Jesus Christ in His Church..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. Of course, that's Peter and John speaking to the people.

Verse two, greatly annoyed. They were greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed and the number of men came to about 5,000. On the next day, the rulers and the elders and the scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family.

And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, But what power, by what power or by what name did you do this? Then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By Him, this man is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the stone, the builders, my apologies, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who had healed, who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. But when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

But in order that he may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and charged them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all were praising God for what had happened.

For the man whom this sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. Verse 23, when they were released, they went to their friends and reported that the chief priest and the elders had said to them. And when they heard it, they lifted their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father David, your servant said by the Holy Spirit, why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, against his anointed. For truly in this city, they were gathered together against your holy servant, Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan has predestined to take place.

And now, Lord, look upon the threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with boldness, while you stretch out your hand to heal, and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own. but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus, Joseph was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. Amen. Amen. This is the word of the Lord.

Well, brothers and sisters, as I said earlier, we are continuing our study in the book of Acts. And last week together, we contemplated and meditated upon the third chapter of this book. And now we've already read the fourth chapter together, corporately, and I'm sure we've all realized fairly quickly, that this chapter that we've just read together is a chapter that is a continuation of the sequence of events that have already taken place in chapter 2. So this is basically part 2. Chapter 3 was part 1.

This is part 2. Both chapters 3 and 4 are of the same story. And in fact, the early verses of chapter 4 happen on the same day as the events in chapter 3. Of course, the latter verses happen on the very next day. So, to to be a little fresh in our minds as to the things that transpired on the on the day previous or in the third chapter, let's just recap a little to freshen our minds.

Peter and John, the disciples of Christ, were making their way to the temple at a time of prayer when they were confronted at one of the gates of the temple, the gate called Beautiful, with a He was lame from birth. He was carried daily to the gate to beg for alms. But through the means of Peter and John on this day, he was supernaturally healed and enabled to walk for the first time. Now we had a look together as a church at that event and how that took place. But beloved, we can safely, safely say that this healing was unlike anything that we see in our day and age by the hands of the so-called faith healers.

This is not like the charlatans and the phony faith healers that we see on TV, men who get rich by exploiting desperate people through tricks and deception. Now, what we have in Acts chapter three was a man well-known by all who passed by that gate. He was a local and he was placed there daily, we're told. The locals knew him. And it's very likely the Jews who made the pilgrimage even to the temple three times a year, who didn't live in Jerusalem, year after year, they may have also become familiar with this crippled man sitting at the gate begging for alms.

This is why in verse 11 of chapter 3 we're told, all the people ran together to see and to witness with their own eyes that this man was actually walking and they saw what they saw and they were utterly astounded. We know this man, I was thinking. We've seen him day after day begging at this place, in this gate, at the door of the temple. We've seen him. We've seen him carried to this place.

We've seen his limbs. We've seen that they basically skin and bone like twigs. We can verify this man cannot walk and has not walked. And now he's jumping up and down, praising God like an athlete. There was no denying this miracle.

So Peter capitalizes on the opportunity to proclaim the gospel of Christ, for he knew this was set up by the Holy Spirit so that he would proclaim to the ever-growing Jewish crowd in the Solomon's portico who now had gathered maybe hundreds, maybe even thousands strong, and now Peter proclaims boldly the gospel of Christ. It proclaims a sermon which was powerful and we examined the sermon last week but we could say it is a sermon that cuts straight to the hearts of his listeners. His preaching was piercing and it was indeed accusatory. You can imagine him pointing his finger at the Jews whilst accusing them of ignorance of of murder. That's what he says.

An unjust murder of the author of life, and he squares the blame straight on them. Now, just last week, I brought up two points, and I try to highlight these points. And the first was that sinners are culpable and responsible for their own sins, because everyone will give an account, beloved, for all that they have done in this life, whether good or evil, 1 Corinthians 5.10. I wanted to bring up clearly last week that the plan of God was not thwarted by this sin.

It's not as though God's plan is frustrated by the evil deeds of men who indeed did crucify the Lord Jesus Christ because of their evil, hardened, unbelieving hearts, but this was all taking place according to the predestined plan of God. The crucifixion of our Lord wasn't a haphazard thing, and it's not a result only of things that went wrong in his earthly ministry. God had planned this from eternity past, and it went according to his purpose. Exactly. The events that took place in Jerusalem had been revealed already in his words.

For those who had eyes to see and ears to hear, they would be able to read the scripture and see that this Jesus was prophesied and foretold of, and his life and his death was also prophesied of old. It is Jesus who the prophets spoke of. He's the prophet like Moses that Moses spoke of in Deuteronomy. He is the unique promised seed of Abraham in whom all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This Jesus is the long-awaited King who will save his people, both Jew and Gentile.

They're the points that Peter made in that sermon in front of the people. But it was written that this Jesus would also suffer. He will be subject to scorn and injustice at the hands of evil men. Then he will be crucified upon a cross, hear this, according to the predestined will of the Father. in order that many, many, many would come to know Him as Lord and Savior.

That He, the first among the resurrected, will share His resurrected life to anyone who comes to believe in Him. What will happen to those who come and believe in this Jesus? Something spiritual will happen which was shown in a physical picture with this lame man from birth being healed. Because like any human being is dead spiritually from birth. Our sinful nature, our spirit, our sinful nature is a nature that we have from birth.

