So as we have seen, the Holy Spirit did indeed come in great
power and authority, attesting to the truth of God’s word with signs and
wonders and miracles. Immediately,
the early church saw the result of the Holy Spirit’s power by the fact that
thousands of people were saved.
The Spirit of Truth convicted men’s hearts upon hearing the truth of the
gospel, so that they cried out, “what shall we do?” Upon hearing the message of the apostles the men of
Jerusalem’s hearts were cut to the quick with conviction of their sinful
condition and they cried out in repentance and faith to be saved. That happened as a result of the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit, and the proclamation of the truth concerning
Jesus Christ and His gospel.
Now we know that the devil hates the truth. Jesus said in John 8:44 concerning the
devil that “He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the
truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks
from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” So as the church is being built on the
truth of the apostles through the power of the Spirit of Truth, the devil
sought to sow lies among the church.
To plant tares among the wheat.
And we saw the evidence of that in the beginning of chapter 5 with Ananias and Sapphira. Peter accused them of a great sin, the
sin of lying to the Holy Spirit.
They claimed to be giving all to God, when in fact it was a lie. And Peter said it was not him they were
lying to, but they were lying to the Holy Spirit. So God’s judgment fell upon them right in the church and
they fell down dead as a warning to everyone, as a warning to those who would
subvert the truth of God, either by doctrine or by their life. Because the truth is the foundation of
the church. If Satan can shake
that, if he can twist that, then it will cause the whole building to tumble.
That is why God desires purity in the church. Truth of doctrine, purity in worship,
and purity in the lives of those that claim the name of Jesus. As Paul said in 2Cor. 7:1 “Therefore,
having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of
flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” God saved us to be holy, to be purified
from the defilement of flesh and spirit, that we might complete holiness in the
fear of the Lord as we walk in the world, so that we might be a testimony to
the world of the power of God to transform sinners into saints. That was the testimony that the early church
had in Jerusalem. And that was why
the church was growing and people were being added to the church daily.
So then as a result of the purifying power of the Holy
Spirit, the church is strengthened in the truth and made even more effective in
evangelizing the world. But at the
same time, the truth is at war with the devil’s lie. And in the remainder of chapter 5, we see this battle
between truth and the lie played out in the church, through the persecution of
the church. We are going to see in this chapter five consequences of truth as
it is employed by this young church in evangelism.
First of all, let’s look at the authentication of the
truth. Starting in vs. 12, “At the
hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were taking place among the
people; and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico. But none of the rest dared to associate
with them; however, the people held them in high esteem. And all the more
believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women, were constantly added to
their number, to such an extent
that they even carried the sick out into the streets and laid them on cots and
pallets, so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one
of them. Also the people from the
cities in the vicinity of Jerusalem were coming together, bringing people who
were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all being healed.”
In order to authenticate the truth that the apostles were
preaching, God granted special power to the apostles to do signs and wonders. These were uneducated, unqualified men
in the eyes of the people. They
were preaching a gospel that was foreign to the hearers who were steeped in
Judaism. And so God verified that the
word that they were preaching was from God by signs and wonders. This was particularly the distinction
of an apostle. Paul said in 2Cor.
12:12 “The signs of a true apostle were performed among you with all
perseverance, by signs and wonders and miracles.” That was the distinction of the ministry of a true
apostle. They were sent by Christ
to be His representatives, to speak His gospel, and so He gave them
authenticating signs.
That is what the writer of Hebrews says was the purpose of
signs and wonders as well. Heb. 2:3-4 “After it was at the first spoken through
the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and
by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.” So God testified that the word they were
speaking was from Him by miraculous signs.
Throughout all of Bible history, God authenticated the
message of His prophets and apostles by signs and wonders, to signify a new
era, a new revelation of His word.
In Exodus, Moses was given signs and wonders to authenticate that he
spoke from God. In the same way,
Elijah and Elisha were given the power of signs and wonders to inaugurate the
new era of the prophets. Jesus
Christ went about healing and working miracles as validation of His ministry
that He was sent from God and teaching the words of God. And so in the beginning of a new era,
the age of the church, God gave the apostles the same ministry, the same
miracle working power so that people would recognize them as being of Christ
and that He might validate their gospel as the truth of God. Because the
doctrine of the apostles was to be the foundation of the church. It would form the truth that would be
written down as Scripture, which is the foundation that the church would be built upon. So God verified it, validated it, and
authenticated it by miracles.
