"A Compelling Gospel" (Acts 5:12-16)

Transcript:

Hear now the word of the Lord from Acts, chapter 5, verses 12 through 16. 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.

And more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they even carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats, that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem, bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits. And they were all healed. This is the word of the Lord.

Please be seated. And as you're taking your seats, let's join our hearts together in prayer. Gracious Father, we pray for your help as we study this passage. Father, we pray that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit to give us hearts to understand, eyes to see and ears to hear, that we might come to know and to cherish and to love all that is contained in the good news of the Gospel of your son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name we pray.

Amen.

Well, last week, in the previous passage, we read about the history of God's stunning judgment against Ananias and Sapphira, who attempted to deceive the Lord and detest the Lord. And we were told in that passage twice that fear fell upon all those who heard about these things. But it's very important, lest we misunderstand who that all would contain, that this wasn't just sort of a private, shared understanding of the church alone. We're told in the verse that comes right before the passage that we are looking at today, Acts 5:11, that great fear came upon the whole church and. And upon all who heard of these things.

So the fear of the Lord extended outside the walls of the church, outside the place where the church was meeting in Solomon's portico. Now, this is really important because this context helps us to understand what we are to make of the story that we are reading today. This is not simply a snapshot of life in the church at this particular point in time, although it is that it's more than that. We are reading about the fallout of the great fear that fell not only upon the church, but upon all those who heard about what God was doing in the church. And what we are going to see is very different responses to this fear.

And really these responses are going to go in a number of different directions. We are going to see the way the church is going to be drawn together by the fear of the Lord. And we are going to see two very different responses from those outside. And we will look at still another response to the fear of the Lord that has fallen upon all those who heard these things next week, Lord willing, as we look at this passage. What we are seeing here among the outsiders, and they are particularly in view in this passage, is that many will be drawn to Christ from this great fear, but not all.

And yet for even those who do not come to Christ at this point in time, what we are seeing here is this sense that the fear of the Lord makes the gospel compelling in such a way that even for those who do not put their faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation, they cannot ignore the gospel either whether they believe or whether they fearfully are reluctant to believe one way or another. The fear of the Lord compels a response to Jesus. That's our theme for this morning, that the fear of the Lord compels a response to Jesus. Now this is a shorter passage. We will look at this in two general parts.

First, fearful reluctance and second, fearful refuge. Fearful reluctance and then fearful refuge. Now again, this passage is following directly upon chapter 5, verse 11. So I want to read this as we go into our passage for today. Again, this is the very last verse of last week's texts.

And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard these things. Again, what are these things? It was the great sign and wonder that God had done in striking both Ananias and then Sapphira down for their sin. Well now in verse 12 we see more signs and wonders. We read in verse 12 now, many signs and wonders were not just one time, but regularly done among the people by the hands the apostles.

Now, we are not told initially what these signs and wonders are, but if we look to the end of our Passage in verse 16, this is clarified. We read how the people were bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits and they were all healed. Whether we are talking about bodily ailments or spiritual ailments from unclean spirits, the apostles were healing any who were coming them with any kind affliction. Now this kind of healing, this two sided kind of healing, healing for the body and healing for the soul, is something that sounds very much like the kinds of healings, the signs and wonders that Jesus himself performed during his earthly ministry in the Gospel stories. And that's an important point, but we're going to have to come back to that a little bit Later.

For now, what we need to see is that these miracles, these signs and wonders, they compare and they contrast with the sign and wonder that we saw last week with the striking down of Ananias and Sapphira. And so there's a comparison in that we are seeing God actively, miraculously at work in the early church. But there's a very important contrast. Last week we saw God's work for judgment. This week we see God's work for healing and for mercy.

Now, in verse 12, we see the first part of the response to this. And the first thing that is highlighted here is the response of the church. We read, and they were all together in Solomon's portico. Now, I've mentioned this word a couple of times so far because it's come up a couple of times in important points. There's the word together that is translated as together in our English Bibles, sometimes to refer to a phrase that simply means in the same place they were all in the same place.

That's not what this word means. This is the word that means they were all of the same impulse. That is, they were. They were driven forward, moving in the same direction. This was, if you remember, the same word for together that described the of one impulse of the apostles and the disciples as they all together cried out to the Lord and prayed to the Lord for boldness after the first waves of persecution had hit the shores of the church.

Well, now once again they see judgment happening not from outside persecution, although that is coming. More of that is coming in the next passage, but of God's righteous judgment of those who profess to be believers inside the church, that now we are seeing that the church is being drawn together by this. They are of one impulse in this. You know, I think it's true that whenever people go through something difficult together, they share an experience that bonds them. And in this case, as the church is reeling from in some ways, but also trying to make sense of what God had done in their midst by striking down Ananias and Sapphira, we're seeing the ways that they are being shaped.

