Jesus whom you crucified

Good morning. We're going to be going through this passage that Brad just read for us here. That's Acts 4, 1 through 12. And as we announced earlier this week via email, we'll also be talking about when Courtney drove the four of us into hell. And so anyway, we will be elaborating on that. Fortunately, Courtney isn't here to hear about this, but perhaps Ingrid would be kind enough to pass this along.

OK, so to bring us up to speed here, in Acts 3, 1 through 10, We found that John and Peter were going up to the temple at the customary three o'clock in the afternoon prayer time. The customary times were nine, noon, and three, so this was the last prayer time there at the temple.

So they're headed up there, and as they do, they encounter a lame man. This man has been lame from birth for more than 40 years. and has apparently been begging for alms for some decades, it appears most likely, there at the temple. And one of the things that Peter makes note of is that everybody seems to know who this fellow is. He's a beggar whom they recognize, at least, if not know him personally. Peter says, we don't have any alms to give you, which must have disappointed him at first. But what we do have will give, in the name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk. Peter reaches out and lifts the man by his right hand. And the man goes from being lame lifelong to not only walking.

You imagine, if I were to do that, I would say, let me get my legs first here. I haven't done this ever in my life. But what's interesting is not only was there the physical ability, but also the mental ability to not only go to walking, but leaping. To me, I know if I was the first time, it would be leaping, and all of a sudden I'm a pile on the floor, right? But this man went walking and leaping and praising God, and people began to recognize this man. Wow! I know who that is, but I've never seen him do that, right?

And so here's this man, I'm sure he was singing and things of that sort, but nonetheless, they go from where it appears, starting at the double gates at the south end, coming through what's seen there as the hold of gates. You have this also on the first page of your handout.

From there they crossed the temple courtyard over to Solomon's portico. That's the kind of colonnade, portico, or porch as it's called. It's a lot bigger than my porch. Anyway, the portico that is on either side of the eastern gate. The first mention of it in the Gospels is here is Jesus in John chapter 10 celebrating Hanukkah at that same place. And so anyway, that's the location. So it's crossing the courtyard.

You can imagine there typically thousands of Jews are around this courtyard, many of them, especially during either bright sunshiny days or inclement weather. They're underneath these porches quite often. And it's a place where people would gather and there would be talks and rabbis would speak and that sort of thing. Here's what that colonnade by description and a model might have looked like and you can imagine now here's Peter and John and this formerly lame man leaping and just I'm sure he was beyond delighted coming here and people recognizing him and gathering in, hey wait a minute I've seen that guy, I've seen him lots and lots of times.

So here they have gathered. We have the indication that 5,000 came to believe that day. So as Brad read Forest Hill, be looking at that passage. So lots and lots of people gathered even at a truncated delivery of the message because they were arrested in the middle of it. Now I'm sure Peter was cool about this whole thing. But regardless, it was something we see the response of the authorities here in this passage.

So here's Acts 4, 1 and 2, as they were speaking to the people. So here's Peter and John, and as they're talking to these people, we have the words of Peter particularly recorded, but what that tells us is that John also had some things to say. The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them. being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. So, the apostles saw themselves as the ones assigned to be public witnesses of Christ's resurrection.

This came out in Acts chapter 1 when before the day of Pentecost, Peter says, you know, we need to get a replacement for Judas, and that ended up being Matthias. Because why? Because we need to have witnesses of Christ's resurrection. And that was, in fact, a necessary criteria. It was not the only one for someone to be an apostle. And so they selected Matthias, who was a witness of Christ all the way along in his ministry, but also of his resurrection.

In this passage here in Acts 3.15, as well as in chapter 5 and chapter 10, Peter or the other apostles said, we are witnesses. So that we are witnesses claim was something that they made repeatedly. They say it also in other ways besides the we are witnesses claim, sometimes in the same context. So multiple times, this idea that they're witnesses, that the apostles were selected on the basis of the fact that they were witnesses of not only Christ's ministry, but his resurrection particularly, that claim was made repeatedly. And by the way, we have no public refutation of that either.

