(A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: ??? Did you/someone you know ever disobey a law/command/guideline, to do something you believed God wanted you to do?
(— A friend of mine and I shared the gospel one time in a college report to the class when the professor had warned us not to. She was pretty ticked off at us, and spoke against us in class.
— I went to India to share the gospel when there was a restriction in place against doing missionary work there …

You/your group can share any experiences you may have had, then transition to the fact that in our text for today, we see how Peter & the apostles in the early church obeyed God rather than men, especially in sharing the Gospel where they lived.

CONTEXT:
In Acts 5 Peter and the Apostles had been arrested (again) for preaching the gospel when they had been ordered to stop. An angel released them from prison, and they went right back out and started preaching again — and they were arrested again!
In :27-28 the Jewish ruling Council (the Sanhedrin) told them: “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching …”.
Our focus passage for today begins with Peter’s response to the Sanhedrin:

OUTLINE:
I. The Highest Obedience (:29)
II. Sharing the Gospel (:30-32)
III. Perseverance in Ministry (:33-42)

TEXT:

I. The Highest Obedience (:29)
Peter and the apostles open our passage for this week with their famous response to the Council: “We must obey God rather than men.” The Jewish leaders had repeatedly told them NOT to share Jesus any more. But they did anyway.

??? Why do you think they shared Jesus despite the order not to???
(— As they said in 4:20 “We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” They just COULDN’T stop speaking! They had seen Jesus alive; they were full of the Holy Spirit; they just HAD to share Him!
— Also in Acts 1:8 Jesus had commanded them to be His witnesses, in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, & the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus had commanded them, so they were going to obey HIM, rather than these men.
And that is what they said here: “We must obey God rather than men.”

Now, there IS a balance to be kept here. Generally speaking, Christians should be the first to obey the law. Romans 13:1 says, “Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.” So Christians are commanded to obey the law. Our lives should not be generally marked by disobedience, but by submissive obedience to our country’s laws. That’s why Romans 13:7 goes on to say, we are to give “tax to whom tax is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honor to whom honor.” We are to obey, pay taxes, and be respectful of government and its leaders.

BUT on the other hand, Government is not our ultimate authority. JESUS is! This is the very heart of the Christian commitment. The basic Christian commitment is “Jesus is Lord.” (Romans 10:9, Philippians 2:11, I Cor. 12:3, etc.) “Lord” means “master, boss.” The “Lord” is the person you are committed to obey. Jesus said in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ but do not do what I say?” To call Him “Lord” means you are committed to obey Him.

— In this passage we see the first Christians doing this in the early church. Their ultimate obedience was NOT to the ruling Sanhedrin, who told them not to preach in Jesus’ name, but to what Jesus had commanded them to do, which was to be His witnesses. They would obey HIM, not them!

— A few years later, amidst persecution, Christians refused to obey Caesar’s command to burn a pinch of incense and say “Caesar is Lord.”

Our New Orleans Baptist Seminary has a good quote about the history of this, that you could reference or read:
“Toward the end of the first century, Emperor Domitian sent out a decree that all in his empire should worship him as “God the Lord.” Residents of the empire were ordered to come to the public square, burn a pinch of incense, and speak the words ‘Caesar kurios,’ ‘Caesar is lord.’ This act of devotion seemed little enough in light of the emperor’s divine power and benevolence toward his subjects. And refusal could result in imprisonment, confiscation of property, banishment, and even death. Christians, however, did refuse. They confessed a higher allegiance: ‘Iesous kurios,’ ‘Jesus is Lord,’ recalling Paul’s admonition, ‘If you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom. 10:9). (Rex Butler, NOBTS.edu article, “Geaux Therefore”, 10/17/16)

Many of those first-century Christians went to their deaths, because they would not compromise and say “Caesar is Lord.” No, “Jesus is Lord,” they said. And like the Apostles in Acts 5, “We must obey God rather than men”!

