WWUTT 2576 We Must Obey God Rather Than Men (Acts 5:17-32)

The Apostles went on preaching the gospel and it was said to them you can no longer preach in this name

But Peter said we must obey God rather than men and that's upon us as well when we understand the text

This is when we understand the text a daily

Bible commentary that we may be equipped for every good work in Jesus Christ our Lord Please tell others about our ministry at WWU TT calm here.

Once again is pastor Gabe. Thank you Becky in our study of the book of Acts We come back to chapter 5.

We read that saga of Ananias and Sapphira last week right after that It was said to us that the

Apostles continued performing many miracles and they were people coming to faith through the gospel message

They proclaimed all of this attention. They're getting is making the Sadducees jealous

And we read today of the Sadducees attempting to arrest them and stop them This is

Acts chapter 5 verses 17 to 32 here the word of the Lord But the high priest rose up and those with him that is the sect of the

Sadducees and they were filled with Jealousy, and they laid hands on the

Apostles and put them in a public jail but during the night an

Angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and taking them out He said go stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life

Upon hearing this they entered into the temple about daybreak and began to teach Now when the high priest and those with him came they called the

Sanhedrin together Even all the Council of the sons of Israel and sent orders to the jailhouse for them to be brought

But the officers who came did not find them in the prison and they returned and reported back

Saying we found the jailhouse locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors

But we opened it and found no one inside Now when the captain of the guard and the chief priests heard these words

They were greatly perplexed about them as to what would come of this But someone came and reported to them the men whom you put in prison are

Standing in the temple and teaching the people then the captain went along with the officers and proceeded to bring them back without violence for they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned and When they had brought them they stood them before the

Sanhedrin and the high priest questioned them saying We strictly commanded you not to continue teaching in this name

And yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man's blood upon us

But Peter and the Apostles answered and said we must obey

God rather than men The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you put to death by hanging him on a tree this one

God exalted to his right hand as a leader 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 gave to those Who obey him? so again in the verses that come right before this we read of the

Apostles who were healing the sick and casting out evil spirits and there were people who held them in high esteem

Even if they did not believe the message of the gospel They still Respected the Apostles and of course wanted the

Apostles to heal them of their diseases and cast out their evil spirits so more and more people are coming to the

Apostles and now you have the Sadducees mentioned here becoming jealous of Their popularity so in verse 17 the high priest rose up and those with him

That is the sect of the Sadducees and they were filled with jealousy Now the high priest was always chosen from the

Sadducees at this particular period of time Remember that the Sanhedrin is made up of two sects

That is the Pharisees and the Sadducees now the Sadducees were the upper echelon like they were they were wealthy

Whereas the Pharisees might be more like the common man, but the Sadducees were were in Good with the

Romans so they were willing to do whatever the Romans told them to do and for that reason they had a lot of clout with the

Romans and it was from the Sadducees that some Roman official would choose who was supposed to be the high priest

They wanted to make sure whoever the high priest was going to be it was somebody who was going to Continue in their allegiance to Rome So these guys are not real popular with the people

Anyway, the people listen to them because well, first of all, they have authority granted by Rome, but also they

Were the teachers in the temple the people didn't have Bibles at home they had to go to the temple and to the synagogues to hear the message preached it was from the

Sadducees that the high priest would be chosen that we have to do whatever the high priest tells us to do so they respected them because they felt like they had to but they weren't really popular with the people and Hence why you have the statement here that when they arrest the

Apostles They're careful in how they do it because they don't want the people to rise up and stone them even though the

Sadducees have All the all the authority and the control that has been granted to them by the

Romans Still there's way more people There's way more of the common folk than there are of Sadducees So if the people get mad and want to stone the

Sadducees They know that they're they're gonna lose no matter if it's illegal or not They would lose their lives and can't gain it back

And if you'll remember that the Sadducees don't believe in the resurrection of the dead Verse 18 they laid hands on the

Apostles and put them in a public jail but during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and Taking them out

He said go and stand and speak to the people in the temple the whole message of this life

So first of all where it's mentioned that during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison

I've I've read from people before claiming that this may not have necessarily been an angel

But that it could have been another disciple who was just you know working there inside the jail and had

Sympathy toward the Apostles. So when nobody else was looking he came and opened the prison doors to them and since the word angel can

Just simply mean messenger doesn't necessarily have to be an angelic being it could just be somebody who is delivering a message then then therefore you have some of those who will say of of This wording in verse 19 that it was just a disciple that came and freed the

Apostles no, it was actually an angel of the Lord and To get a better idea of what this looked like you go to Acts chapter 12 because we have the same thing happen again

Peter is put in prison and it says there an angel of the Lord came and rescued him So it would be unusual to ascribe that title to just an ordinary disciple in Acts chapter 5

But then it's actually speaking about a real angel of the Lord in chapter 12 all the miracles that surround his freeing

Peter from the Jail, it could have been nothing but an an actual angel from the Lord So I'm gonna say that these two are the same

