Good morning to everyone. Hopefully, with me, for you, it's a joy to be in the house of the Lord this morning. You can turn in your Bibles to the second chapter of the book of Acts, Acts chapter 2. We're going to look this morning and this evening, in fact, at the Herald and his proclamation.
And when we say the Herald, kids, we're not talking about H-A-R-O-L-D, given name of some men in this lower world, but H-E-R-A-L-D, one who has been commissioned by a king to bring the message of the king. In the earthly monarchs, in the international kingdoms throughout our history, we have the monarchs sending heralds to the people, sending heralds even to enemies to bring the edicts, the dictates, messages of the king, among other things. They were commissioned military officers, but there is no nobler heraldic office than that which finds as the sender, the agent, the king of kings, the Lord of lords. There is no nobler heraldic office than the one which finds as its message, the message of the king.
The sending messenger is the content of the message preached. The King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we're going to read Acts chapter 2, beginning at verse 22, and read to verse 36, and then we'll get into an examination of the herald, Peter, and his proclamation here on the day of Pentecost. This is Acts chapter 2, beginning in verse 22, the word of the living and true God.
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. Amen.
Opening Prayer
Well, let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we rejoice. We can gather now for this act of worship, the preaching of your word. We would ask again, you would be with us.
You would send the ministry of your Holy Spirit to help the preacher in the pulpit. That same spirit would, by your word, attend unto the gathered saints, that they might be strengthened and encouraged by your scriptures, that they might be well equipped by your word to go into this upcoming week to rejoice in Christ and to live in a manner worthy of their calling by grace. We do pray that you would be, Lord God, present as well in the salvation of sinners, that you would come upon the wings of victorious grace to raise dead sinners to life in Christ. We pray that by spirit and word, sinners would be made alive, that by grace they would be saved, and that they would leave these doors singing the praises of our Christ.
We do pray that your name would be hallowed now, that your name would be praised, and Lord God, that you would be honored in this act of worship. We pray everything done now and done this evening would be done unto the praise of your Most High Name. We pray in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Introduction
Well, the statement, the promise by our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, upon this rock, I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against that. When the Protestant and the true rehearse that promise of the Savior, we don't find the proof of that promise in a silly-looking pompous man seated upon a bejeweled throne in the Vatican. We see the proof of the promise of the words of our Savior in occasions like this, where a man with weathered sandals and a tunic proclaims the Christ, the Son of the living God. Where preachers like Peter, like those with him and like those who followed him, stand up and proclaim with great boldness the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ, the Lord.
We see the report throughout the Book of Acts that accompanying or following after such bold preaching The Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. You see, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ is built upon the right and the faithful confession and proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, the son of the living God. And here in Acts chapter two, we have such an occasion on the day of Pentecost when bold Peter, now bold Peter, stands before the gathered assembly and proclaims with great boldness the riches and the excellencies of Jesus Christ. So what we're going to do this morning and this evening is look at five things.
Possibly the first three, Lord willing, the first three this morning from Acts 2, 22 to 36. And those things are this. The first, the gospel herald. Secondly, the herald's chief proclamation.
Thirdly, the revelational expectation. And then tonight, Lord willing, the voracious history and the ponderous Christology. Lots of big words there, right? But we'll define them as we go along and seek to show that by this text we can speak in such a manner.
The Gospel Herald
So first off then, the gospel herald. Now this is something that we've done from this pulpit on many an occasion, and hopefully it's wholesome repetition, is that we've called you to engage in a wholesome exercise of reflection upon who is speaking, in a biblical text or who is writing a particular biblical text. In this case, our gospel herald is Peter, the disciple and the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. Some case studies before we come back to Peter in examining the person speaking or the person writing.
It is a good thing to come to Psalm 32. where we read, blessed is he whose sins are forgiven. Blessed is the one to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity. Reading that text in and of itself is a glorious thing because truly blessed is the one whose sins are blotted out. Blessed is the one to whom the Lord does not impute iniquity.
But you see, does it not import more strength and glory into the text when we realize that that is David? When that is the one who lay with Bathsheba, when that is the one who set Uriah to the forefront of the hottest battle, yet was restored by God, the mighty man of God. We come to texts like that when we know the man who is speaking, the man to whom the joy of salvation was renewed. It brings great weight to those words of Psalm 32, doesn't it?
