Okay Luke/Acts is the series. Luke/Acts for
Beginners. This is lesson number 15, title of the lesson, Peter's Post Pentecost Ministry. Acts chapter three, if you're following along in your Bible, you
can open up to Acts chapter three, but I will be showing this, the scriptures on the slides.
So let's take a look at where we are in our outline, always
helps us to kind of get back into the book, the ministry of Peter. Remember I
said, the book of Acts is easy to outline. First half roughly is the ministry of Peter,
second half is the ministry of Paul. Peter's first sermon, talked about that
last week in Acts chapter one all the way to 2:47. In this section Luke describes the waiting Apostles receiving, remember what the word was? Empowerment, as the Holy
Spirit comes upon them on Pentecost Sunday. We read Peter's first gospel
sermon and the thousands who responded in repentance and baptism. Luke then
describes the forming and the development of the early church as it
practiced the five biblical ministries of the church: evangelism, education,
fellowship, worship, service. Luke then concludes his first section by declaring
that the Lord added to His church as they exercise the biblical ministries.
And of course, this leads to the next section of the book and that's what
happens after Pentecost, because we read about that, it's pretty exciting, but what
happens after the day of Pentecost. So in this section we're going to see how
quickly Peter gets into trouble, because trouble ensues. So in Acts chapter three,
let's read the couple of verses there. This is now "Peter and John were going up to
the temple at the ninth hour, the hour "of prayer, and the man who had been lame
from his mother's womb was being carried "along, whom they used to set down every
day at the gate of the temple, which is "called beautiful, in order to beg alms of
those who were entering the temple. When "he saw Peter and John about to go into
the temple he began asking to receive "alms, but Peter along with John fixed this
gaze on him and said, 'Look at us.' And "he began to give them his
attention expecting to receive "something from them, but Peter said, 'I do
not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you, in the name of
Jesus Christ of the Nazarene - walk." And "seizing him by the right hand he raised
him up; and immediately his feet and his "ankles were strengthened. With a leap he
stood upright and began to walk and he "entered the temple with them walking and
leaping and praising God. And all the "people saw him walking and praising God
and they were taking note of him as "being the one who used to sit at the
beautiful gate of the temple to beg alms, "and they were filled with wonder and
amazement at what had happened to him." So Luke wastes no time commenting
on the events of Pentecost Sunday. He moves his story along by
recounting an event that was as great as the Pentecost miracle, but involved only
one man this time. So the first thing that strikes the reader concerning this
account is the sureness of the miracle. If we review, the beggar was well known by
the people, having been infirmed from birth. Everybody knew this guy. Everybody
knew his condition. His infirmity was complete, he could not walk. And we see
this as he had to be carried to and from his usual spot each day at the gate of
the temple. He is healed and immediately walks into the temple with the Apostles,
praising God and literally, if you were to translate the phrase,
literally jumping for joy. And the people who knew and saw him regularly witnessed
the before and the after of his healing. There was no doubt who this person was
and what was wrong with him and now, all of a sudden, this fellow is
walking and jumping in the air and rejoicing. Now, they may have wondered
how he was healed, but there was no doubt that he was indeed healed of
an incurable condition. So as verse 10 indicates, "the people were
filled with wonder at what they had "seen." So the miracle sets
the scene for Peter's defense of the gospel before the Jewish
leadership. Now the miracle of tongues may have been baffling to some and
others found other ways of denying it. Remember they said, oh, these guys are
drunk. They're drinking early in the day. However, this particular miracle
was indisputable in its power and its result, as well as its source.
Peter says, "in the name of Jesus Christ." So Peter did not even ask if the man
believed or not. That's real power. You know that someone has real power whether
you believe or not it's at the point you're healed that's power. He pronounced
him healed in the name of Jesus or by the authority of Jesus. So now we see the
response of the people in Acts three. In Acts two, Luke summarized the activity of the
early church in Jerusalem as the day of Pentecost came and went and the life
returned to normal. Remember we read that last time. It said, "everyone kept feeling
a sense of awe and many wonders and "signs were taking place through the
Apostles and all those who had believed "were together and had all things in
common and they began selling their "property and possessions and were
sharing as anyone might have need. Day by "day continuing with one mind in the
temple and the breaking of bread from "house to house they were taking their
meals together with gladness and "sincerity of heart, praising God and
having favor with all the people. And the "Lord was adding to their number day by day
those who were being saved." So in the following chapter he doubles back and he
focuses on the healing of one man and the events that took place as a result
of this miracle. And so, let's continue reading now, jump forward to Acts three, it
says, "While he was," this is the man who had been healed, "While he was
clinging to Peter and John all the "people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of "amazement. But when Peter saw this, he
replied to the people, 'Men of Israel, why "are you amazed at this, or why do you
gaze at us, as if by our own power or "piety we had made him walk? The God of
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the "God of Our Fathers has glorified His
servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered "and disowned in the presence of Pilate,
when he had decided to release Him, but "you disowned the holy and Righteous One
and you asked for a murderer to be "granted to you, but put to death the
Prince of Life, the one whom God raised "from the dead, a fact to which we are
witnesses. And on the basis of faith in "His name, it is this it is the name of
Jesus which has strengthened this man "whom you see and know; and the faith
which comes through Him has given him "this perfect health in the presence of
you all." So, as in the case of them speaking in tongues, this undeniable
miracle draws a large crowd. See, I'm just trying to show you the parallel
between Pentecost and this miracle here. And in the same way that people
wondered about the Apostles speaking in foreign languages through the power of the
Holy Spirit on Pentecost, now they're amazed, literal translation, the word here
amazed, dumbfounded. They're dumbfounded and they're waiting for an explanation.
