WWUTT 2566 No Other Name Under Heaven (Acts 4:1-12)

Peter and John come into the temple and share the gospel and they're arrested for it.

But even at trial, they are not ashamed to speak the name of Christ, for it is only in Jesus' name that we are saved when we understand the text.

Many of the Bible stories and verses we think we know, we don't. When we understand the text is committed to teaching sound doctrine and rebuking those who contradict it.

Visit our website at www .utt .com. Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Acts, we are on to chapter 4, where after reading about Peter and John healing a lame man at the beautiful gate and then sharing the gospel in the temple, they're now arrested and put on trial for speaking in the name of Christ.

So let me read here verses 1 through 12 to start things off. Hear the word of the Lord. Now, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the

Sadducees came up to them, being greatly agitated because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.

But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000.

Now, it happened that on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem, and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of high priestly descent.

And when they had placed them in their midst, they began to inquire, By what power or in what name have you done this?

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the

Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.

And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved."

Now we go on from here to Peter and John being threatened and then released, and then we have the distribution of goods in the church among needy believers at the end of the chapter.

But for today, we're going to look mainly at these 12 verses, John and Peter being arrested and put on trial for preaching in the name of Christ.

And again, to set all of this up, this was because they healed a lame man at the beautiful gate, a man that was known to the people for being lame.

He had no working legs. You would have looked at his legs and known this man was lame.

He had no muscles by which he could stand or even strong bones upon which he could leap and walk.

And yet that's exactly what he comes into the temple doing. Once he is healed by Peter and John, he comes in leaping and praising

God. And the people see this because they knew this man, they had all passed by him and they knew a great miracle had been done.

Peter proclaims the gospel to them. And as it is said right here, as many as 5 ,000 men became believers because of this act that happened on this day.

So starting here in verse one, now, as they were speaking to the people, this is talking about this gospel message that we concluded chapter three with.

So let me read those last couple of verses where Peter says, it is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant, which

God made with your father's saying to Abraham and in your seed, all the families of the earth shall be blessed for you first.

God raised up his servant and sent him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.

So as Peter is sharing this, telling the people to repent and turn to Jesus Christ, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the

Sadducees came up to them. So you have the priests, those who administer in the temple, those who were set as a guard over the temple, those that would admit certain people in and keep others out.

And then the Sadducees came up to them. Verse two, being greatly agitated because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.

Remember that Peter was talking about how Jesus was raised from the dead. And what is it that the

Sadducees did not believe in? They did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. This was one of the characteristic beliefs of the

Sadducees. This was one of the things that made them distinct from the Pharisees is that they did not believe there was any kind of resurrection from the dead.

The Pharisees did. And what they taught the people was you had to be a good person.

You had to keep the law. You had to do good works in order to attain the resurrection of the dead. But the Sadducees did not believe there was any such thing at all.

The only way to live a good moral life and to have the favor of God was to keep the law.

But they did not believe there was any sort of eternal reward for doing that. The way that they read the

Old Testament scriptures was that there was no mention of any kind of resurrection from the dead. The grave was it.

But you can only live a fulfilling life if you obeyed God's word. That was the way that the Sadducees would teach that.

So they're obviously very upset and agitated. The word that's used here as translated in our legacy standard

Bible. They're obviously agitated by Peter and John because Peter and John were proclaiming the resurrection of the dead, even that Jesus had come back from the dead.

So verse three, they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening.

But, verse four, many of those who had heard the message, the gospel presentation that we had just seen in chapter three, they believed and the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000.

Now, there are a couple of different ways to interpret that. Some have interpreted that as 2 ,000 on top of the 3 ,000 that were mentioned at the end of Acts chapter two.

So remember the first preaching of the gospel at Pentecost was the proclamation of Jesus Christ having been crucified by you lawless men.

Same thing that Peter preached in the temple in chapter three, but God has raised him from the dead.

When the people were cut to the heart, he said, repent and be baptized every one of you for the forgiveness of your sins, for the promises for you and for your children and for those who are far off, everyone who calls upon the name of the

Lord. So as Peter proclaims this, we see in Acts three that 3 ,000 people are baptized and come into the church that day.

We started with over a hundred. We've got 3 ,000 more that are baptized and now our first church is already a mega church.

So when you read in Acts four, four, the number of men came to be about 5 ,000.

There are some that will read that as 2 ,000 extra on top of the 3 ,000 that we read about in chapter two.

There are others that interpret this to mean it's 5 ,000 new believers. Many of those who had heard the message believed and the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000.

