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Acts 4:1-11
4:1 And as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, 2 greatly annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand.
5 On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 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. 11 This Jesus1 is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.2
(ESV)
Redeemer exists to celebrate and declare the gospel of God as we grow in knowing and following Jesus Christ.
If you have a bible, I invite you to turn to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4. It's also there in your worship guide. Don't panic when you open your worship guide and there's a whole lot more than just chapter 4 there. We're not gonna read all of it, but I wanted that all in front of you.
Joel Brooks:We will read the first 22 verses of chapter 4, though. And as they were speaking to the people, the priest 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. But many of those who had heard believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000. On the next day, their rulers and elders and 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.
Joel Brooks:And when they had set them in the midst, they inquired, 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 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.
Joel Brooks: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 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 as evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.
Joel Brooks: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 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 God, you must judge. For we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. And when they had threatened when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way to punish them because of the people.
Joel Brooks: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. This is the word of the Lord. Yes, sir. If you would pray with me.
Joel Brooks:Our father, I pray that through your Spirit, you would break through hardened hearts and minds. Jesus, we would hear you calling us. Pray that my words would fall to the ground and blow away and not be remembered anymore. But, Lord, may your words remain, and may they change us. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen. Now I'm not sure what you were doing yesterday morning at 5 AM, but I have 3 daughters. So I was watching the royal wedding. Actually, we were up even earlier. We were watching the pregame going into the royal wedding, and then we just kinda watched for the rest of the day.
Joel Brooks:But apparently we were not alone in this. I actually read that up to 3,000,000,000 people worldwide watched the royal wedding, either watching it live or watching it later recorded. Up to 3,000,000,000 people. Now there's only 7,600,000,000 people in the world. So that's something like 39.47 percent just just off the top of my head.
Joel Brooks:Almost 40% of the world watching this royal wedding, and and as far as weddings go, it was I mean, it was a wedding. It was a decent wedding. It was pretty good. There were times where all these different, you know, pastors, they'd get up there and and even though I'm a pastor, I was having a hard time staying awake, watching some of this. But then you had Bishop Michael Curry get up there.
Joel Brooks:And Bishop Michael Curry was thinking that there are 39.47 percent of the world is watching this, and he said, this is an opportunity to preach. And he got up there and he preached. And I was like, he's preaching Jesus. He got up there and he clearly and he passionately preached Jesus. And several times he was winding it down and then it's like he almost remembered, hey, there's 3,000,000,000 people watching this.
Joel Brooks:This is an opportunity to preach. And he just kept going and going, and it was glorious. This is what we have here in acts. Peter sees an opportunity to preach. He's just raised up this crippled man, a man who'd been a fixture in the temple.
Joel Brooks:He'd been begging there for over 30 years, crippled. And Peter raises him up, he leaps up, and now he's clinging to Peter and he's looking out and there's thousands of people out there with their jaws just dropped looking at what had happened. And Peter says, this is an opportunity to preach. And so he preaches. And this is the second sermon that we have in the book of Acts.
Joel Brooks:And I'm not gonna go into all of the details of the sermon, but I find it comforting to know that what he preaches in his second sermon is pretty much what he preached in his first sermon. And he he did this, he told the people who they were. They were the people who killed Jesus. Then he told them who Jesus was. Jesus is the one who rose from the dead and is now victorious.
Joel Brooks:Then he told them what Jesus offers. Jesus offers them now forgiveness in his name, and then he told them what they were to do. They were to repent and they were to believe the gospel. Kinda find this over and over in preaching. The pastor tells who you are, tells who Jesus is, tells us that forgiveness is now offered in His name, and then tells you what to do, repent and believe the gospel.
Joel Brooks:And what I love is is while Peter is preaching here, the priest and the Sadducees, the religious rulers, they actually send authorities to go and to arrest Peter. The captain of the temple guard comes and arrests him, and I want you to imagine the scene if you will. Well, let's just imagine if it were to happen here. If if I were preaching and all of a sudden the the east precinct police comes in and they're, like, there he is. And they start coming down the aisle and I'm still preaching to you.
