It's always a little nerve -wracking to look
out and see other preachers here. And today I...
Hello. Call the congregation. Call the congregation.
Come in, please. Are you there? Is it working?
Okay, let's go back to this one then. As I was
saying... It's always a little nerve -wracking
to look out and see preachers here. And today,
there is a man who's becoming a dear friend.
And a man that many of you have prayed for, though
not all of you know, who is here along with his
family. And I speak of Pastor and Mrs. Jim Ingle,
who are leading the work at Grace Church Richfield.
He's on vacation this morning, I understand.
Is that correct? Would you and your family with
you please stand so that our folks can see you?
We have prayed for you. How we rejoice in what
God is doing in Richfield through your ministry.
And you sure make me nervous being here today.
Great to see you. Some people are wondering aloud,
what is wrong with many churches? Why is there
a waning interest in little life? Why is there
a decline in... Participation. Well, that is
not an easy set of questions to answer. But one
of the ways that we can begin to answer it is
to examine the sermonizing. What is being preached
in a church that is experiencing that kind of
response from its congregation? What is the theme
of the preaching? Well, we have been looking
at the early church in the book of Acts. We have
noted that it is very much an alive church. And
part of the reason for that is the theme of the
sermonizing. Indeed, the theme of the very first
sermon that was ever delivered to that newly
born body of believers. It is the theme of Jesus
Christ. I fear that in some churches these days
there is more sermonizing done on social issues,
ecological problems, theological or political,
rather, liberation, and economic justice than
there is on the person of Jesus Christ. Without
question, the early church preached Christ, Christ
crucified and Christ raised from the dead. In
Acts chapter 2, the church had been born even
though it had not yet been fully revealed. And
on its birthday, the day of Pentecost, Peter
became the spokesman for those in that church.
His first concern as he spoke to the great crowd
on the day of Pentecost was to explain the phenomena
which were occurring. He took as his... proof
text, Joel chapter 2, and explained to them that
what they were witnessing was in fact the work
of the Holy Spirit, that the Holy Spirit was
the source of the noise that they heard, of the
fire that they saw on the heads of the disciples,
and the languages which the disciples were speaking.
As he moves further into his address, Peter presents
an exposition of the person of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ, he says, is both Lord and Christ.
He is deity and he is the appointed Savior of
Israel. Jesus of Nazareth is Lord and Christ.
That is the main body of his sermon. Today we're
going to follow his thinking. He gives four proofs
of that truth, that Jesus Christ is Lord. Proof
number one, he was attested by God, verse 22.
Men of Israel, listen to these words. Jesus the
Nazarene, a man attested to you by God. with
miracles and wonders and signs which God performed
through him in your midst, just as you yourselves
know. And then he goes on. But in verse 22, he
gives the first proof of this statement, Jesus
Christ is Lord. The first proof is that he, Jesus
Christ, Jesus the Nazarene, as he calls him,
was attested by God. What does that mean, that
he was attested? by God. It means that he was
appointed, he was designated, or if you please,
he was proved or accredited by God to be who
he claimed to be. He was a man from Nazareth.
He was fully human, as fully human as all of
us here today, except without our sin inherited
from Adam. But he was more than a man. He was
unique, for he was fully God as well. In the
person of Jesus, there was the nature of God
and the nature of man united without mixture
and without either his humanity or his deity
being diminished at all. Perfect man and full
God in one person. This truth about him was attested
by God. He was a man through whom God worked,
designated as a unique instrument of God, appointed
to a particular purpose. But he was also God
himself come in the flesh. Peter declares that
Jesus of Nazareth was publicly, he says, you
notice, in the midst of you. He was publicly
proved by God to be who he claimed to be. And
what were these proofs, these attestations by
God? What were the demonstrations that he was
who he claimed? Well, Peter points to miracles,
wonders, and signs. Miracles refer to the manifestations
of might and power. Miracles are the suspension
of natural laws by the intervention of the supernatural.
An example of his miracles would be his walking
on water. Natural laws say that that is impossible
for a human to do. But natural laws were suspended
while the supernatural took force and Jesus walked
on water. The response of Peter was, My Lord.
