Bold and Courageous
Acts 4:1-14
Jeff Hughes – March 9, 2003
Calvary Chapel Aggieland
I. Introduction
a. Last week, we finished up Acts chapter 3. We looked at Peter’s explanation to the crowd gathered for the miraculous healing that had just taken place, and we saw Peter’s evangelistic appeal to the crowd to follow Jesus.
b. This was a life changing decision for many in the crowd that day. But, as we will see today, not all of the people gathered there believed Peter’s message. They didn’t take Peter at his word. They were skeptical about this Jesus. They thought these ideas that Peter was spreading was dangerous. They people that were most skeptical were the Jewish religious leaders of the time.
c. They were the ones who stood to lose the most from this new belief system. They were the ones who condemned Jesus to death. The rulers were not in the quote-unquote “pecking order” of this new group of believers, the apostles were.
d. They wanted to keep the status quo. They wanted to keep the people under the burdens and regulations of Judaism, being supported by the people, and becoming quite wealthy by the standards of the day.
e. Their solution was to shut these guys up. They had to quiet the spokesmen for this new group, in order to protect their own interests. But, as we will see today, the gospel would not be kept silent. The apostles would continue to teach and preach the message, and to be witnesses of the resurrected Christ.
f. We will look at these events in depth, as we continue on in our journey through Acts. But first, let’s pray, and ask the Lord’s blessing on our study today.
II. PRAYER
III. Illustration
a. In AD 398 John Chrysostom was appointed church leader at Constantinople against his will. His inspired preaching against sin and greed infuriated the empress who conspired with other opponents to have him charged with heresy and deposed. But he was soon recalled to leadership. A silver statue of Empress Eudoxia was placed near John’s cathedral. The dedication ceremony for the statue turned so wild and licentious that church services were disrupted. John paused in his sermon and in obvious reference to Empress Eudoxia exclaimed; "Again, Herodias is raging, again she is dancing, again she demands the head of John on the platter." The emperor ordered John’s removal from the cathedral. But he refused to leave, insisting God had placed him there. Armed guards were sent in to seize him during the Easter vigil. Female baptismal candidates were undressing for baptism when soldiers ruthlessly forced them into the streets. After John’s forced removal the cathedral was set on fire, which officials blamed on John’s followers. He was ordered, "Walk till you die!" and died in exile in AD 407.
b. That was bold and courageous faith. John Chrysotom stood firm in his faith in Christ. Today, we are going to look at how two apostles - Peter and John respond to adversity. Let’s get into God’s Word. We begin chapter 4 of Acts this morning, and we are going to look at verses 1 through 12. If you need a Bible this morning, just raise your hand, and we will get one to you. Acts is just past John, right before Romans in the New Testament.
IV. Study
a. Intro
i. 1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand. 5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?" 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ’stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." 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. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
ii. The early church was coming under persecution for the first time. This would prove to not be unusual. Throughout the book of Acts, and indeed all of the New Testament, we see the church being persecuted. Persecution is God’s tool of choice for purifying the church.
iii. This might seem odd to us in the United States, because we haven’t seen a lot of persecution of the church here. We are blessed in this country to have the freedom to worship as we see fit. This is not the case for much of the world. The church is persecuted in China, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, and many other places. Right here in Bryan / College Station though, we don’t see this kind of persecution. This is purely God’s grace.
iv. Let’s exercise our religious freedom here this morning, and get down to our study.
v. As I studied this text, I found five main points of interest to us this morning the arrest, the abundant harvest, the arraignment, the answer, and the amazement. I encourage you to follow along, and there’s a place in your bulletin to take notes.
b. The Arrest (Acts 4:1-3)
i. 1 Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they laid hands on them, and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
ii. The first thing we see here is that Peter and John didn’t even get to finish. They were still finishing up their appeal to the crowd, when the bad guys came up to shut them down. We don’t know if the message was interrupted at this point, or if they were just making further appeals, and answering questions, but our author, Luke, makes it clear that Peter and John were cut short in any case.
iii. The first group we see here were the priests. These were the Jewish temple priests. These would have been the priests that were on duty for sacrifices and prayer in the temple at that point.
