Courageous Christianity - Ben Stuart

Well, we're continuing on in our series in the Book of Acts, and last week we looked at how the church community strengthens itself. The text last week was primarily inwardly focused. What's the culture of this world-changing community? Back then, that's meant to be true of our community now. But, as we'll see through the Book of Acts, the early church, and we are meant to in the same way, is always extending itself outward towards the wider community. What we're looking at today is we're addressing an issue that's so very relevant to us today, namely, how does the Christian engage the wider culture? Do we just hide away and pull back from it? Do we step into every fray and fight and argue? What does the Christian do in the public square? That's what we're looking at today. We're gonna see it in Acts chapter three and Acts chapter four, as Peter and John enter into the public square. We're gonna look at 48 verses today, family. So, I hope you set your TV to record the Super Bowl. I'm kidding, we'll go fast. It's a story, so it goes fast. But there are 14 points, buckle up, but we'll just touch on them as we move through this passage together. Because really, if you wanna simplify it, it's one story we're looking at today, and it's really, it happens in three scenes.

And so, I'm gonna briefly show us each scene and then pull out, really, what are in the text, these kind of fascinating pairings throughout these different scenes that display how exactly the Christian, individually, and the church, corporately, engages the wider culture. And the first scene is outside the gates of the temple. And so, Acts chapter three, verse one. It says, now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour, that's about 3 p.m. And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the beautiful gate, to ask alms of those entering the temple. Lame means that he cannot walk, thus he was carried. And from birth, Luke includes to emphasize the hopelessness of that condition, that this problem has been long-term and deep-seated. And in a day when most work was physical, this means this put him in a place where he was not able to contribute, and so thus he was left to beg at the gates. And some friends or family or whoever would put him at the entrance of this major avenue to enter into this massive temple in the center of Jerusalem, sort of the center of political, or excuse me, religious and public life. But in verse three, it says,

seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. And Peter, directing his gaze at him, as did John, said, look at us. And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. And Peter said, I have no silver and gold. Peter was not a wealthy megachurch pastor. He said, but what I have, I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. No physical therapy for this guy. But in verse eight, and leaping, he stood up, and he began to walk, and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. All right, so let's grab our first four kind of lessons from scene chapter one. Number one, what you see as the church engages the culture, is you see compassion in action. You see compassion in action. You see it in verses four and five. Did you notice how many references there are to seeing each other? That Peter directed his gaze at the man, and so did John. And then he said, look at us, and he fixed his attention on him. Luke is doing all that to show us there's a human moment happening here.

That what was pervasive in the ancient world was, man, if you were poor, that's your thing, that's your fault. That that person would have been an impediment to move around and keep going. And yet we wanna see here the leaders of the church of Jesus Christ, right at the outset, we're in Acts chapter three, when they see a poor and destitute person, he's not an obstacle to move past, he is a person to look at. And so you see early on in the church, there is a compassion for those who are hurting. And that is part of the DNA of the people of Jesus. It's one of the hallmarks of us, starkly different from the ancient world, and from many cultures that are Christ-less today. Rodney Stark, who was a sociologist and professor at the University of Washington, wrote The Rise of Christianity. And he says, one of the major contributors to the growth of Christianity, how it grew in Rome, was because unlike the culture, Christians showed love to the poor and to strangers. This is also what captured the attention of Tom Holland, the historian, not Spider-Man, as he wrote the book Dominion. He says, the notion of human rights that we take for granted today was entirely foreign to the Romans, the Spartans. This was not part of ancient cultures.

It was uniquely from Jesus Christ of Nazareth, this concern for other human beings made in the image of God. even if they're poor and destitute. It's also what infuriated the emperor, Julian the Apostate. He was called that because he longed to stamp out Christianity, but at one point he wrote in frustration, he says, atheism, which is what he called Christianity because they didn't believe in the pantheon of gods. Atheism is being advanced through the loving treatment rendered to strangers and through their care and the burial of the dead. It's a scandal. There's not a single Jew who's a beggar that these godless Galileans care not only for their own poor, but for ours as well. This Roman emperor says, I'm trying to stamp these people out, but they're so nice. And a hallmark of theirs, which was so different from the rest of the cultures, they cared for the poor. They had compassion towards the orphan, the widow, the sick, and the dying. It was so different and it changed the world. And you see it right here at the outset in Peter and in John that they have compassion and that compassion moves them to act.