However, it was a limited dispensation. As we go on to the latter parts of the
book of Acts, there is a fading away of the ministry of miracles. Here in chapter 5, multitudes are being
healed. All were being healed. But by the end of Acts, physical
healing is no longer the means by which the Holy Spirit authenticates the
gospel. The scriptures which have
been written by that time are the means that the Spirit authenticates teachers. We don’t always see everyone healed in
the latter parts of Acts. We don’t
see everyone delivered from prison in the latter parts of Acts. But rather we see apostles dying for
the faith, imprisoned and left there to die by the hands of their
persecutors. We see people get
sick and not always healed. And so
it is a special dispensation, a special gift that was given to the apostles and
a few other select ministers of their ilk, for the purpose of authenticating
the truth of their message for a limited time and a specific purpose.
But even today, though we may not have the power given to
the apostles to heal or do miracles, yet the greatest miracle of all is still
in full effect as a means of authenticating the truth of our doctrine. And that is the miracle of a
transformed life. The conversion
of a lost sinner into a child of God is the greatest miracle of all, and one
that mere physical healing could only allude to. God is the same, yesterday, today and forever. He still has the power to heal. And God still heals. But do not be deceived, there are no
more apostles. We saw earlier that apostles had to be witnesses of the teaching
of Christ and His resurrection. So do not be deceived by those false prophets
that claim to have the gift of healing, or worse yet, that say you can be healed of any disease if you
just have enough faith. Jesus and
the apostles raised dead people to life, who had no faith whatsoever. God does the healing, not men. So today, we validate the truth of
preachers by the scriptures, not by claims of signs and wonders.
Secondly, we see the attack on the truth. As I said earlier, Satan hates the
truth. And in this case, he makes
a frontal attack. He works through
the religious establishment, the high priest and the Council, who are jealous of the apostle’s power
and results and the fact that the entire city was galvanized by their
message. And their envy provokes
their attack on the truth – they have the apostles arrested and put in jail.
The religious establishment was offended at the truth. The gospel is by design offensive, and
so self righteous people will be offended when you tell them that they are
sinners. So they locked the Apostles
up, to try to shut up the truth.
But the truth will not be silenced. God sent an angel to let them out. It’s ironic that God sent an angel to let the apostles out
of the prison. The high priests
and the Council were comprised of Sadducees, who did not believe in the
resurrection, nor a spirit, nor an angel.
So God sent an angel, so that the apostles could continue preaching the
resurrection. It’s also ironic
that the attack was meant to stop miracles from occurring, and in fact it
caused another miracle. Satan’s
attack backfired. It produced a
miracle that could not be denied.
In the morning, the gates were still locked, the guards were
still at the door, but the apostles were not there. When they could not find them, some one came and told them
that the apostles were right back in the temple preaching again. “Then the captain went along with the
officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence (for they were
afraid of the people, that they might be stoned).” Satan can attack the church,
but as Christ said, the gates of hell will not prevail against it. God can use even that which is hateful
for His good, to further the truth.
Thirdly, we see the affirmation of the truth. It’s very interesting to me that when
the angel set them free he gave them a divine charge; “Go, stand and speak to
the people in the temple the whole message of this Life.” The apostles were a living
demonstration of the principle that
Jesus taught in John 8:32 “and you will know the truth, and the truth
will make you free."
It’s also interesting that when they received that charge,
they did not hesitate. They did
not put it off for a more convenient day.
But they started preaching in the temple at daybreak. Wow! And here I was thinking that 8am was too early for Sunday
mornings. Perhaps we need to start
earlier. But seriously, the apostles
recognized the urgency of the message.
What opportunities to witness are lost because we fail to realize the
urgency of the gospel message to a dying world.
But when they are brought back to the court of the Council,
this is where the apostles have a chance to change their message. But they do not. If anything, the power of God to rescue
them from prison has emboldened them even more to affirm the message that they
have been preaching is the truth, and they cannot change it, and they cannot
stop doing it. They say that they
had to obey God rather than men.
Whether it is accepted or not, whether it is even legal or
not, will not impact their message.
Peter had already indicted the leaders for killing Jesus in
chapter 4:10. Now he even more boldly affirms that Jesus had been raised from
the dead by God, and exalted into heaven.
This to men who did not believe in a resurrection.
The words Peter uses to describe this exalted Jesus is a
Prince and a Savior. We should all
be familiar with the meaning of Savior, but the word Prince bears further
scrutiny. It means “a pioneer, one
who leads the way, an originator.”