Most of the priests, on the other hand, were of the Sadducee persuasion. And we're going to run into something very, very, very surprising when we get to chapter 6. And then it says, many of the priests, not just a few, many of the priests became believers. And I think I know why, and we'll explain that when we get to chapter 6. I know why, because many of them were of the Sadducee persuasion, and some would say most.

Scholars would say most of them were actually of the Sadducee persuasion. No resurrection, no angels, none of that. And we're going to see why that doesn't continue to fly with the priests, while you still have a great response from the priests, who now, most of them coming from the Sadducee, that there's no physical resurrection, right? And the line of the high priests are Sadducees, and so most of the priests are right in line with the Sadducee high priests. So I have a picture here, here's what a Sadducee looks like when he's ecstatic. Alright, so you get the idea. Anyway, now it mentions in the passage the captain, I put that in quotes, of the temple guard.

The Jews didn't have a dedicated full-time temple guard as such. That is, you don't have guys who were going about any great numbers always and constantly acting in a temple guard capacity. What they were is typically priests and Levites. The Levites were allowed to work among the priests, but not to take over their role. Priests and Levites who were equipped to take on a military kind of police role there at the temple when called upon to do so. And so this captain of the temple guard would come typically with other priests and Levites who were working under him. But among the priests and Levites, a temple guard was selected in order to keep order in the temple precincts, whatever the thing might be.

So the English translations use this word captain, but however, later on one of these captains was designated to be a general. to fight against the Romans. So actually they looked upon him as a higher level than what we might have as captain. And the actual title used here in this passage means that he's a strategist. And so anyway, general may be more fitting, but we'll let it be.

Nonetheless, the head of the temple guard. As a Sadducee, and that was typically the case, he was second in command after the high priest. So here's the high priest, and this guy who was head of the temple guard was like second in command, and so this guy was up there in terms of the Jewish hierarchy of things. Now, we have the priests and the temple guard who was a Sadducee, right? and the Sadducees, who were the high priests, they were really, really, really grieved and distressed. And so you imagine, here are the priests, many, or we would even say most, of whom were Sadducee in their persuasion. No resurrection, no angels, no miracles. How dare you do a miracle in our temple? Right? Alright. So no resurrection, no angels, no miracles. And so they don't believe in any of that. They don't believe in a Messiah.

So this whole thing is very, very, very upsetting to them, right? So, this is disturbing. So they run to their Sadducee sympathizers. Here's the priest going, oh no! And they run to their Sadducee sympathizers, and so together they flee to this captain, okay, we'll call him a general, of the temple guard to see to it that Peter and John were stopped from teaching and proclaiming about the resurrection of Christ.

Now, I don't know what their mindset is. You know, you guys can't do that! When people die, they'll be terribly disappointed to find there's no afterlife. What? So I don't understand what their mentality was, but they were very, very, very distressed about this. So these guys were teaching this, and it just had them badly upset.

Now, one of the things we see here is a term that actually shows up in the Old Testament multiple times on into the New, and that's when you see in the Old Testament or in the New, almost without any exception, the people. Or, the nation, in the Old Testament on into the New, means that's Israel. Or, Jacob is sometimes called the Hebrews, different terms, but it's those people. The people, the nation. And similar terms are meaning Israel or the other related terms. So, that's what it means here. Correspondingly, the Gentiles, that is non-Jews, referred to as the nations or the peoples from the Old Testament on into the New Testament.

And so we have here in the picture Gentiles and then bacon shaped into a heart. Gentiles love bacon. Alright, and so that's typical, and matter of fact, the Jews would speak of the Romans, those filthy pig-eating Romans, right? So the Gentiles are essentially non-Jews. Some people will say, what's a Gentile? It has nothing to do with being gentle. It is instead, it's all who are non-Jews, who are not Jews ethnically. The Jews, by the way, had other names for the Gentiles besides bacon eaters, and some of them were rather derogatory.

