten across both chest and back, with two beatings on the back for every one on the chest.” (Barton, 492).
e. Then, once again, they ordered them to never speak about Jesus again. But we all know that wasn’t going to work this time either!
2. It’s very important for us to see how the disciples responded to this treatment. Luke says in vv. 41-42, “The apostles left the high council rejoicing that God had counted them worthy to suffer disgrace for the name of Jesus. 42 And every day, in the Temple and from house to house, they continued to teach and preach this message: “Jesus is the Messiah.”
a. The disciples could have easily coped an attitude and said, “Hey, God, we did what you called us to do, and this is how we get treated? What’s the deal?”
b. But that was not what they did. Instead, the rejoiced that they would be considered worthy to suffer for Jesus.
c. Rather than complaining to God, they thanked God for the privilege of suffering for Jesus and the Gospel.
d. Not only did they have a good attitude, but they also didn’t allow this incident from keeping them from their mission.
e. They continued preaching and teaching people, not only in the Temple, but going from house to house. They told people about Jesus to anyone who would listen!
B. We Cannot Stop Telling
1. Illustration: D. Elton Trueblood said, “Evangelism is not a professional job for a few trained men, but instead the unrelenting responsibility of every person in the company of Jesus.”
2. We must never stop telling people about Jesus!
a. “But Peter and John replied, “Do you think God wants us to obey you rather than him? 20 We cannot stop telling about everything we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20).
b. This is kind of like Forrest Gump, “I went to the Whitehouse again, and I met the President of the United States, again!”
c. Because I’m going to tell you to talk to people about Jesus again, and again, and again!
d. The apostles were imprisoned, beaten, ridiculed, and threatened, but they didn’t stop telling people about Jesus!
e. Neither can we!
f. This is not the job of few professionals, but the unrelenting responsibility of every person in the company of Jesus!
g. That’s you!
Conclusion
1. The Apostles…
a. Had an unlikely ally
b. The council was fighting against God
c. In the end, the Apostles remained faithful
2. What’s the point preacher? We are the Church of Jesus Christ, and no one can conquer us, except us. We must keep telling about the things we have seen and heard!
