The Name Forbidden Acts 4:13-22 - Comments by Mike Kines

In Acts 4:13-22, Peter and John heal a lame man and attract attention from religious leaders. The leaders try to silence them but Peter and John refuse, saying they must speak about what they have witnessed. The leaders are intimidated by the crowd and try to exert power, but they are no longer on God's side. This parallels a previous trial with Jesus. Peter and John stand firm in their faith, stating they must obey God rather than the leaders. They continue to preach about Jesus and his resurrection. The scripture we're looking at today is Acts chapter 4 verses 13 through 22. This is the scripture, the subtitle of this is The Name is Forbidden. So let's just jump over here and read this scripture real quick. Acts chapter 4 verses 13 through 22. Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled. And they took knowledge of him that they had been with Jesus, and beholding the man which was healed standing with them, they could say nothing against it. And when they had commanded them to go aside out of the council, they conferred among themselves, saying, What shall we do to these men? For that indeed a notable miracle hath been done by them as manifest to all them that dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it, but that it spread no further among the people that have straightly threatened them that they speak henceforth to no man this name. And they called them and commanded them not to speak at all, nor teach in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John answered and said unto them, Whether it be right in the sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God, judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard. So when they had further threatened them, they let them go, finding nothing how they might punish them because of the people. For all men glorify God for that which was done. For the man was about forty years old in whom this miracle had been showed. So this is Acts chapter 4 verse 13 through 22. So we see here that Peter and John were used by the Lord to heal this lame man who was over forty years old. This is kind of just backtracking a little bit and giving you a summary of what's happening here. So Peter and John gathered and Peter preached the gospel to them. A lot of the people got saved, but it drew the angry attention of the temple security and the religious leader. In today's scripture, Peter and John stand on trial before these religious leaders. So here are some points to consider. This was not the first time that these religious leaders got themselves into this situation with the Lord Jesus. I remember there was a previous story about Jesus healed a blind man in John chapter 9 and there, and he did this on the Sabbath then as well. One of the things that always stands out to me and the question I always ask myself is why did Jesus do these things on the Sabbath days? Why did he always confront, why was he always confronting these religious leaders about this point? He would always do his healings on the Sabbath days. So the trial in John chapter 9 and this current trial here with this Peter and John has some parallels. You see here the religious leaders were intimidated by the crowd of people. And so you should ask yourself the question, where do religious leaders derive their power from? This goes back to how the world system works. In the world system, a man will make a name for himself and bring other people underneath his name in order to give himself prestige and power and influence. And you see this principle at work in everything from technology to corporations to government, business, society. Everything is based upon these worldly principles of making a name for yourself and bringing numbers of people underneath yourself. You see here the religious leaders threatened the apostles and they tried to forbid them to speak in the name of Jesus, but they were no longer on God's side and they no longer had any authority. These people were actually, the religious leaders now, because they were forbidding the apostles to speak in the name of Jesus, they were actually setting themselves contrary to the God they confessed that they served. And the Lord predicted this would happen. The Lord said that the day would come where people would be persecuted, Christians would be persecuted, and the people who were doing the persecuting would think that they were doing God a service. So you see here that these people, these religious leaders were no longer on God's side, but they were persecuting these men who were representing the Lord Jesus Christ and were representing the living God. So Peter and John's reply to their threatenings and to them forbidding them to speak in the name of Jesus was a common sense reply. They said, you judge if it is right for us to obey God or you. The religious leaders were no longer on God's side any longer since Jesus showed up. They just left it up to them, but they were going to continue on. They could not help but to speak and to preach what they had seen and heard, that Jesus Christ is Lord, that he died on the cross for our sins, that he was buried, and that he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures, and that he appeared to his disciples, he ascended back into heaven, that he's coming again, that there will come a day when Jesus Christ will come back and to restore all things. Amen.