Sunday, December 11, 2022 AM

Sunnyside Baptist Church

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Let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, I thank you for the day and Lord, we rejoice in this wonderful truth, the meaning of the gift of your

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Son, Jesus Christ, as the light of the world and the Lamb of God. We rejoice in these truths and ask that you would help us, especially in this season, to once again respond in thanksgiving and joy and hope as we reflect upon your grace toward us and your

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Son. We ask that you would fill us with your Holy Spirit today as we continue to worship you in response to not only your word read and your praises sung, but also hear the

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Word of God proclaimed amongst us. Lord, help us to respond. Lord, I pray that you would give grace to us as hearers that we would be conformed to the image of your

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Son and that we would be doers of the Word, loving one another as Christ has loved us.

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We pray these things in his name. Amen. Well, I invite you to open your

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Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 4. Acts chapter 4, and we'll be reading verses 1 through 12 this morning.

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Acts chapter 4, reading verses 1 through 12.

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You know, Jesus had spoken to his disciples after having been raised from the dead the third day and appearing to his disciples and spending time with them.

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He gave them some marching orders, a plan, a projection, a hope of what was to come.

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In Acts chapter 1 and verse 8, he said, But you shall receive power when the

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Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me in Jerusalem and in all

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Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. Now, we haven't made it to the ends of the earth or Samaria or Judea yet here in the book of Acts, but certainly, is it not the case that the disciples of Jesus indeed filled with the

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Holy Spirit, empowered by the Holy Spirit, they are indeed being witnesses of Jesus Christ there in Jerusalem.

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And we've seen the spirit -empowered preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2, and we have considered at length the sermon that Peter preached in the temple after the lame man was healed.

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And now we come to Acts chapter 4, in which the disciples are arrested and put on trial for the hope that they have in Christ.

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Well, let's stand and read together God's Holy Word, Acts chapter 4, verses 1 through 12.

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These are the words of our Savior and Sovereign Jesus Christ through his servant Luke by his

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Holy Spirit. Now, as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the

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Sadducees came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead, and they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

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However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000, and it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest,

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Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest, were gathered together at Jerusalem.

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And when they had set them in their midst, they said, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this?

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Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means has he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom

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God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole.

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This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.

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Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

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This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. You may be seated. We tend to avoid what we don't understand.

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We tend to avoid what we don't understand. Like left -hand turns.

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You know who you are who go out of your way to avoid the calculations mandated by a left -hand turn.

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Or car repair. Don't understand it. Do my best to avoid it.

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You can add artichokes to the list. There are some things that we don't understand that we can avoid and perhaps our life will be less rich because of the avoidance.

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There are some things that even if we don't understand them, we must not avoid. Otherwise, we will become unfaithful.

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We'll become unfaithful. And persecution against the church for the sake of Christ and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ to those who are incredibly hostile to him.

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Are two subjects that perhaps we don't understand very well. And we tend to avoid what we don't understand.

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It can be reduced to scenes in a story.

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Oh yes, we'll read about Richard Wombrand. We'll read about those who have suffered in the name of Christ.

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We'll read it in the book of Acts. Look what happened. Isn't it inspiring? But given our own context, is active, hostile persecution against the church something that we experience to the degree that some of our other brothers and sisters experience around the world?

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Not really. Not truly. Are we faced with the common endeavor of speaking to people, to individuals, to groups perhaps, who are foaming at the mouth, angry and upset, opposed to the gospel of Jesus Christ?

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Maybe you've experienced that from time to time. Maybe it's something that you don't understand.

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And we tend to avoid what we don't understand. But in this case, brothers and sisters, if we avoid this, we will be unfaithful.

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We will be unfaithful if we avoid this. So we must do our best to understand it. We must do our best to understand that.

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And we are given the opportunity through the word of God to understand. Because knowing the truth of God and what it means to serve

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Christ and how we are to respond does not come through a series of experiences.