There's a sense that God saw the sin, the hidden sin that no one else could have seen, but God knew about it. You cannot mock God, you cannot deceive God and struck down these two. Their understanding that everyone who is left is here for the right reasons. Everyone can now and should now pull together because we are all united by the fact that we made it through this first series of judgments. That doesn't make them lack.

I guess God can't find out about my evil, so I'm going to continue in it. No, it drives them further together in the Lord. And so we read that they are together and meeting in this place which was apparently their regular meeting place in Solomon's portico, which was part of the temple complex. But then in verse 13 we go to see the response of the outsiders. We saw how the response of the church is to draw people together.

And we see the first part of the response of the outsiders in verse 13 is that they were kept away. They weren't drawn together, these believers. None of the rest, those outsiders dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. What we are seeing here again is the outflow, the fallout from the fear that has fallen upon all people who heard of what God was doing in their midst. And we are seeing a very clear example of a fearful reluctance not to dabble in the church, hypocritically, not to do so half heartedly.

In fact, they were so fearful of the God who is at work in this church that they kept their distance rather than coming close. If they weren't ready to join themselves with the church through faith in Jesus Christ, God cannot be mocked. And what even these outsiders understood is that they needed to take care of for the reasons for which the motivations that would have led them into the church if those motivations were not leading them to do so for the right reasons. But nevertheless, notice that even for these outsiders who did not believe, nevertheless they held the people, the people held them, the people held the church in high esteem. There was a fearful reluctance, a distance here, but there was also a fearful respect.

This is a conflicted response, to be sure. But what that conflict underscores is how compelling the fear of the Lord is to outsiders. A church that is marked by deep reverence and fear for the Lord may not create an environment where people are willing to come casually into the church. It may actually cause people to soberly reflect on what it is that they would be wanting to gain if they were to enter into the church. Church.

But even for those who make that calculation and want nothing to do with the church, the fear of the Lord means that they cannot help but to admire the Gospel of Jesus and those who believe in the Gospel of Jesus. Now we're going to see another part of this phenomenon again in the next passage next week. Lord willing. It's the response of jealousy for what we are about to read where others do come to Jesus and also persecution. There's too much happening here that it has to be stomped Out.

We'll look at that next week, Lord willing. But what we are seeing here is among those who reject the gospel, who rage against the gospel, there is one option that is not left on the table, and that's to ignore the gospel. When the fear of the Lord falls upon the church, that is the greatest position for the church to be in. Because even in cases where there are outsiders who are not ready to come in because they see how serious this is with our God, even the most fierce enemies of the church cannot ignore the church cannot ignore the gospel. And others who are not kept from the church out of this reluctance or this rage will flock to Jesus under these circumstances for salvation.

And so this brings us to the second part of this, the fearful refuge. And this is where we are seeing God do this remarkable work of spreading revival through the fear of the Lord among all those who heard of these things. And so in verse 14, we read more than ever, believers were added to the Lord again, the fear of the Lord because of the judgment of Ananias and Sapphira, and because we are seeing the counterpart to this and the miracles of healing that showed not only God's righteousness, but God's compassion. Even though some stayed away from this, this drove others, who also themselves deserve the judgment of God, to turn to that same God, to seek refuge in him, to the gospel of Jesus Christ that the apostles were preaching, we must ever preach God's righteousness and his wrath against sin. Because unless people truly understand, not just intellectually but personally experientially understand that their greatest problem in this world is not with their circumstances, it is not with their needs, it is not with their relationships.

Their greatest problem that they have is the wrath of God that is revealed against their sin. They will never flee to the solution that God provides, to the refuge that God provides in Jesus Christ for their salvation. But some of these people, not all, some stayed away, but some of these people see exactly that. And in verse 14, we are reading about them that more than ever, believers, these are not people who saw the church as a place where they could be enriched or even primarily a place where they could be healed. Although there are many people who are going to be healed from this.

These people who are flocking to the Lord are characterized as believers first and foremost. The defining criterion of their life is that they have faith, particularly faith in Jesus Christ. And so, more than ever, believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women. Now, this phrase, men and women, is really important because the last time that Luke Gave us sort of a. A measurement of the church was back in Acts, chapter 4, verse 4, where he said that there were 5,000 men at the time.

