How's everybody doing tonight? Does everyone
have a prayer sheet tonight? I have something
on there for you. If you don't have a prayer
sheet, go ahead and get yourself a prayer sheet.
Tonight, we're gonna keep going in our sharing
Jesus to a post -Christian world series. We are
on session three. Okay, we're on session three,
and tonight we're gonna talk about something
that people really need to know. People really
need to know that Jesus saves, amen? So that's
what we're gonna talk about tonight. But before
we get started, on the prayer sheet, I have three
questions for you, okay? It says intro questions.
And I want you to take 90 seconds. answer those
three questions. There's a fourth question. If
those questions don't apply to you, there's a
fourth question, okay? I'm not going to call
anybody out. This is between you and the Lord,
so I want you to just take a second and fill
that out. You have 75 more seconds. Stuart, you
can go to the next slide. These are the questions.
So the questions are, what was your life like
before Jesus saved you, right? How did Jesus
save you? And what's your life been like since
Jesus saved you? Okay, and we're talking about
sharing Jesus to a post -Christian world. And
so the fourth question is, if those questions
don't apply to you. then what are you looking
for in life? Okay, so your time is up. I wasn't
kidding about the 90 seconds. So, I kind of wrote
down my answers, right? Before I got saved, I
was completely out of control. I did whatever
I wanted, whenever I wanted it, and it left me
empty, right? So I tried to fill my life. with
things that could never satisfy, right? I was
looking for peace, I was looking for happiness,
but I lived with this constant fear, this constant
anxiety, because life is uncertain, and I didn't
know what was gonna happen in the future, right?
Just for context, I got saved when I was 17,
so I was kinda leaving high school, I was becoming
an adult, I had... You know my future ahead of
me, but I didn't know what that looked like and
so You know most people are feeling pretty anxious
pretty afraid at that point in time and I definitely
was And so one night I was considering that emptiness
and I called out to God and I told him Essentially,
I don't know how much longer I can stand this
and I asked Jesus to intervene in my life And
he intervened right and it was amazing And you
can ask my wife, she knew me before I was saved.
I was not the same person that I am today. And
that's all glory to Christ. Amen. And so life
is full of up and downs. There's hard times,
but today, and every day that I wake up and that
I've woken up after getting saved, I have this
peace and this contentment knowing that my life
is in God's hands eternally that I'm saved. If
I were to die tonight, I would spend eternity
in heaven with Christ. And there's so much peace
and so much contentment in that. And so if that's
true for you, give me an amen. It's words can't
even describe the difference that we get to live.
because Christ is in our lives, because Christ
saved our life. And so if that's true for you,
then you know that you've been called to share
that truth with the world, right? You've been
saved. You're called to share the truth with
the world that Jesus saves. He can save people
from that void of death and the vanity of life.
And so if you haven't been here for the past
couple of weeks, we've been trying to answer
this one. question specifically, how can we reach
people in a postmodern world? Postmodernism,
I have a definition up there, is a late 20th
century style concept of arts, architecture,
and criticism that represents a departure from
modernism, which is essentially humanism and
the pursuit of knowledge through experience rather
than trusting God or tradition. postmodernism
at its heart is a general distrust for grand
theories, ideologies, as well as a problematic
relationship with the notion of arts. And so
like it's this whole philosophical concept, but
basically you see the heart of it right there
is distrust for grand theories and ideologies.
They don't, I'm gonna just walk you through the
thought process here. Okay, so modernism came
before postmodernism and they basically said,
We don't trust authority. We don't trust church.
We don't trust tradition. We don't trust cultural
values. And so they said, let's go find truth
and meaning on our own through our own experience.
And postmodernism looks at that, right? The people
who came before them and they said, well, they
didn't obviously find truth. They didn't find
meaning. Their life is just as empty as our life.
So truth must not exist. There must be no meaning
to any of this, right? But the reality is, when
they did that, when people made that conscious
decision by rejecting the sources of truth, they
actually, somewhere along the way, rejected God,
right? The true source of life, the true source
of meaning and truth. Postmodernism says things
like create your own truth, be your own authority.
