"No Other Name" (Acts 4:1-22)

Transcript:

Well, as we come in the Book of Acts to the very first story about the persecution of the Church, it is important to think about this story in comparison with the stories of persecution against Jesus. Again, we've seen several places in the Book of Acts where there's a very clear parallel being drawn that what Jesus began to do and to teach. So the apostles of Jesus and the early church are continuing in his stead on this earth. Now, Jesus obviously encountered various kinds of opposition throughout the course of his earthly life and ministry. But that opposition reached a fever pitch, reached a peak during the last week of his life, what we sometimes call Holy Week, the week that began with his triumphal entry into Jerusalem and concluded on Friday with his crucifixion.

Now, this story here comes very close to the beginning of Acts. It's in Acts chapter four, and there are 28 chapters in the Book of Acts. However, this story is written to very closely parallel the first things that Jesus did during the end of his life during Holy Week, from the cleansing of the temple onto the first few scenes after that. Now, that's really important because what is happening here is we are seeing the first story of the persecution of the disciples, matching, paralleling that fever pitch of opposition that rose against Jesus during the very end of his life on the way to the cross. What this means is that there's no time of transition.

There's no break, there's no reset, there's no reorganization. And maybe we'll get to the persecution later. It's out of the frying pan into the fire. Because the flame of opposition that was ignited by Jesus among those around him who hated him and wanted him crucified, that flame continues to burn, not only in the days of the early church, but all the way until today. Sometimes that flame smolders, sometimes it rages like a wildfire.

But it is never quenched. One way or another, to one degree or another, we will encounter opposition, we will encounter hatred. We will be persecuted for our faith in Jesus Christ and what this text has been given throughout the years and the ages. And the rulers of the Church who have consistently hated God's people age after age. The message is the same, that like the early church, we don't have to shrink in shame because of the confession of faith that we have in Jesus Christ.

We can stand boldly in the face of those who hate our Lord. Our theme this morning then, is this, that because there is no salvation outside of Christ, Christians can suffer boldly. Because there is no salvation outside of Christ, Christians can suffer Boldly So, three parts in our consideration of this morning's text. First of all, that suffering is inevitable. Suffering is inevitable.

We will all face it to one degree or another. Second, no salvation outside of Christ. No salvation outside of Christ. That's our hope. And then the practical application is in the third part, that Christians can suffer boldly.

Christians can suffer boldly. Well, let's look at the first section, the first four verses. That suffering is inevitable. We pick up this chapter in the middle of a scene you remember in the last chapter, Peter and John had gone up at the hour of prayer at the time of the evening sacrifice, about 3pm and as they came there, they had healed miraculously, not by their own power, but by the power of Jesus. A man who had been born lame, who was lame all his life.

And they healed him so that this man was leaping and rejoicing. This man who had constantly been laid at the gates of the temple was now able to enter in to worship the Lord with everyone else. And in the midst of the confusion, the people gathered around wondering what was going on. And Peter and John spoke into that. Peter particularly preaching a sermon to explain what had happened and that it had happened by the power of Jesus.

Well, it wasn't just Peter speaking. As we read in verse one, we read, and as they were speaking, this is Peter and John who are engaged in a discussion, a dialogue, explanation of what had just happened in their midst. And there's a lot of things going on. And so it's not surprising that pretty quickly the rulers of this area want to clamp down on this great disturbance that has broken out in the temple. This should have been just a normal, peaceful time, a very standard, very typical, very routine evening, sacrifices what could be going on.

And so arresting first and asking questions later. We read that 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 so they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. Now there are three groups that are named who come upon Peter and John to arrest them. And it's kind of interesting to think about the reasons that each of these groups would have had to oppose Peter and John.

We read about the captain of the temple being there. These are sort of the police force there. Very likely they just didn't like that there was something that looked like potentially might become a riot breaking out in the midst of this. And so they want to clamp down on this right away. Then of course, we have the Sadducees.

And we know throughout the Gospels, and then it's stated explicitly in Acts, chapter 23, verse 8 that the Sadducees denied the resurrection of the dead. And here we have Peter and John declaring the resurrection of the dead. And again, they have to put a stop to it. But not only that, we have the chief priests. Now, the chief priests and the Sadducees were very closely aligned.