And then Peter points to the wonders that Jesus
performed. Wonders refer to startling events
which arrest the attention of the observer, to
deeds which cause the beholder to marvel or to
wonder. An example would surely be Jesus raising
the dead, as he did several times. And then he
points to the signs that Jesus performed. These
signs were indicators of the truthfulness of
what he said. They were the marks or the tokens
of his divine authority. An example might be
the multiplication of the fishes and loaves,
which were a sign. that when he said, I am the
bread from heaven, that he was in fact. Now what
had been the attitude of the Jewish nation to
whom Peter was preaching on this day? To Jesus,
miracles, wonders, and signs. And remember that
many of those who were listening to him on this
occasion had seen some of those miracles, wonders,
and signs. What had been their attitude as a
nation toward God's attestations, God's demonstrable
proofs that Jesus was Lord and Christ? It was
that of rejection. Some ignorantly, but the leaders
at least, the religious leaders, knowingly. They
had rejected their Christ. And for that, they
were in the process of being set aside for this
whole age. Thomas Walker said, Sin against light
and knowledge is inexcusable and fatal. And that
was the sin of the Jewish leaders. It is no less
of a sin for those today who reject Jesus Christ,
knowing... full well who he is. God has fully
attested to the person of Jesus of Nazareth that
he is both Lord and Christ. One who rejects Jesus
Christ then rejects Jesus Christ at his own peril.
He places himself under the judgment of God because
of his rejection of the one that God has appointed,
designated, Lord and Christ. In the next verse,
Peter swiftly moves ahead to the second proof
that Jesus is Lord and Christ. It is that he
was delivered by God. Verse 23. This man, delivered
up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge
of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of
godless men and put him to death. What is Peter
talking about? Well, of course, he's talking
about Christ's death. This had occurred only
53 days previously. And again, I point out that
many of those who were listening to the words
of Peter on this day of Pentecost had observed
the death of Jesus. You will notice that Peter
puts the death of Christ into a very delicate
balance. tuned perspective that he speaks about
his death. He sees it from the standpoint of
God and then balances it perfectly with a view
from the standpoint of man. From God's perspective,
Jesus was delivered up. He was handed over by
God's predetermined plan and foreknowledge. What
does all of that mean? Well foreknowledge means
to know before. It is the term that physicians
use today for prognosis. Prognosis is when the
doctor tells you how you're going to do after
you get your medicine or you've had your surgery.
The doctor tries to know ahead of time what's
going to take place. in your circumstances. Here
we have the prognosis of God, but the term theologically
has a much deeper meaning because it means more
than just knowing some facts ahead of time. It
does not mean at all theologically God guessing
what will take place, but it means what God determines
ahead of time will happen. And we know that because
of the phrase and the way that it is constructed
here as Luke records the sermon. He speaks about
the predetermined plan, the designed plan and
foreknowledge of God. And when he says that,
he wraps them up in one package. Essentially,
the way he phrases this, he is saying that they
are both like one coin with two sides. God did
know ahead of time what would happen to Jesus,
but it was because he determined ahead of time
what would happen to Jesus. We see a similar
truth in the book of 1 Peter, if you want to
look back there. Here we have again the words
of the same man. Except here he's writing to
some believers. And Peter says, let's begin in
verse 18 of chapter 1. Knowing that you were
not redeemed with perishable things like silver
or gold from your futile way of life inherited
from your forefathers, then how were they redeemed?
Well, he says, with precious blood. As of a lamb
unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ.
Now look at verse 20. For he was foreknown before
the foundation of the world but has appeared
in these last times for the sake of you. And
so Peter repeats that word foreknown. Tied together
with it, remember, is the idea that not only
did God know ahead of time what would happen,
but God planned ahead of time the death of His
Son. It was not an accident. His death was not
a plan that got out of hand some way, but rather
even before God spoke the world into existence,
He planned the death of the Lamb. Jesus Christ.
That is what Peter declared on that Pentecostal
Sunday. He said, this man, Jesus of Nazareth,
delivered up by God according to his planned
scheme, his predetermined purpose. But then notice
that he balances it in verse 23, going back to
Acts 2. He says, you nailed him to a cross by
the hands of godless men and put him to death.
And so here is man's standpoint in the death
of Christ. God's standpoint is that God planned
it. Man's standpoint is that man is responsible
for the death of Christ. He says, you put him
to death. You killed him. Metaphorically, the
verb means to take away. In a literal sense,
it means to take away the life of someone, to
kill. It is a word that is used of the chief
priests and scribes in Luke 22, verse 2, when
he tells about them seeking to kill Jesus, which
they ultimately did. This is a favorite word
of Luke. It is used 23 times in the New Testament,
19 of those times. in the book of Acts. So he
almost solely uses this term. And 17 out of those
19 times, it is used in a literal sense, and
most often in reference to the death of Jesus,
that he was put to death by men. So the death
of Christ was, on the one hand, according to
the plan of God, but on the other hand, it does
not leave man without responsibility for it.
