Welcome to Sunday evening Bible study we’re in the Acts of the Apostles we’re dealing with chapter three and four Peter and John in the temple the healing of the lame man and the crowd that saw that and was so curious and wanted to hear how that was done and
So Peter makes an address or a sermon or a speech whatever you want to call it and he proclaims and that’s the right word he proclaims the gospel to the Jews in the Temple and so Peter and John are arrested and that’s the beginning of chapter 4 and that’s exactly where we’re
Going to be in their jail and so Peter speaks to the Sanhedrin and that’s what we’ll cover I’m going to read you the important verses that are in chapter 3 and then we’ll move on acts 3:1 1 one day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time
Of prayer at 3:00 in the afternoon now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the Temple Gate called Beautiful where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts when he saw Peter and John about to enter he asked them for money Peter
Looked straight at him as did John then Peter said look at us so the man gave him his attention expecting to get some and from them then Peter said silver and gold I do not have but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth walk taking him by the right hand he helped him up and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong he jumped to his feet and began to walk then he went with him into the temple courts walking and jumping and praising God and so naturally a crowd heard that
And the crowd gathered and so here’s the 11th verse after Peter has been speaking to him and told him some things it’s in chapter 3 so this is 11th verse while the man held on to Peter and John all the people were astonished and came running to them in a place called
Solomon’s colonade when Peter saw this he said to them fellow Israelites why does this surprise you why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we made this man walk and so I now go to the 16th verse by faith in the
Name of Jesus this man whom you see and know was made strong it is Jesus name and the faith that comes through him that has completely healed him as you can all see and so at that time the priest and the captain of the temple guard and the
Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people they were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection of the Dead They seized Peter and John and because it was evening they put them in jail until the next
Day but many who heard the message believe so the number of men who believe grew to about 5,000 the next day the rulers the elders and the teachers of the law met in in Jerusalem now I have tried to cover for you in class the material that far and
So I’m going to explain some things about these now remember I showed you this picture and this is a conception drawing a painting it’s not a photograph of the temple it’s a it’s a picture that was drawn and it was someone’s idea of what it looked like at the time and and there
Are three gates that’s where this could have been the outside gate right there the gate to the court where the treasury was and the court of Israel and then the gate up here the court of the priests and all of them have names and I won’t
Go through that again but one of them one of those Gates is called the beautiful gate and nobody is sure I mean they’re advocate for all three gates take your pick I’m going to say that since the treasury was behind that gate right there that they put the man
Outside the door because everybody that was going to put money in the treasury went through that door and that’s where they went through also to offer their sacrifices so that’s also the the gate that’s opposite Solomon’s ptico which you see right here with all those columns like that over
There those columns that you see are Corinthian columns which is the most most expensive and the most decorative of the ancient world in all of these they say were 40 ft high so you can see how big that thing is and those dots those dots right there are people
And here are people getting ready to go in that gate and Solomon’s ptical is right here so I say I’m I’m going to tell the story as if that land name man was right outside that gate and Peter and John he got their attention and they got
His right there and healed him and it says that that crowd gathered under Solomon’s portical which would be right over here under that that building right there so that’s the picture and so now we have the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees who
Sees Peter and John from in front of that crowd while they were talking to the people which you might say is uh showed that they were would you say that showed they were upset and and uh Luke used the word he didn’t say that they invited him to come with
Them or that they asked them it says They seized them and that probably means they bound them so you have the priest and I’ll cover that in a minute but I want to make sure you understand who the captain of the temple guard was you’re talking about a priest
Himself who served under the authority of the high priest as a matter of fact he was the second in command in that Temple to the high priest and they had Authority that extended to the point of bringing charges before the Sanhedrin and having somebody Stone if you will
