Sunday, January 1, 2023 AM

Well, let's go to the Lord together in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the day. Thank you for the new year. Thank you that you are ever faithful and ever true. And although we are like grass in the field, and our time is fleeting and short, like a vapor, breathed out, and whisked away by the wind, O Lord, you are from everlasting to everlasting.

And your word is eternal and true. And we thank you for your love toward us through your Son, Jesus Christ. We thank you for the hope with which you fill us, and the glory for which you have formed us.

We pray that you would help us to honor you and to rejoice in the truth of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and King. It's in his name that we pray. Amen. I invite you to open your Bibles and turn with me to Acts chapter 4.

We're going to be reading verses 13 through 22 this morning. Acts chapter 4, verses 13 through 22, as we continue to look at this temple showdown in Acts chapters 3 and 4. A temple showdown. It's not really any secret that there was a bit of a conflict that ran throughout Jesus' ministry as he taught and as he ministered among the people, as he did mighty miracles, sometimes on the Sabbath, and conducted his ministry in ways that just were not approved of by the Pharisees and Sadducees and scribes and chief priests and the ruling council of the Jews called the Sanhedrin.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that Jesus Christ, having been raised from the dead the third day and ascended to the right hand of the Father, having commissioned his apostles to go forth and preach his good news of the kingdom, that they too would encounter similar opposition from that similar group.

But this is a most intriguing and essential test for the followers of Christ as they proclaim his message, as we have a conflict of authorities.

Who gets to say.

What God's official word is and means?

Who gets to say.

The parameters of his kingdom and the makeup of his people? We have a conflict between two authorities, and this is no even conflict. This is not some kind of stalemate between equally pitched opponents.

We have the receding tides of the Old Covenant meeting the tsunami of the New Covenant. We have the stewards of the Old Covenant who are unfaithful, covenant-breaking, idolatrous, the chief priests, the Sanhedrin, the Sadducees and Pharisees, the scribes.

All of them put together, hundreds of men with authority and credentials and respect and power opposed to the followers of Christ. And in our particular story, Peter and John versus the whole Sanhedrin, 70-plus men of the most credentialed, respected, educated and powerful Jews in the capital city of Jerusalem.

Now, to the naked eye, it appears that Peter and John are outmatched. It appears that they're in trouble, for there they stand in the midst of the Sanhedrin. They're accusing them. They have arrested them.

They are upset with Peter and John. This looks like it's going very, very badly for the followers of Christ. But in fact, it's entirely the opposite. It's entirely the opposite.

And.

In confronting Peter and John, they confront men who are followers of Christ, united to him by faith, filled with his Holy Spirit, and they answer the questions and accusations of the Sanhedrin in such a way that the, that these ruling Jews are completely dumbfounded.

And we're going to just think about why that is this morning. I invite you to stand with me as I read, continuing our story, Acts chapter 4, beginning in verse 13. This is the word of the Lord. Now, when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they convert among themselves saying, what shall we do to these men?

For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name.

So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus, but Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you.

Judge.

For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people since they all glorified God for what had been done.

For the man was over 40 years old on whom this miracle of healing had been.

Performed.

This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.

You may be seated.

The Fear of Man in a Paganized Culture

We live in an increasingly a paganized and pluralistic culture. And paganism is simply something which relativizes everything and denies objective authorities. We live in a culture today where a buffet line has been set up around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

Where everyone is invited to come and eat of that tree and determine for yourself what is good for you and what is evil for you. This is why our culture is so fond of death. But what's really fashionable in this type of culture and surprising because it seems rather illogical is a kind of confidence, a kind of boldness.

If there is no greater authority determining what good and evil is, but everyone has to determine that for themselves doing what is right in their own eyes, then why should anybody have any kind of confidence or assurance at all of anything certain and true?