And we are dead in our transgressions and sins, but when we trust in this Jesus, just like this man was lame from birth and he was restored to wholeness, so too are those who are dead from birth restored to spiritual wholeness. by faith in this Jesus Christ. And now the events in chapter four continue from that point in time. The chapter here before us can be divided into four sections. And we'll be literally, literally, brothers and sisters, as I was preparing for this Bible study, it was incredible how deep and how rich this passage is.

And we will literally only glean what is in this chapter. So we will be doing a flyby, literally, over this chapter. But if we look at the chapter, it can be split, as I said, into four sections. From verses one through 12, the section speaks of the arrest of the disciples, Peter and John, the trial, and the defense of the apostles. Then from verses 13 through 22, we get a glimpse into the mind of the Jewish authorities as they deliberate what to do with these men.

Then of course, we're told of the apostles' response to that decision in that section. And then from verses 23 through 31, we have the prayer of the church in response to being told what had happened to Peter and John, the response of the church and what they do, they pray, we read that prayer. And then finally, in the final section from verses 32 through 37, we see the attitude of the church community towards one another, a community of generosity and a community of love and unity. So now let's have a look at verses 1 through 12. Now, if you remember last week, I likened the healing of the lame man in Acts 3 to the healing by our Lord in John chapter 5 of the cripple man of almost four decades, 38 years, in fact, in the pool of Bethesda.

I personally find a lot of similarities between the two passages, but in particular, in both instances, the healing opened up a platform for profound teaching about the nature of Christ and the work of Christ. But in both, also what we find is fierce, hostile opposition. And it's stirred amongst the religious Jews. They're the two things we find that are very clear in both instances. And that's exactly what's happening here in chapter four.

From verse one through three, read what he says. It says, and as they were speaking to the people, so Peter and John were still proclaiming to the people, the swarms of Jews who had collected there at Portico's temple, as they were still speaking, the priests and the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them. greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day for it was already evening. the persecution for the Christian Church, the New Testament Christian Church begins, and it begins right now in Acts chapter 4.

We can't completely be sure, but it seems that it's only days after the momentous day of Pentecost, and already the church is met with strong opposition by the Jewish religious establishment. They were not at all, not at all happy with what the apostles were teaching. Verse 2 tells us, greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. They weren't happy that these apostles were actually teaching people. A little later on, they're going to call these people uneducated men, as if to say, you weren't taught by our system.

You weren't taught by our official sanctioned rabbinical system. You haven't been sanctioned by us to teach. So how dare you teach? But furthermore, he says here that they were offended or they were annoyed because they were teaching of the resurrection. That's what they took offense to.

Now, we're going to ask ourselves a question. Why were they offended? Why were they completely annoyed that these men were teaching on the resurrection of Christ? Well, to understand why they were offended or annoyed, we need to look at verse one and we need to see who it is that is being annoyed. It was the priests, the captain of the temple and the Sadducees.

Now we know, we know that the Levitical priests, according to Luke chapter one, the Levitical priests were divided into divisions and they took turn. They took turns serving the temple and offering sacrifices and doing the temple things as the Levitical priests would. Then we were told the captain of the temple was there also. Now, now this was the priest in charge of the temple. He was second only to the high priest and he was responsible for keeping order in the temple grounds.

Remember, Jerusalem is under Roman rule in the first century. And as long as there was order and no civil unrest, the Jews were permitted by Rome to keep practicing their religious rites and rituals. So they were always cautious of anyone who attracts a large crowd because crowds or with crowds comes what? disagreements, differences of opinions, disagreements, and from those disagreements, possible riots. And we'll see some of these later on in the book of Acts.

And that's not good for these men. That's not good at all. They wanted to keep the peace with the Romans and the captain of the garden, the captain, the captain of the temple was the one who kept that peace. Then you have the Sadducees. that they had the greatest influence over the temple.

These were highly educated Jewish political party made up of the very wealthy families, and they were of priestly descent. They were very respected by Rome, and they were very concerned also to keep this strong political ties with the Roman rulers. They wanted to stay in the good books of Rome, so to speak. But beyond that, The Sadducees practically had control over the whole temple. They had control over the priesthood.

And they formed what was believed to be the majority of the Jewish council, their own high court, the Sanhedrin, the very council that compromised of these religious men and the elders and heads of families that Peter and John will stand before in the very next day. But not only did they have the majority power over the Sanhedrin, beloved, the head of this council was the high priest himself. And the first century, or in the first century, the high priest was also a Sadducee. You see, with that sort of power, with those sort of connections, with that amount of wealth, the Sadducees, including all that with their respect with Rome, for the most part, these Sadducees got what they wanted. Knowing who these people were gives us an idea of why the temple grounds were policed so carefully because they didn't want to have trouble with Rome.

But as I said earlier, the reason that these people were annoyed and offended was because these disciples were actually teaching and they didn't think they had the right to, but also, oh, greatly annoyed, as Luke puts it, because of what they believed. And the key to understand this is the encounter of the Sadducees with our Lord way back in Matthew 22 in our Lord's earthly ministry. I won't take you there because the passage doesn't have a bearing on our text, but the opening verse does shed light on our text. That's back in Matthew 22 verse 23. We read the same day the Sadducees came to him.

