You can turn in your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Acts chapter 2, it's a long chapter. We will read it all though. As you're turning there and finding your place, just a brief outline to the chapter.
We have, of course, the narrative record of the early church. primarily the ministry of the Apostle Peter as he proclaims Christ Jesus the Lord in Jerusalem. And in this chapter, we have the day of Pentecost arriving. And in verses one to four, we read of the giving of the spirit Christ had promised, the giving of his spirit both prior to his resurrection and post-resurrection, pre-ascension. He promised the giving of his Holy Spirit.
So we see that in verses one to four. In verses 5 to 13, we see the crowd's response to the giving of the Holy Spirit. We see a portion of the crowd recognizing or being amazed and perplexed that people were speaking in their native tongues and then others mocking, saying they are full of new wine. Well, that follows up then in verses 14 to 21 with Peter's explanation, his correction, no doubt, of the mockers and his explanation of what this was, this giving of the spirit.
And then we see Peter's gospel sermon in verse 22 to verse 39, and then the growth of the church, sort of a summary report in verse 40 to verse 47. We're going to focus primarily this morning on verses 22 to 36. that sermon by Peter. But let's read the entire chapter, set the stage as we seek to look at the sermon by Peter. Acts 2, beginning in verse 1.
When the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. Then there appeared to them divided tongues as of fire, and one sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.
And there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the multitude came together and were confused because everyone heard them speak in his own language. Then they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Look, are not all these who speak Galileans? And how is it that we hear each in our own language in which we were born?
Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. So they were all amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, whatever could this mean? Others, mocking, said, they are full of new wine. But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, Let this be known to you and heed my words, for these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh. Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on my menservants and on my maidservants I will pour out my spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.
I will show wonders in heaven above and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the coming of the great and awesome day of the Lord. And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. Men of Israel, hear these words.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know. Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death. Whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it. For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face.
For he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad. Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption.
You have made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence. Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, he foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul was not left in Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses. Therefore, being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this, which you now see and hear. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he says himself, the Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now, when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said to them, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call. And with many other words he testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this perverse generation.
Then those who gladly received his word were baptized and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together and had all things in common and sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all as anyone had need.
So continuing daily with one accord in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. Amen. Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in this, the reading of the scriptures. We rejoice that we can engage in this act of worship, the preaching of your word. And we do pray again that you would be glorified in this act, that the Lord Jesus Christ would be exalted. Upon the praises of his people here, we pray that you would help minister, that you would help hearer, and we pray, Lord God, that this exercise of preaching would be unto the praise of your glorious grace, that saints would be instructed and encouraged, and that sinners would be saved, Lord God, that more and more might, by preaching, not only in this place, but around the world, might rejoice in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and find all spiritual blessings in Him.
And it is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.
Introduction
Well, last week, Pastor Butler preached from Matthew 16-18, so I thought it might be a good companion to preach a sermon this morning and a sermon this evening from Acts chapter 2, because what we find after in subsequent revelation, revelation that follows Matthew 16, 18, we have much of that is rather the opening up, if you will, of the promise of Matthew 16, 18. So to rephrase that, the revelation that follows Matthew 16, 18 is very much the explication, the opening up of the promise that Christ will build his church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. and we come to Acts chapter 2, and we see that the building of the church comes by way of the proclamation of Jesus Christ. The preaching of the word is that means whereby, one of the means, whereby Christ grows and builds His church. What we have, following the promise in Matthew 16, 18, And before Acts chapter 2, we see Christ preparing His disciples prior to His crucifixion and His resurrection.
He's equipping His disciples by instruction, by the opening up of the truth of the Father, by reminding them on a number of occasions that He must be delivered up by wicked hands in Jerusalem, be raised the third day, and ascend to His Father where He will send the Spirit. We see him promising that sending of the Spirit. We see him effectively executing the work that the Father has given him, culminating in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. We see him rising again the third day, and we see, following that resurrection, he proves himself, or he reveals himself by many infallible proofs, and then he instructs his disciples.