Consider another case study, Philippians 3, 7-8. When we come to that text, Philippians 3, 7-8, and we read, But what things were gained to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish that I may gain Christ. You see, we read those words and without yet considering the author for a moment, we say, praise God.
What a glorious statement of one now saved by Christ for the glory of God and commissioned to be a minister of the gospel of Christ. But when we then consider the author, the Apostle Paul, who once was opposed to the Savior, who once stood with an approving thumbs up when Stephen was murdered by those unbelieving Jews when rocks were heaped upon his head and his body. One who dragged men and women out of their homes and carried them off to prison. One who, in the words of Henry, cast his eyes upon the bloody spectacle of the martyrdom of Christians in the hopes that it would put an end to Christianity.
Yet he was met by grace. Yet he was met by the mercy of God. And he can pen these words, once an enemy of Christ, that he now counts all things loss for his Jesus, for his Christ. So we come back to Peter in Acts chapter 2, back to our text.
And you see, we can read these words, and if we just pass them by and not for a moment consider the one who preached these words, I think we can do our Christian souls a disservice. So first, the Gospel Herald.
Peter's Zeal Under Control
Notice three things by way of some comparison and contrast. with regards to Peter here. First off, notice his zeal under control. Simply three words, men of Israel. Now, hopefully you don't think as we're doing this exercise, oh, this is bringing a little bit too much weight to the text.
This is a little bit of an imposition. Brethren, when we see Peter here saying these words, speaking these words to this gathered assembly, men of Israel, we need to consider this. 50, only 50 days ago, this was a man who was lopping off ears in this heedless and this impious zeal. Now, if this zeal under control before those who delivered up his Christ unto death, before those before whom he was willing to lop off ears in the so-called service of his master, he now with boldness, and a calmness and a heedfulness can speak men of Israel. Hear these words.
You see the grace of our God visiting the apostle Peter to bring no longer a zeal which is marked by heedlessness but one marked by control for the glory of his God.
Peter's Courage to Own Christ
Notice secondly under the gospel herald his courage to own and proclaim Christ. Men of Israel, we read, hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth. You might be saying, okay, well, yes, that's what the text says. That's what Peter preached.
What, you know, what's so amazing about that in an examination of the preacher? Well, it was only 50 days ago that this same preacher, Peter, who is now before this multitude preaching Men of Israel hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, only 50 days ago, he couldn't even own his savior before the patio interrogations of a servant girl. Right? But now we come 50 days later, and we see him now empowered by God, now empowered by the Holy Spirit, evidenced by those tongues of clove and flame that rested upon the gathered Christians.
And now before a multitude before whom, or before which, earlier he denied his Savior, now with composure, zeal under control, empowered by the Holy Spirit, he owns upon his lips the name of his Savior, Jesus of Nazareth. It's a glorious testament to the grace of God given to this minister. Again, only 50 days ago, he couldn't even confess Christ. before that servant girl, yet now before a gathered multitude of opponents of the Savior, opponents of this sect of the Nazarene, he speaks with great courage and he owns his master and Savior. What is this but an answer to the prayer of the Savior prior to his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension?
Remember what Jesus prayed for Peter. Jesus comes to Peter before he denies him, before Peter denies Christ. He says, Peter, I have prayed for you. That what?
That your faith would not fail. Jesus has, or sorry, Satan, rather, has sought to sift you like wheat. You see the great mediator, the great Christ, says to Peter, I have prayed for you that your faith would not fail. When you have returned to me, strengthen your brethren.
And now, after having denied, yet after having been restored, we see him now owning his savior. And it must have, if we can now import something that we don't necessarily know, but it must have immensely warmed his heart to have these lips, to have these words drip off of his lips before this gathered multitude. Because before he denied this Jesus of Nazareth, now he owns him strong before a gathered multitude of enemies. And
Peter's Acceptance of the Messianic Task
thirdly, under the gospel, Harold, notice his acceptance of the full messianic task. 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. Now notice him being delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God. The gospel herald, Peter, evidences that he now has an acceptance of the full messianic task.