Now, that presumed that there would also be women and children in the midst. But Luke only gave us accounts according to his men at the time time. But now he is explicitly telling us that men and women were flocking to the Lord. Why? One commentator suggests, and I tend to agree with this, I think this is persuasive that the reason that Luke mentions women here is because in the previous passage, it wasn't just a man who was singled out for judgment, it was also a woman.

Ananias and Sapphira together conspired against the Lord to try to deceive the Lord and to try to test the Lord. And both Ananias and Sapphira were struck down. They were struck down together, even if separated by a few hours. Well, now that we have read about the judgment of a man and a woman, now we are seeing both men and women come to faith in Jesus Christ. Now, that's probably not a radical thought in 2025, but to have this kind of a spotlight paid on women put on women back in the first century was a radical thought.

The Lord loves and the Lord calls, and the Lord will call the countable, both men and women on the last day. And we need to pay attention to that here. Well, in verses 15 and 16, the next thing we see is that we see this great outpouring of faith that is in Jesus Christ. But they are also trusting in the Lord who heals them by the hands of the apostles, so that they, even the people carried out the sick into the streets and laid them on cots and mats that as Peter came by, at least his shadow might fall on some of them. The people also gathered from the towns around Jerusalem.

Remember that at this point the Gospel is moving from Jerusalem to the wider realm of Judea, and from Judea to Samaria and from Samaria to the ends of the earth. So far, right now, the Gospel is mainly restricted to Jerusalem. And yet we see the Gospel has such for such compelling power that even the people surrounding Jerusalem are flocking to the disciples, flocking to the apostles, wanting to hear about this Jesus whom the apostles were proclaiming, especially because there was real power to authenticate the message of these apostles. You see, we are reading here as they were bringing the sick and those afflicted with unclean spirits, and they were all healed. We are reading something that sounds very similarly to the ministry of Jesus.

Jesus also healed physical maladies. And he healed people by casting out unclean spirits from people who suffered from demonic affliction. But signs and wonders that Jesus performed sort of predated him as well. Signs and wonders go all the way back to the Old Testaments, to the days of Moses. Wherever we see signs and wonders, what we are always seeing God doing is to authenticate the preaching of the prophet whom God has sent.

In Moses days, the signs and wonders were signs and wonders of judgment. Those 10 plagues were great signs and wonders to leave Pharaoh without an excuse. Let my people go. And if you don't believe what this man standing in front of you is saying, believe the signs. Jesus signs were signs of mercy and grace and healing and compassion where he was healing those in need of help.

Well, in the previous passage, in this passage, we're seeing both sides of this. We saw a sign and wonder of judgment. Now we are seeing a sign and wonder of healing. God is showing there is no excuse. And yet there is a refuge in the Jesus who has been made the Christ who has been made the Lord by the God who raised him from the dead on the third day.

Now, what this is calling the people to believe and to understand is a response to fear, response to this fear that has fallen upon them. And in the Gospel of Luke, and remember, Luke is the one who wrote not only the Gospel of Luke, but also the Book of Acts, there's a passage that Jesus explains two sides of fear that I think is very instructive for sort of understanding what's happening. In this passage, Jesus warns his disciples not to fear those who can only hurt the body. And remember, in the next passage, we are going to see outright threats against their exterior body. They are going to be beaten for their faith in Jesus Christ.

In the next passage that's coming up, that kind of persecution is coming up. But Jesus says, don't fear those who can only hurt the body. Don't even fear those who can kill the body. Rather, he says, fear the one with authority to cast your soul and body into hell forever. We are to have a healthy fear of God, and that should drive the way that we live.

But then immediately after that, Jesus says something else about fear. He says, fear not. Fear not. Do fear. But fear not.

Do fear in one way, but fear not in another way. Do have a healthy fear of the one who can cast your soul into hell and live your life recognizing who he is. But fear not, because this same God loves you. This same God sent his eternally begotten Son into this world to Suffer in your place for your sins. There's one kind of a fear that looks at God and shrinks from him in shame and is fearfully reluctant to come into his presence.

Don't fear in that way, but do fear him in a way that leads you to Him. Fear, fear not, Jesus says, for you are of more value than the sparrows, God loves you and you should seek your refuge in Him. Our application today then, this morning, is to stand in the fear of the Lord.

Now, I suspect in every Sunday service, and certainly this will be true today. There may be some of you who are here today who are experiencing, exploring Christianity, trying to understand Christianity, trying to understand what it is that Christians believe and what we see from this passage. And the first thing that I want to tell you is that what we proclaim is not a fairy tale. It's not a made up story. It's not even a shared tradition that we all have held to for so long that we can no longer remember where it started.

And it doesn't even matter because we just like it. That's not what we have here. We have a very real history of God's work in the past that points forward to God's work in the future. Because what we believe is real. There is a day coming when you will appear before the judgment seat of Christ and you will be called to give an account of what you have done in the body.

