Good evening to everyone. It appears that the preaching of the word might be competing with the siren call of the ice cream truck, but rest assured that the clarion call of the gospel is stronger than that musical device. You can turn to your Bibles to Acts chapter 2. Back to Acts chapter 2, remember we're looking at the herald and his proclamation.
Herald being one commissioned by a ruler, one commissioned by a king to bring the message of the sending king to those who are to be the recipients of that message. Peter, in the case on the day of Pentecost, being that kingly commissioned preacher to come and bring the gospel of Jesus Christ to this gathered assembly in Jerusalem. We're going to read again Acts chapter two, beginning in verse 22. Finishing in verse 36.
So once again, the word of the living and true God. Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, the 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 in here. 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. Well, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we rejoice again.
We can gather together for worship a second time on this, your Lord's Day. We would ask again because we do need again the ministry of your Holy Spirit to illuminate our minds, to increase our knowledge of the glories, the riches, the excellencies of your revelation how it points to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do pray for that, that your gathered saints tonight would be strengthened and encouraged by your word, all the more equipped yet again after another Lord's Day to go into this week to conduct themselves in a manner worthy of your glorious gospel. We would pray yet again that same spirit would work by that same word to save sinners, to the praise of your name.
We long to see as we gather together as the saints of Christ, to see those who come in as unbelievers outside of Christ. We long to see them leave, having been met by God with amazing grace and now singing the praises of their God and of his Christ. So we do pray for that might and that power this evening. We thank you for the gospel of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And we do pray that we would rejoice as we rehearse the truth of Christ, as we rehearse his life, death, resurrection and read concerning the preaching in the early church and the Christ-centeredness of it. We do pray that you would warm our hearts and that we would leave this place singing the praises of our God. We pray in the name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Introduction
Well, you'll remember what we have been looking at beginning this morning is the herald and his proclamation. And we're looking at five things. We looked at three things this morning. The first thing we noticed was the gospel herald.
We had an occasion very briefly to see this wonderful contrast between the post-resurrection Peter as compared to the pre-resurrection Peter, if you will. Peter being marked by a zeal that was not tamed by a heedfulness. This side of the resurrection, he is the recipient of the Holy Spirit. He had already been instructed by the resurrected Christ in the purposes of the divine plan in Christ Jesus.
And so now on the day of Pentecost, he could proclaim this message to the gathered enemies of Christ, yet with zeal under control. He's also marked by a boldness here. No longer is he denying this Jesus of Nazareth. Having once denied this Jesus before the patio interrogations of a servant girl, he now before a multitude of unbelievers and some believers, of course, but before a multitude of unbelieving Jews gathered from every nation under heaven, he is not timid, but rather is courageous and bold for the cause of Christ and the gospel.
And then, of course, we noted as well that Peter is now resolved unto the full messianic task. Having once been opposed to this idea of the master going to Jerusalem to be delivered up into wicked hands and crucified, now he sees that it is the case that Christ was delivered up by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God. We looked at the Herald's chief proclamation, which is, of course, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the life, the death. The resurrection of Jesus is the chief message of heraldic proclamation, of the Christian message.
It is the chief and central preaching content that the Herald is to bring a needful audience. It is the case, and no doubt Pastor Butler will agree with this, As long as this pulpit stands, and as long as there are pew-goers in the pews, we will not cease to preach the life, the death, the resurrection of our glorious Christ as the central message of this church and the central message of Christianity. And so then, after looking at the Herald's chief proclamation, we moved to the revelational expectation. Remember what that simply means.
The scriptures of the Old Testament anticipated this Christ to come, didn't they? They are not Christ-less, they are Christ-full. Page after page, chapter after chapter, the authors, inspired of God, bring forth Christ upon the cross, working out the salvation of sinners. And so now, having moved through those three things this morning,
Overview: Two Remaining Points
we're going to look at simply two things this evening from the text. And those two things are the voracious history and the marvelous and sobering Christology.
The Voracious History
Where do we see where do we see the voracious history? Well, maybe first off, what does that mean? Voracious simply means replete with truth, full of truth. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is replete with truth, isn't it?
More particularly in our context, the preaching or the reality of the preaching. The preacher is setting forth the truth, the certainty that this Jesus did most assuredly rise by the power of God from the grave, as it was promised in the scriptures. This is something that is voracious, that it is marked by truth, marked by certainty. We see that in the text in verse 32.