Let's get our minds and our fingers moving now to keep us awake as we move to the book of Matthew 16 to see what we mean by this, his acceptance of the full messianic task. Now notice Matthew 16 verse 21. This follows after that great promise of Christ to his disciples that he would build his church. The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
We read in Matthew 16 21 from that time. Jesus began to show to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and be raised the third day. Jesus is announcing what he has been sent to do and what is about to happen. Notice Peter here.
Verse 22, Then Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, Far be it from you, Lord, this shall not happen to you. But he turned and said to Peter, Get behind me, Satan, you are an offense to me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but of the things of men. Peter now, in Acts 2, this side of having been restored, this side of being equipped by his Savior, now owns the full messianic task. You see, before, he rejected this idea.
Christ announces to him and the disciples that he must be delivered up by wicked hands to go and be crucified. This is in accordance, though, with all that had been written concerning him. And Peter would not have it that day. He opposes the Savior, and the Savior brings that very strong and weighty rebuke, Get thee behind me, Satan.
You know, Peter was not himself Satan, but insofar as he spoke against the kingdom mandate, against Christ's words, against the promise that the Christ would be delivered up, he was bringing the words of the devil himself in opposition to God's divine plan. But you see, he is a rock on this day, on the day of Pentecost insofar as he boldly proclaims the verities of gospel truth in honor of his triune God. And so we see again his zeal under control, his courage to own and proclaim Christ, and now his acceptance of the full messianic task. And when you read this and when you consider what we are considering, him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, You ought to have your minds thinking and working back to that amazing day, the day of the resurrection of the Savior in Luke 24.
What does he do with his disciples there in Luke 24? He brings them before himself and he teaches them from the scriptures, right? He gives them a Bible study because their faith was weak. There were two that were weary and sad on their road to Emmaus.
Christ comes to them. And he gives them a Bible study. He shows them that the law, the prophets and the Psalms, these all spoke concerning me. Psalm 16 was probably the content of his sermon, one of the constituent elements of his Bible study.
And he said, this speaks concerning my resurrection. Don't be weary, don't be sad, but rather be believing. And he gathers the rest of the disciples then before him because they were weak in faith as well. And he says, believe that it is I.
He first goes through the process of saying, cast your eyes upon me. Handle me and see. Touch. The print of the nails in my hands, in my feet.
They still don't believe, so he eats broiled fish and honeycomb before them. You see, specters, phantoms cannot do this. It really is me risen with great victory and triumph from the grave. But you see, then he teaches them from the scriptures the things concerning himself.
And so, having come out well and strong, this side of that Bible study, Peter, empowered by the Spirit, brings before the gathered assembly, not this opposition to the messianic task, but rather this mind conformed to the scriptures, and he says, he was delivered up by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God. A wonderful Peter, a wonderful herald on the day of Pentecost, preaching with great boldness the things of his Savior.
Application: Ministers and Congregation
I think we need to notice two things at this point, or consider two things at this point in addition to Peter himself, for our own context. First, we need to recognize that ministers of the gospel require the grace of God in prayer. If anything, and more things than this should, but if anything ought to call to your minds and your hearts the right idea to pray for your ministers here, but ministers of the gospel everywhere. It is the occasions and the instances of Peter.
He needed prayer, didn't he? And it was his savior who prayed for him. I have prayed that your faith would not fail. Pray for your ministers because we don't, we don't come up here and grip these pulpits and stand up here and open our Bibles by our own strength.
Heaven forbid that we ever do. Before we enter into the pulpit, we come before our God and say, Lord God, give me strength in this pulpit. With knees buckling and hearts pounding, body shuddering, because we're not bringing, we're not coming up to present to you a new flavor of Skittles. You know, we're not coming up delivering some sort of new, you know, marketing endeavor for our business going into the future.
We're coming up here with an opposing devil. and with a railing against the soul flesh. Weary, weak, afraid, nervous, because of the weightiness of the matter. Ministers of the Triune God entering pulpits to preach such a Christ, such a Savior, need the prayers of the people. We need the grace of God, or else we are Peters.