He gives them a Bible study before his ascension. And he ascends to the right hand of the majesty on high, and he sends that promised spirit, that promised comforter who will bring the message of himself. And so we arrive at Acts chapter 2, and that's what we see. We see the giving of the spirit, the sending of the spirit by Christ, and the subsequent proclamation of Jesus Christ in this multitude of tongues to those who were gathered in Jerusalem.
So the text that we're looking at this morning is 22 to 39, actually, this morning and this evening. And
Overview of Four Points
we'll look at the text under four points, the central message, the scriptural anticipation, the historical fulfillment, and the weighty implications. The first two we'll look at this morning, and those two again are the central message and the scriptural anticipation.
Apostolic Kerygma Defined
To get us started, this is FF Bruce on Acts chapter 2, specifically the section that we're reading now. The early apostolic kerygma. Now whenever you hear, if you ever hear the word kerygma, that simply means the apostolic pattern of proclamation. So the early apostolic kerygma regularly falls into four parts, which may be summarized thus.
First, the announcement that the age of fulfillment has arrived. Second, a rehearsal of the ministry, death, and triumph of Jesus. Third, citation of Old Testament scriptures whose fulfillment in these events proved Jesus to be the Messiah. and fourthly, a call to repentance. These four elements are present in Peter's proclamation here.
He has already announced that the age of fulfillment has come and he now rehearses the story of Jesus. You see, in his explanation of these tongues that were being spoken, this utterance that the Spirit had given, Peter goes to the prophet Joel and he says, this event, what is occurring right now before your eyes is the fulfillment of the prophet Joel's prophecy that it shall come to pass in the last days says God that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and he closes it with this statement verse 21 and it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved And it's with that final quotation of that portion of Joel's prophecy that Peter now transitions into the story of Jesus Christ, the central message.
The Central Message
And so we want to notice first under the central message,
The Bringer of the Message
notice the bringer of the message. You see, it's always a wholesome exercise. and maybe we could put it this way, our Bible reading and our preaching can very often be enriched by biographical recollection. What does that mean? Well, looking briefly, or at length, at the one who is in view, in this case, the Apostle Peter.
You see, what a contrast we have here in the Apostle Peter. It was only, or it was less than two months ago, that this Peter was denying the Savior. It was less than two months ago that this Peter was pronouncing or was swearing by an oath that he did not know this Jesus of Nazareth. And now we have, though, on this day of Pentecost, Peter boldly standing before the countrymen that he previously denied the Savior before.
Now he stands before them and he proclaims boldly, the things of his valiant king. Less than two months ago, Peter was rebuking. Remember in Pastor Butler's reading of Matthew 16, 18, and that chapter as a whole, it was less than two months ago from this vantage point that Peter was rebuking without merit, but rebuking the Savior, saying, far be it from you, Lord, that you should go to Jerusalem to be delivered up, to be crucified and rise again. But now the death and the resurrection of Christ, those very things that he was in his ignorance trying to prevent, those are the things that he now holds as the sum and substance of the Christian message and that he proclaims to this gathered audience.
And it was less than two months ago that this same Peter was brandishing steel and lopping off ears in his zeal for Jesus Christ. But now, he calmly says before those same sorts of men, men of Israel, hear these words. And he now brandishes not a physical sword of steel, but he brandishes the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And he brings a cutting message, cutting to the heart with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
So the bringer of the message is that Peter, and this is a very interesting point. If you were here, or if you listened online, or if you listened, and you weren't here, but Pastor Butler's message spent a lot of time, or he spent a lot of time on rejecting, of course, the Roman Catholic interpretation of the passage and upholding the Protestant understanding of Matthew 16, 18. Just very briefly, remember, it is the Roman Catholic assertion that those words, I say that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, that those words are the institution of the papacy, if you will, and that it is upon an ecclesiastical entity in Rome that the church will be built. Well, it is the Protestant understanding, of course, that Jesus is saying it is upon the right profession of me as the as the Christ is the son of the living God that the church will be built.
Well, here we have the proof in the pudding. How is it that Peter, the one who said thou art the Christ, the son of the living God? How is it that Christ is building his church? Well, it's by the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, as the son of the living God, because that's what Peter does here. in Acts chapter 2.