They saw, they believed the what, they now wanted to know the how. So this presents
a second opportunity for Peter to address a large crowd with the Gospel
message. And he follows the pattern that he used in his Pentecost
sermon, same outline, if you wish. He begins by establishing Jesus as the
source of spiritual power, demonstrated in the miracle by virtue of the fact that
He is God's Messiah. He reminds them of their culpability in sending their own
saviour to the cross in exchange for a notorious murderer. He then
proclaims the resurrection of Jesus and the fact that he and John were
eyewitnesses of this great event. And then Peter gives glory to Jesus for the
healing of the lame man and explains this is the how, this is how this man was
healed, through the power of Jesus Christ. Now, in Acts chapter 2:40, Luke writes that
after initially preaching to the crowd Peter kept on
exhorting them, that was on Pentecost Sunday. In other words, he
continued to make arguments and encouragements for the people to respond
in obedience to the gospel message. In Acts two, Luke does not provide any more
information as to the nature of these exhortations, only the result. He just
writes, "he kept on encouraging them." And then, he doesn't say how or what he said.
He just gives the result. And then he says, 3,000 were baptized on that day.
In Acts chapter three, in this situation with the man who was healed, Luke continues to record Peter's sermon in
addition to the results it received. So we read, "And now brethren, I know that
you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also. But the things which God
announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would
suffer, He has thus fulfilled. Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may
be wiped away in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence
of the Lord." So in these verses Peter mitigates their failure in receiving
Jesus by stating that they did this in ignorance and His rejection and death
were spoken of by the prophets. Their sins did not surprise
God, that's the point. Yes, you did an awful thing, but it didn't
surprise God. The prophets said that this is what was going to happen. And as
grave as this was, God was, nevertheless, offering them and their leaders
forgiveness and the peace of mind along with the blessings that come from God,
that those who are forgiven enjoy. Yes, he says, you did a terrible thing. This
Jesus, who is the Messiah, the proof of which is this man who has just been
healed because of Him, you did a terrible thing, but God is still willing to offer
you forgiveness. So in Acts chapter three, verse 20 it says, "and that He may send
Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom "heaven must receive until the period of
restoration of all things about which "God spoke by the mouth of His
holy prophets from ancient "time. Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise
up for you a prophet like me from your "brethren; to Him you shall give heed to
everything He says to you. And it will be "that every soul that does not heed that
prophet shall utterly be destroyed from "among the people.' And likewise, all the
prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and "his successors onwards, also
announced these days. It is you who are "the sons of the prophets and of the
covenant which God made with your "fathers, saying to Abraham, 'And in your
seed all the families of the earth shall "be blessed." Remember, why am I reading
this? Because this is the - he kept on exhorting them. This is the nature of the exhortation that he gave to these people. So here Peter turns their gaze
from the present judgment to the judgment to come at the end of the world
when Jesus returns. And he emphasizes the fact that Jesus, who is raised from the
dead and ascended into heaven, will return to, quote, restore all things. Restore what? Well, to restore the proper
order with God and Christ and the church ruling. The old heaven and earth replaced
by the new heaven and earth. Satan and the wicked angels and the
disbelievers punished. That's the order, that's the restoration. This restoration,
he says, was spoken of by Moses and the prophets, and was offered first to you,
he says, the Jewish people. So he sums everything up in verse 26, "For you first,
God raised up His servant and sent Him "to bless you by turning
every one of you from your "wicked ways." So he
sums everything up in this verse by reiterating that Jesus's resurrection,
which is the proof of His divinity, the proof of his Messiahship, was given to
them first with the purpose of turning them away from their sins. What sins?
