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as we find ourselves in this 
world so filled with sin and so filled with compromise, may 
you nevertheless steel us up and cause us to reflect upon 
such passages as these. And may you fill us now with 
your Holy Spirit, guide us and keep us and help us as we pursue 
truth. And may you indeed forgive us 
again for all of our sins and transgression. And we ask in 
Jesus' name, Amen. Well, as I said, we have the 
continuing growth of the church in the one section, verses 12 
to 16, and then the continuing persecution of the church in 
verses 17 to the end of the chapter. Now, I want to look at two things 
this morning. First, the apostles imprisoned and released in verses 
17 to 21a, and then secondly, the apostles brought to the council 
or to the Sanhedrin in verses 21b to 26. I'd kind of like to 
try and take more of this but I don't want to take us too far 
into the afternoon. And I want to look first at the 
apostles imprisoned and released. Essentially, what you have is 
they're arrested, they're divinely released, and they are re-arrested 
again. And this divine release is quite 
encouraging, and again, it helps to show us that Christ is for 
His church, and Christ's promise is good, and that the gates of 
hell shall not triumph against the people of God. But let's 
look first at the apostles imprisoned and released. Notice the parties 
involved in verse 17. It says, Now, when it says the 
sect of the Sadducees, that word sect is usually negative in English. It's not so here. It's probably 
just the party of the Sadducees. And remember that we've had cause 
to reflect upon what this Sanhedrin was, or what this religious council 
was. We saw them already in chapter 
4, where they arrest Peter and John, and where Peter and John 
have to stand before this Sanhedrin, a religious council, to give 
their defense. Well, the same pattern is being 
followed here, but it's escalated here. They don't simply give 
them a threat to stop preaching, but here they actually impose 
upon them physical violence. And we see their fury revealed 
when they want to actually kill the apostles. But the Sanhedrin 
was made up of 71 persons. And at this particular time, 
the Sanhedrin was mostly populated. I don't... mostly might not be 
the word, but there were a lot of Sadducees on the Sanhedrin. Now, I simply ask you to remember 
that because what we will find as we move through the passage 
is quite amazing and quite wonderful, and I wonder if Luke didn't have 
a bit of a grin on his face as he penned this particular section. 
So just remember, we've got Sadducees specifically and conspicuously 
mentioned by the sacred author here. So these are the parties 
involved, and essentially what's happening. As Bach says, three 
circumstances evoke the reaction of the high priest and the Sadducees. 
The apostles expanding popularity through preaching, their signs, 
and the apostles' disobedience to the leadership's prohibition 
to preach. You see, they're all kinds of 
upset with these apostles. One, because they're popular 
preachers and people are listening to them. Two, because they can 
engage in signs and wonders such that persons are coming from 
afar and are being healed through the agency of these men. But 
also, they have disobeyed an order. The Sanhedrin told Peter 
and John that they were no longer permitted to preach. Now, Peter 
says we're going to obey God in Acts 4. Peter shows that they 
do indeed obey God in Acts chapter 5, and then Peter reiterates 
this when he stands before the Sanhedrin later on in Acts chapter 
5 at verse 29. But you can see why the Sanhedrin 
is upset. They want to maintain power and 
control. They want to maintain a stronghold 
upon the religious sensibilities of the people of Israel. Well, 
they first had to contend with Jesus of Nazareth, and they saw 
how that went. Jesus of Nazareth commanded great 
crowds of people. Jesus of Nazareth taught multitudes, 
and Jesus of Nazareth also healed a great number of persons, even 
raising some from the dead. And so they crucified Jesus of 
Nazareth in the attempt to silence this new religious sort of uprising. And now, lo and behold, the disciples 
have come, and they are claiming that Jesus of Nazareth has been 
raised from the dead. And these members of the Sanhedrin 
are connected enough to society to know that something certainly 
did happen. The body was not in the tomb. 
If the early leaders who opposed Christianity wanted to stop the 
spread of Christianity, it was imperative upon them to produce 
a body. In other words, if they could 
produce the body of Jesus, that would have stopped it all. But 
they were never able to produce the body of Jesus because he 
was raised the third day, because he showed himself to his disciples, 
and because he ascended on high, he led captivity captive, and 
he gave gifts to men. And so these religious leaders 
are fearful now that their stronghold upon the religious sensitivities 
of the people of Israel is not only compromised, but it's going 
to be further compromised. And so they respond with what 
our text calls indignation. Indignation, they are furious 
at these proceedings. They did what we told them not 
to do. They went out and preached when we said they weren't supposed 
to. Now the word indignation here is translated elsewhere 
as envy. It's also the word zeal. And 
sometimes zeal can be good, and other times zeal can't be good 
or isn't good. But in this context, I think 
it's indignation. It's a good proper translation. 
But probably envy is there as well. You remember what envy 
is? I've often used this illustration 
to try and tell the people here what envy is. Jealousy is when 
I just want what you've got. Envy is when I not only want 
what you've got, but I don't want you to have what you've 
got. And the classic illustration 
was me fishing as a lad with my father and my cousin at a 
river in Oregon, and my cousin pulling fish, trout, out of that 
river left and right, and had a whole stringer full. And I 
was skunked. I got nothing. Well, my cousin 
and my father walked up the river a little bit, and I took that 
stringer of fish, and I let it go, because I didn't want him 
to have caught those fish. That's envy. I didn't just want 
to catch fish. I wanted to deprive him of the 
fish that he had. And I think that's probably contained 
in the thought here. The Sanhedrin is upset, not only 
because they disobeyed a direct order, but because people are 
listening to them. People are fired up by them. 