It's not just a feeling, they do something with it. But notice what they do, that does not mean you supply him with whatever he asks. And that's your different pairing, right? That they address not the presenting issue, but the deeper issue. They address not his presenting issue, but the deeper issue. What you think you want is not always what you need. And Jesus does this all through his ministry. We don't have time to go through this, but Jesus didn't let other people dictate to him what help looks like, right? He knew some of their deepest needs. And so it's interesting with Peter, this guy says, I want money. That was his presenting issue, I want money. And Peter looks past that and says, no, we're not doing that, but I'm gonna give you something else. I'm gonna give you the use of your legs, which you've never had. And in doing so, not give you any money, but now restore in you the ability to be somebody who can be a healthy and productive member of society. That's the way Christianity works. It's compassion and action that aims at restoration. That doesn't mean everyone gets a miraculous healing, but it means that Christian compassion

always has this aim of restoration, that I may not deal with your presenting issue, but I'm always aiming at that deeper issue. Which this leads to a point I wanna make too, is obviously we're in the center of a city, we're in Shaw. There are people that maybe you've seen on the streets in our neighborhood that are asking for money, maybe living on the streets in a difficult place. And I know some people wrestle with that. You go, man, I want to help someone who's hurting, but if I give someone money, I don't know what they're gonna use it for. And we've had men that we have loved, cared for, served over months of times that we've watched as people give them money, they'll go right across the street to the liquor store over there and use that money to buy liquor and get drunk. And you go, I don't think that was the win. I don't want to be a funder of your self-destruction. And yet some people look at it and go, therefore, I just won't do anything, because you might use it on something destructive. But the Christian goes, no, I'm not gonna fund your self-destruction, but I wanna have compassion that facilitates transformation. So if you're wondering how we do it as a church,

as we know people in the neighborhood, we're offering them places to stay, meals to eat. We've offered places to get rehabilitation, to get remedies from addiction, to get job training, all kinds of stuff, because we want to help people, maybe not what they're presenting need, give me money, but the deeper need of connection, of love. That's why, regardless of what your financial or home situation is, you are welcome in this place. And we love you because you're in the image of God and therefore have dignity, regardless of capacity. That's the human condition. So on your way out, just to close this point out, you're gonna get one of these. We hand these out. This is our resource card for the community. And in it, it's all the different ministries in the city that we support that help those who are in need, right? And so if you give to this church, some of your money is going to that, right? My wife used to buy McDonald's gift cards so she could control the flow of the money. And she would put it with this and say like, here, I wanna buy you lunch and I wanna give you, if you need a place to stay or are ready to have some help that is redemptive in its nature, these are the ministries that we support. And we would love you to go there because we believe those are places

you can get the help that you need, even if it's not necessarily the help you want right now. So we're gonna give you at least one of these on your way out the door. If you want more to hand out, please do that. And just know that's part of how our church wants to model this. But just before I leave this point for some of you, let me just say this too. Sometimes maybe what brought you to church is your presenting need is not your deepest need. Some of you showed up at church and you're like, Jesus, I just need a little advice. You know, no, you need to repent, right? Well, no, I just came here for a couple helpful ideas and some encouragement. Well, no, maybe you need to be challenged in some ways. Sometimes what we think we need isn't what we most deeply need. And here in the gospel, we get not always the answer to your presenting problem, but Jesus wants to go to the heart and transform us to make us who we're meant to be in the culture. Third point I wanna make in this scene one is what looked like an interruption was actually the assignment. Did you notice that? Peter and John are on their way to pray. And this guy asked him for money,