That is the Sadducees came to Jesus. And then he explains who these Sadducees are. He says, who, that's the Sadducees, say there is no resurrection. Why were they annoyed? Because the Apostle Peter and John were preaching the resurrection of Jesus.

And unlike this conservative Pharisees, the Sadducees did not believe in the spiritual afterlife. They didn't believe in the resurrection. They didn't believe in angels. These Sadducees were offended and annoyed because these disciples were preaching the resurrection. The apostles teaching was undermining their teaching and their authority and they would have none of that.

You know, it's so ironic because they don't like this Jesus very much. It's very clear. Once we've read through the gospels, we've been through the book of Matthew and we can clearly say that the religious establishment of the first century, they didn't like Jesus. The Sadducees definitely didn't like Christ. They thought they could take care of him.

They thought that had actually taken care of the Jesus problem when they crucified him. Presumably, he would not rise from the dead. After all, they didn't believe that was possible. But he did. Jesus did rise from the grave.

So the chief priest decided to take care of the resurrected Jesus problem when they bribed the guards, you remember, of the tomb to spread the rumor that the disciples had come and they'd stolen the body. Surely discrediting the resurrection account would bring an end to this Jesus stigma as far as they're concerned, but they could never be so wrong. And now they're confronted with Jesus's own disciples. The very men, they falsely accused of stealing Jesus's body. But the opposite effect has happened.

Jesus's influence, they're hoping that Jesus's influence will be diminished. But Jesus's influence is growing greater and greater. In fact, beloved, Jesus's influence right now is greater than when he actually walked on the earth. in His disciples. He's not there personally, but He's working by His Spirit in His disciples with a powerful Spirit-wrought wonders and exceptional bold teaching by these men of the resurrected Saviour.

Whatever, whatever they do, they are unable to silence this Jesus of Nazareth. And beloved, that's essentially the message of the book of Acts. The gospel cannot and will not be stopped. And they'll soon find out that the proclaimers of the gospel will not be silenced. If threatened with their lives, they will continue to proclaim the gospel of their Lord, Jesus Christ.

This is a supernatural battle that these religious elites have engaged in, a battle that they cannot win. Even now, there is presumably hundreds, if not thousands, who'd been listening to Peter and John in the temple precinct. Luke tells us after Peter's sermon, the number of people who had believed was 5,000 men. Beloved, men, not including women. Christ is indeed building his church and the Spirit is moving mightily, applying his salvation in great numbers.

And there is no doubt making people very, very nervous. Among them, the chief priests, the priests and the Sadducees. So what did the authorities do? They arrest Peter and John. And because it's evening, because remember they went there at about three in the afternoon and they'd been preaching for at least six hours now, because now it's at least, my apologies, three hours, because now it's at least 6pm.

And they figured what we'll do is we'll take these men, we'll put them in custody until the next day, and we'll make them face the Jewish council, that is the Sanhedrin. So on the next day, they're brought before the Jewish rulers, the Sanhedrin, and they're interrogated for answers. But out of the who's who of the Jewish establishment were all there. Among them, Annas and his son-in-law Caiaphas and all members of the high priestly family. Now, Annas is recorded here as a high priest because he's the elder and it's likely his influence continued beyond his official time as high priest, which ended in 15 AD.

And we know that now in this time, Caiaphas is the high priest in Jerusalem of the temple. And he's taken over since around 1516 AD. And if you remember it is Caiaphas who was questioned, or my apologies, Caiaphas questioned our Lord Jesus in the time of his own trial. These men and others of high stature made up the Jewish council. Now, because of archaeological digs, we know that the setting of these tribes, or the setting of the place where they met at least, was actually designed to intimidate.

He was really designed to intimidate all the 70 members of the council and the president, if you will, which was the high priest would sit on an elevated position. And in this case, Peter and John, the men they are questioning, and possibly the text suggests that the man who was made well also was among them were placed in the middle, looking up to those who are questioning them. But I would think about it. The who's who of the religious establishment, the powerful men among the Jewish people are now standing or sitting down, looking down upon men that they're questioning. And the men they're questioning look up at the 71 most powerful men around them.

That's a setting of intimidation. anyone beloved, no matter how much courage they would have in the flesh, anyone would capitulate under these conditions. The Sanhedrin men yielded incredible power. And as we witnessed with our Lord, they were able to use their collective power and their influence to condemn a man to death who is innocent. That's the power that they had.

This is the first record of a string of persecution that will be faced by the apostles because of their faith and their proclamation of Christ. But they are not surprised. Why? Well, our Lord has already issued them a warning that these times will come. In fact, He was quite specific in Luke 10, Luke 12, verse 11.

This is what he said. He said, and when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not be anxious about what you should defend yourself or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say. You see, it's the Spirit who will enable what ought to be said. And it's the Spirit who is required to strengthen these men, beloved. If it's apart from the Spirit, their knees would be knocking in that very frightening situation.

And so if either of these men are seen to be bold or courageous, we need to remember that. We need to remember the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the fulfillment of those words. So what's the question on the accuser's minds? They've got the man. They're now sitting and residing over them, Peter and John, possibly the layman standing before them, very likely.

And what do they ask him? Verse seven, by what power or by what name did you do this? You see, there's no doubt. There's no doubt in their mind that what had happened to this lame man that they most likely already had known was supernatural. Verse 16, verse 16 tells us that when the men were deliberating, that's the Sanhedrin, they were deliberating among themselves, they said, what shall we do with these men for that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and here it is, and we cannot deny it.

