Acts 4:1-4 | 5 April 2026

Good morning again. Happy resurrection

day. Christ is risen. We Christ is

risen.

>> Thank you. He is risen indeed. You can

turn to Acts chapter 4.

Acts 4 · chapter mention

If you are visiting

this morning during this time, we just

open the Bible and we see what God says

in it together.

Today we are looking at the book of Acts

Acts 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

Just a few verses in the beginning of

that chapter. Let me pray one more time

for us this morning.

Father, we come

to you

this morning needy.

We recognize that we bring nothing.

Bring nothing

but Christ who is everything.

And we bring Christ who is not a dead

savior but a risen savior. So, Father,

would you speak to us this morning

through your word that we would be

encouraged

and challenged? I pray for the

individual

among us today who does not know Christ,

who does not believe the resurrection,

who is not yours.

Would you open their eyes this morning

that they might see him? We pray in

Jesus name. Amen.

So, when was the last time you were

annoyed with someone? Like really

annoyed with someone? Kids, I know that

that's probably like, you know, 3

seconds ago with your sibling. Parents,

it probably was 3 seconds ago with your

children.

Maybe you woke up this morning on the

wrong side of the bed. Sometimes, maybe

it's you go into the shop and you're

just, you know, someone else is in the

queue and you don't say anything, but

you're just like, why is it taking them

so long?

What is the problem?

Maybe it's teens.

Maybe you get annoyed with your parents

every once in a while. I'm just

guessing. Maybe even if it's a silent

rebellion in your heart just like, I

just don't understand why they don't

listen to me.

Maybe it's the liberal media that you

read or you watch and you just kind of

roll your eyes. You're like, how did

they take that bent on that story? and

you're just not sure. There are many

times in our lives when we get annoyed

at what people are saying or what people

are doing. In our text this morning,

it's going to show us how the religious

leaders and the days of the apostles got

really annoyed with what the apostles

were saying.

In the context of this passage, Jesus

has already died. He was in the grave.

The father has resurrected him from the

dead. He was seen by hundreds of people.

And he has ascended into heaven already.

and the apostles, the the men that the

Lord Jesus Christ appointed to spread

the good news

of the gospel that Christ died for sins

and was resurrected,

proving

that he had conquered sin and death.

These apostles are obeying Jesus and

what he had commanded them to do.

For earlier in Acts 1:8, Jesus said,

Acts 1:8

"But you will receive power when the

Holy Spirit comes upon you. You will be

my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea

and Samaria and to the ends of the

earth." This is what the apostles were

doing. They're witnessing to the life,

death, and resurrection of Jesus. But

there's a cost to doing that.

Peter and John are speaking to the

people in the temple. As we come in to

Acts chapter 4, Peter has actually just

Acts 4 · chapter mention

healed a man who was lame from birth. He

had never walked in his life for

decades. He has healed him. A crowd has

formed and Peter starts preaching.

Some of the people in the first century

didn't really want to hear about someone

rising from the dead. Do you know who

really didn't want to hear about Jesus

rising from the dead? It's those who are

really set in their ways. Those that

thought they knew how the world worked.

They didn't want to hear about someone

rising from the dead. We find that

today, don't we?

We find that people today don't really

want to hear about someone rising from

the dead. This text in Acts shows you

some of the reasons why these leaders

were annoyed by the resurrection. And in

seeing how the resurrection is annoying

to the world, it actually can help us

see the power of God to the believer.

Paul writes in 1 Corinthians, "The word

of the cross is folly. It's foolish.

It's stupid to those who are perishing."

But to us who are being saved, it's the

power of God. He goes on to write, "God

chose what is foolish in the world to

shame the wise. God chose what is weak

in the world to shame the strong."

Does the average person that you see in

a day, does the average person you see

in a day believe that a person can rise

from the dead?

Of course they don't. Of course they

don't. That's fantastical. That's weird.

That's supernatural.

But it's actually more deeply

problematic for people than just that.

So it isn't just that like, oh that's

just foolishness. It actually goes

deeper for most people. And so we're

going to look at three reasons this

morning why the resurrection is

annoying. It's probably not what you

were expecting on an Easter Sunday of

why the resurrection is annoying.

But as we understand why the world sees

the resurrection as annoying,

we're going to see the power of God for

his people. So let's look at Acts 4

Acts 4:1

verse 1.