He says, men of Israel, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, and he continues to bring the gospel message.
The Intent of the Message
Notice, secondly, the intent of the message. The intent of the message. It is to convict the audience of their guilt that they might repent and believe in the one they put to death. Make no mistake here, in Acts chapter 2, 22 to 24, Peter is not using guilt manipulation, but rather is bringing to bear or driving the nail of guilt, hammering the nail of guilt into the consciences of these men of Israel.
And we read that, don't we, as we continue this declaration. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs. which God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves also know, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death." You see, he is using wholesomely the weight of guilt in order to bring to bear the grossness of their transgression and to drive them to faith. in the saving king. But we see this in the intent of the message, or we see that it is to convict the audience of their guilt.
We see here first that Peter appeals to their recent memory. He appeals to their recent memory, stressing that Jesus was proven to God to be the promised Messiah through miracles, wonders, and signs. Remember that the miracles, wonders, and signs of Christ were not just to dazzle. They were not means in and of themselves, or rather they were means, but they were not the end.
The miracles, the wonders, and the signs were those things whereby Jesus was proven by God to be the promised Messiah. This is Bruce. That these acts were indeed performed by divine power had been generally acknowledged except by those who saw that such an acknowledgement would involve undesirable theological implications. You see, Peter wants to remind these people and to to point them to the landmarks and the monuments of their memories, that this Jesus Christ, whom you crucified, was proven to you by miracles, signs, and wonders.
He did those things in your midst, yet you, in your depravity, you, because you foresaw and you understood these undesirable theological implications, bottom line, because of your depravity and wickedness and deadness and sin, you rejected this one that was being proven by God before your eyes, by these miracles, by these wonders, and by these signs. So he wants to remind them that they saw these mighty works. They saw this one proven by God before their very eyes. In Luke 11, there's a passage here, and we see that the gathered crowd there recognizes this.
Notice in Luke, excuse me, Luke chapter 7, In Luke 7, we have this account of the widow whose son dies and Jesus Christ comes and he brings this one back to life. And in Luke 7, verse 11, this account begins this way. Now, it happened the day after that he went into a city called Nain, and many of his disciples went with him in a large crowd. And when he came near the gate of the city, behold, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.
And a large crowd from the city was with her. When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said to her, Do not weep. Then he came and touched the open coffin, and those who carried him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say to you, Arise.
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak, and he presented him to his mother. Then fear came upon all, and they glorified God, saying, A great prophet has risen up among us, and God has visited his people. You see what's going on here. And the words of verse 15 are absolutely amazing.
So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. Isn't that amazing? You see, it wasn't the case at this time, that there was just, you know, it was just a daily occurrence that the dead were sitting up and speaking. While this was a time, peculiar and redemptive history, where there were miracles, wonders and signs, they were not happening every single day and in every household and in every mortuary or whatever the first century equivalent of a mortuary was.
People weren't dying and, you know, sitting up and speaking sometime after their death, whether near or far removed from it. This just wasn't the case. It is an amazing thing. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak and you see the response.
They glorified God saying a great prophet has risen up among us and God has visited his people. You see some Of course, and that's what Bruce was getting at, it was generally acknowledged except by those who saw the problem to their ungodly religion. So the miracles of Christ were performed, they were seen, they had the proof, if you will, before their eyes that this Messiah was vindicated by God through the performance of miracles, wonders, and signs, and the Apostle Peter reminds them of this. Secondly, and this is still under the convicting of the audience of their guilt, we see in verse 23 that Peter drives home the nail of guilt in speaking of the death of Christ, and we've already noted that.
But you see, that would bring it even closer to the cutting of the heart. In fact, this is where Peter would actually cut them to the heart in that sense with the sword of the spirit because he hammers the nail of guilt that they were the ungodly and the wicked men who put Christ to death upon that Roman implement of execution. Oh sure, the Romans did the brunt of the work, but you see it was at the prodding of this ungodly apostate generation that Jesus Christ was put upon that Roman implement of execution. Peter drives home the nail of guilt in speaking of the death of Christ.