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We don't come to know the truth of God through experiences. We come to know the truth of God and what he would have us to do through his word.

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Through his word. So we look at his word this morning and we see opposition to the gospel.

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We see opposition to the preaching of Jesus of Nazareth as the

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Christ, the Son of the living God. Whom God raised from the dead after he was crucified.

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We see opposition to that here in our text. And we should do our best to understand that.

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So that we will not avoid it. But use such opposition to the gospel as opportunities for the gospel.

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Opposition to Christ in the sovereignty of God creates opportunities for the witnesses of Christ.

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And this is not the first time in the scriptures that we see it. And it won't be the last time in the book of Acts that we're going to see it.

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But this is a common pattern that opposition to Christ creates opportunities for his witnesses.

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So in verses 1 through 7, we should do our best to understand this opposition to the gospel.

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And we look at the priests. We look at the priests. Now Peter and John are speaking to the people.

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We have Peter's words, but we know that John was preaching as well because it says so right here. They spoke to the people.

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So they are preaching Christ, proclaiming the good news, explaining what happened to this man who was born lame.

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But now he can walk. It was all in the power of the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ. And although they arrived at the temple at three o 'clock in the afternoon, now we read that it is evening.

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And some people come to them. In fact, they come upon them, which means that Peter and John get arrested.

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They are laid hold of. They are subdued physically, restrained physically.

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And who does this? Well, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the

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Sadducees. A little bit later on, when they are put on trial, who's there to ask them questions and to hear their testimony, to render their verdict and their sentencing?

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Who is it that opposes them? Well, the rulers, the elders, the scribes.

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See that in verse 5. Verse 6, we read about Annas, the high priest, Caiaphas, John, Alexander, as many as were of the high priestly family.

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They were the ones that were gathered together against the servants of Jesus Christ, those who were preaching the gospel.

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If we're going to understand the opposition to the gospel, let's consider those who oppose. Who are these people?

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Well, we see that it's the captain of the temple as one of the priests. Who is the captain of the temple? Well, he was somebody who was in charge of the temple guard, the temple police.

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The temple complex included several acres. They had an important job to keep order, to keep the peace.

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The captain of the temple was second in command to the high priest.

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He had many responsibilities. In fact, some of them were martial responsibilities. The captain of the temple in the history of the

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Jews was often called upon to marshal a defense, a military defense of the temple in Jerusalem.

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He was a very important man, and he was in charge of soldiers, a guard.

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And the Sadducees were with him. Now, the Sadducees were the most political out of the two, between the

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Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were in league with Rome. They kept the power in Jerusalem.

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It was from the Sadducees that the chief priest was always selected. They maintained a huge majority on the

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Sanhedrin. These rulers we read about, they're rulers in verse 5. This is referring to the

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Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews, who not only oversaw issues in the temple and in Jerusalem, but throughout all the

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Jewish regions there in what they owned as their promised land. Under the jurisdiction of the

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Romans, they had governing authority throughout the land. We read about not just the rulers, but also the elders.

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These would be the men of leading families, those with influence and wealth, mostly of a

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Sadducean order. And we also read about the scribes. These were lawyers, those who not only wrote out copies of the

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Old Testament by hand, but those who were therefore experts on the text and rendered their expert opinions about what the

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Bible said and what it meant. We also read about individual people.

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There was Annas the high priest. Well, he was high priest emeritus, because his reign as the high priest had ended some time ago due to some political finagling.

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But his son -in -law Caiaphas was high priest, but Annas still had a lot of important roles to play.

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We read about Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, as many as were of the family of the high priest.

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So groups of people, by their political leanings, their theological leanings, individuals with important names that anybody at this time would recognize immediately the importance of these folks.

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These were the kinds of people who gathered together, both by action and by status, in organizing an opposition to the preaching of the good news of Jesus Christ as King.

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When we go back and read in the Gospel of John, in John chapter 11, we read about Caiaphas.