And yet that is what is exactly fashionable in our day. A kind of boldness, a kind of confidence often called empowerment, and it is rooted in, unsurprisingly, the works of the flesh. Where do we see boldness celebrated, confidence celebrated, empowerment celebrated except in fornication and uncleanness and in lewdness, in sorcery and in hatred and in contentions and in jealousies, and outbursts of wrath and in selfish ambition, in dissensions and envy and drunkenness, the works of the flesh.

And those who practice these things know that they are deserving of death though they suppress the truth and unrighteousness and celebrate those and give hearty approval of those who practice such things.

This is another kind of confidence and boldness that is not celebrated and not appreciated in the very least. And that is the kind of confidence and assurance and standing by which such things are declared to be sin.

The kind of boldness and confidence and assurance by which paganism is challenged and false religion is contradicted. Where claims are made about absolute truth and there is one way of salvation and there is one word of God.

Now that kind of confidence and that kind of boldness and that kind of assurance is not appreciated and is not celebrated. But it is the very kind that the followers of Christ are to have and indeed they have in the text that we just read.

By what authority can Peter and John, uneducated, untrained, uncredentialed, non-experts stand before the most credentialed experts of their day and say, um, you're wrong. That's the most heretical thing we've ever heard in this pluralistic society.

You would call the experts wrong when you yourself are uncredentialed? Well, it just happened in the text, didn't it? Do we really appreciate what just happened? By what standing, by what authority, in the name of Christ, in the name of Christ, the fear of man presides over everything the Sanhedrin thinks and says and does.

And yet in the midst of this fear of man, we find the fear of God prevailing in wisdom and in knowledge in the lives of Peter and John as they stand in the name of Christ. The fear of man presiding, we see this in the lives of the Sanhedrin, made mostly of Sadducees who were politically aligned with the Roman governor, the Roman Empire.

They denied the resurrection from the dead. And we read in verses 2 and 3 of chapter 4 that they were greatly disturbed that Peter and John were preaching the resurrection from the dead in Jesus. They couldn't stand the fact that the people were being taught things and the people were believing things that they could not control.

The man who was born lame had laid for over four decades outside of this gate and he was never able to be healed by the temple system, never was saved by the temple system. And yet Peter and John walk by and in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, he is healed.

And when everyone realizes this great miracle, Peter begins to explain. He's healed because Jesus is risen from the dead. That's how this man got saved and you need to be saved too. And Sadducees are greatly disturbed by this.

And so we see that they are ensnared by the fear of man. The fear of man is a snare, we are told in the Bible. And we certainly see how the Sanhedrin are all tangled up and tied up in their fear of man in this passage.

Notice what their concern is in verse 16. What shall we do to these men? For indeed that a notable miracle has been done through them. It's evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem. That is their concern.

They're not concerned about whether or not the man who was healed is going to stay healed. They're not concerned about whether or not others may be also delivered. They're not concerned no more. They're concerned that a message is getting out.

A word is getting out.

The good news of the kingdom is getting out in a way that they cannot control. Why are they so scared about that? Because they fear man. They fear the masses. If the masses begin to believe things that the Sanhedrin does not teach, if the masses begin to pursue things that the Sanhedrin does not approve of, this means that they have lost control of the masses.

They're in power because of their alliance with the Roman authorities. The Roman authorities find the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees useful because they tend to keep insurgencies to a minimum. And Rome is interested in keeping things peaceable and profitable.

And if the Sanhedrin and the Sadducees can't keep messianic movements from cropping up and causing great disruption, then what good are they? When the chief priest's family conspired against Jesus of Nazareth to murder him, their chief reason was they did not want a messianic movement leading the people away from their control.

And they said, we've got to kill this one man for the sake of the whole nation lest the Romans come and take our nation away from us. They are afraid of the Romans. They are afraid of the masses. And because they fear men, they could say nothing.

We can't deny it. They all know about it. Boy, I wish we could deny it. I wish we could just gaslight them all and tell them, No, it never actually happened that way. But there's just too many people who know about it, so that's not going to work.

