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Acts 4:14-22  CHRISTIANS ON TRIAL

 

Introduction: 

 

    The Apostles Peter and John had been involved in the healing of a lame

man.  He had been born lame and had been lame for over forty years.  For this

they had been arrested by the Jewish officials of the Sanhedrin Council.  When

they were asked by whose power and in whose name the lame man had been healed,

the Apostle Peter had told them that he was healed by the power and authority of

Jesus Christ whom they had killed.  He told them that Jesus is the Son of God

and that God had raised Him from the dead.  HE told them that Jesus not only has

the power to heal, but that He has the power to save lost sinners.  He said that

there is none other name under heaven whereby men could be saved.      In our

text today the trial of these two men before the Sanhedrin Council continues. 

 

I.  The man who had been healed brought in as a witness

 

    V. 14,  “And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they

could say nothing against it.”  Apparently not only Peter and John had been

brought before the Council members, but the man who had been healed had

apparently also been brought before the Council.  He was brought before them

because he was a material witness against Peter and John.  There is no mention

of him being charged with any wrong doing nor were any questions asked of him. 

At least, if he was questioned Luke says nothing about it in our text. 

    But it was not necessary to question the man.  He was present and Luke

tells us in our text that he was standing.  The very fact that he was able to

stand was evidence that he had been healed and so far as the Council members

were concerned, that was sufficient evidence against Peter and John.  In their

minds they were guilty of healing a man in the name of Jesus of Nazareth and in

their minds that was a crime.   

    Oddly enough, the man who had been brought in by the council as a witness

against Peter and John was in reality a witness for them and a witness for

Jesus.  He was a witness against the men on the Council.  The members of the

council knew this man.  All of the whole city knew this man.  Jews from all over

the nation and from foreign lands who came periodically to Jerusalem knew this

man.  For many years they had seen him seated at the gate of the temple begging

coins.  They knew that he had been lame.  That was an established fact.  They

knew that the man whom they had seen begging for so many years was this very man

who was now standing before them and was able to walk.  As a matter of fact, he

had walked into the room where the Council meeting was taking place.  They were

all able to identify the man who was now standing before them as the man whom

they had seen begging for so many years. 

    Luke says that the members of the Council knew that a genuine miracle had

taken place and they could say nothing against it.  They could not say that the

claim that no miracle had taken place.  They could not say that this man was

merely pretending to be healed.  They knew the healing to be genuine. 

    Furthermore, they could not condemn the apostles for making a lame man

whole.  That was an act of mercy and kindness and there was nothing they could

say against it.  What disturbed the members of the Council was that the apostles

had healed the man in the name of Jesus of Nazarus and had informed one and all

that Jesus is alive, that Jesus is the Son of God, that He has been raised from

the dead and that He is the Savior of men.  The apostles said  said that  nobody

could ever get to heaven except by the power of Jesus. 

    Now that disturbed the members of the Sanhedrin Council.  It put them in a

bad light with all the public.  You see, it had been the Sanhedrin Council which

had arrested Jesus and had condemned Jesus and had proclaimed Him to be worthy

of death.  It was the leaders of the Sanhedrin Council who had persuaded Pilate

to crucify Jesus.  Now the words and actions of these two apostles were telling

everybody that Jesus is the Son of God.  Peter and John were accusing them

publicaly of killing the very Son of God.  That was what was disturbing the

Sanhedrin Council.   

    What I want you to observe right here is that the members of the Council 

had all the proof they needed to convince them that Jesus had been raised from

the dead.  The lame man had been healed by the power of Jesus and Jesus could

not have healed the man if He were still dead and in the grave. 

    They had all the proof they needed to convince them that Jesus is the Son

of God, the Christ whom the prophets of old had promised and is, indeed, the

only way whereby one can be saved and go to heaven. 

    They had the proof they needed and they could not argue against it but

they refused to accept it.  Instead, they hardened their hearts against the

obvious truth and continued to reject the idea that Jesus is the Christ.  They

were like many skeptics of our own day who deny that Jesus is the Son of God and

the Savior of men.  They say, “Show us the proof and we will believe it.  But

they are not willing to believe any kind of evidence which you can show them

that Jesus is the Christ.  If a man is not willing in his heart to acknowledge

that Jesus is the Son of God there is nothing you can do to convince him.  But

if a man is searching for the truth about the matter, then there is an abundance

of evidence that you can show him. 

 

II.  The dilemma of the Council members

 

    V. 15, “But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council,

they conferred among themselves.”  The counsel members ordered that the

prisoners along with the witness to be taken outside so that they could not hear

the rest of their discussion.  They did not want Peter and John and the healed

man to be aware of the dilemma that they were in.  They wanted to stop Peter and

John from preaching in the name of Jesus.  They wanted to stop the miracles so

that there would not be another such healing to take place.  About five thousand

new converts to Christianity had resulted from   this one miracle and they did

not want any more miracles to take place.  But they did not know how to go about

it without putting themselves in a bad light with the public.  They were in a

dilemma. 

