An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, or Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Acts 4:8-21 for Sunday, June 30, 2024, with the title, “Emboldened.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO:  ??? Have you ever shared the gospel with someone who rejected it???  If you have, what was that experience like?? 

(I had one family member I shared with, tell me about his “out of body experiences” and how he did not believe the Bible. He was nice, but a bit condescending. One man I tried to share with on a door-to-door ministry slammed the door in my face — that’s never fun! Another man I witnessed to in India just couldn’t seem to get over the idea that there are a lot of different ways to God. It was very frustrating. So a lot of different responses ….

You/your group can share your own experiences, and then you can transition to our text for today from Acts 4:8-21, which describes how Peter and the Apostles shared the gospel despite opposition — a good example for us today.

CONTEXT

We’re continuing our study in the Book of Acts; last week we saw in Chapter 3 how Peter & John were going up to the Temple to pray, and they saw a lame man begging alms, and Peter said to him, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: in the name of Jesus the Nazarene — walk!” — and the man was healed. 

As people gathered around amazed, Peter preached his second “big” sermon in Acts, where we saw many of the same elements that had been in his first message in Acts 2. He concluded that message in :26, saying “For you first, God raised up His servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.” He made it personal, and challenged them to repent.

This brings us to Chapter 4, where we see some of the “fallout”/response to Peter’s sermon in the Temple.

OUTLINE

I.  Responses to the Gospel  (:1-4)

II. Proclaiming the Gospel (:5-12) 

III. The Gospel Messengers  (:13-21)

TEXT

I.  Responses to the Gospel. (:1-4)

Verse 1 begins the chapter: “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them (:2) being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. (:3) And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.”

Then :4 “BUT many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about 5000.”

So we see two responses to the message here. 

???What are they???

— Some were “disturbed” and threw them in jail

— But many others believed!

Let’s look at these 2 groups for a second.

A.  It mentions 3 groups by name who were disturbed by Peter’s preaching:

— the priests (the Jewish teachers)

— the captain of the Temple guard

— the Sadducees (liberal Jewish religionists)

These people were the “establishment” of the Temple, those who were in charge. They didn’t like Peter and the others preaching in the Portico of Solomon (the porch area around the Temple like we saw last week).
Especially the Sadducees didn’t like what they were preaching. A little on the Sadducees here:

Josephus the historian says they were the “upper echelon” of Jewish society; rich and influential people. They were in charge of the administration of the Temple, and many were priests (but some priests were Pharisees). 

They also tended to be “liberal” in their religious beliefs. Acts 23:8 says “For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.” Josephus says they didn’t believe in the afterlife, rewards or penalties after death, or anything like that. They were all about religion as it applied to this life only. So they were what we might call today “liberal religionists” who don’t believe in heaven, hell, eternal life, resurrection, and so on. But Josephus says they loved to argue and debate. That is who these people were: well off, liberal, religious leaders who were in charge of the Temple. 

(Are there liberal religious groups today who oppose God’s truth?
YES! This is one of those things that never changes. Whenever God’s truth is proclaimed, Satan always raises up some false substitute to counter it.

FOR EXAMPLE: there is a “Tic Toc influencer, Brandan Robertson, pastor of the Sunnyside Reformed Church in Queens New York. He has hundreds of thousands of followers on Tic Toc, and millions watch his videos. But he does not believe that Jesus is the only way to God. He supports the gay/lesbian movement. He is also quoted as saying: “sex before marriage is a healthy expression of the gift of sexuality and is not ‘sinful.” He says:  “I don’t believe in hell, yet I choose to follow Jesus because I know it blesses my life and the world around me.” Robertson is very much like the Sadducees of the Book of Acts. He has a “form” of religion, but denies the specific teachings of God’s word. (Like II Timothy 3:5 says, “they hold to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these.”)

??? You might ask your group if THEY had ever personally encountered people/teachings like these today???

