Being grieved that they taught the people, and preached through Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” And notice what the complaint was — that they were preaching the res urrection. The crucifixion was accepted by them; the resurrection — No. They did not mind them preaching a Saviour who had died on the cross, for, in a sense, they were responsible for it and as far as they were concerned that was the end of the program. What grieved them most obviously, you could see, was the continual em phasis that this Jesus whom you cru cified is a risen Saviour and because He is risen all power is given. This point is what hurt them for they were brought face to face with a power that they did not like and this disliked it because they had no answer to it. Now that was the whole point of the teach ing of the church in those early days. And today, the answer to every “ism” and Communism, is the demonstration of this power. Communism does not un derstand it, therefore cannot control it, thus their hatred for it. Then in the same chapter, chapter 4, verse 32, there are these words, “The multitude of them that believe were of one heart and one soul; neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common.” Now verse 33 — “And with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and great grace was upon them all.” Now verse 33 is a tremendous verse, one of great importance — a key as you will see. This was the multitude of Believers whose gathering together was a demonstration of great power and great grace — the two things which every church would love to see in their midst today. Not ordinary power and ordinary grace, but great power and great grace. If you will open your Bi bles and read verse 33, you will see that sandwiched in between the great power and great grace, you will find the words, “gave. the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.”
Witnesses (continued) demonstrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ by his lips and by his life. Now I am going on from there to a very simple Bible study in the Book of Acts — just a few verses, and we are going to think about this one thing: how these people were faithful to their message. How the Christian Church re lates and reacts to the commission of Christ today is another matter. What we shall focus our minds upon just now is the way in which those who taught in the early church, reacted to the commission given them by Christ to go out and be witnesses unto His res urrection and to His resurrection life. I am reading now in the Book of Acts, chapter 2, where Peter has conquered his message which he finishes in verse 36. He has been speaking to the people, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have cru cified, both Lord and Christ.” Peter was thinking beyond the cross. His em phasis was on One who was Lord and Christ because his word was not be yond the Cross — His Person was present and His power was present, a very important point to realize. Then we read on to chapter 3 and here again the message has gone forth and Peter is speaking in verse 14 of this chapter, “. . . ye deny the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are wit nesses.” We are witnesses, and he goes on “And his name through faith in his name, hath made this man strong . ., .” In other words, Peter is saying that we are witnesses to His resurrec tion, and it is the resurrection life of Christ that made this man strong and brought about this work. It was through faith in this risen Christ that this man was healed. The whole point of what Peter is saying is that “we are witnesses to His resurrection.” Then in chapter 4, verse 1, we read “And as they spake unto the people, the priests, and the captain of the tem ple, and the Sadducees came upon them,
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