Acts 5:17-42 "Obey God Rather than Man"

We’re going through the Book of Acts, it’s the history of the early days of the church. Miracles were happening everywhere the apostles went—it was a very special and intense time of the Holy Spirit being poured out on the earth. All those signs and wonders were to verify the claims of the apostles and point to the reality that Jesus had risen from the dead and was continuing His ministry through the church—that’s still the purpose of miracles. They’re more rare these days but God still does miracles. He told us about those early days so we’d understand how powerful He is and what the mission of the Gospel is all about. It’s about Jesus saving us from the ultimate consequences of our sin.

Jesus came into the world to save us from our sin, to show us mercy, and to promise us eternal life that will have none of the pain, sickness, and suffering of this life. Everything Luke tells us in the Book of Acts is to help us understand the power and the promise of the Gospel.

So thousands of people were being healed, demons were being cast out, people were being delivered from all kinds of things that had been torturing their lives. This is still the promise Jesus has for us.

The apostles went to the temple every day and preached about Jesus, talked about Jesus, told people about Jesus—His death, His resurrection, that He was the Messiah. People were listening. The church was growing larger every day. People were coming to faith, repenting of their sin and unbelief, and calling on the name of the LORD Jesus.

How do you think that made the religious leaders who ran the temple feel? The ones who didn’t believe in Jesus. The ones who pushed the Romans to kill Him? Do you think they were happy about these thousands of Christians showing up in their temple every day and teaching things they didn’t believe? They didn’t believe in the resurrection—they didn’t believe in miracles—they didn’t believe in angels—they didn’t believe anything the apostles were saying. 

So, Acts chapter five… 

But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison. Acts 5:17-18

Jealousy is a little weak to really get across the meaning of the word being translated here. It’s a word that also means “fury.” This isn’t a mild case of quiet envy, this is raging murder.

Last time they just arrested Peter and John, this time they grabbed all the apostles and locked them up. How do you think this would have affected the thousands of Christians in the church? There probably weren't very many around when the arrest happened but everyone would have heard about it—they probably went home wondering what having all their leaders locked up was going to do to this new movement of the church. 

But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said, “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. Acts 5:19-21

Well, they weren’t locked up long. An angel of the Lord shows up in the middle of the night (one of those angels the Sadducees didn’t believe in), opens the doors and brings them out of the cell. Right from under the prison guards’ nose—they don’t even notice. Very stealthy angel. This is probably the kind of angel that looks like a human instead of those multi-eyeballed, six winged creatures we were talking about a couple months ago. He tells the apostles to keep up the good work—go back to the temple and keep telling people about this new life in Jesus—the words of this Life. Following Jesus is a way of life—it’s the only way of life that makes sense or gives life any meaning. If you know, you know.

It must have been just before sunrise because by the time they get to the temple it’s daybreak—so they go right back to teaching. I probably would have wanted to go home and take a nap first but, you know, having an angel break you out of prison was probably a pretty good adrenaline rush.

Meanwhile, over at the courthouse… 

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to. Acts 5:21-24

High priest shows up for work looking forward to giving those pesky Christians a piece of his mind, “How dare you continue to talk about Jesus! I specifically told you to cease and desist!”

Assembles the whole Sanhedrin—going to make a really big show of this! Probably wishes he hadn’t. Because when the officers came back with the report that the whole bunch of them had escaped—that would have been embarrassing. They were quite confused.

They probably thought the apostles ran away and were hiding from the cops. They were probably wondering how they were going to round them back up. 

Then someone comes running in and says, “I found them!”

And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.”  Acts 5:25

That had to seem crazy, right? They returned to the scene of the crime. Why would they make it so easy to arrest them again?

Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people. And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. 
Acts 5:26-27

They had to be furious but they didn’t dare use force—they didn’t want the giant crowd to pick up rocks and attack them. Imagine if some cops showed up here this morning and arrested me while I was preaching—some of you might take issue with that.

They didn’t use force but they probably didn’t send a limousine with champagne on ice, either. They arrested the apostles and took them to where the council was already in session waiting for them.

And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Acts 5:27-32

The high priest is upset about two things: that they had filled Jerusalem with their teaching about Jesus, even though he had commanded them to stop talking about Him. And he was also upset because the apostles’ kept blaming them for killing Jesus—who he calls “this man” because for some reason he doesn’t want to say Jesus’ name. 

