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Sermon Notes
I. A Daring Witness Acts 5:27-32
A. Context
1. The church is growing rapidly, both in number and in approval from the masses.
2. The religious leadership is jealous and has the apostles arrested and imprisoned, but an angel releases them during the night and commands them to continue preaching in the temple courts.
3. The jailers and the leaders (which now include the entire Sanhedrin, the ruling council of elders of Israel) are surprised by these events, but proceed to arrest them again and bring them before the Sanhedrin.
a. These are the same leaders who conspired to have Jesus crucified.
B. Peter and the apostles are no longer denying, running, or hiding.
1. A daring proclamation of Jesus.
a. “whom you killed” (v. 30).
b. The resurrection of Jesus (v. 30) which they had attempted to cover up.
c. Description of Jesus as Lord (NIV – “Prince”) and Savior (v. 31).
d. The offer of forgiveness and the need for repentance (v. 31). Most of these leaders considered themselves perfect according to the law.
e. The gift of the Holy Spirit to those who obey (v. 32).
f. The bold assertion that they (the apostles) are the witnesses to these truths (v. 32).
C. This daring witness is given in a context where they have clearly chosen to “obey God rather than human beings” (v. 29).
1. At this point, the council is feeling powerless to squelch them, but this will quickly change.
2. The apostles and others will suffer and die for their daring witness …. and the church will grow in substance and in numbers.