ACTS 5:12-42 EMPOWERED TO OBEY GOD2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Acts 5:12-42 Empowered To Obey God

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. You can turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 5. We're going to pick it up in verse 12 and work our way through the end of the chapter. Acts chapter 5, verses 12 through 42, but let's begin by reading verses 12 through 16.

Acts 5, verse 12 says,

that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. 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."

Here as we look at Acts chapter 5, we're jumping into the continuation of the birth of the church. And it's been a couple weeks since we've been in the book of Acts, so I wanted to give a little bit of a recap of where we've gone so far to bring us up to speed and prepare us for what we have here in Acts chapter 5. The title of the message this evening is Empowered to Obey God. We

We've been talking about the empowering of the Holy Spirit ever since Acts chapter 1, where Jesus gave the promise of empowering. He gave the promise or the command really to go and make disciples, but then he said, but don't go yet. Wait until you receive the promised Holy Spirit. And when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will have power to be my witnesses. And so they were given this promise of empowering in Acts chapter 1.

Then in Acts chapter 2, you have that promise delivered, and it's the day of Pentecost. The church is gathered together. Not really a church yet. It's just disciples gathered together, and the Holy Spirit is poured out upon this gathering of disciples, and they are empowered by the Spirit. God does a radical work. Many people get saved, and the church really begins there in Acts chapter 2.

Well, as they begin to live out this new life as believers in Jesus, empowered by the Spirit, being the church, they continue to participate in the functions and things that are happening at the temple. And so in Acts chapter 3, as Peter and John are headed to the temple for the time of prayer,

They encounter a lame man, and they end up being used by God to heal this lame man who was born lame and has never walked, but now he's walking and leaping and jumping and praising God, and it causes quite a stir on the Temple Mount, and so people are gathered together, and Peter and John are preaching the gospel there, and it gets the attention of the religious leaders, and that takes us into Acts chapter 4, where

where Peter and John are called in before the religious leaders, before the Jewish Sanhedrin, and they're commanded, they're threatened to stop preaching in the name of Jesus, to stop working and healing in the name of Jesus. And of course, Peter and John say, we can't do that. We have to continue to do what God has called us to do.

Well, at the end of chapter 4, we saw the practice of the church at that time as people were sharing and giving, and there was this great community that was developing as they were ministering to each other's practical needs. And then that leads us into Acts chapter 5, where we have the account of Ananias and Sapphira, who tried to fit in, you know, with that whole thing, and they were pretending to be incredibly generous in giving it all, but their hypocrisy really cost them their lives as God called them out on it.

and they dropped down dead right there at the church as they were giving the money, which wasn't a problem. And they only gave part of the money that they made, but that wasn't a problem either. The problem was they were giving part of the money and declaring that they were giving all of the money. And so God called them out on it, and it tells us there that great fear fell upon the church.

Well, now as we head into verse 12 through the end of the chapter, we're continuing to watch the church develop. They're still learning how to walk and what God wants for them as a church. This is probably within the first one or two years of the church being developed in Acts chapter 2, the establishing of the church, the Holy Spirit being poured out. And so they're continuing to develop. They're continuing to spread the gospel and do the work that God has set apart for them.

And so as we look at Acts chapter 5 verses 12 through 42, again, the title is Empowered to Obey God. And there's five points that we will walk through together.

The first point is in the passage we just read, verses 12 through 16, and that is, obey God and watch him work mightily. That's what we see happen in these verses. As the disciples, as the church seeks to obey God and do what God has set before them, God is working alongside of them and working through them to accomplish great miracles. Verse 12 again says, and

And through the hands of the apostles, many signs and wonders were done among the people. And so as this, you know, great work is beginning, as the church is established, there's signs and wonders that are taking place. Now, I like that Dave Guzik points out here. He says we shouldn't miss the connection between the purity preserved in the first part of the chapter to the power displayed here. And that is something important to consider.

That as God was bringing purity in the church in calling out the hypocrisy of Ananias and Sapphira, that going along with that was this power that was demonstrated in these miraculous signs. And many times there is a connection for us to consider. And sometimes if we're lacking in power, if we don't see the power of God at work in our lives, it is appropriate for us to consider our purity and where are we at in our relationship with the Lord in that regard.

Well, also in verse 12, it says they were all with one accord in Solomon's porch.

Solomon's porch was an area of the temple, and so the temple was not just the place where the priests, you know, served and where the altar was, but surrounding that area also. There was meeting spaces and open areas, and Solomon's porch was one of those, and there was no really other place for them to meet to be able to house. Remember, the church was several thousand people at this time, and not that they would all gather together at once necessarily, but it was a

big group of people. And so they would meet together at this common area and they would worship the Lord there. They would, you know, Acts 2 42, they were steadfast in the apostles doctrine. And so they would go through teaching and, and hear what the apostles had to say. They would listen to the instruction from the word of God. They would worship, they would fellowship, they would pray together. And all of these things they would be doing there at Solomon's porch in a very public way, you know, in a public gathering spot.

