"A Study of the book of Acts" by Hiram Kemp - Part 3

All right, good morning.

This quarter, we're looking at the challenges that we, the church, will always face.

Study working through the book of Acts, and if you have your Bible, go ahead and turn

it to Acts chapter 3.

Acts 3 · chapter mention

Last week, Neil dealt with Acts chapter 2 and talked about the challenge of sharing

Acts 2 · chapter mention

our faith or preaching the gospel, and we're going to pick up where he left off, talking

about the challenge we face concerning religious pressure or the challenge the church will

always face concerning religious pressure and what that means for us in a practical

sense.

So just kind of finishing up, some of Neil touched on this, but maybe didn't get to it

exactly like he wanted to, but Acts 2, 42 through 47 is the response to Peter's sermon.

So if you've got your Bible open to Acts 3, I'm sure you can see Acts chapter 2 on

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the page to the other side, and in Acts 2, 41, those that gladly received his words were

baptized and that same day there was added unto them about 3,000 souls, and they devoted

themselves or continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine, the fellowship, the breaking

of bread, and the prayer.

So right after these folks are baptized, they're immersed into the church, the community of

God's people, and they worship God together.

Verse 43 down through verse 45 of Acts 2 is a picture of the church sharing their goods

and selling their possessions and giving them to every person as they had need.

Verse 46 says they were daily in the temple with one accord, eating their food with gladness

and simplicity of heart, and then Luke gives the summary statement in verse 47, praising

God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord was adding to their number or

to the church day by day those that were being saved.

So Acts 2 begins with the preaching of the gospel.

It ends with these about 3,000 individuals responding favorably to the gospel message,

and then Luke's summary statement in Acts 2, 42 through 47 is the church is enjoying

this great time of fellowship, unity, praise, worship, and this camaraderie with each other,

which sets us up for Acts chapter 3, Acts chapters 3 through 5, where there's this hostility,

Acts 3 · chapter mention Acts 3 · chapter mention

this challenge, and this difficulty that the church is going to face.

So just think about this, coming out of Acts 2 and into Acts 3, Acts 2 ends on this great

high note of success so far as we can tell from the conversions and people's response

to the truth, Acts chapters 3 through 5, there's still success and we'll talk about that, but

Acts 3 · chapter mention

there is this challenge, there is hard persecution and testing.

And just give me some of your thoughts, why do you think that's the case in your personal

life and in the life of a congregation, in the life of the church, that normally right

after peacetime, right after things are going really well, God allows sometimes, permits

difficulties and intense times of testing to come into our lives personally and as the

people of God collectively.

What do you think is the mindset behind that?

Why does God allow that?

It seems, and you're going to see this as a pattern throughout the book of Acts, great

conversions, great success, and then almost immediately following that is some difficulty

and hardship.

And this happens again, collectively and in our own individual lives, why do you think

that's the case?

Yes, ma'am?

Transformation and the growth of faith has to be tested.

That's right, and that often happens through difficulty.

In Romans 5, 2 through 5, Paul will say this, right?

We are rejoicing in tribulations because those tribulations produce patience and patience,

endurance, and that hope that it'll produce won't make us ashamed because of the love

of God shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

That happens through that testing and that difficulty.

So sometimes God's allowing some testing to come about to bring about better in us.

Why else?

God disciplines.

Yeah, God disciplines us and sometimes he does that through hardship and testing.

Hebrews 12, 7 through 11 says you're illegitimate children if you don't go through the period

of testing that everybody has to go through that properly belongs to their father.

All right.

Why else?

What else?

Okay.

Yeah.

So sometimes the difficulty came because the things they were teaching weren't readily

acceptable to the people and as they taught different things, it brought up hardship.

Joe?

Yeah, sometimes the way we respond to hardship can actually be the light that brings somebody

to the knowledge of the truth and you see this in the book of Acts.

A lot of times what Luke is doing as you read through the 28 chapters is he's holding up

for Theophilus, look at how innocent the Christians have been and look at the Jews and as you

get to the later part of the book of Acts, look at how the Romans are treating them and

look at how they continue to respond.

I think that's what happens in Acts 16 with the Philippian jailer, but we're getting ahead

of ourselves.

So sometimes our response when Jesus was on trial before Pilate, it said he didn't say

a word as they accused him in so much that Pilate marveled.

He was surprised by the response.

All right.

Here's some of the other reasons.

Oh, go ahead.

Harry.

Okay.

Yeah.

Maybe Satan doesn't want to let go.

Maybe the devil is still, even though you just had great times, you enjoyed great success,

the devil's still going to test and try to persecute.

That's what you were going to say.

He will.

Sometimes it's just time and chance happens to everybody.

Ecclesiastes nine, 11.

Sometimes the difficulties just happen to come.

These are the seasons and cycles of life.