Jesus is the pioneer of life.
He was the first born of the dead.
But He was also the pioneer who leads us in the walk of faith, walking
in the Spirit, walking according to the Word of God. Hebrews 2:10 calls Jesus the Pioneer, or the Author of our
salvation. Our salvation is not an
ending point, it is the birth
point. It is not a parking lot,
but a launching pad as we follow in the footsteps of Christ. In Heb. 12:2 Jesus is called the
author, the Prince of our faith.
In other words, He leads us into paths which test our faith and cause it
to grow, to lead us into righteousness for His name sake. He leads us into maturity in our faith.
Also notice that Peter’s affirmation of the truth speaks of
the need of repentance which God has granted to those that submit to the
Lordship of Christ. And that
repentance brings about the forgiveness of sins. Faith and repentance, are the keystones of salvation. But be sure of something, while faith
is believing in the knowledge of the truth, repentance is acting on that
knowledge in obedience by turning from sin. Vs. 32, “And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the
Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him." They are witnesses of the truth,
the Holy Spirit is a witness to the truth, and He is given to those who are
obedient to the truth that they might be a witness. The witness is we once walked according to the lusts of the
flesh, now we walk according to the truth of the Spirit.
Eph 2:1 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we
too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the
flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”
But then contrast that with the walk of faith in vs. 8 “For by grace you have
been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” Faith is always yoked with obedience.
Fourthly, we see as the consequence of preaching the truth
some avoiding the truth. The
temple and the Council was controlled by the Sadducees, but the Pharisees were
respected and honored by the people.
And there is a Pharisee there present in the Council who is so widely
respected that he is able to affect their decision and preserve the leaders
position with the people. Gamaliel
was the foremost teacher of the Pharisee. And by the way, he was Paul’s
teacher.
But though his counsel was accepted, it was not wise. On the surface, his advice sounds
good. But when examined it reveals
that he had rejected Jesus as the Messiah, but had lumped him along with the
false Messiahs. He also assumed
that if something fails then it is not of God, or conversely, if something
succeeds, then it is of God. That is man’s wisdom. It is not the wisdom of God. From their perspective, Jesus had failed because He had been
crucified. From their perspective,
Christianity would fail, because it was dispersed in the coming
persecution. Mark Twain once said
in a bit of wisdom, that a lie runs around the world while the truth is still
putting on it’s shoes. False
religion does not lack for disciples and missionaries and evangelists. False teachers often have successful
enterprises called churches. But
worldly success is no indication of the truth of the gospel.
But the most foolish advice given by Gamaliel was to do nothing.
To take a wait and see attitude.
To try to remain neutral.
And this is exactly the devil’s strategy used to keep so many people on
their way to hell. Satan urges
them to find a neutral position with God, neither too involved in Christianity,
or too much against it. Accept the
likeable parts, but don’t adhere to the sticky parts, in effect, avoid making a
real commitment. And that is a
damnable attitude. Jesus said in Matt.
12:30 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather
with Me scatters.” One day every man or woman will give an account of what they
did with Jesus. And they that will
not bow the knee now, will bow their knee then, but it will be too late for
their salvation. They will mourn
when they see Him who they had pierced.
Gamaliel was a very smart man. He knew the Scriptures back and forth. He was very well respected as a
religious leader. He had a great
audience of admirers. And yet his
counsel was to avoid the truth, and so he condemned his soul and theirs to hell
by his wisdom. Beware of religious
leaders who sound convincing, and yet their doctrine is not backed up by sound
doctrine based on the whole counsel of God, or as the angel said, the whole
message of this life. For whoever rejects the truth is dead even while he yet
lives.
One final effect of the truth was the apostles continuing to
announce the truth. Rather than
the persecution shutting the apostles up, it caused them to be even more bold
in preaching the gospel. Peter’s
message so angered the Council that they were cut to the quick, and wanted to
kill them. But God used the
foolishness of Gamaliel to cause the Council to let the apostles go free. However, not without scourging
them. In vs. 40 we read that they
flogged the apostles and told them not to preach any more in His name and they
released them.
But notice in vs. 41 the apostles response to that flogging.