People are responding to them. More people are coming to Jesus 
Christ because of them. We not only want to get what 
they have, but we don't want them to have what they're getting. 
And so indignation and envy is the motivator that drives these 
men, this Sanhedrin, this religious and political council, heavy 
with Sadducees, to actually go and arrest the apostles. Now 
notice in verse 18, it says, "...and laid their hands on the 
apostles and put them in the common prison." Now notice there's 
escalation, because in Acts chapter 4, it was simply Peter and John 
that were arrested. It was two of the 12, and here 
it's the apostles. It's all 12 of the apostles. 
They are seized, and they are put in the common prison. They 
are put away until the Sanhedrin can convene, and they can testify 
before them. Now notice what happens in terms 
of the text. Well, just before we move on, 
I just want to say that today is the international day of prayer 
for the persecuted church. I don't know who makes these 
things up. I don't know how they actually come into play or, you 
know, are they a part of the official calendar that we as 
God's people need to hold to? I don't think so. I think that 
we typically do try to pray for the persecuted church, both at 
our Wednesday night prayer meetings and then on Sunday morning, every 
other Sunday morning, we have a prayer meeting, and we typically 
try to read those requests that are from suffering Christians 
in other parts of the world, and we try and remember them. 
But if, you know, we look at that today, this is being the 
International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church, we need 
to realize that this isn't a modern phenomenon. It's not something 
new. Now, they say, historians and 
those familiar with such things, they say that the 20th century 
was the bloodiest of all centuries in terms of Christian martyrdom. 
That truly is fascinating. It may be because there's more 
people, more Christians, who knows? But it was indeed a very 
bloody century in terms of the amount of people that died for 
their commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ. But we need to 
remember it's not modern. It's not simply in Uzbekistan 
today or in Sri Lanka. It's not simply the case that, 
you know, Asia Bibi's been acquitted, but Muslims still want to see 
her dead and want to see her family dead and want to see her 
lawyer dead and probably want to see judges dead who actually 
render an acquittal to this woman who didn't do anything. It's 
not modern. It goes back to the very inception 
of the church. As soon as the people of God 
confessed the Christ of God, they were targeted for destruction. 
This has always been a threat to the ruling class. This has 
always been a threat to those engaged in power religion. This 
has always been a threat to those who want to maintain a stronghold 
on a people. It was a threat to Mao Zedong 
in China. Look at what's happening today 
in China. It's a beautiful thing. try as they might, they cannot 
stop the spread of the Christian gospel. And that's what our text 
evidences for us in this passage. Isn't it just intriguing to you 
that while the Pharisees and the Sadducees and the Sanhedrin 
are wondering what's going to be the outcome of all of this, 
a guy shows up and says, hey, the people that you put in prison 
are preaching in the temple. What's Luke telling us? Try as 
you may, you cannot silence the gospel of Jesus Christ. Try as 
you may, you cannot stop the spread of the gospel of Jesus 
Christ. It may look bleak, it may look 
dark, it may look harsh, it may look severe, it may look like 
the work is extinguished, but Christ shall see his seed. Christ has 7,000 that haven't 
bowed the knee to Baal. Christ is building His church, 
and He has promised that the gates of hell shall not prevail 
against it. On this International Day of 
Prayer for the Persecution of the Church, we need to remember 
this isn't a modern phenomena. It has always plagued the people 
of God. such that the Apostle Paul can 
say in 2 Timothy 3, at verse 12, that all who desire to live 
godly in Christ Jesus will what? Will live healthy, wealthy, and 
prosperously? Now, praise God that in His mercy 
life isn't constant misery. Praise God that in His mercy 
we get a nice steak once in a while. Praise God that in his mercy 
we get family and all those sorts of things, but that's not what 
we're promised. What we're promised is all who 
desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. What's Peter tell the church 
he writes to in 1 Peter chapter 4? Don't be surprised at tribulation. I think it was C.S. Lewis who 
wrote a book, booklet, chapter, essay, something, on the problem 
of pain. And here's Lewis as a theologian 
of sorts trying to address the problem of pain in the world. 
Well, I much prefer John Gershner's approach because he wrote The 
Problem of Pleasure. If we understand the concept 
of sin, pain in this world makes sense, right? If we, like sheep, 
have gone astray, offended a holy God, then the repercussions or 
consequences are going to be sorrowful. The thing that Gershner 
points out is the problem of pleasure. That any sinner should 
get a nice steak once in a while? That any sinner should have nice 
family relations once in a while? That's the perplexing question. 
In light of our sin, we deserve God's wrath and curse both in 
this life and that which is to come. You see, brethren, we are 
promised by God persecution with reference to our commitment to 
Jesus. Peter says, don't be surprised 
about it. John says the same thing in 1 John 3.15. My little 
children, don't marvel if the world hates you. You ever do 
that? Oh, I can't understand why Christianity 
is opposed. I can't understand why abortion 
is subsidized. Why abortion and euthanasia is 
subsidized. Because all they that hate me 
love death, Jesus says in Proverbs chapter 8. Again, I'm not justifying 
it. I'm certainly not rationalizing 
it. I'm not saying that it's somehow okay. But when you see 
angry mobs of people trying to put down any notion whatsoever 
of an attempt to possibly overturn Roe versus Wade, what drives 
that? Well, it's demonic, isn't it? 