These kinds of “pastors” and “churches” and teachings are becoming more numerous today, so there is a likelihood that they have. Use this opportunity to talk about that, and also point them to our unchanging authority, the word of God. These false religious beliefs are where we will end up, if we lose the “anchor” of the word of God. We must keep our beliefs anchored in the word!)

B. But not all were opposed to Peter’s preaching. Verse 4 says “Many of those who had heard the message believed.”

There is always a division, every time God’s truth is shared. Some will reject it — but the good news is, there are always those who will receive it. 

Someone was telling me the other day about a time they were sharing God’s truth with a group of people. And they said this one person was there, and they said I had NO INDICATION that they were really listening to me, or that what I was saying was touching their heart — but it did — and some time later they found out that person had been saved, and had been following Christ ever since!

It’s just a good reminder to us: keep sharing God’s truth. You don’t know the impact it might be having on someone’s heart, and who it might be that will receive it. Many will reject it, like the Sadducees — but many others will receive it, like they did here in Acts 4.

And the second part of :4 says “And the number of the men came to be about 5000.” 

If you remember, we saw in Acts 2:41 that “those who had received the word were baptized; and that day there were added about 3000 souls.” So now, after Peter preaches in the Temple, more were saved, and the total is now 5000. So the Gospel is spreading. This is one of the purposes of the Book of Acts: to show how the Gospel spread, starting in Jerusalem, and going to the ends of the earth.

And thankfully the Gospel is STILL spreading around the world today! 

II.  Proclaiming the Gospel (:5-12)

:5-6 “On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem (:6) and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of high-priestly descent.”

So here were the rulers of the people, the Jewish leaders, all gathered together. 

??? Do some of these names sound familiar???

— Matthew 26:3 says Caiaphas was the high priest when Jesus was crucified

— Luke 3:2 says Annas was the previous high priest

These weren’t just “some guys” — John 18:13 tells us that these were the very same leaders who had just put Jesus to death a few weeks before! A person might understandably be concerned that these leaders were going to put THEM to death too, just as they had Jesus!

??? Have you/someone you know ever been in a position where you thought you might be physically endangered for sharing the gospel???

(We have mission partners in India: Sanjay; Ravi; James; Abraham; who have all been threatened by the RSS (a radical Hindu extremist group that persecutes Christians). 6 of their number have falsely accused, beaten, and arrested.

I  would not say that I have had a lot of persecution in my life, but when I went to India on mission a few years ago, I had 2-3 occasions when felt threatened: once we were escorted quickly out of a service, and they said do not delay, there are some troublemakers on the way!  On another trip, I was speaking in a glass-walled hotel room, and the interpreter told me: Pastor, put your Bible down; there is a man with a sword carefully watching what is going on in here. I thought: wow, this is what that is like! I had never experienced anything but freedom in worship — but in many places in our world, for much of the history of the world, it has not been that way. 

We do have a lot of freedom in the United States, and we should be grateful for it. But we should not take for granted that it will always be that way here, either. We need to be ready to share despite the threat of persecution, just like they did here in Acts 4.

Then :7 says: “When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, ‘By what power, or in what name, have you done this?’
This is an interesting scenario: THEY PLACED THEM IN THE CENTER.  

— the literal meaning/procedure/setting: according to the Jewish Mishnah, the Sanhedrin sat in a semi-circle, so they evidently put them in the middle of that semi-circle (the “meso” in Greek, like Meso-potamia is “in the middle” of the rivers Tigris & Euphrates, so the Apostles here were “in the center; in the middle.” 

— It may or may not be that we will ever be put in this exact kind of situation: literally “in the center” to testify of Christ. But there are a lot of ways that we might be figuratively placed “in the center,” so that attention is focused on us, and we have an opportunity to share the gospel.

??? What are some ways we might be placed “in the center” and have an opportunity to share???

— Any time we are in the spotlight: like when the OU ladies won the NCAA softball championship the other day. They were put “in the center” — in the spotlight — and they shared Christ when they were.