Notice, after the revelational expectation is brought out, the Apostle Peter, quoting and reading the Bible, And then explaining that biblical data that he had brought before his audience, we see in verse 32, the voracious history, the true history of this Jesus, this Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses. You see, Christianity does not rest upon a foundation of vague rumors. It is not the case that the foundation of our religion are these vague rumors that constitute and comprise some sort of mythology of the divine meeting with the human. And we've, you know, built upon, elaborated upon some vague rumors.
No. God, the triune God of heaven and earth, has recorded his redemptive history in the 66 books of the Holy Scriptures. And these things are replete with truth, replete with things that actually did happen. He has recorded his redemption in his word, his redemptive plan, workings in his word.
He has interpreted them for us, and they come to us delivered on many occasions with these simple and clear realities that we are all witnesses of the glory of our Christ. Speaking, of course, of those chosen by God to see this Christ in his resurrected glory. Just turn to Acts 10 for a moment with me where we see when we when we read this Jesus God raised up of which we are all witnesses. Who are the we?
Is he talking about all of the men of Israel to whom he is preaching? Well, certainly a lot of them saw Christ. Certainly a lot of them saw Christ. And of course, in their unbelief and folly and madness loathed him unjustly.
But I believe what we have here, the we is represented in Acts chapter 10. And notice what we read beginning in verse 40, speaking of Jesus Christ, him God raised up on the third day and showed him openly, not to all the people, but to witnesses chosen before by God, even to us who ate and drank with him after he arose from the dead. Do you see there? The we are all witnesses is speaking to his disciples, his apostles, others as well, because remember, he appeared to over 500 brethren at once, according to 1 Corinthians 15.
But all of that to come back to the voracious history of the resurrected Christ, we are all witnesses. This Jesus was seen. As Bruce writes, in asserting that Jesus of Nazareth had been so delivered and raised by God, Peter and his colleagues were making a claim which they could confirm by their personal ocular testimony. There's another word for you guys, ocular.
What does that mean? Of or pertaining to the eyes or the operation of the eyes. the disciples were making a claim which they could confirm by their personal ocular testimony. Not vague rumors, not things that we have heard that maybe took place, but rather they, with their own eyes, witnessed the glory of the resurrected Christ. And we see this sort of language all throughout the New Testament.
Not the scriptures being delivered to us in the flavor of once upon a time, not in the flavor of of feathered serpent myths of the native Indian histories, but we have it delivered to us, the scriptures, in the flavor of certainty, verity, infallible proofs. We want to look at four things as we look at the voracious history of our resurrected Savior and his gospel. The first is that
Certainty in the Lukan Preambles
the certainty of the content of the Herald's proclamation of the resurrected Christ is seen in the Lucan preambles. What does that mean? The introductory statements of Luke's two volumes, and you can turn to the first with me, Luke chapter one. We've had occasion to rehearse this before, but hopefully it is again one of those things you see as wholesome repetition.
Rehearsing the glorious truth that the message of a living, dying, resurrected, and ascended Savior is not the stuff of myth, but the stuff of voracious history. Luke 1, beginning in verse 1, in as much as many have taken in hand to set in order a narrative of those things which have been fulfilled among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word delivered them to us, It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write to you an orderly account, most excellent Theophilus, that you may know the certainty of those things in which you were instructed. You see, after that brief three verse preamble, four verse preamble, are you not as a Christian warmed with the certainty of the message of our Christ, that this is most certainly what took place so many years ago. This comes delivered to us, not in that flavor of once upon a time in a land far away, but rather it comes to us in the stuff of things that have been fulfilled.
Things of eyewitnesses and ministers of the word. Things of perfect understanding. Things of orderly account. and things whereby we might know the certainty. You see the voracious history of the Christian message.
This comes to the Christian and it warms our hearts and it ought to come to the hearts of the unbelieving non-Christians and it ought to land upon the heart and incite fear. This Christ, the story of this Christ is real. The story of this God is true. It is the case and I know this because of my conscience. that I have sinned against a God and that I am deserving of judgment.
This Christ has risen from the dead and he will come to judge the living and the dead. And if I am not his, then I will enter into a life of everlasting torment and darkness. The certainty, the voracious history ought to hit the mark in the heart of the unbeliever, and it ought to arouse fear that they might end up landing upon belief in the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. So we see that not only in the first Lukean preamble, but turn to Acts, his second volume, Luke's.