Control your own narrative, right? They're seeking
peace and joy. but they've rejected the source
of it. And so they lean into this philosophy
that the world pushes, which is essentially saying,
you're God, you are God, you're your own God,
you make up your own reality. But that doesn't
solve the problems that we're facing. That doesn't
answer the questions that we're having, right?
It actually puts all the weight that people are
trying to escape from when they're seeking. It
puts all the weight on themselves, right? It
puts it right back on their shoulders. If you're
your own truth, then you have to sustain the
truth. If you're your own authority, then you
have to justify everything. You have to carry
all of the weight of the world on your shoulders.
And we can't do that. There's no peace there.
There's no joy there. And so here's the tension
for us and that we've been trying to kind of
dive into. That's our mission field. people who
have rejected the truth and who are in desperate
need of what we have, Jesus. So we're being asked
to proclaim Christ to a world that's already
decided that Jesus is irrelevant. And that's
not something that is easy to do. Like have you
guys ever had difficulty doing that? Like it's
not always easy. It can be frustrating when the
authority of God, the authority that we hold
dear as believers is disregarded. That's kind
of frustrating sometimes, isn't it? It can be
intimidating when we discuss things with people
who are skeptical from the jump, right? They
already don't wanna hear what we're saying. It
can be discouraging when we preach the gospel
to people and they brush it off like. Like it's
a real that they just scrolled past right that's
Have you guys been there like that is that is
difficult? So how do we reach people in the world
today who are thinking this way? Here's what
I want you to see Peter today tonight in the
message we're gonna be talking about Peter faced
the same tension and He stood up in front of
the people who killed Jesus and he proclaimed
the Lord anyway, they had already rejected Christ,
but he proclaimed the Lord and we see that they
responded, right? He proclaimed God with confidence.
And so that's exactly what I think we should
be doing, right? Christ is the fulfillment of
everything that the world is looking for. And
we should be proclaiming him with confidence.
So let's go to the Lord and pray. And then we're
gonna be in Acts two. Let's pray. Thank you Lord
for allowing us to come together and get into
your word. And I just pray that as we... Talk
about the fact that you saved that if there's
anybody here who doesn't know you as Lord and
Savior Lord that they wouldn't leave here without
knowing you And I pray that every believer here
tonight would leave here with more confidence
in Who you are what you've done? so that they
could Reach those who need you Lord reach those
who don't know you who are looking for you Even
if they don't know that they're looking for you
Lord pray that You bless this message, and you
would help me to speak Your word, Lord, in Jesus'
name, amen. So we're in Acts two, and our text
today happens right, sorry, our text today happens
at Pentecost, which literally means 50 days after
Passover, right? And Passover is where Jesus
was crucified. He was crucified on Passover.
So we are picking up 50 days after Jesus was
crucified. Many people would have been in Jerusalem
still from Passover that, at the next major feast
that they're having and that's the Feast of Weeks.
The Feast of Weeks was where they would bring
the first portion of the crop that had ripened
and they would offer it to God basically in anticipation
and trust that God was gonna bring more when
the harvest came, right? So they would get the
first head of corn or whatever and they would
take it. trusting that God was gonna bless the
rest of the field, right? The first fruits is
what they were bringing. And so Acts two tells
us that there were, he says in Acts two, verse
five, he says, now there were dwelling in Jerusalem,
Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven.
And then Luke goes on in Acts to describe 15
distinct regions where people had gathered from
to worship God. So this place is like packed.
with people, a lot of them, again, are the same
people who were there when Jesus was crucified.
And so it's as these people are gathered for
this festival that the Holy Spirit filled Jesus'
disciples for the first time. Before this time,
the Spirit came and went, but since this time,
God has indwelled every believer, driving them
to do His will and to want His will in the world.
So. in the days of the apostles, when the Spirit
came, the Spirit gave the apostles, the 12 who
were with Jesus for those three years and a few
other special abilities as a sign to legitimize
their message, right? And one of the things He
gave them was the gift of tongues, right? And
so in the passages leading up to where we're
reading tonight, they received the gift of tongues.