They took Christ with wicked intent to crucify and silence Him. Again, verse 23, Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. You see, it very often is the tool or a tool in the hand of the preacher if he knows the sin of the audience, to bring it to bear upon that audience. And no doubt, this audience was guilty of taking Christ by lawless hands, crucifying Him, and putting Him to death.
And you see, this comes up repeatedly in the book of Acts. If you have your Bibles open, you can turn a bit to the right in the narrative record of the book of Acts, to Acts chapter 3. Because you see, this is a common theme in the book of Acts. And Peter repeats this after the healing of a lame man in Acts chapter 3.
Notice in verse 14 of Acts 3, But you denied the Holy One and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses. You see, he adds another element to the hammering of the nail of guilt into the consciences of these ungodly men. He brings to their memory, he reminds them of the fact that they sought rather to have the thief and the murderer and the ungodly zealot released to them. and have the holy and the just one put in his place. Again the text, but you denied the holy and the just, the holy one and the just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, and killed the prince of life whom God raised from the dead.
You see for those, and we see this in the narrative record, we see two responses One, by the grace of God, and one, of course, by the continued passing over, if you will, of the Lord God Almighty. The leaving of men in their transgression and in their sin. We see two responses in the book of Acts. And in fact, similar language is used in the English that the message of the apostles cuts to the heart.
In Acts chapter 2, we have this guilt being brought before the audience, brought down upon the heads of the audience. You put to death the prince of life. And we see that these men are cut to the heart. And they ask, men and brethren, what shall we do?
But you see, in other instances, we have that message cutting to the heart. But rather than, by the grace of God, flee to the Savior and find the bliss of salvation, rather they gnash their teeth at the preacher. And they bring him outside of the city, and they heap large stones upon his head. You see this is a message that cuts to the heart and by God's grace or by God's justice it ends up in two responses.
So we have again Peter driving home the nail of guilt and we need to recognize as well here that the cross death was the predetermined plan of God. Verse 23, him being delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God. Of course as Christians we must, we have to recognize the fact the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ was the plan of God before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 311 according to the eternal purpose which he had in Christ Jesus before the world was.
The Lord God Almighty had pure and perfect and holy and just intent in sending Jesus Christ to the cross. You see, just like we have, and we bring up these verses, and we always do for a reason. Genesis 50-20 and Acts 2-23, and we might even throw in there, we should, Acts chapter 4, specifically the quoting of Psalm 2 and the interpretation of it by the gathered church. But where we're going is this, that we have in the example in Genesis 50-20, we have Joseph saying to his brothers who determined evil against him, he says, you meant it for evil or you intended it or purposed it for evil.
And then it's followed by, but God meant or but God intended or but God purposed it for good. that He might save many alive. You see, the same thing is going on here in Acts 2.23. We have the divine intention, the salvation of a multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, but we have the wicked and ungodly intent of the Jews and the Romans. But you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death.
These are, as Bruce notes, these ungodly Jews who put to death the Prince of Life. They were unconsciously fulfilling the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. You see, they're not acting with the intent that Jesus Christ might save many alive, so we have to perpetrate this evil against him, but rather, they are doing this to silence the Prince of Life, to silence His so-called blasphemies, His claims of Messiahship, that He is the Son of God, to silence this One who brings messages of righteousness and shows them their sin. They with wicked hands put Him to death.
And this nail of guilt is hammered again, often by apostolic preaching. Not only do we have it repeated in Acts 3.14, but we have it in Acts 5.30 as well. You see, it is a common and repeated tool in the hand of the apostolic proclamation to bear the guilt of the audience. In Acts 5.30, we read, The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you murdered by hanging on a tree.
You see, we have this changing language of the apostle which brings perhaps to bear nuances of the wickedness of their transgression. You by lawless hands crucified and put to death. We have verse 14 in Acts 3. You put to death the prince of life.