You see, it wasn't a case of refuting the miracle as they try to do in other situations we know of in the Gospels. That was too obvious. The lame man is seen by many and many had known him before and now they've seen the miracle done. He's no longer a cripple. And we know from their past actions, the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees and the priests, we know that they refuse to believe that this Jesus is behind the healing.

They don't want to believe that. They don't want that. to be a reality in anyone's mind. They don't want that thought to even enter their own mind. So they bring Peter and John and the question they ask them is by what power or what name did you do this?

Who's really behind this? And don't, don't tell us this Jesus, because we don't believe in this Jesus. Who's really behind what happened? What really happened? What power, what name are you working under?

Beloved, they don't want to hear it's Jesus. But then we have verse eight. filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders. If we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a cripple man, by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. By him, this man is standing before you.

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builder, the builders, which has become a cornerstone. Twelve, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. You see, the last time Peter was confronted with a situation that had the potential to end really, really badly for him, he crumbled. You remember what I'm talking about. The night Jesus was betrayed.

And he didn't crumble before powerful men. Not 71 of the most powerful men in Israel. No, but he crumbled before a servant girl. But now? Now this Peter is a renewed man.

And Luke makes sure we know why. You hear that? The first words, it says, then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit. Beloved, the boldness was not Peter's own. That boldness was given to him from above.

This is a fulfillment to what Jesus had told the disciples earlier. in Luke 12 that we already referenced. And the words Peter utters are the words of truth. And the intimidating setting has no bearing on Peter or the truth that he's now about to proclaim once again to these very powerful men. Peter knew they didn't want to hear the name Jesus.

He knew that already. Anyone but Jesus is probably what's running through their mind. But Peter didn't care about what they wanted to hear. He was purposed to speak the truth. And it's a consistent truth, beloved, because if we realize Peter and John had already declared the healing was done by faith in Jesus a day earlier to the layman.

Then again, he said it when he proclaimed to the people who had gathered in Solomon's portico, Peter also proclaimed that this was done by the name of Jesus to the multitudes. And now before the same hedron, nothing changes. Truth is truth is truth. The message has not changed. The truth has not changed.

The risen Lord, Jesus Christ, the Jesus of Nazareth has made this man well. But furthermore, it is. It is the Jesus you crucified. Beloved, I can just imagine maybe Peter's looking at these men intently in their eyes who are looking at him to intimidate him, but yet he looks back at them and says, you're the ones who crucified this Jesus. I know you don't want to hear it, but it is Jesus and by his power that this man was made well.

And I want to tell you something else. You crucified this Jesus. The boldness is incredible. The one thing to accuse the Jewish, it is one thing to accuse the Jewish worshipers a day before in the temple of crucifying Jesus. And we examined that fact last week.

But it's another thing altogether to accuse the power brokers that sit before them of murder. But beloved, God is no respecter of persons, and His truth is truth no matter who is present. And the truth is that these elite men, sitting in their seats, casting judgment upon Peter and John, the apostles of Christ, are guilty of murder because of their role in the trial and the crucifixion of our Lord. Think about the setting. Think about the setting, Peter and John, both simple fishermen with laid back Galilean accents, standing before the most powerful self-righteous men in Jerusalem and look them square in the eye and accuse them of murder.

Beloved, how do you think that's gonna end? There is such a thing as boldness. This is it. And that the very thing The very thing that caused angst to the powerful men one day earlier, the very thing that caused them to capture these men, Peter and John, put them in custody, and now stand in trial, is now reiterated by them, that this Jesus you murdered, hear this, God raised from the dead. I know you don't wanna hear it, but there is a resurrection, and this Jesus is the resurrection.

This one slain man standing before you is evident that he is powerful, that he is alive, and that he is good and well. These men, these men standing or sitting there looking upon Peter and John were hardened, but they knew Christ. They couldn't deny his power when Jesus was actually among them. And they can't deny his power even now. but he was a hindrance to their plans, even when they could not refute his power.

Like when, for example, when Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, we all know the story in John chapter 11, rather than believe, they conspired to kill both Jesus and the evidence, Lazarus himself. Eventually they'll falsely accuse our Lord and they'll crucify him thinking they took care of that problem. They took care of the Jesus problem as far as they're concerned, but he keeps coming back and coming back. His work continues. The healing of the lame man is evident and God raised this Jesus from the dead and this Jesus is still at work by his spirit.

be beloved that Peter doesn't stop there. The spirit gives him more to say. It's like Peter's thinking. You asked in what name and power the miracle was performed. And I've told you the divine power is the power of God in the resurrected Jesus.

I've answered your question. And now all of you men and all of Israel must come to understand who this Jesus is and why it matters to you all. I'm going to go well above what the answer to answer your own question. I'm going to give you some information that you need to know about. And this is why it's important that you know who this Jesus is.

Then he appears or appeals to scripture. And he appeals to a well known Psalm that they all no doubt knew. Psalm 118. In verse 11, he says, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone and there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. You see the stone or the cornerstone is the most important stone of the whole structure.

We may not think of this because the way houses are built or buildings are built these days is a little bit different. But in those days, the stone was laid as a foundational support and is key for the building's strength. It's key that the walls would be built upon this cornerstone and it will align the walls. The integrity of the whole building was depended upon the cornerstone. And beloved, the final beauty of the whole structure depended upon the cornerstone.

