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"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 3 · Cumberland Trace Church of Christ (Formerly Lehman Ave Church of Christ)

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All right, good morning.
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This quarter, we're looking at the challenges that we, the church, will always face.
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Study working through the book of Acts, and if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn
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it to Acts chapter 3.
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Last week, Neil dealt with Acts chapter 2 and talked about the challenge of sharing
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our faith or preaching the gospel, and we're going to pick up where he left off, talking
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about the challenge we face concerning religious pressure or the challenge the church will
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always face concerning religious pressure and what that means for us in a practical
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sense.
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So just kind of finishing up, some of Neil touched on this, but maybe didn't get to it
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exactly like he wanted to, but Acts 2, 42 through 47 is the response to Peter's sermon.
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So if you've got your Bible open to Acts 3, I'm sure you can see Acts chapter 2 on
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the page to the other side, and in Acts 2, 41, those that gladly received his words were
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baptized and that same day there was added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they devoted
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themselves or continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking
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of bread, and the prayer.
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So right after these folks are baptized, they're immersed into the church, the community of
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God's people, and they worship God together.
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Verse 43 down through verse 45 of Acts 2 is a picture of the church sharing their goods
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and selling their possessions and giving them to every person as they had need.
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Verse 46 says they were daily in the temple with one accord, eating their food with gladness
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and simplicity of heart, and then Luke gives the summary statement in verse 47, praising
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God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number or
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to the church day by day those that were being saved.
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So Acts 2 begins with the preaching of the gospel.
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It ends with these about 3,000 individuals responding favorably to the gospel message,
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and then Luke's summary statement in Acts 2, 42 through 47 is the church is enjoying
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this great time of fellowship, unity, praise, worship, and this camaraderie with each other,
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which sets us up for Acts chapter 3, Acts chapters 3 through 5, where there's this hostility,
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this challenge, and this difficulty that the church is going to face.
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So just think about this, coming out of Acts 2 and into Acts 3, Acts 2 ends on this great
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high note of success so far as we can tell from the conversions and people's response
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to the truth, Acts chapters 3 through 5, there's still success and we'll talk about that, but
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there is this challenge, there is hard persecution and testing.
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And just give me some of your thoughts, why do you think that's the case in your personal
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life and in the life of a congregation, in the life of the church, that normally right
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after peacetime, right after things are going really well, God allows sometimes, permits
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difficulties and intense times of testing to come into our lives personally and as the
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people of God collectively.
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What do you think is the mindset behind that?
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Why does God allow that?
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It seems, and you're going to see this as a pattern throughout the book of Acts, great
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conversions, great success, and then almost immediately following that is some difficulty
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and hardship.
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And this happens again, collectively and in our own individual lives, why do you think
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that's the case?
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Yes, ma'am?
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Transformation and the growth of faith has to be tested.
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That's right, and that often happens through difficulty.
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In Romans 5, 2 through 5, Paul will say this, right?
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We are rejoicing in tribulations because those tribulations produce patience and patience,
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endurance, and that hope that it'll produce won't make us ashamed because of the love
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of God shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.
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That happens through that testing and that difficulty.
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So sometimes God's allowing some testing to come about to bring about better in us.
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Why else?
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God disciplines.
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Yeah, God disciplines us and sometimes he does that through hardship and testing.
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Hebrews 12, 7 through 11 says you're illegitimate children if you don't go through the period
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of testing that everybody has to go through that properly belongs to their father.
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All right.
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Why else?
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What else?
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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So sometimes the difficulty came because the things they were teaching weren't readily
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acceptable to the people and as they taught different things, it brought up hardship.
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Joe?
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Yeah, sometimes the way we respond to hardship can actually be the light that brings somebody
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to the knowledge of the truth and you see this in the book of Acts.
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A lot of times what Luke is doing as you read through the 28 chapters is he's holding up
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for Theophilus, look at how innocent the Christians have been and look at the Jews and as you
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get to the later part of the book of Acts, look at how the Romans are treating them and
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look at how they continue to respond.
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I think that's what happens in Acts 16 with the Philippian jailer, but we're getting ahead
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of ourselves.
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So sometimes our response when Jesus was on trial before Pilate, it said he didn't say
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a word as they accused him in so much that Pilate marveled.
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He was surprised by the response.
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All right.
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Here's some of the other reasons.
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Oh, go ahead.
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Harry.
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Okay.
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Yeah.
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Maybe Satan doesn't want to let go.
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Maybe the devil is still, even though you just had great times, you enjoyed great success,
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the devil's still going to test and try to persecute.
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That's what you were going to say.
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He will.
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Sometimes it's just time and chance happens to everybody.
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Ecclesiastes nine, 11.
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Sometimes the difficulties just happen to come.
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These are the seasons and cycles of life.
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Sometimes it's to remind us that the end goal for Christianity isn't primarily our comfort
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and our success.
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Though we might enjoy those times of peace, the end goal of Christianity is to win the
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world for Christ.
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And sometimes we can get distracted in times of peace as we're coasting and things are
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going well.
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And I think difficulty, pressure and occasional persecution sort of reorients our mind to
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what is most important.
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And I think that happens a lot in the book of Acts.
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Another pattern just to be on the lookout for in the book of Acts, you'll see this from
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Acts two, you'll see it in Acts three and really throughout the book, but especially
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in the opening chapters, this is how the book of Acts works in pattern form.
