“We Can’t Help It!”
Acts 4:1-22
(Sunday, April 22, 2001)
Introduction
Last week we looked the resurrection, and at the en d, I gave you three options for the truth presented.
The first was to reject it. You can choose to reject what you know, but understand that if that is your choice, truth is not the issue for you. Truth does not matter, you choose not to let truth impact your life.
The second was to investigate it further. God is not afraid of your questions, because He is truth, and delights when people seek truth.
The third choice was to accept what you know, and act in a way to make the resurrection and what it accomplished real in your life.
This morning we are going to take a look at the lives of 2 men who took the third choice.
Peter and John were, of course, apostles of Christ. They were with Jesus while He performed His ministry, were present at His arrest and crucifixion, and witnessed His appearances after His resurrection.
After His resurrection, Jesus instructed the disciples to stay in Jerusalem to await the arrival of the Holy Spirit.
A few days later, the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples, and the church is born. The disciples are given power and faith to take the message of Christ to the world.
And they start immediately, with Peter preaching a sermon that brought about 3,000 people to Christ that day.
But our focus this morning is another episode. The story begins in Acts chapter 3, when Peter and John are walking to the temple. They come across a crippled beggar, and God uses Peter to heal the beggar.
An astonished crowd gathers, and Peter takes the opportunity to tell the crowd about Jesus.
This is where we pick up the story in our Scripture passage for this morning.
Please turn with me to Acts chapter 4, and we are going to look at verses 1-22. This is found on page 772 of the Bibles in the seats.
Please follow along as I read.
The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John, and because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed, and the number of men grew to about five thousand.
5 The next day the rulers, elders and teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and the other men of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: "By what power or what name did you do this?"
8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: "Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a cripple and are asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 He is
" `the stone you builders rejected,
which has become the capstone. ’
12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. 15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 "What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
My purpose this morning is to show you what can happen in the lives of those who choose to make the resurrection a real part of their lives, by looking at three aspects of this wonderful story.
The first of these is…
I. The Basis (vv. 2, 12).
What is the basis of the courage shown by these men? They knew they were in trouble, and if these bullies weren’t afraid to have Jesus put to death, they would have no problem putting these two away as well.
The basis is found in verses 2 and 12. Verse 2 says,
They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead.
There you go. They were proclaiming the resurrection. And the power of the Holy Spirit gave them boldness to proclaim not only the resurrection, but also in verse 12, to say,
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."
The basis of their courage was the fact of the resurrection and the knowledge and certainty that Christ is the only way to God.
And they rested in and relied on the power of the Holy Spirit.
It’s much easier to speak on something you are absolutely sure about than to speak on something you know little or nothing about. Unless you are a politician.
The conviction of what you know for certain adds weight to your words.
That was the Basis. Next, let’s look at…
II. The Bewilderment (vv. 13-17).
The healing of the crippled beggar, and the fact that it was done in the name of Jesus put the religious leaders in a bit of a tizzy.
Remember, they thought they were done with this Jesus guy, then comes news that He wasn’t in the grave anymore, and then on top of that, here were a couple of guys who had the audacity to not only preach about Jesus, they went about healing people in His name.
“When is this going to end,” they must have thought. I can just imagine these religious leaders sitting in the room, pacing back and forth, muttering curses about the Nazarene who had practically ruined their hold on the hearts and lives of the nation of Israel.
I want to point out a couple things here.
First, verse 13:
When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.
These guys were not seminary, college, or even high school graduates. They were just ordinary men, yet they were speaking with the authority of the Living God.
Then look at verse 14:
But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
These guys were speechless! They couldn’t deny the healing, and they didn’t know what to do with Peter and John.
So they did the only thing they could think of at the moment -–tell them to cut it out.
They called them in and said, “Naughty, naughty!” Or as my daughter Olivia says, “Naughny naughny!” “You boys better knock this off, or we’ll get even more miffed! So there!”
Fat chance, guys! These men were not the same frightened fisherman they encountered at Gethsemane. They had been changed. They had been transformed by the resurrection. It had been made real in their lives, and the world was turned upside down because of it.
The religious leadership was bewildered by the actions, authority, and audacity of these two disciples.