Of course there is application for us TODAY in this too. In every generation, the enemy tries to still the Christian voice and witness. But we must be ready to say “We must obey God rather than men.” We’ve seen this in recent years in our own country:

— CNN website article July 3, 2020:  “While you can still attend in-person church services in California, you can’t sing. The state, to curb a rapidly worsening pandemic, has temporarily banned singing and chanting in places of worship.”
Many Christians in California reacted to this and other restrictions by basically saying what Peter and the apostles did here: “We must obey God rather than men”! And they disobeyed the California state law and worshiped as they felt led. I felt the same way. The government can offer health guidance — but they are not going to dictate and control what we do in the confines of our our worship services. That is going too far. “We must obey God rather than men.”

— Florida Governor Ron DeSantis recently made headlines by refusing to comply with the new Title IX Guidelines, that the Federal Government had redefined to the include the promotion of transgenderism, which is absolutely unscriptural.

This is the concept called “civil disobedience.” Civil disobedience takes place when you purposefully disobey the law, to stand for a moral principle. Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King made this famous in the 1900s as they sought independence for India, and equality under the law for African Americans. Peter and the Christians of the early church gave us this example in the first century! And as we see, there are still times today when we will be called to obey Christ rather than men, because He is our Lord.

??? What are some other times today in which we may need to choose to “obey God rather than men”???
(— When people tell you not to share Jesus. That is the original context here: the Jewish authorities commanded them not to preach or teach in the name of Jesus, but they would not be quiet. They said “We must obey God rather than men” — and they shared Jesus anyway.
We might face the same kinds of situations at OUR jobs:
— they may tell you not to share Christ at school, or at the plant, or wherever you work. But if God gives you the opportunity, and the Holy Spirit is leading you, your attitude should be: “I must obey God rather than men” and share Christ anyway. That is probably the primary application of this verse for us today.
— There are countries in the world right now where it is a “hate crime” to teach what the Bible says about homosexuality. Godly pastors have been arrested for preaching and teaching what God says. In Canada, Youth Pastor Stephen Boissoin was found guilty of “hate crime” for writing a letter to the paper disagreeing with the gay/lesbian agenda. There are several examples of this in other countries — and it may be coming here too! We pastors and teachers need to be ready to go to prison, rather than compromise what the Bible teaches. We need to say “We must obey God rather than men.”

There are a number of other possible applications:
— if the government orders you to teach transgender activism in school. The Christian response would be to say, “I must obey God rather than men.”
— I have friends who were seeking to dissuade women from having an abortion. They were ordered by local authorities to refrain from speaking to women going to the abortion center. They said “We must obey God rather than men” and did it anyway. 1 or 2 of my friends were arrested for it.

You/your group can think of many other applications. But the point here is, that JESUS IS LORD! This is the very basic Christian commitment. And if Jesus truly IS our Lord, then we will obey HIM and not our government, our supervisor, or anyone else. “Jesus is Lord.” He is worthy of our utmost obedience!

II. Sharing the Gospel (:30-32)
After saying that Jesus had their highest allegiance, and that they must obey God rather than men, Peter then went a step further and actually shared the Gospel AGAIN, before the Sanhedrin themselves! We read his brief message in :30-32,

“The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. (:31) He is the One whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (:32) And we are witnesses of these things; and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.”

We see several important things in his brief message here.
(You might ask your group: “What all insights do you see in his message?” and discuss them, OR you could just point out these things as you lecture, depending on your style/your class):

— First, Peter re-iterates the “gospel basics”: “YOU had (Jesus) put to death”; “The God of our Fathers raised up Jesus.”
Once again, he points out THEIR SIN, JESUS’ DEATH on the cross and His resurrection; and then THEIR RESPONSE: they need to repent and put their faith in Jesus.

— :30 starts, “The God of our Fathers.” This is important, I.e., Peter was saying that what they are proclaiming is not some “strange, radical heresy” or faith; no, this is “the God of our Fathers.” This is the culmination of everything that was given to us in the Old Testament which we already know and love. Like Jesus said in Matthew, He didn’t come to destroy it, but to fulfill it! Jesus FULFILLED all those Old Testament scriptures like Isaiah 53 and so on. This is one of the most powerful arguments for the Christian faith: that Jesus didn’t just “arise from nowhere” and claim to be Lord; no, He was prophesied hundreds of years in advance, and then fulfilled those prophecies specifically. Peter was saying, this is not some “cult;” this is the faith of “The God of our fathers”: this is the Substitute that was promised to Abraham when God gave the ram in the place of his son, etc. This is the Biblical faith of “the God of our fathers.”