And as they were speaking, this is Peter

and John

to the people, the priests and the

captain of the temple and the Sadducees

came upon them greatly annoyed because

they were teaching the people and

proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection

from the dead.

So the first reason that these religious

leaders, the world as it were, is

annoyed is that the resurrection

challenges human control.

It challenges human control. These

religious leaders were annoyed. They

were greatly annoyed is what the

scripture says. So who were these people

that were greatly annoyed? Well, it was

the priests. It was those who were

mediating between the people of God and

God. It was the captain of the temple.

He was basically like right below the

high priest controlling the security of

who was in and who was out of the

temple. And then they had the Sadducees.

This was a religious sect who actually

did not believe in fate. They did not

believe in a set future and they did not

believe in an immortal soul. So they

didn't believe in a resurrection.

That's who is gathered here who is

greatly annoyed. But why? Well, what

does the text say? It kind of gives two

reasons. Peter and John were teaching

the people. That was one reason why they

were annoyed and proclaiming in Jesus

the resurrection from the dead.

See the priests and the captain and the

Sadducees they controlled they had

control of the religious workings of

Judaism. They were in control of what

was happening in the temple. They were

the masters of their domain. They were

the gatekeepers who decided who can be

here, who can teach, who's in and out.

They were the referees that not only

enforced the rules, but they made the

rules as well.

They were greatly annoyed because

somebody was breaking their rules.

Someone was breaking their rules.

These leaders had missed the markers in

the Old Testament that pointed to a

suffering savior.

They wanted a Messiah that was free them

from the power of Rome,

not from sin and death. They missed

those markers. So Jesus was not what

they expected. So his resurrection,

well, that couldn't be true. That's

foolish. They were greatly annoyed at

that. See, see, they held all the cards.

How dare these men start preaching about

a man who rose from the dead? How dare

they do that? So you see, they were

annoyed at the resurrection because it

challenged their control.

They had it. And suddenly

someone was saying, "Well, no, they

don't."

This is one of the reasons

why communism is so anti-gosspel.

Communism gives the state control over

everything, right? But the state can't

control everything. Like it it can't do

that. So when you start preaching a

resurrection that frees someone from

tyranny, oppression, worldly control,

the state hates that.

The state's really annoyed by that. And

so it has to push down and oppress that

kind of teaching.

Communism is anti-gosspel. But you know

what? The human heart hates that too.

Your heart apart from

Christ hates that because you really

really like control.

The book of Judges says several times

that the people did what was right in

their own eyes.

The human flesh, remember, is set

against the truth. So evil attacks the

truth. Our hearts are evil. So our

hearts attack the truth. We do not

want what God says. We want what we say.

We do what is right in our own eyes. We

want control. So the question I have for

you, are you the master of your domain?

Do you think that? Do you think that you

control

your domain, your your sphere of influ

influence, your world?

Do you think that poverty and

purposelessness

or maybe fanaticism is what you actually

need to be free from? That's that's what

that's what I really need to be free

from is just poverty, purposelessness,

those fanatical Jesus people. That's

what I really need to be free from. And

I know some of you here today do not

know the gospel. You don't believe the

gospel. The good news that Jesus died

for your sins and he rose again on the

third day. You don't believe that.

You're greatly annoyed at the thought

that you are not in control of your

fate, your destiny, your future. That

just annoys you to think that someone

could say that you're not in control of

that. It annoys you just like it annoyed

these religious leaders in Acts 4. But

can I just tell you this morning,

you're not in control.

As much as you want it, as much as you

think you are,

as much as you try to put the pieces

around in your life, you just do not

have control. And every time you buck or

go against authority, it is

anti-resurrection.

Every time you push against

godly authority, it is

anti-resurrection. Every time you think

you know best or you think you hold the

cards, it is a an attempted assault

on the resurrection of Jesus. This is

true for the pagan down the street who

thinks they've got it figured out in

whatever way they think they can worship

whatever or nothing.

It's true for the enlightened

businesswoman in your office.

It's true for the teenager who thinks

they know better than their parents.

Every time you try to grasp control,

every time I try to grasp control, it's

actually anti-resurrection.

But for the Christian,

but for the Christian, this is a day of

celebration

where so much of the world misses the

point, don't they? They just miss the

point. It's a day off

or we look at cute bunnies or we eat

chocolate

which a day off cute bunnies and

chocolate. There's nothing wrong with

those things.