Without it, the building cannot stand. Now these Jews not only understood the concept of the cornerstone when building a home or a building or tower, whatever it is. They were intimately familiar with the stone that builders reject also. You see, in the original Old Testament context, this stone, this cornerstone, the stone that the builders reject is either Israel or Israel's king that is rejected, hear this, by the pagan nations. A stone worthy of the highest honor and significant which is chosen by God to accomplish the purposes of God, but is foolishly rejected.

As far as the people were concerned, as far as these elites were concerned, they were Israel. And they were esteemed. They were the chosen ones of Yahweh. They are the people of significance, the people of honor. But Peter clears up their confusion very quickly by now asserting that the one you murdered, the risen Jesus, he is that cornerstone.

He is that Messianic King. He is true Israel. And the kingdom of God is established on Him. And the people of God are those who are united in Him. In other words, if you reject this Jesus, you are not the people of Israel.

You are not true Israel. And the ultimate rejecters of that stone in Psalm 118 are not the pagan nations, but you. And Peter's looking at these people, these men who prided themselves in being God's own people. And he says, you're the builders who have rejected this cornerstone. This wasn't a great indictment to the Jewish establishment, the religious Jewish leaders, but it wasn't a surprise to them, beloved.

You see, on the week of our Lord's crucifixion, Jesus himself, by way of indicting the Jews, also quoted the same psalm in the temple to the chief priests and the elders. See, back there in Matthew 21, in fact, our Lord teaches these men The parable of the tenants, you would all remember the parable of the tenants, no doubt it would come to your mind. It's the parable where there's an owner of a vineyard who plants a vineyard and cultivates it and digs a hedge around it, looks after it, and then he needs to depart to a distant country. So he puts tenants in the vineyard to look after his property. But after a while, he sends his servants to bring some of the fruits of his vineyard.

But one after one that were sent were met with dishonor and shamefully treated by the tenants. Then he decides, I'll send my son. Surely they'll honor my son. But the tenants murder his son. The end of the parable tells us the tenants will be destroyed and the vineyard entrusted to someone else.

Then Jesus speaks these words, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. And then he says, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits. Peter's words were but a repeat. of the words our Lord had already spoken to the Jewish religious leaders. He is the cornerstone.

And the Jewish religious leaders have rejected the very cornerstone, the very chosen one of God. You see, these Jews, they wanted nothing to do with Jesus. But it's Jesus who's the cornerstone. He's the cornerstone of God's building of the kingdom of God. True Israel is founded upon the finished work of this resurrected Savior.

But in the hardness of their unbelieving hearts, they rejected him. And then Peter brings home the glorious verse. No doubt. Most of us, most of us have recited by heart and there is salvation in no one else. But there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

these Jewish religious men would agree. They'd agree that salvation is in none other than one person, and that's Yahweh. The fact is plastered throughout the Old Testament scripture, even Sadducees, who are, for the most part, only recognize, they only recognize the first five books to be inspired by God, they even believe that. But Peter is rocking their world now, because now he's stating that, now he's stating that this is, this is Jesus. that you've rejected.

And it's Jesus in whom the salvation of God is available. He's the chosen one of Yahweh and salvation is exclusively found in him and in him alone. All your religious activities, your servitude in the temple, your countless hours teaching the lay people, your sacrifices, your offerings, your tithes, and the list goes on. All these things are completely and utterly meaningless if you reject. this Jesus, because under heaven, that is under heaven, that is the whole universe, there is salvation in no other, no other, other than God's chosen Messiah, the resurrected Jesus.

You see, the message is clear, beloved, and it's consistent with what our Lord had already previously taught before his ascension. There are only two options, only two options, salvation through Jesus of Nazareth, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life, or you can reject him and be eternally condemned. Beloved, there's only two options, the kingdom of the sun or the kingdom of darkness. Either you are found to be a son of the devil or you are a son of God. And so now we go to verses 13 through 22.

Let's read them together. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated common men, they were astonished and they recognized that they had been with Jesus. But seeing the man who was healed standing before them, they had nothing to say in opposition. 15, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with one another saying, what shall we do with these men? for that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all of the habits of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.

But in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they call them and charge them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter and John answered, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all were praising God for what had happened, for the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old.

the boldness of the apostles had confounded them. Beloved, you have to remember that when these men convened in their position in the council and began to question whoever it was that stood before them, they were used to not seeing men who act so boldly and courageously. They were used to seeing fear trepidation, knocking of knees, men on the border of fainting under anxiety because of the power that these men collectively yielded. But here you have a couple, according to their standards, uneducated, ordinary Galilean fishermen who were ordinarily not to be respected and looked down upon, worthy of no respect as far as the elites were concerned, standing before them, speaking with such boldness and clarity and conviction and accusation that left them, even those who seemingly are the wisest of the wise, downfounded, confounded, confused. Where does this courage come from?

But furthermore, the evidence was irrefutable. The man they knew was crippled is now standing healthy before them. They couldn't refute it. Their mouths were shut. Beloved, doesn't that confirm the prophetic words of our Lord back in Luke chapter 21, when our Lord told his disciples that when you're questioned and you're captured, I will give you, Luke 21, 15, I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict.