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities 
and powers of darkness lurking behind the scene. How does Jesus 
describe the devil in John chapter 8? You are of your father, the 
devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was 
a murderer and a liar from the beginning. So, lo and behold, 
we live in a world where the unconverted, the ungodly, the 
unbeliever acts with lies and murder. John and Peter say, don't 
marvel at this. Again, weep over it, be concerned 
about it, pray about it, preach against it, engage accordingly, 
but don't be shocked. Brethren, there is a war against 
God and his Christ. It was penned for us in the second 
Psalm, and it's displayed for us each and every day that we 
live in this world. Again, we get these letters, 
and we pray for these people that are persecuted. But on the 
other hand, and I don't want to see positive necessarily at 
the expense of somebody else's misery, guess what's happening 
in Pakistan? Asia Pity's a threat. One woman 
who gave some water to somebody is a threat to Islam. I gotta 
tell you, if your religion can be brought down by that, you 
got big problems. You don't know what you're facing 
yet with reference to Jesus Christ. You don't know the power that 
he has with reference to stomping out your false religion. In other 
words, brethren, what we find in this passage is paradigmatic 
of what the church has always experienced whenever she has 
functioned faithfully in the world. The world doesn't flock 
into good churches and say, oh, we just love to hear these sorts 
of things. I remember saying a thing one time on Joel Osteen. And at the end of the sermon 
of Joel Osteen, I don't know if you'd call it that. He probably 
wouldn't call it that. They're messages. I had a pastor 
tell me that once. I don't preach sermons. I have 
little love messages. Love messages? The people of 
God need sermons. Can I just say that? They don't 
need sermonettes. They need sermons. They need, 
you know, 16 ounces to the pound preaching. Anyways, after this 
sermon, message, sermonette, whatever it was, self-help meeting, 
this couple comes up to Joel Osteen, and this fellow says, 
I'm a Jew, and my wife's a Roman Catholic, and we just love it 
here. And I thought to myself, if anybody ever does that at 
our church, please take me out back and dispose of me. That shouldn't be the case that 
a Roman Catholic and a Jewish person feel at home in a Christian 
church. Now, I'm not saying we pick on 
them. I'm not saying we throw tomatoes at them. I'm not saying 
anything of the sort. They're certainly welcomed here. 
We will be friendly to them. We will try and encourage in 
terms of commitment to the scripture. But the preaching of the cross 
does what, according to the Apostle Paul? It offends men. It's an 
offense. Paul says this in Galatians. 
If I preach the cross, why am I considered an offense? It's 
because of the cross. It's an offensive message to 
man in sin. It's an offensive message to 
man who thinks he's altogether upright. It's an offensive thing 
when preachers come and say, you're a wretch, you're a sinner, 
you transgress God's law. You say, wait a minute, I'm not 
that bad. Yes, you are. You're a whole 
lot badder than any of us could ever even imagine. There's no 
end to how bad you are. Thankfully, preachers don't know 
that and preachers don't see that. But God Most High does 
because the eyes of Yahweh are in every place, beholding the 
good and the evil. All that to say, brethren, what 
we find in this passage is a pattern, or at least programmatic, for 
what's going to happen with reference to the church whenever she's 
faithful, whenever she does what she's supposed to do. Now, notice, 
I mentioned to you to remember one of the key players in the 
narrative. It's the Sadducees. For sake of time, we won't go 
to Matthew's gospel, but just turn over with me to Acts chapter 
23. Acts chapter 23, just a little bit of a reminder in terms of 
information on the Sadducees. Acts chapter 23, verse 7. And 
when he had said this, a dissension arose between the Pharisees and 
the Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. Which, by the way, 
was masterful on the part of Paul. I mean, we'll see that 
when we get to chapter 23. Just masterful. But anyways, 
notice in verse 8. For Sadducees say there is no 
resurrection, they say there is no angel, and they say there 
is no spirit. But the Pharisees confess both. 
Let me just repeat that. For Sadducees say there is no 
resurrection, the Sadducees say there is no angel, and the Sadducees 
say there is no spirit. Now go back to our text in Acts 
chapter 5 at verse 18. Verse 18 says, and they laid 
their hands on the apostles and put them in the common prison. 