But if that's what you're celebrating in

place of a resurrected king named Jesus

who's the second person of the trinity,

you've missed a lot. You've missed the

point. For the Christian, for the

Christian,

the resurrection reminds me that my way

leads to eternal destruction.

It reminds me that when I'm in control,

I just ruin everything.

So do you. When you're in control, you

ruin everything.

The resurrection is an assault on human

control.

But to the Christian brother and sister,

the Christian, that is just so freeing.

It is so freeing, isn't it? To know that

I actually don't have control. I can

release control

to the one who is just and good and

right and powerful.

The resurrection of Jesus shows me my

lack of control and it displays the

power of God available to me in Christ.

The sin in your heart, it's out of your

control.

The sin in your heart, you cannot fix

it.

Your eternal fate, it's out of your

control. It's out of your control. You

cannot earn heaven. Your ability even to

do right and good is out of your

control. You need to be transformed to

be able to do right and good. When you

realize that you have no control over

these things and that the resurrection

is real, you are finally free.

You are free. You're no longer a slave

to the idea of control

because it's just a fake idea.

But control was not the only reason that

these religious leaders were annoyed.

They were also annoyed because their

resurrection is offensive to them. Let's

keep reading.

There's three. And they arrested them

and put them in custody

until the next day,

for it was already evening.

This is the first time someone was

arrested for the sake of the gospel of

Jesus Christ. Jesus warned his followers

about this. This should not have come as

a surprise to the apostles. Jesus said

in John 15, "If the world hates you,

know that it has hated me before it

hated you.

If you were of the world, the world

would love you as its own. But because

you are not of the world, but I chose

you out of the world, therefore the

world hates you. Peter and John were

going against the status quo. But they

were going against the status quo both

politically and religiously.

Whatever you did in the first century as

a Jew, whatever you did, you did not

stir up the Romans. That is just not

what you did.

Preaching about a man who rose from the

dead, who is king of the universe, is a

really good way to stir up the Romans.

When you have Caesar, who is their god

king, it's a really good way to stir up

the Romans.

But it also was just religiously

fanatical, far-fetched. It was deviant.

I mean, the Sadducees didn't even

believe in a resurrection.

It's like Peter. Peter and John were the

like the source of a bad smell they

couldn't find. Do you ever have that in

your house or maybe in your car? You're

like, "What is that?" And you start like

picking up the sock, might even grab

your kid's feet and you start to be

like, "You need a bath." And you're like

looking for this bad smell.

To those who are perishing, the

resurrection stinks.

It stinks like that. You're trying to

figure out why does it stink?

Paul addresses this in Corinthians as

well. He says, "For we are the aroma of

Christ to God among those who are being

saved and among those who are

perishing."

To one, it's a fragrance from death to

death. To the other, it's a fragrance

from life to life. You see, the

resurrection, it offends.

It offends. It smells like death. It's

It's annoying.

And if you're if you're not believing

it, you you hate it. You hate it so bad.

It's like that fuzzy stick they would

stick up our noses to test for COVID.

NOBODY LIKED THAT.

Everybody hated it.

If you liked it, you're weird. You can

talk to me later. Those

who are of the world hate the idea of

the resurrection.

They hate it. It goes against scientific

norms, political norms, social norms,

cultural norms.

But look back at the text. Look at verse

two.

They were 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 and custody until the next day

for it was all already evening. So Peter

and John, they're proclaiming the

resurrection from the dead. Wouldn't

wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to

hear?

The resurrection from the dead. Like I

die and I rise again. But you know what

they did? They arrested them for it.

That's deranged.

You're preaching hope that there is

something after death humanity's

greatest enemy. and they get arrested

for it. Shouldn't shouldn't they be

amazed

at such a teaching?

But that's the problem though. See, the

problem for these religious leaders and

the problem for your neighbor or your

family member or maybe for you right

now, the problem is death.

The resurrection is offensive because it

reminds everybody of death.

You don't need a resurrection

if you don't die.

You don't need a resurrection

if you're not going into a grave.

Strangely enough, people don't want to

talk about death. Have you noticed that?

It's not the best conversation starter

for most people. And if you try to go

there, they tend to change that

conversation really quick because

strangely enough, death is a really big

reminder of mortality.

It's a really big reminder of mortality

when you start talking about death.