But then they're confused about what to do. They can't say anything about it, but they're also confused about what to do about it. Notice, they cannot do anything. They cannot punish them. Why? Verse 21 says, Because of the people.

They're afraid of the people. So they're ensnared. They could say nothing, and they could do nothing because of their fear of men. They're all tangled up. Their hands are tied. What can they say? What can they do?

Now, the Sanhedrin, their doing and their speaking are in vain.

Because.

They do not worship God. They worship men. They do not think of God first and God most. They think of man first and man most. Although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.

They were futile in their thoughts. Their foolish hearts were darkened. The reason why their deeds and words were in vain was because their thoughts and their hearts were in vain. They had changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man.

They thought of man first and man most, and what they fear, that's what they value. What they fear, that's what they worship. They're idolatrous. What of our Savior? You know, Jesus was not a stranger to crowds.

This was what was bothersome to the ruling Jews. But Jesus did not commit Himself to them. No matter how big the crowd was, no matter how adoring they were, He did not commit Himself to them because He knew all men.

John 2 says, He had no need that anyone should testify to Him of man because He knew what was in man. And He warned His disciples as well. They should not be so focused upon men. He told them in Matthew 10, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

Therefore, be wise as serpents and as harmless as doves. And He says, Beware of men. He doesn't say, Fear man. He doesn't say, Be focused upon men. He doesn't say, Think of men first and think of men most.

He says, Beware. Be wary. Just understand what's going to happen. Don't entrust yourself to men. Why? They will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues. You will be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles.

Well, here they are before the Sanhedrin. They are to beware of men. So, Jesus was no stranger to crowds and His disciples were with Him when they saw the sea of crowds of the people coming and going.

And Jesus said, No, don't put your trust in them. Don't be obsessed with them. Don't worry about popular opinion and whether or not we've got bigger crowds than anybody else. No, don't be so focused on that.

And Peter and John here, you know, there's just the two of them and their new friend who was healed in the name of Jesus. It's just, you know, three men, uneducated, unskilled, standing before in the midst of the 70-plus Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews.

And do you notice that Peter and John in Acts 3 and 4 have not had any trouble in doing things? And they haven't had any trouble in saying things? That their doing and their speaking are not in vain? That they are not tangled up?

Why is that? Because they don't fear man. By the grace of God, they don't fear man. By the instruction of their Savior, they don't fear man. They fear the Lord. In the fear of the Lord, there is strong confidence.

And his children will have a place of refuge, Proverbs 14 .26 says. You know, Jesus has done for Peter and John what he did for his servant Jeremiah. He's made them a fortified city in the midst of a fortified city to tell the truth to those who needed to hear it.

He's made them like a fortified city. Well, indeed, are they not? Have they not come to Jesus Christ? Have they not come to Mount Zion? Have they not come to the heavenly Jerusalem? Are they not indeed a fortified city in the midst of another fortified city, the old Jerusalem, who needs to hear of their need of the Savior?

Well, the ruling Jews are ensnared by their fear of man. So ensnared, so entangled that they are going to use the fear of man as their method of enforcement. Isn't that interesting? Now, they've arrested Peter and John.

They left them in jail overnight. They bring them out. They set them in the midst of them. How imposing is that? Here are the most powerful men in all of Judea, the most powerful men in all of Jerusalem, the high priest and his whole family, and all of these ruling counselors, and they've put Peter and John and this guy who just got healed, and they put them in their midst, and they're going to intimidate them.

But they can't.

They're confused. They say, by what authority are you doing these things? They throw that nice soft pitch right down the middle, and Peter rears back and hits a home run. By what authority? Filled with the Holy Spirit, he said, if this day we are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man stands here before you whole.

This is the stone which was rejected by you builders, but which has become the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation in any other, for there was no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

And the Sanhedrin look at each other, say, could you give us a moment? And they send Peter and John and the newly healed man out of the room so that they can throw something together, so they can conspire together.