which would have been easy to have been like, sorry, trying to worship the Lord, right? And move past him. But they stop and engage this man. It doesn't mean that every person who wants to absorb your time should be able to interrupt you from what you're about in the day. Sometimes you can't say, I don't have time to talk to you, but I just wanna challenge you. Are you open to God adapting your schedule? Because for Peter and John, this may have been an interruption from what they thought they were doing today, but it's entirely in line with their calling under God, which is to be witnesses to the resurrected Jesus. And so they're gonna step in and accomplish the first miracle in the book of Acts, and that's gonna open the door to some preaching. Spoiler alert, 5,000 people are gonna come to Christ before this story's over, right? And so you go, okay, this wasn't what we were planning to do today. This is better than what I had on the schedule. Matches the mission of honoring God, but I'm hoping to let it adapt to what I do today. So I just wanna challenge you. If you're too busy to ever help serve or pray for somebody else

because you're too busy with your agenda, you may just wanna check your agenda. Is your agenda all about you? Like, I just want you to pray to be open, that God may adjust your schedule because he is, as Ephesians says, prepared good works for us that we might walk in them. Just be open. God may have an interruption for you. And number four, before we move on, is the power to heal comes from a person, the person of Jesus. Jesus did a similar miracle, actually in a similar place, and Jesus didn't have to invoke anybody else. He had the power with it, intrinsic one himself. Can't walk, can now, hop up. That's Jesus. Peter doesn't do that, and we can't either. Peter says, it's in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk. The power is in that person, not me, right? And that's significant. Why mention he's from Nazareth? Because that's where he grew up. It's a real place. He's telling you, like, Jesus isn't just an idea or a feeling. It was a guy, a guy who made furniture, who also rose from the dead. That guy has the power to change your life.

So the power of life change resides in a person. Peter says, it's not me, it's him. And what you see happen at the end of it is when that power is released on this man's behalf, it says, leaping up, he stood and began to walk. He entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. Leviticus tells us that if you were lame, you were not able to enter into the temple. That something with a physical imperfection could not enter the holy place. So here, after the intercession of Jesus, this man does something he's never done his entire life. He gets to walk into the temple. That what the law could not do and religious observance couldn't do, Jesus can. And Jesus opens the way to intimacy with God for this man. And for the first time in his life, he gets to walk into the temple. And it not only says he walked, it uses the word for walking around. He's moving. And then twice it tells us he's leaping. Did you notice that? He's not just walking in the temple. He's like diving around the apostles as he does it. And you go, why does Luke tell us twice that he's leaping? Well, Luke is hinting to us of what he's gonna do the rest of this passage. Isaiah tells us that when the day of the Lord comes,

when salvation arrives, the lame will leap like a deer. And so Luke is showing you, hey, salvation's come because the Savior has come. Your first evidence, there's a lame man leaping right into the presence of God, right? It's the power of Jesus that heals the broken. So that sets up the next scene. Now they're inside the temple, scene two. Verse nine, and all the people saw him walking and praising God. And recognizing him as the one who sat at the beautiful gate at the temple asking for alms. They knew that guy. He's been working that corner for years. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. And while he clung to Peter and John, all the people, utterly astounded, ran together to them in the portico called Solomon's. And when Peter saw it, he addressed them. The people saying, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? Why do you stare at us? As though by our own power or piety, we have made him walk. Let me stop here and address a couple things. Number one, excuse me, number five is this. Seeing opens the door to hearing. Did you notice that? He's dancing and leaping into the temple. And suddenly these people recognize him.

That's the guy that's been begging for decades out in front of the temple. Now here he is leaping around. And then it says he clung to Peter and John. So they're realizing, oh, he's associated with the apostles. And so they gather around and Peter sees this as an opportunity and he says, hey, let me speak to you, men of Israel, and Peter's gonna give us a speech. But they're open to listening to Peter, why? Because they see the transformed life of this man they had known. That seeing a transformed life opens them up to hearing the message of a transforming gospel, right? And that's the same today, too. Most of your friends will not want to listen to a sermon from me until they see life change in you, right? And so if you've ever asked your friends to come to church and they say no, it may be because there's something wrong with your friends or maybe because there's something wrong with you that they're like, why would I go? Like, you're no different than us, right? You're gonna sit through that, right? But if they watch you love more, forgive more, serve people, bless people, they're gonna go, what's gotten into you? What's the matter with you? Are you in love? And when you say, it's Jesus, they're gonna go. But over time, they're like, he is leaping,