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Number one, most times there's a miracle.
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So go back to Acts two.
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What was the miracle performed by the apostles?
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They spoke in tongues.
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Number one, there's a miracle.
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Second, there's the amazement and astonishment from the people that see the miracle.
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This is just the pattern of Acts.
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There's a miracle.
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Then there's amazement.
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That amazement or confusion often leads to a third thing, which is here's their opportunity
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to preach a message.
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After they preach, the people respond either with obedience or opposition.
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And then Luke simply reports this.
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This is what happened.
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Just be on the lookout for this in the book of Acts.
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There'll be a miracle done by the apostles.
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Then there'll be amazement by the people either saying, how did you do this?
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Or we know you did this through this power.
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Then it gives the opportunity for the apostles to do their preaching.
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Those miracles serve as platforms to allow them to do their preaching and teaching.
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And then there's the response of the people.
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Everywhere the apostles go in the book of Acts, they typically have two responses.
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They either start a revival or a riot.
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There's really no in between.
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People either love them and say, we're going to follow you wherever we go, or they try
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to do what?
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They try to kill them.
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And then Luke will report the results.
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The challenge we're going to talk about today, though, the challenge of religious pressure
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from Acts chapter three through Acts chapter five is really the focal point of their challenge
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throughout the book of Acts and really throughout the rest of the New Testament.
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The idea that the apostles are going to be basically in spiritual battle or warfare against
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the Jews and later against the Gentiles and the Romans because of what they teach and
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preach and believe.
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And so what we're going to talk about today is important because this is really the heart
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of the rest of the New Testament.
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How did Christianity make its way into a world where people were already set in their ways?
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And how did they overcome that and cover the world with Christianity?
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And as you think about the world in 2026, we should be thinking as we read these chapters,
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how do we do the same thing?
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People today can believe just about whatever they want.
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And how does Christianity make a difference in the face of religious pressure?
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One more question before we get into our text.
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Why do you think religious pressure from other religious people is the greatest challenge
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that's often faced in the book of Acts and in our time?
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What I mean is this, most religious people, even when we differ with individuals on beliefs,
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at least in a general sense, are after the same things.
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We want people to do the right thing.
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We want people to turn in the right direction.
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Why do you think even though that's the case, and especially with Judaism, which in some
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ways was very similar to Christianity, had the same foundation, the same launching point,
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the same God, why do you think the people of the Jews in the book of Acts, Judaism,
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and even in our day, some of our greatest opposition, some of our greatest challenges
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often come from other people that are also religious?
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Why is religious pressure one of the greatest challenges faced then and still faced today?
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Why is it so difficult and hard for people to respond properly?
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Ms. Vivian?
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We're not confident in what we know, and so that might cause us to be afraid.
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Kevin?
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It's, at least in this case, I mean, the Jews were in power, so loss of control.
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Yeah, losing control, and I think people face that today.
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I mean, if you're in a place of religious prestige, and by the way, the things we're
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going to talk about, the challenges that cause religious pressure, are things we equally
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struggle with and can be guilty of, but sometimes if I give in to this teaching, if I submit
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to these principles, then I'm going to lose my place of prestige, my place of prominence,
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and a loss of control.
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Without the book of Acts, the Jews, especially the Sadducees and those that rule and run
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the temple, that's exactly what they're afraid of.
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If this is true, and if this breaks in, what's going to happen to us?
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Anything else?
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We are all human, and we want our way.
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Yep, that's right.
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Here are some of the things I thought about.
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Number one, the threat of different teaching.
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Sometimes when something's new, it's just a challenge to you.
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When Jesus did miracles, they said, this man does miracles, and if he keeps this up, the
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Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.
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In John 12 and verse 19, the Jews said, the whole world's going after him.
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Sometimes we face the challenge of religious pressure because the threat of different teaching
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creates hardship for other people that believe otherwise.
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Sometimes it's looking the part versus living the part.
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Everybody that's religious isn't really serious, and some people just appear to be religious,
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but deep down inside, their motives aren't really pure.
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They're not after doing the right thing, and then there's the pride problem.
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We often tell people when we study the Bible with them, we should follow wherever the scriptures
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lead, and if we find out we're wrong, we should do what?
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Change.
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How easy is it to change, though?
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Sometimes pride...somebody said it ain't.
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Yeah, it's not.
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And so sometimes pride is the problem, and there's dishonesty and sincerity.
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Religious pressure is one of the greatest problems we face because everybody's not honest.
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You can show people the evidence, and they still will sometimes go the other way.
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Change is hard.
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I think we need to appreciate this.
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As we talk to people of different religious persuasions, you can't just show a person,
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well, here's two verses on baptism, and think they're just going to give up something that
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maybe they've been practicing, believing, and thinking all of their life.
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Change is difficult and hard, and we need to be patient as people try to make an about
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face and go in the right direction.
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And then I think sometimes anger is easier than logical reasoning.
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It's just easier to get upset than to work things through.
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When Jesus was on trial before the Sanhedrin in Luke 22 and verse 71, they finally say,
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what need do we have of further witnesses?
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You've heard the blasphemy.
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Let's just get rid of them.
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Sometimes that's easier than saying, well, let's just try to listen to what's being said
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and try to work through it.
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And I think this is why the apostles in the church in the first century had these problems.
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And as we see them work through it and how they overcame, we can see ourselves doing
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the same thing.