In the book of Acts, we move from a four-verse preamble to a three-verse preamble, but it's the same stuff. Glorious reiteration of the certainty of the Christian message. Notice what we find in Acts 1, beginning in verse 1. The former account I made, that's the book of Luke.
The former account I made, O Theophilus, Of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which he was taken up, after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen, to whom he also presented himself alive after his suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." See this glorious weight that adds to the voracious history of the gospel message. These are things that are marked by Christ presenting himself by many infallible proofs and speaking to them during 40 days of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. You see, Christianity is marked by voracious history. And so when Peter stands up on the day of Pentecost with great courage, a measure of that courage comes from the confidence that the scriptures themselves pointed forward to the fact that this Christ would come, but also he himself, with his own God-blessed eyes, laid them, eyes of sight, not of faith, he had faith, but eyes of sight upon the risen Christ.
He saw this and gained much boldness and courage from it.
Apostolic Eyewitness Statements
Secondly, we see the certainty of the Herald's proclamation of a resurrected Christ in apostolic statements confirming eyewitness testimony. What do we have in the Gospel of John in his prologue? But we have the fact that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God, verse 1. Verse 14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John Gill on that text writes, and not only were there some beams of his glory at his transfiguration, which were seen by the apostles, among which the evangelist John was one, and to which he may have here a particular reference, but even at his apprehension and death, and especially at his resurrection from the dead. In other words, this beholding of the glory, the word of God, who took to himself man's nature, with all the essential properties and common infirmities thereof, yet without sin, the glory of the God-man, it was seen not only at the transfiguration, not only at his arrest and death, but also and most certainly at the resurrection from the dead. Turn with me to 1 John. If you have your Bible at the ready and your fingers ready to flip pages, you want to turn to 1 John with me there because we're looking at apostolic statements confirming eyewitness testimony.
We have again the witness of John elaborating upon what he wrote in the gospel. Notice 1 John 1.1, that which was from the beginning, which we have heard. which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled concerning the word of life. The life was manifested and we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us. That which we have seen and heard we declare to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. and these things we write to you, that your joy may be full.
You see, there is no joyfulness resting upon a religion that has as its foundation vague rumors of some things that could have happened. You see, we write these things to you that your joy may be full. It's not only the stuff of the eyewitness realities of Christ, but that's a large part. of these opening words of the writer John, isn't it? We have seen, we have heard, our hands have handled the Word of Life, the capital W, Word of Life, the Lord Jesus Christ.
These things we write to you that your joy may be full.
Post-Resurrection Narrative Accounts
Thirdly, we see the certainty of the content of the Herald's proclamation of a risen Christ in the narrative accounts of post-resurrection eyewitness testimony. Notice, remember in Luke 24, we rehearsed it a little bit this morning, but look, remember what's going on in Luke 24. Time and again, the resurrected savior has to stress the fact that he really is the resurrected savior. I'm not a specter.
I'm not a phantom. I am actually here before you with flesh and bones. He says that, do you not? He first speaks to them.
John, perhaps later as he's writing, he was one of the ones that for joy could not believe that this was the resurrected Christ. Later on, he'll write, our hands have handled, we've heard and we've seen. Jesus does. First he comes to him and he says, peace be with you.
He appears to them and he speaks to them. Yet even with this one before them speaking, they still could not believe. And of course, he's there physically before them, so they're laying their eyes upon him. But yet, for joy, they still do not believe.
He says, handle me and see, touch me, and see that it is I, I have flesh and bones. And yet, still, for joy, they would not believe. So then our gracious Savior does what? He eats some broiled fish and honeycomb with them, and he says, As you see, I'm eating these things.
I'm paraphrasing now, but you've heard me. You've seen me. You've touched me. Now I eat before you.
I am not a phantom. I am not a specter. I am the risen Christ. And then he gives him that glorious Bible study, the narrative accounts of the post resurrection eyewitness testimony.
He was visibly present. He spoke. He showed them greater visible proof. He even suggested that they use the sense of touch to verify.
And finally, he ate broiled fish and honeycombs. the voracious history of our Christ, his resurrection, and the glory of gospel truth. It's a text in 2 Peter that touches upon this very importantly, and it ought to add to the weight of courage that these texts all bring. You can turn there to 2 Peter. It should be well known, or this text should be well known to you.
