Introduction
After Pentecost, the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ spread rapidly in Jerusalem as Spirit-empowered believers shared the gospel with unbelievers.
Miraculous signs and wonders accompanied the proclamation of the gospel, and no one could deny that God was at work in a significant way among his people.
However, not everybody was happy with the growth of the church.
The religious establishment that had opposed the ministry of Jesus, and then crucified him, took the same hostile approach toward the apostles.
Jesus spoke of the impending opposition when he said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20).
The age-old conflict between living truth and dead tradition was rearing its head again.
The apostles powerfully proclaimed the life-transforming gospel, while the religious leaders resisted that message by desperately hanging on to their dead traditions.
As English martyr Hugh Latimer once said, “Whenever you see persecution, there is more than a probability that truth is on the persecuted side.”
Scripture
Let’s read Acts 5:17-42:
17 But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy 18 they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. 19 But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” 21 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. 22 But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, 23 “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” 24 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. 25 And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” 26 Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 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.” 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”
33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. 34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. 35 And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. 36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” So they took his advice, 40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. 41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Lesson
Acts 5:17-42 shows us different responses to the gospel, responses that we still see today.
Let’s use the following outline:
1. The Gospel Is Attacked (5:17-28)
2. The Gospel Is Affirmed (5:29-32)
3. The Gospel Is Avoided (5:33-39)
4. The Gospel Is Announced (5:40-42)
I. The Gospel Is Attacked (5:17-28)
The first response to the gospel is that the gospel is attacked.
Luke said in verses 17-18, “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.”
You may recall that in Acts 4:1-22, the religious leaders arrested Peter and John for preaching the gospel.
On this occasion, in Acts 5, it appears that all the apostles were arrested.
The religious leaders had three reasons for arresting the apostles.
First, Peter and John had not obeyed the command of the religious leaders not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus (see Acts 4:18). The religious leaders said in verse 28a, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name.”
Second, the apostles were preaching the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. That is why Luke noted that the high priest and all who were with him were members of “the party of the Sadducees” (5:17).
And third, the religious leaders were “filled with jealousy” (5:17), most likely because the apostles had attained such a popular following and they were not popular.
The apostles did not resist arrest or organize a public protest.
Instead, they quietly went along and spent the night 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’ ” (5:19-20).
In obedience to the command of the angel, “when [the apostles] heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach” (5:21a).
At this point, neither the guards nor the religious leaders knew that the prisoners had been set free.
Luke said in verses 21b-22a, “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.”
Can you imagine the surprised look on the faces of the officers when their most important prisoners were not there?
And can you picture their sheepish looks when “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’ ” (5:22b-23)?
No wonder Luke says in verse 24, “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.”
Suddenly, “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” (5:25-26).
What a contrast between the apostles and the religious leaders.
The religious leaders consisted of men who were educated, ordained, and approved, and yet they had no power in their ministry.
The apostles, on the other hand, were for the most part uneducated, unordained, and certainly not approved by the official religious leaders, and yet they had power in their ministry.
The religious establishment was trying desperately to protect themselves and their dead traditions, while the apostles were willingly risking their lives to proclaim the message of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
People often respond to the truth of the gospel by attacking the gospel.
I remember when I was not yet a Christian. My brother and best friend had professed faith in Christ and were sharing the gospel with me. I clearly remember arguing and fighting with them. I attacked the gospel in every way I could. They must have become discouraged by my attacks on the gospel, but they persisted.
Eventually, God gave me a new heart and I embraced the gospel.
We must not become discouraged and give up when people attack the gospel.
We must persist in proclaiming the gospel. In time, God’s elect will respond to the truth.
Our task is to proclaim the truth.
II. The Gospel Is Affirmed (5:29-32)
The second response to the gospel is that the gospel is affirmed.
The apostles did not change their convictions about the truth.
They obeyed God and trusted him to take care of the results.
They did not serve two masters.
They were Christians, and they belonged to God.
They were his ambassadors, and they had to declare the message that he had given them to declare.
And they did.
The Lord honored their courage and faith.
The religious leaders said in verse 28, “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’ ” (5:29).
Peter then went on to explain the essence of the gospel message. He said in verses 30-32:
“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.”
Peter proclaimed the crucifixion, the resurrection, and the exaltation of Jesus Christ.
He also proclaimed repentance and the forgiveness of sins.
And finally, he explained the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer.
Peter, as spokesman for the apostles, affirmed the gospel.
He did not water down the message in the face of the highest court in the land, but he proclaimed the truth—boldly and clearly.
There are times when we find ourselves in a situation where we have an opportunity to speak the truth.
If we even speak at all, we find that there is a great temptation to water down the content of the gospel.
And it seems that the more influential the company we are in, the more difficult it is for us to speak the truth.
