The Results of a Faithful Testimony
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
A real problem presented itself to the rulers of the Jews. They were greatly perturbed by the preaching of the disciples, and by the miracle of Peter and John, but what could they do?
Their heartless and causeless crucifixion of Christ had proved most disastrous to their religious prestige; for Christ had risen and all men conceded the fact.
They might once more have turned executioners, and have put Peter and John out of the way, but they feared the people. The fourth chapter of Acts makes this plain. Mark verse 14: "They could say nothing against it." That is, they would have spoken against the healing of the lame man, if they had dared so to do. Again, Acts 4:16 reveals their inner attitude, when it gives the words of the rulers, "What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it."
Their final action was determined by their wisdom, not by their desires. All they dared to do was to threaten Peter and John, and to command them not to speak further in Christ's Name.
With this course decided, they called Peter and John before them again and delivered their verdict. First, let us consider:
I. MARK WELL THE EFFECT OF THE WORDS WHICH THE DISCIPLES HAD SPOKEN
1. They acknowledged the boldness of Peter and John. How could they help so doing? The man, Peter, who had denied the Lord before a maid, had now lost all sense of fear. When Christ had been dragged by the rulers before Pilate, although Peter's life was in no immediate danger, yet Peter quailed with fear before the taunt of a girl. Now with Peter's own life in question, and not before a maid, but before Annas and Caiaphas, the men who had so heartlessly delivered Christ to His death, Peter knew no fear. No marvel that the rulers marveled at his boldness.
2. They conceded that Peter and John were ignorant men, unlearned in rabbinical wisdom. For this cause they marveled the more. To be sure Peter and John had both sat at the feet of Jesus and heard His word, but they had never sat at the feet of the learned Gamaliel. As men counted learning, they had none. Yet, the unlearned spoke before the learned, and spoke with unquestioned authority, the ignorant spoke before the wise, and spoke with unchallenged wisdom.
We stop a moment for a word of warning. Ecclesiastical powers are today making more and more stringent requirements along educational lines for would-be preachers. There is great danger here. Education may be all right, but some of it is all wrong. We, ourselves, value words that are "fitly spoken." We enjoy messages, correct in grammar, and striking in their wide sweep of human knowledge. However, these are not the chief things with a minister of God.
Men who are unlearned, so far as "higher education" is concerned, are often the most learned in the things of God. Besides, the Holy Spirit is the power the pulpit needs, and He is the greatest of all teachers. We some way believe that the study of the Word of God, gives a preacher not only a marvelous command of diction, but it also gives him a great aid in correct language.
Let us never forget that Peter and John, fishermen of Galilee, untutored, unlearned, and ignorant in human lore. were chosen of the Lord. Afterward these very men, with mighty power, stood before Annas and Caiaphas and John, and Alexander, the intellectual chiefs of Israel, and confounded them.
We grant that Paul was educated at the feet of Gamaliel, and we recognize the advantages of a trained mind. However, we insist that much that Paul learned at the feet of Gamaliel was only so much garbage to him, and to his ministry, and it, therefore, had to be cast overboard. We assert that education with all of its helpfulness, carries serpents' fangs when men are taught the present-day denials of the faith.
3. They asserted that Peter and John had been with Jesus. What an admission for these haters of Christ to make! These words of Annas and Caiaphas carry with them a forced, though frank acknowledgment of Christ's greatness. Whatever the rulers thought of Jesus, they saw plainly that these untutored men of the nets, had been transformed into gifted men of the ministry, by their three years of contact with the Son of God.
What an unintended compliment to the Son of God! Annas and Caiaphas were right it was the beautiful life and words of Jesus Christ that had made Peter and John what they were. The rulers who had tried Christ and cast Him out as worthy of death, now, unwittingly, condemn their own former treatment of Christ by acknowledging that all the power and forcefulness of Peter and of John had come from their former contact with the wonderful Jesus.
II. MARK WELL THE EFFECT OF THE HEALING OF THE LAME MAN UPON THE RULERS (Acts 4:14)
Acts 4:14 says of Annas and Caiaphas and the rest, "And beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it."
Bless God here was an unchallenged proof that Christ still lived, and wrought.
An infidel who was loud in his denunciation of Christ, being asked if he had a Christian mother, replied, in effect, "Gentlemen, that is the only thing that I cannot answer. My mother is the sweetest Christian I ever saw, and her life shows the genuineness of her faith."
How wonderful it was before the very eyes of the men who had delivered up the Son of God to Pontius Pilate stood one who presented an unanswerable proof that Christ still lived and wrought. Against this marvelous miracle they could say nothing at all. They knew that the untutored Peter and John had no power to make the lame to walk yet the lame did walk. Peter was right It was Christ's Name, by faith in His Name, that made the man who had been lame, to stand there before them in perfect soundness.
Annas and Caiaphas and their comrade said, "That indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them is manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem; and we cannot deny it" (Acts 4:16).