We have this different language, though of course the same meaning. that you murdered by hanging on a tree. And then the godly deacon, Stephen, in Acts 7, uses the same words. And in Acts 7, verse 51, we read, you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. You always resist the Holy Spirit.
As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? and they killed those who foretold the coming of the just one of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. You see the faithful proclaimers of the gospel message, knowing the sin of this generation, bring it to bear upon their consciences. And it isn't just to leave it there.
It isn't just to leave it there and let it dangle and see what happens. But rather, there is a twofold purpose in the delivery of that guilt and in the weight of the guilt that they're bringing upon the consciences of the people. First, it is unto this end, verse 21 of Acts chapter 2, that whosoever or that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved. You see, that is why Peter is bringing to bear this message and punctuating it with the guilt, the nail of the guilt of these particular people.
But you see, it's also so that the coming judgment upon them No doubt, the temporal judgment by the Roman armies, but even more than that, the eternal judgment of God himself upon those who reject the gospel, who reject Jesus Christ, and who act in opposition to the things of God, that the justice will be more seen. You see, you put to death the Lord of glory. You crucified the Prince of life. And so God is just to bring upon you recompense for your wicked actions.
And thirdly, under this idea, or this truth, that the intent of the message is to convict the audience of their guilt, we see Peter continuing in verse 24 by letting the audience know that a higher court was presiding over the events of the cross. We've already noted that it is, the cross was, by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. But notice verse 24, Peter is letting the audience know that a higher court was presiding over the events of the cross. Backing up to verse 23, Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.
You see, in their actions, they were seeking to silence, to put to death, to bring an end to this insurrectionist, they might say, to bring an end to this one who was proclaiming only the good things of the Father, the one that they professed to believe in. They thought that they were bringing an end, they were silencing this insurrectionist. But you see, a higher court was presiding over the events of the cross because this one that they crucified by lawless hands and put to death, God has raised up, loosing the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it." They rejected his claims as true, but God vindicated the claims of Christ by raising him from the dead. We must see this as one of the central things in the resurrection.
Not the only thing that we have in the resurrection, but this is what we have. Because here, Peter is alluding to that, though the language might not be the clearest to your minds and saying, well, yeah, here we have a vindication of the work of Christ. But nevertheless, that is what Peter is saying. To see this in more detail, we can turn to the book of Romans.
In Romans chapter 1, right at the beginning of the letter, We see that the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ was a vindication of the claims of Christ and His Messiahship. Notice in Romans 1, beginning in verse 1, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures, concerning his son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David, according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. You see there the language of vindicating the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness by the resurrection from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was the divine vindication of the claims of Jesus Christ the Lord.
If it wasn't enough, if you will, for that unbelieving generation to reject the claims of Christ when they saw a dead man sit up and speak, If it wasn't enough to not recognize the veracity of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Messiah, to see a multitude of bread and fish being brought out of just a handful of them. All of these miracles mounted one on top of the other to make it known that most certainly this Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. But surely, Surely, the resurrection of the dead, of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, rising again the third day, should serve to bear witness to the veracity, the truth, that this really was the Son of God. But nevertheless, they rejected His claims as true, and even in the face of a resurrected Messiah, they did not believe." And the language here is, again in the text, that Apostle Peter uses is, you yourselves also know That's previous with regards to his wonders and signs, but later on in the book of Acts, it talks about the fact of the resurrection, that they also knew that, and nevertheless, they reject the truth of the resurrection and the truth that this really was the Christ, the Son of the living God.
We recognize as well, and this is closing up the central message, we notice the bringer of the message, the intent of the message, and the theological content of the message. is what we need to notice.
The Theological Content of the Message
Thirdly, recognize the theological content of the message. It is the death and resurrection of Christ. We always need to come back to this reality when we talk about the gospel of Christ, which should be the stuff central to our Christian profession and proclamation. When we talk about the gospel of Jesus Christ, we need to understand what that means and, of course, what it doesn't mean.
And here we have Peter using the theological content of the gospel in this message of bringing to bear the guilt of the audience. We see it simply in the death and resurrection of Christ, verse 23 and 24. The gospel of Jesus Christ is not, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Now, you might be saying, well, hold on a minute.