Exactly what we see here. The powerful men of the Sanhedrin may still reject the words of the apostles. They may still not believe the words of the apostles, but beloved, they could not refute even a single word. They were dumbfounded. So they command Peter and John, and as I said earlier, probably their lame man to depart while they discuss among themselves.

They need to deliberate. What are we to do? We can't refute. We can't tell these men anything. Let's just talk among ourselves.

And among themselves, they confer and they recognize that they're unable to deny the miracle. Everyone in Jerusalem has seen it, verse 15. The very idea of punishing these men was dismissed. They can't afford to make enemies with now they know thousands upon thousands of people That could be in risk of riots as far as they're concerned. They can't risk that with the Roman authorities, at least not for now.

So the only thing they can do is threaten and demand that they never speak of Jesus again. Basically, they're trying to put out the fire that has set the whole of Jerusalem ablaze. Let's stop the spread, is their thinking. Let's stop the spread. threaten them and will threaten them and will hopefully discourage them.

Hopefully, when we bring them back, we can scare them a little and they'll melt under our words. Maybe they'll end up putting their heads down and cowering back out from our presence in obedience. Sure, we haven't seen that sort of courage and boldness before us before, but we're sure we can break that. After all, we are the powerful and revered Sanhedrin. So they bring the men back in and charge them not to speak anymore in the name of Jesus.

And then they threaten them. And then what is the outcome? Well, it's surely not the outcome that they were looking for because neither John nor Peter cower out of that place. In fact, listen to what they say in verse 19. But Peter and John answered them, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge 20, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.

No capitulation here, just spirit endowed boldness to stand for Christ and what is good and right. I love this response. Peter and John throw back in the court of the Sanhedrin. You tell us. You're supposed to be the religious leaders of Israel.

What should we do? Shall we obey you, me men, or shall we obey God? What would you have us do? Now, of course, they're not going to wait for an answer. They answer themselves.

And their response is, you know what we'll do? We're going to obey God and we're going to continue to speak of what we have seen and what we have heard. In other words, we will not deny our own experience of Jesus, the resurrected Savior, just because you said so. We know he is restoring true Israel. We know he's building his kingdom through the preaching of the gospel.

We've heard his voice. We know his words. We've seen his work that he had begun. And now the work that he continues to do through the power of the Holy Spirit, utilizing men like us. We know who this Jesus is.

We know he's Israel's only hope, the only savior of the world. And therefore we must continue to speak of him despite all your threats. This is especially true in the fact that these men were given a direct mandate by our Lord. We call it the Great Commission. And that Great Commission is for them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem as they are now through Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the world, the earth.

If their Lord and King has commanded this and also His command or His promise that He would accompany them by His power and His presence, then what do they have to fear? He is to protect them in their ministry until he decides to take them home. A lesson for all of us, isn't it? This certainly isn't a white check to disobey the authorities, for all rulers and authorities are in place by God, Romans 13. But if they expressly oppose the church and threaten persecution, unless we violate the word of God, then we know what we must do.

And we do it trusting in Christ. You see, the Sanhedrin at this point couldn't push them any further. They knew the scripture and they were able to identify that on many occasions, the prophets had to oppose the rulers of the day because the rulers were acting in opposition to God. To obey the authorities in those days would be to disobey God. And these religious men, despite their spiritual blindness, would not even dream of instructing someone to directly oppose God insofar as how they viewed God.

So at the very least, they understood the apostles convictions. They may not have agreed with those convictions, but they definitely understood them. And the interesting thing is that normally they would, in situations like this, especially amongst uneducated men, men that they thought were in need to be educated, they would normally, the Sanhedrin and the religious leaders would normally gather those men and pull them aside and they correct them scripturally. But they could not open their mouths in this situation. They couldn't refute anything that Peter and John had said.

It's clear that God is at work in and through these men, but their hearts, their hearts were too blind to see it. They pose as men with authority and wise in their own eyes, but they thought themselves to be wise in the scriptures. They thought they had all the answers, but it's clear they have no light. They are still groping in the darkness, blinded by their own sins. So they threaten the apostles and send them out on their way, no doubt at this stage, knowing in their hearts that they will meet again, and they will.

And then we go to the prayer, the prayer of the church from verse 23 through 31. Verse 23, when they were released, they went to their friends and reported what the chief priest and the elders had said to them. I don't know why it's translated friends here, to be honest, because the word in the original is literally their own, implying their own people, the church. Not all of the church, of course, there's thousands by now, but at least a handful of brothers and sisters. They gathered with their spiritual family, and they informed them of what had just transpired, what had just happened before the Sanhedrin, the persecution that the Lord had promised had come.

God had said, God and Christ, the Savior had already said that if they hated me, they'll hate you also, John 15. It's now happening, and they inform their brothers and sisters of this persecution that has just begun and is here to stay. This is where the rubber hits the road for the Christians. Sure, until now, they've had some opposition at Pentecost. They had been ridiculed by some as being drunk, but this is the first part of the serious persecution.

The religious and the civil rulers of the Jews have now set their eyes upon the followers of Christ. And this time, it was a warning. From fear of the multitudes who are praising God, they only warned them. But next time, they won't get off that easy. What was their immediate response, beloved?