Alright, so teaching the people, remember the people means teaching the Israelites here. So officially the priests were by the law of Moses to be the teachers of the law to the Jews. So one thing was if somebody else is coming in that potentially threatens the priests and Levites standing among the people to have somebody else coming in, especially if they teach something that the priests and Levites don't teach, typically. So right from the Law of Moses and on into other Old Testament passages, to be teaching that right there in the temple, and especially to be teaching something that the priests and the Levites themselves wouldn't teach, that's threatening to them.

So these men aren't rabbis either. So there had been developed among the Israelites by New Testament times a tradition regarding rabbis and disciples, and this rabbis and disciples tradition was actually still developing, but nonetheless it existed. These men weren't rabbis either. Even though they had been trained by Jesus, who was considered a rabbi, Jesus said, none of you are to be rabbis. So they didn't call themselves rabbis, and they didn't encourage others to call them rabbis. So we have these, as the Jewish leaders called them, unlearned men. Men who are not trained in anything like the traditional fashion.

Heal the lame man. Of course, the Sadducees, just this whole thing is incomprehensible. What? You're healing. There's no such thing as miracles! And then to talk about the resurrection from the dead. This was going to be profoundly disturbing to this whole group of people, the priests, the temple guard. headed by Sadducees who don't believe in the resurrection, or miracles, or angels, right? Oh, just wait till later on when an angel comes and lets the apostles go.

Right? Right past the temple guard who don't believe in angels, right? Oh, this would be really great. This would be good. All right. So to have them teach about a resurrection was far, far worse. How dare you give people hope of life after this, right? What a horrible, awful, ghastly thing for you to do. That was their mindset.

So here's Acts 4, 3. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. So here they grab Peter and John, and actually from appearances, the lame man as well, they grab them and haul them off into a nearby prison. So here's Peter and John, they're in prison, and whether the lame man is there in prison, we're not sure, but he does appear to be present when they come before the Sanhedrin. So the priests, the Sadducees, and the head of the temple guard, all of them of the same mindset, there is no resurrection, there are no angels, there are no miracles, how dare you do a miracle in our temple, and then teach about the resurrection. They grabbed Peter and John right in the middle of their message, is the impression that we get here, threw them in jail just for the night.

The events described here in Acts 3 had begun about three o'clock in the afternoon. That was when Peter and John were coming for their afternoon prayer time. By this time it was late enough that it would be the next day before they'd really be able to gather together the Sanhedrin. So what they would do is they'd have messengers go out to the Sanhedrin and say, hey, we need to gather together, and that would take a little time, so it's not going to happen at this hour.

And we'll talk about by what hour they kind of shut things down anyway. Now let's talk about ancient Jewish jails, not like ours at all. The more modern concept of time in a jail or a prison as the prescribed punishment. I mean, that's the typical thing done now. You get this much time, you know, spent in jail or prison, and that's the typical thing. Other things are sometimes done, but not as often.

But that was not the way things were typically done among the Jews in biblical times, in ancient times. The ancient Jewish jail was generally more of a holding cell until judgment could be made. That was the idea. Sometimes there wasn't even a cell, it was just you'd get chained to a wall at some place, right?

If judgment wasn't made the same day, it was typically made the very next day right after that. And so that had to take place here since the arrest was made late in the day. So sundown was at the end of the day for purposes of Jewish law. We have a picture here of a sundial watch showing 4 o'clock or a little past it. That was the priestly and Levitical end of the day evening so when they said evening it didn't necessarily mean it was you know way way late on into and especially this is summer of 33 ad It just meant it was after 4 right so Rather than thinking this was the summer evening well after 6 p.m. Was more likely simply after 4 p.m. when Peter and John were arrested by the temple guard and it's going to take a while and to get notice out to those in the Sanhedrin. So that's going to be the next day.

Here's Acts 4.4. But many of those who had heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to be about 5,000. So one of the things here, while the message from Peter and John was truncated, because why? They got arrested before they got to say everything that they wanted to say. There was still a great impact among the people.