Sometimes it's to remind us that the end goal for Christianity isn't primarily our comfort

and our success.

Though we might enjoy those times of peace, the end goal of Christianity is to win the

world for Christ.

And sometimes we can get distracted in times of peace as we're coasting and things are

going well.

And I think difficulty, pressure and occasional persecution sort of reorients our mind to

what is most important.

And I think that happens a lot in the book of Acts.

Another pattern just to be on the lookout for in the book of Acts, you'll see this from

Acts two, you'll see it in Acts three and really throughout the book, but especially

in the opening chapters, this is how the book of Acts works in pattern form.

Number one, most times there's a miracle.

So go back to Acts two.

What was the miracle performed by the apostles?

They spoke in tongues.

Number one, there's a miracle.

Second, there's the amazement and astonishment from the people that see the miracle.

This is just the pattern of Acts.

There's a miracle.

Then there's amazement.

That amazement or confusion often leads to a third thing, which is here's their opportunity

to preach a message.

After they preach, the people respond either with obedience or opposition.

And then Luke simply reports this.

This is what happened.

Just be on the lookout for this in the book of Acts.

There'll be a miracle done by the apostles.

Then there'll be amazement by the people either saying, how did you do this?

Or we know you did this through this power.

Then it gives the opportunity for the apostles to do their preaching.

Those miracles serve as platforms to allow them to do their preaching and teaching.

And then there's the response of the people.

Everywhere the apostles go in the book of Acts, they typically have two responses.

They either start a revival or a riot.

There's really no in between.

People either love them and say, we're going to follow you wherever we go, or they try

to do what?

They try to kill them.

And then Luke will report the results.

The challenge we're going to talk about today, though, the challenge of religious pressure

from Acts chapter three through Acts chapter five is really the focal point of their challenge

throughout the book of Acts and really throughout the rest of the New Testament.

The idea that the apostles are going to be basically in spiritual battle or warfare against

the Jews and later against the Gentiles and the Romans because of what they teach and

preach and believe.

And so what we're going to talk about today is important because this is really the heart

of the rest of the New Testament.

How did Christianity make its way into a world where people were already set in their ways?

And how did they overcome that and cover the world with Christianity?

And as you think about the world in 2026, we should be thinking as we read these chapters,

how do we do the same thing?

People today can believe just about whatever they want.

And how does Christianity make a difference in the face of religious pressure?

One more question before we get into our text.

Why do you think religious pressure from other religious people is the greatest challenge

that's often faced in the book of Acts and in our time?

What I mean is this, most religious people, even when we differ with individuals on beliefs,

at least in a general sense, are after the same things.

We want people to do the right thing.

We want people to turn in the right direction.

Why do you think even though that's the case, and especially with Judaism, which in some

ways was very similar to Christianity, had the same foundation, the same launching point,

the same God, why do you think the people of the Jews in the book of Acts, Judaism,

and even in our day, some of our greatest opposition, some of our greatest challenges

often come from other people that are also religious?

Why is religious pressure one of the greatest challenges faced then and still faced today?

Why is it so difficult and hard for people to respond properly?

Ms. Vivian?

We're not confident in what we know, and so that might cause us to be afraid.

Kevin?

It's, at least in this case, I mean, the Jews were in power, so loss of control.

Yeah, losing control, and I think people face that today.

I mean, if you're in a place of religious prestige, and by the way, the things we're

going to talk about, the challenges that cause religious pressure, are things we equally

struggle with and can be guilty of, but sometimes if I give in to this teaching, if I submit

to these principles, then I'm going to lose my place of prestige, my place of prominence,

and a loss of control.

Without the book of Acts, the Jews, especially the Sadducees and those that rule and run

the temple, that's exactly what they're afraid of.

If this is true, and if this breaks in, what's going to happen to us?

Anything else?

We are all human, and we want our way.

Yep, that's right.

Here are some of the things I thought about.

Number one, the threat of different teaching.

Sometimes when something's new, it's just a challenge to you.

When Jesus did miracles, they said, this man does miracles, and if he keeps this up, the

Romans will come and take away our place and our nation.

In John 12 and verse 19, the Jews said, the whole world's going after him.

Sometimes we face the challenge of religious pressure because the threat of different teaching

creates hardship for other people that believe otherwise.

Sometimes it's looking the part versus living the part.

Everybody that's religious isn't really serious, and some people just appear to be religious,

but deep down inside, their motives aren't really pure.

They're not after doing the right thing, and then there's the pride problem.

We often tell people when we study the Bible with them, we should follow wherever the scriptures

lead, and if we find out we're wrong, we should do what?

Change.

How easy is it to change, though?

Sometimes pride...somebody said it ain't.

Yeah, it's not.

And so sometimes pride is the problem, and there's dishonesty and sincerity.

Religious pressure is one of the greatest problems we face because everybody's not honest.