They were able to speak and be heard in every
language, right? So 1 Corinthians tells us, why
that was. First Corinthians 14 tells us why that
was. God wanted to be understood clearly. He
wanted everybody there to know exactly what he
was saying. And so as Peter preached, every man
heard him in their own language. Isn't that amazing
to me? And I think it was amazing to them as
well, because as Peter's preaching, a crowd gathers
and everybody wants to know what is this guy
saying? And how is he saying it? To all of us
at the same time in one like can you imagine
he said in one sentence in 15 different regions
are understanding it as If he said it in their
own language, and that's that's crazy, and they
said this is what the famous verse where they
said all he must be Drunk and they're like no.
It's only nine o 'clock. I'm not This is the
Holy Spirit right and so that was that's a funny
story But it's a really amazing story, and I
think what's amazing about it is God gathered
these people through the working of his spirit,
and then he didn't miss the opportunity to tell
them exactly what he wanted to tell them, right?
So tonight we're gonna look at Peter's first
sermon, and it's really the first message of
a spirit -filled Christian after Jesus' death.
And I think it's a great message that God wants
the whole world to know. God wants people to
understand this clearly. And he wanted the people
who rejected him to understand that clearly.
And so. What we're gonna be talking about tonight
the Objective is every believer should proclaim
Jesus confidently He is exactly what the post
-christian world needs We're gonna look at three
reasons that we should proclaim Jesus to a world
that already rejects him and so reason number
one in Acts 2 verse 22 or chapter 22 or verse
Sorry chapter 20 chapter 2 verse 22 That was
crazy. Reason number one is that he was approved
by God, okay? So we're gonna be in verse 22.
It says, Ye men of Israel, hear the words of
Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs which God
did by him in the midst of you and ye yourselves
also know. Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken
and by wicked hand have crucified and slain whom
God hath raised up and having loosed the pains
of death because it was not possible that he
should beholden of it. And so Peter is preaching
this message, right? Just 50 days after Jesus
was killed and he opens up with ye men of Israel,
hear these words, right? Imagine if somebody
just came in here and said, hey, everyone, listen
up. I have something to tell you. That's essentially
what Peter is doing when he does this. These
people are gathered from all over the nations.
And he goes right up in front of them and says,
do you remember Jesus of Nazareth, the guy that
you crucified? And he's about to make the case
that Jesus is God, that Jesus is the Messiah.
Doesn't that sound confident to you? Peter was
very confident in his Lord. And I think it's
the craziest thing to me is that he's telling
the people who killed Jesus, the guy you killed
is God, you were wrong, right? And so the big
question that we should ask tonight, and I think
that the world needs to know is why was he so
bold, right? I think the first reason he was
bold is because he had the spirit of God in him.
You guys remember, this is Peter, right? This
is the same guy who was asked of a little girl
if he was a disciple of Jesus. And instead of
saying, yes, I believe in Jesus. I'm a follower.
That's my Lord and savior. He started cussing
people out so that he could not break his cover,
right? That's not very courageous, right? But
here he's saying, you crucified this man and
he's God. That's bold. Spirit -filled Peter was
a completely different man than the Peter that
we read about in Matthew 26, where he's denying
Christ, right? He's completely different. Interestingly
to me, Romans 8 .23 calls the spirit the first
fruit of redemption. Right and he's at the feast
of first fruits In another verse it calls it
calls the spirit our earnest right our down payment
What it is is a sign that when you die you're
gonna be with God forever, right? It's the first
fruits. Acts 1 8 says Acts 1 8 says but you will
receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon
you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria and to the end of
the work the end of the earth And what we see
in Acts two is exactly that. That's exactly what
Peter is doing, right? He received the Holy Spirit.
Now he's preaching. He's being a witness with
power. And if you're saved tonight, then you
have that same spirit, right? And you have that
same eternal promise from God. So you can have
that same confidence in Jesus, even though the
world already rejects him. The second reason
that he's being so bold is because he has the
evidence to defend his claims. He says, Jesus
was a man approved by God, right? The word approve
means demonstrated or accredited. Have you guys
ever had to like validate who you claim to be?
I think the most obvious example is like, are
you licensed to drive? You're like, yes, I am.
