17
Acts 4:1-12 WHO THESE PEOPLE ARE
Introduction:
In
this text there are several different people and groups of people who
are involved. I want to examine this passage with one basic
question in mind
about
the people whom we will see in the text.
The question is, “Who are these
people?”
With
that in mind, let us look into the passage and see what is taking
place
there.
I.
Who are the people in this text?
V. 1, “And as they spake unto the people, the
priests, and the captain of
the temple, and the Sadducees,
came upon them.” The first group of
people whom
we see in this passage are
indicated by the word, “they.” These are
the two men
who are speaking to a crowd of
people. These two men are the Apostles,
Peter
and John. They were speaking to a very large crowd of
people. To be more
specific,
it was the Apostle Peter who was doing the speaking. They had
encountered
a lame man sitting at the Gate Beautiful, which was one of the main
gates
leading into the temple grounds. The lame man asked them for money, but
got something far better than
money. He got healed. He was more able to stand,
to walk and even leap up into
the air.
The
next people which we see is the great crowd to whom the apostles were
speaking. Just who are all these people? Pretty soon a large crowd of people
gathered
around to watch or at least try to watch the lame man with Peter and
John.
The crowd got so large that I am sure that some of them had great
difficulty
getting even just a glimpse of him as he leaped and walked around and
around
the apostles. He was sticking just as
close to them as he could.
But
the question is, “Just who are these people?
Who are they watching?”
They are a part of the same crowd of
people who had helped to persuade Pilate to
crucify
Jesus. These are not the Jewish leaders
who actually instigated the
crucifixion. But they helped the leaders persuade Pilate
to order the
crucifixion. Thus they, along with the Jewish leaders were
guilty of causing
the death of Jesus. Peter said they killed Jesus.
The
great crowd of people were now trying to get a look at
the lame man
who had been healed and also a
look at the two men whom they thought had healed
him. At least, they at first thought that Peter
and John had done the healing.
I strongly suspect that some of the people
in the crowd may have actually
thought
that Jesus had come back to life and that it was Jesus in the flesh who
had healed the man. They most certainly had known about the great
miracles that
Jesus had done. They surely must have heard by now reports
that Jesus had been
resurrected
from the dead. I wonder if some of them
did not wonder if one of
these
two men might be Jesus. They wanted to
get a good look to see whoever
there
may have been.
These
people had listened intently as the Apostle Peter had informed them
that neither he nor John had
healed the lame man. They listened as
Peter told
them that they were guilty of
killing the Son of God. They listened as
Peter
told them that God the Father
had raised Jesus back to life again because Jesus
is His Son. Peter told them that Jesus, whom they had
killed, is the
Son of
God. If this be true, Jesus is the Christ of God
and they have made a terrible
mistake. They have committed a most terrible sin.
But
there is another group who arrives on the scene while Peter is still
talking
to the people urging them to repent of their sin and assuring them that
if they will repent of their
sin and accept Jesus as the Christ, they will be
saved
and warning them that if they do not accept Jesus that they are headed for
certain
destruction.
So
the question is: Who are these people
who are now coming on the scene.
In answer to that question, let me say to
you that these are important people.
They are men of great positions of
leadership. They are members of the
Sanhedrin Council. That is, most of them are. The Sanhedrin Council was a
group
of seventy men who formed the most powerful legislative and judicial body
in the
the Romans allowed the
Sanhedrin Council to exercise control over the people in
both civil and religious matters
as long as they did now exercise the death
penalty
or say or do anything against the Roman authorities.
Luke
says that this group who now arrived was partially made up of
priests. Let me say that these were no ordinary
priests. These were men who
had risen to the top in places
of leadership in the priesthood. They
were
members
of the Sanhedrin Council. They were
chief priests.
Luke says also that the captain of the temple
was included in this
group. The captain of the temple was also a priest. But his duties consisted
of overseeing the temple
guard. The members of the temple guard
were not
priests. They were Levites who assisted the priests in
many different ways. No
doubt,
the captain of the guard had a sizable number of the temple guards with
him at this time although Luke
does not specifically mention them. The
purpose
of having the captain of the
guard with the group was so that they could take
Peter and John into custody. They could arrest them.
Also
included in this group were a goodly number of Sadducees. If I
understand
it correctly most of the priests were Pharisees. In fact most of the
people
of
in their religious beliefs
than the Sadducees. The Pharisees
chiefly based
their
religious beliefs on the inspired Scripture plus the traditions of the
forefathers.
The
Sadducees were much more liberal in their religious beliefs. They
based
their religious beliefs chiefly on what they could reason out in their
minds. Regardless of what the Scriptures say and
regardless of that the
forefathers
said, if something did not sound reasonable to them they rejected
it. It was on this basis that they rejected the
idea of a resurrection. To
them it just seemed unreasonable
that there is life beyond the grave, so they
rejected
it regardless of Scripture.