But then verse 13,

And so the church was developing quite a reputation. You can imagine, you know, if someone, you know, walked into the church and fell down dead because of their hypocrisy, then the next week people would be a little bit more hesitant to walk into the church. There would be, you know, I don't know if I want to do this. Do I want to risk this? And so there was maybe that kind of fear, a great fear that came after Ananias and Sapphira. And so the church was developing quite a reputation.

But also at the same time, the people are recognizing that there is a work going on. It says there the people esteemed them highly. They're realizing God is at work. They're realizing something amazing is happening. But there's this, you know, timidity, perhaps because of what happened within the church, or also perhaps because of what we'll see, the opposition against the church, right?

Remember, this is a gathering of people who are focused on the one that the religious leaders just turned over to be crucified. So there would be some strong opposition on the outside from the religious leaders, which we'll see here in Acts chapter 5.

Verse 14, So here he describes a little bit of the work that's going on. First of all, believers are increasingly added to the Lord.

And he says both men and women. So men and women are getting saved and they're being added to the Lord. The crowd is growing. The congregation is growing and their reputation is growing as well. And that's what verse 15 is about. So as people are hearing about the works that are going on and the things that are happening, they begin to bring people to be healed and to just be close by to the action of, you know, what's happening so that they, you

are able to, you know, be in the shadow of Peter as he walks by. He probably had kind of his normal routine, again, as they would gather together certain times of the day. They knew what time he would be there. They knew what route he would take. And so they would set up, you know, their friend or loved one, you know, so that as Peter walked by, the shadow would pass over them.

And it doesn't actually say that any of them were healed. Maybe they were, maybe they weren't, we don't know. But that's their esteem of Peter and their esteem of the people that God was gathering there at the temple. Verse 16, as 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.

So they were bringing people and people were being healed. They were being delivered from demons. It was really getting people's attention. They were seeing the work that was going on. And now the result is it's not just getting the attention of the people in Jerusalem, but it says a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem.

And so now they're much like the ministry of Jesus. People are bringing sick people from all over to, you know, be impacted by Jesus. Well, that work is continuing here through the disciples. And so people are bringing the sick. They're bringing their friends, their family members, and they're coming from all over to Jerusalem to be part of this and to possibly receive this type of healing. Now, this really begins to show us that

What Jesus promised them in Acts chapter 1 verse 8 is really being fulfilled. We look at Acts chapter 1 verse 8 as really an outline of the book of Acts, and I just want to refresh your memory on that for a moment here.

In Acts chapter 1 verse 8, again Jesus says, And so he promises this power that comes from the Holy Spirit to be witnesses to Jesus. To be witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus, the truth of the gospel.

And so they receive this power and it's being effective in doing what Jesus said the Holy Spirit would empower them to do. Miracles are taking place. The work of God, that's the power of the Holy Spirit. It's of course one of the gifts of the Spirit is the working of miracles. And so it's one aspect of the work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. But the result clearly demonstrated here is that they are being witnesses to Jesus and

And so people are coming from all over and are being exposed to the gospel. They're being exposed to the message of Jesus Christ.

And so Jesus says, you're going to be witnesses to me in Jerusalem. And that describes for us Acts chapters 1 through 7. We'll see the apostles primarily focused in Jerusalem still for the next couple of chapters. But then he also says, you'll be witnesses to me in Judea and Samaria. And we'll see that spread out then. The message goes out in Acts chapter 8 through chapter 11. We'll see that focus and that ministry to Judea and Samaria spread

And then he says, to the end of the earth and the rest of the book of Acts. Acts chapter 11 through 28 at the end is going to be that record of the disciples bringing forth, the apostles bringing forth the gospel message to the entire world. And so we're just about finished with the first part. The witness in Jerusalem is really taking place. Again, we saw in verse 13 that the people esteemed them highly.

So they're taking notice. They're recognizing that the Lord is at work. In verse 14, again, it says, believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

So there's a big work that's happening in Jerusalem. There are being witnesses to Jerusalem and believers are increasingly added and multitudes of men and women are turning to the Lord. And so again, there are being witnesses to Jesus there in Jerusalem. And then not just the people in Jerusalem turning to the Lord, but in verse 16, it tells us the great multitude from the surrounding cities comes and they come to Jerusalem where this witness is happening, where the Lord is being powerfully delivered.

testified of and demonstrated through the working of the church. And then a little bit later on, we'll see in verse 28, the religious leaders tell the disciples, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine.

And they didn't mean it as a compliment, but what a great compliment. You know, they're being faithful to their mission. They're being effective in what God called them to do. And they've filled Jerusalem with the doctrine, with the message of Jesus Christ. And so as they're obeying God, they're watching him work mightily.

They're joining with God in the work of reaching Jerusalem like he told them that they would. And then he's going to expand that and send them into Judea and Samaria in the coming weeks. We'll get to see that. As the disciples obeyed God, the Spirit empowered them to be a witness and to work miracles.