Imagine, okay, I'm seeing this lame man. That gives incredible credibility to Peter and John. Whatever Peter and John have to say, I'm going to listen, because I know this guy has been lame for decades. I recognize him. I may even know his name. I've seen him there. I've seen the place where he goes and begs. I go past there all the time. This guy has been lame for decades, and now he's up walking around and even leaping And so I'm going to listen to those guys, even if the message that they have is truncated.

The day of Pentecost, reported in Acts chapter 2, saw about 3,000 come to believe. This day in which the lame man was healed, virtually all of them recognized that it was this guy and he was healed. in which Peter and John spoke, but they were truncated in what they said, about 5,000 believed.

Can you imagine that? I don't know what would happen if we suddenly had 5,000 believers come here to Holly Hills. I think we can handle about 240 in the pews. So we would be way, way overloaded. But anyway, 5,000 believed that day. The other thing to bring out is the word there is men. These are adult males, believed. It was common among the Jews of that day, and we see that with like Jesus feeding the 5,000. It wasn't just 5,000 people, but 5,000 men. This here in verse 4 regards men or males.

It likely does not include the count of women or youth of whatever gender, as we use the term. The total of those who were saved that day may well have been much higher, and possibly much, much higher. And also, one other thing, it was typical whatever belief the men held, the rest of the family would go along with it. Anything else would be seen as spiritual insurrection. So what this would indicate is this 5,000 men believed and then their families either believed at that time or shortly thereafter. So isn't that amazing? This would have been a huge number, possibly double, triple, you know, we can only guess. The Lord knows. The Lord knows exactly the number.

So women and children and Jews who are not qualified to go into the inner part of the temple, they were allowed in this portico, including men who were, for various reasons of the Mosaic law, not allowed to go into the inner part of the temple. They could be here, and they could be saved. It could be saved as well. So a great many people were saved. Very likely much higher than the 5,000 figure given. Which brings up the next question. What is required to be saved? So this is a big issue. The critical and essential response to the gospel in order to be saved is presented here in this verse. It can be safely assumed that many repented at these 5,000 more or less, and those who also believed in their families were baptized.

Safe assumption. Because one of the things we said about repent, even last week, repent in the biblical sense means to change the mind so as to end up in belief. It is not feeling really, really bad for your sins. It's not getting really, really emotional about this whole thing. It is not simply making a commitment to Christ. It is changing one's mind so as to end in belief. That's repent. We can assume that a great many repented.

We can assume that they were baptized. That was the pattern that we see even from the day of Pentecost. They had there, by the way, right near where Peter and John came into the temple area, that was one of the areas they had mikvah baths, they were called, where you could be baptized. Right there. So they could be baptized right that day, right there. And there was plenty of equipment for that, for that day.

So what was totally necessary for them To be saved is what we hear about in this verse. They all believed the gospel. They were all saved eternally when they believed. The subsequent baptism did not add to, enhance, or assure their salvation. Their repenting so as to believe included belief. And by the way, if you repent but that doesn't end up believing, guess what? You're not saved, right? So repenting is to change one's mind so as to end in belief. It's the belief that saves and not anything else we think or do that changes the picture as to what salvation is all about. To believe and be saved. Here's Acts 4, 5, and 6. On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem. And Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and all who were of high priestly descent. Sounds like a party, right? Not exactly.

Now, where did they meet? We don't know for absolute certain, but very likely, The place was here, this Chamber of Hewn Stone, which was in the inner temple area, was on the middle of the south side of the inner temple area. That would be the Chamber of Hewn Stone. It would be the Sanhedrin Council meeting room. Is it possible they met elsewhere? Yes. This was the most likely place where they would have met. Inside, that room would have looked like this.

You would have had the accused, in this case it would have been Peter and John, standing in front of the high priest. There would have been the others in a semicircle. The total number of those present could be up to 71. It wasn't required in order to get a conviction, but up to 71 members of the Sanhedrin would gather there.

