THE WITNESS FOR THE RESURRECTION – Acts 5:29-32
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on April 5, 2020 under 2020 |
Bethany Bible Church Resurrection Sunday Message; April 12, 2020 from Acts 5:29-32
Theme: The testimony of the apostles shows us why we proclaim the resurrection of Jesus Christ to this world.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this sermon.
Praise God that though a pandemic may be hindering many other things in this world right now, it cannot—and will not—hinder us from proclaiming this wonderful news in whatever way we can. Jesus Christ is alive. He has atoned for sin on the cross. He was raised again the third day. The tomb is empty. He has conquered death, and He sits at the right hand of God, and He is able to forgive the sins of anyone who trusts in Him and completely transform their lives. In Revelation 1:18-19, He declared words to the apostle John that we can all rejoice in because of this day:
“Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last. I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death” (Revelation 1:18b-19).
One day, He will return to this earth and reign as King of kings and Lord of lords; and we will be raised with Him in glory. He is risen indeed!
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Now; that is the victorious declaration that Christians around the world share in common today. It has been our declaration on this earth for the past two-thousand years. It will continue to be our declaration until the day that Jesus returns.
But it’s not a declaration that’s true simply because we choose to believe it and choose to declare it. It’s true because it is the truth. It’s true history. It truly happened. Jesus Christ—the Son of God in human flesh—was truly crucified, was truly buried, and was truly raised again. The Scriptures of the Old Testament foretold it; and the apostles of the New Testament were eyewitnesses to it.
One of these apostolic witnesses, the apostle Peter, bore testimony to it. He boldly bore that testimony before the highest court of his people that he could have borne it to. We’re told about it in Acts 5:30-32. He declared it to the Jewish Sanhedrin—with the high priest of the people and the gathered Pharisees among them. It was a very impressive and authoritative group of leaders—all of whom were doing their best to perpetuate their existence while appeasing an oppressive secular authority in the form of the Roman state. Despite all this, Peter told them;
“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” (Acts 5:30-32).
He said these words with great boldness and confidence before this very august but also very hostile group—even though, not too long before, he himself had been so fearful that he denied the Lord that he said he loved in front of a mere servant girl. What could have transformed Peter so? What could have given him such confidence to make this most remarkable declaration to such a powerful group of leaders?
It was the fact that Jesus had truly risen from the dead—and he had seen Him.
Not long before the testimony in Acts 5 was given, Peter and the apostles were commanded by these same leaders to cease declaring that Jesus was alive. People were believing on Jesus; and these leaders were losing their sense of power over them. And Peter told them back then,
“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” (Acts 4:19-20).
Peter wasn’t being disrespectful. It’s just that he had been transformed into a man of conviction who could not help but declare the truth. He had met the risen Lord. And now—in Acts 5:30-32—he is again standing before these leaders and is again being told to be silent. And yet, he still could not cease declaring that Jesus Christ is alive.
And dear brothers and sisters in Christ; this morning, Peter’s declaration is to be ours. His conviction is to be our conviction. His bold confidence is to be our bold confidence. We have been called by God to declare to this world the truth; the good news that Jesus Christ has been raised from the dead, and is able to forgive and transform anyone who places their faith in Him.
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Now; Peter’s testimony—along with the other apostles—truly deserves to be considered among the greatest and boldest declarations ever made in all of written history. The circumstances of it were remarkable. Its subject matter is the most astonishing that could be declared. And the consequence of believing it is life-changing. One Bible scholar suggested that in these few words of the apostle Peter, we have the simplest and most straight-forward ‘apostolic creed’ we could ever find. It declares the crucifixion of Jesus, His resurrection, His ascension, His glorification as King, His role as the Savior who cleanses us of sin, the power source by which this message is declared, and the great condition by which the benefits of Jesus work for us are brought to bear into our lives.
The persuasiveness of this testimony is in its truthfulness. Peter declared facts that could not be denied by these leaders. And if you go back and look at the circumstances, you can see that this is so.
Luke—the writer of the Book of Acts—told us in Acts 5:12-16;
And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly. And believers were increasingly added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women, so that they brought the sick out into the streets and laid them on beds and couches, that at least the shadow of Peter passing by might fall on some of them. Also a multitude gathered from the surrounding cities to Jerusalem, bringing sick people and those who were tormented by unclean spirits, and they were all healed (Acts 5:12-16).