Peter and John were asked to step without, while these critics of the Christ sat to discuss their fate. None of us for a moment doubt what the rulers wanted to do they wanted to put the two disciples where they had so recently put their Lord on two crosses, out on old Golgotha's hill, but, they dared not The best they dared to do was to threaten the disciples, and command them to speak no more in the Name of Christ. Thus they hoped that Christ's Name and doctrine would spread no further. In the next division we will see how vain was their hope.
With what strange misgivings must the high priest and his associates have passed from that council! They no doubt remained in troubled consultation for some time, then they passed to their own homes to spend a restless night. Their consciences were stirred. Their sins were falling back, like a boomerang, upon their own heads.
As these men sought repose, we need not doubt that they saw their hands smirched with the Blood of Christ.
III. THE DISCIPLES' RESPONSE TO THEIR JUDGES
When Peter and John received the order not to further speak in Christ's Name, they replied:
"Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye.
"For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard" (Acts 4:19-20).
Here is a statement that will help us to settle many things. Shall we place the authority of men above that of the Lord?
Shall we obey the state when its demands carry us counter to the Word of God? In this country the government is not under the hands of men such as Pilate; but, if the government should refuse us the right to obey God, judge ye, whom we shall obey.
Shall we obey the ecclesiastical powers that be, when they run counter to the commands of God? The national government does not seek to invade the rights of its citizens along spiritual lines. We cannot always say this about ecclesiastical authorities. There has grown up about us, in many quarters, a religious hierarchy, that seeks to curtail the liberty of the pulpit. It dares to dictate to preachers what they shall, and what they shall not, preach. Certain themes are particularly put under the ban pre-eminently the Blessed Hope of the Return of the Lord. The preacher who dares to disregard the outspoken or veiled demand that he speak not on these things will find himself withstood in many localities.
What course should the faithful take? Should they obey God or men? Should they preach the smooth things, the humanly approved things, the things that draw ecclesiastical praise, or, shall they preach the God-commanded things, even though they be the disapproved things and the unpopular things?
Is denominational prestige more to be desired than Divine approval? Are the plaudits of men to be desired more than the praise of God? What did the Spirit say in Paul? "For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ."
Peter and John felt a great impelling must back of their testimony. They said, "We must obey God." There was something in them that impelled them. It was Paul who said, "Woe is unto me, if I preach not the Gospel." Jeremiah once thought that he would cease preaching. There was so much of opposition, so much of persecution laid upon him. However, when he would have ceased to speak, the Word of God burned in his very soul, therefore he became weary with his withholding, and he could not stay.
IV. THE DISCIPLES CONTINUED TESTIMONY
Since the rulers could find no excuse to punish Peter and John, they turned them loose. Did fear possess the two Apostles? Not for one moment. Did the Christians in Jerusalem cringe before the onslaught of the chief priests? Not for a moment. Let us note Acts 4:23; Acts 4:24
"And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them.
"And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is" (Acts 4:23-24).
1. How expressive the words, "their own company!" There was a different atmosphere that surrounded the two disciples as they left the austere, critical mien of the Sanhedrin, and entered into the presence of those who believed in, and loved the Lord Jesus.
No fellowship is as gracious as that of saints.
"Blest be the tie that binds,
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above."
Once more the Apostles stood in the midst of the household of God. The winter of an hostile court composed of biased and critical minds, had suddenly been changed to the summer of a friendly church, composed of lovers of truth, The wild blasts of chilling winds, had given way to balmy breezes, freighted with the aroma of heavenly peace.
2. How delightful is the expression, "They * * reported all that the chief priests and the elders, had said unto them." How earnestly the Christians must have prayed while Peter and John were on trial; how eagerly now they listened to the report of all that had happened.
Nothing was left unsaid. The disciples recounted Peter's bold testimony against the rulers; the quiet and perhaps voiceless testimony of the lame man who had been healed, as he stood in the group, hard by the ones who, in the Name of Jesus, had brought him healing; the dilemma of the leaders of Judaism when they squirmed under the thrusts of Peter and of John as they were charged with the death of the Lord; and, as they proclaimed the resurrection and power of the Lord Jesus. The two disciples then related the finale of the court the command that they should speak no more in Christ's Name, the threatenings, the promised penalties that would follow, if they did so speak.
3. How stirring is the paragraph: "They lifted up their voice to God with one accord." These words, and the words that follow, carry with them certain contemplations that must not be overlooked:
(1) There was the recognition of God's great supremacy. The people said, "Lord, Thou art God, which hast made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is."
Somehow they all stood awed by the manifest presence and power of the living and mighty working God. The God whom they worshiped was the God who had created all things.
We would do well, if we, in our conceptions would keep in our mind that first great verse of the Bible, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."
"God lives, shall I despair,
As if He were not there?
Is not my life His care,
Is not His hand Divine?
God lives, there rest my soul,
God is, and doth control."
The happenings at court made the disciples and believers all feel that they were in the presence of a God who knows and cares. They felt that God had unsheathed His sword in behalf of His own.
(2) There was the recognition of the ravings of the court that had tried two disciples. The people with one accord said, "Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?
"The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ" (Acts 4:25-26).
The words spoken by the saints covered a quotation taken from the second Psalm. It is a great thing to know the Scriptures; it is also great to be able, as daily events roll by, to say, "This is that."