You can show people the evidence, and they still will sometimes go the other way.

Change is hard.

I think we need to appreciate this.

As we talk to people of different religious persuasions, you can't just show a person,

well, here's two verses on baptism, and think they're just going to give up something that

maybe they've been practicing, believing, and thinking all of their life.

Change is difficult and hard, and we need to be patient as people try to make an about

face and go in the right direction.

And then I think sometimes anger is easier than logical reasoning.

It's just easier to get upset than to work things through.

When Jesus was on trial before the Sanhedrin in Luke 22 and verse 71, they finally say,

what need do we have of further witnesses?

You've heard the blasphemy.

Let's just get rid of them.

Sometimes that's easier than saying, well, let's just try to listen to what's being said

and try to work through it.

And I think this is why the apostles in the church in the first century had these problems.

And as we see them work through it and how they overcame, we can see ourselves doing

the same thing.

I think it's important for Acts 3 through 5 for us to see the challenge of religious

pressure and what these men overcame for one more reason.

And that is, I think we need to be tactful.

We need to be loving.

We need to be kind.

We need to be gentle.

But I hope as we run through these three chapters, you also see their boldness.

I think we forget as we read the book of Acts that these people were their family members,

their countrymen, people they probably grew up with and around and went to synagogue with.

And you got to appreciate how difficult it was to stare people like that in the face

and say, I believe something differently than you.

But more than that, I believe you're wrong and your wrong beliefs carry eternal consequences.

And I think for us, one of the hardest things for us to do is to do this evangelism, do

the work of Jesus Christ, because we have this great fear that if people realize that

we believe something different and not only believe different, but that we believe our

different beliefs have eternal consequences, that somebody is going to get mad at us or

they're going to be upset with us or relationship is going to be ruined in the process.

And I believe that Acts three through five is a masterclass on how this is done.

Romans 10, one through four, Paul said, brothers, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel

is that they might be saved.

I bear them record.

They have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.

And he spent his life trying to get them pointed in the right direction.

Speak the truth and love Ephesians 415, but you still have to speak it.

And I think sometimes the religious pressure we face is let's just kind of go along.

I mean, we'll preach what we teach and believe we'll be ourselves, but let's not make any

waves about dividing lines concerning what's true, what's false and the implications of

that.

But I think as we work through this text, you'll see the apostles do just the opposite.

Yes, sir.

That's right.

Yeah.

Jesus had hardship and difficulty when he taught the truth.

We should expect to receive similar treatment and hopefully learn to respond in a similar

way.

So Acts three through five here, the challenges that I see as far as facing religious pressure,

we won't be able to read all of it, but we will do the most reading in Acts chapter three,

because this chapter really sets up the last two.

The first challenge is the challenge of giving God the glory.

And I hopefully we'll see and discover as we go how this is a challenge related to religious

pressure.

But first, let's read Acts three, one through 10.

Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, and

a man lame from birth was being carried, who they laid at the gate of the temple that is

called the beautiful gate to ask alms of those entering the temple.

Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms.

And Peter directed his gaze at him as did John and said, look at us.

And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them.

But Peter said, I have no silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you in the name

of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up and immediately his feet and his ankles

were made strong and leaping up.

He stood and began to walk and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and

praising God.

And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

And they recognized him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate of the temple asking

for alms.

And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.

So we already talked about the pattern, but you see what happens.

There's a miracle that's performed.

This man is outside the gate of the temple that's called beautiful near Solomon's temple

and near Solomon's porch.

And he's outside begging.

Why isn't he inside?

Why isn't he inside the temple worshiping?

Not only because he's crippled and lame, but what else?

Physically, he wasn't able to get in, but what else kept him from going inside?

What was that?

And his door said he's unclean.

That's exactly right.

Because of his physical malady, he's unable to go into God's presence.

Leviticus 21, 18, Deuteronomy 15, 21, these passages talk about people that have these

physical handicaps were unpermitted to go into God's presence.

He sits outside of the temple, begging, sees Peter and John coming.

It's interesting.

This is called the beautiful gate because his circumstances are anything but.

He's outside the temple.

He's begging for alms.

He sees Peter and John.

Peter says, look at us.

We don't have silver and gold, but what we give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,

stand up and walk.

Who does that remind you of?

This is an easy one.

Starts with G, ends with sus.

Yeah, that's right.

Jesus.

Jesus often was raising people up.

Just work through Luke's gospel and see how Luke is trying to show this parallel that

Jesus's work is continuing through the apostles.

So you think about passages like Luke chapter five, Luke chapter six and verse eight, Luke

seven and verse 14.

Jesus even said that healing the lame was going to be a mark or a sign that he was actually

breaking in his messianic kingdom.

When John the Baptist sent messengers to Jesus, Jesus said, tell them what you see in here.

Luke seven and verse 22.

The deaf have their ears open.