Joel Brooks:And then they come up, and as they're handcuffing me, I'm being dragged off and I'm going, like, believe in Jesus. You can have this life too. Ezra is carding me away and I'm pleading with you. You can have this life. That's exactly what happened to Peter.
Joel Brooks:He's being dragged off to prison while pleading. I wonder what would happen here if that were to happen. You know, if Jeff Heine were to come up afterwards, kind of give an altar call. You heard Joel's plea, we're gonna do just as I am until somebody comes. Think anybody would come forward wanting that life?
Joel Brooks:5000 people came to believe. 5000 people. They they saw that. They saw what Peter was offering there, and and despite the fact that Peter was being handcuffed and dragged off, they they said, I want that. Whatever Peter has, I want it.
Joel Brooks:Actually, it wasn't even 5,000 people. We read in 4, chapter 4 verse 4, there was 5,000 men. They only counted men as a since they were the heads of the household at the time. But likely, this was about 15,000 people. I read that Jerusalem at this time only had a population of about 40,000.
Joel Brooks:So just off the top of my head, that's like 37.5 percent of the people there. 37% of the people come to know Jesus. And now, the ironic thing of all of this, I well, there's a there's a bunch of ironic things, but but one of the things that really strikes me is that in Peter's sermon, one of the themes of his sermon is about times of refreshing coming. I mean, look at verse 3 verse 9 or chapter 3 verse 19. He says, repent, therefore, and turn back that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord.
Joel Brooks:So picture again, he's being carted off, times are refreshing, they're coming, yet people could look at him and see that what he was preaching was real. The times of refreshing he was promising, they were they were tangible to these people. And they wanted that type of refreshing, a refreshing that's not dependent upon any circumstance. Type of refreshing that didn't matter if you were being arrested. Refreshing that came despite your sin, despite your poverty, despite whatever persecution might come.
Joel Brooks:Wouldn't you love to have a refreshment like that? A refreshment given even in the midst of your worst work stresses, a refreshment given in the midst of a financial crisis, a refreshment given in the middle of a marital conflict or or single loneliness. A refreshment that is not dependent upon any circumstance. The Spirit of God made that offer for refreshment tangible for these people, and they wanted it. Last week, I asked the question, what does the church have to offer the world?
Joel Brooks:This. This is what we have to offer the world. I mentioned last week that the miracles we see in acts are miracles to alleviate suffering. The miracles are miracles of healing and they all have a redemptive purpose to them. They're all signs.
Joel Brooks:But now what we see is the cost of these miracles. There's always gonna be a cost to these miracles. Every miracle we see in the book of acts, is going to get the miracle worker in trouble. Every one of them. In other words, in order to alleviate the suffering of others, you need to be prepared to suffer.
Joel Brooks:Peter heals this man, immediately gets arrested. Now this just happened here or maybe one other place, you you couldn't say that this is a pattern, but this happens every time you see a miracle in acts. The miracle worker gets in trouble and suffers. It's not just here in Acts. You see it all in the gospels.
Joel Brooks:When Jesus, he would do things like even raise Lazarus from the dead. First thing that happens after he raises Lazarus from the dead is the people begin plotting Jesus' death. And then, they begin plotting Lazarus' death. Suffering comes to a world that offers healing. Hear me, church.
Joel Brooks:This is this is our call. Part of our call to be a Christian is a call to take up our cross and to follow Jesus. What this means is we voluntarily suffer in order to bring healing into the world. And what this means is, there might be times that the Lord asks you to give money until it hurts. Give your money away until it hurts.
Joel Brooks:He might ask you to be so hospitable that you begin to suffer. He might ask you to stand up so much for the oppressed that your reputation takes a hit. But to bring healing into the world will mean the sacrificial death of the church. That's the cost. We feel this to some degree every time we do something like, even forgive someone.