Well, the sin of disbelief and the present and future judgment to come.
And so, despite the terrible things that they did, he says, there's
hope, there's hope. This is how good God is. He sent Jesus to you first. You
get to believe first. You're the first fruits. And so, he doesn't deny their
role in God's plan. He said, yeah, you made a mistake, you did a terrible thing, but
God's plan is still for you to receive salvation first. So the second event that
took place as a result of the healing, the first event is Peter gets to preach
another sermon to a large crowd. The second event that takes place is that
Peter and John are arrested. "So as they "were speaking to the people, the priests
and the captain of the temple guard and the "Sadducees came up to them, being greatly
disturbed because they were teaching the "people and proclaiming in Jesus the
resurrection from the dead. And they laid "hands on them and put them in jail until
the next day, for it was already evening." So while Peter is speaking, he and John
are interrupted and arrested by various groups - the priests, several
priests that belong to the twenty-four groups of priests who were selected by lot
to conduct services at the temple on various days. In other words, who arrested
him? What group of people came to stop them? Well, among them there
were priests. Not all the priests who were priests were at the temple at the
same time. They took turns. If you remember with Zacharias, John the
Baptist's father - I'll leave this slide here. We'll just jump back to Luke
chapter one. Remember that? "Now it happened that while he was performing,"
this is Zacharias, John the Baptist's father. "Now it happened while he was
performing his priestly service before "God in the appointment order of his
division, according to the custom of the "priestly office, he was chosen by lot
to enter the temple of the "Lord and burn incense." There were a lot of
priests, 365 days in the year. Well, there were a lot more than 365
priests. And they were broken up into divisions. And they selected lots
and they had an order. They served in different turns. So the priests
that were on duty at the time, at the temple, they were part of the group that
came in to stop Peter and John from preaching. Who else does he mention? He
mentions the captain of the guard, captain to the temple guards. These would
be Levites who served as temple police, if you wish, guarding
entrances, closing the gates on the Sabbath, ensuring laws concerning
movement and conduct in the temple area were obeyed. Gentile converts
could go into a certain area to worship, but they couldn't go any further
in. Women had a spot where they could go, but they couldn't go everywhere. So the temple police were in charge of that. And then, he said,
the Sadducees. The Sadducees were priests, a certain sect, a certain group of
priests, wealthy priests who were part of the Sanhedrin, which
was the ruling council. So the Sadducees, being of the highest
rank, probably instigated the arrest and they did so not because there was
disorder or too big a crowd, but because of the things that were being taught. As
the principle group that argued for Jesus' execution, any talk of His
resurrection and subsequent growth of His movement would ultimately come back
on them. They're the ones who tried Him. They're the ones that stirred
up the mob. They're the ones that appealed to Pilate - crucify Him. No, no. We
don't want Barabbas, we want this guy to be crucified.
We'll trade you. We'll take Barabbas, you take Him. The priests,
they're the ones that did this. So if Jesus' movement is starting to
grow and become popular after His death, and claimed resurrection, it
all comes back on them. They feared the loss of authority and position and the
privileges that came with these. They also denied the existence of spirits and
angels or afterlife and only accepted the first five books of the Bible as
authority. So, a risen Savior would also disprove of their teaching position on
miracles and the afterlife. Although they were few in number, the
Sadducees wielded tremendous influence, because they commanded great
wealth and social position and because the family of the high priest
belonged to their group. So let's keep reading, jump ahead, Acts four, verse four, "But
many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of the men came to
be about 5,000." Again, Luke, as he does for the Pentecost sermon, records the
response of the crowd. in other words, they believed and the number who became
Christians, 2,000 plus. In other words, 5,000. The 3,000 on Pentecost Sunday and
now 2,000 more. And he says men, surely not just men were baptized, but he
represents the size of the number by saying the group that believed, 2,000 men.
