Word of Salvation – Vol. 21 No. 24 – March 1975

 

The Challenge Of The Gospel Challenged

 

Sermon by Rev. W. J. Van Schie, Th.Grad. on Acts 5:17-42

Scripture reading: Acts 5:17-42

 

INTRODUCTION

While the young people of the Newcastle W.H.B.L. Team were working at the stall at the Mattarra festival, something happened that was quite upsetting.  A man came up to the counter in the tent and said, “What you are doing is wrong.  I am a Christian: I know that you are wrong.  Read Matthew 24:24 and you will see what I mean.”  And with that the man promptly left.

Later the team looked up Matthew 24:24 and this is what the text said.  “For false Christ’s will arise, false prophets, and will do wonderful miracles, so that if it were possible, even God’s chosen ones would be deceived.”  In other words this man called the W.H.B.L. team false prophets.  Bringing a false message.  This upset the team members until they realised what was really going on.  They had been working for some days and God had blessed their work with contacts.  The team was challenging the people of Newcastle to read the Bible for themselves.  Would Satan leave this challenge?  This challenge that was hurting his grip on sinners?  Would he let it go un-challenged?  No!

Where the Lord’s people are hard at work and the Lord blesses that work we can be sure that Satan is there right behind, ready to break it down.  And so Satan sent his own challenge to the World Home Bible League Team.  “Are you sure that you are doing the right thing?  I am a Christian and you are false prophets.”  His aim was to confuse the team members.  To upset them.  To hinder the work that was going so well.

This is not a new tactic of Satan.  Where the issue is clear and the challenge is clear: Challenging people to accept or reject the Word of God; Satan comes along and brings in arguments that confuse.  Confuse people so that they do not commit themselves.  Exactly the same thing happened in our text.

I.  THE GOSPEL CHALLENGED

Here were the Apostles preaching right throughout the city of Jerusalem.  Continuing on with Jesus’ message.  They preached in the market place.  They preached in the temple.  They taught people in their homes.  They were challenging people everywhere to take Jesus as their Saviour.

The church rulers of that time didn’t like their preaching.  They did away with Jesus to stop this religious rebellion.  And now these disciples were continuing on, doing the same thing.  So these disciples had to be arrested and thrown into prison.  And they were.  So the apostles were in prison.

But then God sent an angel to free the Apostles.  He freed them and commanded them to go out and preach.  So the Apostles, after being so miraculously freed, went out and continued to preach.  Next morning the jailers were astonished that the apostles were freed.  And the religious rulers were furious.  “Stop their preaching.  Arrest them again, and bring them before the council.  Bring them before the court and we will find out if their preaching is true or not.  Be careful, for these apostles are popular with the people.  But bring them in and we will put them on trial.”

So the apostles were arrested again and they were brought before the court.  And then the high priest stood up and pointed at the Apostles.  “Didn’t we tell you to stop preaching about this Jesus?  Instead you have filled the whole of Jerusalem with this teaching of Jesus.  And you even bring the blame of this man’s death onto us.  Why didn’t you obey our command to be quiet?”

Peter answered on behalf of the other Apostles.  “We rather obey God than obey man.  If we listened to you then we would be disobeying God.  And if we obeyed God then we disobeyed you.  For what God tells us to do is the direct opposite of what you tell us to do.  God commands us to preach Jesus but you command us to be silent.  So we rather obey God than you.”

“Jesus is the Messiah.  Jesus was sent by God to offer salvation to His people.  And then YOU killed him.  You murdered him like a common criminal.  His death is your fault.  You are the ones who are guilty.”

“Yet even though you killed him, death could not hold him.  God raised him from the dead.  This means that God approved of Jesus as being the Messiah.  This means that God approved of Jesus’ sacrifice for the sins of His people.  But you rejected Him.”

“And what is more, God exalted Jesus.  High as a prince in heaven.  He has all power and authority over all.  He is now at the right hand of the Father.”

“This Jesus who was the Messiah you killed.  This Jesus who God raised from the dead, you wanted to bury and forget.  This Jesus that you wanted to discredit, he has been exalted by God the highest.  You Pharisees and Sadducees, you priests and rabbis: you are wrong.  You have made a mistake.  Jesus is the Son of God, the Messiah.”

Then Peter continues: “Oh, you may ask how can I be sure that this is true?  How can I be sure that Jesus is really the Son of God.  That He really arose from the dead.  That he is really exalted by God as the Messiah.  You may ask me how can I be so sure?  How can I be sure?”