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I think it's important for Acts 3 through 5 for us to see the challenge of religious
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pressure and what these men overcame for one more reason.
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And that is, I think we need to be tactful.
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We need to be loving.
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We need to be kind.
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We need to be gentle.
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But I hope as we run through these three chapters, you also see their boldness.
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I think we forget as we read the book of Acts that these people were their family members,
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their countrymen, people they probably grew up with and around and went to synagogue with.
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And you got to appreciate how difficult it was to stare people like that in the face
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and say, I believe something differently than you.
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But more than that, I believe you're wrong and your wrong beliefs carry eternal consequences.
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And I think for us, one of the hardest things for us to do is to do this evangelism, do
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the work of Jesus Christ, because we have this great fear that if people realize that
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we believe something different and not only believe different, but that we believe our
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different beliefs have eternal consequences, that somebody is going to get mad at us or
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they're going to be upset with us or relationship is going to be ruined in the process.
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And I believe that Acts three through five is a masterclass on how this is done.
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Romans 10, one through four, Paul said, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
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is that they might be saved.
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I bear them record.
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They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
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And he spent his life trying to get them pointed in the right direction.
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Speak the truth and love Ephesians 415, but you still have to speak it.
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And I think sometimes the religious pressure we face is let's just kind of go along.
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I mean, we'll preach what we teach and believe we'll be ourselves, but let's not make any
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waves about dividing lines concerning what's true, what's false and the implications of
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that.
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But I think as we work through this text, you'll see the apostles do just the opposite.
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Yes, sir.
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That's right.
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Yeah.
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Jesus had hardship and difficulty when he taught the truth.
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We should expect to receive similar treatment and hopefully learn to respond in a similar
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way.
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So Acts three through five here, the challenges that I see as far as facing religious pressure,
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we won't be able to read all of it, but we will do the most reading in Acts chapter three,
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because this chapter really sets up the last two.
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The first challenge is the challenge of giving God the glory.
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And I hopefully we'll see and discover as we go how this is a challenge related to religious
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pressure.
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But first, let's read Acts three, one through 10.
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Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and
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a man lame from birth was being carried, who they laid at the gate of the temple that is
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called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.
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Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.
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And Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said, look at us.
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And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.
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But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you in the name
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of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
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And he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and his ankles
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were made strong and leaping up.
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He stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and
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praising God.
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And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
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And they recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking
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for alms.
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And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
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So we already talked about the pattern, but you see what happens.
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There's a miracle that's performed.
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This man is outside the gate of the temple that's called beautiful near Solomon's temple
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and near Solomon's porch.
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And he's outside begging.
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Why isn't he inside?
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Why isn't he inside the temple worshiping?
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Not only because he's crippled and lame, but what else?
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Physically, he wasn't able to get in, but what else kept him from going inside?
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What was that?
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And his door said he's unclean.
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That's exactly right.
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Because of his physical malady, he's unable to go into God's presence.
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Leviticus 21, 18, Deuteronomy 15, 21, these passages talk about people that have these
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physical handicaps were unpermitted to go into God's presence.
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He sits outside of the temple, begging, sees Peter and John coming.
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It's interesting.
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This is called the beautiful gate because his circumstances are anything but.
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He's outside the temple.
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He's begging for alms.
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He sees Peter and John.
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Peter says, look at us.
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We don't have silver and gold, but what we give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
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stand up and walk.
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Who does that remind you of?
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This is an easy one.
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Starts with G, ends with sus.
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Yeah, that's right.
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Jesus.
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Jesus often was raising people up.
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Just work through Luke's gospel and see how Luke is trying to show this parallel that
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Jesus's work is continuing through the apostles.
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So you think about passages like Luke chapter five, Luke chapter six and verse eight, Luke
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seven and verse 14.
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Jesus even said that healing the lame was going to be a mark or a sign that he was actually
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breaking in his messianic kingdom.
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When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus, Jesus said, tell them what you see in here.
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Luke seven and verse 22.
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The deaf have their ears open.
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The eye, the blind can see the lame are able to walk and blessed is the one that's not
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offended in me.
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They say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
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And that's exactly what this man is able to do.
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Go to Isaiah 35, go to Isaiah 35.
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Here's an old Testament prophecy that connects what these men were doing to some prophecies
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Isaiah made about the coming of Jesus's kingdom as well.
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And what we could expect to happen really not only does Isaiah tell us what's going
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to happen, but down to the details of how people are going to respond.
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Isaiah 35 and look at verse three, Isaiah 35 and verse three, strengthen the weak hands,
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make firm the feeble knees, say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong and fear
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not.
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Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, he will save you.
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Then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
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Then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.
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So Isaiah says, not only will the lame be healed, but they will stand up and leap for
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joy.
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That's exactly what this man does.
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And Zephaniah 319 and Jeremiah 31 in verse eight, these old Testament prophecies say
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this is exactly what's going to happen.
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Peter and John healed this man.
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He gets up walking, leaping, praising God, and they make their way into the temple.
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Remember we talked about the cycle.
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First is the miracle.
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Then there's what?
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Amazement and astonishment, and it's going to provide an opportunity to preach.
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How do the people respond to what Peter and John have done for this man?
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Look at Acts three, and I'm just going to tell you the answers are in verses eight through
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11.
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How does the man and the crowd respond to what Peter and John did for this crippled
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man?
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Just give me the responses right out of the text from verses eight through 11.
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Nobody get them all.
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Just give me one at a time.
