God's work in the world will always, always achieve
its end. Yet it will only in the face of opposition
from the enemy of souls. That is because this
is His hour, and His kingdom of darkness and
death is presently in power. Any prospering of
God's work in the advance of His kingdom Any
victory for righteousness and light is at the
expense of Satan's dominion. The early church
was remarkably effective in its ministry. It
multiplied quickly in its size. It captured the
attention not only of Jerusalem, but of that
whole region of Palestine. And it in its message
became the topic. of interest and conversation
in the populace. That, of course, could not go
unchallenged as far as Satan was concerned. When
the power of God was manifested so dramatically,
the power of the enemy countered it. It countered
it basically, you'll recall, through the Jewish
religion, which was opposed, at least its leadership.
was opposed to this new movement following Jesus
of Nazareth. That leads me to say that we should
not be surprised when Satan's opposition to the
real work of God is disguised in religious garb.
In 2 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul reminds
us that Satan disguises himself as an angel of
light. That's the way he comes on. He does not
come on as that rather ugly creature that we
see depicted from medieval paintings. But he
comes on rather as an angel of light, and he
says, it is no marvel therefore that those who
are his servants transform themselves into ministers
of righteousness. But their true nature, of course,
is something opposite of that. When the apostles
were seeing much fruit, Satan reacted by having
them arrested. God responded by a miraculous
release from the public jail and renewed orders
to them to be his representatives back there
on the portico of the temple. Satan then countered
again by a second arrest of the apostles, and
that was our study last week. We come now to
our text for today in Acts chapter 5 beginning
in verse 27. rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus whom you had put to death
by hanging him on a cross. He is the one whom
God exalted to his right hand as a prince and
a savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness
of sins. And we are witnesses of these things,
and so is the Holy Spirit whom God has given
to those who obey him. When they heard this,
They were cut to the quick, and were intending
to slay them. But a certain Pharisee named Gamaliel,
a teacher of the law, respected by all the people,
stood up in the council and gave orders to put
the men outside for a short time. And he said
to them, Men of Israel, take care of what you
propose to do with these men. For some time ago,
Thudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A group
of about four hundred men joined up with him,
and he was slain, and all who followed him were
dispersed, and came to nothing. After this, men,
Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census,
and drew away some people after him. He too perished,
and all those who followed him were scattered.
And so, in the present case, I say to you, stay
away from these men. Let them alone. For if this
plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown.
But if it is of God, you will not be able to
overthrow them, or else you may even be found
fighting against God." And they took his advice.
And after calling the apostles in, they flogged
them and ordered them to speak no more in the
name of Jesus and released them. So they went
on their way from the presence of the council,
rejoicing. that they had been considered worthy
to suffer shame for His name. And every day in
the temple and from house to house, they kept
right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the
Christ. The apostles were faithful representatives
or witnesses of the risen Christ, whether in
public or in private, in jail, or in the temple.
or in the trial, they were faithful representatives
of the Lord Jesus. We today, their followers,
too have the privilege of being the representatives
of the risen Christ. Now we are not apostles,
but we are ambassadors appointed by Jesus Christ
as his representatives in this dark world. What
does it entail? What does it mean? What does
it involve to be a representative of the risen
Christ? I think there are four answers to that
question. We find them in our text exemplified
in the Apostles. Being a representative of the
risen Christ in the first place involves standing
up. The angel ordered them to do so back in verse
20. And so they did it. Verse 25 and then again
in verse 27, it says that they stood. Now the
important thing here is not the posture of their
bodies. The important thing is the attitude of
their hearts. They stood. The Greek word in verse
20 is different than the word in the other two
verses I mentioned. For in verse 20, what the
angel really said to them was, take your stand,
take your stand," he said to them. Boldness was
displayed as they became the crosshairs of Satan's
aim. The interrogation of the priest is recorded
for us in verse 28. They took their stand, and
as the high priest questioned them, notice in
the first place that he did not mention the name
of Jesus. You see that? He says it first, we
ordered you not to teach in this name. And then
he said, you intend to bring this man's blood
upon us. You can almost hear him spit out those
words. They were said with hatred and anger.