The eye, the blind can see the lame are able to walk and blessed is the one that's not

offended in me.

They say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

And that's exactly what this man is able to do.

Go to Isaiah 35, go to Isaiah 35.

Here's an old Testament prophecy that connects what these men were doing to some prophecies

Isaiah made about the coming of Jesus's kingdom as well.

And what we could expect to happen really not only does Isaiah tell us what's going

to happen, but down to the details of how people are going to respond.

Isaiah 35 and look at verse three, Isaiah 35 and verse three, strengthen the weak hands,

make firm the feeble knees, say to those who have an anxious heart, be strong and fear

not.

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, he will save you.

Then the eyes of the blind will be open and the ears of the deaf unstopped.

Then the lame man will leap like a deer and the tongue of the mute will sing for joy.

So Isaiah says, not only will the lame be healed, but they will stand up and leap for

joy.

That's exactly what this man does.

And Zephaniah 319 and Jeremiah 31 in verse eight, these old Testament prophecies say

this is exactly what's going to happen.

Peter and John healed this man.

He gets up walking, leaping, praising God, and they make their way into the temple.

Remember we talked about the cycle.

First is the miracle.

Then there's what?

Amazement and astonishment, and it's going to provide an opportunity to preach.

How do the people respond to what Peter and John have done for this man?

Look at Acts three, and I'm just going to tell you the answers are in verses eight through

11.

How does the man and the crowd respond to what Peter and John did for this crippled

man?

Just give me the responses right out of the text from verses eight through 11.

Nobody get them all.

Just give me one at a time.

What do you see happen with this individual and with the people?

He's praising.

That's the first thing.

This man is walking and leaping, praising God.

Okay.

Wonder and amazement from who?

Why would they be amazed?

What's shocking about it?

Yeah, not only could he not walk, but verse two says he's been this way his whole life

since his birth.

These are the Jews.

They're amazed.

Okay.

So wonder and amazement.

This man's walking and leaping and praising God.

Anything else?

Verse 11.

Astounded.

Yes, but also look at verse 11.

He's clinging to Peter and John.

So he's literally holding them by their garments or maybe by the arm as he's going into the

temple and everybody in the temple.

As soon as these guys come in, run to them full speed because they're the ones that as

far as the people are concerned, are responsible for doing this, this miracle.

So here's my question.

Why or how is this a challenge for the apostles as far as religious pressure?

Just think about it.

They've done this great miracle.

This man's walking and leaping and praising God.

Great blessing, great time of celebration.

And all of a sudden you just think about the thousands of people that would have been

at the temple running to you because you've done this miracle and this man now is clinging

on to you for dear life and he won't let you go.

Why might that have been an opportunity for religious pressure or a challenge that these

men had to overcome?

What was that?

It's not about me, Levi.

That's what he was going to say.

What else?

Yeah.

I think the first challenge is, wait a minute, where does this power come from?

I think the apostles could have used this as an opportunity to make Christianity or

at least for them, this miracle event oriented.

What does Psalm 115 in verse one say?

Not unto us, not unto us, oh Lord, but to your name, give glory.

Second Corinthians four in verse five, Paul says, we preach not ourselves, but Christ

Jesus as Lord and ourselves as your servants for Jesus's sake.

I think the first way that this is a challenge is beware of making Christianity merely event

oriented.

They weren't just doing miracles for miracles sake.

There was a purpose behind it.

And I think this is a challenge for us.

I think we need to think about every event we do, everything we do.

You can just run down the list.

You can think camp, you can think lads, CYC, think equip, think VBS.

There is a temptation to make our Christianity merely event oriented.

People come in, they have a great time.

It's a blast.

And in their mind, they think these are great people.

You're doing great work.

And I'm not saying those things are bad.

Here's what I'm saying.

If we leave it at that, if Peter and John leave it at, we've done a miracle to a great

man.

We're, we're great philanthropists.

We're just the United Way.

We're the boys and girls club.

We go around doing good.

It would have been a temptation just to leave it at the miracle itself.

But here's the second temptation and Levi and Roger already mentioned this to make it

about these preachers.

I mean, they're holding on to Peter and John and though Peter told him in the name of Jesus

of Nazareth, rise up and walk.

I think there's a challenge to make sure that the glory, all the praise and all the honor

goes back to Jesus.

This will come up later in Acts, but in Acts 10, when Cornelius welcomes Peter into his

house, Acts 10, 25 through 26, Cornelius is going to fall at his feet.

You remember?

And Peter's going to say, arise and stand up on your feet.

I'm a man just like you are.

I'm not worthy of worship.

What's the problem in the first three chapters of first Corinthians?

What are they divided over?

Who are they divided over?

Preachers.

I'm a Paul.

I'm a who?

Apollos.

I'm a Cephas.

The challenge of religious pressure is when you do good work, make sure you know how to

point.