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What do you see happen with this individual and with the people?
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He's praising.
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That's the first thing.
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This man is walking and leaping, praising God.
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Okay.
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Wonder and amazement from who?
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Why would they be amazed?
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What's shocking about it?
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Yeah, not only could he not walk, but verse two says he's been this way his whole life
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since his birth.
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These are the Jews.
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They're amazed.
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Okay.
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So wonder and amazement.
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This man's walking and leaping and praising God.
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Anything else?
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Verse 11.
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Astounded.
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Yes, but also look at verse 11.
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He's clinging to Peter and John.
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So he's literally holding them by their garments or maybe by the arm as he's going into the
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temple and everybody in the temple.
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As soon as these guys come in, run to them full speed because they're the ones that as
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far as the people are concerned, are responsible for doing this, this miracle.
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So here's my question.
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Why or how is this a challenge for the apostles as far as religious pressure?
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Just think about it.
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They've done this great miracle.
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This man's walking and leaping and praising God.
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Great blessing, great time of celebration.
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And all of a sudden you just think about the thousands of people that would have been
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at the temple running to you because you've done this miracle and this man now is clinging
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on to you for dear life and he won't let you go.
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Why might that have been an opportunity for religious pressure or a challenge that these
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men had to overcome?
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What was that?
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It's not about me, Levi.
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That's what he was going to say.
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What else?
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Yeah.
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I think the first challenge is, wait a minute, where does this power come from?
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I think the apostles could have used this as an opportunity to make Christianity or
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at least for them, this miracle event oriented.
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What does Psalm 115 in verse one say?
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Not unto us, not unto us, oh Lord, but to your name, give glory.
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Second Corinthians four in verse five, Paul says, we preach not ourselves, but Christ
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Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus's sake.
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I think the first way that this is a challenge is beware of making Christianity merely event
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oriented.
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They weren't just doing miracles for miracles sake.
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There was a purpose behind it.
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And I think this is a challenge for us.
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I think we need to think about every event we do, everything we do.
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You can just run down the list.
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You can think camp, you can think lads, CYC, think equip, think VBS.
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There is a temptation to make our Christianity merely event oriented.
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People come in, they have a great time.
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It's a blast.
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And in their mind, they think these are great people.
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You're doing great work.
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And I'm not saying those things are bad.
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Here's what I'm saying.
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If we leave it at that, if Peter and John leave it at, we've done a miracle to a great
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man.
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We're, we're great philanthropists.
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We're just the United Way.
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We're the boys and girls club.
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We go around doing good.
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It would have been a temptation just to leave it at the miracle itself.
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But here's the second temptation and Levi and Roger already mentioned this to make it
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about these preachers.
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I mean, they're holding on to Peter and John and though Peter told him in the name of Jesus
20:56
of Nazareth, rise up and walk.
20:58
I think there's a challenge to make sure that the glory, all the praise and all the honor
21:02
goes back to Jesus.
21:04
This will come up later in Acts, but in Acts 10, when Cornelius welcomes Peter into his
21:08
house, Acts 10, 25 through 26, Cornelius is going to fall at his feet.
21:13
You remember?
21:14
And Peter's going to say, arise and stand up on your feet.
21:16
I'm a man just like you are.
21:18
I'm not worthy of worship.
21:20
What's the problem in the first three chapters of first Corinthians?
21:22
What are they divided over?
21:23
Who are they divided over?
21:25
Preachers.
21:26
I'm a Paul.
21:27
I'm a who?
21:28
Apollos.
21:29
I'm a Cephas.
21:30
The challenge of religious pressure is when you do good work, make sure you know how to
21:34
point.
21:35
And I think these men on this occasion, I mean, the speaking in tongues, okay, we think
21:38
you're drunk, but now that you're healing people, you come into the temple, a man literally
21:42
is hanging on to you, clinging on to you.
21:44
Everybody runs to you.
21:46
And to have the self-control and the wherewithal to say, wait a minute, there's really nothing
21:50
special in us.
21:52
This is ultimately about God.
21:54
And they do more than that.
21:55
Just look at Acts 3 and notice how they change this and redirect people.
21:58
I'm in verse 12 and verse 13.
22:00
When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?
22:04
Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, we've made him walk.
22:09
The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified
22:13
his servant Jesus who you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he decided
22:17
to release him.
22:18
Peter says, this really isn't about us.
22:20
It's ultimately about God.
22:22
And I want to redirect you there.
22:23
I want you to be thinking about what God has done and how God's operating.
22:27
And then Peter preaches this sermon, verses 14 through 16.
22:30
He rehearses the gospel with them, but you deny the holy and righteous one and ask for
22:35
a murderer to be granted to you.
22:37
You killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead.
22:40
And to this, we are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong
22:44
who you see and know.
22:46
And the faith that is through Jesus has given this man this perfect health and the presence
22:49
of you all.
22:50
So he goes back to the gospel.
22:52
The Jesus of Nazareth is the one that gave him the power to walk because we're doing
22:56
our miracles in and through his power.
22:58
And then Peter goes a step further.
23:01
He doesn't just say, hey, we did this miracle by the power of God.
23:04
He starts preaching some hard truths.
23:08
In verse 17, he says, you're ignorant.
23:11
In verse 14, he says, you're murderers.
23:14
In verse 26, he says that God gave you an opportunity first.
23:19
And this is what the prophets had already always said.