iv. The second person we see here is the captain of the temple. This is an unfamiliar term to us, but it would not be for Jews. The captain of the temple was the leader of the temple police, and he was a priest. In fact, he was the second-highest ranking priest in the temple, right behind the high priest.
v. The third group we see here are Sadducees. This was not a legal body. They were identified as Sadducees because of their religious and political beliefs. One of the characteristics of the Sadducees was that they did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. Now, these two Galileans were in the temple courts teaching about the resurrection of their leader, Jesus. This would have most certainly set some of them off.
vi. It is likely that this was a group of lay people who were siding with the priests to try and break up the assembly, and to try and shut down the gospel from going forth.
vii. The Sadducees were the political pundits of the day. This was different from the Pharisees, who were vehemently opposed to Jesus while he was on earth, but are strangely silent here in Acts.
viii. Now, remember, I said that the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection. They were greatly disturbed because of this. We see this here. There are really two reasons why they were upset though. First, like we covered, they didn’t believe in Jesus or in His resurrection, and as Luke outlines for us here, they were preaching and teaching just that. Second, these guys were annoyed that the apostles were teaching in the temple at all. John and Peter were not established as teachers. They were, and these guys were teaching on their turf.
ix. One thing I want us to notice here. The word came upon there means to come up suddenly in the Greek, usually with a hostile intent. Like, I said these guys were not happy campers.
x. Now, these people could not just seize the apostles and start beating them up. First, that was against their law, and second, if they had done something like that, the crowd would have gotten out of hand.
xi. They couldn’t just carry them off and start a trial that night. That was against their law as well. Cases involving life, which blasphemy would have been had to be tried during the day. They didn’t follow these rules with Jesus, but they followed the law here.
xii. So, here is the scene, Peter and John were preaching the gospel, the resurrection of Jesus in the temple courts along with the lame man that was healed. The priests and Sadducees didn’t like it, so they came and grabbed them.
xiii. Peter and John spent the night in the clink, waiting for their trial. So, what do you think they did while they were in jail? Well, we see other places in scripture, especially in Acts, where imprisonment didn’t stop them from praising God and teaching the message of Christ.
xiv. I can’t be dogmatic about this, because the scriptures are silent here, but I think Peter and John did just that, because that’s what they were called to do. That was their calling.
xv. But, I want us to notice the most important thing here. Peter and John getting taken to jail didn’t kill the fruit of their message. Let’s see the results of their interrupted message here, as we continue along. We see this in verse 4.
c. The Abundant Harvest (Acts 4:4)
i. 4 However, many of those who heard the word believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.
ii. The word however here means “even though”. Even though that bad news is, Peter and John got put in jail, the good news is that people still heard the word and believed.
iii. They believed in Jesus. They believed that He was resurrected from the dead, and that He was the long awaited Messiah that they could put their trust in.
iv. As we see here, we will see in several places in Scripture that persecution of the church led to a strengthening of the church, as we see here. The apostles were thrown in jail by the religious leaders, but God still added to the kingdom.
v. I think it is really neat how God works like that. So many times we see this repeated over and over in Scripture. People mean something for evil, but God uses it for something good.
vi. I am reminded of the story of Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers, but would later be raised up to be second in command of Egypt. This would prove to be life-saving for his brothers and their families, as a severe famine stuck the land. What the brothers meant for evil, God used for good.
vii. Romans 8:28 says - 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.
viii. These two apostles were definitely called according to God’s purpose. This would turn out for the good.
ix. We see here that many heard the word taught by Peter and believed, despite the bad circumstances.
x. Now, I made a mistake last week when I said that 5,000 people responded to Peter’s message. The scripture doesn’t tell us that here. What the number 5,000 means here is that the number of men in the church at Jerusalem grew to be about 5,000 as a result of Peter’s appeal.
xi. Many commentators agree that the number of people who made a decision here was over 1,000, adding to the other numbers in the church, taking it to 5,000 men.