Now verse 19, but at night an angel of the Lord opened the 
prison doors and brought them out and said, Did that make you laugh? In a 
hopefully holy way, right? These Sadducees who deny the 
existence of angels, who breaks the apostles free? It's an angel 
of the Lord. It's probably not the angel of 
the Lord that we find in those Old Testament narratives, but 
it's an angel of the Lord. Again, as I'm thinking through 
this, Luke probably thought, this is genuinely funny. And 
what does this show us? You may be a Sadducee and deny 
the existence of angels, But guess what? Angels exist. You know, we get fearful of these 
atheists and their big studied volumes of rational defenses 
for the non-existence of God. It's garbage. Every word of it. It's trash. Why anybody would 
pay for such drivel is beyond me. Brethren, they're wrong. They are altogether wrong. Somebody 
saying, well, I don't believe in the existence of God doesn't 
mean God doesn't exist. And yet people want to live like 
that, and sometimes Christians sort of live like that. Well, 
you have your beliefs, and I have my beliefs, and we never want 
to say, but we're right. I know that's getting to be most 
offensive today. In a day and age where tolerance 
is the supreme virtue, Christianity is going to increasingly come 
under pressure. Because Christians, at least 
historically, haven't been tolerant. We're the kind of narrow people 
that say, apart from Jesus, you die and end up in hell. We're 
the kind of people that say, unless you come to Christ by 
grace, through faith in Him, you will go to hell. See, that's 
typically been the way that the Christians have responded to 
such things. So as we proceed down this pathway 
of tolerance being the cardinal virtue, do not be surprised if 
Christianity more and more comes under fire. True Christianity. 
Because there's always going to be those panderers. I read, 
I think it was last week, that a group of ministers, and I would 
use air quotes here if that wasn't just weird, but a group of ministers 
blessed a place where they were building a new Planned Parenthood 
facility. Just imagine that, blessing where Moloch is put 
up for child sacrifice. Could you imagine any of the 
priests back in the Old Covenant do that? Some of the Levitical 
priests. You come over here and bless this sacred ground where 
Moloch is going to be perched for the sacrifice of babies. 
That would never happen. Why do they even call them ministers? 
There's a word that's completely devoid of any meaning today, 
reverend. I mean, there's people out there 
reverend. They're pretty irreverent. They 
shouldn't be called reverend. You see, brethren, when virtue 
is the cardinal, or tolerance is the cardinal virtue, as Christians 
start to say, no, it's only through grace, it's only because of Jesus, 
it's forgiveness of sins, we'll come under persecution. The whole 
point is just a denial of angels doesn't mean angels stop existing. 
Just to deny the existence of God doesn't mean God somehow 
isn't there. I love that. But an angel, or at night, an 
angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them 
out and said, it's almost as if Luke is saying, I don't care 
what you Sadducees say. There are angels and they bust 
apostles out of the pokey. and they're great for doing it. 
That's what happens. But at night, there's two other 
jailbreaks in the book of Acts, and we'll get to those someday. 
Acts chapter 12, and then Acts chapter 16. But here specifically, 
notice at verse 19. But at night, an angel of the 
Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out. The angel 
of the Lord is wise. He reshut the prison doors. We 
know that based on what is reported later. He didn't leave the prison 
doors wide open. He shuts the prison doors. Our 
God is a God of order. Shut the door. It's a good thing. 
Anyways, he brings them out and says, verse 20, go stand in the 
temple and speak to the people all the words of this life. Not, you are now free to go and 
continue on. to pursue your pleasure, to pursue 
your retirement, to pursue whatever it is that makes you happy. No, 
you have been freed to preach. You have been freed to continue 
on as bond slaves of Jesus Christ. You have been freed so that you 
may take up the task that was given to you and go to the temple 
first thing in the morning and stand among the people and tell 
them all the words of this life. John Calvin comments on this. 
He says, the Lord doth deliver his children, not to the end 
they may cease off from the course which they have begun, but rather 
that they may be the more zealous afterward. And I would imagine 
that probably is the net effect. If an angel of the Lord busts 
you out of a jail cell, that next sermon is one that you're 
going to want to hear. You have seen the power of God, 
you have seen the glory of God, you have seen the majesty of 
God, and you have underscored or seen underscored the promise 
of Jesus that he would build his church and the gates of hell 
will not prevail against it. These men did what they were 
told and they went and preached. But notice how it's described, 
all the words of this life. All the words of this life, this 
kind of convention or literary technique, is used in a few other 
places in Acts, but I think the one that it's closest to is in 
John 6, 68. Remember this scene. In John 
6, Jesus had healed, or rather, he had fed a great multitude 
of people. And Jesus fed them, and then he started preaching 
to them. The things that he preached to them offended a great deal 
of them. It was what we later call Calvinism 
or Reformed theology. In other words, it was an emphasis 
on divine sovereignty. It was an emphasis upon the power 
of God in the making of saved persons. That was the emphasis, 
and people heard that, and they didn't like it, and so they fell 
away. And so Jesus looks to his immediate 
disciples and he says, do you want to leave too? And what does 
Peter do? Peter says, Lord, to whom shall 
we go? You have the words of eternal life. We don't want to 
go anywhere else. We don't want to depart. We know 
that you have the words of eternal life. We want to be wherever 
you are, Lord. That, I think, is consistent 
with what we find in this particular section. Notice all the words 
of this life. By that, he doesn't mean this 
life that you're bound to in terms of physicality, in terms 
of your job, in terms of your car, in terms of your children, 
in terms of your house, in terms of your whatever. That's not 
this life. This life is the life connected 
to Jesus Christ. It's the life to come. It's eternal 
life. It's the forgiveness of sins. 
It's the righteousness of God given to us, imputed, or the 
righteousness of Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone. 