Now, this kind of passage often causes people to consider, why don't we see these kinds of miracles today? And there's a couple ways that we could talk about that. I'll just mention a couple briefly. First of all, as I mentioned earlier, sometimes we need to consider the purity of the church and the purity of our lives. If we want to see the work of God powerfully, we need to consider the purity of the church.

we need to make sure that we're walking in purity. We need to make sure that we are walking in a real genuine relationship with God in repentance and not in compromise or living in sin. Now, we could take that to an extreme in a legalistic way. You know, it's not that God works through us or in us because we're so holy or because we're so, you know, follow these strict rules. That's not the case. But it's that real relationship with God and responding as he speaks to us that is really important.

in experiencing the power of God in our lives.

But another thought I would just throw out there is a reminder that miracles don't make believers. We saw that clearly in the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Even, you know, the resurrection of the dead doesn't, you know, cause people to believe. Instead, Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing the word of God. And so we need to understand, even we may not see, you know, that type of miracles taking place on a regular basis, but

The point is not that God's not working, but it's that those don't make believers. Miracles don't make believers. They go along with the work of people believing and walking with Jesus. God does still work mightily today. And I would suggest to you that wherever there is obedience to God, there will be miraculous works.

one final thought to consider on that is that the book of Acts is a condensed history, you know, of the beginning of the church. Uh,

And so sometimes we look at that and think that this is, you know, how it was every day, that kind of thing. But it's, you know, it's summarizing, you know, a few years time and the book of Acts is over 30 years time. And so, you know, those works there. And so if you look back over 30 years of history of our church, you know, today or the Calvary Chapel movement or the church in the United States or around the world, you do see these kinds of miracles take place. God is still working in this way as you look at it on that scale.

But so again, the point is obey God and watch him work mightily. Join with God in his work by being obedient to him and you'll get to see God work mightily and wonderfully. And again, you may not see, you know, maybe you're not laying hands on people every day and healing them, but as you look back over, you know, your life, as you go a few years walking with the Lord, you'll get to see how God was doing amazing things and God worked mightily as you were obedient to him.

Well, moving on to verses 17 through 26, we have point number two, and that is obey God over all others. As we seek to obey God, we need to make sure that he is first and foremost and that we obey him above all others. Verse 17 says, 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 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.

The high priest rises up and he's upset again at the disciples. Now this is the second time that these apostles are imprisoned. The first time happened in Acts chapter 4 and as they arrested them on the temple mount, they placed them before the Sanhedrin and in verse 18 of Acts chapter 4 it says, "...they commanded them to not speak at all or teach in the name of Jesus."

And so they had previously arrested them in the previous chapter and said, stop speaking, stop teaching in the name of Jesus. But Peter's response in verse 19 was, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge.

Essentially what Peter said is, look, you guys figure out what's right in this case. What we need to do, what we're going to do is we're going to obey God. We know what God's told us to do. We're going to do that. And you decide amongst yourself whether it's better for us to obey you versus obeying God.

He says in verse 20, we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. We have no choice. We have to speak the things we have seen and heard. We are witnesses to Jesus. He's commanded us to be these witnesses. And so we're going to persist in our faith.

And so in chapter 4, they're imprisoned, they're threatened, they're commanded, do not speak in the name of Jesus. And the disciples say, no way, because they're committed to obey God over all others. No matter what authority would speak to them and say something different, they said, no, we're going to be faithful to obey God.

And here we see in this chapter, chapter 5, God will ask them to continue this and to obey him over all others. And so here they are arrested. They're going to stand trial. But verse 19, it says, But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.

So God does this miraculous delivery. They're in prison. They're waiting their trial, but an angel opens the prison doors and brings them out. And notice what he says. He doesn't say, you know, run away, get somewhere safe, get far away from here. No, even though you've been forbidden to speak in the name of Jesus, and even though you've been imprisoned again for doing so, here's what we want you to do. Here's what God wants you to do.

Go share the gospel openly, publicly, in the public temple gathering area, no matter who says differently. So the angel tells them, go stand in the temple and speak to the people the words of this life, the words of the gospel, the life that's offered in the name of Jesus. They were set free, but

but not to run away. They were set free to do the work that God had commanded them to do. And I like what Dave Guzik says about this. He says, we are set free so that we may proclaim all the words of this life instead of being set free for our own pleasure and comfort.

Like the apostles, you and I have been set free, maybe not from a literal prison, but we've been set free from the bondage to sin and death. We've been set free and delivered from so much junk and mire in our lives. And Dave's pointing out here,

We're set free, similar to the apostles, for a purpose. Not so then, okay, well, all right, I'm set free. I'm delivered from sin. I'm delivered from death. I have the opportunity of heaven and that future awaiting me. So let me just kick back and be comfortable and live for my pleasure and just enjoy life. And definitely God wants you to enjoy life and he wants to give you good things. But at the same time, we need to remember and be reminded that we're set free because

So that we can proclaim the words of this life. We're set free to do the work of God. We're set free to obey God. Before we didn't have an option. We didn't have an opportunity to obey God. But we're set free so that we can obey God. And so the Lord would speak to us and say, go stand in the temple or wherever he may call you and speak to the people all the words of this life. Verse 21. Verse 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.