23:21
Why might this be a challenge for Peter?
23:23
Not only to say, hey, the glory goes back to God, but to start preaching this sermon
23:27
and to call on people in verse 19 to repent and to try to turn these people to salvation.
23:32
He had garnered this great crowd.
23:34
He and John have all of these people around him.
23:36
And now Peter's preaching this sermon.
23:38
What might be difficult about Peter preaching this sermon on this occasion in this way?
23:44
All these people are following you.
23:45
Everything's going great.
23:47
And then all of a sudden Peter starts saying, by the way, you guys are murderers.
23:50
You need to repent and turn so that God will send forth times of refreshing to you.
23:54
And he'll send Christ at the appointed time.
23:56
This is what the prophets have always said.
23:59
And you need to turn from your sins if you're going to be saved.
24:01
What makes that a challenge on this occasion?
24:03
The challenge of religious pressure to turn the glory to God and to say hard things to
24:07
people on a day and at a time when it might not seem like the best occasion to do it.
24:13
What might they have been thinking?
24:14
If we preach this sermon, what's going to happen?
24:18
It's offensive.
24:19
We got this great crowd.
24:20
If we start telling people hard things, they might do what?
24:24
They might leave.
24:25
You think churches ever think like that?
24:27
Hey, we got them in.
24:28
Let's just kind of wait to get to the real tough stuff because, I mean, at least they're
24:32
here.
24:33
What happened when Jesus taught hard truths in John 6 and verse 60?
24:36
The people said, this is a hard saying, who can what?
24:40
I'm saying the challenge of religious pressure is to give the glory to God.
24:44
And if people flock to us for whatever reason, for whatever good we've done individually
24:48
or collectively, in love and in truth and in grace, absolutely.
24:52
But there comes a time when you have to say what Peter says in Acts 3.19.
24:54
Hey, I'm glad you're here.
24:56
By the way, repent in turn that your sins may be blotted out.
24:59
They weren't expecting to hear that.
25:00
They saw this miracle.
25:01
They thought maybe this was going to be a medical missions campaign.
25:04
And Peter and John say, wait a minute.
25:06
Hey, you guys have got to repent or you're going to be eternally lost.
25:09
And by the way, you killed Jesus, the author of life, and you desired a murder to be granted
25:13
to you.
25:14
That's a courage.
25:15
And I think we face the same pressure.
25:17
I think to say hard things in a loving way to people that, hey, we could think to ourselves
25:22
if we wouldn't say this, things might go well.
25:24
They might receive us.
25:25
They might welcome us.
25:26
To be able to do this takes courage, and it's what these men ultimately overcome.
25:30
So the first challenge is giving the glory to God.
25:32
That means realizing it's not about us, pointing people toward God, preaching the hard truths
25:37
when the time comes, and calling people in the world to repentance because that's ultimately
25:42
what God wants us to do.
25:44
All right.
25:45
Here's the second one.
25:46
The challenge of speaking the truth when threatened.
25:49
So after this miracle, there's also this persecution that comes about from the Sadducees and the
25:54
religious rulers.
25:55
Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, as they were speaking to the people, the priest and
25:59
the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed because they
26:03
were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
26:07
And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.
26:11
So the Sadducees, you already know, Acts 23 and verse 8, think about their discussion
26:15
with Jesus in Luke 20.
26:17
They have a problem with the resurrection.
26:18
They don't believe in that.
26:19
The apostles are preaching in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.
26:23
These religious rulers come up to them and say, basically, they're greatly annoyed about
26:26
this preaching and teaching, and they want them to stop.
26:29
How do these people feel about Jesus?
26:31
How do the Sadducees and these religious leaders feel about Jesus of Nazareth?
26:35
They despise him and hate him.
26:36
They think they got rid of him 50-plus days ago, and now here you guys are preaching this
26:40
message again, and it's the challenge to preach the truth when threatened.
26:44
In the midst of this agitation and frustration, though, look at verse 4.
26:48
But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000.
26:54
What does that tell you?
26:57
Even in the midst of difficulty and hardship and in the midst of religious pressure, God
27:01
can still grow his church and grow his people.
27:03
God is still the one giving the increase, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 6.
27:07
And even though these individuals are greatly annoyed, this doesn't end like Acts chapter
27:10
2.
27:11
Acts chapter 3 doesn't say so many people were immediately baptized, but Luke just sort
27:15
of throws this in so we don't miss it.
27:17
Hey, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.
27:22
They came for this miracle, but they ultimately converted and came to Christ in the midst
27:26
of this agitation and persecution from the religious leaders.
27:30
And then, let's see what happened to my remote.
27:33
There's the question of where they got the power to do this.
27:35
Acts 4, 5 through 7.
27:37
On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with
27:42
Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high
27:45
priestly family.
27:46
And when they set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did
27:50
you do this?
27:51
So they want to know, how did you make this man well?
27:53
Peter responds in verses 8 through 12.
27:55
Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if
27:59
we're being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means
28:04
this man has been healed, let it be known to you and all the people of Israel that by
28:07
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
28:12
by him this man is standing before you well.
28:15
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the
28:19
cornerstone and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
28:23
given among men by which we must be saved.
28:26
They say to Peter and John, by what authority do you do this?
28:29
They point to who?
28:30
Jesus.
28:32
And this is a challenge because the last time this happened, this is the first trial in
28:35
the book of Acts.