The words of this life are the gospel. In other words, the angel 
springs them from the prison with this particular message 
to go preach the truth as it is in Jesus. We talked about 
this yesterday. He didn't say, I want you to 
get out of prison and I want you to go on a campaign now to 
overturn the political authority in the Roman Empire. He didn't 
do that. He just didn't do that. He didn't tell them, I want you 
to go march against Nero's palace and I want you to tell them what 
a horrible person he is. He didn't do that. The angel 
frees the apostles so that they can preach the words of this 
life, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fact is that all men are 
sinners and all men are justly liable to the punishment of God, 
but the words of this life reveal a savior. The words of this life 
reveal a way of salvation. The words of this life emphasize 
the life, the death, and the resurrection of the Savior. The 
words of this life tell man that if they come by grace to believe 
on Him, they will be forgiven. They will be cleansed. They'll 
be able to join that blessed class of people that can sing, 
my sin or the bliss of this glorious thought, my sin not in part but 
the whole, is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise 
the Lord. Praise the Lord. John Gill describes 
this life, even of eternal life, as in John 6.68, because they 
show the nature of it, and point out 
the way unto it, not by the law and obedience to that, but by 
Christ and His righteousness, and are the means of quickening 
dead sinners, of reviving drooping saints, and of nourishing them 
up unto eternal life. Beautiful, isn't it? Listen to 
what he says. These words are the means of 
quickening dead sinners, of reviving drooping saints. Drooping saints, 
don't you need the words of this life? Drooping saints, don't 
you need to hear about Jesus? Drooping saints, don't you need 
to be encouraged afresh with the gospel of our blessed Savior? John Gill says you do. So does 
Jim Butler. And of nourishing them up unto 
eternal life. So what do the apostles do? Notice 
in verse 21a, and when they heard that, they entered the temple 
early in the morning and taught. They were spared from their prison 
to go preach, and they did it. It's a beautiful thing when men 
obey God. Now, let's see how the apostles 
are brought to the Sanhedrin. the discovery of their escape 
in verses 21b to 24. The Sanhedrin's assembled, they 
call for the apostles, it's time to meet, it's time to summon 
them to the court, they have to give their defense, they have 
to testify, and they have to be held accountable for disobeying 
our law, our rule, our mandate that they no longer teach in 
the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now notice in verse 22, "...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." So the doors 
were secured, the guards were still standing present, but when 
the doors were opened, the apostles are gone. I think Matthew Poole 
helpfully comments here, He says, let me just find the quote here. He says, all means imaginable 
were used to secure their prisoners, but when God will deliver, what 
can keep them? In other words, throw at the 
people of God anything and everything, secure doors in a prison, guards, 
and these guards were men that were fit and ready and willing 
and able to inflict pain and punishment and suffering on persons 
that tried any monkey business. You know, when we see these officers 
go to take them without violence, just in a moment we'll see that, 
Be assured these officers were ready to engage with violence. They're the same officers that 
we find in Gethsemane. They're the same officers that 
Peter felt threatened enough by to take a sword out and launch 
it, hopefully, at the head of one of them, but clipped his 
ear. These men were ready to do violence. These weren't the 
guy that didn't have anything better to do, so you just posted 
him on the door there. No, they were ready to throw 
down. But God protects, God watches over, God preserves, God cares. Now, notice in verse 24, now, 
when the high priest, the captain of the temple, and the chief 
priests heard these things, they wondered what the outcome would 
be. Now, I just want to take that 
little phrase for just a quick moment. Time's running quickly 
this morning. that they wondered what the outcome would be. There's 
probably two ways we could go with that little clause. First, 
we could say, they wondered about what was happening in terms of 
how did they get out. What's your typical jailbreak? 
There wasn't a TNT thing. There wasn't broken doors. There 
weren't killed guards. There wasn't this ingenious plan 
to engage in subterfuge and hide in a trash can. No, there wasn't 
any of that. So they might have been wondering, 
how'd they get out? See, brethren, we know verses 
19 and 20, but they didn't. In fact, many of them didn't 
even believe in angels. That would have never arisen 
on their radar. They wouldn't have thought for 
a moment, oh, I know what happened. Angels came, or an angel came 
and let them out. So they may be faced with a real 
conundrum. Either the officers are in cahoots 
with the apostles, the temple police, They may be sympathizers, 
or worse yet, maybe within the Sanhedrin. Maybe we've got problems 
within our own ranks. Maybe there are those who are 
sympathetic to this movement, and they went in cover of night. 
They bribed the guards. That's not what's in view, though 
I don't think that's a stretch to imagine some of that went 
on in their heads. But I think it's more in terms 
of the present and in terms of the future. They wondered what 
the outcome would be with these 12 men recently broken out of 
prison who've already demonstrated their failure to submit to our 
mandate to not preach. In other words, they're wondering, 
what's going to happen now? How is this movement going to 
proceed? How is this thing going to function? 
They're wondering the same thing, Mao wondered. They're wondering 
the same thing, Stalin wondered. They're wondering the same thing, 
Hitler wondered. They're wondering the same thing, 
what Chinese communists wonder. They're wondering what happens 
when you have a band of faithful men who have this message in 
their bosom and they aren't afraid to go and preach it. That's what 
they're wondering about. They're thinking, what now? How 
do we stop it? If 12 men escaped undetected, 
what are we up against? Makes clear the advice of Gamaliel. When we move on in the chapter, 
Gamaliel says, you might want to rethink what you're doing 
here. You might want to just back it down a bit, because if 
these guys really are of God, everything you throw at them 
is going to fail. See, Gamaliel at least gets points 
for thinking smartly or wisely in the midst of all of this. 