So the disciples, the apostles, they hear this message from the angel, go and speak the words of this life. And so what does it say that they do? It says they entered the temple early in the morning and taught. When they heard what the Lord commanded, it was immediate obedience for them.

The first opportunity they had to obey, they obeyed. It says early in the morning, they went and taught. So first opportunity, they're delivered overnight. We don't know exactly how much time passed, but you know, whether it's immediately as in a few minutes or immediately as within a couple hours, you know, as the opportunity is there and people are gathered there in the morning, they're there. First chance they get, they obey God immediately.

It demonstrates this real conviction that they had this real commitment to obeying God. There were setbacks. There were imprisonments. There were, you know, challenges and opposition, but they were persistent to do what God called them to do. There were consequences that they were facing. They didn't know what they would face as they went back in. They'd just been arrested for this. And God says, now get back and do it again publicly, openly. There was going to be a real threat before them.

but they were persistent to do what God called them to do. They were obeying God over all others. I would ask us to consider

What are you doing for God at all costs without regard for the consequences? Is there anything in your life that you obey God to that degree, that you have such a radical commitment? It doesn't matter who says what or what's going to happen, but you're faithful. You're committed. You are going to obey God no matter what happens. I would say that we need to have those kinds of things in our life. We need to have those kinds of commitments to God, and we need to obey God to that degree.

Consider the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20. As he's talking to the Ephesian elders, he's on his way to Jerusalem and he's being warned over and over, chains await you in Jerusalem. There's going to be trials there. There's going to be beatings there. There's going to be, you know, imprisonment there. And Paul says in Acts chapter 20 verse 24, he says, but none of these things move me, nor do I count my life dear to myself.

so that I may finish my race with joy and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus to testify to the gospel of the grace of God. Paul says, it doesn't matter if chains await me. It doesn't matter if shipwreck awaits me. It doesn't matter if beatings await me. What matters to me, he says, I don't count my life dear to myself. What matters to me is finishing my race with joy.

finishing the ministry that I received from Jesus. I need to be faithful to that, and I'm going to obey God over all others, no matter who says what and no matter what threats await me. Again, what are you doing for God to this degree, at all costs, without regard for the consequences, that you will obey God?

Well, that's what the apostles are doing. They're set free. They go back to teach. Now, the Sanhedrin don't know that they're delivered yet. They don't know that they're out of prison. And so we're going to pick it up with them in verse 21, kind of jumping in the middle. It says,

But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported saying, indeed, we have found the prison shut securely and the guards standing outside before the doors. But when we opened them, we found no one inside. Now, when the high priest, the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. This is a little bit of a comical scene here as the high priest gathers the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council together.

And they're there. Okay, we have, you know, our normal meeting. What's up first on the docket? All right, we have this trial with these apostles that we arrested last night. Okay, bring him in. Send the bailiff. So the bailiff goes. He goes to, you know, where the prisoners are held. He sees the guards. He says, hey, Joe. Hi, George. You know, you know, I need to

get these prisoners and take them into the Sanhedrin. So they open the doors and they look inside and nobody's there. They didn't realize what had happened. They didn't realize that they were missing until they were summoned at this point. And so they come back and they bring this word. I mean, the guards were there. Joe was there. George was there. They were awake. I mean, everything was in order. There was no signs of breakout or anything like that, but they were just nowhere to be found.

And it says in verse 24, they wondered what the outcome would be. They were curious. They were mystified. What on earth happened here? And then verse 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.

They didn't find the apostles where they expected them. Where did they find them? In the temple, obeying God above all others, teaching the people right there openly, blatantly, in public, in front of all the people. Verse 26, then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people lest they should be stoned.

And so now they're going to bring them in and try them. But notice what it says. They brought them, but they were very careful. They brought them without violence. They weren't first full. They didn't yank them. Hey, what are you guys doing out here? And just drag them off. They were very careful. Excuse me. Hey, can you guys come with us? We need to talk to you. They were being very careful. Why? Well, it says that they feared the people.

This is something that we see common throughout the Gospels as well in the ministry of Jesus. The religious leaders often could not do what they wanted to do with Jesus because they feared the people.

They couldn't do what they wanted because they feared how the people would respond and what the people might do. In Luke chapter 20, verse 19, it tells us the chief priests and the scribes that very hour sought to lay hands on Jesus, but they feared the people. But it says, for they knew he had spoken this parable against them. They heard the parable. They said, oh my goodness, he's talking about us. I can't believe he would talk about us that way. We need to take care of him. But oh, no, no, no. What are the people going to say? How are they going to respond?