They were in cahoots, they were members of each other's groups. And they were very likely concerned, and others might have been concerned about this as well, that Peter and John were preaching not just a general doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, the Pharisees did that. And they didn't arrest the Pharisees. They were preaching in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Now, to say that in Jesus the resurrection of the dead has dawned in the world means that God's Messiah has been revealed and that Jesus is the Messiah, which was a message they very much want wanted to stop.

Now, I mentioned a few moments ago that this is written to parallel the very first events that happened during Holy Week of Jesus life. And if you remember there, Holy Week started after the triumphal entry with a great disturbance in the temple. Now, that disturbance was perhaps a bit more brash. It was Jesus entering into the temple to cleanse it, to overturn tables, to drive out the money changers and the vendors. And there was a great disturbance in the temple.

But then we read that after this happens, what does Jesus do? He begins teaching in the temple, just as Peter and John are doing here. We read in Luke 19, verses 45 through 48, that Jesus was teaching daily in the temple. And we read that the chief priests there is there still, and the scribes and the principal men of the people were seeking to destroy him, but they did not find anything they could do. For all the people were hanging on his words.

All the people were following Jesus. And look at what happens here in verse 4. Even though Peter and John had been arrested immediately this problem, they'd attempted to nip this in the bud. But what happens in verse 4? But many of those who had heard the Word believed.

And the number of the men came to about 5,000. So there are three similarities. Just to start us off here, there's a great disturbance in the temple Jesus was teaching, and now Peter and John are teaching. And then third, there's a very opposite reaction from the leaders, on the one hand, who want to stop this and the people as a whole on the other hand, who were eating up every word. First that they were hearing from Jesus, and now that they are hearing from Peter and John.

Now, again, these parallels between the ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles in the early church are very, very important. They demonstrate a continuity between what Jesus began to do and to teach. And what the disciples continue in his name, in his stead to do and to teach now that Jesus is bodily absent heaven. But remember, there's a great difference here. These stories of the opposition that we are reading against the apostles are coming in Acts, chapter four, the beginning of Acts.

Whereas this level of opposition did not rise against Jesus until the very last week of his life. Now again, what I said in the introduction, I want to reiterate here. That suffering, and namely the suffering of persecution from authorities, is inevitable. Even and especially when there is a great response from the common people. Even and especially when all those who labor and are heavy laden.

Come to Jesus to find rest in him, to take his yoke upon them and to learn from Him. Because he is gentle and lowly in heart, and in him they find rest for their souls. When there are times of great conversion to Jesus, There's a great opposition that's waged against the disciples of Jesus. Why the opposition? Because the faith of the people is a threat to the power and the wealth and the comfort of the ruling class.

The nations who rage in vain against the Lord and against his Messiah. Again, Jesus, during his lifetime, ignited a fire of opposition that has never been quenched. Sometimes it burns hotter, sometimes the flame barely flickers as that hatred simply smolders. But in seasons where the gospel advances, the fires of persecution rage hot. As we are seeing here what this leaves, then the church.

In the church is a dilemma. If we stagnate, if we just sort of retreat in ourselves, really, the world often doesn't care too much. The world has many more important things to do. Than to bother too much with the kinds of things that we do on a Sunday morning. With baptizing, with preaching, with reading God's word, with receiving the Lord's Supper.

They don't care so much about that except when it threatens them. And when the gospel more visibly begins to threaten the world as the gospel grows and advances, well, that's when the fires of persecution begin to kindle and rage hotter against the church. Now, seen that way, we might think, well, the logical thing is just to hunker down, just to be quiet. Just to keep this as a nice little private gathering that we have among friends. And just pretend like none of this really matters in the wider world.

But that's not the approach of the early church, and it cannot be our approach either. Why? Because the second point, that there is no salvation outside of Christ. And this brings us to the second section, verses 5 through 12. In verses 5 and 6, we come to the inquiry, the judicial inquiry.