It was a real angel of God that came and freed the Apostles and delivered this message to them

Go and stand at the temple and preach the whole message of this life

The whole message that had been given to the Apostles to proclaim that brings life

Those who believe in the gospel will not perish but have everlasting life

It is the most life that a person can have by putting faith in Jesus Christ. This is the gospel that they proclaimed so verse 21 upon hearing this they entered into the temple about daybreak and Began to teach now there were thousands of them there

We had read that they were teaching at Solomon's portico That was back in verse 12 at the hands of the

Apostles many signs and wonders were happening among the people and they were all with one accord in Solomon's portico the portico was all those columns if you've ever looked at a picture of the temple of what the temple would have been

Like in the first century before its destruction in 80 70. So this is Herod's temple and You'll notice that in Illustrations of it.

There's all these columns that surround the whole temple courtyard and that was the that was

Solomon's portico It was it was hundreds. Well 100 it was over a hundred over a hundred columns

That that and a lot of people could have fit in there So as we had 3 ,000 people come into the faith in chapter 2 and then another 5 ,000 are meant or another 3 ,000 are mentioned in chapter 4 and then many more are added so we have thousands of people but they all would have fit in the temple and Where the

Apostles would stand in Solomon's portico and preach it would echo throughout the portico

It would have been very very easy for people to hear what Peter and the other Apostles were preaching

So they start early in the day. They start off at Daybreak it says as soon as there's light they're already in the temple proclaiming

Now when the high priest and those who were with him came They called the

Sanhedrin together even all the Council of the Sons of Israel so this would be to say that you've got the Pharisees and the

Sadducees together now and Send orders to the jailhouse for them to be brought But the officers who came did not find them in the prison and they returned and reported back

Saying we found the jailhouse locked quite securely and the guards standing at the doors but we opened it and found no one inside and this is further proof that what we're talking about was a miraculous work of an angel not simply someone who is a sympathizer of the

Apostles cause and Snuck in to sneak them out of jail now this was something miraculous that had taken place so that even the

Guards did not know apparently did not know we're not aware of what happened now going back up to verse 19

It says during the night an angel of the Lord opened the doors of the prison and taking them out He said go and speak to the temple

So we don't really know what would have happened to the guard even when we go to Acts chapter 12

It doesn't clearly say to us. What what happened with the guard? So it says that an angel got

Peter to stand up and they walked out and they walked past the guard That's all it says. It doesn't say if they were asleep.

It doesn't say if they were in some kind of a trance Doesn't say if if like the angel and Peter were just invisible to the guard the details aren't really given to us

But in whatever way this was done It was certainly miraculous the angel brings The disciples out and this apparently is not realized by any of the guard the doors are still locked

The guard is still there, but the men are gone But someone came and reported to them the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people so then the captain of the guard went along with the officers and Proceeded to bring them back without violence for they were afraid of the people that they might be stoned

So they don't beat the Apostles. It's not a thing of hey We threw you in jail who gave you the right to just get up and walk out

They didn't try to do anything with them in that way because they thought the people would rise up against them

The Apostles are hearing are healing their diseases and casting out evil spirits and giving them the message of eternal life by faith in Jesus Christ the people are on the side of the

Apostles here and The Sadducees are acting in their own interest and not in the interest of the people

Certainly not out of out of any sort of reverence for God and worship unto him so they bring the

Disciples back without any kind of violence. This also speaks to the calmness and the cooperation of the disciples

They trust that God is going to deliver them from this situation So even though the guard is not violent with them

They just quietly go they go along with the guard so that Peter has this opportunity once again to preach to the

Sanhedrin and So verse 27 when they had brought them they stood them before the

Sanhedrin and the high priest questioned them saying we strictly commanded you not to continue teaching in this name and yet you have filled

Jerusalem with your teaching and Intend to bring this man's blood upon us So remember it was back in chapter 4 where they charged the disciples not to speak any longer in the name of Jesus Of course, the

Apostles did not listen to that They've continued to proclaim the name of Jesus the way of this life the way to eternal life is by faith in him

But the Sadducees say you also intend to bring this man's blood upon us They don't want to acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead, but they do acknowledge

Yeah, we were the ones that put him to death whatever happened to his body. We don't know We're not going to acknowledge that he rose again

But the way that these Apostles are preaching means to bring some sort of condemnation against us

You can tell they have a guilty conscience here even as they are grilling the

Apostles about these things But Peter and the Apostles answered and said we must obey

God rather than Men if you're underlining or outlining passages, that's a good one to underline acts 529

We must obey God rather than men I'll come back to that here in a moment on to verse 30 the

God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you put to death by hanging him on a tree

This one God exalted to his right hand as a leader and a Savior to grant repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins

Now we have it mentioned twice in the book of Acts that it is God who grants repentance It said here that he grants repentance to Israel.