Remember we’re going to re keep reading in Acts and we’re going to see that Stephen did this and they did Stone him and so you’re talking about some people that reserve the right to Stone somebody if they don’t like it and these are the ones that have arrested Peter and John and his
Name well we don’t really know the man’s name but his title was the Stratos and that is a military term it’s a it’s a high ranking officer you might say at least a colonel maybe a maybe a one-star general in in our way of thinking and so this is the man who is
The commander of the guard and that guard was made up not of a bunch of miscellaneous thugs or even soldiers it was made up of guys who were priests supposed to be priests and Levites and so here’s who they were he had three groups of priests that presided at three
Chambers of the temple and I named the temples there I mean I named The Chambers and I don’t know how many priests were in each of those groups but he was the commander of each of those he was responsible for what went on there and then he was the leader of the other
Temple guards and they covered 24 posts throughout the temple including the bodyguards for the high priest and the chief priest and so forth so you’re talking about the cops that kept order and one reason that they were so excited about o order was that they were serving under the authority of the Roman
Governor and the governor had to let them know if there’s any riots down there I’m holding you guys responsible and the way they held the high priest responsible is they kick him out and put somebody else in the jop so you can know that these guys are sensitive about
Things that they don’t uh that they don’t control and they are hearing all these people Gathering under Solomon’s ptical listening to Peter and they not they don’t control that and not only that but Luke lets you know that the that they were excited because they were talking about Jesus and the resurrection
Of the dead and these guys are not only priests and Levites and cops they’re Sadducees and so I’m going to tell you about that so here are the Sadducees it says that the Sadducees were in on the arrest because and here’s why they’ve got these doctrines y all
Love I’ll tell you one of my daddy’s preacher stories he uh he preached all over the state of Arkansas and he said he preached in this church and everybody was being courteous after the service and coming by and shaking his hand telling him what a good
Job he did and this one particular woman came by and said uh that sure was a good sermon there brother Douglas there wasn’t no Doctrine in it or nothing and she wasn’t one of those who wanted to hear about Doctrine well you know you can you can make people mad
Talking about Doctrine in a hurry and Doctrine has to do with how you see the Bible and if you see it different from me we might get into a fist fight reckon I don’t know well I’m too old for it so are you so never mind what the Bible
Says about fist fight and we just won’t do it but that’s Doctrine and so their Doctrine was that they rejected the tradition of the elders which is what the Pharisees stood for there’s one mention of the tradition of the elders when back in Luke where they charged Jesus that his
Disciples were eating without having washed their hands and they were in the grain Fields picking Grain on Shabbat and that’s against the tradition of the elders and so Jesus had to tell them that y the Pharisees are not the lord of the Sabbath somebody else is well the the Pharisees thought that they
Were the Lords of the Sabbath and the Sadducees said said no they’re not because they said that if it’s not in the written text that we have you guys can’t make a Doctrine out of it and we got people like that I may be you know it’s hard to tell whether you’re a
Sadducee or a Pharisee when you know what they stood for because some of us and all of us are Pharisees one way and we’re Sadducees another and the way that we’re Sadducees is when we follow Martin Luther the whole Reformation was based on Martin Luther’s statement Sola scriptura remember that scripture alone
If it’s not in the book then you can’t make a case about it well that’s that’s the case that the Sadducees made it’s just that they defied Jesus when he told them what it really meant and he showed them it was in their Prophets and they said oh
We we got doctrines that are different from yours so we need to kill you off right they rejected the resurrection of the Dead they said oh no it’s not in the book well I think it was in the book they just didn’t want to admit it they rejected the hope of a
Messiah and since they Peter was implying that Jesus well he wasn’t implying he was really saying that Jesus was there Messiah and they killed him and so they he was not only making them guilty of it which they didn’t like but he was talking about raising a crowd to support the Messiah
And I remember now I’ve told you lots of times that the Pharisees had a history of military opposition to anybody that disagreed with him even the king and they could raise an army and did and there there were these wars at the Pharisees fought and these guys feared the
Pharisees and they thought that when the Messiah came that the Pharisees would get behind him and it would be a war and these are the people the very people that said before Jesus was crucified to the Sanhedrin that if we don’t do something about this man the Roman R are going to