But we'll have to consider Gamaliel's advice here. Is it true? If a particularly faithful church 
is eradicated from the face of the map, does that mean that 
God's word isn't true? Not at all. We don't ultimately 
judge by results. We don't ultimately judge by 
numbers. We don't ultimately judge by 
how many people. We judge by the truth revealed 
in Scripture. See, I think that's a big one 
for all of us that we really struggle with. Just doing what 
the Bible says, believing what the Bible says. We want numbers, 
we want results, we want to see. Maybe you guys, me, praying on a Sunday 
morning, God, please save somebody. Demonstrate your sovereignty. 
Show us what we call Calvinism. Display for us Reformed theology. 
Well, whether somebody gets saved this morning or not, If they 
don't, that doesn't mean Calvinism's wrong. It doesn't mean Reformed 
theology is wrong. It doesn't mean the Bible is 
wrong. It means that God, in His sovereignty, has chosen not 
to save someone today. So, Gamaliel, while a wise light 
among a bunch of dim bulbs, nevertheless, I want to consider that line 
of advice in terms of practicality. Is that legit? We wipe out a 
faithful preacher, does that mean the gospel's not true? No, 
it doesn't mean that at all. But here, I think he's given 
them some sage advice. You really need to think through 
what you're doing at this particular time. So, their perplexity is 
they're wondering about the outcome would be. Now, lo and behold, 
again, in Lukean fashion, to sort of answer for us and at 
the same time amuse us, he says, verse 25, So one came and told 
them, saying, Look, the men whom you put in prison are standing 
in the temple and teaching the people. Get the conundrum here. They're wondering, what's going 
to happen now? Look, the guys you imprisoned, 
they're preaching in the temple, the very thing we didn't want 
them doing. They're wondering what's going to happen, and while 
they're wondering what's going to happen, somebody comes to 
tell them what is happening, and it's precisely contrary to 
what they want to happen. That's beautiful narrative. That's 
glorious display of God's grace. That is magnificent for us to 
understand. So one came and told them saying, 
look, the men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple 
and teaching the gospel. The Apostles said they would 
disobey the Council's orders in 419 and 420. The Apostles 
display their willingness to disobey the Council's orders 
in this section. The Apostles will reiterate that 
commitment to disobey any man that will ever pit them against 
God in 529. They wondered what the outcome 
would be, and they get a big dose of it right now. So they 
respond by rearresting. They respond by going after them. They respond by trying once again 
to silence the spread of the Christian gospel. Verse 26, then 
the captain went with the officers and brought them without violence. What is a necessary inference 
we should draw? The apostles didn't resist arrest. They didn't take swords and cut 
off ears. They learned something in Gethsemane. 
They learned something in Gethsemane. Now, I'm not suggesting that 
we never can say, but I was innocent, or we can't launch a defense 
in terms of a criminal hearing or a civil hearing. I'm not suggesting 
that at all. The Bible is filled with that 
very thing. Rules of evidence, corroboration, 
due process. The scriptures are replete with 
such themes. But it is intriguing that no 
violence is inflicted upon the apostles at this point, because 
they didn't resist arrest. They went with them. They were 
compliant to them. Even unjust men, even ungodly 
men, even men that would try and pit them against their own 
god, they nevertheless submitted, and they went with the officers. But notice, the text reveals 
more. The captain went with the officers 
and brought them without violence. Now, here's the motivating factor. 
For they, this is the Sanhedrin, feared the people lest they should 
be stoned. Again. This is the emphasis. We see it in Luke 22. We see 
it in Matthew. It's even more conspicuous in 
Luke. The Sanhedrin feared taking Jesus at the Passover. Why? Because Jesus was popular. People wanted to hear Jesus. 
People had been healed by Jesus. And so the Sanhedrin reckoned 
that if we go in there on Passover day and we arrest Jesus and drag 
him out, these supporters may pick up stones and throw them 
at us. That's why they hired Judas to 
go in the cover of darkness. That's why they hired Judas to 
be the betrayer. That was orchestrated by this 
Sanhedrin, Annas and Caiaphas. It was organized by these selfsame 
men. They hired... Judas was a wretch. 
