See the unstoppable march of the early church as they are victorious over persecution, leading to powerful prayer.
Teaching Notes:
Persecution And Prayer
Acts 4:1-31
Intro: Last week we read the story of how Peter healed the lame man at the Gate Beautiful, which led to a great crowd being attracted. Peter grabbed the opportunity to preach Christ. His message had 4 parts: Don’t Look at Us; Look at Jesus; You Killed Him; God Raised Him. Then Peter brought the application – Repent! He told them what would happen if they repented – sins wiped away; times of refreshing; Jesus coming for you. But what if they won’t repent – they will be utterly destroyed! That’s where we left off last week. In chapter 4, we pick up right at that point. Just like last week, this section of Scripture divides itself into 2 parts: The Persecution of the Apostles, and the Prayers of the Saints.
1. The Persecution of the Apostles: 4:1-22
A. Their Arrest: 4:1-4.
4:1-2 – Peter provoked quite a commotion! All the temple authorities were up in arms. The captain of the temple guard was the Head of the temple police, and 2nd in command to the High Priest. He was interested in maintaining order. The Sadducees were agitated because Peter was preaching the resurrection, which they denied. They felt this commotion must be silenced.
4:3 – It seems like Peter’s message would only take about 10 minutes to deliver, but the whole event of the healing and message took several hours. They went up at 3 p.m. and now it was evening (6:00 pm?). Apparently there wasn’t enough time to gather the Council at that late hour, so they put them in jail overnight, until they could bring the Council together to look into the matter.
4:4 – I love this verse! Although the apostles could be jailed, the Word couldn’t! God’s Word was living and active and converting souls. Just the men in the Jerusalem church now numbered 5,000. There are probably 20,000 or more believers including women and children! Notice how Luke mentions the triumph of God’s Word in Acts: 6:7; 12:24; 19:20.
B. Their Interrogation: 4:5-7
4:5-6 Who Was Present? Rulers, elders, scribes, Annas the high priest and Caiphas, John, Alexander, all of high-priestly descent. This was a gathering of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of the Jews. There was no higher authority in Israel.
4:7 What Did They Ask? Peter had already answered these questions in 3:12,16. They knew the miracle performed took power that could not come from Peter, but from where then? They also probably had either heard Peter preach on Pentecost, or had heard reports of his preaching, and were threatened by so many Jews converting to Christ. So they ask, “Who do you stand for? Whose power healed this man?”
C. Their Testimony: 4:8-12
4:8 – Filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter had been filled in 2:4, and will be in 4:31. In all 3 cases, the result was bold witness for Christ, which is exactly what Jesus said would happen in Acts 1:8. By 4:31, Peter has had a special filling of the Holy Spirit 3 times! This proves that a special filling in order to be a bold witness can take place multiple times in the believer’s life.
4:9 – I think I hear a smirk in Peter’s voice. “If you have put in jail and are now interrogating us because of the particular method by which we healed a lame man”… Seems pretty lame that you are persecuting us for healing a lame man! It reminds me of Jesus being persecuted by the Pharisees because he did good on the Sabbath.
4:10 – You would think Peter and John would be severely intimidated and cower in fear of the great authority of this ruling body. Peter, however, charges them with a far greater crime than they had charged him of – killing their own Messiah. They had been interrogating Peter, but Peter turns the tables and begins bringing serious accusations against them!
4:11 – Peter quotes Ps.118:22. Peter had heard Jesus refer to this psalm when He taught the parable of the vinegrowers in Luke 20:17. How many OT passages has Peter quoted so far? Joel 2, Ps. 16; Ps. 132; Ps. 110; Deut. 18; Gen. 22; Ps. 118. Pretty good for an uneducated fisherman!
4:12 – People today would call Peter narrow-minded and intolerant. He’s just taking after His Lord. Jesus said the same in John 14:6. Let it be settled once and for all, that a man can not be saved through Mohammad, Krishna, Budha’s teachings, or another other spiritual guru, teacher, or mystic.