Pre-Bible study, pre-restoration, That is pre-Bible study given by Christ, pre-restoration, feed my sheep, feed my sheep, feed my lambs. We are like that, denying Christ before the patio interrogations of a servant girl. Without the boldness to proclaim, we need the grace of God, we need the prayers of the people, because it is a task of great solemnity. We also need to seek to be, and hopefully this doesn't sound like the title page of a Christian Sunday school coloring book, we need to seek to be a post-resurrection Peter.
In our own Christian lives, you see, we need to be bold. We need to have, first, a zeal under control, don't we? If we are so invigorated by our Christianity, but then we go out into the world or we go out onto the internet and we're just marked by a heedless and impious zeal for the cause of Christ, We're going to bring not joy or not good things to the reputation of Christianity, but rather we'll bring reproach. We need to have a Petrine post-resurrection Bible study zeal under control.
We need to be zealous about our Savior, and we need to have that under control going about our daily lives with great control, with great temperament, yet with meekness and fear to defend our Savior, to defend our to defend our Christianity and to speak well of the Word of God, to adorn the Gospel, to bejewel it wholesomely with our works, with our deeds, and with our words. We need to own and proclaim our Christ with great courage. Fear not, men, when we go out into the world. Fear not the ridicule of the world.
We have the truth of the Savior, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. We are all, in a sense, heraldic in our Christianity. That is, we are the sanctioned proclaimers of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Ministers in the pulpit, pastors, elders, those preaching by the ordainment of the triune God to bring the message of the Lord Jesus Christ have a peculiar responsibility to bring the message of the King.
Yet we are all called, wherever God places us, to be courageous Christians, able to defend, able to speak, able to declare with great boldness, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, our dying and rising again Christ.
The Herald's Chief Proclamation
Well, that's the Gospel Herald. Let's look now, secondly, at the Herald's chief proclamation. The Herald's chief proclamation in Notice very simply what it is that Jesus proclaimed by Peter is, to use the language of Pink, the sum and substance, the center and circumference, the light and life of the Christian message. What do we find here?
Peter on the day of Pentecost coming before the assembly and bringing a pep rally. You know, bringing a message of morality to the gathered assembly, you need to pick up your socks and and just live a life of obedience to the law of God. We need to live lives of obedience to the law of God, but what comes first? The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Men are not saved by legislation. They're saved by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, by the means of the proclamation of the gospel. And then they are to live in accordance with God's law, to not bring reproach upon the word and upon the gospel. All of that to come back to this.
What is the Herald's Chief Proclamation? Very simply, kids, it's Jesus Christ the Lord, isn't it? What is the namesake of our high and holy religion? It's Christ.
It's Christianity is our religion. Christ is the high and heavy and holy namesake of that religion, Christianity. And so what is to be the Herald's Chief Proclamation? Well, it is Christ Jesus the Lord, and that's exactly what we find here.
Because the text says, as Peter is preaching here, 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 for knowledge 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. Why did I just read all of that? Because the central message, the Herald's chief proclamation, concerns the life, the death, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, doesn't it? And so we're going to look at those three things because this Jesus, proclaimed by Peter, is the sum and substance, the center and circumference, the light and life of Christianity.
The Life of Christ
First off, his life, notice again the text to read it again, 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, his messiahship is evidenced by the whole course of his ministry. You see, you need to understand this. We need to understand this.
And hopefully Christians will understand this at large. that the miracles, the wonders and the signs were not ends unto themselves. They were not the things upon which the Christian message terminated. In other words, it was not all about the wonders and the miracles and the signs. Turn with me for a moment to Luke chapter 7.
Luke 7. We see there that the people do not glory in the miracle, the wonder and the sign necessarily, but rather they glory in something else. Notice in Luke 7, beginning at verse 11. Now, it happened the day after that he went into a city called Nain and many of his disciples went with him.
This is Jesus, of course, and a large crowd. Verse 12. 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. And this report about him went throughout all Judea and all the surrounding region.
Hopefully you see how this touches upon the statement that the miracles, the wonders, and the signs of the Lord Jesus Christ were not there to cause the gathered observers to glory in the miracles and the wonders and the signs, but rather to stress that his messiahship was voracious. It was true. It is vindicated his messiahship by the miracles, the wonders and the signs. You see, this dead boy sat up.