    After the apostles and the material witness were out of their hearing they

continued their discussion and frankly admitted their dilemma.  V. 16, “Saying,

What shall we do to these men? for that indeed a notable miracle hath been done

by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it.” 

Even after this great miracle, the members of the Sanhedrin Council were just as

much opposed to Jesus as ever.  They were still determined to stop the disciples

of Jesus from preaching in the name of Jesus if they possibly could.  They were

determined to stop the disciples of Jesus from healing anybody else if they

possibly could. 

 

III.  The decision of the Council concerning Peter and John

 

    They considered that they were concerned they had been successful in

stopping Jesus from preaching and healing.  They had been unable to stop Jesus

by debating the issues with Him.  Every time they tried to prove Him wrong in

public debate they got embarrassed.  Jesus had, instead, proven them wrong and

had done it publicly.  In order to stop Jesus it had been necessary for them to

bring Him to His death.  They were perfectly willing to do the same for these

disciples in order to stop them, but they could not use the healing of this lame

man as an excuse to put them to death.  The only thing they could think of under

the present circumstance was to just threaten them.  They must have thought, “A

threat will be all that will be necessary.  They surely will not dare to disobey

our orders.  They know what we did to Jesus.”  So the decision was made.  They

would sternly threaten them.  V. 17-18, “But that it spread no further among the

people, let us straitly threaten them, that they speak henceforth to no man in

this name.  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor

teach in the name of Jesus.”

     According to this order, it would now be against the law of the land for

the disciples of Jesus to speak publicly or privately in the name of Jesus. 

They were thus forbidden to tell folks that Jesus had been raised from the dead. 

They were forbidden to tell anybody that Jesus is the Christ.  They were

forbidden to tell anybody that Jesus is the Son of God.  They were forbidden to

tell any other crippled man in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth to arise and

walk.  They would be forbidden to heal anybody else of any kind of affliction in

the name of Jesus Christ. 

 

IV.  The decision of Peter and John

 

    V. 19, “But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be

right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.” 

This order from the Sanhedrin Council was somewhat equivalent to being and order

by the congress of the United States.  The Romans were the ruling authority, but

they had allowed the Jewish Sanhedrin Council to rule in Israel pertaining to

all matters of religion.  Jesus, who is the very Son of God and Jesus had

already issued orders for them to go into all the world preaching the gospel,

baptizing the converts in the name of Jesus and then teaching them to be

obedient to all of the commandments which Jesus had given.  Furthermore, in Acts

1:8 Jesus had told them to witness for Him in all of Jerusalem, in all of Judea,

in all of Samaria and in all the world.

    Now how could these disciples promise this council that they would stop

preaching and teaching and doing miracles in the name of Jesus?  There was

simply no way they could agree to stop using the name of Jesus.  This order

forced them to make a choice between obeying men and obeying God and they let it

be known that they intended to obey God rather than man. 

    Now let me point out to you that these men were not revolutionaries

against the government.  It disturbs me when I hear people say taht Jesus and

the apostles were revolutionaries against the government.  They were not.  They

never in their lifetime made any effort to overthrow the Roman government nor to

diminish the authority of the Sanhedrin Council.  Nor did they seek to disobey

the orders of the Sanhedrin in other matters.  The one and only thing they

refused to obey weas the order which requited tem to disobey a direct order from

the Lord. 

    Let me also point out to you that they did not refuse to obey the orders

of the Sanhedrin Council on the grounds that the order violated their

conscience.  With them, it was not merely that their conscience would bother

them if they obeyed the order of the Council.  With them it was merely that the

direct order of  Almighty God took precedence over an order from men.  When the

order of men was in direct conflict with the order of God then they must choose

to obey God rather than men. 

    Let me also point out to you that this action of those disciples set a

precedent for us today.  We, as Christians, are not to rebel against our

government simply on the grounds that we are not in agreement with their

policies.  We are taught in Romans 13:1-3 that it is the will of God for civil

authorities to rule over us.  We are taught to be respectful and obedient to the

laws of civil authorities whether or not we are in agreement with their

policies.  We are to keep the speed limits which are set by the law of the land

whether or not we are in agreement with that limit.  We are to be honest with

the Internal Revenue and pay all of our taxes which we rightly owe under the

laws of the land.  We are not justified in cheating the IRS simply because we

are not in agreement with how they spend the money even when we know that they

are wasting a lot of it.  The only time that a Christian is justified in

disobeying the law of the land is when we have to choose between obeying the law

of the land or obeying God.  As Christians, we are always to obey God above all. 

    So the Apostles Peter and John told the Council right up front that they

could not and would not obey this order to stop teaching and preaching in the

name of Jesus.  V. 20, “For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen

and heard.”

    This bold declaration by the apostles put the officials of the Council

right back in their dilemma.  They could not beat or kill the apostles at this

time or they would be in trouble with the general public.  Three thousand of

them had been converted to Christianity on the day of Pentecost.  Daily others

were doing the same thing.  Now on this occasion another five thousand people

had joined the Christians.  Furthermore thousands of others throughout the city

of Jerusalem were loudly voicing praises to God and to the apostles for the

healing of this lame man.  They simply could not afford to kill them or beat

them or even hold them in prison any longer. 