Peter and the apostles say, “Like we told you before, we have to obey God rather than men.”

Obey God rather than men.

That’s good advice. You’re probably sitting there nodding your head, agreeing that of course we should obey God instead of people—right? It’s a lot easier said than done. We’ll come back to this later.

So, that was their answer to the first accusation, what about the second?

Peter was like, “And the reason we keep blaming you for killing Jesus is because YOU’RE RESPONSIBLE FOR KILLING JESUS!”

Sure, it was the Romans who pounded in the nails but you were the ones that drummed up the charges and made it happen—you are guilty of shedding His blood.

That was pure Law—a deadly punch to the gut. “Hey High Priest, Sanhedrin, religious leaders of Israel—your job was to make sure Israel knew the Scriptures and faithfully waited for the Messiah to show up—instead, you rejected and killed Him.”

But the next thing he says is actually Gospel. God raised up Jesus and exalted Him to the highest place to be your Savior. To give repentance to Israel and to forgive your sins—even these sins. His blood is on you for judgment but that same blood can also save you.

The twelve apostles are standing there giving the Gospel to their enemies. Offering repentance and forgiveness to the men who killed Jesus and are about to try and do the same thing to them. The Sanhedrin arrested them and are accusing them of breaking the Law. The apostles have turned this around—they’re accusing the Sanhedrin of crimes against God. And they stand there as eye-witnesses against the religious rulers of Israel. These twelve men had walked with Jesus, heard His teaching, watched Him die on the cross, and saw Him come back from the dead. They are testifying that it’s all true. How many witnesses do you need? Two? Three? We have hundreds.

But they’re not threatening them with judgment. They’re telling their enemies that God is offering repentance and forgiveness. He is offering the Holy Spirit. All they have to do is repent and believe. How do you think they’re going to respond to such a kind and merciful offer?

When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. Acts 5:33

Every week I stand up here and offer the Gospel. Maybe I’m doing it wrong if no one wants to kill me after church. Every week I know there are people in this room who need to receive it. All I can do is offer—I have to trust God to do all the heavy lifting of softening hearts and opening ears. 

If you start to feel angry or defensive when the Bible is being read or taught—you should pray for God to soften your heart. Pray that it’s not too late to hear the word of the Lord.

If you start to feel a pull to repent and believe—I suggest you go with it. There is no guarantee that God’s going to call on you again. I’m not saying that to scare anyone because if you care enough about God calling you to repent or not—then He’s obviously still calling you. If He stops calling you, you’ll think all this Jesus stuff is a bunch of nonsense—you won’t have any interest, you won’t care enough to be afraid. It’ll probably just make you mad. Most atheists are just mad at God because some Christian did them wrong.

God is the one who gives repentance. He’s the one who gives faith. He’s the one who calls us and makes us alive. He’s the one who softens our heart so it can receive the message of forgiveness. At the same time, we have to hear the message, believe it, and repent—turn toward Him and away from our doubt and sin.

Today would be a good day to repent and believe.

Well, the High priest and his buddies did not respond in faith to the Gospel message. It just made them more mad and they wanted to murder the faces of these stupid Christians.

But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while. Acts 5:34

Gamaliel was probably the most respected rabbi at that time. We know this from several sources outside the Bible. He also had a famous student that we’re going to meet in a few chapters named Saul—who we all know as the Apostle Paul. Gamaliel was the Pharisee of Pharisees, when he spoke even E.F. Hutton listened. He sent the apostles outside so the council could talk about what they were going to do with them.

And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men. For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him. He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him. He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered. Acts 5:35-37

Basically, he’s being a pragmatist. “Guys, we’ve seen this kind of thing before. It never comes to anything—they always fizzle out.”

So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!” Acts 5:38-39

Gamaliel is not a believer in Jesus but he also knows about all the miracles. He probably understands that a bunch of martyrs will only make things worse, too. “Just ignore them. If it’s not real, these things have a way of shooting themselves in the foot—but if it’s really God behind this—do you really want to be on the wrong side of that fight?”

So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Acts 5:39

It says they took his advice but—beating the crap out of them and once more commanding them to not talk about Jesus doesn’t exactly sound like leaving them alone to me. 

But after they were whipped, they were set free. Better than being killed.

It says they left rejoicing that they were worthy to suffer in the name of Jesus.