In
fact, it was their difference of opinion about the resurrection that
caused
the main conflict between the Pharisees and the Sadducees. The Pharisees
believed
strongly in the doctrine of the resurrection and the Sadducees did not.
For that and other reasons the Pharisees
and the Sadducees got along about like
the Democrats and
Republicans. It was a rare thing when
they could have a bi-
partisan
effort on any issue.
But
they had laid aside their differences in their opposition to Jesus and
had worked together to put
Jesus to death. Now they lay aside their
differences
again
in their opposition to the followers of Jesus.
V.
2, “Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through
Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” This bipartisan group made up of
Pharisees and Sadducees armed with the
captain of the guard now came with the
intent
of putting a stop to these Christians who were telling the people that
Jesus had been raised from the dead and
that Jesus had healed this lame man and
that Jesus is man’s only hope of
heaven.
We
can easily see why the Sadducees would oppose Peter and John and would
want to stop them from preaching
about the resurrection, because they did not
believe
in a resurrection at all. But at first
we have difficulty in
understanding
why the Pharisees would be upset at what Peter and John were
preaching
about the resurrection. But once we stop
to think about it we can
understand
why they were upset. They were not upset
because Peter and John were
preaching
that there is a resurrection. What upset
them was that they preached
that Jesus Himself had already
been resurrected and that the only hope for man
is to place his faith and
trust in Jesus. So they eagerly joined
forces with
the Sadducees in an effort to
stop these men from preaching.
V.
3, “And they laid hands on them, and put [them] in hold unto the next
day: for it was now
eventide.” We learn from this verse that
the captain of the
guard
ordered the members of the guard who were with him to arrest Peter and
John.
It is believed that they put them in a small jail that had been built
there
adjoining the temple. This small jail
was built just to hold prisoners
overnight
until some disposition could be made the following day.
V.
4, “Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; and the number
of the men was about five thousand.” Wow!
Five-thousand men out of that great
crowd
of people got saved. We assume that they
also got baptized and joined the
church
there at
saved
and were added to the church. Now he
preaches again about 5,000 got
saved.
But
let us get back to the question: Just
who were these men? Just who
were these 5,000 men who
repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ as
their
Savior? The answer to that question is
astounding. These are men who had
at the trial of Jesus loudly
voiced their opposition to Jesus. They
had joined
with the scribes and Pharisees
and Sadducees in opposition to Jesus.
They had
cried
out for the blood of Jesus. They had
screamed out, “Crucify Him! Crucify
Him!” These 5,000 men had been a part of a much larger mob
group who had
demanded
that Jesus be put to death. They had
mocked Him. They had beat Him in
the face. They had spit in His face. But now, thank God, they have repented of
their
sins and have trusted in Jesus Christ for salvation and, we have reason to
believe
that they soon followed through with baptism and church membership. Oh,
how great is the grace of God!
II. Who was this man who spoke so bravely
for Jesus in verses 5-12?
Before
answering this question, let me quickly read verses 5-12 “And it
came to pass on the morrow, that
their rulers, and elders, and scribes. And
Annas
the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and
Alexander, and as many as
were of the kindred of the high
priest, were gathered together at
And when they had set them in the midst,
they asked, By what power, or by what
name, have ye done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said
unto
them, Ye rulers of the people,
and elders of
examined
of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made
whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of
name of Jesus Christ of
dead, [even] by him doth this
man stand here before you whole. This is
the
stone
which was set at nought of you builders, which is
become the head of the
corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name
under
heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
Now
let me raise that question all over again.
Just who is this man who
so boldly faces up to the most
powerful men in the nation with the exception of
the Roman rulers and Roman
soldiers? Who is this man who displays
such bravery?
Who is this man who speaks out for Jesus
in such a powerful way? Let me answer
that question. He is the same man who had run like a scared
rabbit when Jesus
was arrested at the
of Jesus before the Sanhedrin
had denied Jesus 3 times. He was the man
who
denied
being a follower of Jesus. He is the man
who denied even knowing Jesus.
He is the man who cursed in order to
convince his listeners that he was not a
follower
of Jesus.
Now
let me ask you this question: What has
happened to this man to bring
about
such a drastic change in his conduct?
Let me tell you the answer to this
question. First of all, he has been saved. He has been born again. But that
alone
does not answer the question because Peter had been a saved man when he
ran and he was a saved man when
the denied Jesus 3 times.
But
in addition to being saved, Peter had repented of the sin of denying
Jesus.
He had boasted to Jesus that he would never forsake Him, but he
did.
And he was crushed because of his own
guilt of sin. He was ashamed of his
failure
to stand up for the Lord and he repented of it.