If it isn't, make it a well-known address of Holy Scripture, 2 Peter 1.16, because there we see Peter, remember, writing this epistle, he is the one there on the day of Pentecost, in great boldness proclaiming as Christ, and he writes in 2 Peter 1.16, For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. Isn't that a glorious statement? Isn't that a text that is like a crescendo building up to eyewitnesses of his majesty? For he received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to him from the excellent glory.
This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain. John Calvin on this text writes, it gives us much courage when we know that we labor in a matter that is certain, lest then the faithful should think that in these labors they were beating the air. He now comes to set forth the certainty of the gospel, and he denies that anything had been delivered by him but what was altogether true and indubitable.
And they were encouraged to persevere when they were sure of the prosperous issue of their calling. Isn't that wonderful, Christians? We have the joy of certainty. We have the courage of voracious history.
Paul's Argument in 1 Corinthians 15
Fourthly, and lastly, under the voracious history, we note that the certainty of the content of the Herald's proclamation is seen in Paul's argument for the certainty of the resurrection of the dead. You can turn to 1 Corinthians as we finish off this first section of our preaching this evening, 1 Corinthians 15. Paul's argument for the certainty of the resurrection of the dead, remember again what's happening in Corinth. One of the many things that is going on in this church, beset by so many problems, is that some were being stolen away to entertain the idea that there is no resurrection of the dead.
They're saying that there that some are saying some are coming in and saying that Christ or that there is no resurrection from the dead. And Paul will later in the text argue logically from logical argument to logical argument. If this, then that. If Christ has not risen, then it will.
If the dead have not risen, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then really, to sum it up, there is no hope. There is no true faith. Our preaching is empty and we are of all men the most pitiable.
But you see, he argues for the voracious history of this event. First, he goes to the scriptures, which again is our sole authority for faith and life. He goes to the scriptures in verse three and then follows it up with the eyewitness testimony. Notice in First Corinthians 15, verse three, 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, and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the Twelve.
After that, he was seen by over 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained to the present, but some have fallen asleep. After that, he was seen by James, then by all the apostles. Then, last of all, he was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time." You see the weight of the voracious history here of the risen Christ message of the gospel. It is not founded upon a foundation of vague rumors.
It is founded upon, first and foremost, and remember again, the scriptures, the inerrant, infallible, God-breathed word of God. But it is founded upon the certainty of eyewitness testimony. There would have been those, well, Paul himself, but there would have been those, as he says here, the greater part remain to the present. Any doubters of the resurrection of the dead And by virtue of that, the resurrection of Christ could go to these and say, what did you see?
I saw the glorious Christ resurrected from the dead and great triumph and victory saw the print of the nails, saw the marks on his feet. I saw those glorious marks of victory. This is not a vague rumor. These are not lies.
These are not cunningly devised fables. These are. Verities upon verities, truths upon truths, he did most certainly rise from the dead as it was promised and as he promised. In the Christian gospel, to close this section up, brethren, we are to have the highest confidence because, and again, we don't as Christians rest upon vagaries and ambiguities.
We as Christians rest upon the sure and certain word of God. which brings to us time and again the fact that this resurrected Christ had his glory laid upon by the eyes of many witnesses. This is John Calvin speaking again of this very thing. We now obtain certainty in another way. For though Christ has not risen before our eyes, yet we know by whom his resurrection has been handed down to us.
And added to this is the inward testimony of conscience, the sealing of the spirit, which far exceeds all the evidence of the senses. But let us remember that the gospel was not at the beginning made up of vague rumors, but that the apostles were the authentic preachers of what they had seen. Christian take great, the highest confidence in our glorious gospel.
The Marvelous and Sobering Christology
Secondly, and lastly, then we're going to look now at the marvelous and sobering Christology if you can find your way back to the book of Acts. And I'm not just sort of haphazardly mounting adjectives upon adjectives when I say the marvelous and sobering Christology. Hopefully you'll see why I use those words as we look now at these blessed and weighty truths that are brought out by Peter in his sermon in Acts chapter 2. After we read the text, this Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses, actually beginning with that text and continuing.
See, at least four marvelous and sobering truths with regards to the Lord Jesus Christ upon preaching the chief message of Christ crucified and risen upon the foundation of the scriptures and confirming it by by appealing to eyewitness testimony. The Herald Peter then brings to bear some weighty Christological truths, and there are four of them.
Christ Has Been Risen
The first is he has been risen. We've talked about this in fits and starts, hopefully wholesomely as we've examined the text, but now some special attention to this marvelous and sobering truth. He has been risen. First, it is marvelous and all of these things that are marvelous are for the Christian and for the believer.