xii. With women and children, the number was much higher, but we aren’t told about those numbers in scripture. What is important to see here is how God was adding to His church, regardless of what the Jewish religious leaders thought. God is no respecter of persons. God is about drawing men unto Him, not in what people think, or even how many.
xiii. The work of God is measured in our hearts, not the numbers of people coming. But, no matter which way you slice it, something miraculous happened that day, and many hearts were changed.
xiv. The church of the Lord was growing in power and influence in Jerusalem. They were now a body of large enough numbers to affect the communities around them, and we will see this in the coming chapters.
xv. But first, let’s see what happened to Peter and John. We see this in verses 5 through verse 7. They will stand for a short trial before the religious leaders. Today we would call this an arraignment.
d. The Arraignment (Acts 4:5-7)
i. 5 And it came to pass, on the next day, that their rulers, elders, and scribes, 6 as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they asked, "By what power or by what name have you done this?"
ii. The first statement we see here in verse 5 is that it came to pass. What this means is that the evening had expired. They were free to stand trial, because it was the next day.
iii. But, whenever I get to this little phrase in the Bible, I am reminded of a story I once heard, and I think it’s useful for us here this morning.
iv. Some members of a church were sharing their favorite Scripture passages with each other. A number of verses were quoted, most of them on salvation, assurance, or God’s provision. One elderly man, though, stood up and said that his favorite words in the Bible were "It came to pass." He continued, "When sickness strikes, it encourages me to know that it will pass. When I find myself in trouble, I know it won’t last forever. I’ll soon be able to say, ’It came to pass.’"
v. And, although this man had placed a different meaning on those words than the writers of Scripture intended, he saw in them an important truth that is found in the Bible. No matter how unending a trial may seem, the day will come when it will no longer be a burden or a source of distress. In fact, it will seem like nothing in the light of eternity.
vi. The time that Peter and John had spent in prison was worth it. It came to pass. They would stand before the leaders to face their charges.
vii. We have quite a list of people here. In verse 5, we see the rulers, elders and scribes. This group together was a body known as the Sanhedrin to the nation at that time. They were responsible for religious matters and some civil matters, but, the Roman government was over major civil matters, and those concerning Roman citizens.
viii. The first group, the rulers could also be called the chief priests. They were representatives of the twenty-four Jewish priestly orders of the day.
ix. The second group, the elders, were representatives of the leading families and tribes of Israel that were still in Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside.
x. The third group was the scribes. These were the lawyers of the day. They were mostly Pharisees. They had legal expertise concerning the Jewish law.
xi. The Sanhedrin was made up of seventy-one members. This included all the three groups mentioned, but also the High Priest. They were the Supreme Court for the land under the Roman government.
xii. The individuals mentioned here are all had been high priest, would be high priest, or were the high priest. Annas was the former high priest. He was deposed by the Romans in favor of his son-in-law, Caiaphas, also mentioned here. The John mentioned here, some scholars agree, was Annas’ son, Jonathan; he would become high priest after Caiaphas. No one knows who Alexander was, but it is certain that he was part of the high priest’s family, because we see that the rest of the high priest’s family was there.
xiii. They were there to protect their interests, and to try and quiet down this growing movement among the Jewish people.
xiv. The place they met was called the Hall of Hewn Stone. Some believe that it was in the temple area, but we can’t be for certain about that. Most likely, it was laid out in a large semi-circle, so that a few could address the whole assembly at one time.
xv. That is what they did with Peter and John. They set them in the middle of the assembly in order to question them. Why were they questioning them? Good question.
xvi. They were questioning them because it was the law. Whenever a miracle was performed, and used as a basis for teaching, it was according to the Mosaic Law to determine whether the teaching sought to lead people away from God or to God. We see this in Deuteronomy chapter 13, verses 1 through 5.
xvii. If the teaching was not sound, then the obligation of the nation of Israel was to stone them to death. If it was found to be sound, they would accept the teaching as a message from God.
xviii. The Sanhedrin wanted to know by what name the apostles performed this miracle. What that means is – by what power did they do this. The question itself implied that Peter and John were rebels, because the Sanhedrin did not permit them to go teach what they were teaching. They were sent by God, and not by men. The thing I notice about this situation is that Peter and John didn’t fight, they didn’t argue with being arraigned by these guys. They knew that God had it all under control. God was opening up an opportunity for them to take their message to the Sanhedrin, and this was their opportunity. Let’s see their answer in verses 8 through 12.