So you can extrapolate, add women, and children, households. Again, he simply
mentions that they went from 3,000 to 5,000. A way of giving a general estimate
of the rate of growth. Now he doesn't mention baptism or the need to confess
Christ, because this has already been described as necessary in the process of
conversion. Faith is expressed how? By confessing Jesus, repenting of our sins,
and being baptized. There's no need to continually repeat this every single
time a writer is describing a person's conversion. Remember I said, that
there's a rule here, of study. The writers didn't write everything there was
to know about a particular topic every time they mentioned that topic,
because if the writers of the New Testament - if every time they were
talking about the conversion of someone they had to also mention that that
person believed and that person confessed their faith and that person
repented and then that person was immersed in water and then that
person lived a faithful life - if they had to give all those details every
single time that they mentioned conversion, the Bible would be 10 million
pages long, because they'd have to do that for every topic. So
although it's mentioned often, when Luke is writing that people were
converted, he's assuming that the readers understand what that means and what that entails. So Luke merely states the conclusion and the
response to Peter's sermon - 2,000 plus people were
converted on that day. Now the third event resulting from
Peter's preaching - the miracle, the arrest - the third event, a trial
before Jewish leaders. In Acts chapter four, let's keep reading, "On the
next day, their rulers and elders and "scribes were gathered together in
Jerusalem; and Annas, the high priest, was "there, and Caiaphas and John and
Alexander, and all who were of high "priestly descent. When they had placed
them in the center, they began to inquire, 'By what power or in what name have you
done this?' Then Peter, filled with the "Holy Spirit, 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 has been made well, "let it be known to all of you and to all
the people of Israel, that by the name of "Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, whom you
crucified, whom God raised from the dead - "by this name this man stands here before
you in good health. He is the stone which "was rejected by you, the builders, but
which became the chief corner stone. And "there is salvation in no one else; for
there's no other name under heaven that "has been given among men by
which we must be saved." So although Peter and John are
brought before the Jewish leaders for questioning and possible imprisonment,
Luke shows that this occasion quickly becomes the scene for Peter's third
sermon. You can't keep these preachers down. Just ask him a question in
front of a crowd and crank him up and let him go. And that's what he does, right?
So this is given to a much smaller audience, but one with the most wealth and
power in Israel. As in Luke's custom, he provides historical and personal
detail by naming some of the prominent men that were present and their
positions. The rulers, those were the high priests and his family, Annas and
Caiaphas. Caiaphas was Annas' son-in-law. He was the one who was
actually high priest at the time. Annas carried the title because he had
formerly been high priest. And all the Sadducees were there. The elders, those
were chief men appointed to the Sanhedrin. Seventy, to seventy-two rulers, elders, scribes,
and then the scribes themselves, the rabbis, the lawyers, the Pharisees. Note
that they ask Peter and John the same question that they had posed Jesus when
they had confronted Him in the temple courtyard. Remember that? Remember what
they said to Him? By what authority are you doing these things? In other words,
how dare you! Who told you you can do this - clean out the temple and
knock over the money changing tables. Who are you? Who told You You could do
such a thing? They say the same thing to Peter. And Peter's response or sermon is
the direct fulfillment of what Jesus prophesied in Luke 11 and 12. So let's
jump back there. Jesus said, "When they "bring you before the synagogues and the
rulers and the authorities, do not worry "about how or what you are to speak in
your defense or what you are to say, for "the Holy Spirit will teach you in that
very hour what you ought to say." So Luke even says as much when prefacing Peter's remarks by saying, he was speaking by the power of the Holy Spirit. And Luke records the heart of Peter's sermon. The miracle, he says, was done by the power and the authority of Jesus Christ. Bang. The rulers were responsible
for His execution by crucifixion. Boy, he didn't mince words, did he? Number
three, God raised this Jesus from the dead that the leaders would reject
the One chosen by God. The Messiah was spoken of by the Prophet David. This
would have especially been galling to hear, since the high priests and other
priests in the Sanhedrin were Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection
or afterlife. And then finally, Peter finishes with a summary statement that
makes Jesus and faith in Him the exclusive pathway to salvation. Why do we
think, Christians, we're the only ones going to heaven? Well, why aren't we more
inclusive? Why don't we say, come on everybody, we're all going to heaven. Just be, like, just be a nice person, be a nice person and you'll go
to heaven. If God said that that would be the case. Wouldn't that be so much
easier to preach? Unfortunately, we get to Acts chapter four and there Luke, by the
power of the Spirit, happens to spoil all of our nice inclusiveness by saying,
"There's only one name under heaven by "which we can be saved." Only one. There
goes my inclusive dream. I mean, I can be as inclusive as I want
to be, unfortunately, I shouldn't say that, but -
contrary to the Bible, the Bible is very exclusive. Why do you think people were
killed and martyred and thrown into the arena to be eaten by lions? Do you
think that they were - do you think that happened to them
because they were nice people? Because as men, they faithful
to their wives? No. They were thrown in and beaten and killed and murdered in
all kinds of creative ways, why? Because they dared say,
there's only one God and there's only one way to God, and that's through Jesus
Christ. So the leaders, they're not happy with this, not at all. And
Luke records this, "Now as they "observed the confidence of Peter and John
and understood that they were uneducated "and untrained men, they were amazed and
began to recognize them after having "been with Jesus. And seeing the man who
had been healed standing with them, they "had nothing to say in reply, but when
they had ordered them to leave the "council they began to confer with one
another saying, 'What shall we do with "these men? For the fact
that a noteworthy miracle "has taken place through them is apparent
to all who live in Jerusalem and we "cannot deny it. But so that it will not
spread any further among the people, let "us warn them to speak no longer to any
man in this name. And when they had "summoned them, they commanded them not to
speak or teach at all in the name of "Jesus. But Peter and John answered and
said to them, 'Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather
than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have
seen and what we have heard.' When they "had threatened them further they let
them go, finding no basis on which to "punish them on account of the people,
because they were all glorifying God for "what had happened; for the man was more
than 40 years old on whom this miracle "of healing had been performed."