The fact that he has been risen is marvelous because our faith is not futile and our salvation is sure. You don't have to find your way back to 1 Corinthians, but you can if you'd like, because notice on this point, the point of the fact that this Jesus God has raised up the first marvelous and sobering truth. We have these words in 1 Corinthians 15 that I only alluded to. Our faith is not futile and our salvation is sure.
Notice what we have here in 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 12. Now, if Christ is preached that he is been raised from the dead. How does some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.
And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and our faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ, whom he did not raise up, if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile.
You are still in your sins. Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life we have only hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable. You see the logical implications of these Corinthians rejecting the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead.
If they do so, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then all of these things are true. But you see, Christ has risen. Remember, just as the scriptures promised in Peter's sermon, Psalm 16, 2 Samuel 7, Psalm 110, by implication of the language used in his sermon, other texts, Psalm 2, Daniel 7, 13 and 14, many other texts.
But all of that to say, we have the scriptural foundation, but we also have the voracious history, the eyewitness testimony, So what do we have this glorious, but in verse 20, but now Christ is risen from the dead and has become the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. Christ has risen from the dead. So our preaching is full. Our faith is full.
We are not false witnesses, but the witnesses who are true. We have testified the truth that God did raise up Christ. He has risen him up. Christ is risen.
Our faith is not futile. We are not still in our sins. Christ's resurrection of the dead, which is true, is a testament to the fact that he most certainly did bear in his own body our sins upon that tree. Now, we, having died to sin, will live for righteousness because by his stripes we are healed.
The marvelous truth that Christ has been risen, as Peter declares in Acts 2.32, this Jesus God has raised up as seen in the fact that our faith is not futile and our salvation is sure. But you see, there is a sobering aspect to this truth as well. Marvelous for the saint of Christ, yet it is sobering for those who are outside of him. They no doubt understood the, or excuse me, the fact that the sobering truth is that he is the judge of the living and the dead.
And this is something, this truth, is something that is vindicated by his resurrection, isn't it? In Acts 17, we find that very truth, that the fact of Christ, the fact that Christ is the judge of the living and the dead is testified by his triumphant, victorious resurrection from the dead. Notice at the end of Paul addressing the Areopagus in Acts 17, we see in verse 30, truly these times of ignorance God overlooked. but now commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising him from the dead." You see, to reject Christ is to fall under the heavy gavel of the sovereign judge. to fall under the heavy hammer of this one who will come to judge the living and the dead.
If you're safe in his arms, if you're safe by grace through faith in him, in his sovereign grip, never to be torn away, then blessed are you. But you see, if you do not believe in him, if you reject this Christ, God has given assurance of his judge, of the fact that he is a judge by raising him from the dead. And so the sobering truth is delivered by Peter, this Jesus God has raised up, of whom we are all witnesses. And so you, unbeliever, beware.
You, unbeliever, do not be found among those on that great and horrible day when you'll be calling upon the rocks and the trees to fall on you, to hide you from the wrath of the Lamb. Believe and be found marveling in the glorious resurrected Christ. This is what Melito of Sardis has to say on this topic. Wonderful sermon he preached 1600 years ago, something like that.
Melito of Sardis, these words on the marvelous and sobering reality of a resurrected Christ. But he arose from the dead and mounted up to the heights of heaven. Perhaps you've heard me quote before a portion of his sermon. He speaks first concerning the crucifixion of Christ.
He who fixed the stars in place was fixed in place upon a tree. This crucified Christ, it's a horrible thing to tell, but it's a horrible thing not to tell. He preaches the fact that Christ was put to death. God is murdered.
The sovereign is insulted. Then he goes on to the glorious resurrection, but he arose from the dead and mounted up to the heights of heaven. When the Lord had clothed himself with humanity, he had suffered for the sake of the sufferer. And he had been bound for the sake of the imprisoned and he had been judged for the sake of the condemned and buried for the sake of the one who was buried.
He rose up from the dead and cried aloud with his voice. Who is he who contends with me? Let him stand in opposition to me. I set the condemned man free.
I gave the dead man life. I raised up the one who had been entombed. Who is my opponent? I, he says, am the Christ.
I am the one who destroyed death and triumphed over the enemy and trampled Hades underfoot. and bound the strong one and carried off man to the heights of heaven. I, he says, am the Christ. Therefore, come all families of men, you who have been befouled with sins, and receive forgiveness for your sins. This is the Christ.