Come and take away our place and our nation and what he meant was that when the war starts the Romans are going to win and we’ll be caught up in that and they’ll get rid of us too that’s how they that’s why one reason why they said there’s no
Messiah and they also rejected the common people and this is why they had to have Temple cops that could knock you in the head and could tie you up with ropes and drag you off and throw you in a jail cell overnight they couldn’t control the temple because they rejected the common
People and the common people didn’t like them either they were the aristocrats uh there are Scholars that say that the Sadducees were the land owners and the guys that had old money and the Pharisees were kind of a new class and they owned stores and did business and made deals and they were
The kind of new money and so you have old money against new money y y’all know what I’m talking about y’all ever seen that well anyway you’re talking about religious differences and you’re talking about class differences and when it comes to the crowd the Pharisees own the respect of the
Crowd and you remember Jesus said to the people you got to they sit in Moses seat and in other words they teach the word out of the book and so you got to do what they say but you better not do what they do because they’re
Hypocrites and I’m afraid that you as I tell this I’m talking about some of us once in a while even myself the you convict these guys and you wind up convicting yourself if you don’t look out well so the the Sadducees are Allied to the Romans and so anything the Romans
Say is all right with them that’s another reason the common people didn’t like them their wealth was mostly property in land and when a war comes the first thing that’s going to get messed up is property and land and when the war is over the whoever owned the property is
Not going to probably be the one that own it the probably what will happen and they had the Romans did this when the Romans won a war they would give their soldiers the land they fought over I mean why was Paul able to say that I’m a Roman citizen because I’m
From Tarsus no mean City well the answer is the tar was founded by Rome with Roman soldiers and they gave them the land and they took it over from the natives well you can see that the Sadducees didn’t want trouble with the Romans well their wealth since it was
The kind of money that it was and as much of it that enabled them to have influence with the Romans the Romans knew that they had to deal with all that and the Romans were just interested in peace and collecting their taxes and everything else was fine and these guys
Because of their wealth of course are the big taxpayers and so the Romans knew that they could trust them to keep the peace and so they let the high priest be one of these guys and they appointed him and I’ve gone into that well the uh the Pharisees were the teachers of the
Law and I don’t run into people that hadn’t ever thought about this but you have Temple worship and then you have the synagogues is that all the same thing the answer is no the synagogues is where the Pharisees the rabbis talk to people in the synagogue and the temple is where they
Came to offer their sacrifice and give their gifts that went into the hands of the Sadducees for them to handle now yall get that is there a question you got really what I’m showing you here is that there’s a sense in which everybody wants the common people
On their side and you got the synagogue against the temple the Pharisees against the Sadducees and so here is Peter and John who are they are they Sadducees or Pharisees well well they are what these guys would call Jesus people remember the Luke tells you in Acts that they were first called Christians
Where up at Antioch when the Gentiles got the Holy Spirit and came into church they weren’t called Christians or Christians at Jerusalem so the phes were the ones that promoted the oral law we’ve had these questions all down through the years about the meaning of the text and
We’ve had these scribes and learned teachers that have had to conduct an investigation about how this how this scriptural message applies to us and I’m tempted to tell the story about how they ruled about the Sabbath but remember they had over 700 rules about what you
Could do or not do on the Sabbath day well that’s the Pharisees and the oral law and that’s why Jesus told them you guys are not the lord of the Sabbath but they were they they were really saying to the people you got to
Do what we say do and they and they had they had the tarity to tell Jesus you’re you are a sinner because your guys don’t obey the oral law all of our 700 laws on the Sabbath day well Jesus turned that down and and we still side with Jesus on the Sabbath day
I’m not sure that we that we observe the sabbath day like we should but anyway uh we we at least stay in with Jesus and this is our Sabbath day the first day of the week the day that Jesus arose we’re here at the church church house and so