And we'll talk a little bit more about some of the other parts of this meeting room where they would meet. So there's Peter and John and the formerly lame man, apparently from the context who was there, standing in front of the Sanhedrin. Now, I'm really puzzled by them having the formerly lame man there, because all that he could testify was, he would say, you know, I was once lame and now I'm walking and that's a miracle. And of course, they wouldn't want to hear that.

Alright, we also have high priests in Israel from the time of the birth of Christ to the time of the destruction of the temple. So this is about 4 or 5 BC, which is the time of the birth of Christ, on into 70 AD when the temple was destroyed. So here's the whole list, and with the exception of a couple of question marks, we really know the year for every single one of them, and it appears to be total, that is, nobody missing.

So it includes Ananas, Ben-Seth, or in the scripture it's written as Anas, same guy, and his sons or son-in-law are shown here seven times. So what happened is Anas was able to get through political clout his son-in-law Caiaphas, or his sons, into the position of high priest after he was taken out, so because he had ongoing influence. This is available as a supplement on to the right, and we'll also have it available as a download if you want to get this list here.

So here's Annas Benseth, who was mentioned here and also was present at Jesus' trial just a few months earlier. Here's Joseph Caiaphas, who was the one who came up with the plan to have Jesus killed for the people, right? and who was the son-in-law of Annanus ben Seth, or Annas as he's called in Scripture. And John, as we see in this passage, was Jonathan ben Annanus. He was the son of Annas, as reported in Scripture. We have no record of Alexander, so it doesn't mean it isn't true, it just simply means we have no outside record of it. But we do have the others here. Now we'll tell about how Courtney drove the four of us into hell and how that's related to this account.

Okay? Are you ready? Have your asbestos pew belts fastened. Anyway, okay. So when Courtney and Ingrid and Nancy and I came out of the tunnel that Hezekiah had constructed, At the very end of it was the Pool of Siloam, called the Waters of Shiloh in Isaiah, and the Pool of Shelah in Nehemiah. So here's a very biblical place here. There it is, and there's a picture of more of the Pool of Siloam, a picture of me taking a picture of Nancy, or something like that, there at the Pool of Siloam. So here we got out of there, and we were baptized from the waist down, right? going through the tunnel, there's water flowing through it, and so you'll get everything from your ankles up to your waist wet.

So we get out of there, and the fellow who was at the exit there of the National Park, that's what it is, was very kind to watch our car forth, which was good because it had luggage in it. And so here we were at the exit to that national park and as we kind of got dried off and got things changed.

So here's Courtney, you know, gets in the driver's seat and I'm glad he was driving because I was way too distracted. Besides that, people drive crazy over there. Anyway, so Courtney starts taking off down the road, and as he goes down the road, he goes and turns right at that turn. Now there's something very pivotal about that turn.

So here we start off right across from the Pool of Siloam, and right off to the left was the tomb of Annas. That's the tomb where this Annas that you see was buried. That's the place. So we're looking off at the tomb of Annas, but turning into this valley. Ah, that's the big part. So here's this tomb that we see. Here's the entrance to it, right? And there's various fancy things, some of which are in poor condition, but nonetheless, here's the tomb of Annas there at the entrance to this valley.

Jesus called the valley that we turned into Gehenna. It's translated hell three times in the book of Matthew, and actually more times as you go through the Gospels, and it's continued on into the book of James. So here's this place Gehenna, which is translated hell. Why? Two reasons. One, the one reason is because it's used as a place in the Old Testament times for burning the children to the God of Molech, okay? That's, I believe, why Jesus referred to this place as Gehenna, or Hell, as it's translated.

The other is there is a, how do I call it, a legend that this is a valley in which there's constant burning of trash and they dump the bodies and that kind of thing. You ever heard that? Uh-uh. There's Anna's tomb. Do you think you'd have a tomb at the trash heap? Right? I think not, probably not. So this idea that it was a place of constantly burning trash turns out that didn't show up until over a thousand years after the time of the New Testament.