This is the King. This is Jesus. This is the general. This is the Lord.
This is the one who rose up from the dead. This is the one who sits at the right hand of the father. He bears the father and is born by the father to whom be the glory and the power forever. Amen.
Powerful words. If we could only have one or two more, three more preachers preach like Melito of Sardis, the church would be in good shape. You see what we have here, though, the marvelous truth, the the things that ought to arouse us to a marveling, to an astonished state. This Jesus has risen.
Our faith is not futile. Our salvation is sure. Who contends with this savior who has risen in great victory and triumph? No one.
He has conquered death. He has conquered the strong man, the devil. He has conquered the grave. He's conquered Hades.
This one. is the king. This one is the Christ. This is Jesus. But you see, if you oppose him, this sobering reality comes to bear.
This is the general. You see, Christ has a military prowess unrivaled by the sons of men. And he will one day come riding valiantly. In fact, he already is.
He has the double-edged sword protruding out of his mouth, whereby he puts to death those who oppose in obstinate rebellion. He makes alive those, cutting to the quick and making alive, quickening those who are his, subduing them in his sovereign riding upon the white steed. But you see, if you oppose him, he is a general. He comes with the other side of that sword, he cuts.
He cuts and you're gone. You die in unbelief and rebellion and obstinance. There's no pleasant lot for you, but only torment of torments with the devil and his angels in that lake of fire reserved for an eternity of darkness.
Christ Exalted to God's Right Hand
Secondly, we have this glorious, this marvelous and sobering Christology seen in the fact that he has been exalted to the right hand of God. Notice the text of Acts 2 continues, therefore, verse 33, being exalted to the right hand of God. You see, that comes to our Christian minds and it lands there, and do we ruminate enough with that? Do we contemplate it enough?
Do we let it roll around in our minds enough? Well, yeah, we know, therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, that's an ABC of Christianity, but pause to think about this for a moment. Christ is, for the Christian, the marvelous conqueror. Notice the text that's brought to bear here, verse 34.
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. What a marvelous truth for the Christian. You see, because our enemies, the enemies of Christ, thought this one silenced. They thought him wrongly to be an insurrectionist and a blasphemer, and they thought him silence, this one who was preaching righteousness.
This one who with every word that dropped from his lips only spoke verity and cut to the heart of his audience. This one has been silenced. This one who thought himself king. We pierced his skull with a crown of thorns.
We beat him. We battered him. We hammered those Roman nails into the Roman gibbet of execution and now he's gone. You see, the Christian knows.
Those crowns of thorns are really veiled in what they appear to be a crown of great victory. The blood dropping upon the ground isn't the end of this Christ, but rather it is a witness to the perfection of His saving work. And it's vindicated three days later, isn't it, by this Christ who rises from the grave and He's exalted to the right hand of God. And for the Christian, what a conqueror!
But you see, the sobering truth is seen in this, that the audience here no doubt understood the implication of the scripture reference being quoted by Peter here. You see this? The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. What's Peter saying to these who aren't Christians?
These who aren't of the sect of the Nazarene? What is Peter saying to these unbelieving Jews? You are the enemies who are made a footstool for the feet of this conquering Christ. You see, they might have in their own twisted messianic fervor or their own twisted religion, they're thinking that Christ is nowhere placed in this psalm, not at all.
This is just another one that we've put to death, another one that we've silenced. You see, Peter is saying, this Jesus whom you crucified, God has made him both Lord and Christ. This is the one. to whom the Lord said, sit at my right hand to make your enemies your footstool." What a piercing truth. What a piercing truth.
Calvin, on this, writes, it therefore appears to me that David figuratively attributes military prowess to Christ. I'll read on in a moment, but you see this, you know how Psalm 110 ends, right? This one who has been Exalted to the right hand of God, said to him, sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. He stops at the brook briefly to drink, and he lifts up his head.
Calvin, speaking of this, takes the opinion, takes the interpretation, and I would side with him. It therefore appears to me that David figuratively attributes military prowess to Christ, declaring that he would not take time to refresh himself but would hastily drink of the river which might come in his way. This is designed to strike his enemies with terror, intimating to them the rapid approach of impending destruction. Should anyone be disposed to ask, where then is that spirit of meekness and gentleness with which the scripture elsewhere informs us he shall be endued?