Yes, I had a better example though, I think My
son I you guys know I love basketball and I have
I'm decent I'm pretty good, but I had some injuries
these past couple years I'm pretty good, but
I've had some injuries, but my son like a couple
months ago was telling somebody Yeah, my dad
used to be good at basketball I looked him in
the eyes, I said, put your shoes on. I'll show
you who used to be good at basketball, right?
I think minus the pride and the ego, that's essentially
what Peter is saying about Jesus right here.
He's pointing to the idea of authentication through
evidence. Jesus said he was the Messiah and God
gave the evidence. That everyone saw and experienced
right he gave he He really is who he said he
was and the next verse the next parts of the
verses He says among he proved this among you
by many miracles right miracles is mighty works
displays of supernatural power Think of the feeding
of the five thousand right he said five thousand.
He did it multiple times, but He's showing in
public. I have power right Then he says and he
proved it by wonders The definition of wonders
is like extraordinary events that produced our
astonishment Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead
Right that everybody was like, oh my goodness.
That's a wonder We don't see that every day And
then he said and signs which God did by him in
the midst of you as you ye yourselves know."
And so the idea of signs are acts that point
to something different, right? If you see a stop
sign, it tells you to stop. These signs said,
Jesus is Lord, right? That's what they said.
And in Matthew 12, one of the signs that you
see is Jesus calls himself the Lord of the Sabbath,
and then he heals a man with a withered hand
on the Sabbath, proving that he is the Lord of
the Sabbath. And then the Pharisees in Matthew
12, 14 say, then the Pharisees went out and held
a council against him, how they might destroy
him, right? And so Peter saying, God allowed
you to see all of these amazing things. He made
it abundantly clear that Jesus is Lord. You all
saw it. He's the Messiah, but you rejected your
savior, right? Then they executed this plan and
they killed him. In verse 23 though, he says,
him being delivered by the determinate counsel
and foreknowledge of God ye have taken and by
wicked hands have crucified and slain. So here's
something amazing, right? The Jews took counsel
against God. We read it in Matthew 12 against
Jesus. But Peter said, and we know that the Romans
executed their plan. They crucified him. But
Peter says that it was God. who willingly sent
his own son to be killed, right? It was by the
determinant counsel and foreknowledge of who?
God, right? It was God's plan from the beginning
of the world to send his son to die for the sins,
to be the Messiah that the world needed. And
he used the world's sinfulness as a tool to accomplish
that mission. God laid him in his hands, right?
But before God did that, Jesus, did countless
miracles, he preached countless sermons, and
everything that he said was validated by the
demonstrations that he had, that he made. And
to cap it all off, in verse 24, he rose from
the dead. In verse 24, it says, whom God hath
raised up, having loosed the pains of death,
because it was not possible that he should beholden
of it. I really like that idea of loosened. loose
the pains of death, right? Death is something
that we all experience and fear and pain come
knowing that death is coming, right? And when
death is imminent, those things increase, right?
Who's ever been afraid to die? Like I thought
I was dying a couple of times and it was terrifying,
right? And for the unbeliever, Death is certain
doom, right? When I die, I don't know what's
going on. I don't know what's gonna happen. That's
a terrible, dreadful place to be. For the believer
though, Jesus defeated death in the grave. 1
Corinthians 15, 20 and 21 says, but now is Christ
risen from the dead and become the firstfruits
of them that slept for since by man came death.
By man also came the resurrection of the dead.
There's that idea of the first fruits again,
right? Jesus was the first fruits of them that
slept. Do you know what that means? There's gonna
be more resurrection, right? If you're a believer,
you don't have to fear, you don't have to dread
death anymore. No, because Jesus rose from the
dead and Peter saw him, right? And that's what
he's saying. And it wasn't just Peter that saw
him. The Bible tells us in Acts one that there
was 120 people with Peter, right? And he says,
it was not possible that he should be holding
of death, right? Jesus has authority over death.
He said, because I live, you shall live also,
right? And so Peter had every reason to be confident
in his claims of who Jesus was. And as a believer
today, you're You're not going out to share the
gospel with a post -modern world with no tools.