— Then notice in :31, Peter mentions “repentance” again. How many times have we seen this? Repentance was a key element in the Apostles’ preaching and teaching: it is always “repent” and trust what God did in Jesus — though we often omit repentance in our preaching and teaching. But we need to recapture this Biblical emphasis. Repentance is a crucial aspect of the Gospel.

I plan to use this SLIDE: with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s “The Cost of Discipleship”: he says that “cheap grace” is “the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance.”

According to Bonhoeffer, much of today’s preaching and teaching is just “cheap grace” — because we are not preaching and teaching repentance. Salvation is NOT just given because we believe who Jesus is; James 2 tells us the demons know that, better than we do! No, we must personally REPENT of our sins and trust Jesus as Lord & Savior. Repentance is for many the “missing ingredient” — a vital missing ingredient!

— Notice also how Peter describes Jesus here: he calls Him “a Prince and a Savior”: “prince” here is the Greek word “arch-egos” arch = ‘first’) and “ago” = “to lead,” “leader”. Jesus is the “First Leader” – I.e, “LORD”! He is to have our FIRST allegiance! This is why we must obey HIM rather than men, as Peter and the others did in this passage.

And notice the combination here of “First Leader” and “Savior.” It’s basically the same as the expression, “Lord & Savior.” BOTH of these aspects of His person are vital:
— Jesus is our Ruler/Lord. He is GOD, and we are to obey Him.
— The problem is, we all fall short of that; NONE of us obey Him perfectly. This is why we can also be thankful that He is also our “Savior” — the One who forgives our sins when we fall short.
This combination is perfect and balanced: He is both our Lord, and our Savior. They go together. He is not your Savior if He is not your Lord!

— Then notice he also mentions “the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey Him.” The Holy Spirit is an integral part of the Gospel. Christianity is not just some “religion” we follow; no, it is “GOD IN US;” the Holy Spirit of God Himself comes into our lives when we are saved. As Paul writes in I Corinthians 6:19, “your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, who you have from God.”
And He comes into our life when we “obey Him” as Peter says here — NOT meaning, as long as we obey Him, that His Spirit will be in us, or anything like that. Rather it means if we obey the GOSPEL: and repent of our sins and put our trust in Christ as Lord & Savior, that God will give you His Spirit to come and live in you — just as Ephesians 1:13 says, “In Him you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation — having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise.” God gives us His Spirit, when we obey Him by believing and receiving the gospel.

III. Perseverance in Ministry (:33-42)

So Peter shared the Gospel with these Jewish leaders, but their reaction was not good. Verse 33 says “But when they heard this, they were cut to the quick and intended to kill them.” These men had just killed Jesus — and now they intended to kill Peter and the others. (This again reminds us of just how bold the apostles were here. They were likely going to die for their faith in Christ, just as Jesus Himself had died.)

“BUT”, :34 says! “BUT a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law, respected by all the people, stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the men outside for a short time.”

??? What do we know about Gamaliel??? What do we see here in the text: (train your class to spot these things in the Word!)
— A Pharisee
— a teacher of the Law
— respected by all the people.

We also know some more about him from some other places:
— There is ONE other place in scripture where he is named:
In Acts 22:3 Paul is arrested in the Temple just like Peter and the Apostles were here, and in his defense he tells them:
“I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated under Gamaliel, strictly according to the law of our fathers, being zealous for God just as you all are today.”
So he mentions that he was “discipled” by this teacher Gamaliel, and he seems to be using it in a context of like: “Hey, I was taught by HIM; I am not some heretic!” Gamaliel was a very respected teacher
— The Jewish Encyclopedia.com tells us that Gamaliel was the grandson of the famous Jewish rabbi Hillel (there were 2 rabbinical “schools” of thought: Hillel and Shammai. Hillel was considered the most “conservative.” So Gamaliel had a strong, orthodox “pedigree.” And The Jewish Encyclopedia says he became the leader of the Sanhedrin in the last third of the first century.