Joel Brooks:You forgive someone who has really hurt you. I mean, really hurt you. That forgiveness is gonna cost you. Because in that moment, what you wanna do is you wanna lash out at that person in anger, justifiably so. But instead of doing that, what you do is think, no.
Joel Brooks:I'm gonna offer forgiveness and healing, and I'm gonna absorb the wrath that I want to lash out on this person. And you absorb it. Some of you have done that, you know it hurts. It can even feel like death, as you forgive someone. It hurts so bad not to lash out.
Joel Brooks:But here's the glorious thing about the gospel, resurrection always follows death. The gospel's not just the message we believe, it's also the the message we live by. We die to ourselves. We we make sacrificial death, but then resurrection follows, times of refreshing come. After that death, new life, new joy comes when we sacrificially lay down our lives for others.
Joel Brooks:The Lord brings healing to the world and then he renews our own souls. The gospel is not just the message we believe, it's the message we live by. Now after Peter and John are arrested, they spend the night in jail. The next day, they're dragged before, the religious leaders there and they're put on trial. These leaders, they ask them, they begin to question them.
Joel Brooks:Verse 7, they say, by what power or by what name did you do this? I love that. That's just like putting it on a t for Peter. It's like, really? Please, Peter, tell me by what power and by what name did you do this?
Joel Brooks:Okay. I think I will. And and Peter, he he launches in, to proclaim Jesus. He boldly, powerfully, unashamedly says Jesus is the one who did this, and there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Salvation is only provided through Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Now I know that this is not a popular message in our day. It's not a popular message in any day to say that Jesus is the only way. It certainly wasn't a popular message to Peter. In that culture, I mean, Roman culture, they had thousands of gods. Everybody on their chariots had, like, the coexist bumper stickers.
Joel Brooks:Alright? They they you know, the Roman peace that they kept, one of the ways they kept the peace is when they would go and they would conquer a nation. They would then allow that nation to keep all of their gods, to keep all of their religions. It was as pluralistic as a society as you could have. But here, Peter unashamedly, boldly, powerfully says, Jesus is the only way.
Joel Brooks:He could say this because he saw the resurrected Lord, and Jesus himself had said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father, but through me. I mean, if there was another way, explain the cross. I mean, Jesus on the night He was betrayed, when He's out in the garden and He's praying, he's sweating drops of blood, he's so fervently praying, and do you remember what he prayed? Father, if there's any other way, remove this cup.
Joel Brooks:I mean, if there's any other options out there, I'd like it. Please remove this. How cruel would God have to be to say, well, actually, son, there's lots of ways. There's lots of ways. I mean every religion is equally valid.
Joel Brooks:Matter of fact, you just try to do do good works and yeah, I'm gonna let you in. But I know people, you know, they like a lot of options, so go through with this just to provide one more way. Jesus went to the cross because there was no other way. Sin had to be dealt with. Our sin had to be dealt with.
Joel Brooks:You can't just sweep it under the rug. It needs to be nailed to the cross. The justice of God had to be satisfied. Salvation only comes through the death and the resurrection of Jesus. So this is what they preached.
Joel Brooks:As they're preaching this, I mean, the authorities, they're just astonished to see such boldness. I mean, these are just commoners. These guys are uneducated, but but look at the boldness. I read the sermon, and I think Peter has come a long way. He has come a long way.
Joel Brooks:Hasn't he? He doesn't seem like the same man as he was just a few chapters before. I mean, look at what Peter says, chapter 3 verse 12. Look at this. He says, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified his servant Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release them, but you denied the holy and righteous one and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.
Joel Brooks:Did you hear what Peter just said? I mean, did you hear it? Peter Peter is looking at these people and he's saying, you denied Jesus. You deny when Jesus was on trial, you didn't stand up for him, you denied him. I mean, if that isn't the pot calling the kettle black, I don't know it is.