and dancing, and praising, and what is this? And when people see a transformed life, they're open to hearing about the transforming power of Jesus. That's always how it moves. They gotta see it in you first. So they see this, their ears are open, Peter grabs an opportunity, and he begins to preach. And in verse 12, it says, when Peter saw it, he addressed the people, men of Israel, why do you wonder at this? Why do you stare at us? And so by our own power of piety, we've made this man walk. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant, Jesus, whom you delivered over and denied in the presence of Pilate when he had decided to release him. But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you. And you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead, and to this, we are witnesses. And his name, by faith in his name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. And the faith that is through Jesus has given the man this perfect health in the presence of you all.

Next point I want you to see, number six, is look at this connection of courage and humility, of courage and humility in Peter. Peter, at the end of the Gospels, went running off into the dark as Jesus was arrested, terrified at the accusation of a young girl. And now he's standing in the middle of the temple courts, where maybe two months before, Jesus had been sentenced, tried, and crucified. You see Peter, who had been cowering and afraid of the crowds, now boldly saying, men of Israel, listen to me. This is a different Peter. Something about the Holy Spirit getting ahold of him changed him, and you see a courage in Peter to preach. But it's not arrogance. His first words out of his mouth is, why are you looking at me? As if I have the power or the piety to do what I just did to this guy. Peter's courageous enough to speak, but humble enough to not put the spotlight on him, and beware of any religious leader who makes it all about him. Peter says, listen to me, everybody. Jesus did this. Jesus does this, and that's what you want. The courage to say, everybody, listen, I got something to say, and the humility saying, and it's not about how I'm so good, I'm so great,

it's all about the God who's changed me. That's what a good Christian does. Has the courage to tell your friend, I need to tell you something, but the humility say, I'm not giving you points about how to be more like me, I'm telling you about the one who changed me and can change you too. So there's courage and humility in Peter. But I don't know if you picked this up on his sermon. Here's the next part. It's brutally honest. I don't know if you caught that. In verse 13, he says, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, and the God of our fathers glorified his servant, Jesus. Now, why mention Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Why call God the God of those people? Why not the God of Noah? He had kind of a cool story. Or the God of Moses, he did a lot of cool stuff. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, you probably couldn't tell me 10 things they did. You don't know a whole lot about them. Why mention them? It's because, in Genesis, those are the men God made a promise to. It's not about what they did, it's about what God did. God told Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at the beginning of your Bible,

I'm gonna put you in land, the land they're in now, and I'm gonna give you a seed. A boy is gonna come from the line of Abraham, and that seed will bless every family on the earth. So he tells them, hey, way back in Genesis, God told us to look for the seed of Abraham who would bless every family on the planet. And the God who promised you that glorified Jesus, literally lit up a spotlight on his servant, Jesus. Now, why call him his servant? Because, as we saw in Isaiah, Isaiah tells us about the suffering servant of Yahweh who will suffer and be vindicated by God. And so he's already sampling that language of glorified and servant, comes from Isaiah 52 and 53. Hey, he told us, look for the seed of Abraham who will bless the world. And the God who told you that was coming shone a light on Jesus. He's the suffering servant from the prophets. He is the one that God glorified by giving him divine power to heal and by raising him from the dead. That's who Jesus is. God spotlighted him and you delivered him over. Which is also in Isaiah, the passage we read. It's what the bad guys did. He says, and you denied him in the presence of Pilate, the Roman authorities, when he had decided to release him. Not only did you deliver him over to the enemies,

when the enemies said he's innocent, you still called for his death penalty. That's not good. You had one job, look for this man. And what did you do? You delivered him over. Verse 14, you denied the holy and righteous one. That's his title from Isaiah 53. And not only did you deny the righteous one. You asked for a murderer to be granted to you, Barabbas. And in verse 15, this crazy sentence, you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead. And to this we are witnesses. And I don't know if you saw the brutal contrast in the first part of the sermon here. God glorified Jesus, you handed him over. Pilate declared him innocent, you demanded his death. He was the holy and righteous one, you denied him and asked for a murderer instead. You killed the author of life, and then God raised him from the dead. God commissioned him, you rejected him. You disowned the author of life, you went with someone who took life. The courts declared him innocent, you demanded the death penalty. You killed him, God raised him. Translation, you are in trouble. You are not okay.