28:36
And this trial is extremely reminiscent of what happened to Jesus when he was on trial
28:40
for his life.
28:41
And when they start saying these kinds of things, Peter and John might be thinking the
28:45
very same thing that happened to Jesus might what?
28:48
And they still preach it.
28:50
Verse 13 really down through the end says, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,
28:54
they perceived that they were uneducated men and they were astonished and they recognized
28:58
that they had been with Jesus.
28:59
And basically they threatened him and tell him, don't preach in this name anymore.
29:03
The apostles go back to their group.
29:05
This is verses 23 down through 31.
29:07
And they pray a prayer for boldness so that God might help them to continue to preach
29:11
and teach the truth.
29:13
The challenge of speaking the truth even when threatened.
29:15
So here's my question.
29:17
Acts chapter four is probably not going to happen to you in your life exactly like this.
29:21
There's a very unlikely chance that you're going to be preaching the gospel to a neighbor
29:25
on your job in your neighborhood and be taken in before authorities, though it could happen,
29:29
but it's highly unlikely that our situations will directly parallel theirs.
29:34
But what are some of our challenges that we face as far as being silenced, concerned
29:38
in the truth?
29:39
And how might we be tempted to not speak up like we should for fear of being threatened?
29:44
Like what sort of persecution might we face if we speak up like they did?
29:49
What's the religious pressure that we face concerning being threatened into silence isolation?
29:57
What else?
29:58
Separation?
29:59
Rejection?
30:00
Yeah.
30:01
And I think that's a problem in the book of Acts as well.
30:13
This idea of, well, people have their experiences and their beliefs, and it's sometimes it's
30:17
hard to get people to counteract truth.
30:19
The Sadducees on the other side, the Sadducees are saying, we don't see people raised from
30:24
the dead.
30:25
We don't believe in miracles.
30:26
How do you get people to see or believe something that they don't want to, or that may be counterintuitive
30:30
to what they're already thinking?
30:32
But we see the apostles doing it.
30:33
They continuously point back to scripture and try to get these people to see things
30:37
in the lens of reality as things really are.
30:40
What other temptations do we face?
30:41
What other pressures to be silent and to not speak up?
30:45
Yeah, I think it might affect our relationships on social media, how people will perceive
31:00
us.
31:01
We might be accused, and this is going to happen later on in the book of Acts.
31:03
People will see you as a troublemaker or somebody who's bringing in a divergent doctrine, but
31:07
have the backbone to still do it.
31:09
Peter says, if we're being questioned today concerning a good deed done to a crippled
31:12
man, let it be known to you by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
31:15
Look at verse 20 in Acts chapter 4.
31:17
We know this better from Acts 5 and verse 29, but the same thing happens in Acts 4 and
31:21
verse 20.
31:23
He says, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you
31:26
must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and what we've heard.
31:30
The apostles have the spirit of Jeremiah that says his words are burning fire in their bones
31:35
and shut up, and they can't contain it.
31:36
They wanted to shut it up, but they couldn't contain it.
31:39
Every opportunity they had, they preached it.
31:41
No matter what the response was going to be and what the results were going to be concerning
31:44
those that heard them.
31:45
Yeah, I know what you're saying.
31:48
Exactly.
31:49
Exactly.
31:50
I'm just saying they overcame that by continuing to preach the message.
31:54
Ian?
32:00
And I think you hear this all the time.
32:01
You hear people talk about your truth and my truth, and maybe that's true for you and
32:04
not true for me.
32:05
And being able to say, no, I think there's objective truth, and the apostles regularly
32:09
do this.
32:10
It's not just that they believe in objective truth.
32:12
They believe there's objective truth and consequences for how you respond.
32:16
And they're saying, this isn't just true for me.
32:18
It's also true for you.
32:19
Maybe you've heard this before.
32:20
People talk about the pointing that you do.
32:22
There's the polite pointing, go this way with one finger.
32:25
But when people point at you with two fingers, it's accusatory.
32:27
It's meant to be convicting.
32:29
And throughout the book of Acts, the apostles are pointing directly at these people and
32:32
saying, you need to respond.
32:34
You killed Jesus.
32:35
And if you don't respond, there's a call to repent or there'll be consequences and punishment.
32:39
We're living in a world with subjective truth where the Sadducees are saying, we don't believe
32:43
in spirits or the resurrection.
32:44
And this is the focal point of apostolic preaching.
32:46
All right.
32:47
Look at how they responded.
32:48
Look at 23 down through 31.
32:50
This is this prayer that they pray and just highlight, just look at these verses and tell
32:55
me what they did.
32:56
I know in the general sense they prayed, but what did the apostles do that you think helped
33:00
them to continue on even when they were threatened not to preach the truth and to be silent?
33:04
And how can we be helped to do the same thing?
33:06
Just look at this text and lift out anything you see that's helpful.
33:10
In addition to the obvious, of course they prayed, but what are the contents of this
33:14
prayer?
33:15
What did they ask for?
33:16
How do they go about it?
33:17
And how was it helpful for them?
33:20
They look to the scriptures.
33:21
Okay.
33:22
Yeah.
33:23
So they're quoting the Psalms.
33:24
They quote Psalm two and they say, Hey, we already knew this.
33:25
Why does the heathen rage and the people plot in vain?
33:28
You've said these rulers have set themselves against Christ and his anointed one.
33:31
So they look to the scriptures for hope.