If there’s 700 rules for us well we’re in on it okay so the Sadducees are the ones who are guilty and and Luke is telling you they’re guilty of stirring the first opposition in Jerusalem among the Jews against the Jesus church what we call now the Church you all understand that the this is one time that you can’t say that the Pharisees did it it’s the Sadducees that did it and and what’s the issue Christ and the resurrection of the dead that’s the issue and the Pharisees
Didn’t want to hear a word of it and and and take in mind these are the people that could get a man crucified by the Romans which they did with Jesus even when the Romans won’t turn him loose and by the way Peter told him in his
Speech that pilate wanted to turn him loose and you guys made him crucified so you’re get more guilty than the Romans well I thought I’d just give you some history y all ever heard of uh Josephus everybody’s heard of Josephus but nobody’s read his book uh but he wrote two
Books at the time all this was happening well let’s say it this way he wrote during and after the time that the temple was destroyed in 70 AD he was a Jewish General who was in command of the Jewish Army in Galilee and he made the mistake
Of being pinned on a mountain by the Romans and anytime you did that with the Romans they just build a wall around you and put an army around you and and keep you up there to you starve death and so Josephus was the general of that army that they captured in Galilee before
They came to Jerusalem and Josephus was so brilliant and that’s I can’t think of any other word that adequate but he was so brilliant that when he was brought before the Roman Commander to account for his actions he Tau them into paying him to write the history of the
Jews and so he did can y’all believe that that guy was that smart well this Josephus when the temple was destroyed he was standing there with the Romans looking at that and what’s in the book is the history of the Jews all through that and so if you want to find out something
From somebody that was there I’m fixing to read you some of it right here now all right this section that that I’m reading right here is in in in the first book The Antiquities of the Jews and that’s the ancient history of the Jews the other book is called the
Wars of the Jews and they had lots of them so this is Antiquities and it goes all the way back to the beginning and brings it right up to the time of Jesus and so here is one of the macbes king John hercus the first and I’ve got it down there can you
See that he reigned from 134 to 104 BC all right at that time he had reason to get mad at the Pharisees he’d been a Pharisee and he got mad at him and he joined the Sadducees and that’s a long story that I won’t tell I mean if y’all want to hear
It I’ll tell it but what I’m going to read you is his description of the Pharisees and the Sadducees that he wrote about that what I would now explain is this that the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their fathers which
Are and you see I’ve got it underlined not written they’re not written in the laws of Moses and for that reason it is that the sagues reject them and say that we are to esteem those those observances to be obligatory which are in the written word but are not to observe what are
Derived from the tradition of our forefathers well now you see that that there’s this push and pull and concerning these things it is that great disputes and differences have Arisen among them well yes they have they have come to blows a many a time while the Sadducees are able to persuade none but
The rich you remember I told you that the common people weren’t with them the common people didn’t like them because these are the guys these are the ones that would loan you money and then or they’ loan your widowed mother money and then when she couldn’t pay the bills right they’d come
Conf SK her house that that kind of stuff Jesus talk about that they’re the ones they could persuade none but the rich and have not the populace obsequious to them in other words the the the people you mentioned the Sadducees and they just spit but the Pharisees have the multitude on their
Side but about these two sect and that of the essing I have treated accurately in the second book of Jewish Affairs all right I told you there was two books and the other books is Wars of the Jews okay well I I’m I have another paragraph
Here about hurric canus and and and this situation but when hercus had put an end to this sedition he after that lived happily and administered the government in the best manner for 31 years and then died leaving behind him five Sons he was esteemed by God worthy of the three greatest
Privileges and I I put this in here to show you one of the reasons that the Jews split up and had a war with each other he had the three greatest privileges that the Jews had to offer a man or men that is the government the king the Dignity of the high priesthood
So you had a king who was also the high priest who also was considered to be a prophet and Josephus says and God was with him well a guy that’s got all those three offices and they don’t make a war with him while he can say God was with
Him I don’t know without I’m not reading you the Bible here I’m reading Josephus but God was with him and able him to know futurities and to for tell this in particular that as his two eldest Sons he for told that they would not long continue in the government of