The good news always starts with really bad news. And I want you to keep in mind who Peter's talking to here. This is not talking about humanity in general, although all of us are culpable for the death of Jesus, because Jesus died for our sin. But this is the crowd that shouted, crucify him. These are the people that mocked him as he hung on the cross. So Peter's not being general or hypothetical. He's looking at him like, you guys killed him. You remember, Bob, you were there, I saw you. I saw your face, twisted with hate. As you mocked and enjoyed his death. Peter is brutally honest. This is the crowd that killed my hero, my friend and my king. He killed him. And he's honest with them about it. But then here's the crazy thing. This is number seven. Brutal honesty is paired with amazing grace. Rather than rejoicing in their downfall, and now he's coming to get you. Buckle up, you were on the wrong side of history, bud. He doesn't do that. He says, you killed him. But then in verse 16, he repeats faith twice in Jesus' name three times. It's a convoluted, messed up sentence, but it lets him squeeze that in.

By faith, faith, in Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, this man was healed. And in verse 17, he says, and now, brothers. Rather than cursing and spitting in them as enemies, he says, family, I know you acted in ignorance and as did your rulers. What does it mean you acted in ignorance? They know what the death penalty is. They knew what those nails were doing to his arms because they drove him to the cross. What's he mean? Well, he means what his hero, Jesus, meant. As Jesus was being nailed to the cross, he said, forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do. They know they're killing me, but they don't really understand who I am. This is the basis of compassion in the Bible. Stephen will do it later. Forgive them, Father. As they stone him to death, he says, they just don't know. Paul will use it as the basis for compassion for his disciple, Timothy. The God of this age has blinded the eyes of the unbeliever. They can't see the glory of God in the face of the Christ. The Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind, able to teach, with gentleness correcting those in opposition, if perhaps God might grant them repentance to escape the snare of the devil.

I don't look at you as enemy. I look at you as captive. And so that gives me compassion. I can tell you you're wrong. Your ignorance does not mean innocence, but I can offer you grace. And Peter looks at the very crowd who shouted crucify him, and he doesn't offer them hell's fire. He offers them amazing grace. That's number seven. The gospel is grace and truth. Brutal honesty with amazing grace. And so he tells them, verse 18, what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets that his Christ would suffer, thus he filled. That's number eight. Divine design and human responsibility go right in hand. You're responsible for your choices, but you did not derail God's plan. Yes, you killed Jesus, but it was according to what God had predestined to occur. And they also tell you, not only did God predestine what occurred, he called the shots through the prophets. That's number nine. This is a new movement, but it's got ancient roots. Christianity is the new growth from the roots of the Old Testament. This is the fulfillment of the promises from this ancient book.

That's who this man is, right? So what do you do? Look at verse 19. Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed to you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring of all things, about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago. Moses said, the Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him whatever he tells you. And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to the prophet shall be destroyed from the people. And all the prophets who have spoken from Samuel and those who came after him also proclaimed these days. You are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant that God. made with the fathers, saying to Abraham, and in your offspring shall all families of the earth be blessed. God, having raised up his servant, sent him to you first to bless you by turning every one of you from your wickedness. I love that.

He's got brutal honesty, but so much grace. So he tells them two things. Repent, change your mind, and turn. Turn your life in a different direction. And God will do three things. God will blot your sin out. He will wipe it away, wipe it clean, so you can be forgiven today, even those who shouted crucify. And a time of refreshing will come. He won't just take your sin away, he'll refresh you. And he says that when the time comes for the consummation of the kingdom, you'll have a place at Jesus' side forever. Those are the promise he makes them. He will wipe out your sin, bring the refreshing presence of Jesus to you, and give you a place in forever. That is the blessing of God coming to sinful people. That's what Peter offers them. He is turning every one of you from your wickedness. This is Peter's prayer. It's love for his enemies, right? And that's how the Christian preaches too, right? Number 10, I want you to notice too, the crucified Jesus is the exalted Christ. He says from Genesis through the prophets, it was all pointing to this man. So the guy you put on the cross is the exalted Lord. This is a high Christology passage.