“I can be sure that Jesus arose from the dead because I have seen it with my own eyes.  I have seen Jesus, after His death, stand before me.  I have seen him eat fish and bread, proving that he is not a ghost.  And I have seen the empty tomb as well.  I have heard Jesus explain why he arose from the dead.  Conquering death!  Jesus told me Himself after He arose from the dead.  And I saw Jesus ascend into heaven.  I saw Him go up and I know that He is at the right hand of God.  He said it Himself that He has all power and authority, I can be sure because I am a witness to all these things.”

“Not only I and the other apostles are witnesses of all this.  But also God, the Holy Spirit, is a witness to all these things.  The Holy Spirit knows that we speak the truth.  And all who obey God will be convinced by the Holy Spirit of God.  So if you do not believe this message it is because you do not have the Holy Spirit.”

Now that was quite a challenge.  Peter called them murderers of the Messiah.  He called them enemies of God.  He told them that they did not have the Holy Spirit of God if they did not believe.  Peter presented the facts, the gospel.  He presented an eye-witness account.  And he challenged the court to accept the truth.

Surely this court with all the religious leaders would accept the challenge.

II.  GAMALIEL’S COUNTER CHALLENGE

But what happens?  The court goes into utter chaos.  They want this preaching stopped.  Kill the false prophet.  Kill him before he can utter another word.  The court is furious, they want blood.  The court is in chaos.  And then Gamaliel stands up.  And when Gamaliel stands up everything is quiet.

Gamaliel is a very famous teacher in the Synagogues.  A very learned man who has studied the Bible for years.  He was one of the leading professors in theology.  He even taught Paul all that he knew about the Bible.  But, of course, as a Pharisee.

Well, Gamaliel stands up.  And then all the people are quiet.  The Pharisees are quiet.  The Sadducees are quiet.  The priests and the rabbis are quiet.  They all respect this learned great teacher from the Pharisees.

This was amazing.  The Sadducees never listened to the Pharisees.  And the priests and the Rabbis never listened to the Pharisees.  But when Gamaliel, wise old Gamaliel stands up they all listen.

First thing that Gamaliel does is remove the Apostles.  “Take them outside and hold on to them while we decide.”  The guards take the apostles out.  And some kind of order is restored in the court.  A very wise move.  Now Gamaliel can give his advice to the court.  So he speaks.

“Men, be careful on what you decide to do with these apostles.  The point at hand is whether Jesus is the real Messiah or not.  Now just recently in the past there was this Theudas who claimed to be the Messiah.  He gathered 400 men to overthrow the Roman Empire but he was destroyed.  He was destroyed and his movement was destroyed.  So he was not the Messiah.  And then we had Judas who gathered some people around him.  And Judas claimed to be the Messiah and he too tried to overthrow Rome.  But what happened to him and his movement?  They were destroyed.  So he was not the true Messiah.”

“So if this new movement started off by Jesus is human, just like that of Theudas and Judas, then just like Theudas and Judas it will come to nothing.  It will just fizzle out like the other false Christs.  But if it lasts, if it grows then it is from God and then we had better change.  We must be careful for if it lasts and we hurt the apostles then we might find ourselves working against God.  So really time will tell.”

“So wait and watch.  Time will tell if this movement is real or not.  If it lasts, it is of God.  And if it does not last then it is false like all the other movements.  Just wait and see.  So don’t commit yourselves now.  Don’t kill these apostles.  For if you do kill these apostles then you commit yourself.  You are rejecting their message that Jesus is the true Christ.  You commit yourself against this Jesus.  Don’t!  And don’t commit yourself the other way, either.  Don’t go along with them, don’t believe the message, don’t accept the challenge.  Only time will tell if it is real or not.  So wait and see.”

There are quite a few problems with Gamaliel’s advice.  What he says sounds good but it is not true.  He said that if the movement prospers then it is of God, and if the movement dies out then it is just human.  But this is no absolute test.  For look at the other religions of the world, some are even older than Christianity.  They have prospered, they have lasted, are they from God?

No, Gamaliel was being used by Satan to confuse the issue that was clear.  Gamaliel was used by Satan to advise the court not to commit themselves.

III.  REACTIONS TO THE CHALLENGE OF THE GOSPEL

And so we see the different reactions to the challenge of the Gospel.  Peter challenged them to believe.  Believe that Jesus was the Messiah.  Believe that Jesus was their only hope for salvation.  Believe that they had made a mistake and murdered the Son of God.  And what was the reaction to this challenge?