The apostles were preaching about Jesus in Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord Jesus was very present to heal. People were believing on the resurrected Lord Jesus, and lives were being changed, and the church was growing. But Luke tells us that this group of leaders became ‘filled with indignation’ over it all. And that’s when they stepped in to try to put a stop to the preaching of Jesus.
They arrested the apostles and put them in ‘the common prison’—that is, they were thrown in with common criminals. The leaders were planning to meet the next day in order to try them. But in the night, an angel came and opened the prison doors and told them to go, stand in the temple, and continue to preach ‘all the words of this life’. And so; you can imagine the frustration of all these leaders. They met the next day, and called for the prisoners to be brought to them. But they were then told that, even though the prison doors were shut and secure, the prisoners themselves were no longer there. Not even prison doors can keep the message of the risen Christ from being proclaimed!
Luke goes on to tell us that, as these leaders wondered what this was all about, someone came and told them that the apostles were standing in the temple and preaching about Jesus—just like before. And so the leaders sent officers to arrest them again and bring them back again—only they did so without violence; “for they feared the people, lest they should be stoned”. Peter and the others were brought back before this frustrated group of leaders; and the high priest spoke up and said,
“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!” (v. 28).
By the way, dear brothers and sisters; don’t you wish we could be charged with the crime of having spread the doctrine of Jesus throughout our city? May it be so!
Now; this is all a very serious situation. The apostles were commanded to stop preaching about Jesus. They did not stop. And so, they were arrested; and an angel set them free and told them to keep on preaching. And now, they are standing before the leading council of their people once again. Their lives were very literally on the line. But let’s read Peter’s testimony to them again:
But Peter and the other apostles answered and said: “We ought to obey God rather than men. 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. 29-32).
All the apostles were there; but it was Peter who was taking the lead. Did you notice that? He had been utterly transformed by his encounter with the risen Christ. And even though the leaders—the highest official council of the Jewish people—had said not to preach any further about Jesus, Peter boldly said, “We ought to obey God rather than men.”
Peter’s answer was short and to the point. But as we said earlier, he was not being disrespectful of the governing authorities. Rather, he was being faithful to true authority. So long as the high priest and the council had commanded the apostles to do something that was not in conflict with the command of God, the apostles would have gladly obeyed. But to the degree that human commands come into contradiction with the command of God, human authority cannot be obeyed. So long as we can obey God and men, we should; but when we are forced to choose, we must always choose to obey God rather than men. And God had commanded the apostles to proclaim Jesus Christ. You remember the Great Commission; don’t you? After Jesus was raised from the dead—and before He ascended to the Father—He told His disciples;
“All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20).
The risen Lord Jesus has all authority. When He says go, we must go! It doesn’t matter who else might say no!
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Now; that was the situation in which these words from Peter were spoken. We are under the same commission that Peter and the apostles were under. We are to faithfully proclaim this message too.
But that’s when Peter then goes on to give the content of this message. And as we look closely at his words—words given to him by the Holy Spirit to speak for that very moment—we find that the content of the message of Jesus’ resurrection gives us the very motives for proclaiming it. May it be that God causes these reasons to sink deeply into our own hearts and minds; and become the motivation for our own faithfulness to declare the resurrected Lord Jesus in our time!
The first reason that Peter gives for why he must declare the message of Jesus’ resurrection—a pretty obvious one, really—is because it actually happened. It’s the fact that …
1. GOD RAISED HIM FROM THE DEATH OF THE CROSS.
In verse 30, Peter said, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.” And notice a few of the details of what he said. First, he said that Jesus was raised by “the God of our fathers”. Peter is a Jewish man speaking to the Jewish leaders—the high priest, the Sanhedrin, and even some of the members of the sects of the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The God of their fathers was the God of Abraham, Issac, Jacob, and Joseph. He was the God of Moses and Aaron and Joshua, and of Samuel and King David. Peter was saying to these Jewish leaders—who supposedly reverenced the God of Israel—that it was the very God of Israel that had raised Jesus up from the dead.
And what’s more, Peter was not afraid to say that God had raised up the very Jesus who these leaders had murdered. Do you remember how they told Peter, ‘you intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!’ And yet, it wasn’t that Peter intended to bring Jesus blood on them. His blood truly was upon them! They truly did murder Him! But this was according to God’s plan. In Acts 2:23, Peter said to them;
Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death (Acts 2:23).