Go back through it sometime later and look at all the titles for Jesus. He's the suffering servant of Yahweh. He's the prophet like Moses, the holy and righteous one, the author of life. It's interesting, we don't have time to go into all this, but there were some people that when I was in college, I remember there was a big argument being pushed in the culture that, hey, the early centuries all knew Jesus was just a traveling rabbi, just going around trying to give some people advice. It wasn't until later, Emperor Constantine declared him to be a deity in order to consolidate political power. So the idea of Jesus being a God, that came in the fourth century. That was just an idea for Constantine to try to leverage Jesus for power. The only problem with that is, we have a copy of Acts chapter four from the third century. A copy of this passage that we're reading right now from before Constantine was ever emperor. And in this passage, Jesus is called the holy and righteous one, the author of life. So they didn't make Jesus a deity later. Here in Acts three at the outset, we say, we follow a crucified and a risen king. The one who served us unto death on the cross was exalted to the highest place.

We have a high Christology we're offering the people, amen. You got one more scene in you? I bet we can do it in five minutes. This is about as much scripture as we'll ever do in a sermon, by the way. If you're a friend going like, does he normally do this? Tell them no, okay, all right. Acts chapter four, we get our final scene in the courtroom. Okay, out of the temple in the courtroom, because this sermon is gonna get Peter arrested for the first time, not the last. Verse one, and as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, greatly annoyed, because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the word believed, and a number of the men came to about 5,000. That's the next one. You see this contrast of opposition and expansion. Luke's gonna show you that all through the Bible, that whenever the gospel of Jesus is displayed and preached, there will always be people who oppose you and always people who embrace him. It's always been that way, and you just have to know that. As you begin to manifest a transformed life, the people see your life change because you're having allegiance to Jesus.

As you begin to talk about Jesus, you just have to know there's a certain clientele that doesn't like him, so they won't like that, and they might not like you. But there will also be people interested in what you have to say, all right? There will always be those who are interested. There will always be haters, okay? It's always been like that. And so you see in the crowd, about 5,000 men say yes. So now this little church that started in Acts 1 with 120 people is now up to about 8,000. But the leaders, it says, are annoyed. Why are they annoyed? They're the Sadducees, primarily. The Sadducees were a religious sect that was really more interested in political power than spiritual holiness. And so some of their hallmarks were they were in bed with the Roman government because they liked having power, and they had worked some deals with the Roman government to have power. And two, they did not believe in the resurrection from the dead, okay? So they liked authority, hated the resurrection. And here Peter is saying, Jesus is an authority like Moses, and he rose from the dead. And so on two counts, they're like, I hate this sermon, and I hate this guy. So they arrest him, right?

And they leave him in jail overnight because it's already late. But then in verse five, it says, on the next day, the rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas the high priest, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high. priestly family. Luke does this to emphasize the pomp and the power of the assembly. Everybody's here. This was the equivalent of the Jewish Supreme Court. And there were 71 of them, and they would sit around in a semicircle and drop you in the middle. And here he says the rulers are there. That's primarily the religious rulers. And the elders, primarily civic leaders. The scribes, those who had studied and interpreted the law. And the Sadducees, the most powerful sect in Jerusalem. And then he gives you the priestly family. Annas had been the high priest before and was still alive. So he still kind of held a lot of political and religious sway. But his son-in-law Caiaphas had taken over officially as high priest. Caiaphas is the one who condemned Jesus to be crucified. And later after him, John would take his place. That's the John that's referenced here. So I want you to get a sense of where Peter is here. Peter is now standing on trial before the men

