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The Gates of Hell Won’t Prevail (Acts 5:16–42)

Sermon for MHBC (7 March 2021). You can listen on Facebook, YouTube, Vimeo, or our website. Live at 11:00am on Sundays.

John Knox once said, “A man with God is always in the majority.” Knox was a Protestant who lived during the reign of Queen Mary, also known as “Bloody Mary” for her intense persecution of Protestants. Queen Mary supposedly said, “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.” What would make a queen say something like that? She had seen the impact of Knox’s prayer life. Knox had that reputation because he had an uncompromising obedience to God. After all, James 5 says, “The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.”

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The key to a healthy church is uncompromising obedience. Obedience makes the Church unbreakable. The problem is that we often follow our intuition and traditions, rely on our own power. We are often slack on obedience. But the people of God are called to obedience and when we are singularly focused on obedience to Christ, we will see the power of God unleashed.

Let’s take a look at the passage. Remember this whole scene began with the threats of the religious leaders. The apostles were told not to teach in the name of Jesus. Yet, they’ve continued doing so. Again, they are arrested. Look at vv. 17–18: But the high priest rose up, and all who were with him (that is, the party of the Sadducees), and filled with jealousy they arrested the apostles and put them in the public prison.

But then look what happens in the next verses. Start in v. 19: But during the night an angel of the Lord opened the prison doors and brought them out, and said. There’s this supernatural intervention. God shows up. He sends an angel to free them from prison. That’s incredible. We see once again the power of God in the church.
Let’s keep going, v. 20: “Go and stand in the temple and speak to the people all the words of this Life.” So there’s a command. Go, stand in the temple, and speak. God unleashes his power for a purpose. What do you think they do? What would you do if you had just been arrested? Even if something supernatural happened would you be willing to go do the very thing that got you arrested?

Verse 21: And when they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and began to teach. This is uncompromising obedience. It doesn’t matter that they’ve been arrested twice and threatened. It doesn’t matter that something worse might happen to them. What matters more than anything else is obedience.

This is purely anecdotal, so I would welcome you to prove me wrong, but I know of no successful church revitalization effort that did not begin with a radical commitment to obedience. Look around. Those churches that have abandoned obedience to Scripture are continuing to shut their doors. In their desire for relevance, they become irrelevant in a culture that has better alternatives. What causes us to compromise on obedience? Sometimes it is tradition. The church of the 1960s and 1970s is not synonymous with Scripture. Sometimes it is fear. We fear humans more than God. Sometimes it is a lack of repentance. We continue in our pride and self-righteousness. Obedience is impossible under these circumstances. Obedience requires relinquishing ourselves to God, taking up the Scriptures, challenging our cherished beliefs with them, repenting, confessing, and committing to uncompromising obedience.

Do you remember that famous verse spoken to Joshua as he takes up the mantle of leadership following Moses’s death? Joshua 1:7: Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. God calls his people to a singular devotion to him. Jesus teaches this as well. He says in Matt 7:21, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Bonhoeffer wrote: “The life of discipleship is not the hero-worship we could pay to a good master, but obedience to the Son of God.”[1]

Our activities, good deeds, programs, professions, mean nothing without obedience. Our love for Jesus must prompt obedience to Jesus (cf. John 14:15).

Let’s continue in Acts. Begin at the second half of v. 21 and go through v. 24:

Now when the high priest came, and those who were with him, they called together the council, all the senate of the people of Israel, and sent to the prison to have them brought. But when the officers came, they did not find them in the prison, so they returned and reported, “We found the prison securely locked and the guards standing at the doors, but when we opened them we found no one inside.” Now when the captain of the temple and the chief priests heard these words, they were greatly perplexed about them, wondering what this would come to.

What we see here is the sheer power of God. This is all supernatural. The prison is locked. The guards are still there. But no one was inside. What these religious leaders are learning is that the plans of God are unstoppable. And what are Peter and John doing? They are being obedient. Verse 25: And someone came and told them, “Look! The men whom you put in prison are standing in the temple and teaching the people.” This obedience leads to the flourishing of the Church. Verse 26: Then the captain with the officers went and brought them, but not by force, for they were afraid of being stoned by the people.