And you can see why he would: he really demonstrates wisdom in this passage:

??? What were the Jews about to do the Apostles???
(They were about to put them to death)

But see what Gamaliel said in :35-39:
“And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. But he was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 After this man, Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census and drew away some people after him; he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 So in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action is of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

???So what was Gamaliel’s advice???
(Basically: WAIT! Don’t act rashly.
He gave two examples from the past:
— In :36 he says ‘some time ago Theudas rose up” with 400 others (interesting he uses the expression “claiming to be somebody” — we get in trouble when we “claim to be somebody”! But he says he was killed and it all “came to nothing.”
— Then in :37 he says Judas of Galilee rose up, but he also died and his followers were scattered.

So he gave two examples from history — I believe this is a sign of a WISE PERSON: HE LEARNED FROM THE LESSONS OF HISTORY!
— Winston Churchill said in a speech before the British Parliament that “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” You might PRINT/POST that quote and discuss it …

— C.S. Lewis wrote about what he called “chronological snobbery”: the outlook that because an idea is old, that it is somehow “out of date,” and no longer relevant. He suggested that instead we “read old books” and learn from history.

Gamaliel DID learn from history. And he said the lesson of history is, if these men are not anything, their movement will soon fizzle out. But he said in :39, “But if it IS of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God.”

So basically he was telling them: listen, TIME WILL TELL!
Time tells a lot of things.
For EX: I have a relative right now, who is elderly, and just fractured his hip, and in the rehab center he seems disoriented and does not know what day it is, where he is, etc. The staff said they do not know if he is declining mentally, or if it might just be his medications. “Time will tell.”

And time tells on a lot of things. Gamaliel says time will tell on whether these men are really from God or not.

:40-42 tell us: “They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them. 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. 42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

So what did the apostles do? “They kept right on preaching and teaching”! They DID keep on; they DID persevere — and 2000 years later, we know that they were indeed of God.
“Time will tell.” Or really, “Perseverance will tell”!

This has a lot of application for us today too!
— Is someone we know really saved, or will they “fizzle out”? Time will tell. If they persevere they will reveal themselves to be genuine.
— Is some pastor or minister genuine or are they a fake? Don’t be too quick to judge; time will tell! If they persevere in doing God’s work, they are of him. “Time will tell.”
— But the most important question for each of us is not is someone ELSE fake or genuine, but WILL WE PERSEVERE in the faith? WILL WE PERSEVERE in doing God’s work?
The apostles faced many obstacles, as we see in this passage — but they persevered. “They kept right on teaching and preaching Jesus as the Christ.”

Perseverance is SO MUCH of the Christian life. A lot of times we think a lot about what happens in a single day, a single event, etc. But much more important is what we do in the long haul; the long run. Will we persevere in our ministry? (This is a good word for many of us as teachers: it’s not so much that you have a “home run” lesson that one Sunday that is just “so spectacular” and wows everyone — but will you faithfully teach God’s word over time, so that His Spirit will use it to slowly change lives? 
So much of the Christian life is about perseverance. Just hang in there; just persevere — God so often blesses, if we will just persevere in our ministry “and not lose heart” as Galatians 6 says.

Let’s follow the example of the apostles, and “keep right on preaching and teaching Jesus as the Christ.” Let’s persevere in our faith and ministry, and so demonstrate that we are really His.

---

______________________________________________________________________________

— Remember if you’d like to read/print a text version of this overview, to print out the lesson, or use one of the quotes or stories, that is available on my blog at http://www.shawnethomas.com (I’ll post that address in the comments section below).

— If you’ll hit “Subscribe” to this video, YouTube will automatically send you next week’s video and you won’t have to search for it.

— And if you write something in the Comments below, I’ll be sure to pray for your and your group by name this week.

Per my licensing agreement with Lifeway:

— These weekly lessons are based on content from Explore the Bible Adult Resources. The presentation is my own and has not been reviewed by Lifeway.

— Lifeway resources are available at: goExploretheBible.com and: goexplorethebible.com/adults-training

— If you have questions about Explore the Bible resources you may send emails to explorethebible@lifeway.com