Then he came and touched the open coffin. So he who was dead sat up and began to speak. If there was any time for someone to glory in a miracle, it was there, wasn't it, to glory in the miracle itself? But you see, the report isn't, isn't it amazing that the dead man sat up?
But rather, God has visited his people. You see, the right soul and the soul that is taught and stable, his glorying doesn't rest upon the miracle. His glorying rests upon the God of the miracle. Is this not a great prophet?
Has God, God has visited his people. God has in his graciousness condescended to bless his people with an instance of his favor and his grace. You see, so finding our way back to the book of Acts and chapter two and the stuff of 22 to 24. We see here that the life of the Lord Jesus Christ is largely marked by this.
His messiahship is evidenced by the whole course of his ministry. Peter's language here is a man attested by God to you. So the veracity of his claims to be the Christ, the Son of the living God, the veracity of Christ's claims to be the Messiah, the mediator, are vindicated by the fact that he went about doing miracles, wonders, and signs.
The Death of Christ
Secondly, his death, the Herald's chief proclamation. Peter moves quickly from his life marked by miracles, wonders, and signs, which vindicate the claims of his messiahship, And he moves now to his death. Is that not, to deliberately use a play on words, the crux of Christianity? The death of the Savior, the crosswork of Christ.
The crosswork of Christ is the chief content of the gospel minister's message. You see, and remember, the Jew could not endure a crucified Messiah. The Greeks sought after wisdom, right? But you see, the Christian minister, the gospel herald, preaches unapologetically Christ crucified for the salvation of sinners.
Because in that is true wisdom. The Jews would think, would ponder, contemplate, the unbelieving Jews, a crucified Messiah. And they would say again in the words of Spurgeon, should all of our multitudinous sacrifices and washings all be put away and nothing remain but a bleeding Savior? And Paul and Peter and the company of preachers throughout the ages of the church would say yes, those things are to be put away and nothing remain but a bleeding Savior.
Jesus Christ, the cross of Christ, is the crux of Christianity. Spurgeon speaking about another gospel herald The Apostle Paul writes that Paul's motto was, we preach Christ crucified. He had the cross for his philosophy, the cross for his tradition, the cross for his gospel, the cross for his glory, and nothing else. Isn't that the report of the Apostle Paul?
Isn't that the report of the Apostle Peter? He comes on this day again now with zeal under control, with boldness to proclaim, and with the right apprehension of the ministry of Christ unto his cross death, and he preaches what? The cross death. That it was appointed by God.
That it was, in the text, in verse 23, that Christ was delivered by the determined purpose and for knowledge of God. Christian, your heart ought to be warmed that the death of the Savior is not some haphazard event in the annals of history. It's not just something that happened to this Christ. God did not just set the world a ticking and whatever happened happened, but rather before the creation of the world, the triune God purposed that the sun would come in the fullness of the times to be born of a woman, to be born under the law, to go to the cross and to redeem those who were under the law.
Him being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, Christian, your heart ought to be warmed. That our God is a purposive God, a God who plans, a God of determination, a God of before-the-world counsel and foreknowledge. He is, in His glory, found in unmitigated sovereignty. The cross is the plan of God, and what a plan.
What a story. When I say story, of course we're saying a true story, not the stuff of fiction, but what a story. 4,000 years to round maybe down or up a few years. 4,000 years before the cross. What do we have? We have a promise of the cross, don't we?
The hero, born of woman, would crush the serpent with his heel. And time in history after that is filled with promise and prophecy and covenant. and type, and copies of the true, all pointing forward to Christ upon the cross, working out the salvation of sinners. What a story! When we look, when we come to our Old Testaments, and we'll see that shortly, when we come to our Old Testaments, we don't come to a Christless Old Testament, we come to a Christ-full Old Testament.
To use borrowed language, the Christological trajectory of the Old Testament is clear, page upon page, chapter after chapter. Christ upon the cross, working out the salvation of sinners. The Herald's chief proclamation, his life, his death, that is his cross work, and
The Resurrection of Christ
his resurrection. Because notice what we have in Acts chapter 2, 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. Talk about what a story. You see, because human eyes and unbelieving eyes reflect, contemplate a bleeding Savior, and they say, what is, wherein do we see a hero in that?