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In John 18, we read about Annas. And these were men who organized the priests, who organized the

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Sadducees, who organized the ruling Jews to oppose Christ.

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They put together, by definition, a conspiracy against Jesus Christ to discredit

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Him, to murder Him, and then later to lie and deceive the people about His resurrection.

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So when we read about Annas and Caiaphas, and we read about John and Alexander, and the family of the high priest, when we read about the priests at large, and the captain of the temple and the

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Sadducees, who are these people? It is everybody who had plotted together to murder

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Christ and lie about Him. That comprises this group who have gathered together, not only to arrest

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Peter and John, but then to place them on trial. That is the opposition that Peter and John are facing.

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We should observe that this opposition is not random.

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It is not out of the blue. It is not something very recent. It is not something that is a flash in the pan.

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This has been brewing for quite some time. Their opposition has been steady.

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Their opposition to Christ and those who are with Him has been growing. They have been laboring hard to get rid of Jesus of Nazareth.

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And now they have a problem. What is their problem? It is not that a man that was born lame has now been healed.

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It is not that a member of their community who once was a drain upon the resources of the community, it can now be productive.

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That is not their problem. Their problem, notice in verse 2, they were greatly disturbed that they,

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Peter and John, taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

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And that is a big problem for this group of people that we have been talking about. Why is it such a problem?

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Number one, the Sadducees, who claim that only the first five books of the

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Bible were really God's Word. Only that which was handed down by angels to Moses was really

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God's Word. And everything that came after Deuteronomy was simply commentary on what was to be accepted as God's true

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Word. The Pharisees did not agree with the Sadducees, but they accepted the whole of the

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Torah and the prophets and the writings as God's Word. But the Sadducees said, we are going to stick with just the first five books.

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And thus, they rejected the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.

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They said, you may find some idea of that in the writings and the prophets, but you're not going to find that in the first five books of the

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Bible. And Jesus said, have you never read that God said,

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I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He's not God of the dead, is he?

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He's the God of the living. To which the Sadducees had nothing to say. But they have a problem because Jesus, although he is departed, no, we have now these two men,

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Peter and John, having in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, seen the healing of this lame man.

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And now they are preaching that Jesus Christ is raised from the dead. Not only that, they're preaching the resurrection in Jesus.

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It's not that just that Jesus Christ is risen from the dead, but watch the lame man who was down on the ground and couldn't get up on his own.

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He's up and around. And they're saying, see, this is proof that Christ is risen.

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And they're proclaiming the doctrine and the hope of resurrection in Jesus. If Jesus rose from the dead, what does that mean for everybody who believes in him?

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So they've got a problem. The Sadducees opposed the resurrection. Not only that, the people that we've been talking about, they're all on the

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Sanhedrin. And Sanhedrin has a problem because they're the ones who condemned Jesus Christ to death.

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Now, some of the people in Jerusalem may be covenantally guilty because they're

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Jews and Israel has killed their Messiah. But these people on the

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Sanhedrin, they are directly guilty. They're the ones who actually conspired to do this, to kill

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Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Messiah. And it's a problem when people come preaching in the name of the one you killed and saying he's actually alive.

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Also, there's something of a particular problem. The captain of the temple obviously brings the guard with him to arrest

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Peter and John. Now, what self -interest might this temple guard have to arrest

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Peter and John preaching the resurrection of Jesus? This is the same guard who failed to keep

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Jesus locked up tight in the tomb. Remember that the chief priests went to Pilate and said, his followers were spreading rumors that he was going to rise from the dead.

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We want you to seal up the tomb and to keep the followers from stealing him from the tomb and creating a worse problem for us.

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And Pilate says to them, you have a guard. Make it as secure as you know how.

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And so they did. And now the same temple guard that has been completely embarrassed, who knows the truth, and then running around and telling lies and saying, oh, no, no, he really didn't rise from the dead.

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They came while we were sleeping and stole the body. Their whole misinformation campaign is falling apart because this lame man has been healed and his followers are preaching that Jesus has indeed risen from the dead and are doing it in the temple in the very backyard of this temple guard.