Thirdly, I want to look at…
III. The Burden (vv. 19-20).
The burden here is that of the disciples. This burden is revealed in verses 19-20:
But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God’s sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."
Peter and John were burdened by the truth. They couldn’t hold it in. They could not justify holding it back.
Some people feel that it is wrong for people to offer their views on religious topics.
But I’ve noticed a bit of a double standard. Maybe you’ve noticed it, too.
It’s okay to have an opinion on religious issues, as long as it isn’t a Biblical one. Have you noticed that?
Spirituality is okay, but Biblical Christianity is not. And if you think that is anything new, all you have to do is look at our story today. It’s always been a problem.
Why is that, you ask? It’s easy. Biblical Christianity requires people to recognize their sinfulness and need for a Savior. It requires an accountability to a moral agent outside of ourselves, and that is not very politically correct.
Wouldn’t it be easier if we just kept our mouths shut and just be Christians privately?
No. As I have mentioned before, Christianity is indeed a personal religion, but it cannot be a private one.
Christianity requires that we tell people of the grace God available for sinners like you and me.
I met a fellow downtown a few weeks ago, as I was getting some water. We chatted for a few moments, and he asked me what I did.
I told him that I was a pastor, and we had a brief discussion about how he likes and tries to follow the Native American religion.
I did not have a chance to tell him that most Native American religion followers wouldn’t want him because he is white.
How do you know that?
Because a Native American religious leader told me so.
But that is not the message of Jesus. Jesus is for the olive colored Middle Eastern person in Israel. He is for the black man. He is for the white man. He is for the red man. He is for the yellow man. He is for the every color of the rainbow man, because He didn’t die for a race, He died for the world.
And these guys had to tell about it. They had no choice. Their answer was, “We can’t help it!”
They faced a similar problem to that of the prophet Jeremiah, back in the Old Testament.
Everyone was getting down on him because his job was to tell Israel that it was too late, that God was bringing punishment and exile.
He was complaining to God a bit, because it’s not easy to tell people they are going down, especially when the king and others would rather see you dead.
But listen to what he says in chapter 20, verse 9.
-But if I say, “I will not mention Him or speak anymore in His name, His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it in; indeed, I cannot.”
The New American Standard Bible says, “I cannot endure it.”
Just like the prophet Jeremiah, Peter and John could not hold it in. They absolutely had to tell others. They couldn’t help it.
That was the burden.
Time to wrap this up.
Conclusion
I have told some of you about one of the reasons I came here as the pastor.
When I came here in July or August to fill in one day, I ended up staying through the afternoon before going to worship at Bristol.
I went through the building, praying that God would use each room as a place to reach people for Him.
When I got back to the lobby and began praying there, God impressed on me that this church had gone through a lot of hurt, and had been healing, but had not really been able to concentrate on the 25,000 people out there.
God said to me that most of them don’t know Jesus as their Savior, and some were going to die that week without Him.
He placed a burden on my heart, for this church, and for the people in the Aberdeen area who need Him.
This burden causes me to be very vocal about Jesus, and without apology.
Some would say that I should be low-key, and not cause any waves, especially since I am so new to the area.
But I can’t do that and be doing the job God has called me to do here. And so I will continue to tell people of their need for a Savior, and of the relationship God offers that no one on earth can offer.
But let me ask you something:
Can anyone accuse you of what the Sanhedrin said about John and Peter – that “they had been with Jesus?”
Can people look at your life and see something beyond Sunday religion?
Can they see that the resurrection is not only real, but it has made such a difference that you can’t help but live a life of conviction of its truth?
Can they see that the resurrection gives you hope beyond this world and its problems?
Can they see Jesus in you?
I pray that God will so have His way in your lives that you will echo the words of John and Peter:
“We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
One last question. If you don’t have a relationship with Christ, won’t you get that today?
He wants to be so involved in your life. He cares about you more than you know, and wants to be invited to commune with you.
The benefits are many. A relationship with the almighty Creator that allows you to cry out in times of hurt, and rejoice in times of joy, without fear of rejection is just one.
But probably the most crucial benefit is the fact that you will have eternal life in heaven, the forgiveness of your sins, and power to live for Him.
Call on Him to forgive you, and give you the eternal life He died and rose to give you.
And live as someone whose life reflects not the world, but the Savior.
Let’s pray.