They lift up their voices, literally as one, that's united, and pray. That's not to say that they're all praying at the same time and just talking over one another. No, it's likely that one of the apostles began to pray and all the believers in that place were united with him, one in spirit, one in heart, in that prayer. That's the response of the Christian, to commune with Christ in prayer. That's the response of persecution, to come and commune with him in prayer, to come back to the family, to come back to the church, to come back to the beloved, and together, to unitedly, together, pray to God.

Now, beloved, I only wish we had more time to meditate on this prayer because it's extremely telling of where the hearts of these believers were. But we can only simply glean with a few moments that we have together. Let's read together from verse 24. And when they heard it, they lifted up their voices together to God and said, Sovereign Lord, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them, who through the mouth of our father, David, your servant said by the Holy Spirit, Why did the Gentiles rage and the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and against his anointed.

For truly in this city they were gathered together against the holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, 28, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place. Typically, they commence the prayer with the sovereignty of God, a recognition that he is indeed the creator of the universe. And as creator of the universe, he has authority over his universe. That's what he's saying. And everything is accomplished according to his authority, according to his sovereignty, according to his will.

No man, beloved, no man, that's verse 28, no man can thwart his plan. Everything happens according to his predestined plan. I want you to realize how they quote the Psalms that go to Scripture. You might ask the question, well, God knows his word, he wrote it. Why would you quote it back to him?

Beloved, it's because they are now showing complete trust in the God-breathed word, that indeed, as Scripture has prophesied, so shall come to pass. And how fitting is the text? Of course, you know, these New Testament Christians see the spiritual reality of the text. Jesus, Jesus as the ideal, Jesus as the true King of Israel, as the true anointed of God, for which David was but a shadow. And they're quoting Psalm 2, of course, and the Gentiles and the people in Psalm 2 are the enemies of God.

They represent, as verse 27 tells us, Herod and Pontius Pilate and the people and religious Jews who oppose Christ. They are spiritual Gentiles. So you have true Israel, the spiritual Israel, and then you have spiritual Gentiles. And the theme of this psalm is that the enemies of God will plot, and they will plot, but they will plot in vain, because God is sovereign in his plans, and his plans will eventuate. And his plan is through the anointed one, through his Christ.

And those plans, beloved, no matter who his enemies are, will not be frustrated. And in fact, if we go on and we read the Psalm, Psalm 2, we will go on to read that God sits in heaven and laughs at their plans. He laughs at the plans of men. Realize he sits in heaven unmoved by the plans of men. And he laughs as though they can hinder his sovereign omniscient hand.

Quoting the psalm is a total show of confidence by the church that God will accomplish His work in Christ. And quoting the psalm in this way is to say we believe in Him. We have our trust in Him, and we believe Him. We've seen what is happening, but we know you, O God, are in complete control, verse 28. and you will do whatever your hand and your plan has predestined to take place."

I love that. 29, and now look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. And when they prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word of God. You know what's incredible to me, beloved? What comes next?

See, I want us, I want us to, I want us to imagine this very thing happening to us even now. If we, if we had some brothers come back and tell us about the persecution that's going on by the authorities that be here and now, how would we pray? Actually, what would we do first and foremost, but how would we pray? You know, we don't really have to imagine, do we? Because we do as a church, we gather every week and we pray, and almost every week we do pray for the persecuted church.

We pray for brothers and sisters in other countries who are now, even now, being persecuted because of the sake of the gospel. So I wanna ask ourselves, when we supplicate on their behalf, how do we pray? Think brothers and sisters. How do we pray? What do we pray for?

And now meditate on these believers confronted with the strongest persecution yet. I want you to see what they pray for. This is not an imprecatory prayer. In other words, it's not a prayer for God to pour out his judgment on the Sanhedrin. That's not what they're doing.

Rather, their prayer is one of complete Confidence. Verse 29, look upon their threats. Lord, we are not going to articulate with words what you should do with their threats. You are sovereign, you are good, you are holy, you are just, you are all powerful. You know what they are threatening and you know what to do.

Lord, do whatever you do, whatever you see fit. But what comes next is incredible. Because what comes next, they will articulate with words. because this is what their hearts really, really desire. This is what, as far as they're concerned, is of uttermost importance.

And now, Lord, look upon their threats, hear this, and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness while you stretch out your hand to heal and signs and wonders are performed through your name, through the name of your holy servant, Jesus. Did you get that? They're not asking for protection. That would be okay by the way. They're not asking for the threats to go away and that will be okay as well.

They're not asking for the persecution to be supernaturally removed. They're asking for boldness to continue to preach Christ and for him to continue to authenticate the apostolic ministry with power. Beloved, These Christians are not shrinking back into their shell in fear because of what has just happened to Peter and John. No, it's the exact opposite. They are asking to be more courageous.

They are asking for more boldness. They're asking for more clarity, despite the fierce opposition and persecution that they may face. Is that how we pray? Is that how we pray? These people had in their hearts and unified as a church, they had above all things, what was preeminent is that the Great Commission would move forward, that the Kingdom of God would be proclaimed, that the Kingdom of God would continue to press forward invading the darkness.

with the brilliant light of the Son of God. Talk about desiring the very heart of God. God, give us boldness to continue to preach your word. They didn't think of self. They thought of Christ, his word, and the salvation that comes through it.

They're desiring the Savior. They want him to be exalted. And their heart is now leaning towards lost men and women. and they're concerned for their salvation above their own safety. That is incredible.

