Jesus Forbidden
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 28 August 2022
Let’s open Acts 4, where the predominant part looks at the persecution against the early church. Acts is the history of the first church. It tells us about its birth on the Day of Pentecost, in a miraculous display of Holy Spirit power. We looked at the early weeks of the church when thousands of people were being converted. In Acts 4 the number may well have exceeded 20,000 people.
But soon we also find the first persecution into Acts 4:1-3, “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, 2 being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. 3 And they caught them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.”
They had been preaching that Jesus is alive from the dead, and it is by His power that the church has come to life and continue to grow. And it is by His power and in His name that they healed the man at the beginning of Acts 3. This was a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb. The miracle proved that Jesus was alive, because when Jesus was alive, He was a healer.
So in Acts 4, we have the beginning of the persecution of the church, which is still going on today. There are about 100 million Christians in the world right now that are under persecution. And I’m not talking about those that are socially abused or alienated. I’m talking about people that are actually under the threat of bodily harm and death. Well, persecution will continue until our Lord comes back.
This persecution is launched initially because it is a threat. The growth of the church is a threat to apostate Judaism. We know what it is to have to forfeit friends, family. We know what it is to be under pressure not to speak for Christ, be it on a job, or a school, or whatever. We all understand that. That’s part of the persecution. But the kind of persecution we’re going to see here threatened life.
There’s nothing more precious in this life than a tested faith. Stop worrying if you might not be a true believer. How can you be sure? You can be sure if you’ve gone through a fiery ordeal of persecution and your faith is rock solid, and it survives, and it endures, and it grows, and it is perfected. Trials produce that, as well as we will see in all of those circumstances, an eternal reward.
Paul talks about a trial he was experiencing in 2 Corinthians 12, “There was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. He said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’” Paul’s response, “If faith is perfected in trials, then I will boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.”
Persecution is designed by God to produce a perfected faith, to produce maturity, joy, assurance, and eternal reward. Paul says to the Galatians, “I bear in my body the marks of Christ.” Philippians 3:10. For the Christian then, persecution is a noble expectation. It produces growth, glory, maturity, assurance, blessing, encouragement and reward. It is part of who we are in Christ.
Now, as we come to Acts 4, the church is going to learn the blessing and benefit of persecution. Those who were persecuted in the past have all entered into the eternal reward, and if they were here, they could give testimony of the glory of that reward. The sufferings of this world, are not worthy to be compared with the joy that will be ours in the presence of the Lord.
And as Acts 4 unfolds, there are some principles that we need to learn as we watch how they handle persecution. First, in verse 5, we have to be submissive to it. When everybody gathered together against them, they saw it as an opportunity to preach the gospel to the Sanhedrin. They took Peter and John, placed them in the middle, and began to ask them questions.
They knew that even as new believers, that God had allowed this. They waited for God’s purpose to be unfolded. Everything they’ve seen has been God’s plan. From the death of Christ to the resurrection of Christ, it was all explained in the Old Testament prophecies, and they understood that for the first time. The apostles do that in the Book of Acts because they understand it.
The second principle is they were filled with the Spirit. Verse 8, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them. They were in the midst of weakness. They didn’t know what to say, but they remembered the words of Jesus who said, “Take no thought in what you’ll say. I’ll put the words in your mouth by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. So Peter yields up full control to the Holy Spirit.
James 1:5, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him. 6 But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. 7 For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; 8 he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.”
In other words, throw yourself completely, trustingly on the power of God, which means: yield to the Holy Spirit, in the midst of the trial, in the midst of the struggle. So, we saw that last time, the necessity of calling on God, and crying out to the Holy Spirit to take over and fill your life, and give you the words and the understanding and the wisdom to deal with it. This is triumphant.
The third thing is to use it as an opportunity to present the gospel. Peter said to them, “Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man is has been made well, let it be known to all of you that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, this man stands here before you in good health.
Jesus Christ, is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.” They just received the indwelling Spirit. But when Christ rose from the dead, and for 40 days explained the meaning of everything, all of it was understood.
They understood the plan, the purpose. There is Peter there in verse 11, rattling off Psalm 118:22 to show again this experience of now for the first time understanding even isolated portions of the Old Testament. Verse 13, “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled. And they realized that they had been with Jesus.”
