ACTS 4:19-20 [13-22]: Whether It Is Right!

SERIES #6: Acts of the Apostles; Witnesses to Jerusalem [1-7]

TOPIC: Boldness (testimony); apologetics, authenticity, experience, faith, reality
TITLE: WHETHER IT IS RIGHT: We are compelled to speak out following an experience with God!

TEXT: Acts 4:19-20 [13-22]

TRUTH/CONTEXT: If you take your relationship with God seriously you’ve spoken about that relationship to others; if you’ve spoken often, you’ve been in the apostles’ place on more than one occasion.

Our text is …

But Peter and 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; for we can’t stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

• And so it should be when we have knowledge of the Truth (haven’t we been set free by it).
• The apostles’ boldness confounds their accusers; after all they’re just lay people … uneducated.
• Those dealing with lies often use intimidation to silence their enemies, not to bring light into the darkness but to perpetuate the darkness and prevent the Light!
• Sadly, their intimidation often raises doubt, even in the mind of a believer.
• Yet when something is known with certainty, nothing can changes the fact or truth; like the apostles … “we can’t stop.”
• The apostles and the lame man knew what they had seen and heard and nothing would silence them.

You would agree with me that the disciples in the book of Acts had a real experience with God, wouldn’t you? You would also agree that that experience gave them boldness, wouldn’t you?

[REALITY] A friend and I were discussing something on TV the other day … they hadn’t seen what I had seen on the clip. There was no replaying it. (“Who’s telling the truth, you or my lying eyes?”) I personally knew what I had seen and heard but I quickly realized it was fruitless to push the fact be-cause the other party clearly had not seen and had not heard what I had heard.

The disciples, therefore the Church, are still in Jerusalem … they have yet to move their witness to Judea and Samaria (beginning at chapter 8) … the rest of the world must wait until chapter 13 ... which is the overview of the book.

We’ve also highlighted what we believe are the three major themes of the book.

1. Preeminence of the Living Lord!
2. Prominence of the Holy Spirit!
3. Power of the Authentic Church!
   

OPTION: Read the passage [4:13-22] while allowing for commentary …

Verse 13– "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John, and under-stood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were marveling, and be-gan to recognize them as having been with Jesus."

Notice: we don’t have to be ANYTHING or know ANYBODY in order to be a confident witness of the Living Lord and effect on people – notice the preeminence of the Living Lord and the potential for power in the authentic Church.
Notice also: the authentic Church is clearly recognized as having been with Jesus … it demonstrates Holy Spirit power.

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

Notice: facts are not easily denied, even by the corrupt … especially miracu-lous facts.

Verses 15-18 – "But when they had ordered them to go aside out of the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, ‘What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But in order that it may not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no more to any man in this name.’ And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”

Verses 21-22 – "And when they had threatened them further, they let them go (finding no basis on which they might punish them) on account of the people, be-cause they were all glorifying God for what had happened; for the man was more than forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed."

Notice: in spite of the facts, corrupt men will go on doing corrupt things.

Verse 19 – "But Peter and 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;"

Notice: every man has two choices: either God’s way or man’s way … the Christian life is a road with a fork at every turn … fear prevents godly action [lures us down the wrong path], faith promotes godly action [luring us down the appropriate path] … a war of worldviews rages.

Verse 20 – "for we cannot stop speaking what we have seen and heard."

Notice: genuine encounters with God always compels a public response … we cannot stop speaking” what we know to be true … believers are compelled to speak.

Notice: when the authentic believer experiences an act of God or God Himself with his own senses (sight, smell, hearing, taste, touch, etc.) a GREAT thing is required to cause them to deny that experience.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How did they acquire the certainty and boldness they now demonstrate?
EXPANDED OUTLINE
I. BY HAVING A REAL EXPERIENCE WITH GOD!”

A. What does “real” really mean
B. true; not nominally or apparently true (the real reason for an act)
C. existing or occurring as fact; actual rather than imaginary, ideal, or ficti-tious (a story taken from real life)
D. being an actual thing; having objective existence; not imaginary (the events you will see in the film are real and not just made up)
E. being actually such; not merely so-called (a real victory)
F. genuine; not counterfeit, artificial, or imitation; authentic (a real an-tique; a real diamond; real silk)
G. unfeigned or sincere; not feigned (real sympathy; a real friend)

II. BY HAVING A PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH GOD!

A. Even if something is real or true, It must be personally real or true
B. An experience with God cannot be inherited, purchased, borrowed, adopted, or learned
C. It must be personal and personally acquired
D. And these three men qualified

III. BY HAVING AN UNDERSTANDING OF EXPERIENCES WITH GOD!

A. a nominal experience with God would result in a nominal salvation … the recipient of such an experience is claiming to have met a savior that is nominally Jesus, but not the real Jesus
B. an apparent experience with God requires an apparent rebirth … the recipient would apparently be on Glory Road … not appealing at all
C. a fictitious experience with God could only result from a fictitious Gospel … without the Good News there is no hope, without hope there is desperation … as many have learned to their detriment there is no satis-faction in fictitious living
D. an imaginary experience with God is a denial of Christ’s atoning blood-sacrifice … since there is no remission of sin with imaginary blood there can be no be no setting free from sin and death
E. a so-called experience with God would mean a so-called victory over sin … we’d remain in our sins and my so-called preaching would be vain
F. an artificial or imitation experience with God could only hold an artifi-cial promise for the masses … what person would give their wife or mother artificial flowers on their death bed … the world is on its death bed; what father or grandfather would make imitation promises to their grandkids
G. a feigned experience with God would necessitate a feigned forgiveness of sin … there is no feigning forgiveness of sin
H. And all are without the boldness exhibited by the three men in our text.

APPLICATION: No one knowingly receives or endures abuse or persecution for a lie; reality brings with it the courage to speak of that reality …

• Peter and John wouldn’t speak boldly of an imaginary Jesus!
• They wouldn’t jeopardize their well-being over a fictitious salvation!
• They wouldn’t risk their lives for an apparent justification!
• They wouldn’t boldly preach a so-called Gospel in the presence of people they knew!

Nor could I feign a sermon for an imitation deity!

We are warned about the last days …

"Many will say to Me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?' And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.' Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock."

Matthew 7:22-24

This is one of my great concerns; there are those who either have had no real ex-perience with God or those who’ve concocted an experience with God.

Neither can boldly proclaim the truths concerning the faith; the former don’t care, the latter can only pretend.

No one knowingly receives or endures abuse or persecution for a lie.

Reality brings the courage to speak of that reality (and bear the consequences) …

• Peter and John wouldn’t speak boldly of an imaginary Jesus!
• They wouldn’t jeopardize their well-being over a fictitious salvation!
• They wouldn’t risk their lives for an apparent justification!
• They wouldn’t boldly preach a so-called Gospel in the presence of people they knew!

Nor could I feign a sermon for an imitation deity!

It is commonly believed one of the richest mission fields in the Western World is in our churches on Sunday morning.

I pray you will examine yourself …

• Is your experience with God as real as the apostles?
• Is your experience a truly personal one?
• Do you understand the implications of a feigned relationship?

Could this explain the lack of boldness in the Western Church today?

Acts, Christianity, Expository, Homiletics, Outlines,
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