That is true, isn't it? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Thank God that that is true and praise God that it is. But you see, that command, that invitation, if you will, that offer, but I prefer that command, comes upon the heels of the giving of the gospel.
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved is not the good news of the Christian message, though it is good news. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. So what is the gospel? Well, we see it here in the content of the message, but we see it defined more clearly later on in Revelation as far as a definition given in 1 Corinthians 15, for example.
If anyone ever asks you as a Christian and maybe no one ever has but maybe someone has or someone will What what is this gospel that you speak of when you say the gospel of Christ? And you say that I need to believe that and and be saved. What what are you talking about? Well a good place to go to is first Corinthians 15 in fact I would say one of the best places to go to for a definition of the gospel is is in 1 Corinthians 15, and it is seen in verse 3 and verse 4, but we'll read beginning in verse 1.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day. according to the scriptures. You see, that is the gospel right there in those two verses, verses three and four. The gospel is that Christ died for the sins of his people according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he was raised again the third day according to the scriptures.
That is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And upon the heels of that gospel, we bring the command, the invitation, the offer, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. In Romans 4 and verse 25 we have some of the same stuff. Definition of the gospel in Romans 4 and verse 25 for there we read that Christ was delivered up because of our offenses and was raised because of our justification.
You see, the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and that He was buried and raised again the third day according to the Scriptures. And Peter recognizes the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ in bringing this message of guilt upon the ears of His hearers so that they might believe. and or it might justly be condemned. So, the theological content of the message, and brethren, the gospel, the reason why, hopefully you don't get the impression that, you know, Cam and Jim, they're really picky and precise about theological categories and terms, and man, they're really strict with that sort of a thing. You know, we have definitions, we have confession, we have what it means, what it doesn't mean.
You know, man, can't we all just sit back and bask in the effervescent petals of God's love and not have to worry about truth and precision and all of these sorts of things. Well, hopefully you don't have that mind. Doctrine is important and truth is important. But you see, it is very important because of errors out there to hedge ourselves in and to not have definitions of a thing that might confuse, that might clutter, that might confound, or that might be joining together principles and ideas that really aren't to be mixed together.
And that's why we say the gospel of Jesus Christ is not the invitation that follows that gospel. The gospel isn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The gospel is that Christ died for the sins of his people, according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose again the third day, according to the scriptures. Very often people say, live the gospel.
And while we might understand what they mean, that really isn't very helpful language, live the gospel, because only one could live the gospel, and that was the just one, the holy one, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is the death and the resurrection of Christ, if you have not got that already. We can live in a manner consistent with the gospel. We can live in a manner consistent with our profession of belief in that gospel. but we cannot live the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
The theological content of the message is the stuff of the gospel, that Christ died and rose again for the sins of his people.
The Scriptural Anticipation
Lastly then, and we'll close with this point because we're looking at the other two tonight, lastly, we have the scriptural anticipation. So at first, we had the central message, and we did, verse 22 to verse 24. Now we have the scriptural anticipation in verse 25 to verse 31. And first, we need to notice that
Peter Appeals to Old Testament Scripture
Peter appeals to the Old Testament scriptures to bolster his argument. You see, hopefully you see in this sermon something very similar to what you see in this church when we preach to you. We see a message being delivered or a point being made and then support from the scriptures and then the implications of the message, and then an invitation, like Peter has here at the end, repent and believe, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins. Well, here we have Peter bringing this central message of Jesus Christ, and then we have him bringing biblical support, the scriptural anticipation.
He points to Psalm 16, or he actually quotes Psalm 16, and notice the language of four here in verse 25, because Peter brings the message, and then he uses this as support. It's a therefore, or a for, verse 25. For David says concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad.
Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your Holy One to see corruption, You made known to me the ways of life. You will make me full of joy in your presence." You see, we need to understand, brethren, that Psalm 16 was written by the hand of David, but we'll just round down and say a thousand years before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we need to understand that it was about the Lord Jesus Christ.
