In 'Holy Spirit Power', Peter Allison examines Acts 4, focusing on the aftermath of Peter and John's miraculous healing of a lame man. The Jewish leaders, disturbed by the apostles' teachings about Jesus' resurrection, arrested them. The next day, when questioned about the source of their power, Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, boldly declared that the miracle was performed in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom the leaders had crucified. He emphasized that salvation is found in no other name. Despite the leaders' attempts to intimidate them, Peter and John insisted they could not stop speaking about what they had witnessed. The Jewish leaders were left in a dilemma as they could not deny the miracle and feared the people's reaction. The sermon highlights the manipulation and fear tactics of the leaders, contrasts them with the apostles' boldness, and underscores the essential role of the Holy Spirit in empowering believers to speak truth and carry out God's work. Believers are encouraged to pray for boldness and rely on the Holy Spirit, especially in moments of trial and proclamation of the Gospel.

Please turn to Acts chapter 4. I'll read the first 22 verses, but we'll be primarily looking at verse 5 and following. Acts 4, beginning at verse 1. Now as they spoke to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees, came upon them, being greatly disturbed that they taught the people and preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening.

However, many of those who heard the word believed, and the number of men came to be about five thousand. And it came to pass on the next day that their rulers, elders, and scribes, as well as Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and as many as were of the family of the high priest gathered together at Jerusalem, and when they had set them in the midst, they asked, by what power or by what name have you done this? Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, Rulers of the people and elders of Israel, if we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by the builders, which has become the chief cornerstone. Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated and untrained men, they marveled and they realized that they had been with Jesus.

And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. But when they commanded them to go outside of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem and we cannot deny it. But so that it spreads no farther among the people, let us severely threaten them that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor to teach in the name of Jesus.

But Peter and John answered and said to them, whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God you judge, for we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people, since they all glorified God for what had been done. For the man was over forty years old on whom this miracle of healing had been performed. May these testimonies be our meditation, giving us more understanding than our teachers. Heavenly Father, You have blessed us with the hearing of Your Word.

May You give us faith to understand that which is spiritually discerned. May You give us hearts that are zealous to obey all that we have heard. And I ask that you would sanctify my sinful lips to proclaim the gospel of the grace of God, to proclaim truth. Keep me from error, Lord, and may you, our Savior, be exalted in our midst this morning in Jesus name Amen Well recently the Babylon Bee accurately portrayed the manipulative ability of government news agencies to communicate a completely false message, all the while using factually correct words. For example, citizens of Pompeii experienced sudden heat wave to announce the utter eruption of Mount Vesuvius which utterly obliterated the city of Pompeii, the wicked city of Pompeii, for millennia and nobody even knew where it was for a long time.

Or Abraham Lincoln dies after hitting head on a bullet. Millions of Soviet Union residents receive free housing and work opportunities in Siberia to refer to the exile of political dissidents to a land of not much more than snow and ice. Or Roman leader killed after a knife accident referring to the assassination of Julius Caesar on the Senate floor. Or more recently, Malaysian flight delayed indefinitely, referring to that Boeing 777 jet that disappeared over the Indian Ocean without a trace for years in what probably was the act of suicide by the pilot. Or Joan of Arc dies after onset of heat exhaustion When she was burned at the stake.

You see, these types of headlines, I thought as I read that, very accurately characterize the Jewish leaders that put Peter and John in jail for healing a man. This was A very big deal that was happening. Thousands of people are being converted in a very short time. This is only months since the resurrection. Weeks.

And we don't know exactly how many people were in that city. Estimates vary rather widely, but I think Edersheim puts the number at about 200, 000 to 250, 000 people. And he's about right in the middle. And I think he's a rather reliable witness. So if you go with that number, about just under a quarter million people, and He based that on the premise that the ancient city of Jerusalem is about twice the size of the modern city.

But if his numbers are correct, that means around 2% of the entire population was converted in a very short amount of time. That 5, 000 number only includes men, because that was the counting. So women and children are added in there. There's easily 2 to 3 times that number, maybe more. And that's a lot of people.

That's a lot of people. That's like 7, 000, 8, 000, maybe even 10, 000 people being converted in Conroe in a matter of a couple weeks. If you had 10, 000 people converted, that's going to be big news in this city. Even the Houston Chronicle would have to come up with a headline for that. And these aren't wall flowers.