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Well, they can't have that. They've got a problem with him. Also, they've got a problem because thousands are converting to Jesus.

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Thousands are converting to Jesus. You know, they can't have that. They need thousands coming to the temple to donate to the beautification project.

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They need thousands adhering to the party line. They need thousands keeping in line so that they can retain power.

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What if thousands turn away from the Sadducees who had the political power? What will then Rome do?

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They'll take away the nation from the Sadducees, Caiaphas' concern when he was first plotting against Jesus.

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Notice the number. How many? How many believed in verse four?

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Five, about 5 ,000. Isn't that encouraging? The number of the men who ate the bread of life and were satisfied was 5 ,000.

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Sound familiar? And there were plenty of leftovers for the morning at the trial. What was the process of their opposition?

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We know who opposed Peter and John, who opposed Christ. We know why they were opposing them.

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But what was their process? How did they go about it? Well, we see, first of all, they arrested them.

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And in this particular era and culture, this arrest is not what we would think of today, being thrown into some cell somewhere to be incarcerated like an animal for long periods of time.

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But this was simply a holding cell. This was simply a place to spend overnight, to be there just for a little while until you could have your trial.

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Until you could be properly addressed. But they have been arrested and they're being held for trial.

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Probably not a pleasant night to spend. And then they are set, notice, in the midst, in the midst.

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Whenever you have something very official in Jewish life, it isn't organized like this, where people are sitting in straight rows.

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Things are organized in a circle. And so Peter and John are placed in the midst of a large circle of these people.

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The people with the power, the people who hate Christ, the people who plotted to murder Christ and are lying about him.

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The people who can make Peter and John's lives miserable. So you see this overwhelming confrontation.

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And they're challenging these authority claims. Essentially, we see that these people, their problem was with the truth.

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And their process was to try to intimidate those who had the truth. What we're looking at is opposition to Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life.

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We're told in John chapter 1 who our Savior is.

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That He is the Word. The Word who became flesh. The very truth of God in human form.

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In fact, He is the light of the world.

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We read in verse 11 of John 1, that He came to His own as the light of the world, as the light sent from God.

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As the Word of God in human flesh, verse 11, He came to His own and His own did not receive

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Him. Remember that Jesus told His disciples, if they treated the Master this way, how will they treat you?

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Let's understand opposition to the gospel is really opposition to the truth. It's really opposition to Christ.

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It's not really opposition to us personally. It's opposition to Christ. And this opposition to God and His truth, we can trace all the way back to Genesis chapter 3.

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Rebellion against God, against His Word, against what He said, not trusting Him, not believing that He had our good in mind.

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Distrusting God. And so, this rebellion is particularly against the light of God in Jesus Christ.

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This is the condemnation that the light has come into the world and men love the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.

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And so they opposed Him. Jesus Christ as the second Adam, as the last

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Adam, He comes as King of all. King of everyone. Caesar isn't

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Lord. Christ is Lord. Christ is King of kings. He's the one who has all authority.

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He's the one who saves. And this good news is not going to be welcomed by everyone.

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Outside the grace of God, if we declare the truth of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ, what is going to be the natural sinful response to that?

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It is going to be opposition. It is going to be denial. It is going to be anger.

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It is going to be something where there's going to be an organized process to subvert and suppress the truth of God.

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Now, this sometimes becomes something of an excuse for Christians to do a bad job.

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Well, you know, any opposition to Jesus is a foregone conclusion, so they're not going to hear why say anything.

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Or, I'm going to be really short and rude with you and show you no loving kindness at all as I tell you what's what about the

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Word of God, and then when you respond predictably in kind,

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I can say, you're a pagan, and I've done my duty. Well, how does

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Jesus call us to live in His kingdom? Let's try to understand the opposition to the gospel so that we will not be unfaithful.