It was a kind of a myth or a legend that got developed. Nonetheless, so we went through there and out there and Courtney drove us safely out of hell. Out of this valley of Hinnom that we're at, and past the tomb of Annas, and we didn't take a thought of it. But as I thought back on it, I thought, oh boy, it's sure a good thing he drove us safely out of there. Okay, so here we have these guys, and you're welcome to get a hold of this list and look at it.

It's fascinating to see You know, all the sons, or almost all the sons of Annas, who by political clout got there, and in this case Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas, who was the high priest during the time of Christ's crucifixion and resurrection and all that, and on into this time, into 36 AD, about the time that Pilate was also taken out of office.

All right, so here we now have the rulers, the elders, and the scribes. Those are subgroups of the Sanhedrin. So when it says rulers, elders, and scribes, it's not just naming a bunch of things. These are actually different groups within the Sanhedrin. So the words are correct, even technically correct. The Jewish council there that granted religious authority in the temple precincts and even outside of that. They could write certain letters of authority, which is why they would send Paul up to Damascus. So they had authority.

They were gathered here for the sake of John and Peter. So the Sadducees and all those who sympathized the Sadducees were involved in this arresting and holding Peter. and John, there are also many Pharisees, which also explains why we get the question the way we do from the Sadducees.

They do not ask about, why were you teaching about the resurrection? Why? Because they get the Pharisees very upset. What? You're arresting somebody because they taught about the resurrection? We believe in that, right? So they shift. We'll see that in a bit. We'll see how that impacts the question that Peter and John get asked. So here's Acts 4, 7.

When they had placed them in the center, they began to inquire, by what power or on what name have you done this? So they don't ask the question, have you been teaching about the resurrection? Why were you teaching about the resurrection? They don't dare ask it, because they'll get the Pharisees really, really, really upset. Because the Pharisees would say, that's not a problem.

Right? So they ask a different question. So here they are in the council room of the Sanhedrin. Here's Peter and John put together as the accused. And here's Peter and John and the formerly lame man appears there in the room. And that's where this is going on. So what's the question? With all the members of the Sanhedrin gathered, including many Pharisees. Pharisees actually, by the way, were a majority, by number. The leading Sadducees among them asked a skewed question.

It's a question that does not include the resurrection question. By what power or in what name have you done this? He didn't say, by what power or what name did you perform a miracle that we don't believe in. He didn't ask that question. So we're going to see that the issue that brought Peter and John before the Sanhedrin is the power source and the name by which Peter and John healed and spoke. They did not bring up the resurrection of Christ, which was really the issue that caused the arrest.

Acts 4, 8-10, Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers and elders of the people. So Peter has an answer, doesn't he? Rulers and elders of the people, if we are on trial today for a benefit done to a sick man as to how this man has been made well, oh boy, this is great. Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by this name this man stands here before you in good health.

Peter, you could have gone all day without saying that. So here's Luke 12, long before Long before when Jesus had given instructions to the apostles, look what Jesus said in Luke 12, 11 and 12, when they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense or what you are to say. So did Peter and John spend the night in jail thinking about what they were going to say? No. For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."

Isn't that great? So what Peter said was not, hey, I think this is the best thing I can say. This is the Holy Spirit giving it to him at that time. So first of all, it says they're filled with the Holy Spirit. Recall that Jesus had told them that He and the Father would send the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit would indwell all the believers all the time and give them words.

We mentioned one passage here in Luke. A primary passage for that is John chapters 14, 15, and 16. Very key passages in addition to the ones we referenced here in Luke. And we also mention another one, Luke 21, 12-16, is another one that says, you'll be given the words.

So, being filled with the Holy Spirit meant one thing for the apostles and those living in that era, but since Acts is a transitional book, being filled with the Spirit doesn't necessarily mean the same thing for us. It means something quite different for us in the time since then. And this is a key thing. We're going to be seeing this term filled with the Holy Spirit more times in the book of Acts.