You're not going out empty handed, right? You
have the Holy Spirit. You have the eternal confidence
in your Lord and you also have a mountain of
evidence. And that's what we saw Peter, that's
why Peter was able to stand up and proclaim Jesus
with confidence because he knew he wasn't making
that up. Right? And so God had already done the
work of approving, of approving Jesus. He did
it in public. He did it with many witnesses.
He did it through miracles. He did it on the
cross. Right? He did it through the empty tomb.
And so you don't, you don't have to have confidence.
Sorry. You don't have to convince the world that
Jesus is real. God already proved it. Jesus is
the author of life and he is exactly what the
world's looking for. Our job is simply to proclaim
it. Even if they don't like to hear it, they
need to hear it, right? And so that's reason
number one. Because Jesus was approved by God,
right? Reason number two is that he was approved
by God. foretold by scripture So we're gonna
be jumping ahead a few verses kind of you can
actually don't jump ahead because we're gonna
read the context But have you guys ever done
something really meaningful? But it went completely
unrecognized I Don't want men we probably do
this all the time well actually we probably Women
we probably do this all the time But for my example,
it wasn't me, it was Gabby. When we lived at
our in -laws, one day I was feeling really nice
and I was off and so I cleaned the whole house.
I made the bed and I displayed a teddy bear with
chocolates and candy canes and they made a heart
and like... Angela's shoes were in there for
some reason. I just looked at the picture I don't
know why Angela's shoes were in there, but it
was supposed to be cute right and so I'm watching
Gabby come home from work, and she's looking
through the house and She's not saying anything
and I'm just sitting there like This is gonna
be glorious Right and I was just I was So she
goes upstairs and she looks at the bed with this
cute decorations on it. There's like throw blanket
on there like the sheet was like folded at the
end I don't even I don't know why people do that
but she looks at it I just know people do it
so I did it but she looked at it and she goes
did my mom clean our room I may have thrown stuff
off the bed I don't remember but but she completely
missed The whole point of what happened like
there was this clear sign like Your husband loves
you and she did not get it Sorry Peter is about
to use a Word the words of David who's like a
fan favorite in Israel Words that they had definitely
seen they had definitely heard To show them that
they missed something extremely meaningful, right?
They missed they missed the Christ, right? And
so before we get into the actual verses that
are up there, we're gonna read the context. And
so verse 25 is where we're gonna pick up and
it says, for David speaking concerning him, who's
him? Jesus, right? David speaking concerning
him, Paul's making a case for Jesus. David speaking
concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before
my face for he is on my right hand that I should
not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice
and my tongue was glad. Moreover, also my flesh
shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thy
holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known
to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full
of joy with thy continence. So this is a direct
quote from David in Psalm 16 and it's important
to note when he says Thou shalt not leave my
soul in hell. The word hell there isn't Gehenna.
It's not the eternal fire hell that we think
of when we think of hell. The word there is Hades
or Sheol. So it's more so It's more so general,
general like the grave death. You're not going
to leave me dead, essentially. And so when he
says either or neither will doubt suffer that
Holy One to see corruption. He literally means
the body of the Holy One is not going to be decayed.
Right. And so Peter goes on, he says, men and
brethren, let me speak freely unto unto you of
the patriarch David, for he is both dead and
buried in his sepulcher. with us to this day."
So what's he saying? He's saying, David is dead.
We can all go to David's grave and we can, if
we dug him up, we would see David's bones in
the grave. They would be decayed. He's deteriorated.
What's that mean? He could not have been talking
about himself. And that's what he's going to
say right here. He says, therefore, being a prophet
and knowing that God has sworn an oath to him,
What was the oath? The oath was that was in second
Samuel. I will raise up an offspring after you
and I will establish your throne Or his the throne
his kingdom forever, right? That the first fruits
of his loins according to the flesh would not
or sorry that the first fruits of his Loins according
to his flesh according to the flesh. He would
raise up Christ to sit on his throne. So Pete
or yeah Peter is saying David didn't live forever.
He knew he wouldn't live forever. He's dead.
He was speaking prophetically of the Christ.