Before my conversion to Christ, I consumed a great deal of alcohol to the point where I think I was headed for serious trouble. God delivered me from my craving for alcohol at my conversion, and for many years I did not touch a drop of alcohol.
Shortly after my conversion, I found myself in the Angolan civil war. I was serving in the South African Air Force.
Every night all the airmen socialized at the bar.
One night the Commanding Officer, who had noticed that I did not drink the beer that was practically free, asked me why I did not drink beer.
I remember giving some lame excuse such as, “I do not like the taste of beer.”
At this point, the CO ordered me to drink a beer.
I was highly embarrassed and just hung around for a long time until the CO forgot about me, and I cowered off into the night.
As soon as I got outside, I hurled the can of beer as far as I could into the dark, moonlit bush.
I was so ashamed, not because I had drunk a few sips of beer (for there is nothing inherently wrong about drinking alcohol), but rather that I had not spoken up about my commitment to Christ.
I had an opportunity to speak about the gospel of Jesus Christ and I had squandered it.
I vowed that I would always try and affirm the gospel when I had an opportunity.
III. The Gospel Is Avoided (5:33-39)
The third response to the gospel is that the gospel is avoided.
Gamaliel was a Pharisee who probably did not want to see the Sadducees win any victories.
Gamaliel was a scholar highly esteemed by the people, rather liberal in his applications of the law, and apparently moderate in his approach to problems.
Gamaliel’s most famous student was none other than the apostle Paul (Acts 22:3).
When the high priest and his associates heard the gospel from Peter and the apostles, “they were enraged and wanted to kill them” (5:33).
But Gamaliel intervened.
He “stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while” (5:34b).
Then Gamaliel spoke to the religious leaders.
He told them about two men, Theudas and Judas the Galilean. Both of their revolts resulted in their deaths and the demise of their cause.
Gamaliel implied that Jesus was something of the same order as these two men, and he essentially urged the religious leaders to do nothing.
If God was behind their cause, he argued, the religious leaders would find themselves fighting against God.
Even though Gamaliel tried to use cool logic rather than overheated emotions, his approach was still wrong.
By putting Jesus in a class with two known rebels such as Theudas and Judas the Galilean, it shows that he avoided the gospel.
He did not bother to investigate the truthfulness of the claims of the apostles, namely, that Jesus had risen from the dead.
The biggest weakness of Gamaliel’s advice was to take a “wait and see” attitude.
Gamaliel was avoiding the truth.
He wanted to be neutral but was in fact opposing the truth.
If Gamaliel was really afraid of fighting against God, he should have honestly investigated the evidence, diligently searched the Scriptures, listened to the witnesses, and asked God for his wisdom.
This was the opportunity of a lifetime!
Although some may think of Gamaliel as a man of courage, he was in reality a man of cowardice.
Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, wrote, “Truth makes a man of courage, and guilt makes a man of courage a coward.”
What some call caution, God often calls cowardice.
The apostles were true ambassadors.
They were proclaiming the gospel in the face of tremendous pressure to capitulate.
But they stood firm, and God honored their obedience.
Gamaliel, on the other hand, was only a “religious politician.”
Some respond to the gospel by avoiding it.
Of course, we cannot force the gospel on people.
We cannot give people what they do not want.
But we must always stand firm and proclaim the gospel, and be ready to give the gospel to those who want it.
IV. The Gospel Is Announced (5:40-42)
And the fourth response to the gospel is that the gospel is announced.
Gamaliel’s speech persuaded the religious leaders.
Luke recorded in verse 40 that the religious leaders “had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”
Most likely, the beating they received was the infamous thirty-nine lashes.
And, once again, they ordered the apostles “not to speak in the name of Jesus”!
Astonishingly, the apostles “left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name” (5:41).
Surely, they remembered their Master’s words from the Sermon on the Mount, “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” (Matthew 5:11-12).
To paraphrase the preacher Phillips Brooks, the purpose of life is to glorify God by the building of character through truth.
The religious leaders thought that they had won a great victory, when actually they had experienced a crushing defeat.
No doubt they congratulated each other for doing such a good job of defending the faith!
But it was the apostles who were the winners.
Why?
Because they grew in godliness as they yielded to God’s will and suffered for their Master.
Moreover, neither the threats nor the beatings stopped the apostles from announcing the gospel. Luke said in verse 42, “And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”
No matter what the opposition, no matter what the persecution, the church continued to announce the gospel.
God calls us also to announce the gospel continually.
Conclusion
So, there are four responses to the gospel.
Some attack the gospel, some affirm the gospel, some avoid the gospel, and some announce the gospel.
We should not attack the gospel, nor avoid the gospel.
Instead, God calls us to affirm the gospel, and boldly announce the gospel.
May God help each one of us to do so. Amen.