33:33
And throughout the book of Acts, especially in these first few chapters, the apostles
33:37
keep saying this, this was already foretold.
33:40
This was already foretold in the prophetic writing.
33:42
So they look to the scriptures for help and encouragement.
33:44
What else?
33:48
They went to the brotherhood first.
33:53
They built themselves up by going to their church family.
33:55
Look at verse 23.
33:56
When they were released, they went to their who their own company.
34:00
The ESV goes with their friends, but their own.
34:02
They got built up and strengthened by their church family.
34:05
Why?
34:06
Because they were all going through what?
34:07
The same thing.
34:09
We talk a lot about Hebrews 10 25.
34:11
Don't forsake the assembly.
34:12
That's right.
34:13
But Hebrews 10 24 comes first.
34:15
Consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.
34:17
One of the reasons why we come here is if our minds are set on spiritual things and
34:21
we're rowing in the same direction, we're going through the same spiritual things.
34:24
And we derive strength from being present and saying, okay, how does this work with
34:28
you?
34:29
What did they do to you?
34:30
And learning how to respond and learning techniques and tools that will help us be successful in
34:34
evangelism.
34:41
Yeah, there's a strength in that for sure.
34:43
Being like minded.
34:44
Anybody else?
34:46
What else do you see in this prayer that they do that's helpful for them in overcoming
34:49
this?
34:51
They raise their voice to God in unity.
34:53
What do they say in the prayer?
34:56
They want boldness.
34:57
They want more of it.
34:58
When somebody prays for boldness, what does that mean?
35:00
They probably what they might be fearful and lacking in it.
35:05
Maybe we read the book of Acts and we think these men were never afraid.
35:07
They just ran into synagogues, overturned people's church services and ran to the next
35:10
town.
35:11
You know, a lot of times they're praying for boldness because they were just like you and
35:14
just like me.
35:15
Sometimes they were nervous, sometimes afraid, sometimes literally shaking in their boots.
35:19
They pray to God for boldness.
35:20
And guess what happens?
35:23
They receive it.
35:24
Verse 31 says when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken together
35:27
and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word with what?
35:31
With boldness.
35:32
Here's another thing.
35:33
If you read this prayer, they don't take it personally.
35:36
They don't feel like it's a personal attack.
35:38
They think that this is ultimately about divine things happening.
35:41
And as a result, they're just playing a part in it.
35:43
I think we take rejection spiritually and I know it's hard not to, but we take it too
35:48
personally.
35:49
We make it about us.
35:50
Samuel was probably one of the first people in the Bible to do this.
35:52
And first Samuel chapter eight, the people say they want a king.
35:55
What does God tell Samuel?
35:56
They haven't rejected you.
35:58
They've rejected who me.
36:01
Just think about how challenging this was.
36:02
The apostles realized this.
36:03
And so they don't take it personally.
36:05
They say they've rejected you, your Holy child, Jesus.
36:08
And we're praying for strength and boldness so we can continue to preach to them.
36:11
And hopefully over time, wear them down and get them to see things as they should.
36:15
If you take it personally, you'll take your yourself out of the fight and give up when
36:19
you meet rejection.
36:20
And when you face hostility, the apostles don't do that.
36:22
And as a result, they grow.
36:24
Here's a third challenge.
36:26
The challenge, the practice, what they preached after this acts for 32 down through 37 says
36:31
now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.
36:34
No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything
36:38
in common.
36:39
And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the
36:43
Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.
36:46
There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses
36:50
sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet.
36:54
And it was distributed to each as any had need.
36:57
Thus Joseph, who was called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement,
37:01
a Levite, a native of Cyprus, he sold a field that belonged to him and he brought the money
37:06
and laid it at the apostles feet.
37:08
What do we mean when we use this phrase?
37:10
Practice what you preach.
37:11
What does that mean?
37:13
Do what you say.
37:14
Practice what you believe.
37:15
I think it's interesting that right after this great persecution, Luke includes this
37:19
picture of the church.
37:21
I think this would have been a religious challenge for them.
37:23
After all of this hardship and persecution and being threatened to go out and still be
37:27
the same church that they were at the end of Acts chapter two, notice what happens.
37:31
There's a rich unity that they enjoyed.
37:33
Nobody said that anything that they had was their own and they had everything in common.
37:39
They live the resurrection in action.
37:40
Look at Acts four and verse 33 with great power.
37:43
The apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great
37:47
grace was upon them all.
37:48
We preach the truth of the resurrection, but the way we respond to each other is the resurrection
37:53
in action.
37:54
That means we talked about this at camp all week, the fruit of the spirit, the evidence
37:58
that we believe these things is how we respond and whether or not they believe these realities
38:03
to be true is going to be evidenced by how they relate it to each other.
38:06
And they did it by sharing their goods with each other.
38:09
They supported their own freely and bountifully.
38:11
And then of course there's Barnabas and his outstanding character sold a portion of his
38:15
proceeds and laid it at the apostles feet.
38:20
I think it's hard to, I think Luke puts this in here because one of the challenges we all
38:24
face is making sure that hard times don't harden us.
38:28
It's easy to do this in Acts chapter two when everything's going great, selling their possessions
38:32
and goods.
38:33
The church is growing, but you know, when times are hard, it might be tempting to just
38:36
kind of pull yours in and worry about you and yourself.
38:39
The challenge of religious pressure is as times get difficult to, through persecution
38:43
and hardship, can you continue to be the loving and kind and gracious people that
38:48
you were at the start?
