INTRODUCTION:
History of Opposition without: There were about 10 waves of persecution following after the Jewish persecution of the church chronicled in Acts.
Nero (54-68)
Domitian (81-90)
Marcus Aurelius (161-180)
Decius (249-251) thousands died for refusing to sacrifice to the imperial name
Diocletian (284-305) Four edicts to stamp out Christianity, order churches to be burned, Scriptures confiscated, clergy tortured, Christian civil servant to be deprived of citizenship and executed if unrepentant of their faith. He even had a medal imprinted: “The Chrisitian religion is destroyed, and the worship of the gods is restored.” Tertullian said, “kill us, torture us, condemn us, grind us to dust...the more you mow us down, the more we grow; the seed is the blood of Christians (Apology 50).
John Wycliffe had a tremendous ministry as the morning star of the Reformation. Roman church dug him up and burned him and poured his ashes in the river.
Over the three year and nine month reign of the so-called “Bloody Mary” there were about 300 martyrs. Whereas only 30 had been burned for heresy in the hundred years prior. John Foxe provided a powerful and influential hagiography for Protestantism in his, Book of Martyrs (1563), or as it was originally titled as the Acts and Monuments.
God has His own purposes for persecution, then of Bunyan imprisoned for 12 years - and in that time wrote the masterpiece, Pilgrims Progress
Jesus promised - this 29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! Because you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, 30 "and say, ’If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.’ 31 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 "Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers’ guilt. 33 "Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell? 34 "Therefore, indeed, I send you prophets, wise men, and scribes: some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues and persecute from city to city, 35 "that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36 "Assuredly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.
TURNING TO ACTS - THERE ARE AT LEAST 2 THESIS VERSES - If you know these two verses you know trajectory of the kingdom and the dynamics of the kingdom.
ACTS 1:8 "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 2:42: And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
The Previous Passage OUTLINE
1) The Spirit fills His People to give a bold witness to Christ, in accordance with the promise (Acts 1:8-9; John 14-16, Comforter).
2) The Spirit testifies to the uniqueness of Christ - no other name! (John 14:6)
In Acts 4:23-31
WE MUST PRAY IN SOLIDARITY - ONE ACCORD
WE MUST PRAY TO A SOVEREIGN LORD
WE MUST PRAY FOR SPIRITUAL EMPOWERMENT
Corruption from Within - Ananias and Sapphira
The Challenge of Internal Corruption
The Cause of Internal Corruption
The basic issue is really spiritual pride: Ananias and Sapphira wanted to be highly regarded by believers, they coveted that position, they envied, no doubt, Barnabbas.
Calvin draws out a powerful application: this account "is [given to us] to reflect upon how one day we shall come to stand before His judgement-seat....In the bodily punishment of these two, there has been set before us, as in a mirror, the gravity of spiritual judgement which it still hidden."
From Without: Persecution and Interrogation
Gamaliel’s Counsel - Did Not Cease
THE RESULT OF SWIFT DISCIPLINE - 4:11-18
GODLY FEAR WITHIN AND WITHOUT
GROWTH OF BELIEVERS
GOOD WORKS THROUGH THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
GREAT INDIGNATION FROM POWERFUL UNBELIEVERS (v 17)
11 So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.
Literally - great “Phobos” - ecclasia - first usage by Luke
12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
13 Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.
Join is kallao - it is used in
Matthew 19:5 "and said, ’For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and [cleave] be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?
1 Corinthians 6:16 Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For "the two," He says, "shall become one flesh."
1 Corinthians 6:17 But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him.
14 And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,
15 so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them.
16 Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed.
17 Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation,
18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.
a. In response to the following of the people, they were imprisoned, then miraculously released
What was their motivation? Luke exposes it as “zelos” (a word which means zeal or Jealousy)
NIV Acts 5:17 Then the high priest and all his associates, who were members of the party of the Sadducees, were filled with jealousy.
Luke uses it in Acts 13:45 But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming, they opposed the things spoken by Paul.
b. Detained again, Gamaliel then intervened.
19 But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said,
20 "Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life."
21 And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.
22 But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported,
23 saying, "Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!"
24 Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be.
25 So one came and told them, saying, "Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!"
26 Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned.
27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them,
28 saying, "Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!"
29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
30 "The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.
31 "Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.
32 "And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him."
33 When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.
34 Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while.
35 And he said to them: "Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men.
36 "For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing.
37 "After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.
Paul was a student of Gamaliel
Acts 22:3 "I am indeed a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, taught according to the strictness of our fathers’ law, and was zealous toward God as you all are today.
The Mishnah says, “When Rabban G the Elder died,” “the glory of the Torah ceased, and purity and ‘separateness’ died.” Sotah 9:15.
A
THE KINGDOM ADVANCES IN THE MIDST OF EXTERNAL OPPOSITION
EVEN AT THE END OF THE MILLENNIAL REIGN OF CHRIST, AS PICTURED IN REVELATION 20
Revelation 20:1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years;
3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.
4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.
7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison
8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
PERSECUTION COMES AS A RESULT OF THE GOSPEL WORD
OUR STAND AGAINST HOSTILE POWERS SHOULD BE A STAND ON THE GOSPEL
29 But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: "We ought to obey God rather than men.
