God Is Our Enemy, Until…..

In Acts chapter 4 we read Peter addressing the religious leaders after he and John are detained for healing a crippled man of 40+ years. Peter boldly proclaims that Jesus is the only way to be saved. As we read further we come to the scene in which the religious leaders demand Peter and John to never speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Peter boldly tells them that God wants our obedience. Part of that is not obeying man when it violates Gods clear instructions for our behavior. Why is it that people despise the name of Jesus? Why is it that the world wants to silence faithful believers from proclaiming the Gospel? Why does the name of Jesus offend people? Simply because they know He is God. And God is our enemy until we submit to His sovereignty. I don’t even have to prove this. Go out on the street and talk about Jesus and the Gospel. You will get opposition immediately. If this weren’t true, you wouldn’t be told to keep quiet. It’s been going on since the origins of the NT, and it will continue until He returns a second time. It’s just proof that we need a Savior; we have a dilemma called sin, and the only remedy is Jesus. Save yourself some pain, come to Him today. The Gospel is called “Good News” for a reason.

1 The priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people. 2 They were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. 3 They seized Peter and John and, because it was evening, they put them in jail until the next day. 4 But many who heard the message believed; so the number of men who believed grew to about five thousand.5 The next day the rulers, the elders and the teachers of the law met in Jerusalem. 6 Annas the high priest was there, and so were Caiaphas, John, Alexander and others of the high priest’s family. 7 They had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them: “By what power or what name did you do this?”8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: “Rulers and elders of the people! 9 If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, 10 then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. 11 Jesus is “ ‘the stone you builders rejected,which has become the cornerstone.’ 12 Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”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. Acts 4:1-22