We don't have this dual interpretation or this dual sort of meaning where, you know, back then for that generation, it had the end of its meaning for David and for covenant Israel. But now this side of an ascended Christ, we now apply that to the Lord Jesus Christ and see its fulfillment there. You see, Peter says with respect to David afterwards, men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the Patriarch, Patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried. and His tomb is with us to this day. Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to Him that of the fruit of His body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on His throne, He foreseeing this spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ." So when David penned Psalm 16, he was not penning it of David.
He was not referring to himself as the Holy One. He was not writing concerning King David, but he foreseeing this, that is, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, spoke concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So Peter, as a good preacher, owned by God for the proclamation of Christ, brings to the fore Psalm 16, showing these, that this was written concerning Christ and Christ had fulfilled the Scripture. And you see, they would have known. this scripture they would have had no doubt a high esteem for King David and so this would have brought great strength to Peter's argument that this Jesus had fulfilled that which was beforehand written by the pen of David.
So notice that Peter appeals to the Old Testament scriptures and then
David's Grave and Psalm Interpretation
notice as well secondly that Peter introduces the proper understanding of the psalm by appealing to the actual grave of King David. Now, we already read this, we already noted that, but Peter brings to bear the proper interpretation because he wants them to understand what we just talked about, that this is not a psalm about David. And he brings to bear the reality that there was a grave that they could go visit. He perhaps even pointed in the general direction of where it was.
It wasn't a stone's throw away, but they could have He could have pointed in the general direction And he says this is that David is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day Peter wants to bring to bear the proper interpretation and understanding of this psalm violet by appealing to the actual grave of King David and
Christological Trajectory of the Old Testament
thirdly and lastly under the scriptural anticipation notice that Peter interprets the the Old Testament for his audience with its proper Christological trajectory. That's a phrase that's perhaps large, and perhaps you've never heard that before, or maybe you have, but that's a phrase that's very important. The Old Testament has a Christological trajectory. That trajectory simply means the, you know, the direction of a thing, perhaps.
A curve or a something moving towards something. A line of action and movement towards a thing. That's what the Old Testament or that's what we have in the Old Testament. Christological trajectory.
The Old Testament is about the Lord Jesus Christ and is pointing to and moving forward towards the fulfillment by the Lord Jesus Christ. And so Peter brings to bear that proper interpretation of the Old Testament. And they would have. Again, it is not the case that the Old Testament authors of Holy Scripture were penning these things completely unaware that, oh, this is about the Lord Jesus Christ, as if God was using them to pen these letters only so that a future generation may happen upon the reality that these are concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
But remember, Christ indicts his audience for not knowing that the Old Testament Scriptures were about him. You search the Holy Scriptures for in them you think that you have eternal life. These are they that testify of me. He, on the day of his resurrection, he visits his disciples, and what does he do?
He opens up the scriptures to them, the law, the prophets, and the Psalms, so that they might understand that these all spoke concerning him. And so it's not the case that we have in the Old Testament, the writers of the Old Testament are writing and thinking that this is only concerning the covenant people of that time, completely unaware of its messianic implications. No, they knew. And to whatever degree revelation was given to them, to whatever degree God was making known to them the mysteries of Christ, we have the fact that they knew that they were writing concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn to 1 Peter for a moment. Because the inspired Peter says it a whole lot better than I do, that is for sure. And notice in 1 Peter we have the reality of this brought out. That they knew that they were writing concerning the glories of Christ.
In 1 Peter 1 at verse 10, of this salvation, that is, perfect salvation by the triune God affected in time and history by Jesus Christ, of this salvation the prophets have inquired and searched carefully, who prophesied of the grace that would come to you, searching what or what manner of time the spirit of Christ who was in them was indicating when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. You see, the authors of the Old Testament knew. They had a messianic consciousness. They were writing knowing that there was a promised seed of the woman who would come. to crush the head of the serpent and who would, in the process, have his heel bruised.