That doesn’t sound like what I’d be inclined to do. It’ll jack with my day if I post something about Jesus and Facebook doesn’t let very many people see my post! Oh the persecution! I think their rejoicing is a another miracle—God gave them a special kind of grace to respond like that—it’s not the typical human response. 

Because I can get in a funk if someone is mildly critical of my sermon. I would not be inspired to joy if some men took me outside and beat me for saying something that made them mad.

I pray for boldness. For all of us. That we’ll proclaim the message of the Gospel no matter what it might cost us. That we will actually obey God rather than people. And if we end up suffering for our belief in Jesus, that we’ll have the faith to rejoice.

The apostles were arrested, busted out by an angel, arrested again, beaten, told to stop talking about Jesus—but they skipped back to the temple while the blood was still wet on their backs from the whips, high-fiving each other that they were privileged enough to suffer for the Gospel. It didn’t slow them down, not even a little. They were right back in the temple, in the face of the Sadducees, talking about the resurrection and hope they have in Jesus.

You’d think persecution of the church would work but it never does. It doesn’t make the church weaker, it tends to make the church stronger. Tertullian, an early Christian author, said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.”

There are more people being killed for following Jesus right now than in the history of the church. That’s why every week we pray for God’s people all over the world. I have friends who are missionaries and pretty much every week they’re telling me about some massacre of Christians. It’s horrifying. Every day we need to be praying, “Lord, have mercy on Your people, spare Your people, protect Your people, deliver them from evil.”

And in those places where persecution is the heaviest, the church is growing. It doesn’t make sense but that’s the way it’s always been.

What we’re facing here in America isn’t persecution, not really. Not yet. It’s just people disagreeing with us—people who don’t believe, having different opinions. And we’re not handling it well most of the time. We get mad. We complain. We argue with them. Insult them. We confuse patriotism with the Gospel. We need to be careful not to wrap the flag around the cross. Our citizenship is in heaven. Our King is Jesus. It’s fine to have political opinions but it’s not okay to confuse those opinions with the Gospel. It’s not okay to hate our political enemies. Jesus said to love our enemies. That Jesus! What are we going to do with Him?

What does it look like to love our enemies?

Do what Peter and the apostles did—offer them repentance and forgiveness. Offer them the hope of Jesus and the resurrection. It’ll probably make them mad, but you don’t have to get mad.

The media is going to tell you what to think and what to believe. People are going to tell you to keep your religion to yourself. They’ll say your faith is a private thing and you shouldn’t try to convince anyone else to believe what you believe. They’ll try to silence you, mock you, make fun of you, shoot you down, argue with you, ignore you. 

That’s okay. You going to listen to them, or listen to God?

You going to obey people or obey God? We must obey God rather than people.

That includes yourself. You’re a people. You can’t listen to yourself. Your heart is a punk. It’s a coward. It’s an insecure baby. It gets mad at every little thing. It gets offended over nothing. You can’t listen to you. You have to listen to God. If you listen to yourself, you’ll end up not sharing the Gospel every time—because you’ll either be too shy or too aggressive. You’ll think, “Oh, what’s the point, they’re not going to listen anyway.” Or you’ll try to shove it down their throat like you’re giving a dog a pill.

We have to obey God rather than ourselves.

Especially when it comes to hearing the Gospel. When the Law slaps you upside the head—when your sin is pointed out—that’s God repenting you. Calling you. Turning you around. How are you going to respond?

You going to be like, “Nuh uh! I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t sin. The things I want to do isn’t sin. I’m not a sinner, you’re a sinner! Judge not! I’m not hurting anyone. Leave me alone!”

Stiff-necked. Rebellious. Self righteous. Proud. Just doing whatever seems right to you.

That’s not listening to God. That’s not obeying God. We must obey God rather than people. Even ourselves.

Soften your heart. Humble yourself. Repent. Confess. Turn toward Jesus, His grace, His mercy—His forgiveness. That’s really what obeying God rather than man looks like, because we’re all sinners saved by grace. That’s where true freedom is going to be found. 

Not to over analogize but the Gospel sets you free from the prison of your sin—the prison of self-righteousness. It’s a prison the world, the flesh, and the devil put you in. God has set you free.

And once you’ve been set free—it isn’t for nothing. You’ve been set free for a reason. Worship God, love people. You should get to it. Tell people what Jesus has done for you—the words of life—the difference Jesus has made in your life. Remember what the angel said? “Go speak to the people all the words of this Life.” The Gospel. Who’s trying to stop you? You must obey God rather than people. AMEN