And this shocks the Sanhedrin who are supposed to be the only ones who can speak with certainty. They’re astounded that these uneducated Galilean fishermen say what they say with such boldness, such confidence, and who talk like they knew what they were talking about. They obviously know that this is beyond what they should expect, the Sanhedrin began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.
They taught as if they had authority. Certainly, none of them, not Peter or John, or any other apostles, could handle the Old Testament the way Jesus did, but this is what they were used to from Jesus. None of them could be as assured and as bold and confident as the omniscient Son of God, but it was very much the same. Fourthly, be obedient to God no matter the cost.
The leaders are looking at the man who had been healed standing with Peter and John. He’s still there. Well, when Peter and John came to the Sanhedrin, they brought the man, as a living illustration. Verse 14, “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it.” They’re not in any position to question the disciples’ understanding of the Old Testament.
They have to figure out a way to deal with this. So verse 15-16, “But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, 16 saying, “What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.” Does that tell you about unbelief? How stubborn is unbelief?
A notable miracle happened and the whole city knows. This is a tough problem and there’s no law against healing people. There’s no rule against a good deed. And furthermore, Peter and John were popular with the people. 20,000 people by now make up the church which is a mass movement against them by the populous. They can’t kill these men or they’re going to have a revolution.
They can’t free them, and they can’t let them go on teaching and healing. They’ve got to come up with something, and this is the brain trust of Judaism. So verse 17-18, “But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name. 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.”
That is the moment in persecution. Every martyr comes to that moment in the past and in the present. We read it in the papers all the time. ISIS finds Christians, they bring them in, they say “denounce Christianity, embrace Islam or we’ll chop your head off.” Will you deny Christ? Read the history of the persecution of the church, and that moment comes back again and again.
What they mean there of course is public speaking. The verb is used to refer to actual public speech. So they put a ban on preaching. There are bans on preaching all over the world today. There always have been in the life of the church. So they threatened them with some unnamed retribution if they don’t stop preaching. I wonder how far away that is, even in our own country.
So how do they respond? Verse 19-20, “But Peter and John answered and said to them, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard.” When what men tell you to do is contrary to what God tells you to do, then, who do you obey? Daniel answered with, “I have a higher authority.”
Verse 21-22, “So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them, because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. 22 For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed.” For decades, they had seen this beggar in his lame condition. So, they just released them.
Verse 23, “And being let go, they went to their own companions and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said to them.” They had stood their ground. They had been bold. No threats could’ve deterred them. This is an appropriate response to being brought to the brink in persecution when your life is threatened. There’s a fifth principle, be closer to other believers.
Persecution produces unity. As persecution accelerates, the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and one soul. All things were common property to them. They clung tightly to one another. The persecuted church is the united church because it draws its strengths in that corporate fellowship. It forces believers to circle the wagons, to cling to each other, and to hold on tightly.
Number six, thank the Lord. Verse 24-28, “So when they heard that, they raised their voice to God with one accord and said: “Lord, You are God, who made heaven and earth and the sea, and all that is in them. 25 who by Your servant David have said: ‘Why did the nations rage, and the people plot vain things? 26 The kings of the earth took their stand, and the rulers were gathered together.
Against the Lord and against His Christ.’ 27 “For truly against Your holy Servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles and the people of Israel, were gathered together 28 to do whatever Your purpose determined before to be done.” They praise their God with one accord, who is the creator of the entire universe, the God who has all of the rulers of the world in the palm of His hand.
They recognize the guilt of Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Romans, and the people of Israel. The world gathered against Him, prophesied in Psalm 2, and the Gentiles and the Jews raged. But all they did was what God had predestined to occur. And number seven, pray for greater boldness. Verse 29, “Now, Lord, look on their threats, and grant to Your servants that with all boldness they may speak Your word.”
And Lord, supports that speaking. Verse 30, “by stretching out Your hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done through the name of Your holy Servant Jesus.” He supports our preaching with more miracles and more wonders. Scripture wasn’t written yet. They were validated by the miracles, and so they cry out to God to do more miracles so to support our preaching.
Their prayer was answered. Verse 31, “And when they had prayed, the place where they were assembled together was shaken; and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spoke the word of God with boldness.” We rejoice in the faithfulness of the saints because we’re here today because of that faithfulness. And we need to continue what they did for God, Amen? Let us pray.