Someone put to death as a blasphemer and an insurrectionist upon the cross? Of course, he was not any of those things, undefiled, unblemished, our perfect Savior. But this one is a bloody massacre upon a tree and he's laid in a grave? You see, God raised him up.
He loosed the pains of death. It was not possible that he should be held by it. What a story, this one who was such a beaten and a bloodied massacre upon Calvary's tree. is the one who is now raised from the dead in great victory and in great triumph. Christian, if you're out there, unbeliever, if you're out there, kids, you're in the pews.
You heap to yourself some stories that human authors have written. You find yourself smiling at the, you know, the genius of the way words and phrases and paragraphs are formed. You spend hour upon hour reading stories and plots and character developments, and you put the book away, you go have some ice cream, you do something else, you end the day having never considered the greatest story ever told. The hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel comes in time and in history to do exactly that, to save his people from their sins.
He's put to death upon Calvary's tree, but he's Raised by the power of God. He appears to many by many infallible proofs. He's ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high. Victorious.
He's given glory, dominion, and a kingdom. Story of stories and yet you neglect it. You heap to yourself poison weeds. Coldness and languor.
You reject the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Read this story. Love this story. Own this true story.
Therein is salvation. Therein is the most blessed man, the most blessed Christ, the most blessed God-man who came into this world, sinners to save. The resurrection is the vindication of the claims of Christ. You see, if the signs and wonders and miracles attested to the veracity of the claims of Christ's messiahship, most certainly the resurrection was a vindication of the claims that this is the Christ, the son of the living God.
That's what we see here, and this is what we see elsewhere as well. Notice, if you turn with me to the book of Romans in chapter one, right at the outset, the book of Romans, we have this very thing that the resurrection of Christ is a vindication of the claims of Christ. It is more than that, to be sure, but it is that and it is that gloriously. Romans one, Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.
Called to be an apostle separated to the gospel of God, which he promised before 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 Christ arising victorious from the grave, preaches a sermon. It preaches a sermon. That this truly is the Christ, the son of the living God, just as he said, just as he said of himself, this truly is the one whom God promised to send the hero born of woman who would crush the serpent with his heel. Notice a couple of things here as we consider then the Herald's chief proclamation.
Application: Getting the Gospel Right
Is your chief proclamation the same as Peter's? And we can consider this from two angles. Is your chief proclamation the same as Peter's? First off, do you get the gospel right, Christian?
Do you get the gospel right? Is your gospel due and live? Is your gospel, yes, we must believe in Jesus, but you know, we do need to contribute in a certain measure to our salvation in order to be accepted before the bar of divine justice. If that's your gospel, then you're not a Christian.
Is your chief proclamation the same as Peter's? Remember that the gospel isn't, of course, that God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, the platitudes, the empty spiritual ambiguity of our modern age. It's not the gospel. You see, the gospel isn't, and this shouldn't scandalize because we're going to define it, the gospel isn't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.
That is the summons. That is the offer. That is the command which follows upon the heels of the gospel preached. What is the gospel?
It is Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried and he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. The gospel is Christ was delivered up for our transgressions and he was raised for our justification. The gospel is found here on this glorious day in the book of Acts, chapter two, the day of Pentecost, when the herald does what?
He preaches the life, the death and the resurrection of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel is that Christ died for the sins of his people in accordance with the scriptures and that he rose again the third day victorious in great triumph. Believe that gospel. Believe that good news. you will have everlasting life.
Also, under is your chief proclamation the same as Peter's, do you get the gospel right, which we just looked at, but are other things your main thing? Have you moved on, Christian, past the gospel? And are the main things of your Christian conversations now the rabbit trails of trivialities and things that shouldn't be really chased after as the stuff of our fellowship in the gospel? Do you have these hobby horses that now constitute the stuff of your main declaration and proclamation and conversation?
Or is the heart, the sum and substance of your Christian message and your Christian contemplations a bruised and battered and massacred Christ upon Calvary's tree delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God? Raised again the third day in great glory and great victory. Is that the stuff? Is that your message?
