Sermon 4-29-18

Overview

Two Kinds of Silence in Acts 4

Following the healing of the man lame from birth, Peter and John stand before the Sanhedrin—the Jewish Supreme Court—not on trial, but under investigation. What strikes the council is the boldness and scriptural articulation of two "uneducated and ordinary men," who had no rabbinical training yet spoke with such conviction that their accusers "recognized them as companions of Jesus" Acts 4:13. This is what Jesus does to a person: He changes us, and He keeps changing us, conforming us more and more into His image.

Two kinds of silence frame this passage. First, the Sanhedrin themselves fall silent—when the healed man stands beside the apostles, "they had nothing to say in opposition" Acts 4:14. The miracle literally takes the words out of their mouths. Notably, the council never denies the resurrection of Christ; the easiest counterargument is one they cannot make. But their silence does not last. Recovering their voice, they command the apostles to be silent: "to speak no more to anyone in this name" Acts 4:17. Having failed to kill the Messiah, the strategy now is to kill the message by silencing the messengers. Peter and John reply that they cannot do otherwise: "We cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard" Acts 4:20.

Scripture consistently calls the church to be loud. The man freed from demons is sent home to "declare how much God has done for you" Luke 8:39. The psalmist promises, "My mouth will tell of your righteous acts" Psalm 71:15. Jesus promises Spirit-given power so that we "will be my witnesses" Acts 1:8. Paul charges Timothy to "fight the good fight of the faith" and to make "the good confession" 1 Timothy 6:12, and writes, "I believed, and so I spoke" 2 Corinthians 4:13. It is striking: the apostles had to be commanded to be silent, while we constantly need to be reminded to speak.

There is a deeper silence beneath all this—the silence of the Suffering Servant. "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter… so he opened not his mouth" Isaiah 53:7. Crushed under the weight of our iniquity Isaiah 53:5–6, Jesus was silent so that we would have a word to speak. Satan's strategy mirrors the Sanhedrin's: silence the church, and the gospel does not go forth, for the Spirit works faith through the verbal proclamation of Christ crucified and risen. We were not washed in baptism, clothed in Christ's righteousness, and gathered for worship so that we might leave with sealed lips. Confess the silences of this past week—the conversations full of sports and news but empty of the Savior—receive forgiveness from the One who was silent for you, and ask Him to open your mouth. Silence has its place. When it comes to the gospel, never.

Transcript

Would you open your Bible, please, with me to the fourth chapter of the wonderful book of Acts. 0s

We're going to pick up where we left off last week. 6s

Silence can be such an interesting phenomenon, can't it? 9s

Silence can be the midwife that gives birth to awkwardness. 15s

For in those awkward moments of silence, we can be tempted to rush in with an avalanche 22s

of words. Simply to fill a supposed void that silence has opened. 29s

One author writes that with all of our technological advances, 39s

we are becoming more and more used to noise. In fact, he says we are becoming addicted to it. 43s

Or you see, silence can scare us because in silence, we are just left with our thoughts. 53s

In the other side of the coin, silence can be that which is embraced. 67s

Silence can be refreshing, it can be restful, it can be rejuvenating, it can be restorative. 71s

Silence can be a beautiful, beautiful gift. 78s

I hope as we explore this text today, that you will listen for the times of silence in the text 85s

and reflect. Again, to recap, the great healing has occurred of the man that had been 95s

from birth. That gave rise to a sermon, that gave rise to an arrest, and that gave rise to an 102s

investigation. And that's where we pick up today. An investigation by the Jewish San 109s

Heidrin, the San Heidrin, was the Jewish Supreme Court. And this is now the outcome of 115s

the investigation. Look with me, please, at the verse 13 of chapter 4. 123s

Now when they, that's the San Heidrin, saw the boldness of Peter and John and realized 129s

that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions 138s

of Jesus. Uneducated and ordinary men, the word therefore uneducated, simply as a word that 147s

shows that they didn't have any rabbinical training. These were uneducated in that sense. 156s