And he continues, he's seeing this therefore,
I can't read tonight. I'm sorry. He's seeing
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ,
that his soul was not left in hell, neither his
flesh did see corruption. Now, We made it to
where we're reading tonight, right? What Peter's
saying is Jesus is the Christ that David spoke
of. He continues and says, this Jesus hath God
raised up, whereof we are all witnesses. Therefore
being at the right hand of God exalted and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost. Think back to Acts 1, just 10 days earlier.
Jesus ascended to heaven, right? Where he's seated
at the right hand of God and he received of the
promises and Peter says, and he has shed forth
this which you see now and here. He's talking
about the fact that he's able to speak and everybody's
understanding him. This thing that's happening
right now, you're seeing that because Jesus was
exalted. He's at the right hand of God and he
made this happen. so that you all know that he
is the Christ that David's speaking of. He ends
by saying, for David is not ascended into heaven,
but he sayeth himself, the Lord said to my Lord,
sit thou at my right hand until I make thy foes
thy footstool. Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made the
same Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ."
Here's Peter's point. The Holy One did not see
corruption. God approved Jesus in front of everyone,
right? He raised him from the dead and God through
the Old Testament Told everybody that this is
exactly what was gonna happen. This is what the
Messiah is gonna do when the Messiah comes this
is what it's gonna look like and then Jesus did
it and What does that make Jesus? The Messiah
that's that's Peter's point. Jesus is the Messiah.
He's the ruler of all creation He's Lord and
Savior and so he's saying some to end he's saying
some Someday the guy that you all killed is gonna
make his enemies his footstool You don't want
to be his footstool Right. That's what he's saying
Jesus was approved by God. He was foretold by
scripture and so To illustrate this how many
of you guys know who this guy is Good I'm glad
you all know who Larry Bird is You didn't know
We can. We'll talk later. So a lot of people
in Larry Bird's like prime have been quoted as
saying that they thought Larry Bird was overhyped
before they ever played him. They thought essentially
this guy cannot be as good as everybody says
he is right. And. When they would face off Larry
Bird is famous for doing for. for doing something
amazing. He would call his shots. So like Gary
Payton, who's one of the greatest defenders of
all time, said that basically he felt this way.
And when he played Larry Bird, Larry Bird would
look at him in the eye and tell him exactly what
he's going to do and say, you're not going to
be able to stop it and then do it. Right. And
that instantly cured any doubts that those guys
would have about how good Larry Bird was, right?
His ability was just as good as they said it
was. And that's kind of what God is doing in
the scripture right here. He's calling his shot.
He said, in Psalm two, he said, the kings and
the rulers would take counsel against him. In
Psalm 22, he said, they're gonna pierce his hands,
right? In Daniel nine, they said, he will be
cut off. In Psalm 16, they said, his body will
not see decay, right? He's not gonna stay dead.
God's gonna raise him from the dead. In second
Samuel, he said, I'm gonna establish his kingdom
forever, right? He's essentially saying, hey,
I'm gonna go left, I'm gonna cross between, I'm
gonna step back, and I'm gonna bank it. And there's
nothing that you can do because Jesus is really
who he said he was. He's really God. So God didn't
leave. Jesus identity up for debate. He wrote
the answers down centuries before Jesus was ever
born and Then he watched his son fulfill Every
word of it and that should give you confidence
to share the gospel with the world It's right
there he did it he said it it's proven there's
no real there's no dispute right Like I said,
I know it can be intimidating. I know you can
feel insecure at times. I feel insecure at times
about my own ability to do ministry effectively,
but we don't actually have to be like the Larry
Bird of Christians, right? Everything that we
need is right here. There's over 300 prophecies
in the Bible that Jesus fulfilled in his life.
You don't have to be like, man, I am the guy.
I can share the gospel like none other. No. His
abilities are sufficient, right? He's given you
the spirit and his word is sufficient. He's God.