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In Matthew 5 and verse 10, in the last part of the

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Beatitudes, He says, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

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We're blessed not because we have a hard time, but we have the kingdom of heaven, which cannot be shaken.

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Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for my sake.

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You hear the nature of the opposition, but you see it's for His sake. It's for His sake.

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Let's recognize that. Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great is your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

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You are the salt of the earth, but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?

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It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot of men. You are the light of the world.

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Why? Because Christ is in us and He is the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand it gives light to all who are in the house.

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Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your

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Father in heaven. So, understand how Jesus puts those together.

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He starts off by talking about the kind of opposition that we will face as His witnesses, as we declare the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, as we declare

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Him as the true Savior. There's going to be opposition. Recognize and understand that that is the response of a sinful person, a person who is lost in sin, against the truth of God, against the light that He has sent into the world.

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But, understand this is our role, this is our blessing, this is our joy to be salt, to be light, to let our light so shine before men that they will see our good works and glorify our

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Father who is in heaven. We need to recognize what's actually going on in this opposition so that we will not avoid it.

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If somebody gets mad because you talk about Jesus, something did not go wrong on your part.

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Okay? Understand what kind of persons are opposing

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Christ. Why do the tribes oppose Christ? And understanding that, we are called to love our enemies.

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Those who set themselves at enmity with Christ set themselves as enemies of His people.

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Just ask Saul of Tarsus. We are called to love our enemies, and we are to labor for the islands, for the peoples who have not yet heard, and consider the blessings and the joys of doing so.

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We do not wrestle against flesh and blood. If there is a politician or a neighbor, a family member or an employer, if there is somebody who hates

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Christ and is somehow connected to your life, you are not embattled against them.

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Okay? They may be against Christ, but you may be for your enemy by faithfully witnessing of Christ.

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And when they offer their reasons why they are opposed, they may not have the same reasons at all as the

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Sanhedrin and the Sadducees, but their reasons will be rooted in the same cause, rebellion against God, rebellion against His authority claims upon their lives.

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You don't have to get caught up into all the details of why they may oppose. Just recognize they are rejecting the authority of Christ, rejecting the authority of God's Word.

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They may attack you personally.

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They may try to find things wrong with you and insult you. They may always point to something else, a whataboutism on the tip of their tongue.

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They may point at you and say, you know, it's people like you. In fact, it's actually in the text.

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Verse 7, by what power or by what name have you done this?

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In the original, it's the likes of you. They may be angry.

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They may rage at you. They may try to intimidate you. They may try to disrupt you.

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They may stir up a bunch of other people to be angry against you.

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But recognize what it is. It's opposition against Christ. It's a reaction to light.

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And you're not doing anything wrong by faithfully, lovingly, honestly declaring the unequivocal glory of Jesus Christ.

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And in the meantime, do you know what God is doing as they do all these things?

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As they gather together in their opposition to Christ?

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As they rage against His truth? Do you know what God is doing? He's laughing.

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He's laughing. Psalm 2 says that when the nations rage and plot a vain thing,

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God laughs. He laughs because it is all in vain.

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It is all folly. And even in His laughter, He shows mercy and calling such opposition to repent and to do homage to His Son, to kiss the

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Son, to find refuge in Him. We need to understand opposition to the gospel, especially in this

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Christmas season. We have all sorts of opportunities to speak of Christ, all sorts of opportunities to gather together with relatives and friends and associates and so on.

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And if we don't understand opposition to the gospel or opposition to Christ, we may just avoid it.

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But how can we? In Christ, we are the light of the world. We're the salt of the earth, a city which should not be hidden.

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And so let us not avoid opposition to Christ. Let's understand what it actually is and be faithful.

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Let's pray together. Father, I thank You for our time together in Your Word. We thank

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You that You have things well in hand. And that as we consider the great dearth of, the great wall of opposition that Peter and John faced, yet they have been prepared by our

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Savior for this. Lord, prepare us and help us to be courageous and clear and to speak of Jesus Christ and praise