But oh, how articulate and wonderful they were in their words, because they were defending 164s

their position from the scriptures. And the San Heidrin, frankly, was quite amazed at their boldness 170s

and their ability to articulate from the scriptures. When they saw the boldness of Peter and John 177s

realized that they were uneducated and ordinary men, they were amazed and recognized them as companions 186s

of Jesus. When your own relationship with Jesus Christ, that changes you. Don't you? 196s

Because Jesus changes you. You're not the same person you were yesterday that you are today. 205s

You're not going to be the same person tomorrow that you are today. Because God is constantly 212s

at work through His word to mold us more and more into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. 217s

And so here is the San Heidrin looking at this bold witness here of Peter and John and they are 225s

amazed not only for what they're saying, but they draw the connection that they had been 233s

and our companions of Jesus. Next verse, verse 14, when they saw the man who had been 241s

cured, standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition. What was the reaction of the 251s

San Heidrin? Silence. Silence. Quite literally the miracle of the man who had been born lame 264s

and now is leaping in jumping and praising it literally took the words away and the San Heidrin 276s

is silent. Silence. Unfortunately, however, their silence did not linger for long. Next verse. 293s

So they ordered them to leave the council while they discussed the matter with one another. They said, 309s

what will we do with them? For it is obvious to all who live in Jerusalem that a notable 315s

sign has been done through them, we cannot deny it. We do with them. It is an interesting 321s

interesting situation of the San Heidrin as in first. Peter and John had broken no law. 330s

There's no legal charge that can be brought against them. Remember, this is an investigation 337s

of the San Heidrin. It's not a trial. So they had done nothing wrong. There's no legal charges 343s

that can be brought. They are making their case based out of holy scripture. They're drawing 349s

on scripture and right in front of them is a literal walking miracle. And so that means that the 358s

message is validated. And the crowd has gathered and already we've seen by the operation of the 366s

spirit that some 5,000 have been converted to the Lord Jesus Christ. Add to that. 374s

Scripture tells us that there are more than 500 witnesses of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. 383s

So you've got all kinds of people telling about the resurrection of Jesus telling about this name, 389s

the Lord Jesus Christ, who was crucified and now has been raised from the dead. 397s

Notice that nowhere does the San Heidrin ever deny the resurrection of Christ. 408s

This is the Jewish Supreme Court and there's not one verse in holy scripture where the 420s

San Heidrin says, that never happened. Never happened. So be an easy argument to make, easy argument 426s

to make. If you can prove that Jesus Christ didn't rise from the dead, they never do it. 433s

That side here, that is one of the proofs of the resurrection, by the way, that the Jewish 440s

Supreme Court never, ever denied that Jesus was raised from the dead. What are we going to do with 445s

them? What are we going to do with them? The San Heidrin says, here's the solution, verse 17. 458s

But to keep it from spreading further among the people, what's the it? It's the proclamation of Christ 469s

crucified and risen. To keep it from spreading further among the people, let us warn them 475s

to speak no more to anyone in this name. So they called them and ordered them not to speak or teach 482s

at all in the name of Jesus. What was their plan? Command them to be what? 494s

Silent. Silent? The miracle had taken their words away, but once they got their voice, 505s

they commanded them to be silent. Silent. Well, how do you think that worked out? 518s

Look at the very next verse, verse 19. But Peter and John answered them, whether it is right in 535s

God's sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge. Well, the answer to that is inherent 541s

in the question, right? For we cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard. 548s

We can't be silent. Can't help ourselves. They commanded them to be silent and the response was 558s

said, Hebron, can't help it. Can't help it. We see the call for the church to be loud, 572s

constantly throughout Scripture. I think for example of Luke the eighth chapter, 586s

their Jesus has healed the man with the host of demons. And in the eighth chapter of Luke, 592s

he turns to the man and he says, return to your home to Claire how much God has done for you. 599s

So he went away proclaiming throughout the city how much Jesus had done for him. Psalm 71. 604s

My mouth will tell of your righteous acts of your deeds of salvation all day long. Acts 1. 614s