It should be. We are never to move past the main thing of Christianity, setting it aside and now just spending hours and hours on the computer researching things of no eternal value. Even if they're under the banner and the rubric of Christianity and Christian religion, let's be about what? About the stuff that the heralds of the gospel are about.
I determine to know nothing else among you. Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Is your chief proclamation the same as Peter's?
The Revelational Expectation
Now lastly then, we looked at the Gospel Herald. The Herald's chief proclamation will close now with the revelational expectation. The revelational expectation. What does that mean?
That Jesus proclaimed by Peter was promised in and anticipated by the Old Testament Scriptures to come, to live, to die, to rise again. You see, isn't Peter, hopefully as you're reading this with me, looking at this text, isn't Peter a good preacher? Hopefully you think a good preacher does at least this. He reads and quotes the Bible.
He explains the Bible that he just read and quoted, and he closes with a command and an exhortation, a call. That's what Peter does, doesn't he? You see what Peter does here. He quotes the Bible.
After bringing to bear the gospel, the life, death, and resurrection of the Savior, he writes, or he preaches, for David says concerning him, and then he quotes Psalm 16, 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. So Peter quotes the Bible. Every good preacher, worth his weight in whatever, reads and quotes the Bible. But you see, the preacher doesn't stop there, nor does this gospel herald stop there.
Notice another men and brethren that comes in verse 29. He explains what he has just quoted. 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. You see what Peter's doing here?
He's just quoted Psalm 16, and he's now saying, first off, that this Psalm 16 is not about David. You see that? David is both dead and buried. His tomb is with us to this day.
So when David penned the words, you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your holy one to see corruption, his writing concerning Jesus, not himself, because notice what Peter goes on to preach. Therefore, verse 30, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him 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. You see the greatness of this proclamation of the Apostle Peter on the day of Pentecost. He reads the Bible, quotes the Bible, and he explains it.
Every Christian's heart should be warmed by a measure of the simplicity of such a preaching exercise. Read the Bible, he explains. We're to love the word, we need to understand the word, and a preacher's job is to read the Bible, to quote the Bible, to explain the Bible. Psalm 16 is not about David, Peter says.
It is about the Christ you crucified, whom God raised up. Notice, not only do we have Psalm 16 in view, but we have 2 Samuel 7 in view, don't we? Covenant promise, covenant theology. Because we read, God had sworn with an oath to David, to him, that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, he would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne.
We have the stuff of Psalm 16 and the stuff of 2 Samuel 7, 12 to 16 specifically. And notice as well, as we continue reading in the text, Peter preaching, and we have Psalm 110. For David did not ascend, verse 34, 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. Peter comes, he preaches the gospel.
He supports it by quoting the Old Testament scriptures, explaining what the scriptures were doing. And I think one of the things that Peter's point, in large part, is to stress the Christological trajectory of the Old Testament. David spoke not of himself, His tomb is here. He's dead and buried.
He spoke concerning this Christ, whom you with lawless hands crucified, whom God raised up. He goes to 2 Samuel 7. He brings that to bear in the weight of his argument. And he's saying that 2 Samuel 7, not terminated upon an earthly king from the loins of David, but a divine and earthly king, the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, yes, according to his humanity, is of the lineage of David.
But according to divinity, he's from everlasting to everlasting. And his throne, his kingdom, will be forever. And you, by lawless hands, have taken him and put him to death. But he is the one to whom the Lord said, Psalm 110, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool.
You see, time and again here, time and again, Peter is hammering the nail of guilt into the consciences of this gathered, unbelieving assembly in order to bring them to the point where they later cry out, some of them do, men and brethren, what shall we do? Repent. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins. The revelational expectation, brothers and sisters, always remember, Always remind yourself of the consent of all the parts in the Holy Scriptures and the scope of the whole more to the point, which is to give all glory to God, showing the perfection and the glory of his plan to save a multitude that no man can number by the finished and perfect work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The scriptures are not the Old Testament scriptures are not Christ less. They are Christ full. The intention of the revelation is to point men to the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy, from your childhood, Paul writes, you've known the Holy Scriptures, that they are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus the Lord.