We may never win a championship or Olympics, etc., but there are times when we get “placed in the spotlight”; when we are, we should use that opportunity to share Christ. 

— If we are asked to pray: whenever I am asked to pray, I usually try to share a very brief gospel presentation in the prayer: ‘Thank You for so many things … thank You especially for the greatest gift, Jesus who died on the cross to pay for our sins …”.

— It may even be just a personal conversation, but share Christ in that conversation.

You/your group can discuss different ways of being “placed in the center.” Make the point:  ANY TIME WE GET “PLACED IN THE CENTER” WE SHOULD SEEK TO SHARE CHRIST, like Peter & the apostles did here.

Then in :8+ Peter answers the question: 

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers and elders of the people (:9) if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man, as to how this man has been made well (:10) let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead — by this name this man stands before you in good health.

:11 “He is the ‘STONE WHICH WAS REJECTED BY YOU, THE BUILDERS, but WHICH BECAME THE CHIEF CORNER STONE.”

This verse is a quote from Psalm 118:22 in the Old Testament.

If you remember a couple of weeks ago, we talked about how when Jesus rose from the dead, Luke said He shared about Himself from Moses, the Psalms, and the Prophets. And we talked about how people wish they were there to hear what He taught them — and I said we SEE in the teaching of the Apostles in the New Testament what He taught them! Evidently Psalm 118 is one of those scriptures He shared with them — and Peter brings it up here. 

Jesus is “the Stone the builders rejected” — Peter makes it personal and says “YOU — the builders”! Like they’ve been saying in the gospel message: “You crucified Him.” But now He’s been made the chief corner stone.

What does that mean that Jesus is the “chief corner stone”?

The corner stone is the single most important thing laid in a building; everything finds its place relative to that. And so it is with Jesus. HE is the one, essential element in our salvation, which he makes clear in one of the KEY VERSES in the whole New Testament in :12:

:12 “And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Here we find the essential proclamation of the Early Church in Acts is that Jesus is the ONLY WAY to salvation. That teaching is re-iterated twice in this verse:

— “there is salvation in no one else”

— “there is no other name under heaven … by which we must be saved.” 

So it makes it very clear: Jesus is the only way of salvation.

And the Apostles didn’t make this up. Jesus Himself said in John 14:6, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.”

Peter and the other apostles heard Him, and proclaimed that faithfully, like here in Acts, and other passages like:

— I John 5:11-12 “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does NOT have the life.” 

The bottom line teaching of the New Testament is that you must have Jesus in order to be saved.

This is not a popular teaching today. Many believe it is bigoted and narrow-minded to teach that Jesus is the only way to heaven — which means that other ways are not legitimate. 

But there are many areas of life in which we recognize that there is just one right answer to something. You might ask your group at this point:

??? What is some area of truth in which people generally recognize that there is just one right answer???

— For example: “What is the answer to 2 + 2 ?” Everyone knows there is only one correct answer to that. The answer is “4.” No one things you’re “bigoted” or “narrow-minded” because you recognize that there is just one right answer to that.

— What is the answer to “Who was the first President of the United States?” The answer is George Washington. You might not want to “hurt someone’s feelings” if they answer that incorrectly, but the truth is, there is only ONE correct answer to that. 

And there are a LOT of areas of life that are just like that: there is ONE right answer to a problem, or a question. Any other answer is just not correct. People generally readily accept that there is one, legitimate answer to numerous questions throughout life.

Why do they find it so difficult to believe that the same thing is true in the spiritual realm as well, and that there is just one answer to the question of how we can inherit salvation? 

But it is the clear teaching of Jesus, of the Apostles, and the New Testament, that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation.

Our Baptist Faith & Message (2000) put it this way: “There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.” 

We need to believe that; we need to proclaim it; we need to make  sure our kids and grandkids know it; we need to make sure our class members and church members are fully grounded in it and are ready to STAND on it, just like Peter and the apostles did here in Acts 4. They boldly proclaimed that there is ONE WAY of salvation (before the same group that had just crucified Jesus, by the way!). Let’s pray that God will fill us with that same spirit of boldness to share Jesus as the one way of salvation whenever He puts us “in the center” in our own circumstances today!