It will be said later that God grants repentance to the Gentiles But our turning from unbelief and our turning from our sin to Jesus Christ We do so because it has been granted to us to do so That we would have changed hearts no longer in rebellion against God like these

Sadducees have But a heart that is for God desires his word and wants to obey it this is a transformation that is given by the

Holy Spirit the Regeneration of the heart that we may hear the message of the gospel and so believe it

But as we read about in Romans chapter 9 God has mercy on whomever he wills and he hardens whomever he wills

So he grants repentance where God has ordained that he would grant repentance and he hardens the hearts of those whom he has chosen to harden and here these

Sadducees are hardened but the many thousands more who have heard the message of the gospel

They have had repentance granted to them that they would turn from their unbelief

Even those who were involved in Christ's crucifixion if they didn't directly crucify him

They were there cheering on his crucifixion. We read about them in Acts chapter 2 even they to them

It has been granted repentance that they would turn from their unbelief to Jesus Christ And this is not just for Israel it is also for the

Gentiles granting repentance to Israel and the Gentiles and The forgiveness of sins and Peter saying we are witnesses of these things and so is the

Holy Spirit Whom God gave to those who obey him now, let me go back up to verse 29

This is where Peter and the Apostles responded by saying we must obey God rather than men

The Sadducees had charged them not to preach any longer in the name of Jesus But what have the the

Apostles decided here and and this was the Holy Spirit coming upon them in chapter 4 that they would preach

With all the more boldness So what is it that they've decided? God has told us what we are to do

The angel just freed us from a jail cell that you put us in he told us to go into the temple and preach and So that's what we're doing.

We must obey God rather than men and My friends there may be times for us

Where we will have to obey God rather than men The Lord has said that we are to be subject to the governing authorities because it is

God who has granted those governing authorities We read about that in 1st Peter chapter 2 in Romans chapter 13

But when those governing authorities go against God, they would coerce or or they would order and command

You to follow something that goes contrary to what God has said well, we're gonna have to obey

God rather than men and the way that this has been put to this test in my life as a pastor even was back in 2020 with kovat and The governor of the state of Kansas.

I don't live there any longer But when I was pastoring a church in Kansas the governor there was

Requiring she had issued this mandate That there could not be gatherings larger than 10 people and this effectively was shutting down the churches

Churches could not gather because of her mandate. Well, my church in Junction City was never in cooperation with that We were always over 10 people

So we could have been arrested if they had known about it, but we weren't trying to raise a stink about it We were just being obedient to God I did not see that there was a good cause for me to shut down my church

And so I told I told people hey if you are concerned about this virus We don't quite know what it is yet If you think you need to be safe and stay home

Then go ahead and you're not gonna get any pressure from your church to come back Like right now while all of this is going on while we still don't know what this is

But understand that I'm gonna be over at the church building and I'm gonna have the doors unlocked And so anyone who wants to come and join us may come

I was always there. I Was I was never in compliance with what the governor said?

In fact, the governor was going against our own state constitution I was actually still in obedience to the law.

She was the one who was disobeying the law but that was still an occasion in which I had decided

I must obey God rather than men and I don't have any reason to shut down my church

I wasn't afraid of the virus if I caught it and I died So be it that would be God's will for me and I will go to heaven to be with him sooner

But I had to be there and I had to be Proclaiming the word didn't have anything to do with money because if people weren't gonna come we weren't gonna get the money

Anyway, I just had to be in church and was gonna continue to preach the gospel on Sunday And if I was gonna get arrested for that, so be it if I was gonna get sick because of that So be it now there were others that made other decisions at that period of time during kovat

But I'm I'm just saying that for me the conviction that was upon my heart This was what I had to listen to and obey and There may come times where we are put in a position like that where we must obey

God rather than men It could happen in a workplace. Maybe it's not even the government It's somebody at work tells you that you you can't be a

Christian in this way And you know that you're gonna have to obey God rather than men

I had soldiers that that worked for officers that you know, they may have an office or something

Perhaps they were an officer that had an office and they would have certain things on their desk might be a Bible or a cross

Or something like that. Somebody would tell them you can't have that on your desk and They would say I must obey

God rather than men There are occasions which we will go out and share the gospel and people will try to shut us down They will say we must leave or we're not in compliance with the law or we're unpopular or whatever else

Sort of reason might be thrown at us as to why we need to be quiet But we must obey God rather than men and Especially when it comes to holiness

We're going to have all kinds of peer pressure put on us by the world, right? The world is gonna dictate to us

This is the way that you need to behave and these are the things that you need to do in order to be popular and don't you dare tell us that we're wrong if you disagree with the way that we act and behave and It's in these occasions, especially we must not go along with the world

But we must obey God rather than men Let us hold fast to the word that we have been taught and live according to these things in holiness and uprightness

Until the day that we are with Christ Heavenly Father we thank you for these things that we have read

We thank you of your work through the Apostles in the spreading of the gospel that would eventually get to us today

That we would believe in Jesus Christ and be forgiven our sins and live Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake help us to obey

God rather than men and it's in Jesus name We pray amen Thank you for listening to when we understand the text with Pastor Gabe Hughes if you'd like to support this ministry visit our website www .utt

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