And on that day you will stand before the King of Heaven and the Lord of Kings creation, the one with authority to cast you, body and soul into hell forever. What we saw in the previous passage is the judgment against Ananias and Sapphira came upon them in a moment. They lied, thinking they could get away with it, and judgment fell upon them in a moment. And Jesus himself warns that the great day of God's judgment is coming like a thief in the night at a time when you do not expect him to come. Your judgment, if you stand before the righteous judge of all the earth on nothing more than your own merits, will come.

And you will not be ready for it. Because if you were standing on your merits alone, the Scriptures declared to you that no one can qualify on that basis, no one is good enough to earn salvation from God. Because if you do not have a righteousness that meets God's infinitely high bar, if you are not perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect, then you will be liable to eternal condemnation in God's infinite, burning, horrifying wrath forever in hell.

But this morning I'm commissioned as Christ's ambassador to declare to you that God himself has made provision for your pardon, that God himself did not spare his only begotten Son, the one who is God of God, very God of very God, the One whom God has loved infinitely from all eternity past. He sent into this world to take upon a human nature so that he might suffer and die for sinners like you and me. God's only Son came to seek and to save the lost. And when he went to suffer on the cross, God's own Son personally endured and exhausted, drained that infinite burning and horrifying wrath that God holds against us sinners for our sin, all that you deserved, Christ took upon himself. And he stands vindicated, resurrected, sitting at the right hand of the Father, offering a free pardon, free forgiveness for sins for all those who trust in him as their refuge for that coming day of the Lord.

This is a call to respond one way or another. But this is a call to respond, a summons, a wooing to fear the Lord in a way where you do not fear to draw near to him through faith in Jesus Christ. Seek your refuge this morning in Christ alone.

But I want to also give an application to the church. Church, we have been considering God's vision for his church as we have studied the Book of Acts. And I want to give a brief thought, and that's drawn from what we are seeing here in this brief snapshot of life in the Church that follows after the story of the fear of the Lord that fell upon the people. You know, over time there have been many proposals by many people about the best ways to draw people into the church, to grow the church. And certainly those are extremely important to give thought and attention to.

But very often people have argued that the Church, in order to draw people in, needs to downplay teaching about sin and judgment and wrath and hell. The argument being that these ideas scare people. And if people are scared, then they won't come. Now, that's partially true. What we see here in verse 13 is that none of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

They knew what was at stake. They knew the power of God who was living and active in that midst of that church. And so for that reason they stayed away. So there is some truth to that. But what we are also seeing is that for others it is the fear of the Lord that is the catalyst, the change agent that compels a response to Jesus in many cases by drawing more than ever, multitudes of both men and women and children to the Lord.

I want to note, though, that this is why. Just connect some dots here, here. This is why sharing the gospel can feel so uncomfortable. Because we are talking about holy, terrifying realities. Of course this is uncomfortable.

It's hard to tell people hard news. But this is also why we can be bold to share the gospel, because we really believe that heaven and hell are real. I'm not trying to invite you to participate with me in my hobby. I am telling you that God himself has made a provision so that you can flee the wrath to come. And this is why, furthermore, we can be confident even when, as we're going to see in the next passage, more persecution comes.

Because at the end of the day, Christ is king, Christ is judge. And furthermore, this is why we can keep our hands to the plow, slowly and patiently scattering the seeds of the gospel and watering those seeds with prayer in our families, among our friends, in our neighborhoods, on Jackson and Ridge Road, in our schools and in our workplace. So take heart. Fear the Lord, but do not fear. Take refuge in Christ now and forevermore.

Let's pray.

Gracious Father, we pray for your spirit to compel us to gaze upon Jesus Christ. Christ is publicly portrayed among us as crucified and resurrected, and witness is born that he is now reigning, sitting at your right hand. I pray that for everyone in this room. We would be people who would fear the Lord, and yet not fearful reluctance that would drive us away from him, but the kind of fear that fears. Not the kind of fear that draws us into the arms of Jesus as we trust him by faith.

If there's any who has not yet known Christ, I pray that they would come to faith in Jesus this morning and for all of us. Father, I pray that you would strengthen our boldness, our resolve, our confidence in these matters, knowing that Jesus Christ is real, that God lives, that he is truly among us by his Holy Spirit. Spirit, that we would have confidence not just here in this room on Sunday mornings, but throughout the course of our lives, through the week, until that day when Jesus Christ comes again. And we pray that he would come quickly. Lord Jesus, in Christ's name we pray.

Amen.