Acts 5:11-42 - Can’t Touch This

Podcast Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by Apple Podcasts)

Welcome to Tabernacle Talk, a Bible study podcast hosted by Bryon Self, pastor of Tabernacle Baptist Church. I hope this time in God's Word will be an encouragement to you. Let's dive right in.

Hello, and welcome back to Tabernacle Talk. And I am really excited to dive into today's passage. And we're going to be in Acts chapter 5, and going to be reading from verses 11 to 42.

So through the end of the chapter. And I just wanted to give a quick shout out to Crossway. And this is their English standard version.

This is their preaching Bible. And just has some of the most amazing grain on the leather that I've ever felt. And as I've mentioned before, single column paragraph format.

Great for reading large portions of Scripture. And I'm going to dive right in today to see what's in the passage. So last week, we saw kind of the first time Satan rears his head against the early church through Ananias and Sapphira.

And through them lying to the Holy Spirit, them lying to the church, trying to get accolades, just their pride. And we'll see some more of that particular emotion and sin show up in this passage as well. But this time it's from outside.

So I'm going to read the very ending portion that we read last week. And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things that was Ananias and Sapphira.

Now, many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles, and they were all together in Solomon's portico. None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

They were scared to become Christians, to come forward, to name themselves as being with Jesus and with his church.

But the people held them in high esteem, and more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by, at least

his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, with demons, and they were all healed. What an incredible thing that is being done here.

Jesus is being lifted up. His church is full of power. The Holy Spirit is doing miracles.

He is casting out the demons. All of this is incredible, but next we read why the people were scared to join themselves to the early church. He says, but the high priest rose up and all who were with him, that is the party of the Sadducees.

So the Pharisees had kind of one set of beliefs that were a little bit more, hey, the Bible says this, we believe this, we're for this. The Sadducees were more along the lines of, well, this is kind of our culture.

This is kind of the thing that we do. We've mentioned them before. So the high priest and the Sadducees rose up and they were filled with jealousy.

They arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

But during the night, an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out and said, go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life, of Jesus, the one who is the way, the truth, and the life.

When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Isn't this so cool? God did not abandon his apostles and though Satan and his demons were at work.

And you can read through at verse number 16, the unclean spirits were still afflicting people and Satan was trying to fill hearts. But God's angels were still there and we're still watching over God's people.

And the angel here opens the prison doors and tells them, get right back at it. You're doing exactly what you're supposed to.

Then verse number 21, now when the high priest came and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel and sent to the prison to have them brought.

They said, all right, we're gonna get these apostles because they thought they were still in prison. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported.

We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing outside the doors, but when we opened them, we found no one inside.

Now, when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

And someone came in and told them, look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.

Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

Man, I think here, though these people had authority and they had power and they were the ones that sentenced Jesus to death, as we'll read later in the book. They had the ability to command other people to die.

The actual people that they imprisoned and that they were looking to do harm to, they weren't scared. And they were out in front of everyone. They were saying, here is who we are.

We are representatives of Jesus. We are proclaiming him. We're lifting up his name.

We're preaching him. And yet the powerful people were scared of being stoned. Not the ones who were actually in danger, that is Peter, John, and the rest of the apostles.

They weren't scared, but the people that could tell soldiers to go throw someone in prison, the people that could tell soldiers, oh, we're gonna kill this person. They were scared of being stoned by the people. What a cool thought.

When they had brought them, they set them before the council.

And the high priest questioned them, saying, we strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us?

But Peter and the apostles answered, we must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree.

He's not letting them get away with that comment that says, you intend to bring this man's blood upon us. They're like, we didn't kill Jesus. The Romans killed Jesus.

Or how come you are blaming us? Like his blood is on his own head. You know, Judas betrayed him, and he said that he was the Messiah, the son of man, the God man.

And so he's the reason for his death. Peter here is not letting him get away with that. He says, you killed him by hanging him on a tree.

God exalted him at his right hand as leader and savior to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things. And so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.

Peter just continues to be bold in the Lord to preach the gospel. What a bold statement. What an encouragement that Jesus is our leader.

He is our savior. He gives repentance to us that if we turn to him, it's not because we're so much better than other people.

No, no, it's because he's given us the gift of repentance so that we can come to him and say, God, I was wrong and I turn to you now. What an incredible gift that is and forgiveness of sins. We don't have to earn it.

It is a gift given from God himself.

And in all of the circumstances in life in which we find ourselves, not only are we witnesses that Jesus has risen from the dead, not only are we witnesses of all the good that God has done in our lives, but the Holy Spirit is there witnessing it

right along with us. What an encouragement if we find ourselves in a prison, if we find ourselves seeing 5,000 people saved, no matter the circumstance, the Holy Spirit, if we have believed on the Lord, He is always with us.