There is commonly asked the question, who killed
Jesus? And there are those who quickly respond,
the Jews. They are Christ killers. That is an
epithet of hatred that has been used by anti
-Semites for many, many hundreds of years. Is
it true? Well, in one sense, yes, it is. They
did kill Christ. The word of God declared here
says that they put him to death. But they were
not solely held accountable for it. For you will
notice that Peter says that by the hands of godless
men, these Jews had put him to death. That refers
to the Romans. Or we may broaden that to Gentiles
in general. Not only the Jews killed Christ,
but Gentiles as well. It was actually their wicked
hands which put the nails into his hands, into
his feet, and hung him upon the cross. But I
think that we may broaden it even further to
say that all men in all ages are responsible
for the death of Christ. For in the book of Romans,
It says that he was delivered up because of our
transgressions. Same word, delivered up. He was
killed for our transgressions. You put Christ
to death, and so did I. And so there is none
of us who can point his finger at a Jew and say,
you are a Christ killer. because we are all Christ
killers. We are all responsible for the death
of Christ from the human standpoint. But I want
to take it one step further in order to keep
it in the perspective that Peter seems to put
it in, and that is this, that ultimately God
himself put Christ to death. As Isaiah the prophet
foretold, It pleased the Lord to bruise him.
So God put him to death. All of that is true.
The point is that he was delivered by God and
by man to death. He died. Now there is a third
proof that he is both Lord and Christ, and without
this one, the second one is meaningless. And
that is that he was raised up by God. So he was
attested by God. He was delivered by God. Number
three, he was raised up by God. Verses 24 to
32. And God raised him up again, putting an end
to the agony of death, since it was impossible
for him to be held in its power. For David says
of him, I was always beholding the Lord in my
presence, for he is at my right hand that I may
not be shaken. Therefore my heart was glad and
my tongue exalted. Moreover, my flesh also will
abide in hope, because thou wilt not abandon
my soul to Hades, nor allow thy Holy One to undergo
decay. Thou hast made known to me the ways of
life. Thou wilt make me full of gladness with
thy presence. Brethren, I may confidently say
to you regarding the patriarch David, that he
both died and was buried and his tomb is with
us to this day. And so because he was a prophet
and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath
to seat one of his descendants upon his throne,
he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection
of Christ, that he was neither abandoned to Hades
nor did his flesh suffer decay. This Jesus God
raised up again to which we are all witnesses.
And so the third main point that Peter gets across
as he preaches Jesus Christ as Lord is his resurrection.
Death was unable to hold Christ in its grasp.
As the hymn says that we sometimes sing, Death
could not hold its prey, Jesus my Savior. He
tore the bars away, Jesus my Lord, up from the
grave. He arose. Now there are two reasons why
death could not hold him prey. Number one, because
of who he is. Jesus Christ is the creator. He
is the source of all life. It is impossible for
him to be overcome by death, which he himself
brought into existence. It is impossible for
him... as the eternal God come in flesh, to be
held prisoner by a temporal experience. It is
absolutely impossible that death could have held
him permanently because of who he is. Indeed,
I will go on to say, death could not have had
him in the first place if he had not given himself
to death. If he had not laid down his life, death
could not have had him at all. But he gave himself
to death and could not be held by it because
of who he is. But secondly, he could not be held
by death because of what his purpose was. His
purpose was to accomplish eternal redemption
from death and sin for his people. And resurrection
was an essential part of that purpose. He had
to be raised from the dead in order for his death
to have full meaning and impact. He was delivered
for our transgressions and was raised on account
of our justification, says the apostle in the
book of Romans. The death of Christ cannot be
separated from his resurrection. They are both
equally critical parts of the gospel that we
proclaim. And so because of his purpose, he could
not be held by death. Had he been held by death,
his purpose could not have been accomplished.
Death could not have held him prey any more than
an ant. could put a bear hug on an elephant and
get away with it. Any more than a man can go
out to an ocean and drink it dry. There is absolutely
no capacity in death to hold the prince of life
as its captive. Now this was all prophesied by
David. And Peter quotes. Apparently Peter memorized
the scripture. Not a bad example for us to follow.
On this occasion, God brought back to his mind
a passage from Psalm 16, verses 8 through 11.
The hope that is expressed in the words of David
here is the hope of neither loss of soul nor
decay of body. In verses 25 and 26, David talks
about his fellowship with God, but look, these
words. are so significant that David had to be
speaking here on behalf of someone besides himself.
And of course he was. Peter calls him a prophet
in verse 30. David was speaking here on behalf
of Jesus Christ, his descendant, as he talks
about the perfect fellowship and trust that he
had in his father, the perfect worship. Of God
in verse 26. But he mentions in the end of verse
26. His hope. Now what is his hope? Verse 27.
Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades. There
he talks about the immaterial part. His soul
spirit if you please. I'll not be abandoned there.