that two months before had sentenced Jesus to be crucified. The Peter who ran away in the dark on the night Jesus was betrayed is now standing where his savior stood. The fascinating thing about it is Peter, back in the Gospels, if you remember, when they came to arrest Jesus, Peter tried to cut a guy's ear off. Do you remember that? Actually, he tried to kill a guy and just got ear lobe. Not a great military campaign. And Jesus had to tell him to knock it off. Your frightened and angry, rash pursuit of political power is not what I'm doing here. Now Peter, after that, with the adrenaline sapped out, was scared of a little girl and went running into the dark on the night Jesus was on trial. Peter ran. Now Peter's on trial before those same men. And we're gonna see a very different Peter. And it says in verse seven, they asked him a question. Verse seven, and when they had set them in their midst, they inquired, by what power or by what name do you do this? Notice the leader's concerned. It's all about power and authority. Where did you get the power and authority to do this? The implication being, we didn't give it to you and we're in charge here. So who do you think you are? It's actually the same question they asked Jesus.

But here Peter, in verse eight, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we're being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man by what means this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you 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 is standing before you well. This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. I love it, Peter is respectful at the start, but he asks the question, he's like, just to be clear, am I in trial here for healing a crippled guy? Normally you would celebrate something like that, not necessarily put me on trial for that. He said, but if the question is, where did the power and authority come from to heal this guy? Well, let me tell you, it came from Jesus. Jesus, that you crucified, and God raised from the dead, that you rejected, and God made the cornerstone. He quotes Psalm 118 there, the same Psalm Jesus quoted to them. He said, the stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone of what God is doing.

And so Peter's letting them know, hey, I'm not actually the one on trial here. It's the power of God that healed this man through the person and work of Jesus, and you rejected Jesus. God is building a new community on the person of Jesus. He's the stone you rejected. So really, you're in trouble. I'm good. I'm not the one on trial, really. You are. That's what Peter puts before these men. And in verse 12, he quotes that Psalm 118 that uses the word salvation, and there he kind of grabs that verbal link and says, and there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. This is your 12th point, that the gospel is both exclusive and inclusive. Exclusive, he says, there is no other name by which men must be saved. Peter is not a religious pluralist. He's saying there's only one way we can be saved, and it's through Jesus. It's exclusive. This is not a mountain with many roads that lead to the top. All you have to do is pick one and be sincere. You wouldn't want a God like that who did a thing like this.

You wouldn't want a God that says, yeah, you can follow this path or adhere to these principles or do these certain acts or put your faith in the brutally murdered son. You wouldn't make that option if it was just optional. Jesus said, if there's any way, let this cup pass from me. wasn't. We were so bad, the Son of God had to die for us. We were so loved that he did. And so he's exclusive, there's only one way. And he came. But I want you to notice who Peter's talking to. The very men who killed him. Peter's looking in the face of the men who condemned Jesus to die, and he's telling them how they can be saved. There's no other name under which we can be saved. He's standing in that same spot they condemned his hero and saying, you're in trouble, but grace is coming for you. He doesn't say, so now you're gonna get it. He doesn't do that. He's preaching to them a gospel that can save even them. So the gospel's exclusive, it's only through Jesus, but it's inclusive. He'll save anybody, even you, Caiaphas. That's bad. I don't know what your list is of the worst people who ever lived,

but the guy who voted to murder Jesus has to at least make the top five. And Peter's offering grace to him. So this message is exclusive, it's only Jesus, but it's inclusive. It can save anybody, even you. So friend, I don't know what you've done that makes you believe you are beyond the grace of God. Your addiction you cannot break, your marriage that you wrecked, the family and friends you've alienated. Don't for a minute think that your sin is so strong the blood of Christ is insufficient to wash it clean. It can blot out the sin of Caiaphas. It can blot out yours. It's an exclusive message, but it's inclusive. Whosoever will, come. They're shocked. Verse 13, it says, now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were uneducated and common men, that word uneducated is agrammatoid, you guys don't know grammar, and common is the word idiotized, where we get idiot. He says, when they saw you like these guys are unlearned idiots, but they're sampling Isaiah and Psalms like a boss. What is happening? They're astonished at their boldness. And they go, they didn't learn from our schools.