But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you and you will be my 624s

witnesses in Jerusalem in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth. 631s

1 Timothy 6. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were 638s

called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 645s

2 Corinthians 4. But just as we have the same spirit of faith that is in accordance with Scripture, 651s

I believed and so I spoke, we also believe and so we speak. Why did this end? 660s

Heedron command them to be silent because what they wanted to do was kill the message and you kill it 672s

through silence. They tried killing the Messiah. 689s

That didn't work. So now if they can just silence the church, that's the command. Isn't it interesting? 697s

How the apostles had to be commanded to be silent and we have to continually remind our 716s

selves to speak. One of the great prophecies of our Lord is Isaiah 53. Their verse 6 it says, 726s

but he was wounded for our transgressions. Crushed for our equities. Now think of the image here and 738s

think of the cross because this is a prophetic word here with regard to Jesus Christ. 748s

The weight of the sin of the world is placed upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He carries all of the sin 754s

of everyone who had ever been ever was or ever will be. All of the sin of thought, word, and 763s

deed, what we've done and what we've left undone. And Scripture describes the weight of the sin 770s

that is placed upon Jesus Christ here in the prophetic word in Isaiah as crushing upon it. 776s

He was wounded for our transgressions crushed for our equity. Upon him was the punishment that made 787s

us whole and by his bruises we are healed. The wrath of God for sin is laid upon Jesus. The crushing 794s

weight upon him. He bears the wrath. He bears the punishment so that we might be made whole. 805s

For given the world reconciled unto God. All we like sheep have gone astray. We've all turned to 815s

our own way. The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted. 824s

And here is this. Yet he did not open his mouth. 838s

Like a lamb that has led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its shears is silent. 850s

So he did not open his mouth. Three times in that short clause, the Scripture says, 862s

He didn't open his mouth. He was silent. He didn't open his mouth. 878s

Silence silence silence. Jesus was silent so that we would have a word to speak. 887s

The gospel. Satan's ploy is to get the church to be silent. 903s

Because if the church is silent the message doesn't go forth and it is through the verbal 920s

proclamation of the message of Christ crucified and risen for the salvation of the world that the 931s

Holy Spirit uses to bring people to faith where and when it pleases him. 939s

So Satan works just like the Sanhedrin worked to get the church to be 948s

silent. Love it we were not claimed in the waters of our baptism so that we would be a silent 961s

people. We were not cloaked in the righteous garment of Christ and given the gift of forgiveness and life 971s

eternal as that word is washed over us so that we always know that that decision has been made 978s

about us so that we could be quiet. God never called his church together so that we would 984s

gather for worship and then leave with lips perched afraid that we might offend. Satan says, 994s

the Sanhedrin said, be silent, be silent. That's the tool of the evil one. 1007s

Beloved May we confess today our silence. May we confess today that as we look at Holy 1031s

Scripture and we see that the apostles had to be commanded to be silent. May we confess 1041s

our constantly needing to be reminded to speak. May we confess today that perhaps this past week 1049s

no one heard a word of gospel from us. May we confess that they may have heard a lot of news. 1063s

A lot of excitement about the NFL draft but not a word about the one that has redeemed this. 1073s

May we confess today and receive the word of forgiveness one through the one who went to the cross 1086s

and was silent so that we would have the word to speak. 1096s

Look with me please, adverse 21. After threatening them again they let them go. 1107s

Finding no way to punish them because of the people. For all of them praised God 1118s

for what had happened. For the man on whom this sign of healing had been performed was more than 1124s

40 years old. We are then sent forth. God opens our mouth so that we will proclaim Christ crucified 1132s

and risen. God plants in us the desire. I don't think there's one person here. There's one 1144s

person at the early service today. I don't think there's one person here that doesn't have the 1154s

desire to share Jesus Christ because that desire is planted in us. Where's the grace? 1161s

That He opens our mouth to speak. Forgive us, Lord, for our silence we pray and open our mouth 1174s

to speak. Silence, it has its place, sure. 1192s

When it comes to the gospel, never, never. 1202s