‘THEY DID NOT CEASE’

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on August 24, 2022 under AM Bible Study |

AM Bible Study Group: August 24, 2022 from Acts 5:17-42

Theme: God protects His gospel when His people are faithful to proclaim it—even when the forces of this world try to silence it.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

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The Book of Acts is a wonderful book filled with exciting stories. These stories are meant to teach us—by example—how we are to be faithful to the call of the gospel in our time. And you can sum up the example that we are given in this morning’s passage by what you find in the very last verse—in Acts 5:42. There, we’re told that the apostles “did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.” In spite of the fierce opposition of the leaders of the people, they kept on obeying the Lord’s commission to them.

And as a result, God acted mightily to protect the spread of His gospel.

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We need to be careful how we understand this passage, though. It teaches us to follow the example of the faithfulness of the apostles in preaching the gospel. But it shouldn’t be understood to be teaching us that we can expect the same kind of ‘miraculous deliverance’ that they experienced when we preach it. It’s true that the apostles experienced miracles in this story; but it’s also true that they suffered hardship … and even beatings. In the course of time, all of the apostles (except one) were put to death for the gospel. And even today, many of our brothers and sisters in Christ who faithfully obey our Lord’s Great Commission do so at the cost of imprisonment, and of suffering, and even of their own lives.

What we should learn from this passage, however, is what the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Timothy 2:8-9. He said;

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained (2 Timothy 2:8-9).

Paul, the preacher of the gospel, was chained. But the gospel that he preached was not. And that’s the great lesson to be learned from this passage. It demonstrates to us that God protects the spread of His gospel when His people are faithful to proclaim it—even when the forces of this world try to silence it.

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Now; let’s begin by remembering the immediate context. Not long before the events of this story, the Holy Spirit had been given, and the apostles began to preach mightily about Jesus in Jerusalem. Thousands of Jewish people were turning to Jesus—right in the midst of the temple. And the leaders of the Jewish people—specifically the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees—came upon them “greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead” (Acts 4:2). They arrested the apostles, and then commanded them to cease speaking or teaching about Jesus.

But it was then that Peter—under the power of the Holy Spirit—boldly told the leaders:

“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” (4:19-20).

In other words, he and the other apostles would not cease. They were under orders from the Lord Jesus Himself. And as the days rolled on, the church kept growing. More and more people heard and believed. God was performing great miracles by the hand of the apostles—proving that Jesus Christ was alive and able to transform the lives of all who turned to Him in faith. Multitudes were coming to Jerusalem from all the surrounding cities to be healed and to be saved.

And that’s when we come to our passage this morning. It begins with these words:

Then the high priest rose up, and all those who were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with indignation, and laid their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison (5:17-18).

From the viewpoint of those leaders, the apostles were publicly disobeying their command. And so, they publicly arrested them (perhaps in a very forceful way; as is suggested by ‘laying their hands’ on them), and cast them into the public prison.

Now apparently, the leaders put the apostles in the common prison in order to hold them temporarily. They were planning to call the apostles before them the next day and administer judgment against them. But as if to show us that the word of God ‘cannot be chained’, verses 19-20 go on to tell us;

But at night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go, stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this life” (vv. 19-20).

How might this have looked? We have a couple of stories in the Book of Acts of how God released His faithful servants from the chains of men. In the case of Paul and Silas in Philippi, in Acts 16, an earthquake happened at midnight, and the prison doors simply opened and the chains fell off. In the story of Acts 12, an angel came to Peter as he slept between two soldiers, woke Peter up, caused his chains to drop off, led him right past the soldiers who guarded the doors, opened the prison, escorted him through the gate, and left Peter standing in the street. The prison guards didn’t even know what had happened until the next day. How God may choose to do such a thing—or even whether or not He may do such a thing at all—is all up to Him. Not all of God’s faithful preachers have had such a story to tell. But these particular preachers did. And the gospel—here called ‘the words of this life’—went forth as a result.

Verse 21 tells us;

And when they heard that, they entered the temple early in the morning and taught (v. 21a).

In other words, as soon as they could, the apostles went right back to the very place where they had been previously arrested; and they faithfully resumed the proclamation of the very message that they were told by men to stop preaching. How could they do this? It was only by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. He gave them courage and boldness to be Jesus’ witnesses.

Now; the leaders of the people would have needed to keep the apostles in prison for the duration of the night. It would have taken a little time to gather the official council—that is, the Sanhedrin—together to officially try and judge them the next morning. And so, we’re told in verse 21 that the angel had come and released the apostles;

But the high priest and those with him came and called the council together, with all the elders of the children of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought (v. 21b).

But that’s when their ‘comedy of frustrations’ begins. Verses 22-25 tell us;

But when the officers came and did not find them in the prison, they returned and reported, saying, “Indeed we found the prison shut securely, and the guards standing outside before the doors; but when we opened them, we found no one inside!” Now when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would be. So one came and told them, saying, “Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people!” (vv. 22-25).

They must have begun to wonder, by that point, if they might be fighting against something that was bigger than themselves. They certainly knew that the people were believing in the power of Jesus. In Chapter four, we’re even told that they had witnessed the remarkable healing of a man who had been born lame. And yet, they still tried to stop the preaching. We’re told in verses 26-28;

Then the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence, for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest asked them, saying, “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” (vv. 26-28).