We never spend a moment without the presence of God. What a comfort. When they heard this, verse 33, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

But a Pharisee in the council, so this is kind of the opposition party, this is the minority, this is the kind of scripture, more or less, scripture believing portion of the council.

A Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people. He stood up and he gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

And he said to the men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days, Thutis rose up claiming to be somebody and a number of men, about 400, joined him.

He was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him, Judas, the Galilean, rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished and all who followed him were scattered.

So in the present case, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone. For if this plan or if this undertaking is of man, it will fail. But if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You might even be found opposing God. So they took his advice. And when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and let them go.

Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ, the Messiah, is Jesus. Man, what a cool portion of scripture that we can look at.

I wanna notice just a couple of things that the prophet Gamaliel, well, he's a Pharisee and a prophet here in this instance, that he says, in the present case, they tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this

undertaking is of man, then it will fail. What a challenge to us. In our life, are we doing things because it's what we want to do, or are we doing it because God wants us to do? If it's just from us, then it will fail.

I think as well in the Old Testament that you have some prophets that were specifically told to preach to Israel and told this isn't going to work out. They're not going to believe you. They're not going to listen.

They're going to continue in their path that they want to go down, and that's all right. They've elected, they've chosen to follow themselves instead of following the Lord. But you do what's right.

You continue to preach to them, and that is really all that God requires of us, is faithfulness, he doesn't require results from us. Results come from the Lord. We can choose to be faithful.

We can choose to follow. But if it's from God, whatever God wants to happen will succeed.

I think of even Noah, who was a preacher of righteousness in his day, and for 120 years, he preached and warned people that the flood was coming, and the only people that listened to his message were his family.

I think of many other times in Scripture, Jesus himself, that though he had preached, though he had told the disciples exactly what was going to happen, they didn't always listen to him, and Judas betrayed him, and the disciples abandoned him once

the soldiers came to the Garden of Gethsemane. Even one of his closest friends, Peter, denied him three times. So I want to counterbalance what Gamaliel said with an encouragement to us.

Just because something fails in our life doesn't mean that it was entirely of us. It might have been that God ordained, hey, I have you going through this time of trial or this difficulty, and it's okay.

It all might come crashing down, but I am still there for you. If you have a Job situation, and everything is taken away, and job falls through, and kids fall through, and your wife tells you to curse God and die, God might still be with you.

But let's be faithful to follow God, because we know that whatever God does, it will accomplish the exact purpose that he has for it. He says, if it's from God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God.

Man, that would be a scary thought, that God, am I opposing you in my life? Because the truth is, if we are opposing God, we are always going to lose. And I think of what Jesus said often in the Gospels, where he says, what does it profit a man?

What does it profit a person if they gain the entire world and lose their soul? That they never reconciled with God. They never turned to him and turned to his ways and his plans.

What a sadness that would be to gain all of this world, to never fail at anything except for reconciling, becoming one with the God who made us and who loves us and who created us to live in relationship with him and with others.

I would pray that none of us would oppose God.

I want to encourage you today, if you have been opposing God, if you have not submitted to him and to his will to obeying him, to turning to him as Savior, if you have been opposing God, he is inviting you right now in this moment, literally through

my voice, he is inviting you to turn back to him. Give up your sin, give up your own ways, turn entirely to him in faith, confessing him as your Lord and your Savior. Embrace the life that he made you for. Don't oppose God, turn to his side.

And then I want to see in verse number 41, the apostles beaten, leave the presence of the council and their emotion was not sadness, it was not regret, it was rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name that is above every

name. What an incredible thought. Do we rejoice when someone gets after us because we're a Christian? Not do we rejoice when someone gets after us for a political belief, not do we rejoice when someone gets after us for any number of things.

Do we rejoice when we suffer dishonor for Christ? I can't believe you're a Christian. I can't believe you'd go to church.

I can't believe you'd spend your money on religion. I can't believe that you would tell other people that they need Jesus. It is a wonderful, worthy thing to suffer for Christ's sake.

And I would encourage you, maybe you have been mocked, maybe you have had some relationships that people have distanced themselves from you, not because you're a jerk, not because you're not following the Lord, but because as you follow the Lord, you

are encouraging them to turn in faith to Christ. If you have suffered dishonor for the name of Christ, count it as a joy, rejoice that God counted you worthy of bearing His name. What an incredible honor to bear the name of the King of Kings.

And their response after being beaten, every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that Jesus was the Messiah. Can I encourage us today? Let's tell someone that Jesus is the Messiah.

Let's encourage another believer today to keep on sharing the gospel, to keep on following the Lord. It is so worth it.

Hope that would be an encouragement to you and look forward to seeing a very fun passage of scripture that is so needed and applicable, I think even here at Tabernacle. And we're gonna dive into that tomorrow. Look forward to seeing you then.