Now, I tend to lean toward the second explanation. First of all, you have a mention of only the men.

The number of the men came to be about 5 ,000, which means there could have been many other women on top of this that came to believe also, but this appears to be a distinct number separate from what we had read about in chapter two regarding the 3 ,000 and the number 3 ,000 in Acts two 41 is mentioned as souls, 3 ,000 souls.

It doesn't say 3 ,000 men. So again, it appears to be a different number.

So this is 5 ,000 men now that have been added to the church, which would not count women and children.

Any others that would come to faith, this is just the older men or heads of households. So there could have been many others, but at least by the numbers we have so far, you now have 8 ,000

Christians. The first presentation of the gospel in Jerusalem in chapter two, and then this other presentation that happens in the temple.

And as I had mentioned to you last week, with regards to the temple, the temple was a massive structure.

And Peter preaching in Solomon's portico, those, those columns that went around the courtyard of the temple, it was a good place to preach.

The sound would echo, but you could easily fit thousands of people inside the temple, especially as they are there for the hour of prayer.

So 5 ,000 is not unreasonable. These people seeing, it's not, it's not an unreasonable number anyway, to assume that that many people would have been in the temple.

These people saw and had known about this man who had been at the beautiful gate day after day after day, this lame man who asked for alms and had no ability to walk.

Everybody knew that he had been there his practically his whole life, because as it was said back in chapter three, he had been lame from birth.

This is a significant miraculous event that Luke writes about here because it leads to the salvation of 5 ,000 men.

And then many other women and children in addition to that, or, or youths, I could say, instead of children.

So you're not thinking like two or three year olds, but those who had heard and believed, because many of those who had heard the message believed.

And the number of the men came to be about 5 ,000. So then verse five, now it happened on the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem.

And Annas the high priest was there and Caiaphas and John and Alexander and all who were of high priestly descent.

Okay. I thought Caiaphas was the high priest. Remember Caiaphas was high priest at the time that Jesus was crucified.

It's still the same Caiaphas. So how is it that Annas is mentioned as the high priest? I thought that Caiaphas was the high priest.

Well, it turns out both answers are true. If you go back to Luke three, verse two, well, let me start in Luke three, one, since verse two is in the middle of the sentence, but Luke chapter three begins this way.

In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea and Herod being

Tetrarch of Galilee and his brother, Philip Tetrarch of the region of Idarea and Trachonitis and Lysanias Tetrarch of Abilene during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John, the son of Zechariah in the wilderness.

So Luke mentions that Annas and Caiaphas were high priests at the same time.

Annas was the father -in -law of Caiaphas. So by lineage, there appears to be some kind of a shared high priesthood.

Caiaphas who marries Annas' daughter. And so some sort of like a descent therefore is established because of that.

So Caiaphas would be like the heir to the priesthood. Annas may be up there in age, so he's already giving

Caiaphas that experience in the priesthood, whatever it might happen to be. But it is mentioned in scripture that both

Annas and Caiaphas are high priests. In John chapter 18 is where we read of Caiaphas being the high priest.

So this was after Jesus' arrest. So the band of soldiers and their captain and the officers of the

Jews arrested Jesus and bound him. First they led him to Annas for he was the father -in -law of Caiaphas who was the high priest that year.

It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people.

That's John 18 verses 12 to 14. So we see both men serving in that role in some capacity as recorded for us in scripture.

So anyway, you have Caiaphas, Annas the high priest was there and Caiaphas and John and Alexander. Now, as to the identity of John and Alexander, John is thought to be the son of Annas.

And Alexander was a man of great repute that is mentioned by Josephus.

But we don't know by any other mention in scripture exactly who Alexander was. Josephus, by the way, being the

Jewish historian, not a writer of scripture. So John and Alexander obviously were prominent men.

And remember that Luke has this penchant for wanting to mention eyewitnesses so that you can go to them and test for yourself that these things are true.

These things really had taken place. So a mention of these men specifically as those who were the rulers and elders in the temple at the time, all who were of high priestly descent.

Now, that of course establishes the connection between Annas and Caiaphas, because Caiaphas is not

Annas' biological son, but is his son -in -law, so receives that position by descent.

And then verse seven, and when they had placed them, John and Peter, in their midst, they began to inquire, by what power or in what name have you done this?

Now they ask first by what power, because remember that the priests and the scribes, the rulers in the temple, they accused

Jesus of casting out demons by Beelzebul. That they were casting out by the power of Satan.