What are we going to do? Option one, deny it ever happened. You know, like we denied the resurrection happened and spread lies. And that's going to be hard to do. Everybody in Jerusalem knows what's happened.

We can't deny it. Oh, we wish we could deny it. We can't deny it. We really can't punish them. We can't do something that will rile up the people against us. So here's their plan. They're going to threaten them.

In the original, it's threateningly threaten. We're going to threateningly threaten them. And then later on in verse 21, when that didn't seem to work well, they further threatened them. So here's their whole play.

They threateningly threaten them with threats. That was their whole, why? Because are we not powerful? Are we not intimidating? Should they not be afraid of us? Because they were ensnared by the fear of man, and they figured that Peter and John were on that very same frequency that they too would be afraid of men, and they would be convinced by the fear of man to cease speaking in the name of Jesus or teaching anyone else who Jesus was.

But Peter and John are not on that frequency. Indeed, the saints of God are not to be up on that frequency of the fear of man. We're tuned to an entirely different frequency. We boldly say, the Lord is my helper.

I will not fear. What can man do to me? We've been taught that by our very own Lord and Savior. When Jesus was on trial with Pilate, Pilate is very frustrated because, well, he fears man. His relationship with Rome is not pristine.

What if complaints get back to Caesar that he's not handling things well in his province? This is what the angry mob of Jews just said. If you release this man, you are no friend of Caesar. And Pilate also knows he's supposed to do justice and keep the peace, and so he's afraid of the Jews, and he's afraid of his boss.

And in a frustrated way, he turns to Jesus and says, don't you know that I have the power to crucify you or to release you? And then Jesus simply shifts this man's attention away from fearing man to fearing God.

And he says, don't you know that you would have no power unless it was given to you from above? You see, he thought he had his power by the goodwill of the people and the goodwill of Rome. But Jesus says, no, no, don't fear man, fear God.

He just shifts it right there. He says, no, no, God is the one who's given you authority and power. And, you know, Pilate, you're so concerned about justice and righteousness. Well, those who handed me over to you are more guilty than you are.

What did he just do?

He just said, in the sight of God, the Jewish mob out there, they're very guilty, but, you know, you are too, since you're complicit in this. He just shifts his attention to fear God rather than to fear man.

Jesus instructed us in the same fashion. He told his disciples in Matthew 10 in verse 26, do not fear them. Who are the they? We are not to fear. Well, those who criticize and those who blaspheme, those who rage against Christ.

Jesus says, therefore, do not fear them, for there is nothing covered that will not be revealed and hidden that will not be known. Don't fear man. God is the one who's going to set everything out in the open and set everything right.

Don't fear man. And so, Peter and John, Peter and John are unaffected by the attempted enforcement of the fear of man. They fear God. They have come to Christ. They have come to the church and assembly of the firstborn.

They have come to Mount Zion. They have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. And so they sing. You know, Peter brings up, his quote comes from Psalm 118. He's reaching back to the great hymn, the great Hallel.

He brings forward songs in his response to those who would oppose Christ. And so he sings and he shouts. Peter and John can be glad and they can rejoice. The Lord has taken away their judgment. So what do they care if the Sanhedrin condemns them?

The worst thing that could ever happen to Peter and John has already happened to Peter and John in Christ on the cross. And he has taken it out of the way. So that now they may stand boldly with great joy knowing that the Lord is on their side.

They do not fear. Their hands are not weak. They know that the Lord is with them. The mighty one will save them. He rejoices over them with gladness. He will quiet them with his love. He rejoices over them with singing.

What can man do to them? Where the fear of man presides, there the fear of God prevails in the name of Christ. And in our text, we see that it prevails in two ways. In wisdom and in knowledge. In wisdom and in knowledge.