In the realm of the dead. But he goes on to say,
nor will you allow your Holy One to undergo decay.
And there he speaks with reference to the body,
not undergoing decomposition. That was the hope
expressed in Psalm 16. Now Peter goes on to point
out to those who are listening, David expressed
these words, but he says, I want to call your
attention. to the fact that David died and his
body decayed. And he says he's buried with us
today. And they still, even in 1984, point to
what they call the tomb of David in Jerusalem.
In that day, it was very prominent and was said
to be one of the wonders of Jerusalem, a magnificent
structure. And so Peter's point is obvious. David
spoke these words, and yet he died. He is still
in Hades, the realm of the dead, and his body
has decayed. So what was he talking about? Well,
he goes on to say that David knew that God had
given him a promise, and that promise was a descendant,
a descendant who would be seated upon his throne.
And David apparently looked ahead. There are
some people who think that he literally had a
vision of what was going to happen a thousand
years later. But in verse 31 it says, he looked
ahead, at least by faith he saw it, and he spoke
of the resurrection of Christ when he said those
words. And so Peter's point is this. David did
not fulfill the words of Psalm 16. David was
speaking about his descendant, the Christ. And
by the way, the Jews knew two things. They knew
that Messiah would be David's son. And there
were those who agreed with Peter's interpretation
here that that psalm that David wrote prophesied
regarding Messiah. So what Peter is saying here
was not something brand new or strange to those
who are listening to him. He simply takes it
a step further. He says, this Jesus, God raised
up again, to which we are all witnesses. He's
simply saying, men, what David spoke about. has
been fulfilled in Jesus, who has been raised
from the dead, and you are witnesses. Now, they
were witnesses in a sense in which we are not
today. There were many of those who had witnessed
at least the effects of the resurrection. For
when Jesus rose from the dead, he did not appear
to anyone except his own believers. He never
appeared again to the world and will not until
that day when he comes in his glory. And yet
they had been witnesses of the claims of his
resurrection. They were witnesses of a tomb in
a garden that was empty. And they had to witness
to the fact that no one was able to produce the
body of Jesus. And so they were in that sense
witnesses in a very special way. And they could
not deny that what Peter was saying was true.
He was raised up by God. They had to admit that
that was so. And he goes on to give the fourth
proof that Jesus was who he said he was. He was
delivered by God. He was attested by God. He
was delivered by God. He was raised up by God.
And finally, he was exalted by God. In verse
33 he says, Therefore, having been exalted to
the right hand of God, and having received from
the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he
has poured forth this, which you both see and
hear. For it was not David who ascended into
heaven, but he himself says, and again he quotes
David and says, Now David couldn't have fulfilled
this, but this is what David said, The Lord said
to my Lord, Sit at my right hand. until I make
thine enemies a footstool for thy feet. Today,
Jesus Christ is at the right hand of God. What
that means is that he is in the place of supreme
honor, authority, and glory. You say, well, how
do we really know that Jesus is there? I want
to suggest that there are two proofs that Jesus
is at the right hand of God. One proof is found
a little bit later in the book of Acts, in the
seventh chapter, when he is seen there. We come
in verse 55 of Acts 7 to the impending martyrdom
of Stephen. And it says, being full of the Holy
Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven. and saw
the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right
hand of God. So how do we know that Jesus is
today exalted at the right hand of God? Someone
has seen him there and told us so. Stephen looked
up intently into heaven and saw the glory of
God and saw Jesus himself standing at the right
hand of God. Nobody else there saw it. Stephen
saw it. So we have an eyewitness that Jesus is
there. But now going back to Acts chapter 2,
Peter is suggesting there is a second proof.
He says he is exalted to the right hand of God
and having received the promise from the Father
of the Holy Spirit, he has poured forth this
which you both see and hear. Peter is saying
that the outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the
unusual phenomena which they witnessed, proved
that Jesus had arrived back in heaven in his
exalted position. The reason for the manifestation
of the divine power and the supernatural phenomena
around them, which they saw and heard, was the
exaltation of Jesus. And he quotes from Psalm
110, verse 1, asserts the deity of Christ. He
suggests the same interpretation that Jesus himself
gave in Matthew 22, 41, and that is that how
could David speak of his son and call him Lord?
The answer is that David's son is the Lord. Physically,
the descendant of David, but also the Lord himself
incarnated in human flesh. And he is today exalted
in glory, awaiting that time when his enemies
will be made his footstool. That's a strange
expression, isn't it? We don't even have footstools
in our living rooms anymore. That is an expression
which was very meaningful to people in that day.