Judas betrayed the master. But Judas was a pawn of conspirators, 
and that conspiracy was the Sanhedrin. Well, they're facing the same 
problem now. The apostles are popular. People 
want to hear the preaching of the apostles. People are coming 
to hear or see the signs and wonders of the apostles. So they 
can't just rush into the temple complex and seize these apostles 
and drag them off to jail. They can't do this at this point 
because they fear that the multitudes will pick up stones and throw 
them at the Sanhedrin. They're really on the horns of 
a dilemma. It's wonderful, isn't it? It's 
glorious and it's awesome that God Most High is overruling this 
wickedness for the advancement of His church. Beautiful, beautiful, 
beautiful stuff. Well, in terms of some concluding 
thoughts, we need to first appreciate the persecution by the enemies 
of Jesus Christ. Persecution of the church by 
the enemies of Jesus Christ. Again, this isn't something just 
then, and it's not something just now. I mean, there's full 
books on martyrdom. John Foxe's Book of Martyrs, 
that is a book that has encouraged and edified believers throughout 
the centuries. There's, you know, big fat volumes 
on martyrology, persons that died for the cause of Christ 
in various circumstances, various places, various positions, various 
times in the history of the world. This ain't no new thing. Christians 
have typically been hated by the world when Christians are 
doing what they're supposed to be doing. On the one hand, the 
world doesn't hate it that Christians pay their taxes, that Christians 
typically try to keep their lawns cut, that Christians typically 
show up at work on time. They don't hate that. That's 
not offensive. They hate it when the Christian actually opens 
up his or her mouth and presses the claims of God and truth upon 
them. They hate it when the Christian 
says, you're a sinner and you need Jesus. They just hate that. They hate the thought that it's 
somehow, you know, that horrible people are going to end up in 
heaven. That's just not fair. They don't understand that everybody's 
a horrible person and nobody should end up in heaven. And 
that's what grace does. You see, brethren, the people 
of God have been persecuted by the world. In our section, in 
chapters 4 and 5, they threaten the apostles. Again, we don't 
really get that because we've never had an authority structure 
in our world threaten us to no longer worship Jesus. We can't even sort of enter in. 
Now, maybe down in the future we will. And I'm no prophet of 
the Son of a prophet. Maybe it's going to get better. Maybe somebody's 
gonna get converted, and they're gonna be in charge of Ottawa, 
and they're gonna do great things. That could happen. God is good 
and glorious. But on the other hand, it may 
not. There's my pessimism coming out. No pessimist ever wants 
to admit they're a pessimist. They say they're a realist. I 
don't know if I'm a pessimist. My wife would probably say, yeah, 
you are. She bought me a magnet many, many, many years ago. They 
are out to get you or something. I don't even remember what it 
says. You've heard that old adage, just because you're paranoid 
doesn't mean they're not trying to get you. Oh, he's paranoid, 
but they really are trying to get him. I'm not that. It could 
get worse. We don't know what it's like 
to have an actual law stipulated wherein we cannot preach the 
gospel of Jesus Christ. How will we respond? If we never 
preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in peacetime, it's doubtful we'll 
do it in wartime. That's my thought. You look at 
that passage in 2 Timothy chapter 4, where the Apostle Paul, coming 
to the end of his life, says, I have fought the good fight, 
I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Do you know why 
Paul could say that in the 11th hour? Because he said it in hours 
1 to 10. In other words, if you're never witnessing when you have 
liberty and freedom, I doubt you're gonna witness when you 
are threatened not to. But as well, they actually laid 
their hands on all the apostles. They physically restrained them. They used coercive power to put 
them in a jail cell overnight. They stripped them of their freedom. 
They stripped them of their dignity. They stripped them of those things 
that ought to be precious in the sight of all God's creatures. 
As well, they remind the apostles of their threat with great vehemence. I mean, verse 28, it's just power 
politics, power religion. 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. We see how they respond with reference to the apostolic defense. They're furious and they want 
to kill them. Gamaliel, a voice of reason, 
prevails, so they don't kill them, but they scourge them. 
They beat these men. Why? Because they obeyed God 
rather than them. They wanted to be a rival god 
at this particular time. We need to remember not only 
that this happened in the first century, but brethren, we do 
need to remember the persecuted church. I said earlier, and I 
think it's just a small, tiny, minuscule attempt, on a Wednesday 
night, every other Sunday morning, we try to pray for those particular 
concerns. But this is a mandate for all 
of God's people, those who go to prayer meeting and those who 
don't. We are told in the book of Hebrews, let brotherly love 
continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some 
have unwittingly entertained angels. Remember the prisoners 
as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you 
yourselves are in the body also. Do you as a regular habit, It 
doesn't mean every single day. It doesn't mean every moment 
of every single day. But at some point in your life, do you remember 
that there's people in other parts of the world that don't 
get to do what we're doing here? The biggest complaint we might 
have is, you might go past 12.30. Or the biggest complaint others 
might have is armed men wanting to do violence to us may come 
crashing through those doors. See, there's a whole world outside 
The whole group of people that we call brother and sister that 
don't have the liberties that we enjoy. There's, you know, 
67 incidents facing Sri Lankans just recently in terms of persecution 
against Christians. That was my particular group 
to pray for this morning. But there was Uzbekistan, another 
stand. There was China. We get these 
reports consistently, continually from the Hamiltons and the Santiago's, 
and the constant refrain is this, they are increasingly putting 
pressure on God's people. In the spirit of Mao, they want 
to silence the Christ. But in the spirit of Matthew 
16, Jesus is building his church, and he's doing a fine job there 
in China. He's doing a magnificent job 