D. The Council’s Decision: 4:13-22
4:13 – why were they amazed? They noticed their bold confidence, and compared that with the fact that they were uneducated and untrained men. They hadn’t been trained in their Jewish rabbinical schools. But they had been trained by Jesus! When Jesus trains a man, he becomes bold and confident about the truth of the gospel! I have a family member who thinks I am brash and presumptuous because I believe I know the gospel and am confident in communicating it. I take comfort from this passage. We ought to be confident in the truth! In fact, when they saw their confidence, then they recognized them as followers of Jesus. Jesus, Himself, was confident in the truth. He did not get his learning from the rabbis and scribes before Him. He got it directly from God and His Word.
4:16-17 – This was like saying, “We see smoke rising from the basement. It’s obvious there is a fire down there. Quick! Close the door, and let’s go eat dinner!”
4:19-20 – Peter is pitting them against God. He is saying that if they gave heed to them, they would not be giving heed to God. So tell us, “Who should we listen to? You or God?” God has told us to speak about what we have seen and heard. We must obey God rather than men. Here is an example of Civil Disobedience. Usually, believers must obey authorities (Rom.13). But in cases where those authorities command us to do something God has forbidden, or forbid us to do something God has commanded, we must disobey.
2. The Prayers of the Saints: 4:23-31. What had the rulers said to them? That they must not preach or teach in Jesus’ name. That is what provoked this prayer.
A. Their Adoration: 4:23-28
· God Is Creator: 4:24. One accord – they were in complete unity about what they were praying about. God made the heaven, earth, sea, and all that is in those things. Surely, if You are the Creator of these rulers, You can do with them as you please.
· God Is Omniscient: 4:25-27. God knows the future. He gave David a word of prophecy in Ps.2. Vs.25-26 are the prophecy, and vs.27 is their understanding of its present fulfillment. God predicted what would happen to Jesus hundreds of years before it took place! He knows all things. Because You know all things, this persecution upon us has not taken you by surprise. You knew it would happen, and You have a good purpose for it. We can’t know the future, but we do know Who holds the future. And that’s enough.
· God Is Sovereign: 4:28. The horrible things they did to Jesus were what Your hand and Your purpose had predestined to occur. The evil in the world does happen by chance; it does not blindside God. The truth is that God has ordained it for His own wise and good ends. Ultimately, our own comfort is not God’s highest end. His own glory and the working out of His purposes are His highest end. Thus, our persecution must likewise be ordained of God, and God must be working His purposes out through these sufferings.
B. Their Supplication: 4:29-30. It’s interesting that they spend 5 verses telling God who He is, and 2 verses asking Him to do something! God doesn’t need to be told who He is, but we need to be reminded of who He is. We need to know and remember that He is the Sovereign King who can do anything and can answer their prayers.
· Notice Their Threats: They are saying “Lord, take note at what’s at stake in their threats. They have commanded us not to speak of Jesus’ name any more. Lord, rouse Yourself, because nothing is of greater importance to You than the honor of Your Son!”
· Help Us Speak Confidently: Don’t let us cower in fear and intimidation. Don’t let us obey man rather than You. Grant that we would obey what You have commanded us to do. Notice what they didn’t pray for: “Lord, please protect us from harm. Don’t let these rulers imprison any of us. Lord smite them and judge them.” No, they prayed God would enable them to be obedient to His commands. That is the best and most Biblical form of prayer.
· Bring Healing, Signs, and Wonders: These believers asked God to confirm the Word they preached with signs that followed – Mk.16:20. Why don’t we ask the same thing? We need to have faith to pray for the sick, and believe and expect God to supernaturally demonstrate His reality to unbelievers we are preaching to.
C. God’s Response: 4:31
· The Place Was Shaken: God is giving a physical manifestation of His presence to prove that He had heard and was answering this prayer. This was similar to the earthquake that God brought when Paul and Silas were in jail in Philippi.
· They Were Filled With The Holy Spirit: 3rd time. They asked to speak the Word with all confidence. God answers by filling them with the Holy Spirit.
· They Spoke The Word With Boldness: They didn’t lie down and play dead. They continued teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ. They continued doing what got them in hot water to begin with.
Life Application:
1. We need to be absolutely confident that Jesus is the only way of salvation and preach that unapologetically to others.
2. We need to be willing to disobey authorities if our obedience means disobedience to God.
3. We need to spend time acknowledging God’s attributes in prayer.
4. We need to pray for boldness in preaching the truth.
5. We need to pray that God would do healings, signs and wonders to confirm the truth of His Word.
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