And I think these men on this occasion, I mean, the speaking in tongues, okay, we think

you're drunk, but now that you're healing people, you come into the temple, a man literally

is hanging on to you, clinging on to you.

Everybody runs to you.

And to have the self-control and the wherewithal to say, wait a minute, there's really nothing

special in us.

This is ultimately about God.

And they do more than that.

Just look at Acts 3 and notice how they change this and redirect people.

I'm in verse 12 and verse 13.

When Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this?

Or why do you stare at us as though by our own power or piety, we've made him walk.

The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers glorified

his servant Jesus who you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he decided

to release him.

Peter says, this really isn't about us.

It's ultimately about God.

And I want to redirect you there.

I want you to be thinking about what God has done and how God's operating.

And then Peter preaches this sermon, verses 14 through 16.

He rehearses the gospel with them, but you deny the holy and righteous one and ask for

a murderer to be granted to you.

You killed the author of life whom God raised from the dead.

And to this, we are witnesses and his name by faith in his name has made this man strong

who you see and know.

And the faith that is through Jesus has given this man this perfect health and the presence

of you all.

So he goes back to the gospel.

The Jesus of Nazareth is the one that gave him the power to walk because we're doing

our miracles in and through his power.

And then Peter goes a step further.

He doesn't just say, hey, we did this miracle by the power of God.

He starts preaching some hard truths.

In verse 17, he says, you're ignorant.

In verse 14, he says, you're murderers.

In verse 26, he says that God gave you an opportunity first.

And this is what the prophets had already always said.

Why might this be a challenge for Peter?

Not only to say, hey, the glory goes back to God, but to start preaching this sermon

and to call on people in verse 19 to repent and to try to turn these people to salvation.

He had garnered this great crowd.

He and John have all of these people around him.

And now Peter's preaching this sermon.

What might be difficult about Peter preaching this sermon on this occasion in this way?

All these people are following you.

Everything's going great.

And then all of a sudden Peter starts saying, by the way, you guys are murderers.

You need to repent and turn so that God will send forth times of refreshing to you.

And he'll send Christ at the appointed time.

This is what the prophets have always said.

And you need to turn from your sins if you're going to be saved.

What makes that a challenge on this occasion?

The challenge of religious pressure to turn the glory to God and to say hard things to

people on a day and at a time when it might not seem like the best occasion to do it.

What might they have been thinking?

If we preach this sermon, what's going to happen?

It's offensive.

We got this great crowd.

If we start telling people hard things, they might do what?

They might leave.

You think churches ever think like that?

Hey, we got them in.

Let's just kind of wait to get to the real tough stuff because, I mean, at least they're

here.

What happened when Jesus taught hard truths in John 6 and verse 60?

The people said, this is a hard saying, who can what?

I'm saying the challenge of religious pressure is to give the glory to God.

And if people flock to us for whatever reason, for whatever good we've done individually

or collectively, in love and in truth and in grace, absolutely.

But there comes a time when you have to say what Peter says in Acts 3.19.

Hey, I'm glad you're here.

By the way, repent in turn that your sins may be blotted out.

They weren't expecting to hear that.

They saw this miracle.

They thought maybe this was going to be a medical missions campaign.

And Peter and John say, wait a minute.

Hey, you guys have got to repent or you're going to be eternally lost.

And by the way, you killed Jesus, the author of life, and you desired a murder to be granted

to you.

That's a courage.

And I think we face the same pressure.

I think to say hard things in a loving way to people that, hey, we could think to ourselves

if we wouldn't say this, things might go well.

They might receive us.

They might welcome us.

To be able to do this takes courage, and it's what these men ultimately overcome.

So the first challenge is giving the glory to God.

That means realizing it's not about us, pointing people toward God, preaching the hard truths

when the time comes, and calling people in the world to repentance because that's ultimately

what God wants us to do.

All right.

Here's the second one.

The challenge of speaking the truth when threatened.

So after this miracle, there's also this persecution that comes about from the Sadducees and the

religious rulers.

Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 3, as they were speaking to the people, the priest and

Acts 4:1–3

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.

So the Sadducees, you already know, Acts 23 and verse 8, think about their discussion

with Jesus in Luke 20.

They have a problem with the resurrection.

They don't believe in that.

The apostles are preaching in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

These religious rulers come up to them and say, basically, they're greatly annoyed about

this preaching and teaching, and they want them to stop.

How do these people feel about Jesus?

How do the Sadducees and these religious leaders feel about Jesus of Nazareth?

They despise him and hate him.

They think they got rid of him 50-plus days ago, and now here you guys are preaching this

message again, and it's the challenge to preach the truth when threatened.

In the midst of this agitation and frustration, though, look at verse 4.

But many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to about 5,000.

What does that tell you?

Even in the midst of difficulty and hardship and in the midst of religious pressure, God

can still grow his church and grow his people.