Peter and John respond in the way that they do to the Sanhedrin and they are confounded. They don't know what to say or do. They have to send them out of the room. They're so confused. But they observe about Peter and John that they are uneducated and untrained men.

Uneducated and untrained men. They are agrammatos. They are unlettered. They don't know the scholastic ways of the rabbis. They don't know how to quote the rabbi who quoted the rabbi who quoted the rabbi.

They don't know that. They are also untrained. They are idiotes. Yes, that's where we get that word. But it means they are unskilled. It means that they don't know how to employ rhetoric. They don't know how to be politic.

They're just bold. The word bold means that they are simply frank and open. They're just clear. They're obviously not trying to find a way to flatter their hearers while still affirming what they believe in such a way that when they leave everyone at least is not upset but nobody really knows what was said.

They're bold. They simply state the matter and they do so with confidence and without regret. Now the Sanhedrin have a situation on their hands. Here are these two men. They are unskilled. They are uneducated.

There's this powerful miracle that has occurred. We don't agree with the miracle. We don't agree with the way that you are preaching about the miracle. We don't agree with the way that you have addressed us and answered our questions.

But we can't find anything to say against you. And we can't find any way of opposing you. And when's the last time that the Sadducees and chief priests were so bum-fuzzled in just that way? Oh, we've been here before, haven't we?

This is the way it was when we tried to confront Jesus. This is the way it was when we tried to trip him up. This is the way it was when we tried to contradict him and get him in trouble. He did the very same thing to us.

And they recognized that these men had been with Jesus. They recognized the style. They recognized their own inability. And they recognized, really, the fruits of wisdom. This was Jesus' promise. In Luke 21, verses 14 and 15, he told his disciples about the coming persecutions, that they were going to be opposed by many.

And he said to them in Luke 21, verse 14,. Therefore, settle it in your hearts, not to meditate beforehand on what you will answer.

Why?

Have you ever done that? Have you ever kind of run through the scenario? Well, what if they say this or this? How will I answer in such a way that they don't, you know, fly off the handle and get mad at me?

Jesus says, don't meditate on men. Don't be obsessed with that. He promises this, verse 15,. For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries will not be able to contradict or resist.

He does this by the gift of his Holy Spirit. He does this by... He says, I will give you a mouth. And, of course, later on they say, We cannot but speak the things we have seen and heard. They're just so full of the things that they heard from Jesus and saw in Jesus that that's what they're going to talk about.

Jesus has given them a mouth which nobody can contradict or resist because in the Holy Spirit, by the Holy Spirit, they speak of Christ. And so Jesus has given them this victory. We are not to be in orbit around the various whims and changing values of man.

Paganism is ever in flux. False religion is ever in flux. The compromised churchmen are always changing their value systems. Jesus said in Matthew 11, verse 16,. But to what shall I liken this generation?

It is like children sitting in the marketplace, calling to their companions and saying, We played the flute for you, and you did not dance. We mourned to you, and you did not lament. For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He is a demon.

The son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Look, a glutton and a wine-bibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners. But, listen to this, wisdom is justified by her children. What's happening in our text is that the children of wisdom are being vindicated, proven true.

We don't have to celebrate the things that our culture insists that we celebrate. And we don't have to feel bad about the things that our culture insists that we feel bad about. We don't have to dance to those tunes.

And we don't have to play those games. Because as children of wisdom, we're not to be tossed to and fro by every new wind of doctrine.

Right?

The great joy of following Christ as our Lord is that we have that one Lord, instead of thousands, all clamoring that we care about what they care about, in the way that they insist that we do. Wisdom is justified by her children.

And we, as following Christ, are following the one in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Thinking first and foremost of our Lord Christ, we cannot but speak of what we know of Him.

We are to seek for the wisdom that confounds the so-called wise. Much of our gospel work is wisdom work, as we commune with the Savior and pray for His Savior. We are to walk in wisdom toward those who are outside.