The revelational expectation, we go through the pages of the Old Testament, and we see page after page, chapter after chapter, Christ upon the cross working out the salvation of sinners. Whether it's promise, whether it's prophecy, whether it's type, those copies of the true thing which is to come. Whatever it may be, we have the trajectory which is unto Christ Jesus, coming into the world by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, being delivered up by wicked hands, being crucified, but being raised by the power of God the third day to the glory of God. Well, we're going to continue to look at this passage this evening.
Before we close in prayer, though, remember what we just said. Peter, this great preacher on the day of Pentecost, is a good preacher. He quotes and he reads the Bible. He explains the Bible.
Guess what he also does? He commands. He first brings to bear the weightiness of what he has preached. Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.
You see, the preacher never lets the message dangle upon an explanation of the scriptures. Never lets it dangle there because he needs to come to this point to bring it home that you must believe in this Christ if you are to escape condemnation, the wrath of God. rests upon all those who reject his Christ, who reject his law, who break his law day in and day out. All have sinned and have fallen short the glory of God. He is infinite, eternal, and unchangeable in his holiness and his justice.
He will not cast a favorable eye on sin. He will not simply turn away and not look upon it without judging it. All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. If you're a Christian here this morning, your heart is warm.
Sentence upon sentence by our glorious Christ. Yes, crucified. We know what that meant. He was put to death to bear the sins of many.
He bore our sins in his own body on the tree. Christians, that we, having died to sin, might live for righteousness. By his stripes we are healed. Every text, every sentence comes, is delivered to our hearts.
And hopefully, inwardly or outwardly, you're rejoicing with smile upon smile, the glory of our Savior, the salvation of sinners, the salvation of your soul. But you see, you're an unbeliever here this morning, and you come against the opposition of this true text. You come against the weightiness of this Christ. And hopefully, your hearts are not at rest, but you're constantly laboring, aren't you, against the veracity and the truth of the scriptures, that you are a sinner.
There is a holy God. There is only one means of escape and salvation. It is the Lord Jesus Christ. You try to suppress it, don't you?
Kids out there, I've been preaching too long. I'm about to finish. Adults. Almost done.
We're going to pray in a minute. You see, perhaps you've been listening. Perhaps even your eyes have been focused up here at the preacher. They're glazed over with ignorance because you're thinking about other things.
You don't want to hear this. You don't want to hear of this Christ. You don't want to hear a sin. You don't want to hear of a holy God.
You're here. You want to leave really quick and you want to get back to your mac and cheese, your grilled cheese, your salad. You want to get back to whatever you're going to do. Perhaps your eyes are looking somewhere else.
They've kinked back with your neck to look at the clock, looking somewhere else. You don't want to hear the preacher. Stop doing that for a minute, all of those things, and listen. God has made this Jesus, whom these wicked men crucified, both Lord and Christ.
He's been exalted, given dominion and glory and a kingdom. You right now, if you're opposed to the Savior in unbelief, you fly the banner of these who put the Lord of glory to death. Do not leave here before considering the holiness of our God. He must punish sin.
Do not leave here without considering the fact that you have, all have, fallen short of the glory of God in their sin and in their transgression, in your sin and transgression. Yet know this, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners such as you, to save sinners such as us. Believe on Him. No longer run, no longer have the full-time job without vacation, suppressing the truth and unrighteousness, but rather flee to the Savior.
Find in Him your all in all. And you will, along with us, not have your hearts fearing sentence after sentence, but sentence after sentence rejoicing in the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Believe on Him and you will be saved.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we rejoice in your truth. We thank you for our Christ. We thank you that we can read word upon word, sentence upon sentence, and rejoice in our Savior, the one whom you sent to come into this world, sinners, to save.
We pray, Lord God, that you would help us to know this Christ, to rejoice in Him day by day, to not be found in long seasons of coldness where we neglect the knowledge of the reading of our Savior, but rather that we would raise our heads each day, glorying in and rejoicing in Jesus Christ. And upon each night as we rest our heads on our pillows that we would be dwelling upon the riches and the excellencies of such a Savior. We pray that you would strengthen your saints, that you would save sinners, that all of this, Lord God, would be done unto the praise of your glorious grace. And it's in Christ's name that we pray.
Amen.