Alan Lewis
Elon, North Carolina
May 2025
13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. 14 But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say.
15 So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. 16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.”
18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges! 20 As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
21 After further threats they let them go. They could not decide how to punish them, because all the people were praising God for what had happened. 22 For the man who was miraculously healed was over forty years old.
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:13-31 NIV)
Today, we want to talk about the Christian and courage. We want to talk about the Christian and boldness. From beginning to end, this passage is all about boldness.
That raises several questions. Do we know what boldness is? Boldness is speaking the truth without fear in the midst of opposition. There are several misconceptions about boldness.
Misconceptions about Boldness1) Boldness is not the same thing as rudeness You can stand up and speak the truth without fear without being rude, obnoxious and hateful. We are to speak the truth IN LOVE (Ephesians 4:15). We should be bold and loving at the same time. It is possible to speak the truth without love. That happens all the time in our day. People say things to hurt other people. They insult people. They demean and mock people. What they say may even be true. We all know people who are negative, harsh, critical and judgmental. They say things not because they love you and want to help you but because they want to judge you. 2) Boldness is not the same thing as stupidity Someone said, “Purposely stepping in front of a moving train might be bold but it’s also stupid.” We not only need to be bold; we need to be wise. There may be times to use tact. Jesus said, ““I am sending you out like sheep surrounded by wolves, so be WISE AS SERPENTS and innocent as doves” (Matthew 10:16 NET). We should be bold and wise at the same time. We should be bold and loving at the same time. |
The questions we want to ask now is this. Are we bold? Are we bold in your witness or are we shy, timid and afraid? The Bible says, “The wicked flee though no one pursues, but the righteous are as bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1 NIV).
Are you as bold as a lion? Missionaries in foreign lands who give up their life for the gospel have courage but what about you and me?
It is easy to have boldness in America. We have religious freedom. It is not as easy to have boldness in places where Christianity is against the law. God wants us to be bold in our faith. He gave Joshua a job to do and told him to be brave.
Be strong and very COURAGEOUS. Be careful to obey all the law my servant Moses gave you; do not turn from it to the right or to the left, that you may be successful wherever you go.
8 Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful. 9 Have I not commanded you? Be strong and COURAGEOUS. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:7-9 NIV)
Few Christians today seem to have this trait. The apostles and early Christians were bold. You say, “I am still working on this trait.” It takes time to develop it.
Peter did not always have it. He did not have it when Jesus was arrested. He denied Jesus, not once, but three times. He was not bold. On that occasion, he was a coward.
A big rough muscular fisherman was afraid of a few young servant girls and what they said to him and yet Peter was very bold in Acts 3 & 4. It began with a bold command.
Bold Command
Peter saw a poor lame beggar at the Temple. He did not pretend he did not see him and walked right past him, like many do today. He did not give him some money, kept on walking, and felt good about himself.
He did not ask him to rise up and walk. He commanded him to rise up and walk. He commanded him to do something that he could not do. That was bold.
Some would say it was stupid. It did not make any sense, but he did it. He did not ask him first if he wanted to be healed. He just commanded him to stand up and walk. That was incredibly bold.
A Bold Message
After a bold miracle came a bold message. A crowd came around Peter and John. They surrounded them. They just performed an amazing miracle. They said, “We didn’t do it. Jesus did it, the Jesus that you crucified. He did it. He was healed by faith in Jesus’ name”
Then Peter did something that many do not do today, because it is unpopular. He preached against sin. He called them all sinners.
In 1967, a psychiatrist wrote a famous self-help book called, I’m Okay Your Okay. Someone else wrote a book entitled, I’m Not Okay, You’re Not Okay. We are all sinners. We are all fallen. We live in a fallen world.
Preachers don’t preach against sin today. If they did, there would be no one in church. They would all leave.
Peter said right after they flattered him, “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One. You asked for a murderer to be released to you. You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead.” That was bold.
Peter said they did it IN ignorance, and it was predicted in the OT, but he tells them to repent. He tells them to turn to God so their sins can be wiped out and they can get saved and times of refreshing can come. A Jewish revival can take place.
A Bold Defense
The miracle led to a message and the message led to an arrest, because it happened on Temple grounds and because Peter talked about the resurrection. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection.
One of the biggest myths today is that all the Jews are the same. There is only one type. There is not just one type. They are all different. That is like saying all Christians are the same. We have hundreds of denominations, and they are very different. Presbyterians and Pentecostals are not the same.
Jews are not all the same. They are not all the same today. Some are Reformed. Some are conservative. Some are Orthodox. Some are Hasidic. They are the ultra-orthodox Jews.