They knew, for example, the prophet Isaiah, when he was writing Isaiah 53, he knew that that was about this coming servant who would come and be the bearer of the sins of his people. They were testified beforehand by the Spirit of Christ concerning the sufferings of Christ and the glories that would follow. Well, tonight we're going to have a look at the historical fulfillment and the weighty implications, but we're closing now, and so it is fitting that we close with some weighty implications before those tonight. You see,
Application
if you're here this morning and you are like these back in the day, you were not present there, but you have a disposition similar, which is you reject the Lord Jesus Christ. If you're here and you're not his and you're in unbelief for whatever reason, you're here and that is a good thing. But you stand with these who rejected the Prince of Life and put him to death upon a Roman implement of execution because you do not believe. Whatever you count Christ as, a prophet, a wise man, a noble teacher, but not the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
You stand with these who rejected him, who cast him outside of the city to be executed upon the cross. And you see Peter's message is to you in this sense that he wants you to know the stuff of verse 36, therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified both Lord and Christ. You see this it would have been, and don't make the mistake, don't make the mistake of of thinking, you know, we're 2,000 years removed from this event, and, you know, we don't have the stuff of the crucifixion of Christ fresh in our memory, and that sort of a thing. Don't make the mistake, though, of the weightiness of this statement that we have here in Acts 2.
Consider the original audience just for a moment. What Peter is saying is that this one, that was less than two months ago, battered and bruised and spit upon and lashed and opened up by Roman implements of torture. Hammered with Roman nails into that implement of execution. A bloody massacre upon that cross.
Peter is saying this one was raised by God. Vindicated. a victorious king. This one has ascended to the right hand of God. He's been given dominion and glory and a kingdom.
And so for them back there to reject him, colossal folly and massive mistake. Because he will one day return to judge the living and the dead. And those who reject him will not be under the blessed comfort of his rule and his peace and the solemnity that comes with believing in the gospel of Jesus Christ. But rather when he returns those who reject him will be under his severe justice.
They will be dashed to pieces as a potter's vessel. And so this message is for you as well. When he closes in a way his sermon and says in verse 38, repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus for the remission of sins. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Believe that gospel that he died for the sins of his people, and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day for the sins of his people. Believe and you will be saved. And believer this morning, you know I think, I don't know exactly what it may be, but at times I think we can perhaps get carried off by the reality that these events, the delivering up of Christ by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, the delivering up by lawless hands 2,000 years ago, the resurrection, that's a long time ago, and we can somehow get detached, if you will, into the history of the thing. But you see, this is the living Christ.
Yes, the text says they put the prince of life to death, but you see, he rose again victorious from the grave. He ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high, and for you, believer, he ever lives to make intercession for you. Do you know what that means? He ever lives to make intercession for you.
It's the stuff of that hymn, arise, my soul, arise, shake off thy guilty fears. The bleeding sacrifice in my behalf appears. When we stumble, when we sin, when we transgress, The ugly head of remaining corruption rears its head. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Daily we fly to him. We don't look inside our own bosom for the movements of the spirit, and we don't look inside our own bosom for good deeds wrought in holiness of heart to commend us back to God. but rather we fly to the blood, to the risen and exalted Christ, and therein we find our blessed hope, our blessed assurance. Well, let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we rejoice in our Savior. We rejoice in Jesus Christ. We thank you that you did send him according to your determined purpose and foreknowledge, and that he was, Lord God, crucified upon Calvary's tree. We don't look upon that as the silencing of an insurrectionist, but we look upon that as as our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, effecting perfectly the salvation of a multitude that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
And Lord God, we rejoice in that truth and thank you that we can be counted among the number by your amazing, your victorious grace. And we would ask you, Lord God, to impress upon us daily the glories, the riches, the excellencies of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that we might simply rejoice daily in our Savior, finding all things in Him and having the stuff whereby we can conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of that gospel. We do pray, Lord God, for those who came in this morning outside of Christ Jesus, that they would not leave outside of Christ in unbelief, but rather now, Lord God, you would pour out upon them that free and amazing grace that you would cause them by that grace to be brought from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of the Son of your love that you might bring them forth and that by grace they might sing along with us. Hallelujah, what a Savior.
And it's in Christ's name that we do pray. Amen.