Public affairs whose unhappy catastrophe will be worth our destruction that we may F learn very how very much they were inferior to their father’s happiness well I will tell you that what Josephus is talking about led to King Herod and the Roman rule and Pontius Pilate and the tearing down of the
Temple and the destruction of the macbes that’s what Josephus is telling you now here’s one of the same type thing that he put in the book The Wars of the Jews this is is he had a bunch of books that he called in the books and so this is
Out of book two paragraph so and so but then as the two other orders at first mentioned well I just read you the first mention the Pharisees are those who are esteemed most skillful in the exact explication of their laws they could charge you with button your tunic wrong for instance and say
You had you had offended God because that’s that’s against our ruls well that’s what he means by skillful in the exact efic of their laws and introduce the first set these ascribed all to fith or to Providence and to God and that you might say that’s a that could be a
Description of Calvinism everybody is chosen before the beginning of the world you’re either the elect or you’re not elect and when and uh that that God’s grace is irresistible that’s the eye in the word t t l i p tul the eye is irresistible Grace and that is when God
Chose it to save you you going to get saved whether you like it or not well that’s what the Pharisees said they ascribe all to fate or Providence and to God and yet allow that to act what is right or the contrary is principally in the power of men although
In other words since they weren’t perfect it was all right for you to not be perfect even though you never mind they say that all souls are Incorruptible but the souls of good men only are removed into other bodies so they believed in reincarnation not the resurrection of the Dead youall get
That but that The Souls of bad men are subject to Eternal punishment so they believed in the eternal life but take a look at that right there and you’ll see how that’s different from what Jesus said is it not Jesus did not say that we’re going to be removed into these other bodies
And and uh live again just like we’re doing now and Jesus did not say that just because you’re bad you’re going to be in Eternal punishment well you can say that he said something like that but I don’t think he said exactly that Jesus came here to save Sinners and so
Who’s not bad I mean the Apostle Paul said all have sinned and come short of the glory of God and we just have to remember that the Pharisees said that if you obeyed the laws you were okay we’ll pass you we’ll save you well Jesus said you can’t do that
Boys so Mark 7 and5 so the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands so there’s the there’s a text in Mark where they brought it up but the Sadducees are those that
Compose the second order and take away fate entirely and suppose that God is not concerned in our doing or not doing what is is evil in other words you can get away with anything as long as you can get away with it and they say that
To to act what is good or what is evil is it men’s own choice and that the one or other belongs so that everyone that they may act as they please in other words we’re in we’re the sheriff and we control the laws and as long as we do what we want
To do then we’re fine we’re going to get away with it too they also take away the belief of the immortal duration of the soul and is the punishments and rewards in Hades moreover the Pharisees are friendly to one another now this is something that you don’t pick up anywhere else but right
Here the Pharisees are friendly to one another and are for the exercise of Concord and regard for the public and remember that I told you previously in another class that the Pharisees were a fraternity A brotherhood and to be in that thing you had to so-called love your
Brothers if you were in the fraternity you had the ability to charge everybody else for sin but you didn’t the Pharisees didn’t charge each other for sin y’all get that it says that they are friendly with one another and for the exercise of Concord but the behavior of the
Sadducees one toward another is in some degree wild and their conversation with those that are of their own party is barbarous or barbarous but barbarous as if they were strangers to them and this is what I had to say concerning the philosophic sects among the Jews but what he’s the
Sadducees are doing here is that if you can get away with it do it and that’s why they’re barbarous to each other in other words if if if they could cheat somebody legally they’ do it even e even each other whereas the Pharisees at least were brothers to their
Brother y’all got all that now there’s no questions right anybody acts 4:1 the priest and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to Peter and John while they were speaking to the people they were greatly disturbed because the apostles were teaching the people proclaiming in Jesus
The resurrection of the dead so here’s Peter and John speaking to the people and here come the the cops right in front of the crowd and so they’re going to put a stop to it and they’re afraid of the crowd and so they come up there and put on a