Two thousand years ago, the Jews were very different was well. Some were Pharisees and some were Sadducees. The Sadducees were in charge of the Temple.
They were the priests. They did not like some of the things Peter and John were saying but they could not refute them. They had healed the man.
There was no denying it and the people supported them. They arrested them, and the next day, brought them before the Sanhedrin and they interrogated them.
Now, they are not talking to a crowd in the Temple. They are talking to Jewish leaders. They are talking to the Jewish authorities, the scholars of the day, the religious experts (called “the scribes”). They are talking to the top judges in the country.
At the beginning of the chapter, they were ANGRY at Peter and John (Acts 4:2). Now, they are ASTONISHED (Acts 4:13). Not only was Peter bold but these judges saw this boldness. Everyone could see it and they were shocked.
Unlearned and Ignorant Men13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13 NIV). Why were they shocked? The KJV says, “they were unlearned and ignorant men.” If you read it in Greek, it sounds that way. He calls them ἀγράμματοί and ἰδιῶται. That sounds like they called them uneducated and idiots. Our English word “idiot” comes from this Greek word. That is not what they were saying. They were not saying that they were completely illiterate. They were not saying that they could not read or write. They wrote some epistles. One of them wrote a Gospel. Peter was not stupid. He quotes the OT prophets from memory. He is not saying they were uneducated. They were educated but did not have a formal education. They did not have a PhD. They had no academic credentials. They had not been to college. They had not been to graduate school. They had not been to seminary. They did not have any rabbinical training. They were not ordained rabbis. They were not trained theologians. They were simple fishermen, not scholars or university professors. These were simple men, good old boys from West Virginia and Kentucky, as Tommy Nelson puts it. These were hillbilly street preachers from the North. The Jews said the same thing about Jesus. Jesus was the wisest man who ever lived. He was wiser than Solomon (Matthew 12:42) and people called him unlearned. He did not have a college degree. Not until halfway through the festival did Jesus go up to the temple courts and begin to teach. 15 The Jews there were amazed and asked, “How did this man get such learning without having been taught?” (John 7:14-15 NIV). Now, there is nothing wrong with a good education. I am an educator. There is nothing wrong with a good education or going to seminary and learning Hebrew and Greek. Moses was educated in all of the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). Paul studied under the top rabbi in his day. He sat at the feet of Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). He was also very well educated, but you didn’t need it to be used by God. God can use anybody. Spending time with Jesus is more valuable than an education. It is more valuable than reading books, taking classes and getting degrees. You can have both, but no seminary on earth is better than what Peter and John had. They spent three years with Jesus himself. They heard Him teach. They watched Him perform miracles. They spent three years in the best Bible school in the world. They spent three years in the best seminary in the world. A.W. Tozer said, “They did not get a degree that they could frame on their wall, but they got something better than piece of paper.”[1] This passage brings up a powerful application. Have you been with Jesus? Can others tell? Peter and John had been with Jesus and the Sanhedrin could tell. Can people around us tell that we have been with Jesus? Can they tell we are Christians? Do they even know we are believers? |
How was Peter bold when he stood before the Sanhedrin? We see it in several ways.
One, he was not intimidated.
Peter and John had not been to law school. They did not have an attorney by their side to defend them. Anyone else would be intimidated. They had to stand before the Supreme Court.
They had to stand before the most powerful men in the country. Everyone else would be nervous and afraid but not Peter and John. They were fearless and they were fearless because they were filled with the Spirit (Acts 4:8).
They were bold, not just preaching on the street. They were bold in the courtroom. It is one thing to be bold in your faith. It is another thing to be bold in court.
Two, he preached boldly
They stood before seventy judges who all stared them down. What did he do? He preached the gospel. He did not weaken or water down the message. He told them that they needed to repent and get saved.
Peter said that they needed to be saved. Jesus could save them. In fact, He is the only way anyone can get saved. There is no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
Peter turned the tables on these judges. The Sanhedrin accused Peter and John. Peter turned around and accused them of a crime. These were people who were religious and were moral. That was bold.
Three, he was bold in his response
This is interesting. The Sanhedrin could not deny the miracle. The man was standing with Peter. There was proof that the miracle was real. The lame man was their apologetic. He was proof of the supernatural. There is no answer to a changed life.
What they were concerned with was power. They could not stop the miracle, but they could try to control the message, so that is what they did. They tried to stop the apostles from preaching.
They did NOT say they couldn’t believe in Jesus. “You can believe what you want but keep it to yourself. Don’t preach it here. Not one more word to one more person about Jesus.”
They tried to silence speech. We still have people that try to do that today. If you say politically incorrect things, people will try to silence you. They will try to cancel you.