God is still the one giving the increase, 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 6.

And even though these individuals are greatly annoyed, this doesn't end like Acts chapter

Acts 2 · chapter mention

2.

Acts chapter 3 doesn't say so many people were immediately baptized, but Luke just sort

Acts 3 · chapter mention

of throws this in so we don't miss it.

Hey, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.

They came for this miracle, but they ultimately converted and came to Christ in the midst

of this agitation and persecution from the religious leaders.

And then, let's see what happened to my remote.

There's the question of where they got the power to do this.

Acts 4, 5 through 7.

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.

And when they set them in the midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did

you do this?

So they want to know, how did you make this man well?

Peter responds in verses 8 through 12.

Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if

we're 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 you and 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.

They say to Peter and John, by what authority do you do this?

They point to who?

Jesus.

And this is a challenge because the last time this happened, this is the first trial in

the book of Acts.

And this trial is extremely reminiscent of what happened to Jesus when he was on trial

for his life.

And when they start saying these kinds of things, Peter and John might be thinking the

very same thing that happened to Jesus might what?

And they still preach it.

Verse 13 really down through the end says, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John,

they perceived that they were uneducated men and they were astonished and they recognized

that they had been with Jesus.

And basically they threatened him and tell him, don't preach in this name anymore.

The apostles go back to their group.

This is verses 23 down through 31.

And they pray a prayer for boldness so that God might help them to continue to preach

and teach the truth.

The challenge of speaking the truth even when threatened.

So here's my question.

Acts chapter four is probably not going to happen to you in your life exactly like this.

There's a very unlikely chance that you're going to be preaching the gospel to a neighbor

on your job in your neighborhood and be taken in before authorities, though it could happen,

but it's highly unlikely that our situations will directly parallel theirs.

But what are some of our challenges that we face as far as being silenced, concerned

in the truth?

And how might we be tempted to not speak up like we should for fear of being threatened?

Like what sort of persecution might we face if we speak up like they did?

What's the religious pressure that we face concerning being threatened into silence isolation?

What else?

Separation?

Rejection?

Yeah.

And I think that's a problem in the book of Acts as well.

This idea of, well, people have their experiences and their beliefs, and it's sometimes it's

hard to get people to counteract truth.

The Sadducees on the other side, the Sadducees are saying, we don't see people raised from

the dead.

We don't believe in miracles.

How do you get people to see or believe something that they don't want to, or that may be counterintuitive

to what they're already thinking?

But we see the apostles doing it.

They continuously point back to scripture and try to get these people to see things

in the lens of reality as things really are.

What other temptations do we face?

What other pressures to be silent and to not speak up?

Yeah, I think it might affect our relationships on social media, how people will perceive

us.

We might be accused, and this is going to happen later on in the book of Acts.

People will see you as a troublemaker or somebody who's bringing in a divergent doctrine, but

have the backbone to still do it.

Peter says, if we're being questioned today concerning a good deed done to a crippled

man, let it be known to you by the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Look at verse 20 in Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

We know this better from Acts 5 and verse 29, but the same thing happens in Acts 4 and

verse 20.

He says, 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 of what we have seen and what we've heard.

The apostles have the spirit of Jeremiah that says his words are burning fire in their bones

and shut up, and they can't contain it.

They wanted to shut it up, but they couldn't contain it.

Every opportunity they had, they preached it.

No matter what the response was going to be and what the results were going to be concerning

those that heard them.

Yeah, I know what you're saying.

Exactly.

Exactly.

I'm just saying they overcame that by continuing to preach the message.

Ian?

And I think you hear this all the time.

You hear people talk about your truth and my truth, and maybe that's true for you and

not true for me.

And being able to say, no, I think there's objective truth, and the apostles regularly

do this.

It's not just that they believe in objective truth.

They believe there's objective truth and consequences for how you respond.

And they're saying, this isn't just true for me.

It's also true for you.

Maybe you've heard this before.

People talk about the pointing that you do.

There's the polite pointing, go this way with one finger.

But when people point at you with two fingers, it's accusatory.

It's meant to be convicting.

And throughout the book of Acts, the apostles are pointing directly at these people and

saying, you need to respond.

You killed Jesus.

And if you don't respond, there's a call to repent or there'll be consequences and punishment.

We're living in a world with subjective truth where the Sadducees are saying, we don't believe

in spirits or the resurrection.

And this is the focal point of apostolic preaching.

All right.

Look at how they responded.

Look at 23 down through 31.

This is this prayer that they pray and just highlight, just look at these verses and tell

me what they did.

I know in the general sense they prayed, but what did the apostles do that you think helped

them to continue on even when they were threatened not to preach the truth and to be silent?

And how can we be helped to do the same thing?

Just look at this text and lift out anything you see that's helpful.

In addition to the obvious, of course they prayed, but what are the contents of this

prayer?