    V. 21-22, “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go,

finding nothing how they might punish them, because of the people: for all men

glorified God for that which was done.  For the man was above forty years old,

on whom this miracle of healing was shewed.”

 

V.  Some decisions that men today have to make

 

    There are several decisions which men in our day have to make.  These are

decisions that very strongly affect our lives  and our destinies.  For one

thing, men have to decide whether to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior or

whether or not to reject Him as Savior.  The truth is that Jesus is the Christ,

the Savior of men.   Jesus of Nazareth, whom the Jewish leaders and others were

guilty of killing was and is the very Son of God.  The Jewish leaders  were not

willing to acknowledge Him as the Son of God and as the God sent Savior of men,

but that does not change the fact.  Just as surely as the power of Jesus Christ

had made that man whole, even so He is able to save every lost sinner who

repents of his sin and calls upon Jesus for salvation.  The only way that any

man, woman, boy or girl can get to heaven is by repenting of his sin and

trusting Jesus Christ to save his soul.  There may be someone in this

congregation who is unsaved, and that person needs to understand that there is

no other name under heaven whereby he or she can be saved.  Each and every

person has to make up his or her own mind.  He or she can accept Jesus Christ to

be his Savior and spend eternity in heaven or he can reject Jesus Christ as his

Savior and spend eternity in The Lake of File and Brimstone.  If you are

unsaved, you need to turn to Jesus today while there is time and get your heart

right with God.

    A choice which Christians have to make is whether or not to witness for

Jesus to the unsaved.  Jesus made it clear that He wants all who are saved to

witness for Him.  In our text Peter and John set a good example for us to

follow.  They were faithful to witness for Jesus.  Those of us who are saved

need to choose to do the same thing.  We need to be witnesses for Jesus.

    You, no doubt, have members of your family who are yet unsaved who need to

hear you say that Jesus Christ has saved your soul.  They know you and have

confidence in you.  They will come nearer being presuaded of their own need of

Jesus Christ as their Savior if you are the one who will tell them about Jesus

saving you.  If you do not have family members who are lost, then surely you

have friends or neighbors who are unsaved, and Jesus has called upon you to

witness to them for Him.  Listen, I would like to be able to get around to

everybody in this whole country and tell them personally about Jesus, but I

cannot get to them all.  That is why Jesus through the Scripture has called upon

you to witness.  Those disciples would not let anything stop them from

witnessing for Jesus.  Please do not let anything stop you from witnessing. 

    Another choice that we have to make is whether or not to put God first or

to put men first.  We must decide whether or not to obey the will of God in our

lives or whether to follow after the ways of sinful man.  I think that there is

no doubt in everybody’s mind that when it comes to choosing to do the will of

man or the will of God that we ought to put the will of God first and foremost

in our lives.  We ought to put God’s will even above our own will.  God is

Supreme and we should obey God above all. 

    Also, we will have to dicide whether or not to be law abiding citizens. 

We will note that Peter and John sought to be law abiding citizens.  They never

rebelled against their government.  They sought to obey the law of the land as

long as it did not require of them to disobey the will of God.  So it should be

in our lives.  We should put God first in all things, but we should always seek

to obey the laws of the land as far as is possible.  As Christians, we should

never get involved in any kind of revolutionary activity working against the

government of our land.  We have a legal right and a Christian responsibility to

promote good government.  We should vote and elect good public officials.  We

have a legal right and a Christian responsibility to speak out on issues that

involve our nation.  In other words we have a legal right and a Christian

responsibility to help to improve our government.  But we do not have a legal

right nor do we have a right under God to seek to overthrow our government.  We

should seek to obey every law of the our land which is not in direct conflict

with direct orders from God. 

 

Conclusion: 

 

    Therefore, I am going to ask you to consider making some decisions here

this morning.  I am going to ask that those who are unsaved make the decision to

call on Jesus and trust in Him to take care of your soul in eternity.  I am

going to ask that you do that today and that you come forward during the singing

of our invitation hymn and make your faith in Jesus be known to us.

    I am going to ask that you who saved renew your effort to witness to lost

souls.  I am certain that you will have opportunity to do so during this coming

week.  I am going to ask you to take advantage of that opportunity.  I wish that

I could witness to everybody, but I cannot get around to everybody.  Help me

out.  You witness to some and I will witness to some.  That way we will witness

to more people. 

    I am going to ask you to put God first in your life.  God is Supreme.  God

is worthy of our very best of service and loyalty.  Let us seek to put God first

this coming week. 

    I am going to ask that if you are saved and you are in need of a church

home, that you give consideration to uniting with us and helping us serve God. 

We can use lots of help. 

    I am going to ask you to be a godly law abiding citizen.  I would not ask

you to go against the commands of God nor do I ask you to endorse ungodly things

that are done by our government or by anybody.  But since God Himself calls upon

us as Christians to be good citizens, then I ask that you do your best to be a

good citizen.  Whatever changes you see that need to be made in our government

you can best promote those changes by godly Christian living and earnestly

praying to God for His help and blessings.