They didn't get the nod from one of our official teachers. It says, but he noticed they'd been with Jesus. That's number 13. It's that Christian is bold and common. God has always throughout history advanced his message through ordinary, bold people. Some of you may think, I can't really tell my friends about Jesus. I wouldn't know any answers. If they start asking me questions, how do you know this is inspired? How do you know the creation accounts? Whatever, all my answers are gonna be like, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Well, hey, you let the gospel transform your life, and you don't have to have all the answers. God has always changed history through bold, common people. Saying, I'm just telling you, I couldn't walk, now I can walk. I'm just telling you, I was wrecked in guilt and sin, and now I'm not. I'm just telling you, he changed my life. You let them grapple with the details, right? God changes the world through bold, common men. The other thing that shocks them is they realize, this healed guy's still running around, verse 14. But seeing the man who was healed standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. They're like, they've got some compelling evidence next to them, that this dude is standing here.

And so they realize, we need a beat. Verse 15, but when they had commanded them to leave the council, they conferred with each other. They're like, we gotta talk. Saying, what shall we do with these men? For that a notable sign has been performed through them is evident to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. We cannot deny it. They say, clearly God is at work. But, in order that it may spread no further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in his name. Not well. They go, God is clearly on the move healing people. But if we believe that, then we have to submit to God and admit that we're sinners and we're wrong. And that would threaten our power and authority to make our own choices. And I care more about my power than the truth and grace. So, yes, God's on the move. We gotta figure out how to shut these guys down. That's a sinful heart. And they realize, the truth's not on our side. Because, clearly, everybody saw this guy's healed. So, what happens when you wanna debate, but you don't have any compelling arguments? Well, then you stop using reason and you just go to threats. And that's what they do. Verse 18, so they called them and charged them, not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Verse 19, but Peter and John answered them, whether it's right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. But we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. He says, you guys gotta do what y'all gotta do. We have to obey God. And you see, Peter does not lead a military crew. He's not trying to destroy them. He says, you guys do what you gotta do. Meaning, hey, you may sentence me to death, too. My hero stood here and you sentenced him to death. I want to submit to authority, even authority I profoundly disagree with, but I got to follow God and he reigns above you. And if you guys are going in a different direction than him, I'm going with him and you do what you have to do. And you see, Peter does not gnash his teeth and yell, but he willingly offers his body like his savior did on the cross. You do what you have to do. I can't stop talking about what he's done for me. In verse 21, when they had further threatened him, they let him go, finding no way to punish him because of the people, they don't have the votes. For all, we're praising God for what had happened. For the man on whom the sign of healing was performed was more than 40 years old. I love that that's where it ends. Dude was 40, usually over 40, if something's broke, it stays broke.

And they're like, this guy is still leaping around. Look at him over there, he's doing cartwheels and such. We can't touch him, right? And so they let him go. And what I love about that is, this is your 14th point. The ones with the real authority don't threaten, they invite. These guys with paper authority are like, we can't argue, but we'll threaten to kill you. But Peter has divine authority on his back that he just demonstrated by healing this man. But he doesn't threaten them, he offers them grace, and then says, do with me what you will. You see a courageous humility and a bold truth with grace. The guy with the real authority of God behind him is not argumentative and cruel, not wishing doom on his enemies. He loves his enemies, prays for those who persecutes them. And in the end, he does not intimidate, he does not argue, he invites. I already know who I am. I already know where I'm going. I already know who he is. I'm not the one in trouble, you are. And judgment is coming, repent. And he offers them grace. So friend, as we close, I don't know if you've ever considered the claims of Jesus. He is, as Peter said, the author of your life. He is the servant who suffered on your behalf,

and God glorified him by raising him from the dead. What are you called to do? Peter said it in this text, repent and believe. And for those of us who know him, let's be bold in the moments God gives us to offer to this world through our words and through our deeds, life. Not just to our friends or people who are convenient, but to the inconvenient and to our enemies. The gospel advanced in the ancient world this way, and it advances that way in our world too.