Joel Brooks:How can Peter say something like this? Well, it's because Peter isn't just saying you, he's he knows he's part of that you. He had denied Jesus. And he's saying, we denied Jesus. But you know what?
Joel Brooks:Jesus painfully restored me and forgave me and has given me new life. And now he gives that offer to everyone. Hear me. Peter's message was not so powerful despite his past failure when he denied Jesus. His sermon was powerful because he had once been a denier of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:And he is saying, listen, as a fellow denier, I was given you life. I'm a completely different person because of Jesus, And we see that here. He's not the same. Peter can never get over the fact that he had been forgiven by Jesus. He can't help but share.
Joel Brooks:Alright. So how did these authorities respond? Well, they essentially tell Peter and John, you guys need to shut up and go home. Just just shut up and go home. Look at chapter 4 verse 14.
Joel Brooks:But seeing the man 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 as evident to all the inhabitants 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. Do you see the absolute lunacy of what's happening here?
Joel Brooks:I know no other word for it. It's it's lunacy. These people literally cannot deny a miracle just happened. I mean, they knew the crippled guy. Probably half of Jerusalem knew the crippled guy.
Joel Brooks:Now he's, you know, up, jumping around, dancing. He's right next to Peter. You can't deny it. But despite that, they do not believe. Never once, when they're getting together and they're huddled up, like, I mean, real miracles happen.
Joel Brooks:Never once do you do you hear someone say this. Hey, guys. Just wanna throw this out there. What if we're wrong? What if we were wrong about Jesus?
Joel Brooks:What if we were wrong? Never happens. They cannot deny the miracle, but they certainly can deny the authority by which that miracle came, and they refused to submit to it. Now, what we see here is that people will always, some people, will always be offended by Jesus. Some people will always be offended by Jesus.
Joel Brooks:These were the religious leaders who, earlier in the gospels, you know, they were always trying to trick Jesus. You know, always trying to ask him some question to stump him. Jesus, is it is it okay? Are we supposed to, as Jews, pay taxes to Rome? Jesus is like, do you have a coin?
Joel Brooks:Give him a coin. He's like, whose inscription's on this? Whose image? Caesar's. Well, give to Caesar what's Caesar's.
Joel Brooks:Give to God what's God's. It's like, boom. Checkmate. I mean, just like, you you don't get into argument with a person who's omniscient. Right?
Joel Brooks:You just you you shouldn't do it. You're going to lose. But this is what they did. They all huddled together afterwards and, like, got us again. But never once did they think, maybe he really is the Messiah.
Joel Brooks:Maybe he really is the son of God. Instead, this is what they think. He got us again, and he keeps giving us, but maybe we could come up with another question. Let's just keep firing away questions. They never come to believe.
Joel Brooks:These people are always offended by Jesus. Some people will always be offended. Now, what we're gonna see throughout the rest of the Book of Acts, and what we've seen every day since this book was finished being written, is that whenever the gospel goes forth, and people clearly hear it, they're either offended, or they're set free. They're either offended or they're set free. It'll be one of those two things.
Joel Brooks:When we go out and we share the gospel with people, we become a fork in the road. People hit us. And if they clearly hear the gospel, they're gonna go 1 of 2 ways. And our confidence is that the spirit of God will awaken the hearts of some and they will believe that offer forgiveness in Jesus' name, and they will receive it. And it will indeed be good news, but some will always be offended.
Joel Brooks:Do you know what the 3 most volatile words are that you could ever say to someone? The the 3 most volatile explosive words you could ever say. It's it's not the words you're thinking of. It's it's this. I forgive you.
Joel Brooks:I forgive you. You say, I forgive you to someone, and and one person might melt. Their heart might just melt, and they might be overjoyed because the guilt that they have been feeling all these years, this burden, this weight, knowing that there is something in between the 2 of you, that they had somehow wronged you, and finally you've forgiven them of that, that weight is removed and and a relationship is restored and they're overjoyed and they're probably gonna hug you and and with tears. Just thank you. Other people will have this reaction.