Demonstration of Power with the cops and they seize them and arrest them and so John 11:48 they had said if we let him go on like this all the people will believe in him and the Romans will come and take over both our place and our nation and that is what
The high priest had told these guys before about Jesus and that’s what he’s telling them about Peter and John and you can know that when they went out there and got those two men out in front of that crowd that they had plenty of cops to do the job any question about
That they see Peter and John because it was evening they put him in jail until the next day well of course they put him in jail they have put him in jail if it was the morning but because it was uh the evening and it wasn’t night remember this was a 3:00
Offering the reason they put them in jail is because all those guys were on a 24hour shift and they went off right after that offering and so this breaking up that crowd was after the time I mean they were that’s like on being on a union job
When the clock strike quit they quit right I mean that right well these guys went off duty and so they SLA Peter and John in the jail house that’s that’s the way I’m telling it anyway verse four but many who heard the message believe so that a number of of men who
Believe grew to about 5,000 why did Luke put that in there I’ll tell you what I think I always do Luke is trying to say in the whole book one of the main messages is that everywhere the church proclaimed the gospel there was somebody got upset and somebody went to the
Authorities and made charges everywhere they ever went and it says here that the gospel was stronger than the opposition every time and it couldn’t have been more opposition in the beginning to the gospel than right there in Jerusalem where they had crucified Jesus himself does that make sense
I I have in my previous classes made the statement to y’all that I believe and do teach that the highest religious power that mankind has ever exercised was at Jerusalem by these guys that did this right here in the fact that they crucified a man who was also God you
Don’t get any higher than that as man’s religion and they did it and here they are on to Peter and John you’d think that they’d be scared wouldn’t you well I think the evidence is that they ain’t scared a none they’re not a scared and that’s the
Point on the next day so they left let them sit in the jailhouse and you can know that this is not a very nice place I have seen a thing that U they say was under the house of of Caiaphas the high priest they think they found that and they’ll
Show it to you and I’ve showed y’all pictures in this class but that’s been over a year or two ago of a hole in the floor where they let you down with a rope into a into a cave down there where there’s no way out except up through
That hole back in that roof and if they don’t let a rope down there and pull you out of there you’ll die right there and that’s probably what this was so you have that authority to arrest Peter and John and notice that we don’t know what the charges are y’all anybody read the
Scripture and can tell me what the charges were I mean surely they didn’t get out there and say y’all are preaching the resurrection of the dead and that’s against the law because the Pharisees did that well I don’t know what the charges would have been if anything probably
They they pulled the same stunt with Peter and John that they did with Jesus and they kind of told pilate that this guy is trying to raise an Insurrection because there’s all these people out here this mob that’s on his side and that’s that’s basically what
They were trying to say here I think and that is that Peter and John are stirring up this crowd and they’re this is a illegal uncontrolled mob and so we’re going to arrest the leaders and put a stop to it and so Peter and John were put there
Overnight so that they could cool off and take into consideration what a pickle they were in oh well they were in a picol all right except for one thing and I’m going to read it to you it says Peter filled with the Holy Spirit gave him his message well that
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is different from being intimidated by these guys I mean they could intimidate anybody except somebody that’s filled with the holy spirit so the rulers well that word ruler is Arch on and that means that on an arch you’ve got a Capstone that’s the
Highest stone that holds the rest of it up and that’s that’s who they were the top Stone the chief priests the officials of the temple or the Sadducees and then it says the rulers that’s har charm then the elders and who is that that’s the presu roast y’all ever heard of a
Preser well that’s who that was the heads in this case it meant the heads of the important families in Jerusalem if you were old tribe and old money and had a bunch of relatives and y’all all had power where you could put up the head of
That family and he’d be in the Sanhedrin as an elder and so that’s who the elders are and and they’re probably aristocrat and they probably mostly Sadducees in this case and then you have the scribes and uh y’all see that word gratus well that’s the writers of the
Law they they they uh you go to them and they could write a letter for you or you go to them and make a complaint they’d write it down and bring a charge and then and then they you they had a scribe who was a judge of all these disputes