You see the contrast here. The religious leaders fear the people, but the disciples fear God more than man. They fear God more than man, and that's why they obey God over all others. We need to be like the apostles. Now, there is appropriate reason

fear. And so not to say that we should be foolish, you know, and don't walk down the dark alley at night waving your iPhone, you know, inviting to be, you know, harmed or mugged or something. There is appropriate fear. There's times where, you know, God wants us to have that kind of fear and use wisdom. But let me put it this way. We need to use wisdom with people, but always obey God first.

And so there might be things that, well, wisdom would say, or, you know, fear would say, yeah, that's probably not the best thing to do. But sometimes God's going to say, but that's what I want you to do.

I mean, if you were an advisor to the apostles and they were set free from prison, your advice, you would say wisdom is not go back into the temple and preach the gospel. Wisdom is, you know, get out of here, get safe. But that's not what God called them to do. And so we need to use wisdom, but we need to always obey God first and not fear the people and let that determine what we do. But our obedience to God needs to come above everything else. Obey God over all others, right?

Jesus says in Luke chapter 12 verse 4 and 5, he says, And so Jesus says, you need to fear God above all else. Don't fear a man. The worst they could do is kill your body, but then you're in eternity with God. So that's the worst they could do. They can't touch your eternity, but

But God, he impacts your eternity. He has power and authority over your eternity. And so make sure you fear God above everyone else. And that fear God and obedience to God that goes hand in hand, that we need to make sure that we obey God and we don't allow the fear of people to cause us to be disobedient to God.

If you want to be empowered by the Holy Spirit, you need to have a real commitment, a radical commitment to obey God over all others. And as you obey God in that way, God empowers you to do the work that he has set before you. What are you doing for God at all costs without regard for the consequences? Well, point number three now, verses 27 through 32, point number three is obey God and share the gospel.

In verse 27, it says, So the apostles are brought into the council before the Sanhedrin, and the high priest says, you guys got to explain yourselves.

Didn't we strictly command you? We told you not to teach in his name, and yet yesterday we find you teaching. We arrested you. Somehow you're out of the prison this morning, and now you're teaching again. You have defied our command. You've rebelled against us. What do you have to say for yourself? We commanded you. That was Acts chapter 4. We told you don't speak in the name of Jesus.

But look what you've done in verse 28. Again, it wasn't meant to be a compliment, but I'm sure the disciples received it that way. You filled Jerusalem with your doctrine. Everybody knows, everybody's talking about Jesus. You filled Jerusalem. And again, fulfilling Acts chapter one, verse eight, they're being witnesses to Jesus in Jerusalem. And so all of Jerusalem knows about Jesus. They know this doctrine. They've been impacted by this message.

And the religious leaders are very upset. And so they demand an answer. What are you doing? Why are you doing this? And Peter responds in verse 29. Well, actually it says, Peter and the other apostles answered and said, we ought to obey God rather than men. We ought to obey God rather than men. They say, going back to point number two, obey God over all others. We have to obey God first. You commanded us and you're an authority here in Israel, but we have to obey God even before you.

We are commanded in the scriptures to obey authorities. And God has established authority. He's made it very clear. He is the one who gives all authority. And so he's established authority in the home. He's established authority in the workplace. He's established authority in the government. Wherever there is authority, God says, I've established it and you're to be obedient. And even so far as to say, look, when you obey authority, you obey God. That's hand in hand. You obey your boss at work. You're obeying Jesus. That's the way that God works.

describes it throughout the scriptures. And so we are commanded to obey authorities until there is a conflict. When these earthly authorities command us to disobey God, well, then our priority must be to obey God first. And we refuse to disobey God. We disobey instead our

earthly authority. Or if they forbid us to obey God. You know, you cannot do what God's told you to do. You cannot do what God's word says. Well, again, then we disobey the earthly authority in order to be obedient to God. And so we are commanded to obey authorities unless there's a conflict. And then we obey God rather than men. That's what the apostles respond. Verse 30. Verse 30.

Here Peter gives them the gospel message. He gave them the gospel in Acts chapter 4, and now he's taking this opportunity to do it once again.

He tells them that Jesus was crucified. He said you hung him on a tree. That's an essential part of the gospel message. But also that Jesus resurrected. He says the God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered. And so he talks about Jesus being crucified, Jesus being resurrected. He says Jesus is the savior in verse 31. God has exalted him to his right hand to be prince and savior and

But he also here makes reference to Jesus being equal with the Father. As he says, God has exalted him to his right hand. That's not just a geographic place or just a location, but it's also a statement of the equality of Jesus to the Father, that he is at the right hand of the Father, meaning that he is equal with God. And these are essential elements to the gospel message, that Jesus Christ, being God, became man,

to die upon the cross, but he didn't stay in the grave. He was resurrected, and that's why he is the Savior. He is the Son of God. And Peter also brings up repentance and forgiveness there in verse 31. He calls us to repentance, to turn from sin, but he also promises us and gives us the forgiveness of sins. And so as they're called to give an account for their actions, Peter gives the gospel. This is why we're doing what we're doing. This is what took place. It's the gospel message. It's the core of who we are.