e. The Answer (Acts 4:8-12)
i. 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: 9 If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, 10 let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11 This is the ’stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
ii. Before Peter even opens his mouth, he is filled with the Holy Spirit. That is so important. If we presume to speak for God and teach His people, we need to make sure that we are doing so by the power of the Holy Spirit.
iii. John later calls the Spirit the “Spirit of truth” in 1st John. This is because the Spirit guides us in truth. I see all these people teaching their own thing, maybe its bad doctrine, maybe it one of their personal convictions they are teaching as doctrine. Either way, it’s not true. Often the Holy Spirit guards us against things like that. Maybe you are hearing a teaching that doesn’t sound right. Check it out. See if it lines up with Scripture.
iv. If you’re listening to a teaching, and it doesn’t line up with Scripture, the stop listening to it. This person may have a spirit, but that spirit’s first name isn’t Holy. Peter was speaking the truth. He was filled with the Holy Spirit.
v. He first addresses his audience, politely. He calls them rulers and elders of Israel. He wasn’t rude. The Holy Spirit is a gentleman. Peter’s respect for the audience lends to that.
vi. Peter then goes on the offensive. You would think a man in a situation like this would be defensive, but Peter was filled with and under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Peter boldly confronts the Sanhedrin head-on.
vii. Peter begins his remarks with a rebuke. He rebukes them for putting him on trial for healing a man lame from birth. Peter was empowered by the Spirit, and by the power of the Spirit, he turned the tables on the Sanhedrin.
viii. But, Peter says, if you insist on putting us on trial for healing a helpless man, I will tell you by what name or authority by which this man was made well.
ix. At this point the Sanhedrin probably had a good idea who they were, and what they were about to say, but I would imagine that they were sitting on the edge of their seats anyway.
x. What Peter wanted them and everyone else in Israel to know was that Jesus Christ of Nazareth, who you crucified – meaning the Sanhedrin, but had been raised from the dead by God, was the authority and power under which this man was healed.
xi. Jesus is the great physician, and the lame man being healed was a perfect example of that. I notice here that Peter reminds them that they had been the ones to condemn Jesus to death, because they did. These were the guys that called for Jesus’ death, and Peter holds them accountable for it. That is faith, plain and simple. Peter didn’t know how these guys would react, maybe they’d kill him! He didn’t know, but he was faithful to deliver the message that God had for him to deliver.
xii. In verse 11, Peter re-directs them. He brings them back to the word. He quotes a verse in Psalms, referring to the Messiah, who Peter just declared to them as Jesus. The scripture is found in Psalm 118, verse 22, in which the Messiah is called the stone that the builders rejected, which has become the chief cornerstone.
xiii. The Sanhedrin and many of the Jewish people had rejected Jesus, but God raised Him up, and he was now the chief cornerstone. The builders were most certainly the religious leaders Peter was addressing here.
xiv. Peter takes his boldness to a new lever in verse 12. After confronting the Sanhedrin with their guilt, he then makes an open invitation to them in verse 12. If they weren’t happy about him teaching in the name of Jesus, then the probably wouldn’t be too happy in Peter’s effort to convert them.
xv. 4:12 is an awesome verse of scripture. I could spend the rest of our time this morning going into verse 12. Verse twelve here is a cornerstone of our faith.
xvi. 12 Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved."
xvii. What this verse means is that there is no other way that we can come to salvation except through Jesus. The word saved there, can also mean healed, or made well in the Greek. The lame man had been healed. But what God really was going for that day was salvation.
xviii. The Sanhedrin thought that they would be saved by their Jewish heritage and the sacrifices they made at the temple, but that would not save them. Buddha can’t save you and neither can Mohammed, or even Mary. There is no other name that we can call on for salvation except the name of Jesus Christ.