We should not develop the expectation, oh, well that means exactly this. Well, no. The only time in all the letters to the believers, to individuals in the churches, that there is a talk of, you know, you need to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and this is actually given as a mandatory, you must, You must be filled with Christ by means of the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God, even the Father, and being subject to one another in the fear of Christ, wives to your own husbands, as to the Lord. All those actions, speaking, singing, making melody, giving thanks, and being subject are all a listing of outcomes from what's mandatory be filled with the Spirit. So being filled with the Spirit does not mean the same thing now in a church context that it meant there in a defense of the faith context in front of the Sanhedrin.

Very key difference. We would not look at any of those and say, well, this is some miraculous inspiration of words, but instead we see the actions that come as a result of our, in our time, and even in the time of the Church at Ephesus, being filled with the Spirit.

So Peter has a potent polemic here, so that while the question from the leaders was carefully crafted to hopefully put Peter and John on the spot and avoid the real flaming issues, the response from Peter was incendiary. What do I mean by incendiary? It torched them. Peter addressed all of them respectfully and he left them have it. Elders and leaders of the Jews. And his potent words lit the forest on fire. So listen carefully to what Peter said to these men.

We're on trial today for a benefit. A benefit done for a sick man. You all know him. You've seen him around the temple here for decades. And he says, if, and it's assumed to be true. That's what the if means here. As to how this man was made well, that's what we're on trial for. Let's get right down to it here. Peter knew they all knew the formerly lame men. What had gotten the events of yesterday afternoon started was that a man whom they recognized as having been lame for decades and saved for life, his life up to that point, was healed in a moment in Christ's name.

Now, here's Acts 4.10, expanded and explained. This is bringing the meaning of the Greek text and the context into the verse.

It must be known to all of you here in the Sanhedrin, to all the people of Israel, because remember, the people refers to Israel, that by the name, person, power and authority of Jesus, That's what the name means. It doesn't mean I'm just dropping a name. It doesn't mean just a sound that comes out of my mouth. But by the name, person, power, and authority of Jesus, and the Hebrew would have been Yeshua or Joshua, means Savior, Christ, the Messiah that your Sadducees don't believe in. Right?

From the town of Nazareth, you're arrested him just a couple months ago under the name Jesus the Nazarene. Whom you crucified as planned by Caiaphas, you getting that Caiaphas? And voted on by yourselves. Whom God raised from the dead contrary to what you Sadducees think is even possible.

This is wonderful. By this name, person, power and authority this man stands before you in good health. Which implies the lame man who's been healed is right there. You have evidence of the miracle that you guys don't believe in. right in front of you. And let me tell you about this, by what power and authority. Oh, let me tell you. So Peter lays it out.

Acts 4.11, He is the stone which was rejected by you, the builders, which became the chief cornerstone. This is out of what's called the Hallel.

Psalm 113 to 118. And the Jews, as they were hiking up from Jericho, would sing this back and forth, oftentimes in groups back and forth. We'll sing this part, and you sing that part back, and then we'll sing this part back. They would sing that as they were coming from Jericho towards Jerusalem. They would sing through Psalm 113 to 118, all the way up until they got to the temple, which they could see just over the Mount of Olives, just like you see in this picture. And they'd come ready for their sacrifices and everything else they're going to do, and they'd stay there in Jerusalem for a time, but they'd sing those chapters.

That's called the Hallel. Now, as the Passover lambs were being slaughtered, as had happened only a few months earlier, the Levites would sing the Hallel non-stop. The only reason they could do that is because a lamb led to slaughter is quiet. The Lamb led the slaughters quiet, and these guys would sing the Hallel.

And it would include the verse Peter just quoted. The stone, Christ, which the builders, the Sanhedrin, rejected has become the chief cornerstone on which the church is founded. You guys sing about it? We're telling you about it. It's happening today.

Acts 4.12, and there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. How many other names? None. No one else. There is salvation in no one else. There are no alternatives.

God has no plan B. Oh, by the way, if you don't like this one, we've got this other thing you can try out. God is certainly open and willing to accept these other alternatives just fine. No. There's not an alternate route. Ever see a sign that says detour? Ever see a sign that says there is no detour? Uh-oh. Right? Lane ends here. There's the sign. It ends right there. There is no backup parachute.