And so you can be confident in that. That's the
second reason. The third reason is that he was
declared by eyewitnesses. Go to verse 37, so
we're gonna pick up. And so here, same scene,
Peter standing face to face with those who killed
Jesus and he's proclaiming Christ boldly. If
he wasn't convinced that Jesus was the Christ,
that Jesus was alive, he would not have been
proclaiming anything, right? Because one, he
would have known it's not true, right? But two,
he would have died. They killed Jesus. They certainly
would have killed Peter. Nothing was keeping
him from that. And Peter, we know, was killed
for the gospel. Later on down his life, he was
crucified upside down for the gospel. But his
confident declaration in our text tonight, we're
gonna see made an impact on his audience. And
so look at verse 37. Verse 37 says, now when
they heard this, they were pricked in their hearts
and said unto Peter, to the rest of the Apostles,
men and brethren, what shall we do?" Remember,
this is an audience who rejected Jesus already,
in person, right? Not just they heard about Jesus,
they didn't accept him. Jesus was there with
them, they rejected him. But here, they're responding
to the evidence that Peter laid out, and they're
saying, what shall we do? Why? Why are they doing
that? Because the message is true, the cross
has power. Right? God, Jesus is the Christ. They
had rejected him when he was there, but through
the proclamation of Christ, they were convinced
of the truth. And they asked, what should we
do? I don't think that the world that we live
in today is past that, right? These guys literally
killed Jesus and they were responding to it.
So I think that we can share the gospel with
people today. In verse 38, Then Peter said unto
them, repent and be baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the
Holy Ghost. And so the idea of repentance is
a change of mind, right? Before you were against
Christ, now not only be convinced of Christ,
but be committed to Christ, right? Stop living
as if, for the world today, stop living as if
you are God. Start living as if Christ is Lord,
right? And you're under him. Then he says, be
baptized. And we know baptism isn't a means for
salvation, but it's a sign, it's really a proclamation
that, hey, I do believe in Jesus Christ. I do
believe that he is the Lord, that he is the son
of God. And then he says, and receive the Holy
Ghost. And so Peter is saying, essentially, to
this group of people who rejected Jesus, if you
really believe that Christ is the Messiah, if
Jesus is the Messiah, then join the family, become
a child of God, put your faith in him. And I
believe that same invitation is open to every
single person today. Right? In verse 39, he says,
for the promises unto you and your children,
and to all that are afar off, even as many as
the Lord our God shall call. And so we live in
a world today that has largely rejected Christ.
They've either said he isn't God or that he's
just one of many gods, which is essentially the
same thing. Here, Peter is proclaiming that Jesus
is the one true God. He is the Lord and the Christ.
He's the judge of all sinners. And he's the only
hope that a sinner has. Anyone willing to acknowledge
that truth today can be welcomed into the family.
They can be given purpose. They can be given
meaning. They can be given truth right now. Jesus
is literally what our world is looking for. They're
not gonna find it in relativism. They're not
gonna find it in their own truth. They're gonna
find it in Christ who died for their sins. But
they're gonna have to make that decision for
themselves, right? We can't make that decision
for them. If they die before they make that decision,
it's going to be too late. And that's why Paul
says, save yourselves from this unto -toward,
that's such a weird word, generation. Save yourselves
from this unto -toward generation, right? He
says, then, Then they gladly received his words
and were baptized and the same day they were
added unto them about three thousand souls And
so here's here's what I want you to See tonight
Peter preached Christ to the people who killed
Jesus and they eventually killed him if he could
do that We can tell our neighbors right you can
tell your neighbor about Jesus boldly confidently
for the same reasons that he was able to. And
that's what the world needs to hear from you
tonight. If you're a believer, that's what the
world needs from you. It's true, the world may
not be very interested in truth today, but this
is the most important piece of truth that exists.
They need to hear it. They might reject it. They
may hate you. They may disrespect you. God forbid
they they may persecute you But they may not
right they may receive the gospel And don't you
think if just one person were to get saved From
a lifetime of your proclaiming Christ wouldn't
that be worth it We never know what the results
are gonna be before we open our mouths But we
do know what the call is, right? Go to all the
world and preach the gospel. When Peter preached
the gospel, people responded. They were added
to the church, they received the Holy Ghost,
and their lives were changed forever, right?
And he can do that same thing through you as
well, if you're willing to proclaim the gospel
confidently. It can feel this way sometimes,
but the gospel isn't this weak. argument in the
world today. It's the answer to the questions
that people are looking for. It's exactly why
every believer needs to be proclaiming it, right?