Joel Brooks:How dare you say, you forgive me? You forgive me as if I did something wrong that needed forgiving? Who do you think you are to offer forgiveness to me? And they'll be deeply offended by your pardon. This is what the gospel does.
Joel Brooks:The gospel goes forth and some people wanna hear it clearly. They will they will be set free. And other people will be deeply offended, because you're saying, I'm the one in the wrong? They would have to recognize that when they look at the horrific death of Jesus, that was because of them. That's a hard thing to swallow.
Joel Brooks:They would have to recognize that they don't sit on the throne of their own life, that Jesus sits on the throne. It's a hard thing to swallow. They become deeply offended by the gospel. This hasn't changed in 2000 years, and it never will change. The gospel is a fork in the road.
Joel Brooks:And hear me. If if you have never been liberated by the gospel or offended by the gospel, this just means you have never clearly heard the gospel. We live in, you know, the buckle of the Bible Belt. As Flannery O'Connor would say, the the Christ haunted South. The best way I know to describe the South, is is this.
Joel Brooks:Most of the South has been inoculated to the gospel. It's been inoculated to the gospel, and by that mean, you know what an inoculation is? Where you receive just enough of something to then build a resistance to it. And so you grew up in the South. You've heard about Jesus.
Joel Brooks:You've heard about church. You've heard a few random verses in the Bible. You've heard these things. And so when somebody comes to preach the gospel to you, you hear the first couple of words and you're like, I got it. Got it.
Joel Brooks:Jesus, be good. You know, all this yeah. I got it. And it never actually sinks in. But if you've never been liberated the gospel or offended by the gospel, you never clearly heard the gospel.
Joel Brooks:The gospel is that Jesus is the Son of God, and He died the death that you should have died for your sins. But He rose to life, and now offers new life and forgiveness in His name. It's the gospel that we need. It's the gospel invitation that's always there. Hear me, church.
Joel Brooks:Our mission, hopefully been I mean, I've been ringing this bell for weeks now. Alright? Our mission is to share this. To share the gospel. To go into the world and share this no matter the cost.
Joel Brooks:I love Peter's response. Peter and John's response to the authorities when they're told, basically, to shut up and go home. Look at verse 18. So 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's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak what we have seen and heard.
Joel Brooks:Peter's essentially saying this, guys, I mean, I I hear what you're saying. Don't get me wrong. I don't wanna be disrespectful. I hear what you're saying, but given the choice between obeying you, or obeying the guy you killed, but then rose back to life and has told me to preach this, I'm going with the resurrected guy. But you do whatever you wanna do.
Joel Brooks:Choice is yours, but I'm with Jesus. And they boldly proclaim the gospel. Church, this is our mission. Will some be offended? Yes.
Joel Brooks:Some will be offended. Will some be saved and liberated? Yes. Absolutely. Will it cost us?
Joel Brooks:Yes. Some of you might lose your jobs. Some of you might lose your wealth, some of your possessions. Some of you might lose your reputation or your freedom. It's the cost, but there's always resurrection on the other side.
Joel Brooks:Times of refreshing are still promised to us, despite any circumstance. The healing of the world comes through the sacrifice of the church. When Jesus gave his great commission, he ends it by saying, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Now that promise for Jesus to be with us, is that he will be with us as we go on our mission. Not that he's just gonna be with you here, but as you're going and you're making disciples, he says, you go and make disciples.
Joel Brooks:Times are refreshing. I'm gonna come to you. Why? Because I will be with you through it all, even to the end of the age. And hear me, when the Lord's presence is with us, when His presence is fullness of joy and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Joel Brooks:Pray with me, church. Lord Jesus, I simply ask that through your spirit, you make the words that we have heard real to us. Embed them deep in our hearts. This week, may we be completely different people, transformed by your gospel, and emboldened to proclaim it. We pray this in the strong name of Jesus.
Joel Brooks:Amen.