Still
in addition to this Peter had now seen the resurrected Lord. He had
been greatly inspired by the
sight of the resurrected Lord standing before him
in the flesh. He now had a whole new outlook.
There
was at least one more thing that helped to change Simon Peter.
Jesus had forgiven him. Even after he had failed the Lord in such a
miserable
way, Jesus had forgiven
him. If there had been any doubts of the
Lord’s
forgiveness
all of those doubts vanished when Peter had the Lord say to him,
“Peter, feed my lambs. Peter feed my sheep.”
Peter
had earlier said, “Lord, I am ready to die for you if need be, but
he had failed. This time he was now ready to take a stand
against the most
powerful
enemies of Jesus and do so bravely. Even
if it should mean his death,
he was ready to take a stand
for Jesus. What a man! What a brave man!
III. Who is the person who fits the
description that I am about to give?
Now
let me focus your attention on another man --- or maybe it is a woman.
See if you can identify this person. This person used to seldom ever attend
church. But now he hardly ever misses. He comes for both Sunday School
and
preaching
on Sunday morning. He comes for training
course and preaching on
Sunday evening. He comes back on Wednesday night. He hardly ever misses.
He
used to seldom ever read the Bible. Now
he has his own Bible and he
reads
it regularly. He studies the Sunday
school lesson every week before he
ever gets to class and then he
listens as the lesson is taught in the Sunday
school
class.
He
used to seldom ever pray. There had to
be a real emergency of
some
kind if he ever called on the
Lord in prayer. But that has changed,
too. Now
one of the first things he does
when he awakes in the morning is to breath a
prayer
to the Lord. At each meal he bows his
head and the offers thanks to the
Lord for his food and other
blessings. When a problem arises he does
not
hesitate. He calls on the Lord for help. The Lord is the first one that he
calls
on for help. And when he gets something
good, he is so very thankful to
God for His blessings and he tells God
so.
He
used to give very little into the church even on those rare occasions
when he did come to church. And what little he did put in the plate he
begrudged
every dime of it. But now he tithes on a
regular basis and he gives
even above the tithe. He just wishes he was able to give a lot
more.
He
used to curse and tell dirty jokes and use all manner of filthy
language. But now he never curses. And he never tells dirty jokes or uses any
kind of filthy language. He has not only cleaned up his act, but he
has cleaned
up his tongue.
He
used to be bad to get drunk. He thought
it was nobody’s business if he
drank. In fact, he was somewhat proud of how much
liquor he could drink before
getting
drunk. But now he never touches the
stuff. He stays away from it
altogether.
He
used to squirm in great discomfort if the subject of religion came up
in his presence. But now he enjoys a good friendly religious
discussion and he
frequently
talks to some lost person telling him them what Jesus has done for
him. Also he is constantly inviting somebody to
church. He has been known to
go to their home and pick them
and bring them to church.
Before
we seek to identify this person, let me first ask the question:
What happened to him or her? What brought about such a change? The answer is,
first
of all, he has repented of his sin and trusted in Jesus Christ to save his
soul. That is the biggest thing that has ever
happened to him.
But
after getting saved there have been other changes. He walked the
aisle
at church and presented himself to the church for baptism. In addition to
that he has grown in grace and
in the knowledge of the Lord.
Furthermore, when
he does fail to do right it
bothers him. It bothers him so much that
he goes to
the Lord in repentance and he
asks forgiveness of his sin. He is
constantly
seeking
to do better than he has in the past.
That is what has brought about
such a drastic change in his
life.
Now
let me get to the question. “Who is this
man? Or, “Who is this
woman? Who is this boy or girl?” And the answer is that there are a lot of
those
people sitting in this congregation today who fits this description. It
just might be that this person
is you. You have been born again. You have been
saved
by the grace of God and you are so very glad to be saved. You would not
trade
your salvation for anything in this world.
You simply cannot do enough
for the Lord. You know you cannot do enough for Him, but
you are so very
anxious
to try. Thank God. Thank God that you are saved. Thank God that you
are now trying to live for Him
who died for you.
IV. Who is the person who does not fit
this description?
But
there may be somebody here who is saved who does not fit that
description. You wish you did. You wish you were like that. I am here to tell
you that this description can
fit you. If you are saved and have
simply been
out of the will of God, you can
change your life starting right now.
That is,
with the help of God, you can
change. I am going to ask you to make
that
change. I am going to ask you to start right
now.
If
you are unsaved, you may think, “ I am not saved, but
I wish I were
saved. I would like to be on the road to
heaven.” I say to you that you can be
saved
right here today. You can get on the
road to heaven before you leave this
service. I am going to ask you to come and call upon
Jesus and ask Him to have
mercy
on your soul. I am asking you to come
and trust Jesus to save your soul.