“So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that
they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name.” Wow. I wish that could be said of me when I am reviled for the
message that I preach. I must
confess that it is often not rejoicing that comes out of my mouth when I am
attacked. I wonder how you would
measure up? I think the problem
for most of us is that we might recognize the apostles’ flogging as
persecution, but when trials come against us, we often fail to recognize it as
such. We respond as if it were
only flesh and blood. We fail to
recognize that Satan is the instigator behind many attacks perpetrated through
flesh and blood. But instead of
recognizing it as demonic, we see a coworker, or a relative, or a friend or a
neighbor. And we forget that we
wrestle not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers that
work through the flesh of fallen men and women.
Someone once said, that the purpose of life is to glorify
God as we go through trials which build character as we are obedient to the
truth. Therefore we should rejoice
in persecution or in trials. James
said “Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance
have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in
nothing.”
I must confess that if I would have been there with the
apostles I would have rejoiced when I was released from prison by the
angel. That would have been pretty
cool and validated my sense of self worth. But I would have had a hard time understanding why I had to
undergo flogging. And let me tell
you, flogging is not like getting a spanking when you were a kid. Flogging is being stripped of your
clothes and being beaten with a bull whip until your back and legs are ripped
to shreds. And they rejoiced that
they were considered worthy to suffer in such a way for Christ. That alone was a testimony to the
world, to see these men who had been beaten to a pulp come out of there
praising God for it.
Persecution and
threats and whippings did not make the Apostles quit, but it only served to
make them even more bold. They
were witnessing daily, preaching daily in the temple and from house to house. They used every opportunity to announce
the good news of Jesus Christ. DL
Moody once said, “the more we use the means and opportunities that we have, the
more will our ability and our opportunities be increased.”
Listen, when we come to know the truth, and learn obedience
to the truth from the things we suffer, even as Christ did, then we will not be
quitters. The apostles weren’t
quitters. Everyone of these men save
John would eventually die as a martyr for the truth. Some of them would be burned alive. Some would be hung on a cross upside
down. Some would be cast from the
roof of the temple and stoned.
Some would be beheaded.
Almost all of them would be imprisoned and beaten many times. But the truth would make them free
indeed. Paul spent a large part of
his ministry in chains, and yet the word was unchained. The written words of Paul have had more
impact than he could ever have had by simply preaching from town to town. God’s ways are not our ways. God has chosen the weak things to
confound the mighty.
It’s amazing to me that God did not use angels as the soul
ministers of His gospel. I mean
why does He deign to use men? Why
not just give the ministry of the gospel to His tried and true angels? They have immense power. They are not weak in flesh as we
are. Certainly the world would pay
attention to an angel speaking from a chariot of fire. But God in His wisdom
has chosen man. He chose man to be
the way that Christ would come into the world, to be born as a man and suffer
as a man. He chose the lowliest of
people, fishermen from Galilee, uneducated, rough men, to be His apostles, to
carry the message of His gospel throughout the world. Why?
Because men can support their message by their experience
and angels cannot. We were depraved, lost sinners when God redeemed us and
changed us. We were weak in the
flesh and now we have been made alive in the Spirit. We had no interest in God, now we are children of God and do
His will. We have a living
testimony that angels can never have.
Because angels are not redeemed, angels are not converted. But we are. And so we must begin to praise Jesus by our words and our
life, while we still are in this life, that we might serve to bring others to
Christ.
God used men, not angels to spread the gospel. He may have used angels to release the
apostles, but he uses men to preach the gospel. Jesus did not take the form of an angel to perform
redemption, but He took the form of a man. In order that redeemed, transformed man should be the
utility by which God transforms the world. It is a ministry committed to committed
men and women. We too are sinners,
but saved by grace and transformed into saints. God has chosen you to be His
instrument for bringing the gospel to the world. That God should use man to be such a sacred testament to His
power to save must be a blow to satanic pride. The use of feeble men brings glory to God in a way that
angels could never do.
1Cor. 6:19 tells us, “Do you not know that your body is a
temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you
are not your own? For you have
been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.” This is the announcement of the truth
of Christ’s gospel. Your life
glorifies God. You are not your
own, but you are bought with a price.
Your life is not your own. You are the temple of the Holy Spirit, the
Spirit of truth. Now then, hear
the charge of the angel of God to you today, “Go, stand boldly and speak to the
people all the words of this life.”
The people of this world are perishing for a lack of knowledge. We have the truth, and God has sent us
to proclaim it to the world. I
urge you to not neglect this great commission that God has entrusted you
with. “Go, stand boldly and speak
to the people all the words of this life.”
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