And on the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes, this is the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme court that they are convened, gather the next day in Jerusalem, the capital city. And again we have noteworthy people there. Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, who was also had been a high priest, John and Alexander and all who are part of the high priestly family. And when they had set them, the apostles Peter and John in their midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name did you do this?

Now here we come upon another point of similarity. Because right after Jesus cleansed the temple, at the end of Luke 19, right after he was daily teaching, right after the scribes and all of the eminent men among the people did not know what to do with Jesus, because the people were hanging on every word that Jesus proclaimed. Well, the chief priests and the scribes and the elders In Luke chapter 20, verse two, right after that, have an idea they're going to challenge Jesus directly. And they do it using this same question. They say to Jesus, tell us by what authority you do these things or who it is that gave you this authority.

Because in both cases, both in the life of Jesus, when he was teaching in the temple, and Peter and John, as they are teaching in the temple, that in Jesus the resurrection has dawned. In both cases, the power and authority of these rulers are threatened. And so they're asking, where did you get your authority? They're first trying to sort of overturn this on procedural grounds. Oh, you didn't have the magic authority.

You can't be working forward in the way that you were trying to do. You need to stop this. But the apostles don't see it this way. Neither did Jesus, neither shrinks back. And so we read here in our passages today, that in verses 8 through 10 that Peter is filled with the Holy Spirit.

Now this is in fulfillment of Jesus promise back in Matthew chapter 10, verses 19 to 20, that when the rulers call you to come before them and to give an account, don't give thought beforehand about what you will say, because the Holy Spirit will tell you exactly what to say. That's what happens here. Peter and the inspiration of the Holy Spirit says this perfect response to the people. We should notice that he's respectful. He says rulers of the people and elders.

He acknowledges the legitimacy of their authority, even if they are illegitimately using that authority. And so the next question, he says is in verse nine, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, in other words, I am surprised that the Supreme Court of. Of the Jewish people would convene to inquire into a good deed. Is this. Is this normal?

You guys often check out and examine good deeds. Well, regardless. Moving on. Regardless. If you want to know by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you and to 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, now, the apostles were the ones who had been on trial. But Peter flips the tables. Jesus did it literally. Peter does it metaphorically. He lays down a charge of murder against the author of life, which is what he had talked about in the previous passage, murder against the Messiah.

And he charges these leaders with that crime. But he goes on from there. And in verse 11, he quotes an Old Testament passage from scripture from Psalm 118, verse 22, where he says, this, Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. Now, this application of Psalm 118, verse 22, had to shock them because in its original context, as one author Peterson writes, in the original context of the psalm, the stone is either Israel as a whole or Israel's king. And it's rejected by the nations, but chosen by God for the accomplishment of his purpose.

But do you see what Peter is saying here? The fulfillment of this psalm is not happening with you as the victim. You are the builders who rejected the stone, Jesus Christ. And God is making that into his temple. The stone that you rejected, God is building a temple on that cornerstone.

And if you're rejecting the stone, you're rejecting the temple. You're rejecting the new place of God's dwelling in the midst of his people. Now, this may have shocked them, but it shouldn't have, because Jesus had made the very same point again in Luke chapter 20. Because after Jesus was inquired about what authority, by what authority he did these things, and after he gives his response, and we'll talk about that in a moment, the leaders are not willing to repent. And so because of this, Jesus tells a parable, a parable about workers in a vineyard.

And these workers reject not only the servants that God has sent, but even the Son and at the very end of that parable, Jesus quotes this same passage. He quotes Psalm 118, verse 22. He says that this is the stone that was rejected by the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And then he goes on to say this, that everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces. And when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

Now, the reaction at that point in time was very hot. You see, the scribes and the chief priests, we are told, sought to lay hands on him at that very hour, for they perceived that he had told this parable against them. And it's like, well, yes, that's exactly true. This was against you. Peter makes it explicit.

This is what you did. You crucified him. You are the builders that rejected the cornerstone. You were the one who crucified him, even though God raised him, him from the dead. And so in verse 12, Peter draws the point forward.

One more step, he says, 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. In other words, you cannot be saved in your temple. You cannot be saved by your priests, even the chief priests in attendance this day. You cannot be saved by your sacrifices.