The disciples were not surprised, because they had been forewarned of God. The believers did not fail to catch the real spirit that lay behind Annas and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and their kin-folk, who had arraigned Peter and John before them. As they grasped the report of that trial they felt that the rulers had raged like the heathen rage; they had imagined a vain thing. They had gathered together against the Lord and against His Christ.
Not this alone, but the Christians who heard the report of Peter and John, agreed that the two were justifiable, when they asserted that the rulers had crucified the Lord. Mark the assembly's further words:
"For of a truth against Thy holy Child Jesus, whom Thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together.
"For to do whatsoever Thy hand and Thy counsel determined to be done" (Acts 4:27-28).
We are almost startled at the sweep of truth that these Christians, so recently saved, manifested.
They saw on the one hand the crucifixion carried out by the hands of wicked men. They charged Herod and Pilate and the Gentiles, together with the people of Israel with the death of Christ.
They saw, on the other hand, that the crucifixion fulfilled the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. God had sent Christ to die, the Just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God.
4. How marvelous the prayer, "And now, Lord, behold their threatenings." They who had first gathered together against the Lord, now threatened the saints. Not only that, but the Lord beheld them as they threatened. There is nothing that is not naked and open to His eyes.
This, however was not all of their prayer. They prayed that God would grant His servants, "that, with all boldness they may speak Thy Word." There was no desire, on the part of any, to retrench. They were determined to give their testimony, and they prayed that they might give it with all boldness. Why should saints tremble and fear, and refuse to take their stand, forsooth, because some one opposes them? Let them continue their testimony.
There was yet one thing more in their prayer. They prayed that healing, and signs and wonders might still be done in the Name of the holy Child, Jesus. Thus we know that the Christians recognized that the Christ, now exalted at the Father's right hand, was the same as the Child, the holy Child, of Bethlehem. What they asserted was that this same Jesus still lived and worked. His Name was the power of their miracles.
V. THE REMARKABLE RESPONSE FROM HEAVEN
When the disciples had finished their report, and when the believers had finished their prayer, we read:
"And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness" (Acts 4:31).
Let us mark three things:
1. The place was shaken. This brought to the servants of God a solemn sense of the presence of God. It carried them back to Pentecost when the sound of a mighty rushing wind filled the house where they were sitting. It gave them assurance that God had heard their prayer, accepted their praise, and that He was working in their behalf. What cared they for the threatening of the High Priests and of the rulers. God was with them, and who could be against them. When the Lord lifted up His hand, man could not draw it back.
2. They were all filled with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost came to impart unto them the spirit of wisdom, and of revelation, in the knowledge of Christ. He came to glorify Christ, to manifest His Name.
The Holy Ghost filled them that they might reveal the all-glorious fruit of love, and joy and peace.
The Holy Ghost was upon them that they might be given power, and be panoplied for testimony. Their ambitions were right, their prayer was acceptable, but God knew that even such valiant souls, could not, apart from the Spirit's infilling, perform His purposes.
The preacher of the truth, must be filled with the Spirit, if his message is to carry power.
3. They spake the Word of God with boldness. These early believers did not speak with worldly wisdom nor did they proclaim a message based on intellectual reasonings. They did not preach dreams of their heads, nor reasonings of their minds. They preached the Word. They gave a "Thus saith the Lord" for every position they took. They unsheathed the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, They found the Word sufficient in all things. They did not seek to shine upon its statements, they merely held it up and let it shine.
They spake the Word, and they spake it with all boldness. It would be most unseemly for any Christian to be bold in preaching themselves, or, bold in parading their own hobbies, or self-manufactured think-sos. It is easy to rant around, asserting some fanatical fancy of an untaught brain. The disciples and the early Church were not given to fighting the old Jewish traditions, merely because they had a dislike for the men who ruled Judaism. These men spoke boldly, but they spoke a word not of their own making. They proclaimed a message that was sent from Heaven and they spoke that message with a faithful interpretation of Scripture. They convinced all gainsayers. They reasoned out of the Scriptures. They spoke a sane message from a sound mind, and they spake contending for the great foundation truths of the faith.
We who, for the time are teachers, need to be rooted and grounded in the Word; we need to rightly divide the Word of Truth. We are not to be heralders of the doctrines of men, but of the Word of God.
When we are thus rooted and grounded in the Truth, and when, in addition, we are filled with the Holy Ghost, we can speak with all boldness, without courting favor, or fearing frowns.
Let us seek to return to this threefold position of the early saints, (1) Preaching the Word. (2) Preaching the Word under the anointing of the Spirit. (3) Preaching the Word with all boldness. When this is done, God will bless our testimony.
In the beginning was the Word,
The Word with God was dwelling;
The Word was God, God was the Word,
Let us its truth be telling.
In Heav'n established is the Word,
Made sure by God forever;
Though Heav'n and earth shall pass away,
His Word, it falleth never.
All blessed is the precious Word,
Christ's Name in ancient story,
His Name when first to earth He came,
And when He comes in glory,
The Word, the Word, the wondrous Word;
The Word with God in Heaven;
We will with boldness preach the Word,
The Word to mortals given.