And if we talk about death, there must

be a reason we die.

So if death is occurring,

there must be a reason for it. Now,

science would tell you, science would

say to you that we die because our DNA

becomes corrupt and our cells can no

longer do what they did when we were

young, which eventually leads to like

full body failure,

which is death.

And there's some truth to that, the

natural side of it.

But on the spiritual side, the Bible

says the wages of sin is death.

You die because you've earned it.

You've earned death.

The resurrection is offensive because

people don't really want to hear that.

That they have earned death. It exposes

their sin. The wages of sin is death.

You're saying that I'm sinning

and that has earned me death. That's

what the Bible says.

People don't like that. The resurrection

causes us to see that we are bare and

naked before a God to whom we are

accountable.

If the resurrection is necessary, then

we're broken. And that is annoying to

the vast majority of people. They don't

want to hear that they are broken.

But for the Christian,

for the Christian, the resurrection is

not offensive. The resurrection is the

basis of our hope. It's 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15:21

15:21. It's been read twice today. For

by, this is the third time now. For by a

man came death,

by a man has come also the resurrection

from the dead. Brother and sister, it is

okay for your sin to be exposed because

death has been defeated.

You don't need to worry about your sin

being exposed because it has been dealt

with on the cross.

Your freedom is secured. You are no

longer a slave to that. You don't have

to obey that master anymore. You have a

new one, a greater one. You've been

changed.

And that's amazing for the Christian. It

is not offensive. It is glorious.

It is glorious.

The resurrection changes people. And

that is the third reason why the

resurrection is annoying to the world.

Look at verse four of Acts 4. Actually,

I'll just read the whole thing again.

Verse one. And as they were speaking to

the people and the priests and the

captain of the temple and the Sadducees

came upon them greatly annoyed because

they were teaching the people and

proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection

from the dead and they arrested them and

put them in custody until the next day

for it was already evening. Verse four,

but many of those who had heard the word

believed, and the number of men came to

about 5,000.

These were fishermen.

Peter and John were fishermen.

They're healing people. They're

preaching. They're standing up to the

religious authority of the day. They're

put into prison. But you know what the

problem is? A really, really annoying

thing to these religious leaders is that

imprisoning apostles does not stop the

transforming power of the gospel. It's

just so annoying.

If Jesus won't stay dead, what are the

priests and Sadducees supposed to do?

They've already killed him once. Are

they just going to kill him again?

So annoying.

Apparently, killing him didn't work.

They are annoyed because the message

just keeps spreading. They're annoyed

because these fishermen are suddenly

able to teach God's word. Who are they

to be able to teach God's word? They're

annoyed because people actually believe

it.

But many of those who had heard the word

believed. They believed it. This guy

rose from the dead for my sin. I believe

it. I believe it. Peter and John,

they're preaching the resurrection of

Jesus from the dead. And the people,

they believe. And they don't just

believe with their heads. It isn't like

this like like ascent to some some

knowledge. The people are putting their

full trust in the Lord Jesus. There was

a cost to believing in Jesus.

It wasn't like everybody was doing it.

It wasn't like everybody was for it. I

mean, we just saw that the religious

leaders are annoyed with it.

You look at history and you look at

Acts, the Romans are annoyed by it. It

isn't like it's the in thing to do. It

wasn't popular. They were placing their

full trust. If Jesus rose from the dead,

then they would rise from the dead.

It was true faith.

Maybe you've heard the the chair

metaphor of faith before of of how when

you sit in a chair, you have you have

exercised faith in that chair. The great

Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon would

have used this among others.

You're all sitting in a chair.

You believed that chair would hold you.

Right? So, there's a couple things that

you needed to get to that point.

You needed some knowledge that this

chair is meant to be sat in.

You needed to have some knowledge that

the materials of this chair at least

look like they're going to hold you. If

I were to construct a cardboard chair

here and put it in front of you, I don't

think that you'd sit in it

because you wouldn't have the knowledge

that it's actually going to hold you.

So, you have to have some knowledge.

That's true about faith. You have to

know something

and you do you do need to have a belief

that it will hold you. That chair has to

hold you.

But knowledge and belief have to be

enacted.

Those two things come together. And true

faith is that you trust.

How do you know you've trusted the

chair? Well, you sat down in it.