It's what the world needs. And so again, the
point tonight is that every believer should proclaim
Jesus confidently. He was approved by God, right?
He was foretold by scripture and he was declared
by eyewitnesses. And again, you may be thinking,
the world doesn't care about those three things.
They don't care about the evidence. They say
there's no truth, right? But here's what you
need to notice. The crowd at Jerusalem said the
same thing. They rejected Jesus, but they saw
the miracles, they heard the sermons, they watched
him die. But when Peter stood up and preached
the gospel to them, 3 ,000 people responded and
were saved. The hostile culture that we live
in today is not a reason to be silent. It's a
reason to speak up. The world needs Jesus. And
so think back to those three questions that I
asked you at the beginning of the sermon. Those
three questions are really the answer to the
fourth question. What are you looking for? The
world is looking for the things that you have
in Christ. So what do we do with that? We need
to share our testimony, right? That's one thing
we need to do with it. We know that our faith
is built on truth, but our lives are also filled
with tons of experiences of how God has changed
our life. This is what my life was like before
I met Jesus and this is what it's like now. And
so, yeah, we definitely need to share the truth.
Peter shared the truth, but he also shared his
experience, right? And so share your testimony
and share the scriptures. That's what Peter did.
He leaned on the word and his experiences to
show the crowd how God has worked and who God
is. And some people, I know some people have
this idea that like their calling is simply to
live out their faith. But the Bible makes it
clear, like live out their faith and not talk
about Jesus. The Bible makes it clear that if
we're not proclaiming the word of God, that people
are not getting saved, right? Romans 10, 14 says,
how shall they hear without a preacher? If people
aren't telling people about Jesus, how are they
gonna respond? And so here's the assignment tonight
for you. Think of one person. Who's come to mind
as we've been talking about this tonight? Who
is rejected Jesus that you know that needs Christ
in their lives? Who do you know that's searching
for meaning, for truth, for anything to cling
to in this world today? Think of that person
and write their names down. I encourage you to
write their names on a prayer slip and we will
pray for them, right? Don't stop there though.
Go and invite them to Easter. That's the challenge.
You don't have to have all the answers, right?
Just go to them with the card in hand and say,
hey come with me to church. Come hear the gospel.
You never know what could happen from there,
right? The whole Easter push this year is one
invite could change everything, right? And I
know a handful of people are sitting here right
now who could quote that and tell you their story,
right? Maybe you're one of them. And so be that.
Do that. Go invite somebody and write their name
on a prayer slip. Let's pray for them. If you're
here tonight, though, and you're saying that's
not my story, I've never trusted Jesus as my
Lord and Savior, then you need to know that the
case was made the same case that the crowd heard.
in Jerusalem was made to you tonight. God was
verified. He was foretold by scripture and he
was declared by eyewitnesses. It's clear who
he is. And so if you walk out of here tonight,
having heard the gospel, having heard who Christ
is and you do nothing with it, then you're in
the same position as those who nailed him to
the cross, right? You're rejecting Christ. And
so before you do that, consider the grace of
God. The Bible says that, If you confess with
your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in
your heart that God raised him from the dead,
then thou shalt be saved. It doesn't matter who
you are, where you're coming from. That same
invitation is extended to you. And it was extended
to the people who killed Jesus. Right? And so
you can't be too far. So let's pray. Thank you
Lord for allowing us to come together tonight
and to get into your word to see a great example
of somebody who was confident in you and bold
to speak your word, Lord. I just pray that as
we leave here tonight, that we would leave here
not just saying, yeah, I know I'm sent, but saying,
no, God sent me. He empowered me through his
spirit. He's given me his word. He's given me
the examples of Peter, he's given me the example
of Christ to be bold, to be confident, and so
I'm gonna live sent. I pray that we would all
leave here thinking that way tonight, and I pray
that as we go out and we do invite people to
Easter, that people would come, that people would
hear the gospel, and people would respond. I
just pray if anybody's here tonight, they don't
know you as Lord and Savior, Lord, that they
would not leave here without talking to me or
talking to somebody about how they could. know
that heaven is their home, Lord. Pray this in
Jesus' name, amen.