xix. Maybe you’re here today and you haven’t made the decision to follow Jesus. At the end of our service today, you’ll get that chance, and I pray that you do choose to follow him. Just like verse 12 says, there is no other was to salvation, no other way to eternal life, except through faith in Him.
xx. Let’s get back to our story though, so we can wrap this up. The Sanhedrin hears what Peter had to say, and now, we get to see their reaction. We find this in verses 13 and 14.
f. The Amazement (Acts 4:13-14)
i. 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. 14 And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.
ii. The Sanhedrin are taken aback by Peter’s remarks. We see here in verse 12, that the saw, they took note of Peter and John’s boldness.
iii. This was because they were filled with the Holy Spirit. This was covered earlier. When someone is filled with the Holy Spirit, and being moved by the Spirit into action, people notice. They take note of it.
iv. Peter and John were encouraged because they were in the will of God. God had set all of these events into motion for His glory, so that He could be glorified, and that men would be drawn to Him.
v. That’s one thing that is always on God’s mind – bringing more people into the kingdom. I want to encourage you guys, and myself to always lift up the name of Jesus to those around us. God will use you in ways you could never imagine. Our mission here at Calvary is Ephesians 4:12, to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. We are being equipped to lead others to the saving knowledge of Jesus.
vi. God was even more glorified by using these two fishermen, Peter and John. These weren’t the PhD’s of the day. These guys were not experts in the law, they hadn’t been trained for the priesthood, but they did make a convincing argument that was backed up by not only a miracle, but backed up with scripture as well. What could the Sanhedrin say? The answer was – nothing! They had nothing to say. They were amazed and perplexed at what was said that day.
vii. They realized that these two had been with Jesus. They were Galileans, like Jesus. They could tell by their accent. They were also very knowledgeable about the Scriptures, just like Jesus. Jesus had turned the tables on tables on them several times like this.
viii. But the most telling testimony to the truth of the apostles’ message was the healed man. Here he was, standing with Peter and John. He had been lame from birth, but now he was walking around. This was something that they could not deny. This was tangible proof that the apostles were telling the truth, and that this truth really was the way to salvation.
ix. We aren’t told here, but I would imagine that some of these guys actually changed their mind about Jesus that day. Maybe they had sat on the fence before. Maybe they heard Peter’s earlier message, but now, here was living, breathing, proof of God’s grace and of the saving and healing power of Jesus.
x. The Sanhedrin could say nothing against what had happened, so they would have to let Peter and John go. They would continue to clash with the early church throughout the book of Acts.
xi. But this day belonged to the Lord. Peter and John would live to minister another day. I’d like to begin to wrap up our study today.
xii. Really, there are three things I want us to take away from this message -
1. God’s direction in our life is not always the easiest path.
2. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.
3. The Holy Spirit is our power source to minister the gospel to others.
xiii. I‘d like to close with a short story.
g. Conclusion
i. Two men were talking about their jobs, as men often do. One was an executive recruiter, a "head-hunter" who goes out and hires executives for other firms. He tells the other man, "When I get an executive that I’m trying to hire for someone else, I like to disarm him. I offer him a drink, take my coat off, then my vest, undo my tie, throw up my feet and talk about baseball, football, family, whatever, until he’s all relaxed. Then, when I think I’ve got him relaxed, I lean over, look him square in the eye and say, "What’s your purpose in life?" It’s amazing how top executives fall apart at that question.
ii. "Well, I was interviewing this fellow the other day, had him all disarmed, with my feet up on his desk, talking about football. Then I leaned up and said, ’What’s your purpose in life, Bob?’ And he said, without blinking an eye, ’To go to heaven and take as many people with me as I can.’ For the first time in my career I was speechless."
iii. That recruiter was just like the Sanhedrin in our study today. They sought to disarm and shut down the gospel message, and two of the messengers, Peter and John. God had other plans.
iv. You see, Peter and John had a heavenly mindset. They wanted to go to heaven and take as many people with them as they could. That should be our goal too. Jesus died for us, and forgiveness is just a prayer away, but there’s a whole world of lost people around us. Jesus is the only way to salvation, and we need to take as many people with us as we can.
h. Let’s Pray.