III.  The Gospel Messengers  (:13-21)

In this passage we see some of the characteristics of these men who were sharing the Gospel:

:13 is a very insightful verse. What all does it say they observed about Peter & John?

— “they observed the confidence” of these men

—“they were uneducated”

— “and untrained”

— “to recognize them as having been with Jesus”

So there were TWO SIDES to this, right:

— on the one hand, they were uneducated, and untrained

The word “uneducated” is “a-grammatoi” in Greek, literally, “NOT”/“lettered.” Interestingly, “grammateus” is the Greek word for the “scribe.” So it may well mean that they were not “scribes,” not the Jewish religious leaders without the training in the Jewish Law and traditions that many of them had. 

These were not “great learned theologians” or anything of the sort. Do you remember these men’s background? (They were FISHERMEN that Jesus called from their nets!)

— on the other hand, they were had been with Jesus, and they were confident.

Jesus had called them, Matthew 4 says, from their boats and nets, to follow Him. And they had spent the past 3 years with Him. More than that, they had seen Him crucified and dead — and had then seen Him alive! And His Holy Spirit was now in them, empowering them. THAT is where their power and confidence came from. 

This says a lot, doesn’t it? It doesn’t take worldly training and accomplishment to make a person greatly usable by God.

The one irreplaceable prerequisite is to be with Jesus. That gives a confidence and power that nothing else, no training, no worldly wisdom, can replace.

??? Did you ever know someone who did not have a seminary degree or formal religious training, and yet God used them in a great way???

(I think of the youth minister that Cheryl & I had when we were growing up (Steve Bushey). He was young; he had no college or seminary degree — and yet God used him to take hundreds of kids to Falls Creek, saw many saved, got many of us to read our Bibles every day which has impacted us for a lifetime. There are a number from that youth group who are pastors and missionaries today, because of his ministry. You could have looked at him and said: “He is untrained.” But Steve walked with Jesus — and the Lord used him to impact many of us for eternity.

(You/your group can share others like that)

Is there some application for US today? 

That God can use US — even if we aren’t “anything” in the world’s eyes; even if we don’t have great “religious training” etc. If we will truly meet Jesus, and spend time with Him, we can have great confidence, and God can use US today just like He did these fishermen, who turned the world upside down! 

??? Do you think people today can recognize if we have really been with Jesus or not???  How???

(If we are full of His Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, etc. 

If we have His wisdom, His word to share with them.

If they see us saying and doing things that others do not do, etc.

They can recognize that we have been with Jesus. (AND they can probably recognize when we have NOT been with Jesus some days! We all need that daily time with Him!)

Then we see the tenacity of these men in their response to the Jewish leaders who were opposing the Gospel:

:14 “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

:15 says “they began to confer with one another.”

And :18 says “When they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

But :19 says “But Peter & John answered and said to them, ‘Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; (:20) for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

And :21 concludes “When they had threatened them further, they let them go …”.

So they tried to shut these guys down — but they would not stop. I think it’s very revealing what they said: “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.”

When you have some good news, don’t you want to tell somebody?

??? Can you share a time when you just HAD to share some good news with people???

(When one of our kids was born, I remember walking down the sidewalk just afterwards, and I was passing someone and I just blurted out: “We just had a baby!” I was so excited!  

When we are excited and have good news, we want to share it. We can’t HELP but share it! 

I think this has something to say to us when we are not sharing the Gospel today. WHY are we not sharing? Is it because we have “been with Jesus” like the Apostles were? Maybe because we have grown cold in our walk with Him? But the truth is, if we are walking in a fervent way with Jesus, then we will not need any “witness seminars” or “formal training” to share the gospel. If we have been with Jesus, then like the disciples, we will not be able to stop speaking about what we have heard and seen! May God revive us in our walk with Him, so that this becomes so for us and our churches!

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