We are to redeem the time. We are to let our speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that we may know how we ought to answer each one. Now notice, this is not a passage which is saying, let your speech always be with flattery, seasoned with sugar, that you may know how to make sure that no one ever gets their hair in a muss.

When you are concerned and loving towards those who are outside, you don't want them to stay outside, comforted in their wrong thinking and wrong behavior. You don't want them to remain outside, do you?

You want them to be on the inside. Jesus came preaching, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. He says, you all are outside, I want you to be inside. Enter into the kingdom.

And so, our speech is to be wise, with grace, seasoned with salt, so we may know how to answer each one, meaning, how to answer each one compelling them to repent of their sins, to divest themselves of trust in themselves and excuses for themselves, and turn to Christ and Christ alone.

Wisdom. Peter preaches to this Sanhedrin that they do not want to hear another word about Jesus of Nazareth, they don't want to hear another word about the resurrection, they don't want to hear another word about how there's another kingdom and a better covenant, they don't want to hear another word about it, and yet Peter preaches to them in just the precise way that they understand what needs to be heard.

The Fear of God in Wisdom and Knowledge

Not only does the fear of God prevail in wisdom in this situation, but also in knowledge. Of course, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and it is the beginning of knowledge. But we see that in chapter 3, verse 17, Peter says to those to whom he's preaching, you and your leaders, you opposed and crucified the Messiah in ignorance.

They should have known better, but they did it in ignorance. They did not know. In verse 7 of chapter 4, they say, by what power or by name have you done this? They don't know. They don't know. In verse 16, we read, What shall we do?

They don't know. They don't know. Peter and John know, but the Sanhedrin, they don't know. The fear of God here is prevailing where the fear of man presides. And so Peter addresses them and asks them a question, a knowledge question.

He asks them this, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. He hits them with a knowledge question. Isn't that the way of Christ? Challenged by his critics, he simply asks them a question that exposes that they have no basis for their thinking.

They are in their full regalia, their full number. The whole Sanhedrin is there. They're very imposing in all of their authority and their force. And Peter simply asks them a question which exposes the fact that they don't even know right from wrong.

It's like this, chief priests. It's like this, rulers of the people. Well, there's listening to God and there's listening to you. And, you know, Jesus of Nazareth, who is the Christ, told Peter and John and the rest of the disciples to do what?

You are my witnesses. Go and preach in my name the gospel in Jerusalem and in Judea and in Samaria and all the nations of the earth. You go teach in my name. And now the Sanhedrin is saying, don't go teach in his name.

So Peter says, well, it's like this. We can either listen to God or listen to you. Now, in the sight of God, how do those scales come out? What do you say, Sanhedrin? Now, they don't know how to answer that.

But Peter and John have already answered it. The fear of the Lord is a fountain of life to turn one away from the snares of death. In mercy and truth, atonement is provided for iniquity. And by the fear of the Lord, one departs from evil.

You know, the way to avoid the chaos of this pagan buffet around the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is to fear the Lord. You know what? He gets to determine what good and evil are. He gets to determine knowledge.

And I'll trust him. I'll think of him first. I'll think of him most. And we will fear God when we are captivated by Christ, what he says and what he does. And we cannot but speak of these things. This is important for us to recognize because what we fear controls our values.

What we fear controls our values. We are to assess our decisions and our investments, our opportunities, all of them. We are to assess them even as Peter and John say, in the sight of God. In the sight of God, what are these things?

In the sight of God, how does this weigh out? And in this way, where the fear of man presides, our everyday culture, most of our interactions, most of the information and news that we consume, where the fear of man presides, the fear of God shall prevail in the name of Christ.

This is our standing. This is our assurance. This is our confidence. This is our boldness. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for the time that you've given us in your word. I pray that you would help us to rejoice in this truth, that you would make our hearts warm to this, and that we would indeed, in the name of Christ, fear you and prevail in wisdom and knowledge in this world.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen.