Perseverance and Providence
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 18 September 2022
Let’s open the Word of God to Acts 5. It gives us the history of the early church, but also a pattern for understanding evangelism. The Lord uses the saints to draw the elect. Acts 1:1 began with a reference to all of that Jesus began. The finished work of Christ was His work on the cross, making atonement, providing propitiation to God by being a sacrifice that satisfied divine justice.
But there is work that Jesus only began, which was calling His people together. Jesus extended that work through the apostles. The first generation church then picked up the work, and it goes on to our time. Remember Acts 1:8, “You will receive power after the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost part of the earth.”
There are five features of evangelism, and we have discussed two so far. The first thing of effective evangelism was purity. We cannot lie to the Holy Spirit. This couple decided that they wanted to get in on the admiration that people were getting because they were selling what they had to provide money to meet the needs of people. It was based on great love, generosity and unity.
However, they kept back some of it and lied to the Holy Spirit. The Lord was saying, “I want a pure church.” Holiness validates the message. If we are not a people with transformed lives, then proclaiming the gospel of transformation is hypocrisy. That is why Peter says later, “Judgment must begin at the house of God.” It did begin in that first church, and God did it.
We also understand that this had an immense effect on the church. Verse 11, “Great fear came over the whole church and over all who heard of these things.” They knew that God was serious about sin and righteousness. What a detriment is it to the testimony of the church and the effectiveness of the gospel when you have sinful people claiming to be transformed by Christ and are not.
The second thing that marked the church is power. Verse 12, “At the hands of the apostles, many miracles were taking place among the people.” Verses 15 and 16 displayed the apostolic power to such an extent that they even carried the sick people out into the streets and laid them on cots so that when Peter came by at least his shadow might fall on any one of them.
Also, the people from the cities around Jerusalem were coming to bring people who were sick or afflicted with unclean spirits, demons, and they were all being healed. There is no parallel to the history of the Christian church. This massive array of miracles: casting out demons, healing diseases, raising dead people, controlling nature, was done by our Lord Jesus Himself. And the apostles did the same.
They understand that the power is in the apostles, because the apostles needed to be seen as the spokesmen for God. With all the teachers available in ancient times, as in all times, why would you believe the apostles? The New Testament hadn’t been written, so why do we believe them? We believe them because they have supernatural power, and that’s how God validates them.
The third mark for effective evangelism is persecution. It begins in Acts 5:17-18, “Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, 18 and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison.” Persecution is inevitable. “All that will live godly will suffer persecution.”
If you’re going to preach sin to self-righteous proud people, they’re going to resist and resent that. But even that couldn’t stop the effect of the gospel. So another wave of persecution comes. This time it comes from the high priest, who is either Annas or Caiaphas and their associates, the Sadducees. They are the leaders of the temple operation who only accept the Pentateuch.
The high priest along with his associates are filled with jealousy. They can’t stand the explosive popularity of Christianity. They see it as defiant toward their authority. They see it as defiant toward their theology and authority. But verses 19-20 say, “But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, 20 “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life.”
Verse 21, “And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught.” Part of the Sadducees theology is they did not believe in angels. So God sends one of the very beings they deny, to take His apostles out of prison. And the angel said, “Go and speak to the people in the temple,” the domain of the Sadducees. “Go proclaim to the people the whole message of this Life.”
God wants obedience at any cost and preach the gospel at any cost. They didn’t ask, “Is it safe?” Only, “Is it what you want us to do?” And they are told, “Go speak the whole message of this Life.” Verse 21 continues, “But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought.”
Their obedience put them in the temple. They arrive in the morning, and they begin preaching the gospel again. God doesn’t release them from a very difficult situation so they can have an easy time. He has a lot bigger plans than that. He puts them right back in the very place that is going to be their greatest threat from the people who put them in prison to start with.
Verse 22-23, “But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, 23 saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” How did that happen? It was a supernatural work of God. A locked jail and all of the sudden, they’re on the outside.
No one has unlocked it, and the guard has been there all the time. Just another indication of the supernatural realities that are going on in the early church to demonstrate its divine character because only God can do these things. Verse 24, “Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be.”
They go into a panic. Verse 25, “But someone came and reported to them, ‘The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!’” They would have thought that they’re out somehow hiding. No. They’re out, but they’re not hiding. Satan imprisoned them, which allowed God to do a miracle, confirming the legitimacy of the apostles and the Christians.
There they were back preaching with more confirmation than ever because now they were there by a miracle that no one could deny. Verse 26, “So the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned.” Why? They’re filling the city with sick and demon-possessed people, and they know that all these people can be healed.
The people knew the Jews were corrupt. They showed that corruption in the operations of the temple day after day after day. That’s why Jesus went there and cleaned up the place at the beginning and end of His ministry, calling it a “Den of thieves.” They knew they were being stolen from. Something could have triggered a mob violence action, and they might all have lost their lives.
Verse 27, “And when they had brought them, they set them before the council.” This is the supreme court of Israel. “And the high priest asked them in verse 28 saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” You are making us responsible for the death of this man.
What disdain is in their unwillingness to say the word “Jesus.” Remember what they said in Matthew 27:25 when they were calling for the death of Jesus? They said, “His blood be on us and our children!” That’s why Paul says, “I bear in my body, the marks of Jesus Christ.” It was Christ they hated, but he took the blows. Peter wrote, they trusted a faithful creator and counted it a privilege to suffer.
The fourth characteristic is persistence. Did all this arrest, harassment and threats scare them? No. Proverbs 28:1 says, “The righteous are as bold as a lion.” Pressure only brings out the best in the righteous. Verse 29, “But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men.” What about submitting to those who are in authority over us?
Verse 30 says, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.” They reiterate the indictment that offends these men. Remember what God said about Jesus Christ? “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well-pleased. Listen to Him.” Obey God’s command from His Son. The Great Commission says, “Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.”
Verse 31, “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” Peter is persistently preaching the gospel to the people who commanded him to stop. Peter says, “We didn’t invent this.” Verse 32, “And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.”
The fifth point in evangelism is providence. What we mean by providence is God’s control of circumstances. Ultimately, the impact of our evangelism is in the hands of God. Verse 33, “When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them.” They are violently agitated to the very core of their being. Their hearts are torn asunder because of the preaching of these Christians.
They had indicted these believers for heresy about the resurrection. Yet they kept on preaching the resurrection. They had been jailed for doing it. But God took them right out of jail, went back to the temple and kept on preaching. They had been winning converts by the thousands. We would expect that Jews with that power and being that furious would have executed all of them on the spot.
Why didn’t they kill them? Verse 34, “Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while.” The Sadducees dominated the Sanhedrin. The Pharisees were the teachers of the people. They were poles apart religiously and politically.
Here a Pharisee stood up, and the Sadducees know that this is a master-teacher who represents the population. So he says to them in verse 35 -36, “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing.”
Use your head, not your emotions. You don’t want to start something you can’t control. You execute these men, and you may have a full blown revolution. A lot of disorders were going on led by would-be Messiahs. Verse 37, “After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed.”
These things have a way of kind of resolving. This has been tried before, and it came to nothing. So verse 38-39, “And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing, 39 but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God.” The first half is true. So slow down, let things kind of take care of themselves.
The second half is not necessarily true, not everything that succeeds is from God. Is the Roman Catholic Church a true representation of God? Even the wisest men in Israel couldn’t get this right. What he should have said is, let’s open the Old Testament and see if this man Jesus and His message is true to the Scripture. That would have been really true wisdom.
They would have known that beginning at Moses and the prophets and in all the holy writings, the writers all spoke of Jesus. They could have started in Isaiah 53. You can’t judge anything by success. So verse 40, “And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”
Do you see providence at work here? Gamaliel makes a simplistic statement that is not totally true; and yet God uses this man acting to keep the opportunity to preach the gospel alive. So they flogged them, ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, released them. Verse 41, “So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name.”
Verse 42, “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” This is providence. Providence allowed them to continue to do this. We have the truth written down that they had verbally. Acts 6:7, “Then the word of God spread, and the number of the disciples multiplied greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith.” Let’s pray.