The court’s first reaction was: Kill them.  Throw them out.  Silence them.  We don’t want to hear their Gospel.  We don’t want to hear about Jesus.  They rejected the message of the Gospel.  They did not want to believe in Jesus as their Saviour.  They did not want to believe in Jesus as the true Christ.  They did not want to believe that they had made a mistake and murdered God’s Son.  They rejected the message of the gospel.

But then after Gamaliel spoke they took Gamaliel’s advice.  They cooled off somewhat.  They would give the gospel time.  See what will happen, just wait and see.  Not commit themselves now but see if the movement lasts.  If it lasts they would see then, if they would commit themselves.  Give it a go and see if it develops.

The second opinion of the council sounds much better than the first but in essence it is the same.  When the council at first rejected the challenge of the gospel to believe they also refused to commit themselves to Christ.  And now when they decided to wait and see they also refused to commit themselves to Christ.

Peter challenged them to repent and believe.  And they answered, “No, keep quiet.  No, we will wait and see.”  Both answers were, no!  Both times they rejected the message of the Gospel.  Both times they concluded that they would not commit themselves.  This was the reaction of the council.  And so they beat up the apostles and forbade them to ever speak the name of Jesus again.  Forbade them to preach and forbade them to teach the people about Jesus.  And then the court let them go.

For a court that was impartial, for a court that decided to wait and see, for a court that was not committed, they were very hostile towards the disciples.  Beating them and then ordering them not to preach and teach.  This is not waiting and seeing what will happen.  They had made up their minds already; they were not going to accept the challenge to take Jesus as their Saviour, they rejected him.  They rejected the challenge of the gospel.

But what about the Apostles.  Were they confused by Gamaliel’s advice?  Were they upset by Gamaliel’s challenge, if Jesus was real or not?  Were they no looking at numbers to prove if Jesus was really the Saviour?  Did the Apostles quieten down after their beatings and after they were forbidden to preach about Jesus?  Were the Apostles upset?  No, the Apostles couldn’t be happier!  They actually rejoiced!  They actually felt privileged to be counted worthy of suffering for Christ.  It was a privilege to suffer for Christ.  They felt privileged to suffer shame for Christ.

The suffering didn’t hinder them.  The warnings of the court didn’t hinder them.  As a matter of fact this spurred them on.  Now more than ever they knew that they were right.  Now more than ever they must preach the good news… Jesus saves.

So they went to the market place and preached to the crowd “Jesus saves.”  They went to the temple and preached there…. “Jesus is the Messiah.”  They formed Bible study groups in the homes…. learning from the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.

The apostles were more strongly committed to Christ.  Even in the face of opposition, the challenge of the gospel drove them on, while the council rejected the challenge of the gospel.  They refused to commit themselves.  The evidence was the same.  There was the empty tomb, the fulfilled prophecies, the eye witness accounts of the resurrection and the ascension, but yet the council refused to believe, and the apostles as they faced opposition believed all the more.

Congregation, there is a reason why God allowed this to happen to the Apostles.  It shows that the Gospel has a challenge.  It challenges us to commit ourselves completely to Christ, and then when the integrity, the truthfulness of the gospel itself is challenged, then the gospel will stand, for it is the truth.  And the challenge of the gospel will always stand.  “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”

As soon as someone hears that challenge there must be a reaction.  Either a reaction that accepts the challenge and believes.  Or a reaction that rejects the challenge and refuses to believe.  There is no neutral territory where someone will ‘wait and see.’  As soon as people hear the challenge to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour and Lord they must either accept the challenge, or reject it.  There is no neutral ground.

Congregation, God saw to it that this was included in His Word.  So this incident has meaning for us today.  The same thing is true today.

At the Mattarra 100 people accepted the challenge of the W.H.B.L. team.  Some 1900 people walked past the tent and the stall that challenged them.  They rejected the challenge to read God’s Word.  They rejected Christ as their Saviour.  And then one man took time to challenge the gospel.  Challenge the gospel and accuse it of being false.  Even used scripture to do so.  But the accusation was in vain, the truth stands, and the challenge continues.  “Repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” “Commit yourself to Him.”

Some 200 thousand heard that challenge at the Mattarra festival.  We only know of a hundred who accepted that challenge.  Yet the Gospel challenges people to turn to Christ.

Congregation, we may know the Bible from cover to cover.  We may know all the schools of theological thought.  We may come to church Sunday after Sunday, attend the Bible study groups faithfully.  But unless we accept the challenge of the gospel it is all in vain.  Unless we repent and believe enough to commit ourselves completely, then our faith means nothing at all to us or to God,

Have you accepted the Challenge of the Gospel?  Committed yourself completely to Christ?

Amen.