And what’s more still, it was on a cross. Peter said that they hanged Him on ‘a tree’; and a tree is presented as a figure for a cross of wood. This was something that was promised long ago in the Scriptures. The promised Christ would be hanged upon a cross. But it was also promised that God would raise Him from the dead. Have you ever read Psalm 22? It’s a clear prophecy about the crucifixion of Jesus 1,000 years before the crucifixion happened. It says;
For dogs have surrounded Me;
The congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me.
They pierced My hands and My feet;
I can count all My bones.
They look and stare at Me.
They divide My garments among them,
And for My clothing they cast lots (Psalm 22:16-18).
But it also promises His resurrection. The psalm goes on to say;
But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me;
O My Strength, hasten to help Me!
Deliver Me from the sword,
My precious life from the power of the dog.
Save Me from the lion’s mouth
And from the horns of the wild oxen! (vv. 19-21a).
And I love what it says at the end of verse 21;
You have answered Me (v. 21b).
The same kind of thing is promised in Isaiah 53. That Old Testament passage speaks very clearly of the suffering that our Lord would undergo for our sin. But it also promises His resurrection. In Isaiah 53:10-11 it says;
Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities (Isaiah 53:10-11).
And let me add this. We shouldn’t just say that Jesus was raised up from the dead. He didn’t die just any ol’ death. He died a very specific kind of death. He died as our atoning sacrifice on a cross; and as our atoning sacrifice, He was raised again! We should make it clear that Jesus was raised from the horrible, shameful death of the cross that was the symbol of the punishment for sin that we deserve! He was crucified for our sins and raised again for our justification. When we declare this to the world, we need to be clear about it; because people’s salvation depends on it!
Peter said, “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.” And that’s our message. It has happened! The very message that He is raised from such a death is itself the motivation to proclaim it!
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But we’ve got more to say than just that alone. Our message is also that …
2. HE HAS BEEN EXALTED AS PRINCE AND SAVIOR.
Look in verse 31 at what else Peter had to say about this Jesus about whom he was commanded to stop preaching—but would not stop preaching. He said; “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.”
It’s not enough to declare only that Jesus was raised. The full story is that He then ascended to the Father into heavenly glory and is now ‘exalted’ above every name that is named. He is exalted as ‘Prince’ or ‘Chief Leader’; with all authority placed under Him. The apostle Paul put it this way in Romans 1; that Jesus
was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead (Romans 1:3b-4).
It wasn’t that Jesus became a ‘Prince’ because He was exalted. Rather, the way it’s put in the original language is that He was exalted as the ‘Prince’ that He already was. In Acts 3:15, Peter told the religious leaders that they “killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.”
Peter said that Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God the Father—which is the place of greatest honor and majesty. And it is from there that He is our Savior—exalted “to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins”. I love what it tells us in Hebrews 1:3 about Jesus whom God has exalted—as He occupies this high position for us;
who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3).
He ‘sat down’ because His work for us is completed. Peter boldly told the council, “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins.” It was a message that he and the others had to proclaim. And we must proclaim it too.
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And finally, note that it’s not a message we proclaim alone. We must proclaim it because of Who it is that is proclaiming it through us. Verse 32 shows us that, when it comes to the message of the risen Christ …
3. THE SPIRIT NOW BEARS WITNESS THROUGH THE CHURCH.
Jesus had commanded Peter and the other apostles to go forth and proclaim Him. And that’s why Peter could boldly say to these leaders, “ And we are His witnesses to these things …” But he also added, “and so also is the Holy Spirit whom God has given to those who obey Him.” This is why the apostles’ message of the resurrection of Jesus had such great authority. And it’s also why Peter himself had such great boldness.
Just before He went to the cross, the Lord Jesus had His apostles all together in the upper room; and He told them that He would not leave them alone. He would send ‘another Helper’; who is the Holy Spirit. The Spirit came upon them on Pentecost; and the Spirit gave them the power to preach. And notice carefully what Jesus told them in that upper room in John 15:26-27;
“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. And you also will bear witness, because you have been with Me from the beginning” (John 26-27).
In other words, it’s the Holy Spirit who does the proclaiming; and Jesus’ witnesses in this world preach in cooperation and partnership with the Holy Spirit’s ministry. No wonder this message cannot be silenced.
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So; that’s what Peter told this council. And in the end, what he told them was nothing else but the very gospel itself! In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul wrote;
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).
That’s the glorious declaration we share with this world. We must share it! The Holy Spirit Himself declares it; and we are the instruments by which He does so.
Let’s share it boldly and gladly.
Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this sermon.
EA