It's the core of our mission. It's what God has commanded us to do, and he's commanded us to share. He doesn't say, well, here's what we're doing. You know, we've started this healing ministry, or hey, we have the right. I think if we were to experience this kind of thing today, and we might perhaps, you know, our nation seems to be headed kind of in that way. We would be maybe appealing to our rights, or hey, we're okay to gather here. What's your problem? You know, we have the right to do these things.

But I like the example of the apostles here. They're using this. They're looking at this as an opportunity. We need to stick to the gospel. That's who we are. That's what we're gathering together for. That's the message that needs to be heard. And so here again, they preach the gospel before the Sanhedrin. In verse 32, it says, So this is what happened and we are his witnesses.

We're testifying to you. We saw these things take place. We saw Jesus crucified. We saw Jesus resurrected. This is the truth, and we are bearing witness to that. It's our responsibility and obligation to bring forth this message, but we're not doing it alone. He says the Holy Spirit also is a witness to these things, and that's not just for us, but he says the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God, and so we're

Again, as the believers are being added to the Lord there in the church, the Holy Spirit is being given to them. And it's not just the 12 apostles that are empowered by the Spirit, but the church is empowered by the Spirit. And the Spirit is testifying with the signs and miracles. The Spirit is testifying along with the disciples that Jesus is the Savior, that He died and resurrected, that He is the only way, truth, and life.

And so the apostles set forth a good model for us. We need to obey God and share the gospel. If you want to see the power of God at work in your life, obey him. You want to see the power of God at work in your life, share the gospel and look for those opportunities. The Holy Spirit is given to those who obey God. The Holy Spirit empowers us to be witnesses to Jesus. Point number four now in verses 33 through 39 says,

Obey God and those who oppose will fight against God. In verse 33, it says, when they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.

The religious leaders seem to get more and more upset each time they hear the gospel. They heard the gospel, of course, from Jesus himself. They heard the gospel in Acts chapter 4. Now they're hearing it again, and they're furious. They want to just take out the apostles altogether. Now again, we don't know. We know Peter's there. We don't know. It mentions the other apostles. We don't know how many are there actually, but they want to just take them all out, just wipe them all out, get rid of them altogether.

But someone intervenes in verse 34. It says, So this guy Gamaliel stands up. Now, this guy is a highly respected Pharisee. He's the grandson of a famous rabbi named Hillel. And, uh,

He was a famous rabbi, you know, right before the time of Christ. There was Hillel and I think Shammai, and they were kind of like two, you know, high-ranking, highly esteemed rabbis who had slightly different ideas and interpretations of the scripture and stuff. And so when Jesus is challenged about divorce, you know, it's these opinions and these teachings that

Hillel was one of them. And this guy Gamaliel is the grandson of this guy. And so he has some of that honor, that reputation, but he also has developed his own reputation. And he's a really avid student of the Old Testament scriptures. He was given the title by the people that means our teacher. It is a little bit of a step higher. You know, they would call a teacher rabbi.

And that was a title of esteem. It was something reverent. And oh, wow, teacher, yes. But then there would also be those who they would call my teacher. If you had a close connection with the rabbi, it would be, you're not just a teacher, but you're my teacher. But Gamaliel was given the title our teacher so that the nation as a whole, the people as a whole collectively said, he.

He is our teacher. And maybe we could kind of think about this like Pastor Chuck, right? You have, you know, perhaps your own pastor. You know, well, there's a pastor, and then there's like my pastor, but then there's, you know, Pastor Chuck is just a pastor who is all of our pastor, and he influenced so many and impacted so many in that way. And Gamaliel was that kind of, had that kind of role and esteem.

in the nation of Israel. And so he stands up and people are going to listen. Now, I think it's important to point out, he's not a believer and he's not believing in Jesus at this time. And the things that he says isn't really inspired by God or anything like that, but it's his wisdom. And they're listening to him because he has this high esteem. Verse 35. And he said to them, men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men.

For some time ago, Thutis rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about 400, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. 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."

So Gamaliel gives a few examples of failed revolutions. He just gives two examples. There are actually many who rose up in the nation of Israel and claimed to be a savior for Israel. And so he gives out these two examples, two recent examples that they were familiar with. Here's Thutis. He rose up.

But you know what happened? He died and then it just kind of dissolved. It came to nothing. And then here's Judas of Galilee and he rose up and claimed to be somebody, but he died and it fizzled out. Verse 38, "'And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing. But if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it, lest you even be found to fight against God.'"

Gamaliel's advice is, hey, look at these two examples. Look at how it happened, the pattern. They rose up, they died, they fizzled out. Gamaliel's advice is, let's just let that pattern happen again. Just leave them alone and it'll fizzle out. He didn't believe that they were of God. Otherwise, he would have received the gospel. He would have turned to Jesus, but he didn't. He didn't believe that they were of God, but he just wasn't as threatened by them as the other religious leaders were.