He would not so much as allow the name of Jesus
to cross his lips. Notice also that in his accusation
he did not accuse them of jailbreaking because
he did not have the faintest idea how they got
out of jail. So he couldn't very well have charged
them with that crime. But he did make two accusations.
One was essentially contempt of the council.
He says, we ordered you to stop teaching in his
name and you have failed to obey our orders.
Now, that should really have been no surprise.
Back in chapter 4 and verse 18, it says, they
summoned them, the apostles, and commanded them
not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.
And right at that moment when they had given
that order, notice Peter and John's response,
whether it's right in the sight of God to give
heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge,
we cannot stop speaking. And so it should have
been no surprise at all to the council that these
12 apostles now are brought before them for contempt
of the council. They did not come with a contemptible
attitude, but they were unafraid to break the
orders of the council because those orders contradicted
the command of God. The second accusation of
the high priest is found in the last part of
his statement in verse 28. He said, you intend
to bring this man's blood upon us. In essence,
he's saying you are blaming us for Jesus' death.
Now that is a very interesting statement, especially
in the light of what is said back in Matthew
chapter 27. I want you to turn back there and
look at that. Matthew 27, here we have the account
of Jesus. trial, and crucifixion. Pilate could
find no reason to punish Jesus, intended to let
him go, and yet the crowd cried out for Barabbas.
You know the story. And in verse 20 it says,
but the chief priests and the elders, now remember
that's exactly who's standing before the apostles
now, trying them. The chief priests and the apostles
persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas
and to put Jesus to death. Pilate said, what
shall I do with Jesus who's called the Christ?
They said, let him be crucified. He said, what
evil has he done? They said, let him be crucified.
So Pilate consented to that, claimed his own
innocence. Then in verse 25, all the people answered
and said, His blood be on us and our children."
Notice what the mob said. They said that undoubtedly
at the behest of those high priests, chief priests,
and elders who were egging them on, demanding
for Jesus' execution. They themselves had said,
His blood be upon us. And now, a few weeks later,
they are accusing the apostles of saying, you
are trying to accuse us of this man's blood.
In fact, they had brought the blood of Jesus
upon themselves. The accusations really show
the effectiveness of the apostles' work. They
said, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching.
That should certainly be the goal of every one
of us. to fill the city where we live with the
teaching of Jesus Christ. It also reveals, that
is the accusation reveals, a certain fear, I
think, on the part of the council because they
saw the tremendous popular uprising of the people
following after the apostles. Now primarily because
of the miracles, but nonetheless the crowd was
interested. I mean, there was a mass movement
on and the Sanhedrin knew it. I believe that
they were fearful that the people might ultimately
turn on them. The apostles were willing to stand
up for the Lord Jesus Christ, to take their stand,
whatever the cost might be. May I say to you
and I who follow Jesus Christ today, that we
too must be willing, ready, taking our stand,
even if that means standing alone. When I say
that, I think of one Old Testament character
who was called upon to do that and who did it
magnificently, and I think of Daniel, who was
taken away from his homeland in the first attack
by Nebuchadnezzar against Jerusalem. taken as
a young man to Babylon, there to be trained for
the courts of the ruler of Babylon. And despite
the tremendous amount of pressure that was brought
against him, despite the fact that most of the
other Jewish young men apparently caved in to
the demands of the heathen pagan culture around
them, Daniel and a few others refused to do that.
Daniel was willing to stand alone if necessary.
I believe that there are times when you and I
must stand alone. There are other times, thank
God, when we have others to stand with us. When
we take our stand, it should never be belligerently
or with a cocky, arrogant attitude, but it should
be humbly, sincerely, and firmly. We must be
willing to do that in the classroom, the junior
high or the high school or the university. Be
willing to take our stand with Jesus Christ and
the truth of God's revealed Word. We must be
willing to do that in the office where there
are other kinds of language and conversations
taking place. where there are people who have
all kinds of screwy religious ideas. We must
be willing to take our stand at the office and
let people know who we are. We are representatives
of the risen Christ. We must be willing to do
that in our family gatherings sometimes, right?
