Sermon Tone Analysis

You might be opposing God

You might be opposing God!

33 When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

34 But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men.

36 For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him.

He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.

37 After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.

He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

38 So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail;

39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You might even be found opposing God!"

So they took his advice,

40 and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.

41 Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.

42 And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.”

The concluding verses of this chapter give the positive results of the pure, powerful, persistent, and yet persecuted church.

Although to some it was brief, Peter’s sermon to the Sanhedrin was powerful and resulted in great conviction.

He charged the Jewish leadership with rejecting and executing their Messiah, and because of that they were in rebellion against God.

He did not play on their emotions or soften the confrontation, but presented the truth.

Conviction that leads to salvation can only take place when the Spirit of God uses the facts of the Word of God to produce repentance in a person’s heart, mind and soul.

“7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you.

But if I go, I will send him to you.8

And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment:9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me;10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer;11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged”

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Let us pray…

You might be opposing God... so affirm the possibilities.

, “When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.”

Convicting preaching will always provoke a violent response from those who are hardened in sin.

When these authorities heard Peter’s bold presentation of the gospel of Jesus Christ, they were beside themselves.

All they could hear through their unsaved ears was blasphemy with enraged them all the more.

The Greek word here for enraged is “Diaprio” which means to be cut in two, which is apt metaphor to describe the power of the Word of God.

, “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

But these Jewish leaders remained unyielding to the truth, with their hearts and ears hardened.

They continued to be enraged, cut in half and unable to put them selves back together because of their rejection.

Just as they had done to Jesus these leaders rejected Him in spite of the abundance of evidence.

Because they Christ Jesus, they rejected His apostles, and the rejected His teachings.

, gives us some insight to this rejection,

“The Jews picked up stones again to stone him.

Jesus answered them, “I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone?”

The Jews answered him, “ It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God” ( ).

The high priest and his fellow Sadducees were enraged with the apostles for several reasons.

(1)The apostles had denied their doctrine by proclaiming the resurrection.

(2)They had defied the Sanhedrin’s authority by preaching after that had ordered them to stip.

(3) By charging the Sanhedrin with executing the Messiah; the apostles assaulted their spirituality.

(4) Finally, by winning large numbers of converts they threatened the Sadducees’ domination of the people.

These leaders had had enough and were left with only one response; they were intending now to kill them.

The apostle Paul faced a similar reaction later in the book of Acts in , “But Saul increased all the more in strength, and confounded the Jews who lived in Damascus by proving that Jesus was the Christ.

When many days had passed, the Jews plotted to kill him, but their plot became known to Saul.

They were watching the gates day and night in order to kill him, but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.”

Whenever are a serving God there will be great trials and tribulations, David once wrote, “ The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes their teeth towards the them and draws a sword towards them and bends their bows towards them.

Later in Jesus would give a clear summary of this problem.

, “Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.

Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.

You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town.”

Our gospel presentations must be definitive enough that the world must take note, even if they reject our message.

If the gospel we preach is not convicting enough to make some people angry, is it convicting enough to bring them salvation?

These leaders had made up their minds and affirmed their wicked direction until yet another leader shared with them some caution.

You might be opposing God... as you attack His people.

, “When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them.

But a Pharisee in the council named Gamaliel, a teacher of the law held in honor by all the people, stood up and gave orders to put the men outside for a little while.

And he said to them, “Men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men.

For before these days Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody, and a number of men, about four hundred, joined him.

He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing.

After him Judas the Galilean rose up in the days of the census and drew away some of the people after him.

He too perished, and all who followed him were scattered.

So in the present case I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.

You might even be found opposing God!”

So they took his advice, and when they had called in the apostles, they beat them and charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and let them go.”

Some react to a convicting presentation of the gospel with open hostility, but others with a milder indifference.

Such a person was a certain Pharisee named Gamaliel, a teacher of the Law.

He was easily the most prominent rabbi of that time and one of the greatest of all antiquity.

He was the grandson of another prominent rabbi, Hillel, and his successor as leader of the liberal wing of the Pharisees.

Gamaliel was one of the few honored with the title “rabban”, instead of rabbi, which means Master, Teacher.

This was because he was so highly respected by all the people and was the President of the Sanhedrin.

When he died it was said, “the glory and the Law ceased and purity and abstinence died.”

And we know that his most famous student was the apostle Paul.

Gamaliel stood up in the Council and gave orders to put the apostles outside for a moment, so that they could speak openly.

He them warned his fellow members of the Sanhedrim, Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men.

Unlike the Sadducees, the Pharisees accepted both the miraculous and the sovereignty of God.

Gamaliel’s counsel on the surface seems to reflect his belief that God was in control of events.

He them offers two illustrations before driving home his main point.

What happens next is a great example of God’s sovereignty and the fact that God will make all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purposes.

I say this because Gamaliel counsel was really unwise and dangerous.

That the Sadducees would heed the words of a Pharisee shows just how distinguished a man Gamaliel was.

In spite of the fact that Gamaliel tried to use cool logic rather than overheated emotions, his approach was still very flawed.

To begin with, he automatically classified Jesus with two rebels, which means he had already rejected the clear evidence of what God had done through the apostles.

To him this “Jesus of Nazareth” was just another zealous Jew, trying to set the nation free from Rome.

But think about it did Theudas or Judas ever come close to doing what Jesus had done?

Were signs and wonders ever assigned to them?

Did a great movement ever start after their death?

Were the ever raised from the dead?

The comparison between Jesus and Theudas and Judas was a false equivalence.

A false equivalence is a logical fallacy in which two completely opposing arguments appear to be logically equivalent when in fact they are not.

How could Gamaliel ever compare to rebels to Jesus Christ the righteous?

With a clever twist of bad logic; Gamaliel convinced the council that there was really nothing to worry about!

Troublemakers come and go, so just be patient.

Furthermore, Gamaliel assumed that “history repeats itself” Theudas and Judas rebelled, they were subdued, and their followers were scattered.

Just give these Galileans enough time and enough rope and they too will disband, and you will never hear or see them again, or about this Jesus.

But this time it was different, different because God Himself, had broken into history and visited the through this man, this man, Jesus of Nazareth!