We looked at that wonderful story two weeks ago of the lame man who was healed at the temple in Jerusalem. It was an unambiguous miracle, no doubt about it. The local people knew him, they had seen him every day begging at the temple gate, he had been there for years. Now he was completely cured, fit and well!

But behind the miracle was something far more significant than the healing of a lame man. The miracle was a sign to alert people to the fact that Jesus’ power was at work in the world. Although Jesus had been crucified, although he had died and been laid to rest in a tomb, God had raised him to life again. By Jesus power his disciples were now continuing to do the miracles that Jesus had performed.

This miracle also demonstrated in a very real way, the really crucial issue; Jesus was the Messiah. In Isaiah 35 there is a prophecy that one day God will come to his people, in Isaiah 35 v 6 we are told ‘then will the lame leap like a deer…’ Here was a lame man leaping like a deer, the prophecy is filled, God has come to his people in Jesus, Jesus is the Messiah. Even further evidence that God is uniquely at work in Jesus.

The crowds see it with their own eyes, they hear the message the apostles preach with their own ears and many believe the message, they become followers of Jesus. Isn’t that how we would love it to be today? But not everyone is pleased. The priests arrive on the scene. They are disturbed by what is going on. They get the temple security to arrest Peter and John and they are put in prison. The early Christians had their problems; and so do we.

The disciples have healed just as Jesus had, they have taught in the temple just as Jesus had. Now they are arrested, just as Jesus had been. Jesus warned the disciples that if people persecuted him, they would persecute them too. But yet there was a difference regarding the arrest. The chief priest dare not arrest Jesus in the temple for fear of the crowd. Peter and John were arrested right there in the temple.

I wonder how Peter and John would have felt in their prison cell? They knew what had happened to Jesus after his arrest. Jesus had not promised them immunity from persecution. Rather he had warned them to expect the same sort of treatment that he would go through himself.

How would you or I feel in a similar situation? I suspect a lot of us would baulk at a lot less than Peter and John had to face in their cell, not to mention the prospect of what the next day held for them. How did Peter and John cope with their imprisonment? The basic answer, is that although Jesus did not promise immunity from suffering, he did promise to be with his followers. Peter and John knew the reality of that, and what a difference it made.

They knew the reality of the Holy Spirit, and instead of being cowardly quivering wrecks; they were both bold and confident. They knew that they were following Jesus; they knew that they were doing what God wanted them to do. They were flowing with the Spirit. It had started on the day of Pentecost, and they had this assurance that they were doing what God wanted them to do.

The Spirit had guided them to heal the man. Jesus himself must have walked past that man when he had visited the temple because he had sat there begging for years. But Jesus had not healed him. Now the Spirit had guided Peter and John to heal him as a sign that Jesus had been raised from the dead.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that if we have the Holy Spirit we should be able to do everything. And then we get burdened with a sense of guild because we can’t get everything done. What the Bible shows us is that the Holy Spirit guides the believer, he doesn’t enable him to do everything, he doesn’t make us omnipotent, but he does show us and help us to do the things God wants us to do.

God wants us to know something of the reality of flowing with the Spirit. It has to do with doing what we know God wants us to. It has to do with trusting him. You also get the impression as you read the story, that there is even a sense of joy that these apostles experience. There is a joy that comes when the Spirit liberates believers from being self-centred and they become Christ centred instead.

So Peter and John are called before the court in the morning and questioned. But Peter, the man who had denied his Lord just a few weeks before is a different man. He boldly sets out the evidence. Jesus has been raised from the dead. He is the only one who can give salvation to men and women. There is the fully healed man standing there to prove it. Peter has won the case.

Sometimes we make the mistake of thinking that as we share the good news of Jesus we do not have to bother to make out an intellectual argument. But that is not true. The gospel is based on reality. It is grounded in events that really happened. Jesus told his disciples that their task was to be witnesses to the truth concerning him. Peter and John in reality won the argument in that courtroom. The chief priests were astonished when they realised that they were uneducated men, but they noted that they had been with Jesus. It makes all the difference. If we have been with Jesus in prayer, if we are flowing with his Holy Spirit it will make all the difference to us too.

But even though you win the argument, it is often the case that there will be people who refuse to recognise the truth of it. Dr Tony Campolo who is coming to Southend next month, is a Christian with a brilliant intellect. He is a university professor, and he tells how often in his experience he has argued with agnostic or atheistic intellectuals when they question his belief in God; and he has won the argument. He has made the case that God is real and living. But of all the arguments he says he has won, he has never had a single person thank him for showing him the truth about God and asking to become a believer.

God does call us to win the argument, we must demonstrate the truth, and when we do impart the truth of the gospel to honest, people with the help of the Holy Spirit some people will come to believe. But there are also those who will not. Some people refuse to accept the truth. They prefer darkness to light.

The chief priests had no intention of accepting the light of the world. To do so would have meant acknowledging their need of repentance and forgiveness, it would have meant moving out of their comfort zone. They go into what the psychologists call denial; and so do many people today.

So they warn the disciples to stop preaching in Jesus name. Now these men have authority regarding religious teaching in Jerusalem. They can imprison or inflict more severe penalties on anyone who flouts their authority. But Peter and John realise that they are answerable to a higher authority. They are answerable to God. God has revealed himself to them in Jesus, and they must spread the good news. Peter and John are led by the Spirit of God.

The chief priests issued further threats, but in the end let them go. They would not accept Peter and John’s message, but they couldn’t deny it because the living proof was there for everyone to see; they just try to silence the apostles with threats.

What do Peter and John do? They go back to the their fellow believers. When Christians are flowing in the Spirit, the Spirit draws them together. They give and receive mutual encouragement. They also pray together. But notice that they pray according to God’s will. It is not a prayer for a quick fix. It is not a prayer for them to be able to avoid persecution.

It is a prayer that God will mark the threats of the Sanhedrin, but that he will give the disciples the courage and the boldness to carry on preaching the gospel. But it is also a prayer that asks God to do again what he has done in the past. They ask God to continue to do the signs that will demonstrate that Jesus is risen.

As they pray according to God’s will, God honours their prayer. The place where they were praying shakes to the foundations. Once again the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit. And they speak the word with boldness.

Do we flow with the Spirit? What does the passage today teach us? I think there are two lessons at least that we can learn. The first is that God wants us to be unashamed of the gospel. There will always be opposition to the gospel, but when the disciples asked for God to give them boldness to preach the gospel in spite of the opposition, God honoured them. God answered the prayer. Won’t he do the same for us?

I think the second lesson that we can learn from Chapter 4 is regarding the strength of the love and fellowship between the believers. The problem with the human race is selfishness. People are self-centred. They look after number one. They find it difficult to trust. Fractured relationships spoil a community. Where Christians fall out with each other they grieve the Spirit. We may not have that same spontaneous common life and generosity that the early church had, it was something that was not maintained for long, but God does call us to have a genuine love for each other. He also calls us to walk in grace and forgiveness. As we do these things, may we know more of what it means to flow in the Spirit. May we do his will and may God be glorified as people come to believe and know the joy of fellowship with the Spirit and with God’s people here and everywhere.

Amen.

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