38:49
They overcame this challenge by continuing to practice what they preach and not to give
38:54
in to hardship and hostility, not to allow it to harden them.
38:57
Sometimes when we're persecuted, we can respond like the people that we are.
39:00
Jesus said in Matthew 24 in verse 12, we can respond like the people imposing us.
39:05
Matthew 24 in verse 12, Jesus says, because persecution will abound, the love of many
39:10
will wax cold.
39:12
And sometimes when persecution happens and the church is threatened, we kind of all go
39:15
to our own corners and retreat.
39:18
What these individuals did is they used it as an opportunity to bring them closer together.
39:23
Here's the last one we probably will get to, Acts chapter five, the challenge of hypocrisy
39:26
and church discipline.
39:28
We don't have time to read it, so I'm just going to give you the highlights and maybe
39:30
we can talk through it.
39:31
But after Barnabas sold his property and laid it at the apostles' feet, a man and his wife
39:36
sell their portion and they lay it at the apostles' feet.
39:39
What's the problem with what they do?
39:42
They lied.
39:43
Barnabas sold it and gave how much of it away?
39:46
All of it.
39:47
They sold it and gave a part of it and was that wrong?
39:50
What was their problem?
39:52
They said that they did.
39:53
They wanted the praise of Barnabas without the sacrifice of Barnabas.
39:56
And I think one of the religious pressures we will always face in the church is the challenge
40:00
of hypocrisy.
40:01
What's the difference between hypocrisy and the regular shortcomings we all face?
40:06
What's the difference between, hey, everybody's a human.
40:09
We all sin.
40:10
We all fall short.
40:11
And then intolerable religious hypocrisy that God won't tolerate and that the church shouldn't
40:15
tolerate and that Jesus really couldn't stand.
40:17
He told his disciples in Luke 12, beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees,
40:22
which is hypocrisy.
40:24
What's the difference between, hey, this person's a hypocrite and, well, you know, everybody
40:28
falls short.
40:29
Nobody's perfect.
40:30
What's the difference?
40:33
It wasn't a slip.
40:34
What they did was intentional.
40:35
Yep.
40:36
Your purpose.
40:37
Your purpose.
40:39
There's a difference between trying your best to serve God and falling short through human
40:42
frailty and weakness and playing a part on life's stage and trying to present yourself
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as something you're not.
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How does God respond to their hypocrisy?
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Kill them.
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They both drop dead immediately.
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So God's the first person in the Bible to practice church discipline.
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Why might this have been a challenge for the church?
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I mean, if you're a church, just think about this.
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Tomorrow on the news, hey, two people lied at the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ.
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They both dropped dead and they had their funerals right on the spot.
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By the way, VBS is in two weeks.
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Can't wait to see you.
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Like why might this have been a challenge for them?
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Why might have this been a challenge of religious pressure?
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God to enact church discipline on his own as this movement is just beginning and Christianity
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is just getting its start.
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What might people be thinking if you start practicing church discipline on your own people
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and, by the way, to this drastic measure?
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Am I next?
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I don't want to become a part of those people because what?
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It might happen to me.
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They're just killing people for doing things that they shouldn't do.
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I don't want to be a part of that.
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And yet God says, I want you to do it.
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First Corinthians 5, 1 through 13.
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Second Thessalonians 3 and verse 6.
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Second Thessalonians 3 and verse 14.
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See, the challenge of religious pressure is to say, let's just be like everybody else.
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I mean, who are we to kick people out of the church?
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We don't want to...and church discipline isn't that.
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But it is to say, God is concerned with internal holiness as much as he's concerned with calling
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people on the outside of the world into that same holiness.
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Russell?
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Yeah?
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And we might, in our own minds, Russell, I think part of our problem is we premeditate
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what we think is going to happen.
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Look at Acts 5, 12 through 16.
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This is the biblical response.
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Regardless of what we might think would have happened, this is what God says happened.
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Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the
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apostles and they were all together in Solomon's portico.
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None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.
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So verse 13 says there were two kinds of responses.
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Some people said, I don't want anything to do with that, and what did other people do?
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They joined on.
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Verse 14, more than ever.
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That means more than Acts 2, that means more than Acts 4.
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More than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.
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We think to ourselves, if we do this hard thing God wants us to do, it'll ruin the church.
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People will run out by the multitude.
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That's humanistic thinking.
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But what happened here is when they did what God said, guess what happened?
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The church grew.
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And this wasn't a situation where like Ananias and Sapphira were restored.
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This was just God's pronouncement.
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And if a person heard this and thought to themselves, if that's how serious they are,
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I don't want anything to do with that, God's response would be, you're absolutely right.
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You don't want anything to do with this if you think Christianity is a game.
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And if somebody saw this and thought to themselves, I'm going to give my life to Jesus and I'm
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going to take him seriously because he's not playing with me, he would welcome them in.
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And as a result of this, more and more believers were added to the Lord and the church grew.
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Acts 5, 17 through 42 is really a replay of Acts chapter 4, where the persecution is mounted
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and the apostles continue to preach and say, we must obey God rather than men.
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And as a result of that, they continue to preach the word daily from house to house
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and in the temple and the church continues to grow.
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Religious pressure internally and externally has always been a challenge for God's people.
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They overcame then and we can overcome now.
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Alright, thanks for a good class.
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Thanks for your participation as well.