For you see, it was the custom of the victor.
to place his foot on the neck of the one he had
conquered and to proclaim his victory. And that
is the sense of footstool here. It is what Joshua
did in the 10th chapter of the book bearing his
name is recorded, that he put his foot upon the
necks of his enemies. It's apparently what David
did when he killed Goliath in the Valley of Elah.
After the giant had fallen, he went over and
put his foot... on goliath's neck and then excised
the upper portion of his body he removed his
head but by putting his foot on his neck he was
saying i am the victor and what jesus christ
is waiting for today is simply the father's right
time to proclaim his victory over his enemies
now his conclusion in verse 36 is this therefore
let all the house of israel know for Now, if
you were going to read the Greek in this, you
would begin by reading, For certain, let all
the house of Israel know. And the significance
of that is that he is saying this is absolutely
true. There can be no question about it. It is
for certain that God has made Jesus of Nazareth
both Lord and Christ. This one that you've crucified.
You will notice in verse 36 a contrast between
the way the father has honored his son and the
way that the Jews had dishonored him. Could I
point out to you that this was not a gospel message
with an invitation? Peter did not at this point
say, now would you take out your hymnal and turn
it just as I am. We're going to sing three verses.
He didn't do that. Because primarily this was
not a gospel preaching message to invite people
to be saved. But Peter's reason for preaching
this message was to indict the nation of Israel
for its crime in rejecting its Messiah. It is,
in effect, an arraignment. of the nation before
the judgment bar of God. And Peter is the prosecutor.
He is saying, God has exalted this one that you
crucified. In doing that, however, he brought
them face to face with their sin as a nation
and the danger of their impending judgment. And
you will notice that they responded in verse
37 by being pierced to the heart and saying to
Peter and all the apostles, What shall we do?
It brought about a repentance on at least part
of them. And so there were people saved on that
day, although that was not apparently Peter's
primary purpose in bringing this message. As
commentator Thomas Walker pointed out years ago,
With a rejected Christ upon the throne of power,
the sinner's condition is one of solemn peril.
My friend, if you are here today and you have
never acknowledged Jesus Christ as your Lord
and received Him into your life to save you from
your sin, you delay that decision or perhaps
you've rejected him in the face of solemn peril.
The peril of dying in your sins and being separated
from God for all of eternity in the place of
judgment which the Bible calls hell. Jesus Christ
is Lord. That is his name. That is his title.
It is the name, Lord, at which every knee shall
bow and every tongue will confess. Some do it
now in worship and in faith. Someday, everyone
will do it, many in judgment. Those who acknowledge
who he is and receive him now, there will later
be those who will acknowledge him, but it will
be too late to receive him, and they will go
into judgment. Which group will you be in? You
see, from a human standpoint, that decision is
yours. What will you do with Jesus of Nazareth,
whom God has declared to be Lord and Christ?
Will you toy with him by playing religious games?
Will you tip your hat his direction by going
to church and performing ritual? Or will you
today receive him into your life as Lord and
Savior and be saved? I trust you will do the
latter and no longer have a superficial understanding
of who he is and no longer have only a mental
assent that he is God, he is Christ. but that
you will open your life's door and today receive
him to save you from sin and to be the Lord of
all you are and have. Many of us today have made
that decision. May I point out to us that this
Christ, this Jesus of Nazareth, that God has
declared Lord in Christ, is worthy of our total
devotion and worship. Whatever we do for Him,
whatever we sacrifice for Him, whatever we suffer
for Him is worth it. It's worth it. It is insufficient
payment to even begin to say thank you. Jesus,
for what you have done for me. As the hymn writer
said, were the whole realm of nature mine, that
were a present far too small. Love so amazing,
so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all.
My fellow believer, is your all under his control
today? Is he your Lord? The Lord of your decisions.
The Lord of your lifestyle. The Lord of your
relationships. Heavenly Father, after reviewing
the sermon that Peter preached, on the birthday
of the church, we cannot ignore the proof that
Jesus is Lord and Christ. We have seen that you
attested him to be such by the miracles, wonders,
and signs he performed. And that you, amazing
though it is, in grace delivered him up for us.
And that you raised him from the dead and have
exalted him to your right hand. Father, we give
ourselves to you afresh on this Lord's day. And
we pray that the truth that Jesus is Lord may
be written over every room of our hearts. May
there be no part of our lives outside of his
control. And especially, Lord, do I pray for
those who do not know Jesus in a personal saving
way. who've never trusted in him, may they today
understand and respond in faith to be saved.
He is Lord. He is Lord. He is risen from the
dead. and he is Lord. Every knee shall bow, every
tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Would
you take your hymnal and turn, please, with me?