And if they brought you to the authorities in Jerusalem will some scribe was going to make the adjudication so you’ve got them the teachers of the law the rabbis the lawyers and they’re mostly Pharisees so now you see the Sadducees are in there and the Pharisees are in there and the
Chief priest is running the whole mess pardon my French the whole show so the Sanhedrin gathered together the next day and that means they’ had while Peter and John had all night to think about things down there in the jail they had all night to get together and discuss what
In the world are we going to do verse six Annis the high priest was there and so were Caiaphas that’d be Jones or johanes Alexander and others of the high priest family well that’s an interesting way of putting things because Annis had been deposed as a high
Priest 15 or more years ago than this but the fact is that he was still the head man because he was the head of that family of the high priest and this annus well did how did I say that annus was the old high priest and Caiaphas is the son-in-law
Who Annas was the high priest you see down there 18 Caiaphas is the high priest from 18 to35 well that tells you that this is before the year 35 when this happened because Caiaphas was the high priest and Annis was the high priest until 15 and so from 15 up to 18
The’s anas’s Sons were the high priest and they were unsatisfactory so the Romans fired them and put their brother in and he ran out of brothers that they take and so caiaphus was still there the son-in-law of the old man and so they put Caiaphas in and there it is the year
18 y’all see it and he was there till the year 35 and he lived from 86 well annus no Annis was a highest pre from 86 to 15 and so here’s the word Caiaphas and it means a stone I bet he had he he was hardheaded you all reog that’se what
That means it also means depression you think maybe he never smiled and this last one the word means coning so I don’t know how to put all that I’ll let yall decipher that but that’s who was the actual high priest but I will tell you that the old man was was the
Power and and uh caiaphus was appointed to that office by valerus gratus the governor of Judea I told you the Romans did it and I told you I’d name them and there’s the name of the man that put Caiaphas in office and he was removed in 86 by
Vellus who is the governor no less of Syria and the governor of Syria is a guy that had I think four Legions under his command you’re talking about Big Time military power and by the way the governor of Syria was Pontius Pilot’s boss and he appointed jonasan the son of
Annis as that man’s successor so we after Caiaphas you had another son of Annis well does that sound like some kind of corruption going on you you have to have some money and big money to bring some something like that I mean the Romans didn’t sell Power
Cheap yall understand that it wasn’t for sale it was for sale but nothing was cheap so here’s a note in the time of King tmy IV of Egypt that’s 182 to 143 BC the last high priest of Aaron of the the aonic line of the Jews went to Egypt
And there was never another you know the high priest were supposed in in the uh the law the high priest were supposed to come from the descendants of Aaron that went out sometime before 143 BC and when that high priest went down to Egypt and after
That time and I’ve got it a bottom line y’all see it first it was the the Greeks then it was the mad macbes then it was the herodians and then it was the Romans that appointed the high priest and that went on for aund at least let’s say 150 years
BC from that time forward they never had a high priest from the aonic line of priest any questions about that does that sound like some corruption somewhere it also sounds like that they were a conquered people and they were verse seven they had Peter and John brought
Before them notice that it said that they met and so you can know they had this discussion and so then they had Peter and John brought before them and began to question them and so naturally the first question gets into really what they tried to get Jesus to talk about they
Asked Jesus this power this thing about power in in another form because they wanted him to say that he was the king of the Jews and then they could tell the Romans he’s made himself a king and therefore you got to crucify him and that’s really the way that they got
Pilot to do it they said he’s made himself the king and pilot said are you the king of the Jews Jesus didn’t answer he just said you said so or who said so he didn’t say I am the pil so the temple Authority was supposed to come from God I’ve spent some time
Here telling you where it came from where did it come from the Romans y’all y’all get that they were under the cloak of being God’s men these Sadducees and the Pharisees in the Sanhedrin they’re they’re all saying I’m God’s man I’m here because God has put me
Here well the fact of the matter is that they were all under the authority of the Romans and after that the authority of a corrupt high priest and his family the the chief priests and so forth down the line do you think that Peter and John ought to have been
Afraid well I’m telling you all this to let you know that when Luke tells you that Peter spoke with with the power of the being full it says he was full of the Holy Spirit you got to know that he could not have done this without it and that’s what Luke’s