What did they ask for?

How do they go about it?

And how was it helpful for them?

They look to the scriptures.

Okay.

Yeah.

So they're quoting the Psalms.

They quote Psalm two and they say, Hey, we already knew this.

Why does the heathen rage and the people plot in vain?

You've said these rulers have set themselves against Christ and his anointed one.

So they look to the scriptures for hope.

And throughout the book of Acts, especially in these first few chapters, the apostles

keep saying this, this was already foretold.

This was already foretold in the prophetic writing.

So they look to the scriptures for help and encouragement.

What else?

They went to the brotherhood first.

They built themselves up by going to their church family.

Look at verse 23.

When they were released, they went to their who their own company.

The ESV goes with their friends, but their own.

They got built up and strengthened by their church family.

Why?

Because they were all going through what?

The same thing.

We talk a lot about Hebrews 10 25.

Don't forsake the assembly.

That's right.

But Hebrews 10 24 comes first.

Consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.

One of the reasons why we come here is if our minds are set on spiritual things and

we're rowing in the same direction, we're going through the same spiritual things.

And we derive strength from being present and saying, okay, how does this work with

you?

What did they do to you?

And learning how to respond and learning techniques and tools that will help us be successful in

evangelism.

Yeah, there's a strength in that for sure.

Being like minded.

Anybody else?

What else do you see in this prayer that they do that's helpful for them in overcoming

this?

They raise their voice to God in unity.

What do they say in the prayer?

They want boldness.

They want more of it.

When somebody prays for boldness, what does that mean?

They probably what they might be fearful and lacking in it.

Maybe we read the book of Acts and we think these men were never afraid.

They just ran into synagogues, overturned people's church services and ran to the next

town.

You know, a lot of times they're praying for boldness because they were just like you and

just like me.

Sometimes they were nervous, sometimes afraid, sometimes literally shaking in their boots.

They pray to God for boldness.

And guess what happens?

They receive it.

Verse 31 says when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered was shaken together

and they were filled with the Holy Spirit and continue to speak the word with what?

With boldness.

Here's another thing.

If you read this prayer, they don't take it personally.

They don't feel like it's a personal attack.

They think that this is ultimately about divine things happening.

And as a result, they're just playing a part in it.

I think we take rejection spiritually and I know it's hard not to, but we take it too

personally.

We make it about us.

Samuel was probably one of the first people in the Bible to do this.

And first Samuel chapter eight, the people say they want a king.

What does God tell Samuel?

They haven't rejected you.

They've rejected who me.

Just think about how challenging this was.

The apostles realized this.

And so they don't take it personally.

They say they've rejected you, your Holy child, Jesus.

And we're praying for strength and boldness so we can continue to preach to them.

And hopefully over time, wear them down and get them to see things as they should.

If you take it personally, you'll take your yourself out of the fight and give up when

you meet rejection.

And when you face hostility, the apostles don't do that.

And as a result, they grow.

Here's a third challenge.

The challenge, the practice, what they preached after this acts for 32 down through 37 says

now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul.

No one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything

in common.

And with great power, the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the

Lord Jesus and great grace was upon them all.

There was not a needy person among them for as many as were owners of lands or houses

sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles feet.

And it was distributed to each as any had need.

Thus Joseph, who was called by the apostles Barnabas, which means son of encouragement,

a Levite, a native of Cyprus, he sold a field that belonged to him and he brought the money

and laid it at the apostles feet.

What do we mean when we use this phrase?

Practice what you preach.

What does that mean?

Do what you say.

Practice what you believe.

I think it's interesting that right after this great persecution, Luke includes this

picture of the church.

I think this would have been a religious challenge for them.

After all of this hardship and persecution and being threatened to go out and still be

the same church that they were at the end of Acts chapter two, notice what happens.

There's a rich unity that they enjoyed.

Nobody said that anything that they had was their own and they had everything in common.

They live the resurrection in action.

Look at Acts four and verse 33 with great power.

The apostles were given their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus and great

grace was upon them all.

We preach the truth of the resurrection, but the way we respond to each other is the resurrection

in action.

That means we talked about this at camp all week, the fruit of the spirit, the evidence

that we believe these things is how we respond and whether or not they believe these realities

to be true is going to be evidenced by how they relate it to each other.

And they did it by sharing their goods with each other.

They supported their own freely and bountifully.

And then of course there's Barnabas and his outstanding character sold a portion of his

proceeds and laid it at the apostles feet.

I think it's hard to, I think Luke puts this in here because one of the challenges we all

face is making sure that hard times don't harden us.

It's easy to do this in Acts chapter two when everything's going great, selling their possessions

and goods.

The church is growing, but you know, when times are hard, it might be tempting to just

kind of pull yours in and worry about you and yourself.

The challenge of religious pressure is as times get difficult to, through persecution

and hardship, can you continue to be the loving and kind and gracious people that

you were at the start?