You place your full weight in that

chair. This is what the people were

doing when exposed to the truth of the

gospel. They believed he rose from the

dead to save them from their sins and

they rested in him. They put their full

trust in Christ.

It's like a trust fall when you fall

back believing that people are going to

catch you. You don't believe they're

going to catch you if you don't actually

fall.

Have you

fallen into the arms of Jesus this

morning?

You might know in your head,

but do you believe?

Is that belief followed through by

action that you actually trust him? And

what happened to those people? Well,

they were transformed.

Fishermen became preachers. Who would

have thought that was possible? Thieves.

Thieves became generous. The

promiscuous, well, they got married. The

lazy became hard workers. Angry fathers,

they grew in gentleness. The drive for

money and for power and for fame was

replaced.

People just wanted the Lord Jesus to get

all the praise and honor and glory

because the gospel changes people. The

world hates them for that.

It hates you for that

because it looks at you and it reminds

them

that's not them. They've not been

changed. Transformed Christians are like

a stone in their shoe

reminding them day after day after day

of their brokenness and their sin and

their death.

When the gospel is believed, it changes

people. This is annoying to the world,

but you know what? It causes the

believer to rejoice. Listen to these

things from the from the scriptures. You

are sure of this that he who began a

good work in you will bring it to

completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

You know that if anyone is in Christ, he

is a new creation.

The old has passed. Behold, the new has

come. You know that you can be

transformed by the renewal of your mind.

You are putting on a new self, created

after the likeness of God and true

righteousness and holiness. This is the

scripture. These are the truths of the

Christian life. And it's amazing. We

have been transformed. We're new

creations. We can be renewed in our

mind.

But ultimately for the Christian,

they delight. We delight in the fact

that we currently right now commune with

the Lord Jesus Christ

and then one day not far from now. It

feels that way sometimes. It feels far

from now but so very close we will see

him face to face. We trust in the words

of Jesus when he says, "In my father's

house are many rooms. If it were not so,

would I have told you that I go to

prepare a place for you? And if I go and

prepare a place for you, I will come

again and I will take you to myself that

where I am, you may also be.

That is the hope of a Christian.

Our bodies will one day rise from the

dead and we will be with the Lord.

I mean just we say that but just

contemplate it for a second

one day if he does not return.

We will all be in the grave.

And if you are Christ's today,

if you are Christ today, the Lord Jesus

will return. And your body,

no matter what happened to it, no matter

where it is on this planet, no matter

how many pieces it is in,

it will be reconstituted and resurrected

and made new. And you will

be with the Lord and you will see him

with your eyes

and he will see you.

That's glorious.

That is glorious. It's the caterpillar

becoming the butterfly. Rags to riches.

Death to life. Mortality meets

immortality. The chaos anked and angst

and stress of this world.

Joy, rest, peace is what it becomes.

This life is available to you right now

because of the resurrection.

doesn't have to be tomorrow or the next

day.

Resurrection life is available right now

to those who believe.

Jesus said, "Truly, truly I say to you,

unless one is born again, he cannot see

the kingdom of God." Do you want to see

the kingdom of God?

You must be born again.

You must believe that Christ died for

your sins.

that he rose again

conquering sin and death.

Embrace the resurrection of the son of

God from the dead. He lives and he will

never die again.

The resurrection, it challenges human's

control. It it it offends and exposes

the sinner

and it changes people. But these

realities do don't have to annoy you.

If you're a Christian today, brother and

sister, remember that you serve a risen,

living, eternal, glorious savior who

loves you very much.

And he proved that

by dying for your sin.

But he didn't stay dead.

He lives forever more. That is who who

we celebrate today.

The risen Lord Jesus Christ. It's

glorious. Let's pray together. Father,

we thank you for these truths from your

word. We pray for those who are annoyed

by the resurrection.

We fear for them. We cry out for mercy.

God, would you rescue

sinners even in this room today? God,

would you stir in the hearts of

believers these realities

that we can rest our control completely

in your hands? We have none. That our

sins exposed and it's okay because it's

dealt with. And Father, that you are

changing us, transforming us, making us

into the image of your son. And none of

this would be possible without the

resurrection.

We thank you that the Lord Jesus Christ

lives, that he is seated because the

work is finished at your right hand and

he prays for us even right now.

Praise be his name.

Thank you that he is victorious over sin

and death. We praise you in his name.

Amen. Let's stand and sing about this

victorious Christ.