in terms of the salvation of sinners in that land. Brethren, 
the point is, you need to think about this. There is a duty commanded 
in the book of Hebrews that you remember the prisoners. that 
you think about them, that you pray for them, that you write 
letters to them, that you involve yourselves in them, and try to 
see that they get freedom, or see that they get food, or see 
that they get some sort of decent treatment. And then in terms 
of the triumph, we ought to see this as well. The delightful 
contrast in verse 19. And maybe that didn't thrill 
you as much as it did me, but thought that Sadducees are involved 
and an angel of the Lord frees them. That's just great. That's 
awesome. But as well, the inability of the Sanhedrin, prisons, or 
guards to hold the apostles when God wants them preaching. Daryl Bach makes the observation, 
he says, the undercurrent to this passage, to the passage, 
is that nothing will be able to stop the advance of the gospel 
message. Divine leading and protection are on the apostles' side. The 
opposition may persecute them, but will never crush them. And then I would suggest, in 
terms of the triumph of the gospel of Jesus Christ, we ought to 
appreciate the boldness of these men. The boldness of these men, 
the courage of these men, these men that are willing to resist 
this sort of pressure, these men that are listening to the 
Sanhedrin, men that they would respect, men that at one time 
they would have held in high regard, now they have to hear 
these men threaten them. upon the pain of death, upon 
the pain of scourge, upon the pain of the deprivation of freedom 
in terms of prison, they have to hear these men tell them not 
to do what they're doing. Now, we can't take it for granted 
that everybody's got the same heart of courage. You go back 
to the days of Ahab, and there's an introduction of a man by the 
name of Elijah, Elijah the Tishbite. Out of nowhere, 1 Kings chapter 
17, there's Elijah. No prep, no, there was this man 
by the name of Elijah, he was married, had three kids, and 
he tended goats, and then all of a sudden, no, he's just right 
there. What's God saying? When evil prevails in the person 
of Ahab, God has his antidote in the person of Elijah. Now, 
there was another prophet at the time called Obadiah, and 
Obadiah was a good man. Obadiah was an excellent man. 
Obadiah did much to harbor and provide safe haven for the prophets 
of God. But Obadiah wasn't Elijah. Elijah 
was the sort of fellow that would go up on Mount Carmel and laugh 
at false prophets. Elijah was the sort of person 
that would throw down the gauntlet. Elijah was the sort of person 
that would say, OK, let's see your God pony up. We'll present 
our offerings, and whosoever God answers by fire. Not every 
man's an Elijah, brethren. Obadiah wasn't. Doesn't mean 
Obadiah's bad. Doesn't mean he doesn't get sort 
of accolades or credit for being a great guy in the prophetic 
scheme or guild. But we need Elijahs. We need 
the apostolic ministry. We need men like John Knox, of 
whom it was said, he neither feared nor flattered the face 
of any man. In other words, when God wants 
to do great things, He raises up men, and He utilizes those 
men, and we in the church today ought to be thankful for that 
band of faithful apostles that the Lord raised up, that stared 
down the sword, that kept on going, that knew the threat of 
the lions under Nero, and never stopped preaching the gospel. 
You want to talk about the triumph of the gospel. These 12 men will 
turn the world upside down. We ought to be thankful for them. 
We ought to be very thankful. And I want to end finally by 
answering the question. They wondered what the outcome 
would be. Well, men from every tribe, tongue, 
people, and nation. a great multitude that no man 
can number, a glorious church made up of a whole host of people 
from various backgrounds, from various people groups, all consolidated 
in their love for God, their faith in the Savior, their commitment 
to honor and obey that Lord. That's what will come of those 
apostles getting broken out of jail by that angel in Acts chapter 
5. I don't think that they were 
thinking in 2,000 years. They were thinking more about 
Thursday, if it was Thursday. But brethren, that's what happened. That small band committed to 
this truth did in fact turn the world upside down. Today, what 
was very minuscule in China, numbers a great deal of people 
that profess the true faith in Jesus Christ our Lord. Why are 
the Muslims in Pakistan so upset about the acquittal of a woman? 
Because it's the religion of the cross. It's the Lord Christ. It's the reality that the preaching 
of the gospel turns men from their useless idols to the true 
and living God. And on the one hand, brethren, 
we ought to lament and grieve when we read these emails and 
these prayer letters concerning the persecution of the church, 
but on the other hand, the church is a threat in those countries. 
The people of God are an irritant in those countries. May it be 
the case that that's the way it would be here in Canada. May we be seen as a threat, because 
we're going to take physical arms and march against Ottawa, 
but because we're going to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. That's what the triumph of the 
truth looks like. And if you have not believed 
the words of this life, that's the emphasis in this message. 
Believe the truth concerning Jesus. Believe the reality that 
He lived, He died, He was raised the third day. And all those 
who come to Him will not only receive the forgiveness of sins, 
but they'll receive a righteousness that avails with God. One day, 
all those who have believed will hear those blessed words, well 
done, good and faithful servant, because of the work of the Master 
on their behalf. Well, let us pray. Father in 
Heaven, we thank you for your Word, we thank you for the triumph 
of the Church, and for the reality that as men may try to stop the 
preaching of the Gospel, they will always fail against the 
High King of Heaven. We ask that you would bless the 
word as it goes forth throughout the earth today. We do pray for 
those in prison, those who've lost homes or businesses or other 
things with reference to their commitment to Christ. And we 
pray that you'd uphold your people wherever they find themselves. 
Grant them boldness and courage and grace to continue to live 
for the Lord Jesus Christ in otherwise difficult situations. And we pray that you would help 
us to be faithful, help us to be in earnest, and help us to 
bring glory to you. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord. Amen. Well, let's sing the Doctrine 
and Covenants.