He wasn't intimidated. He was just like, it'll fizzle out. It's not that big of a deal. Those other groups fizzled out. This one will too. However, and so he does say one good thing there at the end of verse 39. If it is of God, he says, you cannot overthrow it unless you even be found to fight against God. And that is a good thing to consider. He says, look, on the off chance, I don't think so.

It's not my opinion that they're of God, but on the off chance that they are from God, they claim to be from God. So on the off chance that they are from God, he's saying, don't put yourself in the position of fighting against God. Don't put yourself in the position of being against the Lord, because that's the reality. When you obey God, if there is opposition, those who oppose you are not fighting you against

They're fighting against God. Those who oppose you, it's not really your responsibility. It's not your obligation. You don't have to, obviously, you know, the people who oppose you, like the apostles, I mean, they're facing their accusers, but it's really God's problem. It's really God's issue. Now, for us to consider this today, you know, I think we all understand we can have people mad at us and upset at us and oppose us for many reasons, some good and some bad. And

I would ask you to consider in the opposition that you've experienced, let's say over the past couple years or so, when there has been opposition, when there has been conflict and confrontation with other people in your life, how much of that is because you're being obedient to God? It's something we need to consider. Yeah, we can stir up a lot of conflict and have a lot of opposition, but that isn't necessarily the

come from us being obedient to God, from us being faithful to do what God has called us to do. We need to be obedient to God. And that great comfort, that great confidence is, sometimes we're fearful to obey God because we know it's not popular. We know it's not, you know, and we'll see that in the closing verses in just a moment. It's not the world's favorite thing. It's not going to sit well with the people around us, perhaps. But the confidence that we can have is, look, if you obey God,

You're staying and keeping yourself in the center of God's will. Those who oppose will find themselves fighting against God, and God will be dealing with that situation. Really, the focus for us needs to be to work hard to stay in tune with God and walk in obedience with God. Warren Wiersbe points out on this point to, you know, make sure it's conviction and not just opinion. So,

Yeah, we can be real, you know, determined and, you know, we're going to do this no matter what people say. But make sure, you know, when you take that kind of stance that you're doing what God says. It's conviction, not just opinion, not just this is what I want or this is what I prefer or this is what I think, but this is what God has said. And so we need to have that confidence. But as we have that confidence, as we hear from God and walk with God and do what God calls us to do, man, it's great comfort. It's great confidence to know that,

as we do that, when there's opposition, it's against God that people are fighting. When you do God's work and people fight against you, they fight against God. Well, finishing it up in verses 40 through 42, we have point number five, and that is obey God despite the shame. We need to be obedient to God even though it means there's going to be suffering and shame involved. Verse 40 says,

And they agreed with him. And when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

So they hear out Gamaliel and say, okay, yeah, that sounds pretty good. We do want to make sure we don't fight against God. So we're not going to kill them, but we will beat them. So they called the apostles back in and they beat them. This is probably the 39 lashes, which was a serious beating. It wasn't, you know, just a little slap on the wrist. I mean, they went away bleeding. They went away and they had genuinely suffered a real beating at the hands of the religious leaders. And so they beat them and then they command them to not speak in the name of Jesus.

Essentially, they say, let's try this again. We told you not to speak in the name of Jesus in chapter 4, but now we're going to tell you again, and we're going to add a beating to it to make sure you know we're serious and to get you to stop teaching in this name. Verse 41, it says, Verse 41 is pretty amazing.

It says, they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing. They left that meeting rejoicing. I don't know if I would have left that meeting rejoicing. It could have been written this way. They left that council bleeding, which was true. They had been beaten. They were bleeding. It could have said, they departed from the presence of the council beaten or suffering. And those would have been true. But it says, they left rejoicing rejoicing.

That's pretty incredible. These guys are radically sold out to the work of God and to the things that God has said and the things that God has commanded them. So they are obeying God despite the shame and even rejoicing. It says that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. They were rejoicing that they were counted worthy to represent Jesus in this way.

counted worthy to suffer shame. This is the right perspective. This is a needed perspective, and it's one that we often fail to have. We don't like shame. We don't like that difference of opinion. We don't like the opposition. We don't like people to not think well of us. We don't like, but the reality is God says, my ways are not your ways, as high as the heavens are above the earth. The obedience to God is never going to fit in with the world.

Later on, after this event, Peter would write in 1 Peter chapter 4, He says, don't think it's strange.

When you experience trial, you're going to experience trial. It's going to happen. Don't think it's strange. It's going to happen. It's the normal thing for the Christian life. And so instead, what you need to do is learn to rejoice as you partake in Christ's sufferings. Because when his glory is revealed, there's a future for you. God has some eternal rewards for you and you'll have joy and be exceedingly glad. And so learn to rejoice in suffering. There will always be shame and suffering in obeying God.