And if there's any place that's most difficult,
that could be it. When we have parents or brothers
and sisters or aunts and uncles, who do not understand,
who do not even appreciate, perhaps, our Christian
faith. We must be willing there to lovingly and
yet clearly and firmly to take a stand for Jesus
Christ. What does it involve to be a representative
of the risen Christ? It involves, first of all,
standing up for Him. But it involves something
else as well. It involves speaking out, and we
see that in verses 29 -32. Peter speaks on behalf
of the whole group. Peter seems to make four
important points in the brief remarks that are
recorded by Luke. First, Peter articulated a
rationale for their disobeying the orders of
the Council. In essence, he says, not to have
spoken would have meant disobeying their Savior's
commands and God's. They had to speak. And he
reaffirms what might be called the principle
of higher authority. When there is a conflict
of orders, the higher authority is to be obeyed.
In this case, there was a conflict and God, the
supreme authority, must be obeyed. And the apostles
were willing to do that. They had no real choice
if they were to be obedient, but to speak regarding
the Lord Jesus Christ. And so being His representative
meant speaking out. Secondly, Peter arraigned
the leaders again. The last part of verse 30.
He accuses the leaders of their crime, rejecting
their Christ and having Him put to death. That,
of course, was not what the Council wanted to
hear. It was the truth. They were guilty of that
crime. I should hasten to say no more guilty
than were the Romans who actually carried out
the execution, and actually no more guilty than
any of us whose sins required the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. But what Peter said to them
was true. They had rejected their Christ and
had Him put to death. The third point that Peter
makes is that he announces God's sovereign control
in his program. Peter does not present a God
here who is desperately reacting to events gone
out of control, but in fact he presents the God
of their fathers, and notice he says that God
of our fathers, identifying himself with them.
in their ancestry, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
and so on. He says, the God of our fathers is
in control, for in the first place He has raised
up Jesus. Now, there are some who believe that
could refer to Him sending the Lord Jesus Christ
in His incarnation into the world, raising Him
up in that sense to be the Savior. But it seems
to me in the context here to make better sense
to be talking about the resurrection. Because
it goes right on to talk about the death of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, you find that
the resurrection is the central theme in all
of the preaching in the book of Acts. And so
he says, God raised him up. God is in control.
You put him to death. And remember earlier, he
had already said, you did it, but God allowed
it. Indeed, it was God's appointment. But he
says, you put him to death. But God raised him
up. It was possible for man to put him to death,
but man could not raise him up. God did that.
That is the great bedrock doctrine of the Christian
faith. One cannot be a genuine biblical Christian
and deny the literal historical resurrection
of Jesus Christ. It is an absolute fundamental
of biblical Christianity. God raised him up and
God did something more than that. He says God
also exalted this Jesus. Exalted him where? To
his right hand. The place of supreme authority
above all others. The place of honor. God's right
hand. He exalted him there, he says, as Prince.
Now that word Prince means leader or source or
author. It is the term used as author of our
salvation in the book of Hebrews. It's the same
word that was used back in chapter 3 in verse
15 when Peter preached to them and he said, you
put to death the Prince of life. There it was
used in the sense of the source of life. Really
a paradox. You put to death the source of life.
Here he calls him the prince using the same word,
but the real context seems to be that God has
exalted him the leader. He has gone before all
of us into the presence of God to open the way
into his presence. And he says God has exalted
him as Savior. Savior, deliverer, one who rescues
from danger. Why did God do this? Well, Peter
says that ultimately it is to save the very people
of Israel. And as well, of course, as many who
believe. But Peter, because he is preaching to
these Jewish leaders, says that God did this
to grant repentance to Israel. and forgiveness
of sins. What does repentance mean? It means
to change one's mind. Instead of rejecting Jesus
as an apostate of Judaism or as a political leader,
instead of accepting Him that way, To change
the mind and to see that in fact He is the Prince
and the Savior, that He is God come in the flesh.
Repentance, to change the mind, to change the
mind about one's own sin. Instead of loving sin
and desiring sin, to change the mind and say,
I no longer want that. I no longer seek that.
I no longer want to fulfill the lusts of my flesh.