These are people. This is a church that is praying daily. They are breaking bread from house to house and praying together daily. This was a mighty group of people. Wonders, signs and wonders are being done in their midst.

People are selling their possessions to provide for emergent needs among this large group of people. If you had an influx of this many people into a city the size of Conroe, that would create housing needs. That would be felt in the marketplace. This was a threat to the temple racket that was going on. And that was a very profitable racket for the high priests.

They could buy, they could sell sacrifices to people at exorbitant prices, and they made a lot of money. They were very, very wealthy. Very wealthy. From this business. And so this conversion of people is an economic threat potentially against them.

It's also a loss of control. They're losing control of the narrative. Not only that, and we looked last week in detail at the disturbance, the exclusivity of the Gospel message, the threat that that posed to them. But on top of that, Peter has now accused them of murdering the Messiah. Back in chapter 3 in his sermon, he had said that their leaders, they did it in ignorance, but they had killed the Messiah.

So These leaders are feeling quite a bit of anxiety, to put it mildly. They are losing control. So they have, with violence, come upon Peter and John and put them in jail, and possibly even the man that was healed. And I say that because when they pull him out the next morning, it says that they noticed This man, they saw this man was standing with them in this court. The man who had been healed was standing with them.

And so it's very possible that maybe he had been put in jail as well. I don't know what the Bible doesn't say, but that may indicate that. That might have been some night in jail with Peter and John. But they drag him out the next morning, and they drag him in front of this council. It says they are the rulers, the elders in verse 5, and the scribes.

And those are words that describe what elsewhere in the New Testament is the Sanhedrin or the Council. And Luke lists these people as, in his account of Jesus' trial in Luke 22. The elders of the people, both chief priests and the scribes, came together and led Jesus into the council. So Luke is using the exact same words. So the rulers that he's referring to would be the the priests that are the heads of the 24 divisions remember there were Remember there were 24 Divisions in Zacharias the father of John the Baptist had he was one division and So there are 24 divisions they would have duty for for a couple of weeks And then they would the next group would come in and have temple duty.

And so the priests of the heads of those 24 divisions would have been the priest rulers that were in this council. The elders would have been the elders of the people. These are men of wisdom and experience that are chosen from among the people. They're not priests or Levites, but they are men of experience and wisdom to judge in these matters. And then the scribes that Luke says, the scribes would have been the learned teachers, the lawyers, the experts in understanding and interpreting the law.

So this was a 71, some people say 72, 71 member council, composed basically of these three groups. And this was the same people, these were the same people that had unjustly tried and crucified Christ. These were the people that actually actively sought false witnesses to testify against Jesus. And to accuse Him of anything worthy of death so that they could execute Him. Remember, these are the people that met at night.

And so this is the group that Peter and John are dragged in front of. They were probably, Bible doesn't say, but other historical documents speak of these men being assembled in a semicircle so that they could see each other. And then there was a presiding leader and some secretaries that would have sat elevated above that. And so the Bible says Peter and John were brought into their midst, into the middle. So they are surrounded by these rulers.

Rulers who have bent for acting in unjust and unrighteous ways. This court is comprised of the rulers, the elders of the people, and the scribes, the teachers of the law, but they have no love for God's people. Here's somebody that's been healed of a congenital lameness, unable to walk for 40 years, over 40 years, which means that he really couldn't work in that day. And they don't rejoice with him. They're not the least bit happy for this man, that he's been healed, that he can now leap and walk.

You know, Even just ordinary human love for one another, you would think they would have some measure of sympathy or some measure of gladness for this man. We're to rejoice with those who rejoice, and we're to weep with those who weep. But they don't do any of that. Nothing. They never express how happy they are for this man.

They never express, look, we are really glad, brother, that you've been healed of this. Never say that. They not only have no love for God's people, they have no love for God Himself. There's no awe at what the Lord has done. There's no gratitude for this extraordinary miracle that He's worked.

This is somebody, they have walked through. Remember this man sat at the temple gate, and he'd been doing that for years. These men have walked past Him many, many times. And here He is now leaping and dancing and praising the Lord. They want none of it.

They not only don't praise God for the miracle in their midst. They try to stop this man who's been healed from praising God. This is evidence of exactly what Jesus said of these scribes and Pharisees. They don't enter into the way and they try to stop others from going in themselves. These are the people that laid burdens too heavy for the people to bear on the people.