Trying to tell you that the church has always got the power of the Holy Spirit if you got faith enough and service enough and dedication enough and faith enough to use it right rather than misus it and I’ve talked about the misuse of God’s power and y’all see both
Versions of it all the time by what power the word is dunamis that’s the word we get Dynamite from you see it there right there it’s spelled Dy but that’s pronounced dunamis but it it really means dynamite and so they recognize no power in the name of God if it concern the
Messiah or one raised from the dead they recognize ized that their power which they had purchased from the Romans was all that really mattered and they recognize the power seen in Peter and John and their obvious influence over the people as a threat to them and they were alarmed at the
Power that was showing up in Peter and John do you all see by the way they’re acting here that they are ad committing and Luke is trying to show you that they are demonstrating the power of the Holy Spirit In The Name of Jesus Christ and
These guys ought to have seen it do you all see the case that Luke is making against them in Acts acts 7B by what power or what name did you do this and then you have to go to the Greek and and look real fine and you’ll see that the word
You is the last word in the sentence the question and the way that I’ve got it on here is is it goes like this by what power and what name do you do this you trash ignorant Hillbillies galileans with a stupid accent uneducated you never been to school and you come down
Here and do this by what power do you do this you do you see the significance of the word you on the end of that sentence that’s the way that they said it to Peter and John in other words ordinary Layman with no creden no diplomas no license no nothing not even a
Party at least everybody on the Sanhedrin was a member of some kind of party well if the Sanhedrin number seven there if the Sanhedrin could prove that the apostles were fraudulent the rulers had the legal legal power to pronounce a death sentence on them and have them stoned or
Take them to the the Romans and I’ve said this and I want you to understand that it’s true and I’m going to point something out to you here it says that while Peter is talking to these folks the man who was healed is standing there with them now you’re talking about a man
Who’s been lame from birth and been living on arms all his life apparently and you’re talking about someone that didn’t go to anybody’s school probably and you’re talking about someone that hadn’t had a lot of social class or respect and notice that with all this intimidation I’ve been talking about
That he’s standing right there in front of these guys with Peter and John do you all see that it’s almost hidden from you but it’s there and I’ll show it to you and I am impressed with that who but the Holy Spirit could come up with a scenario like
This then Peter filled with the Holy Spirit there it is said to them rulers and Elders of the people so Peter and I have called The Church partners with God we forget sometimes that all of us who are believers are partners with God and it doesn’t matter what kind of
Church the office wants to give us we all in a sense have equal responsibility and I’m pointing out to you that the person with the least Authority in the whole church in Jerusalem was that guy that had been healed that still standing there with them he had something of the Holy Spirit
Too didn’t he you can just know that that’s so Peter filled with the Holy Spirit said to them rulers and Elders of the people so Peter is a partner uh in partnership with the Holy Spirit and God and His partners are at work and they’re bold there’s no fear they speak the
Plain truth and they got freedom to Proclaim it and you can’t stop them by any other means than just violence and they were afraid of the crowd because the crowd was on their side so they they are going to rule and the elders and the nation the National Power you
Know when Peter addressed them he said rulers and Elders did he say anything about the high priest or the head of the temple cops or any priest or any religious office he was talking to the rulers and the Elders of the people and they weren’t acting as as the head of the religion
And he didn’t honor them by addressing them that way do you all get that it was about them the elites the rulers and Elders not those that want to benefit the people or who are in the service of God and so I have used the time I really hope that this is a
Message that you understand and I will start the next time and I’m not sure what the schedule is I’m not sure that we meet again next Sunday night do we we don’t but we will start at acts 4 verse 8 the next time the Lord willing let us pray
We thank you our father for the opportunity to assemble again together and study your word help us to understand and help us to apply it in our life that we may serve you in a way that will be pleasing to you we pray for your people around
The world whoever they are and wherever they are and we pray Lord that you will give them your power and your protection for it’s in Christ’s name we ask it amen amen
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