Rather, I want to fulfill God's pleasures. I
want to be a holy person. It means to change
the mind about the Savior, to change the mind
about oneself. It means instead of running from
God, to run to Him in faith, repentance. Now
he says following repentance comes forgiveness
of sins. where there is no repentance, there
is no forgiveness. It is common in our world
today for people to think that somehow Jesus'
death on the cross automatically forgives everybody's
sins and that ultimately everybody is going to
get to heaven. No matter what they believe or
don't believe or how they live or don't live,
that Jesus somehow took care of everybody's sins
and everybody is going to be there universally.
And that, of course, is not true. That is not
true. It is true that when He died for our sins,
He potentially paid for the sins of all men.
The merit, the worth of His death is sufficient
for all men of all ages. But it is only those
individuals who repent and trust in the Lord
Jesus Christ who have their sins. And remember
this, that God does not excuse sins. That is
not the meaning of forgiveness. God does not
just forget sins. That is not the meaning of
forgiveness. God does not simply overlook them
or sweep them under the rug, so to speak. That
is not the meaning of forgiveness. Forgiveness
has the idea of wiping them away. removing them
entirely from the record. It is a wonderful thing
that when we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, He
removes the record of our sin. It is gone forever.
And we have a new record put to our account,
the record of perfect obedience. That is righteousness.
We get Jesus' righteousness in place of the sin
that has been forgiven. The Lord Jesus Christ
died. He was raised up. He was exalted at the
right hand of God today to be the Savior of Israel,
but as well to be the Savior of you and of me.
Have you trusted Him? Have you received Him into
your heart and your life? Have you repented of
your sinfulness? Have you changed your mind about
your sin? Have you changed your mind about Him
and received Him? If not, I hope that you will
even today. To be a representative of the risen
Christ means to speak out. Peter also affirmed
the divine appointment that he and the other
apostles had. He says, we are witnesses of these
things. And he says, so is the Holy Spirit. And
there he points out the enablement, the power
that was theirs. How was it they were released
from jail? How was it that these miracles were
being done? Why were the multitudes turning to
this Christ? because the Holy Spirit, too, was
a witness. The Holy Spirit working through them
who had obeyed the Lord Jesus. May I say to you
that today we are not called upon to be the representatives
of the Lord Jesus Christ in our own strength.
When we trust Him, we receive the Holy Spirit.
And the Holy Spirit then uses us as His channels
to impact lives around us. That is the importance
of knowing the empowering of the Holy Spirit
so that we don't strive and struggle in our own
strength. We simply allow Him to work through
us. Speaking out even in tough situations is
an important part of our representing the Lord
Jesus Christ. In this particular case, the apostles
defended themselves and so doing it. There are
times when we as well must take the initiative.
as they did when they were on the porch of Solomon's
temple. I would also have you notice that it
doesn't mean necessarily when we speak out that
it must be a lengthy speech or a three -point
sermon. Peter's remarks here really are rather
brief, but they are pointed. They are pointed.
So the BA representative of the risen Christ
means standing up and speaking out. But it thirdly
means suffering with. Suffering with the Lord
Jesus Christ. The reaction of the Sanhedrin to
Peter's remarks seems to have come in three stages.
The initial stage was anger. It says they were
cut to the quick. Have you ever been cut to the
quick? Has something happened to you that caused
you to react quickly? A few days ago, I was putting
away something in a shelf that we have, on a
shelf that we have in our family room, and I
ran my finger beside a puzzle that the children
have, and there was a splinter sticking out from
that puzzle that very neatly went underneath
my fingernail and halfway up my finger. I was
cut to the quick. Let me tell you. I withdrew
my finger and the blood was pouring and I knew
something had happened that hurt a lot." Now
that is exactly the picture here. Peter's remarks
were like a knife driven right into the very
heart of those men. They were cut by this and
they were angry. It means to be violently enraged.
They were infuriated by his remarks and clearly
they intended to kill them. But there's a second
stage that quickly comes forth, and that is the
stage when Gamaliel spoke. Gamaliel said, now
wait a minute. You fellows go outside. I have
a little speech I want to make. It would seem
that Gamaliel's speech is the highlight of this
incident from Luke's perspective. He gives a
lot of space to it here. Gamaliel was a pragmatist.