Burdens that they couldn't even carry themselves. That's what's going on here. But Now here's where this disinformation began. They ask a very misleading question. A miracle has just been performed.

A man has been healed. But They completely ignore this very significant fact. They drag the apostles into their midst, set them in front of this very august assembly of powerful people, and ask them, by what name or power have you done this thing? You notice they can't even call it what it is. They don't even say this miracle, this amazing healing, by what power have you done this?

We'd like to be able to know that's not what they're asking. They don't even mention this. They don't even mention what it is. It's just this thing. This thing.

Who gave you the power, the authority? That's what they're asking by name. And they ask by what name? It's by what authority? We talk that sometimes like that too.

Little siblings might say, well, who said that? And siblings will say, well, mom did or dad did. They use their name, that care of everybody's authority. That's what they're asking here. The implication of this question is that you don't have authority to do what you did.

You acted outside of your authority and you're out of order. That's the implication. That's what you would hear. That's what you would think if you heard somebody asking this question. You would think, if you didn't know better, that somebody has just done something that they don't have authority to do.

They've colored outside the lines. See, this makes this an ungodly question. It's manipulation. It's an attempt to gain control of a situation by enlisting an emotional response instead of a biblical response. And the manipulation often includes some kind of intimidation.

And the men in this council were master manipulators, just like our government news agencies today. They're master manipulators of the truth. And they use intimidation. They jail them all night. And then drag them in front of this council of powerful men.

And then they ask an unfair question that's designed to elicit an emotional and angry outburst by making it seem like these men had done something wrong. It's a question that's designed to put them on the defensive, And to make them justify themselves. By what power, by what authority have you done this? Justify yourself. It was a question that's designed to turn the situation to their advantage by making the apostles look like the bad guys, and making themselves look like the upright, just defenders of law and order.

And so They tried to reframe this whole question, this whole discussion, and to draw the disciples into conflict over the question of whether the apostles had authority to do what they did. And in so doing, they completely overshadow, they attempt to completely overshadow this glorious miracle that Jesus had done. But Peter hasn't spent three years with Jesus for nothing. Remember on a number of occasions, these same people attempted to manipulate Jesus in very similar ways. And Peter had watched over those three years how Jesus masterfully always turned the table and made them look like the foolish ones.

See, Jesus knew how to resist manipulation. So Peter learned from that. And so Peter learned from that. Remember, Jesus had done the same thing with the authorities on a couple of occasions. In Luke 6, Jesus was asked that question about eating grain on Sunday.

They were walking and eating grain. He said, well, the disciples, or the Jews asked, how come he could do that? Wasn't he breaking the law? Or they asked a question about taxes. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?

Remember, Jesus always turned the tables on them by doing Two things. So Peter's answer says, If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well? Let it be known to you all and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the stone which was rejected by you builders which has become the chief cornerstone, nor is there salvation in any other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." Peter does two things in this answer. First, he points them to their failure to do their duty under the law of God.

He makes it personal to them. And He points them back to their personal responsibility, their duty that they haven't done. Let it be known to you that by the name of Jesus whom you crucified, this is the stone which was rejected by you builders. You, you, you. This is what you have done.

He points them back to their responsibility to the things that they have done. They tried to accuse Peter and John by implication, by a manipulative question. But Peter accuses them in his answer of not just a failure to remember something, but he accuses them of breaking God's law and murdering the Messiah. It's a failure of their duty as a court to uphold justice. And He points out to them that they are an unjust court.

That they've had a travesty of justice, a miscarriage of justice, and they've murdered an innocent man. That's the first thing. He points to their responsibility, to their duty, in this case to uphold justice. And then the second thing is that He points them to what God commands them to do. To be saved.

To be saved. You notice how He beautifully turns this unjust, manipulative question designed to make Him defensive, designed to elicit an emotional, angry response. Here, we've just healed somebody, and you're going to accuse us? By what authority? He turns it into a command to them to be saved, to repent and believe.

There is no other name given under heaven, given among men, by which we must be saved. This is a duty. He's pointing out to them a duty, a command. They must repent and they must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, this very one whom they have killed. This is just like Paul told the Athenians.

God now commands all men everywhere to repent. That's a command. It's a Gospel command. It's an imperative that we repent and believe. And Peter brings this to them in a very direct way.

You must be saved. Peter does answer their question though. But he does it in such a way, in such language that he accomplishes the first two points in giving his answer. And he turns it into a Gospel call. He tells them, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth.

