Acts 5:20

The gospel is the word of this life, for it secures to us the privileges of our way as well as those of our home, and the promises of the life that now is as well as of that to come. And yet even spiritual and eternal life are brought so much to light in the gospel that they may be called this life; for the word is nigh thee.

THE second persecution of the Church, in which all the Apostles were put into the common prison, was mainly brought about by the sect of the Sadducees. These, as you know, were the Broad School, the liberals, the advanced thinkers, the modern-thought people of the day. If you want a bitter sneer, a biting sarcasm, or a cruel action, I commend you to these large-minded gentlemen. They are liberal to everybody, except to those who hold the Truth of God—and for those they have a reserve of concentrated bitterness which far excels wormwood and gall.

THE second persecution of the Church, in which all the Apostles were put into the common prison, was mainly brought about by the sect of the Sadducees. These, as you know, were the Broad School, the liberals, the advanced thinkers, the modern-thought people of the day. If you want a bitter sneer, a biting sarcasm, or a cruel action, I commend you to these large-minded gentlemen. They are liberal to everybody, except to those who hold the Truth of God—and for those they have a reserve of concentrated bitterness which far excels wormwood and gall. They are so liberal to their brother errorists, that they have no tolerance to spare for evangelicals. We are expressly told that "the high priest, and all they that were with him (which is the sect of the Sadducees) were filled with indignation." That which had been done deserved their admiration, but received their indignation. Such gentlemen as these can be warm at a very short notice when the doctrine of the Cross is spreading and God the Holy Spirit is bearing witness with signs following. Let them display their indignation, it is according to their nature. To them the only answer which God gave was spoken by His angel: "Go, stand and speak in the temple to the people all the words of this life." Argument will be lost upon them—go on with your preaching. They have lost the faculty of believing—go and speak to the people. They are so given over to their doubts, that it is like rolling the stone of Sisyphus to persuade them to faith. They are so eaten up with objections, that to attempt to answer all the questions they raise would be as vain as the labor of filling a bottomless tub. Go on with your preaching, you Apostles—but address yourselves mainly to the people. Extend as widely as possible the range of the Truth of God, and thus answer the opposition of its adversaries. It is better to evangelize than to controvert.

In the temple - In a public and conspicuous place. In this way there would be a most striking exhibition of their boldness; a proof that “God” had delivered them, and a manifestation of their purpose to obey God rather than man. All the words - All the doctrines. Compare Joh 6:68, “Thou hast the words of eternal life.” Of this life - Pertaining to life, to the eternal life which they taught through the resurrection of Jesus. The word “life” is used sometimes to express “the whole of religion,” as opposed to the spiritual “death” of sin. See Joh 1:4; Joh 3:36. Their deliverance from prison was not that they might be idle, and escape to a place of safety. Again they were to engage in the toils and perils which they had just before encountered. God delivers us from dangers sometimes that we may plunge “into” new dangers; he preserves us from one form of calamity that we may be tried in some new furnace of affliction; he calls us to encounter trials simply “because” he demands it, and as an expression of gratitude to him for his gracious interposition.