So if these men were going to mention any other name but God, then it would give these rulers in the temple ground to be able to say, well, these people are acting in an ungodly way, in a demonic and satanic way, and that's how they were able to heal this man.

It's actually a trick. It's a con. It's not real genuine healing that comes from God.

That's what they would have wanted to be able to accuse Peter and John of. But then they also add, or in what name have you done this?

Are they acting of their own authority, or are they doing this by some other authority? Now they know that Peter and John are speaking in the name of Jesus, so they want that name to come out, so that they are able to say that these men are acting in a way that is contrary to our law.

So then Peter, verse eight, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers and elders of the people, if we are being examined today for a good deed done to a sick man, as to how this man has been saved from his sickness.

So Peter is putting on them right away. Like you're putting us on trial because we did something good for somebody, and he's making sure everybody hears that and everybody knows that.

We are being arrested. We were kept in a jail last night, and here we are having to answer for this under threat of persecution of some kind, because we did a good deed for somebody.

You're mad at us because we have done this good deed to a sick man. This man who was at your gate day after day after day.

Had you even given alms to this man to care for him, that he is asking for alms so that he has something to eat?

We gave to him good legs. We stood him up and in the midst of everybody, dancing and leaping and praising

God. Now, how did this happen? How are we able to do this, to give this man such a genuine miracle?

Verse 10, let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ, the

Nazarene. So the whole reason Peter and John did this was to proclaim

Christ. Now I'm going to add an application to this, that even as we go and we do charitable and good things for other people, we must also do so in the name of Christ.

It is good for us then, that when we show charity to somebody else, that we would say to them,

Jesus Christ has saved me and he can save you too. If you will put your faith and trust in him, you will receive something far more than just this gift that I am giving to you.

You will have the gift of eternal life. So we share the gospel with people whom we help.

That's a good thing for us to do. As Peter and John do this to proclaim the name of Christ, likewise, when we do charitable things for those, especially who are unbelievers, we would do those things in the name of Jesus to share the gospel, to have that open door, to share the gospel with somebody else.

I'm familiar with a church here in our community. I won't mention which one it is, but there is a church that receives goods to put into their food pantry so that they can help the needy in our town.

That's a good thing for a church to be able to do. If we had the space, we would start a food pantry, but we don't have any room to be able to do this.

But we do have connections with some people in town that are able to give to those who are needy.

So it's a great thing that a church does this. But some of the subsidies that they receive, some of the help and the aid that they get comes from the state.

It comes from the government. And so they feel like, I don't know if this is a requirement upon them or not, but the church feels like in order to continue to maintain those goods and services, receiving those goods from the state, they shouldn't be sharing the gospel.

And I know this because we have some people that had come from our church from that other church and had said they were telling us we couldn't share the gospel.

That when it came to helping those who were in need, we were just supposed to do that. Just give them the things that they need, but don't share the gospel with them.

We can do that at a later time. But on those days when the food pantry is open or we're giving out clothes or whatever it happens to be, we only need to do that.

Don't share the gospel. My friends, that's wrong. That is absolutely, and should not be dictated by anyone outside the church, most especially.

These are the opportunities for us to share the gospel with others. We could clothe them and we could feed them, but we're just giving them a comfortable seat on the way to hell if we're not also giving them the gospel, the name of Jesus Christ by which they can be saved.

So as Peter and John were using this to preach the name of Christ, so we must whenever we do charitably for any other.

And so Peter says, it's by the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, that this has been done. It's the same

Jesus you crucified whom God raised from the dead. By this name, this man stands here before you in good health.

And then Peter connects this with the scriptures. He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, but which became the chief cornerstone.

Same scripture that Jesus used when he was teaching in the temple that week before he died.

He was proclaiming to them this same passage that he was the cornerstone that was rejected by the builders, the chief priests and the scribes who should have known who

Jesus was, but instead were turning the people against him rather than to him. And so Peter says, there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.

Peter proclaiming it is only in Jesus Christ that we have the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life and to demonstrate that Jesus has the power to forgive sins.

Peter and John have healed this man in the name of Christ, the name in which we are reconciled to God and have eternal life.

Let us put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. And my friends share that name with others for it is only by faith in Jesus that they will be saved.

Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read here and I pray that you continue to work out in us this salvation that we have in Christ Jesus.

We have come to believe now may we be sanctified, prepared and made holy for that day that we enter into your kingdom.

Give us the courage and the boldness to share the name of Christ with others and direct them to faith in the gospel.

I am not ashamed of the gospel as Paul said in Romans 1 16 for it is the power of God for salvation to all who believe.