Now, in our society, in our culture, you know, we know this to a lesser degree than the rest of Christians throughout all history and even around the world today. Christians are imprisoned for the gospel, for obedience to God. They're put to death. They're mocked. They're treated poorly.

We experience a little bit and we're experiencing more as we see our nation continue to turn away from God and we might get to experience, you know, what the rest of the world has experienced. We kind of live in this little bubble that's an anomaly throughout all history and in comparison to the rest of the world. The majority of Christians are persecuted for their faith and suffer for obedience to God.

And it's amazing how we get, you know, so bent out of shape and worked up when we just experience a little bit of shame, a little bit of opposition. There's going to be shame in the workplace as you obey God, but obey God despite the shame. There's going to be shame in the family.

The way that you're treated, the way that you're talked to, the way that you're talked about, it's going to happen as you obey God. But obey God despite the shame. The shame is going to be there in society. Society will look down upon us for obeying God. But we need to be faithful and radical in our commitment to obey God no matter what the shame may come. There'll be shame for the gospel message.

It's too simplistic. It's too ancient. We live in the new world or new age or whatever. This religion or that religion is better. There'll be shame for the way you spend your time or the way you spend your money, for the way you treat one another, on and on. The ways of God are contrary to the ways of this world. And it's so easy for us to want to fit in better. Oh yeah, we would love it to just be more comfortable. But let me remind you of what Guzik said. You're not set free to be comfortable.

That's not why God delivered you and redeemed you. He could have just taken you up into heaven, you know, and then you would have ultimate comfort for the rest of eternity right when you're saved. But he delivered you and he left you here because there's a work to do. There's obedience to follow through on. And there's things that he wants you to be engaged in.

And the disciples are obeying God despite the shame, despite the suffering that comes along with it. Verse 42, and daily in the temple and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. The disciples clearly understood the consequences if they continued and they kept on preaching Jesus.

They kept on ministering the gospel, declaring that Jesus is the Savior, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Really great example for us. We need to be faithful to be obedient to God. We saw at the beginning of the passage, the power of God at work. They were empowered by God to do great works as they were obedient. And if we want to see the word of God go forth with power, if we want to see God work in power, we need faith.

to bring our hearts to a place of obedience to God. Now that may mean for us that we need to have some clear instruction from the Lord. I mean, we have, of course, the commands of scripture and those we need to obey. Commands to do certain things, commands to turn away from sin. But then there's also the personal things that God would want to speak to your life. Personal instruction he wants to give you.

the mission for your life, the purpose for your life, the gifts that he's given to you. Focus on hearing from God and then obey him to this degree. Obey him and watch him work mightily. God still does work mightily. And wherever there's obedience to God, there will be miraculous works. The power is proportional to the obedience. And we need to obey God above all others.

Making sure that he's first and foremost. What are you doing for God at all costs without regard for the consequences? We need to obey God and share the gospel.

We're not just a nice club. We're not just, you know, good people with good morals that gather together. We live because of the gospel. We live to proclaim the gospel. We live because God has us here to share the good news. And listen, the Holy Spirit is given to those who obey him. As we share the gospel, the Holy Spirit will be at work in your life and through your life. Obey God and those who oppose will fight against God.

You can have a lot of opposition in your life. You can have family and friends and people all upset with you and against you for many reasons. Make sure you stay in the center of God's will so that when they fight against you, when they're upset with you and come against you, that it's because you're being obedient to God. And then it's God's battle. It's God's fight. It's God's deal. It's not yours. And finally, obey God despite the shame. There will be shame. There will be suffering.

There will be rejection. There will be people who cast us out. But we need to be faithful to God. That's what God's called us to do. That's what he's commanded us to do. And I'd like to close with a final thought from Charles Spurgeon. He says, "'What a shameful thing it is "'that while you are bold about everything else, "'you are cowardly about Jesus Christ, "'brave for the world and cowardly towards Christ.'"

It's a bold statement that Spurgeon says. I pray that it's not true of us, but it is easily true in our lives, isn't it? We can be bold about so many things. Everybody knows our favorite team. Everybody knows our favorite food. Everybody knows what we're excited and passionate about, but nobody knows about Jesus through us. Nobody knows about Jesus and our commitment to Him and our love for Him. We're bold about so many things.

As he says, brave for the world and cowardly towards Christ. Lord, let this not be true of our hearts. Let this not be true of our lives. Let's pray. Lord, I pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit. Empower us, God.

Help us, Lord, to have this conviction, to have this commitment, to be obedient to you at all costs, no matter what the consequences, to obey you above all else. And Lord, may you give us your Holy Spirit to do that, to empower us to be obedient to you. And Lord, may you also pour out your Holy Spirit so as we obey you.

Lord, you would bring forth your work that you would work miraculously in our lives and in the lives of the people around us. Lord, that you would work miraculously and bring forth the gospel message with power to the world around us. Lord, help us to be brave for you, Lord, that we would be known for our relationship with you, even above and beyond everything else in our lives. Give us that kind of power as we obey you, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.