Because what God gave for the Old Testament, he never intended to be a parallel path where you could sidestep the Messiah and continue on that all the way to heaven. All of these were pictures that pointed forward to a person. And now that that person, the Messiah, has come, there is salvation nowhere else, because everything was always pointing to him, because there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. John Calvin points attention to the language under heaven, and he says, we need to think about that. Because ever since the Tower of Babel, it has always been the attempt of human beings to try to build some kind of tower by which we can climb up to God.

To get to God in heaven, under heaven, we have to build some structure, either a physical structure or some kind of structure and scaffolding of our own works to reach up into heaven. But it never works that way. We need God to send his own son down from heaven in order to lift us and raise us up where he is already seated. Well, what Peter has done is he has put the religious leaders between the rock of ages and a hard place of suffering and from persecution, he does that with us as well. If Jesus truly is the Christ and the world hates Jesus, then we will face persecution.

But if we do not have Christ, then there is no way to find salvation. That is the dilemma. Do you want suffering or do you want salvation? Unless Christ is our only hope, probably we would look at this dilemma and shrink back from Him. But because he is the narrow door, since the path is hard that leads to life and those who find it are few, what this passage does, rather than causing us to shrink back from the suffering that we will inevitably face, this gives us hope for boldness.

Because since Christ is our only hope, we can suffer boldly his name. This brings us to the third section, which is really getting into our application that Christians can suffer boldly. Look at verse 13 now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John. This word for boldness is elsewhere used in the sense of plainness or simplicity. In other words, to make something not veiled.

You're not dancing around a subject. You're not hiding the significance of it. You're simply stating it directly. This is hard sometimes for people from my culture because we are called far and wide as Nebraska Knights. Now, maybe you Chicagoans get this, this directness, this boldness, this openness of speech.

If so, this church should be characterized by an openness, a plainness, a boldness of speech everywhere we go. I went to China once on a mission trip. It was back in 2009, when China was still a little bit more open, but things were still dangerous. The government was willing to allow churches, at least the open churches, to continue their work, but any sense of sedition they would quickly put down because the fires of opposition still rage. And what they told me was that in Chinese culture, it was the older ladies who were just absolutely vigilant.

They would get in taxi cabs and they would just berate their cab drivers to believe in Jesus. They would not get out of the cab until these people would listen to the message of the Gospel. That's always I'm just thinking about these older ladies, these older Chinese ladies in China just wagging their fingers at their taxicab drivers. And I wonder what kind of boldness ought we to have? Here are Peter and John, and they give us an example of this very thing.

And we see that these aren't the people who had all the education and knew all the learned answers. These were uneducated and literally unlettered common men. Do you know what the word there for common? It's the word idiot. It's the word we get our word idiot from.

It means this is someone who is an amateur as opposed to an advanced professional at something. These were unlettered common men, and they saw this and they were astonished. But then they recognized that These men had been with Jesus, and you can tell that they wanted to shut these men down. But in verse 14, we see the reason they can't. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition.

And so then they begin to confer with one another. Verse 16. What should we say to these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may be spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.

And I want to go back one last time to Luke, chapter 20. Because when the religious leaders asked Jesus by what authority and who gave him the authority to do the things that he was doing, Jesus responded with his own question. He says, I'll answer if you answer my question. Was the baptism of John from heaven or from man? Now then they go into a huddle just like this one, and they say, we don't know what to say here, because if we say from heaven, he will respond, then why didn't you believe him?

But if we say for man, then all the people will stone us to death, for they are convinced that John was a prophet. They're between the rock and a hard place of what the people know to be true and the raging blindness of their unbelief. And this is the reason that Jesus then told the parable of the wicked tenants who were so blinded by their unbelief that they were eventually willing to kill the Son. And because of this they were expelled from the vineyard, they were dispossessed from Israel. And that's when he concludes with Psalm 118, verse 22.

Now, why is Luke writing this story to parallel the events that happened in the last week of Jesus life? I mean, other than the fact that this is what happened, why is it written to so self consciously bring out the details that show us the parallel between those two historical events? One is that he wants to insist that salvation is in no one else. For there is no other name under heaven given among men, by which we must be saved. Because Jesus is the stone that God will use even if and when it is rejected by the builders.