He uses his full name. And I thought it was interesting that the account in the last chapter where he heals the man, he said to this man, in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. In these two instances, this is the only place in the New Testament where Jesus is referred to by this full name, Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Jesus is His name that means Jehovah saves. Jehovah saves.

Christ is His Messianic title. He was the anointed one. It's the Greek word for anointed one. And he is of Nazareth, that lowly place that we talked about, that you only went there if you were actually going to Nazareth. There was no other, it was not any main road, there was nothing of importance there.

In fact, the disciples, you remember, said, what can come of Nazareth? What good thing comes out of Nazareth? So it's identifying with Jesus coming from an obscure unknown place. By Jesus Christ of Nazareth. The only two places in the entire New Testament where Jesus is called by that full name.

Jesus of Nazareth is very common in the gospels. And Christ is common, and Jesus is common, but Jesus Christ of Nazareth, this is the only place we read that. Now, Peter did not give this response in His own power. Peter does this by the power of the Holy Spirit. When he's asked this question, Luke records, then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, gave this powerful answer, turning the tables upon them.

Peter didn't have a long opportunity to plan a lengthy defense, but it is in this moment that the Holy Spirit equips Him to answer. And this is exactly what Jesus told them in Luke 12, 11. He said, now when they bring you into the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, That's exactly what's happened. Do not worry about how or what you should answer or what you should say, for the Holy Spirit will teach you that very hour what you ought to say. Now I just want to comment a minute.

Peter being filled with the Holy Spirit. Well, wasn't he already full of the Holy Spirit? Aren't Christians to be full of the Holy Spirit? Yes, we are. And yes, Peter was.

And as believers, The Holy Spirit dwells with us. We are God's temple, and His Holy Spirit does dwell with us. And we are then full of the Holy Spirit. But there's a distinction between this ongoing continual fullness of the Holy Spirit, which characterizes us, which defines who we are as those who are filled with the Spirit, as those who are led by the Spirit. For these are the sons of God.

We're not led by the flesh, but by the Spirit. Yes, so that's an ongoing sense, but there is another way here that we are filled with, to be filled with the Spirit, is to be equipped to do what God is calling us to do in that particular moment. And that's what we see in the Old Testament. Remember, Bezalel was somebody who was filled with the Spirit to do a particular task, namely to make the temple, to do all this amazing work. Remember making the candlestick, which is all of one piece.

Incredible gifting to be able to do that. He was filled with the Spirit for that particular job. Joshua was filled with the Spirit to be able to lead the children of Israel in Deuteronomy 34. Joshua, the son of Nun, was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses laid his hands on him so that the children of Israel heeded him. So those were the special giftings.

And so there's a distinction then between the ongoing fullness of the spirit that we all have. We always have so that we are led by the spirit and we speak by the spirit. We are the thing we are enabled by the Spirit to obey and so on The fruit the spirit bears fruit in our life and so on this is the ongoing fullness of the spirit but in this case is Peter is filled with the spirit and to especially enable Him to answer this charge, this question by the Pharisees, by this court, and to turn the tables on them and to turn this into a Gospel call for them to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Now what characterizes Peter then in being filled with the Spirit? So in Bezalel's case, he could make things.

In Joshua's case, he had wisdom to lead a military campaign and to lead the children of Israel. In Peter's case, he's filled with boldness, and he's enabled to speak the truth. He's filled with boldness, and he's able to speak the truth. It would be very easy to be intimidated in this situation. If you've ever been in court, you know it can be intimidating.

And You aren't able to say the things that you want to say. And you're not able to say them as clearly as you want to say them. Because there is something about being in that environment that is a little intimidating. And we're not at ease. And so the Holy Spirit fills Peter and He gives to him a boldness.

So that in this intimidating situation, when faced with these people who had power to kill Him, like they did Jesus. He is able to speak with boldness, and He is able, secondly, to speak the truth. He could tell These men that they had killed the Messiah. That they had crucified Jesus Christ of Nazareth. And the Pharisees recognized this boldness.

They recognized They weren't dealing with just an ordinary person. So as they realized they had been with Jesus, maybe Peter's spirit-filled answer, turning the tables on them, reminded them of the many times that Jesus had done that. And they said, ah, here is somebody who's been with Jesus. They recognized a boldness coming from people that they didn't think should have this boldness. These, they said, were uneducated and untrained men.