Uncompromising obedience—that’s the example in this text. Look at the next verses (vv. 27–28). And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” They had been warned and threatened not to speak in the name of Jesus, but they didn’t listen. Why? Because they are singularly devoted to the living God. Verse 29: But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.” Note that word translated obey. It occurs only four times in the NT and two of those occurrences are in this paragraph. We will see it again in v. 32. They are compelled to obey God. Their first commitment is not to please the religious leaders. It is not to be liked. It is simply to obey God.

Such conviction comes from their experience of the resurrection. Look at vv. 30–32: The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Now how do the religious leaders respond? They want to kill them. Verse 33: When they heard this, they were enraged and wanted to kill them. Isn’t it striking that it’s the religious people with their traditions and opinions who are completely blind? Do you think that could happen in churches?

There is someone in this group who gives voice to the theological thrust of this passage. See the example and application is all about obedience, but there’s an aspect of God’s character that undergirds all this. That is God’s sovereignty. The plans of God are unstoppable. God is a freight train. This is what Nebuchadnezzar recognized in the Scripture reading from Daniel that we opened our service with this morning. Gamaliel is a respected teacher. You might recognize his name because he had a famous student named Saul, whom we know better as St. Paul. Pick up in v. 34 (through v. 40):

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.

Gamaliel has good theology. If this is from God, you won’t stop it. Notice his contrast. There are human initiatives that inevitably fail. But when God is behind it, nothing will stop it. This is precisely what Jesus says about his Church. Do you remember that passage? He tells Peter that the Church will be built on him and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But Jesus is clear that this is an act of God. Listen to what he says in the preceding verse: Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. In other words, God is behind all of this.

And this is the reason obedience is so critical. We aren’t running a business. We aren’t running a non-profit. We are the people of God, followers of Jesus. We know human initiative and ingenuity will fail. But when God is behind it, it is unstoppable. If that’s our theology, it is of the utmost importance that we are obedient. You see this is where the early church’s conviction comes from. They are convinced of what God has done in Christ, so they refuse to be disobedient.

And obedience, we see time after time in Scripture, unleashes the power of God. We can talk strategy, mission, vision, etc., all day, but until we commit to obedience, we won’t see the power of God. What does that mean for us? It means taking a thoroughly honest inventory of Monument Heights—our church structure, our membership, our worship service. Are we being obedient? As an example: think how easy it is for a so-called “worship” service to be about an event rather than worship. We clutter it with numerous things, and yet, God has told us how to worship. Sing praises, read Scripture, preach the Word, take communion. Our own articles of faith say this very thing.

Are we willing to be obedient on these matters? This is where we must start. Everything must be scrutinized against Scripture and when we find a place of disobedience, it must be corrected. Friends, that is church revitalization. It’s not hiring a young pastor. It’s not getting a cool band. It’s not adding another program or putting on another event. Obedience unleashes the power of God’s blessing. When we do not quench the Holy Spirit, the Spirit will breathe life into our congregation.

And there’s one more benefit of obedience. Obedience leads to unshakable joy. Remember they are beaten, then released. Look at v. 41 with me. Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. They rejoice in their suffering. They rejoice because their obedience has led to suffering. Isn’t that bizarre? Isn’t that unheard of? Luther considered suffering one of the characteristics of the true church. That certainly seems to be the case in Scripture. Bonhoeffer wrote, “In fact every command of Jesus is a call to die, with all our affections and lusts.” Obedient suffering is participating with Christ and for that reason it is joyful.

Notice the persistence of their obedience. Suffering doesn’t stop them. Verse 42: And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. They persisted. They did not stop. That level of commitment and uncompromising obedience must characterize Monument Heights.


[1] The Cost of Discipleship, 76.