But second, it's to illustrate the raging irrationality and blindness of unbelief. The disciples of Jesus will continue to be burned in the fire of opposition that Jesus first ignited, regardless of whether we would or not. Because if people first hated our Master, how will we, the servants, escape the hatred that Jesus faced? But in verses 19 through 22. We have a final reason.

One is to encourage, to encourage us that the enemies of God cannot ultimately prevail. And this is where we have cause, reason for boldness. And so we read about what Peter and John answered them. They say, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God. You must judge.

It's kind of interesting whether we should listen to you. You must judge rather than listening to God, which presumes that God will judge. And so there's a dilemma there. Are we going to listen to you and be judged by you, or are we going to listen to God because we know that we will one day be judged by God? And this is something that you need to think about as well.

What's interesting is in so many cases throughout the history of the church, shame often keeps the enemies of God's people from harming us in outright ways, in the ways that they want to. But even when they do harm us, we should be reminded of what Jesus tells us, that they can only harm the body, fear the one who can throw body and soul into hell forever. Our application then is this. Suffer boldly for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. One of my favorite quotations about the Christian life is from G.K. chesterton, who says, this life of ours is a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce.

Now think about what he's saying, that when we go forth boldly, there's joy in this. I mean, you could tell that Peter and John are having fun. They are being persecuted and they are having a blast. In this time, who's not having a blast? It's those who are trying to protect the miserable truce of their own power.

Now, suffering is inevitable. Either we will boldly face the fires of persecution of the world, or we are going to languish as we just try to keep things the same. Try not to upset the apple cart, try not to rock the boat. That's a recipe for a miserable truth. Because life is hard.

When we cling to this world, because we were never meant to. When we are anxious not to lose the treasures that we have gained even though they were never ours to possess forever. When we are worried about our reputation, our comforts, our conveniences, our relationships, our wealth. It's counterintuitive. But we will suffer the most when we try the hardest to avoid suffering by obeying God in the areas that he has called us to suffer.

Just ask Jonah if you've ever watched a sports team. And when they play not to lose, sometimes they get up ahead by a score or two and they start playing tight not to lose. They're trying to miserably truce their way to a victory and very often it backfires. Why? Because they lose the boldness that gave them the lead in the first place.

And there's such an illustration of this. Peter and John, they don't shrink back and they say, I'm so sorry. We'll try to keep this private. We're going to go back to our prayer closet and you won't hear from us again. They go on the offensive because the Lord Jesus Christ is truly Lord of all.

He has been made Christ. Regardless of what these religious leaders did to Jesus and regardless of what they will continue to do to Jesus, people, it's a very enjoyable fight when the Lord is the one who fights your battles. But it's a very miserable truth when you resist the very thing that he has called us to do. So I want to press you, whom do you need to speak to this week with boldness, not disrespectful, but plainness about your feet, faith. You don't have to wag your finger and refuse to get out of the cab.

But who do you speak, need to speak to openly, where your faith is just worn on your sleeves? Let's start with God. It is a vulnerable thing to truly confess the deep nature of your sin to God Almighty. But we are told that there is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved than Jesus Christ. And he has commanded you repent and believe the gospel.

Because the one to whom you must make your confession of your sins is the one you may call upon for your salvation in the hour of trouble, knowing that he will be your rock of refuge. Speak boldly to him this morning if you have never done so, to look to him in faith. Do you need to apologize to someone, to seek forgiveness from someone for something that you are reluctant to confess? That's a miserable truce to live in. Or do you need to encourage someone toward faith and obedience who's been straying?

Or let me ask you this, is there someone that you know, one of your relatives, one of your friends, your neighbors, your co workers who needs to hear the gospel of Jesus? And you've tried to have this spiritual truce where we just stay on surface things, Be bold, whatever it may bring, for the sake of Jesus Christ? It's a very enjoyable fight, but a very miserable truce. There is no salvation under heaven outside of Jesus Christ. And because of that we can suffer boldly because we are not just playing the game for this life.

We are playing for all eternity. Let's pray.