It doesn't matter what the Sanhedrin thinks, the people, the Israelites think, or what anybody else thinks. We don't get to vote like the Sanhedrin do, and having a different opinion won't matter one last bit. Now, so every man in that room, and we have to make possible exception, what if Nicodemus was in the room? What if Joseph of Arimathea was in the room? Possibly with the exception of them. They could also opt not to go, right?

The formerly lame man thought that they were going to be saved by their heritage or by their works and that saved among the Sadducees is only for this life. That's it. You only get this life. That's all there is. There's no reincarnation. There's no afterlife. When you're done, you're done. If you're burnt toast, you're burnt toast. It doesn't really matter what anybody thinks. It doesn't really matter. If anyone doesn't think there is anything after this life or they think they will get chances or more chances, what a tragedy. What people think is not what matters. Now here's something very interesting. There in that room, where Peter and John stood as the accused. There was a place, see how much seating is there available? That's student seating.

Do you know who may have been a student at that event or who very likely was at other events, gatherings of the Sanhedrin? Saul, later to become Paul. may very well have watched this if he was not there. And we don't know whether he was or not. If he was not there, he had seen similar things. He was possibly present at other later times when the apostles were brought before the Sanhedrin. So here's student seating. This guy who was most certainly present at some of these meetings later wrote this. Here's Saul who became Paul. He wrote Philippians 3. Four, the last part of the verse, to verse 11. If anyone else has a mind to put confidence in the flesh, I far more. I've got it, Paul says.

Circumcised on the eighth day, the prescribed number of days, the prescribed procedure of the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the one tribe that remained faithful with Judah. when the other ten tribes went haywire and went up with Israel to the north. So you have the nation of Israel to the north, Judah to the south, Judah including the tribe of Judah, and Benjamin, the one faithful tribe. He says, I was of the one faithful tribe.

The Hebrew of Hebrews. If there's ever an example of who is the best of the best among the Jews, I'm it. As to the law, a Pharisee, certainly the most popular group, not necessarily the most powerful, but the most popular. As to zeal, a persecutor of the church.

And by the way, later on we're going to see in Acts, if I had the chance, I voted for death. As to the righteousness which is in the law, found blameless. Nobody could look at me and say, hey, that guy's not cutting it. He wrote after that, in verse 7, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. I wrote them off as a loss.

I had four things that I was born into. I had three things that I did that were my accomplishments. You add them together, what do I have? Seven. You can write the number of fingers. things, right? And seven is the number of totality and completeness. He says, I've got it. When you add up the things I was born into, when you add up the things that I've accomplished, nobody could be better at it than me. I'm perfect. So what does he say?

I write it off as a loss, complete loss, for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost. I write it all off in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish. Some people translate that with other words.

I won't be quite so crude. But so that I may gain Christ, right? and may be found in him not having a righteousness of my own derived from the law but that which is found through faith in Christ the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith and faith only that I may know him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being conformed to his death in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead all this stuff that all these guys are counting is so valuable Write it off. It's all rubbish. Isn't that an amazing thing to arrive at?

And for us as well, along with Paul, to realize all the things we might... Oh boy, I was this and I was that, you know. I look at my own background and I say, well, I have two aunts and uncles who were missionaries in Latin America. My grandmother was a missionary to the cannibals in Fiji. And they can testify to amazing things, even miracles.

Does that buy me anything? No. Even the best of the best of background does not buy me anything. It's all as great as all that is. Write it off as a loss compared to knowing Him. I think we ought to do the same thing. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you as we see the journey that the Apostle Paul came to realize and to experience, beginning with the day he met you on the road to Damascus. And Lord, who are you? Ask that you would teach us that that as we Go through this day and this week that we would know you in the midst of these things and we write it all off everything here for and trade for Knowing and gaining Christ. I just pray in Jesus name. Amen