So the leaders would have wanted to punish and silence them, but for three
reasons they couldn't. First reason, they couldn't deny Peter's sermon. Many in the
city thought the same about Jesus and they had no rebuttal to Peter's
argument based on Scripture. Jesus was the rejected Messiah according to
Psalms 118:23. They had no answer for that. Secondly, they
couldn't deny the obvious miracle. They may have even known or
recognized this crippled beggar now completely healed standing before them.
And thirdly, they couldn't deny the Apostles their freedom. Taking action
against them would create a riot and this would demonstrate to the Roman government that these people were not able to maintain
order. I mean, they were only there to keep the Jews, keep them calm and
keep them quiet. If they couldn't do that they'd get somebody, the Romans
would get somebody else to do it for them. So Luke records the joy and
the praise and the prayers that the church experiences after the release of
Peter and John. Now remember that only a few weeks before, Jesus had been brought to
stand before these very same men and had subsequently been crucified. The
Apostles and the church gained great confidence after this event and Luke
reports that. He says, "And when they had "prayed, the place where they had gathered
together was shaken and they were all "filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak the Word of God with boldness." So the story of Peter and John's defense of
the gospel and release sparks a surge in the growth and development of the church
and the expanded ministry of all the Apostles. This victory energizes
everybody and they go forward. Luke uses this occasion to introduce a prominent
character who will appear later on when he begins to describe Paul's ministry, and
that is Joseph, a Levite or a temple worker, a security worker from Cyprus. He was a foreign-born Jew. He was called Barnabas, son of encouragement. He's the
first temple official who was converted by the Apostles. All right, I'm going to stop
there in our text. A couple of lessons we can draw from the
readings that we have today. One lesson, Jesus doesn't need
someone's faith in order to act. Our faith in Him is important, but not the
determining factor for His actions. His will is the determining factor in what
He does, not how great our faith is. Strong faith, it helps us to
know and accept His will. It helps us to persevere when we don't understand or we
disagree with His will. My prayer of faith hopes that His will is done and
that I can trust and rejoice in it even if I don't always understand it. In our culture we've got to understand everything before we do something. That's
not how it works in Christianity. God does not have to give us all the details. He doesn't. And then, just two lessons, let's try to keep the gospel simple,
shall we. In Acts 4:8-12, Peter makes five important points in five verses of
text that takes about 40 seconds to read. And he's speaking to the most
educated people in his society. Five points, forty seconds, no more than ten
verses. Imagine. So we don't begin by explaining the gospel, we begin by
proclaiming the gospel: the life, the death, the resurrection of Christ, and our
response. There's a little bit of a pride, I would imagine, when we're sharing our
faith with someone and we begin by explaining the details of everything
about the gospel to the person. As if the simple telling of the story has no power
in itself. But it is the simple telling of the gospel, in its
plainness, that has power. Now, what does Paul say in Romans 1:16,
right? The power of God unto salvation is what? "I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto "salvation." He doesn't say, I'm not ashamed
of you explaining the gospel in detail for that is the power of God. Of
course there needs to be explanation. Why? Because there are questions. But when we
begin sharing our faith, we ought to begin simply by telling the story that
Jesus is God, came on earth as a human being that lived and taught and died on
the cross to pay the moral debt of our sins, was buried, three days later he was
resurrected, and now He calls everyone to believe on Him, in order to be
forgiven and to have eternal life. Whoops. How long did that take? Ten seconds.
You tell that to somebody. You don't think that person will say, okay, well now, wait
a minute now. You said... That's when the explaining comes. So when it comes to the
gospel, simple thing to remember, proclaim first, then explain. Okay. All right, our
assignment for next week - as always I remind you, we don't have time to read
everything in class that we cover, so if you read it ahead of time
it's fresh in your mind and we can deal with the passages. Acts five,
verses one to forty two. And that's our lesson for today. Thank
you for your attention.
