Title God Raised / Acts 5:29-32
Acts 5:29-32 Peter and the apostles answered and said to them, "You ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree, and the God of our fathers raised him up so that Israel might repent and receive the forgiveness of sins He exalted him with his right hand to be king and savior, and we are witnesses of these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.
Acts 5 deals with three issues. Verse 11 deals with the case of Ananias and Sapphira. The two were a couple. They did not receive great favor one day while attending a meeting led by Peter, but all those who were there received grace together. Not only Ananias and Sapphira received grace, but everyone gathered there also received grace.
In verse 5, when Ananias heard this, he fell on his face and lost his soul. In verse 10, it says that his wife Sapphira also lost his soul and died. They became the protagonists of that day's misfortune "because Satan filled your heart," (3) "because you deceived the Holy Spirit," (3) "because you lied to God," (4) "because you tested the Spirit of the Lord." (9) This event had a great shock to the first pope. The members of the church made us realize that Satan works to deceive the Holy Spirit, teach lies, and work to tempt the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of the Lord. And I could see with my own eyes how terrifying and terrifying the results were.
Verses 12-16 are the accounts of the apostles performing signs. Many signs and wonders took place, and the number of believers increased. And even if Peter's shadow passed over the sick, a miracle occurred. In a word, the early church was a church where power and miracles took place. In verses 17-32, the priests and Sadducees, the Jewish religious class at the time, were jealous of the apostles and imprisoned them. But in verse 19, an angel of the Lord opened the prison door at night and brought him out, and told him to go and speak the word of life. The apostles who were released from prison went to the temple at dawn and preached the gospel. Verses 29-32, the main text of today's message, explain who Jesus Christ is to the Jewish religious leaders who Peter and the apostles imprisoned and tried to kill.
Let's find some lessons.
1. It is more appropriate to obey God rather than man (29)
Obedience is an absolute command. He said obedience is better than sacrifice. Acts 4:19 says, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, judge whether it is right." But more important is verse 32. “So is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.” Purebred is called whipakuo in Greek. It means that the subordinate listens to the superior's words from below. Listen. is to follow. The Bible is full of stories of those who obeyed and were blessed and those who were disobedient and cursed. Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Joshua were all obedient and blessed people.
But Saul ascended to the throne, but he was rejected for disobedience. 1 Samuel 15:23 says, "The LORD also rejected you, because you rejected the word of the LORD, and the LORD also rejected you from becoming king." In 15:26, "the LORD forsook you, the king of Israel, because you rejected the word of the LORD." You didn't let this happen." The incident of Saul shows that obedience to God brings blessings and disobedience brings curses. The text says that it is proper to obey God rather than men. And he said that he would give the Holy Spirit to those who obey. We must obey in order to receive grace, to receive the Holy Spirit, and to receive blessings. We must think of God before people. We must look at the face of God first rather than the face of man. Rather than obeying people, we must first obey God. It must be transformed into a life of obedience.
2. It means that God raised Jesus, whom you killed.
Verse 30 says, “The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging on a tree.” The Jews had a law to kill criminals who broke the law by hanging them on trees. Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says, "If a man commits a mortal sin, and you kill him and hang him on a tree, do not leave his body on the tree all night, but bury him that day. However, because the Jews did not crucify the innocent Jesus, they and their descendants were cursed. It is Peter's great faith and message that God raised Jesus, whom they had killed. You could have killed Jesus. But they couldn't keep him locked up in the tomb. Here we can discover God's power and human limitations. Even with the talent of flying and jumping, humans cannot exceed their limits.
When asked what inventions have opened a new chapter in the history of human civilization over the past two thousand years, scholars around the world, Colin Blackmore, professor of neuroscience at Oxford University, said: He said that he could avoid pregnancy, but as a result, he is ignoring the fact that the corruption of sexual morality and the ideology and trend of disrespecting human life are ruining mankind.
Daniel Hillis, director of research and development at Walt Disney Company, cited the invention of the watch, which provided the basis for scientific thinking that the laws of nature can be quantified. Writer Douglas Rushkov said, "I chose an eraser that made people think that there is no eternal truth, only temporary truth. And there were people who plugged in a computer.
However, until now and in the future, methods for raising the dead have not been developed, researched, or realized. The reason is that only God can do it. It is only God who gives life to the souls who die in sin. Only God can raise a person from the dead and go into the grave. The Lord raised Lazarus, the widow's son from Nain, and the daughter of Jairus. The Lord is exercising the power to save me here today.
Modern science has succeeded in experiments to create cloned cows, clone sheep, and transplant human sperm into mice to create humans. When I heard the news, I thought about it. What would you call a human created by a mouse It becomes "mouse kid" "mouse son" "mouse daughter". Of course, the mouse was used as a tool for scientific experiments, but there are ethical, moral, theological, and biblical problems that are hard to fathom.
As mentioned above, human science can clone something and create something, but it cannot bring the dead back to life. You can heal the dying and the dying and bring them back to life. However, after three days of burial, the body cannot be brought back to life. That is the limit of modern science and human knowledge.
But God raised Jesus from the dead. And the Lord said in John 11:25, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15:54, "When this perishable puts on immortality, and this mortal puts on immortality." Jesus is risen again. And those who believe in Jesus will live again.
3. It means that we must repent and receive forgiveness of sins.
Verse 31 says, “He exalted him with his right hand, that he might cause repentance and the remission of sins, and made him king and savior.” It means that we must oppose the sin of killing Jesus, repent of our sin of unbelief, and receive forgiveness of sins. In the Old Testament, in order to receive the forgiveness of sins, it was necessary to sacrifice an animal and make a blood sacrifice. However, because Jesus Christ died by offering Himself as a sin offering, anyone who believes in Him will receive forgiveness of sins. The climax of repentance, the conclusion of repentance, is to return to Jesus and to receive Jesus as our Savior. Let us give thanks for the forgiveness of sins through the merits of Jesus. Thank you for believing in Jesus and receiving the forgiveness of sins and being able to live again even if you die and have eternal life.
4. That we are witnesses on this day.
Verse 32 says, “We are witnesses of these things.” Witnesses must tell the truth of what they have heard and seen. No perjury and no right to remain silent. We are witnesses of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. If you believe that the Lord has risen, you must testify to that fact. The apostles and members of the early church believed in the resurrection of Jesus. However, there was no evidence of the resurrection of Jesus. Resurrection faith did not develop into evangelistic faith. Then there was a great persecution of the Jerusalem church. In Acts 8:4, it is said that those who were scattered from persecution went about preaching the gospel. Let's testify, "Jesus has risen. He is with me. You must believe in him to be saved. Believe in Jesus.