They overcame this challenge by continuing to practice what they preach and not to give

in to hardship and hostility, not to allow it to harden them.

Sometimes when we're persecuted, we can respond like the people that we are.

Jesus said in Matthew 24 in verse 12, we can respond like the people imposing us.

Matthew 24 in verse 12, Jesus says, because persecution will abound, the love of many

will wax cold.

And sometimes when persecution happens and the church is threatened, we kind of all go

to our own corners and retreat.

What these individuals did is they used it as an opportunity to bring them closer together.

Here's the last one we probably will get to, Acts chapter five, the challenge of hypocrisy

and church discipline.

We don't have time to read it, so I'm just going to give you the highlights and maybe

we can talk through it.

But after Barnabas sold his property and laid it at the apostles' feet, a man and his wife

sell their portion and they lay it at the apostles' feet.

What's the problem with what they do?

They lied.

Barnabas sold it and gave how much of it away?

All of it.

They sold it and gave a part of it and was that wrong?

What was their problem?

They said that they did.

They wanted the praise of Barnabas without the sacrifice of Barnabas.

And I think one of the religious pressures we will always face in the church is the challenge

of hypocrisy.

What's the difference between hypocrisy and the regular shortcomings we all face?

What's the difference between, hey, everybody's a human.

We all sin.

We all fall short.

And then intolerable religious hypocrisy that God won't tolerate and that the church shouldn't

tolerate and that Jesus really couldn't stand.

He told his disciples in Luke 12, beware of the leaven of the scribes and the Pharisees,

which is hypocrisy.

What's the difference between, hey, this person's a hypocrite and, well, you know, everybody

falls short.

Nobody's perfect.

What's the difference?

It wasn't a slip.

What they did was intentional.

Yep.

Your purpose.

Your purpose.

There's a difference between trying your best to serve God and falling short through human

frailty and weakness and playing a part on life's stage and trying to present yourself

as something you're not.

How does God respond to their hypocrisy?

Kill them.

They both drop dead immediately.

So God's the first person in the Bible to practice church discipline.

Why might this have been a challenge for the church?

I mean, if you're a church, just think about this.

Tomorrow on the news, hey, two people lied at the Cumberland Trace Church of Christ.

They both dropped dead and they had their funerals right on the spot.

By the way, VBS is in two weeks.

Can't wait to see you.

Like why might this have been a challenge for them?

Why might have this been a challenge of religious pressure?

God to enact church discipline on his own as this movement is just beginning and Christianity

is just getting its start.

What might people be thinking if you start practicing church discipline on your own people

and, by the way, to this drastic measure?

Am I next?

I don't want to become a part of those people because what?

It might happen to me.

They're just killing people for doing things that they shouldn't do.

I don't want to be a part of that.

And yet God says, I want you to do it.

First Corinthians 5, 1 through 13.

Second Thessalonians 3 and verse 6.

Second Thessalonians 3 and verse 14.

See, the challenge of religious pressure is to say, let's just be like everybody else.

I mean, who are we to kick people out of the church?

We don't want to...and church discipline isn't that.

But it is to say, God is concerned with internal holiness as much as he's concerned with calling

people on the outside of the world into that same holiness.

Russell?

Yeah?

And we might, in our own minds, Russell, I think part of our problem is we premeditate

what we think is going to happen.

Look at Acts 5, 12 through 16.

This is the biblical response.

Regardless of what we might think would have happened, this is what God says happened.

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.

So verse 13 says there were two kinds of responses.

Some people said, I don't want anything to do with that, and what did other people do?

They joined on.

Verse 14, more than ever.

That means more than Acts 2, that means more than Acts 4.

More than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women.

We think to ourselves, if we do this hard thing God wants us to do, it'll ruin the church.

People will run out by the multitude.

That's humanistic thinking.

But what happened here is when they did what God said, guess what happened?

The church grew.

And this wasn't a situation where like Ananias and Sapphira were restored.

This was just God's pronouncement.

And if a person heard this and thought to themselves, if that's how serious they are,

I don't want anything to do with that, God's response would be, you're absolutely right.

You don't want anything to do with this if you think Christianity is a game.

And if somebody saw this and thought to themselves, I'm going to give my life to Jesus and I'm

going to take him seriously because he's not playing with me, he would welcome them in.

And as a result of this, more and more believers were added to the Lord and the church grew.

Acts 5, 17 through 42 is really a replay of Acts chapter 4, where the persecution is mounted

Acts 4 · chapter mention

and the apostles continue to preach and say, we must obey God rather than men.

And as a result of that, they continue to preach the word daily from house to house

and in the temple and the church continues to grow.

Religious pressure internally and externally has always been a challenge for God's people.

They overcame then and we can overcome now.

Alright, thanks for a good class.

Thanks for your participation as well.