16 “What are we going to do with these men?” they asked. “Everyone living in Jerusalem knows they have performed a notable sign, and we cannot deny it. 17 But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn them to speak no longer to anyone in this name.” 18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. (Acts 4:16-18 NIV)
The Bible on Civil Disobedience
How did Peter respond to this pressure? What did he say? Peter and John replied, “Which is right in God’s eyes: to listen to you, or to him? You be the judges. As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:19-20 NIV)
Peter’s response was brilliant. Should we listen to God or listen to you? The answer was obvious. That raises an important question.
Does the Bible teach civil disobedience? Should Christians be involved in civil disobedience. Should Christians ever disobey the government?
The answer is not so simple. The Bible does teach civil disobedience, but secular civil disobedience is different from biblical civil disobedience.
When we think of civil disobedience, what do we think of? We think of people who protest an unjust law by deliberately disobeying. That is Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King did.
Today, people take over buildings in protest to a foreign policy they do not agree with. There is no example of this in the Bible. There were unjust laws in Jesus’ day. There was slavery in the ancient world. Jesus and the apostles were not political activists.
The Bible does not teach that we should disobey the government because we do not agree with it or like. Most of us do not like the speed laws, especially when we are running late. Paul said we should obey the government.
Peter said we should obey the government and none of their government were Christian. In fact, they were pagan and yet Paul said that government is a divine institution. He said it is instituted by God. He did not teach it is an oppressive institution.
Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. THE AUTHORTIEIS THAT EXIST HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED BY GOD. 2 Consequently, whoever rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves… 5 Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also as a matter of conscience. (Romans 13:1-2, 5 NIV)
Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to EVERY HUMAN AUTHORITY whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right…. how proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (I Peter 2:13-14, 17 NIV)
There is one exception to this rule, and only one. When you have to choose between God and government, you choose God. This is not about political differences. It is about obedience.
If the government commands you to sin, you disobey the government. In Daniel 3, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were commanded to commit idolatry. They were commanded to bow and worship a statute of King Nebuchadnezzar’s command. They disobeyed that command. They committed civil disobedience.
If the government tells you to do something in direct violation of what God says or Scripture says, they you obey God. Daniel did that and that was what Peter did.
In Daniel 6, there was a law that you were not allowed to pray to anyone other than the King. Daniel broke that law, and he let people see that he was breaking that law. He did not try to hide it. He prayed with the window open.
They called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. Peter was told that he could not preach Jesus anymore.
Jesus gave him the Great Commission. Jesus commanded him to preach. The Sanhedrin commanded him not to preach. Peter said he was going to obey Jesus. He said, “We cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.”
A Prayer for Boldness
The chapter ends with a prayer for boldness. This is interesting. Peter and John were arrested. After they were released, they went to church and had a prayer meeting. After the trial, there was a prayer meeting. It was a powerful prayer meeting, and the place was shaken.
23 On their release, Peter and John went back to their own people and reported all that the chief priests and the elders had said to them. 24 When they heard this, they raised their voices together in prayer to God. “Sovereign Lord,” they said, “you made the heavens and the earth and the sea, and everything in them.
25 You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David: “‘Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? 26 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointed one.
27 Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. 28 They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.
29 Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness. 30 Stretch out your hand to heal and perform signs and wonders through the name of your holy servant Jesus.”
31 After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly. (Acts 4:23-31 NIV)
They acknowledged all kinds of opposition to the gospel (Herod, Pilate, kings of the earth, the nations). They plot and scheme, but it is all in vain. They only do what God’s “power and will had decided beforehand should happen.”
They did not pray for easy lives. They did not pray for prosperity. They did not even pray for safety. They did pray for the threats to be removed.
Instead, they pray for two things: BOLDNESS and POWER. They prayed for boldness to preach the message and for miracles to be performed to authenticate it.
They prayed, “enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness.” They also prayed for signs and wonders to be performed in the name of Jesus. They pray for this healing to be repeated and for more of them to take place.
We often think the apostolic age was an age of signs and wonders. That is true but the early Christians prayed for signs and wonders. They did not just happen automatically. They had to pray for them to take place.
The prayer was answered. As they finished praying, the place shook. The presence of God filled the room. The Holy Spirit filled all of them supernaturally.
Peter was filled on the Day of Pentecost. He was filled when he spoke before the Sanhedrin and after this prayer meeting, he was filled again. This is not a second work of grace. It is a third work of grace, as Barnhouse points out.[2]
[1] https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermons/92802202841/a?autoplay=true&popout=true
[2] Donald Grey Barnhouse, Acts, 49.