It’s interesting that they were being so defensive. They objected to the idea that they could be held accountable for the blood of Jesus. And yet, the fact was that these same leaders arranged for the Roman governor to crucify Him when Pilate wanted to release Him; and even went so far as to declare before Pilate;

“His blood be on us and on our children” (Matthew 27:25).

The guilt of the blood of Jesus was indeed upon them; and they could, in no way, escape the fact. And yet, that blood was shed for the salvation of sinners. They spoke in a way that was more true than they knew! The apostles were, indeed, hoping to bring the saving blood of Jesus upon them. May that redeeming blood be on more and more guilty sinners around the world! The apostles kept on faithfully preaching the gospel of Jesus in order that it would be so.

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Now; the apostles, of course, could not deny that they had been commanded by their leaders to cease preaching about Jesus.

But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men” (v. 29).

And it’s very important that we stop and consider those words carefully. They have often been misused. Many have quoted them as a way of justifying rebellion against civil authority. But the true application of these words is very specific. They only apply to those occasions in which we are specifically commanded by men to disobey a direct command of our Lord.

So long as the legal and constitutionally justifiable commands of our governmental and civil leaders do not conflict with the commandments of God, we are under moral obligation before the Lord to obey them completely. From that standpoint, we—as followers of Jesus—ought to be the very best citizens that we can possibly be. But whenever human authorities command us to disobey or disregard a command from our Lord, then we must say, with Peter: “We ought to obey God rather than men”; and then be willing to suffer the consequences with whole-hearted trust in God.

The Lord Jesus had commanded His followers to be His witnesses and to declare His gospel in this world. The Jewish leaders were telling the apostles to stop doing what Jesus commanded. But in obedience to Jesus, ‘they did not cease’. Verses 30-32 tell us that Peter went on to say;

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree. Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses to these things, and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him” (vv. 30-32).

Consider, in his response, how Peter went on to speak clearly about the basic principles of the gospel to those leaders. He affirmed to them the resurrection—even in the presence of the Sadducees who denied that there even was such a thing as a resurrection. He declared the guilt of the Jewish leaders in putting Jesus to death. He proclaimed the exaltation of Jesus to the right hand of God as “Prince” and “Savior”. He affirmed the promise of repentance and the forgiveness of sins to the Jewish people. And finally, he declared that the testimony would be validated by the Holy Spirit to all those who obey Him.

Clearly—even though they had been officially commanded to stop—they did not cease.

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Now; so far, what we’ve seen is the resolve of Jesus’ followers to faithfully proclaim the message He gave to them. But now, we see how God Himself providentially responded to their faithfulness to protect that message. We’re told in verses 33-34;

When they heard this, they were furious and plotted to kill them. Then one in the council stood up, a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in respect by all the people, and commanded them to put the apostles outside for a little while (vv. 33-34).

This Pharisee named Gamaliel was a remarkable man. He has been written in history as an outstanding teacher in Judaism. He was the founder of a school; and Saul of Tarsus (who we know later as the apostle Paul) was trained in Jerusalem “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3). Whenever Gamaliel spoke, all the members of the Sanhedrin quieted down and listened.

And he said to them: “Men of Israel, take heed to yourselves what you intend to do regarding these men. For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody. A number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was slain, and all who obeyed him were scattered and came to nothing. After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away many people after him. He also perished, and all who obeyed him were dispersed. And now I say to you, keep away from these men and let them alone; for if this plan or this work is of men, it will come to nothing; but if it is of God, you cannot overthrow it—lest you even be found to fight against God” (vv. 35-39).

Historically speaking, we know very little for certain about the two examples that he gave. But the leaders were apparently well aware of the incidents. God—at just the perfect time and in just the perfect way—raised up this man Gamaliel to calm down the murderous rage of the Jewish leaders. And remembering the details of these events turned them from their intention to put the apostles to death.

Verse 40 tells us;

And they agreed with him, and when they had called for the apostles and beaten them, they commanded that they should not speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go (v. 40).

God didn’t spare the apostles from a beating. But He nevertheless acted sovereignly to protect the ongoing proclamation of His gospel to the world.

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Now; note in closing the response of the apostles. First, we’re told in verse 41;

So they departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (v. 41).

This is much like Peter wrote later on in his life—in his first letter;

Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter. For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? Now

“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:12-19).

Those times of suffering joyfully for our faithfulness to Jesus are the times when the Holy Spirit uniquely rests upon us and uses us as His witness-bearers in this world. They are truly occasions for rejoicing.

And then, secondly, we’re told in verse 42;

And daily in the temple, and in every house, they did not cease teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ (v. 42).

They did not cease. How glad we ought to be that they kept on obeying the Lord!

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So; let’s be sure to learn the lesson of this passage. The lesson is not that, if we are faithful to proclaim the message of the gospel at our Lord’s command, we will be delivered from all suffering for it. After all, the apostles received a beating; and Peter himself eventually laid down his life for the Lord. Rather, the lesson to be learned is that God protects His gospel when we, His people, are faithful to proclaim it—even when the forces of this world try to silence us from proclaiming it—even when we suffer great hardship and persecution for it.

The world must hear the message of the gospel! So, let’s make sure that we do not cease!

AE