He was a man who counseled moderation. Now please
do not mistakenly think that Gamaliel was somehow
a friend of the church. That wasn't the case.
Gamaliel here was making a case for his position
as a Pharisee after the order of the school of
Hillel, his grandfather by the way. He was a
man who was cautious, and God used that caution
that was bred into his Phariseeism to accomplish
his purpose here, to deliver the apostles from
death. His advice basically was this, if this
is of men, don't worry about it, it'll pass away.
And he gives two examples. He says, you remember
Thudus. Now the only Thudus that we really know
about is one that lived about 10 years after
these remarks. And so there are some who think
that Luke made a terrible mistake here. It's
one of the historical errors they say in the
Bible. But, in fact, the name Thutus was a very
common name in that day. And there are some people
who say that there were, in fact, as many as
10 ,000 conspirators of various sorts around
Palestine in those decades around the coming
of Christ. And so, undoubtedly, Gamaliel is referring
back to... a Thudus who lived before this, who
is unknown to us today. But he was a man who
had 400 leaders. And his point is, look, he rose
up, had all these people after him. He died.
That was the end of it. And then he points to
this man called Judas of Galilee. Now, Judas
is recorded in secular history. His movement
occurred when Jesus was but a boy in 6 AD. And
he, too, He drew away some people after him,
but then he died and his movement ceased. And
so Gamaliel's point is this. Look, if this is
of men, now that Jesus is dead, this is going
to end. This is just a little flurry of activity
and it will be all over, so don't worry about
it. On the other hand, he says, if this is of
God, then you men are in danger of fighting against
God. I don't think that... Gamaliel thought it
was of God, but that was nonetheless his pragmatic
advice. He essentially said, time will tell.
Now, Gamaliel's attitude is quite different than
that of his disciple who is whom, you know? Right,
Saul of Tarsus. Saul may well have been present
on this day. Saul's attitude was one of antagonism
toward the Christians. He viewed these people
as apostates from Judaism who had to be dealt
with severely. And so undoubtedly, he and Gamaliel
had words regarding their different perspectives
on Christianity. Well, was Gamaliel's advice
sound? Well, there are some who say, yes, it
was. But it seems to me it was only from a worldly
perspective. Because the final measure of advice
is not whether it's pragmatic, but it's whether
it conforms to the revealed Word of God. And
Gamaliel's advice did not conform to the revealed
will of God. And those angels walking on the
roof right now reminding you of that. Now, there's
a third phase that we come to in the reaction
of the Sanhedrin, and that is that they accepted
the advice of Gamaliel, yet they flogged the
apostles. The flogging was not a little spanking
like you give your kids. The flogging involved
39 stripes. It was a severe beating. And then
they ordered them, they said, you stop speaking
in this man's name. The response of the apostles
is predictable. Verse 41, they went on their
way from the presence of the council rejoicing.
See, they rejoiced. Why were they rejoicing?
That they had been considered worthy to suffer
shame, for Jesus' name. What does it take to
rob you of your joy? Don't we get robbed of our
joy in Jesus Christ with such pitily insignificant
things? Little issues come up, little concerns
in our lives, circumstances come in, and we just
fall flat on our faces and we lose the joy that
we have available in Jesus Christ. People oppose
us and we are depressed. We get a little bit
of ridicule and it's the end of the world. We
go away weeping. How we need to follow the apostles.
They knew that being a representative of the
risen Christ meant suffering with Him, suffering
with Him. Now we often don't see the kind of
suffering that they endured. It does occur in
our world. Recently I read about Carlos, a fictitious
name, for a young pastor in El Salvador. He's
a graduate of Central America Mission Seminary.
in Guatemala City. In 10 months or so, the church
he pastored grew from 100 to 400, making it one
of the largest churches in all of El Salvador.
Carlos is a university graduate, and he's a former
Christian worker among the university students
in El Salvador, and so he is well known by the
students. Many of the young people that he has
known in the past on the university campus have
asked him to join the guerrilla forces in El
Salvador. He has been pressured, in fact, to
join them as a chaplain, they have called it.
Almost daily he receives phone calls. Even when
he's out of town, they know where he is, and
they let him know that they're watching him,
and that he had better soon join their forces.