You know, I've always marveled at the Apostle Paul's example at the end of Ephesians. He's in chains in a Roman prison awaiting his trial before Caesar. Ephesians is written probably around the 60 to 62 AD, and the Apostle Paul is in Rome, in his in-house arrest in Rome, and he's waiting for his trial. At the end of the letter, he asks the saints who will receive the letter to supplicate in prayer on his behalf, but he asks them to supplicate for only one thing. Not that the verdict of Caesar would be favorable, surely that would have been a good thing to pray for.

Not to be released from prison, not that he gets preferential treatment from the guards or that his physical needs would continue to be met because in prisons in those days, it wasn't like it is now. They didn't get their three square meals a day. They had to rely to be fed by others. No, he didn't ask for any of that. But rather he asked these believers, just like the believers who read his letters, just like the believers in Acts chapter four, that the Lord will give him boldness to proclaim the gospel while, hear this, while he's in chains.

Brothers and sisters, true Christianity doesn't look to self, but to God in Christ. And he's concerned to see sinners who are lost to be found by the saving grace of God himself. that the work of Jesus would be applied to now sinners who sit under condemnation to be brought into the kingdom of Christ and to see the salvation that they themselves have tasted and seen. And it's wonderful. Their eyes are now looking beyond self.

Their eyes are looking to others. We've been saved, beloved, from our selfish ways into now being more concerned for the kingdom of Christ and his people. More concerned for the lost to be saved. More concerned for our brothers and sisters. As the Apostle Paul exhorts the believers in Philippians 2 to take the example of Christ, his own humility, and to consider our brethren more significant than ourselves.

True Christianity looks beyond self and looks to others, first and foremost to Christ, to God, and to see his salvation applied to other lost sinners, but also it looks to others to look to our brothers and our sisters. That's the heart of the early church. Not only do we see this selfless principle in their prayers, but we witness it in their deeds. The last section, and we'll very, very briefly touch on this, verse 32. Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.

And no one said, my apologies, no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power, the apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34, there was not a needy person among them. Hear that, there was not a needy person among them. For as many as were owners of lands and houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.

36, thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement. He'll be instrumental in the book of Acts. And Levi, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles' feet. What a transformation. We know what human nature is, and that is not human nature.

That is, beloved, the divine nature of God. It flows on from what they were praying. You see, it's one thing to say, it's another thing to do. These people were saying the right things. But beloved, in that section that we've just read, we can see that their actions meant what they were saying.

If they were willing to put what was most valuable to them, the most valuable thing that they possessed, which is, humanly speaking, our lives. If they were prepared to put their lives on the line to proclaim the gospel, and they didn't take regard to their own health or safety or the persecution, but rather the Lord give us boldness to continue to proclaim the gospel, doesn't it make sense also that they would share what they have with their brothers and sisters who are saved? Wouldn't they be able to now appreciate the household of God and see brothers and sisters in that household? And if there was any need and they had the capacity or the resources or the ability to fill that need, would they not be willing in love to share what they had? Brothers and sisters, it doesn't make sense for someone to say that they're willing in love to give up everything and die for Christ and yet hold back from providing brothers or sisters of their essential physical needs.

The welfare of one another was very close to the heart of the early church. You see, this is the divine character of Christ now permeating their lives and being exampled in their actions, even to the point where there was no needy person among them. You see, now they're looking like Christ. Jesus Christ, who is the very epitome of generosity, he held back nothing, beloved. He gave everything for the sake of his people, and the Christian principle is that we also, in like character, be concerned that there are no needy people among us.

The brothers and sisters in this day found everything in common, and they were looking out for one another, and if there was need, they filled those needs. There was no need among them. It doesn't mean that they were all of the same economical or financial level, but it means that there was no one among them who was hungry or unclothed, because they were all, all concerned for one another. Their unity and their generosity was incredible. And that's what we see in this passage.

A church that is filled with the Holy Spirit is a church that is unified. It's a church that is unified in their theology, a church that is unified in their prayer, a church that is unified in their love, a church that is unified in their outreach, a church that is unified in their generosity, a church that is concerned for lost sinners, and a church that is concerned for one another. This is extraordinary, but this is the work of the Spirit of God in and among his people. Finally, we're given an example in Barnabas or Joseph, a man who sold the field and placed it at the apostles' feet. An example of generosity whereby he sells a field that he owned and brings the proceeds and says to the apostles, put this at your feet and I can trust you to disperse with the funds to those who are in need.

And so the apostles would then gather the money and give to those who are in need to make sure that there was no needy one among them. Beloved, a distinctive of the Christian faith is love, love for God and love for others. Jesus says, by this shall all men know that you are my disciples, by your love one for another. And this is a church of what we just read this evening, a church that was indeed in love with Christ, in love with their triune God. And that love was permeating, love of Christ that had dwelt in them has permeated to them, loving the lost and loving one another with a Christ-like love, a sacrificial, humble, self-denying love for one another.

They were saved from their selfish and their inward focus. And now they've become a church that is completely and utterly outward focused. A church that is typified by the love This is the mind and this is the heart of Jesus himself. And when we pray, oh Lord, make me like Christ. Conform me into the image like Christ.

Then we need to look to Christ and then we see who Christ is. And then we need to realize that Jesus was the epitome of love. The epitome of selflessness is found in him. And may the Lord work in the hearts of every one of us to make us more like the beloved.