They were not men of letters. They didn't have any degrees behind their name. They had never been to Gamaliel's school and learned the finer matters of the law like Paul. They were in that sense uneducated. So they marveled.

This was not what they expected from people that didn't have advanced learning and advanced degrees to be able to argue in a court like this. Of course, we know that Peter wasn't untrained. He'd been three years with Jesus being trained in the doctrine, in the practical matters, in evangelism, and he'd been watching Jesus. But what made this happen, what set Peter apart, was the power of the Holy Spirit. And so They are silenced.

They are silenced by this answer. They can't say anything. This man that they've apparently arrested with Peter and John is standing in their midst. I think That's one possible explanation for why he would be in their midst. Normally, nobody else would be standing with the accused other than the accused.

So there's silence. They can't say anything. This man has obviously been healed. They said everybody in Jerusalem knows this. So they're stuck.

They can't deny that He's been healed. Peter has just identified the name by which He has been healed, the power. They've just been called to repent that they must believe on this man that they've murdered They realize that the better part of wisdom is not to say anything at this point They're silenced They are also afraid of the people. It says in verse 21, they threaten them further, letting them go, finding no way of punishing them because of the people. Well, they are the court.

They are the ones that have the authority of life and death. They are the ones that can execute the sentence. What do the people have to do with this? Well, they're afraid. They're afraid of the people.

That's what the people have to do with this. The people had no legal authority to stop them, but God sent them a spirit of fear. Just like David says, when my enemies come upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. These manipulators have been silenced, and they're not even able to further punish these because they're afraid. They're afraid of the people.

They're afraid of losing credibility. They're afraid of losing any popularity that they had. And so, they simply, Well, the first thing they do is to put them out of their court so they can talk without being made foolish. And we will look next week at what they do say when they bring them back in, and Peter's response, I think it's worthy of a message, Peter's response is to basically tell them, No, we're not going to do what you tell us to do. But what do we learn from this example, from this Scripture passage?

One is we need to learn to pray for boldness. To pray for boldness. They say that snakes are more afraid of us than they are afraid of us. So often we forget that. We are afraid of them.

If we almost step on them, you have that sudden panic, that you almost stepped on one. But we need to remember they are afraid of us. Well, that's the way it is with Christ's enemies. They are afraid of Christ. He has conquered all His enemies.

He's crushed the head of the serpent, who is the leader of all this army. And so they are afraid of God's people. And we need to pray for boldness. And that's what the apostles do when they get back. They pray for boldness.

We also need to seek the power and the filling of the Holy Spirit, to recognize that we cannot do the things that the Lord will call us to do by our own power. That we need the power of His Holy Spirit. And thirdly, we need to trust the Lord's Word. That in that moment, when we need the power of His Spirit, He will give to us. He will fill us with His Holy Spirit.

To give us boldness, to enable us to proclaim the truth and to turn an attempt to deny the truth or to conceal the truth into a proclamation of the Gospel and a call for Gospel obedience. So pray for boldness. Pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to do everything as parents, to train our children. We need the filling of the Holy Spirit to be able to address controversies and matters of where we need to teach and to train our children. We need the Holy Spirit's wisdom.

We need the power of the Holy Spirit. May the Lord give to us His Holy Spirit, and may He give us not a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of boldness. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, You have given to us in Christ every spiritual resource. And you call us to possess, to take possession of what is ours in you, what you have given to us.

To possess our possessions in Christ. We ask, Lord, that You would give us boldness, that we may speak the truth, that we may speak the truth that is most being challenged at that point that it needs spoken. We ask, Lord, for a bold witness, not only among ourselves, but among those with whom we work. May you enable us to speak the truth without fear, to speak it boldly. Lord, may you give us a boldness with our neighbors, That we may speak without fear of offending them.

May the Lord enable us to speak the truths in love with a holy boldness. Lord, we ask for Your Holy Spirit, especially this week, in whatever challenge You place before us, whatever challenge we face in our home, in our marriages, with our families, with our extended families, with our neighbors, at work. Lord, may we know and remember our need for Your Holy Spirit to enable us to do anything at all. Lord, we pray that You might increase and that we might decrease. We pray that our lives might more and more reflect the glory of Christ.

Reflect your truth and your righteousness. That we might be those who are slow to speak, and slow to anger, but quick to hear. We ask, O Lord, for your filling. In Jesus' name, Amen.