Carlos is in a position that if he will not join
their forces, he must leave El Salvador, they
say. But they say if he leaves, he cannot leave
with his wife and children. And if somehow he
and his wife and children are able to get themselves
out of El Salvador, the guerrillas have promised
reprisals against both of their families. So
what is Carlos to do? He is a man caught in a
dilemma who is learning what it is to suffer
with Jesus Christ. Our suffering is more subtle
than that normally. It can mean the loss of friends
and family, of reputation, of opportunity. It
comes in the form of quiet hindrance sometimes.
I have talked to men in corporations who because
of their testimony for Jesus Christ and their
commitment to the Lord have been passed over
in promotions. They've been put on the sidetrack
in the corporation and they will stay at that
level for the rest of their working years because
of their commitment to Jesus Christ. There are
times when it comes in the form of open ridicule.
that has happened to some of our students on
the university campus or on the high school campus.
But it's happened as well in the office where
some of you work. There are times when persecution
comes to us in apprehensive misunderstanding.
We see that, for example, in the part of the
parents of a teenager saved recently in our church
who accused her of becoming a part of a cult
and who came here to our church to confirm that
only to go away disappointed. We were not a cult.
Suffering comes in various forms today, often
more subtle than those apostles experienced.
But you and I must realize that if we're going
to be representatives of the risen Christ, it
means suffering in some form with Him. We have
to answer the question in advance, how are we
going to handle it? The apostles rejoiced. They
entered into the fellowship of Jesus' sufferings.
Remember that it is often through suffering that
the power of God is released. And then finally
and quickly, there is a fourth answer to the
question, what does it entail to be a representative
of the risen Christ? It means sticking to our
work. These apostles kept on doing what they
had been doing. They were far from defeated.
They were a part of a victorious church. Remember
that God always works in spite of persecution
and indeed often the pressure of persecution
only enhances what God is doing through his people.
We see that for example in China. There are reliable
sources today who say that the church in China
is many times larger than it was when the missionaries
were forced to leave 35 years ago. And all of
it has happened under persecution, underground.
They stuck to it. Satan's purpose here was to
quiet these apostles through intimidation. What
does it take to silence your witness? What does
it take to keep you quiet there in the office,
or at the family gathering we talked about, or
in the classroom where you study? What does Satan
have to do to sidetrack you from life's greatest
privilege being a representative of the Lord
Jesus Christ? My fellow Christian, may I remind
you that who you are? What you are and where
you are are not accidents. Those are designs
in your life. God has uniquely prepared you to
be a representative of the risen Christ. You
do that by standing up, speaking out, suffering
with Him, and sticking to your responsibility.
And remember that yours is the victory through
the Lord Jesus Christ. Because He lives, you
need not be apologetic or defeated in your witness.
Pliny, the Roman governor in Asia Minor in the
early second century, was puzzled about the Christians
who were brought before him. He wrote a letter
to the emperor Trajan. at that time asking his
advice. This was the kind of thing he included
in his letter. It was a conversation between
Pliny and a certain unknown Christian who was
brought before him for trial. The governor threatened
him, I will banish thee. The reply from the Christian
was, thou canst not, for all the world is my
father's house. Then I will slay thee, said the
governor. Thou canst not, answered the Christian,
for my life is hid with Christ in God. I will
take away thy possessions, continued the governor.
Thou canst not, for my treasure is in heaven.
I will drive thee away from man, and thou shall
have no friend left, was the final threat." The
calm reply from the Christian. in trial was,
thou canst not, for I have an unseen friend from
whom thou art unable to separate me. He had the
victory. Why? Because he knew and served a living
Savior. That is the Savior that is your Savior,
and the one who has called you to be his representative,
where he's placed you. in this twentieth century.
Let's bow together. Father, I pray that this
reminder today, the example laid down before
us by the apostles, would encourage us to be
faithful representatives of the Lord Jesus. Wherein
we have been intimidated, quieted by the enemy,
wherein we have run from suffering and persecution,
and fail to speak up, to stand up for Jesus.
We confess those sins. We come to you with renewed
commitment today to be faithful representatives
of the risen Christ. Amen.