I answer that as a shepherd is gentle toward his flock, but fierce and formidable towards wolves and thieves, In like manner, Christ is kind and gentle towards those who commit themselves to his care, while they who willfully and obstinately reject his yoke shall feel with what awful and terrible power he is armed. You see what Peter is doing here. Remember, only 50 days ago, couldn't even confess the Nazarene Christ before a servant girl. Yet now he's telling this audience of unbelieving Jews that they are the ones under whom this Christ, whom you crucified, will press down his mighty boots of conquering power.
Absolutely glorious. Marvelous for the Christian. Sobering. Sobering for those who are opposed to King Jesus and his glorious gospel.
Christ Poured Out the Holy Spirit
Thirdly, under the marvelous and sobering Christology, notice that we have this fact. He poured out the Holy Spirit upon the disciples, going back to verse 33. 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 in here. See, that would have been a marvelous truth.
This sect of the Nazarene is the recipient of the blessings prophesied by Joel. Remember when we were looking at Jeremiah 9 last week, we came to this text and we noted that in opposition to that twisted Jewish proverb that the Shekinah glory of God only rests upon the wise, the mighty, and the rich. God works and rails against that, and he brings tongues of cloven flame upon menservants and maidservants of this sect of the Nazarene. It doesn't come to the Pharisees.
It doesn't come to unbelieving and apostate Israel, who, of course, thought themselves believing and not apostate. But rather, it comes to this sect of the Nazarene because it is the law and the prophets and the Psalms that pointed forward to this Nazarene. And it is those scriptures that pointed called men and said things like verse 21 of Acts 2, it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of that Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall be saved. What a glorious truth for this gathered sect.
They're recipients of rejection, mockery, and persecution, yet they are the ones who are the recipients of the promise of Joel. Glorious, but you see again a sobering truth. The prophecy was not only about the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, You see, if they got this, if the unbelieving Jewish audience got the sobering and weighty reality of this, the most horrible thing in this is not that they were not the recipients of tongues of clove and flame, the spirit empowering them to speak and prophesy and do great things for the kingdom, but rather the most horrible thing would follow after that, verse 19 of Acts 2, 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.
You see, the outpouring of the Jesus Christ is pouring out the promise of the Holy Spirit. And it is unto the speaking in other tongues so that the gathered multitude might hear in their own languages the wonderful works of God. But you see, it is also to deliver this truth that this judgment is coming. You see, the tongues were ultimately given and they were a sign of impending doom.
They were calling upon the gathered nations to call upon the name of the Lord and be saved. And if you do not, if you reject, then you will fall under the sobering judgment of the sun being turned into darkness, the moon into blood. before the coming and awesome day of the Lord. And you see, those aren't things that we are to take there, literally, the sun being darkened and the moon being turned into blood and all of those things, but rather with Gil, we are to understand of verse 19 and 20, when he shall come in power, God is Christ and great glory, as he did in a few years after this to take vengeance on the Jews and destroy their nation, city, and temple, in which there was a display of His greatness and power, and which was awful and terrible to them, as in Joel it is called." You see the sobering reality, the sobering Christology here. Christ is the one who, yes, has poured out these blessings of the Holy Spirit to preach the rich things of Christ, but He's also the one who poured out this Spirit, which is a promise of coming judgment and doom upon those who would reject Him and ultimately put the Lord of Glory to death.
Christ Given All Authority
Lastly and finally, we have this marvelous and sobering Christological truth. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. Verse 36, notice, Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. You see, it says later that with many other words, Peter preached and exhorted and those sorts of things, but I think we have here in verse 36, we have sort of a, at least in the text before us, a final nail being driven into the consciences of these people, a nail of guilt, don't we?
Therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, and what is the Herald Peter saying here? By implication, among other things, but get the weight of what he is saying. Remember, these are the ones that only 50 days ago thought that they had silenced this Jesus Christ.
He was, they would have cast their unbelieving eyes upon this bloody massacre upon a Roman gibbet, the cross, And they would have, they were, spitting upon him, mocking him, laughing at him. Save yourself, come down from the cross. Mocking, thinking that they had silenced this Jesus. He's a bloody massacre upon Calvary's tree.
And this Peter is saying that this one has now been exalted to the right hand of the majesty on high? This is the one that has been made both Lord and Christ? Yes. the one whom you crucified has been exalted to the right hand of the majesty on high. He rules and he reigns to subdue the elect to win their hearts to himself and he rules in military prowess to destroy those who would oppose him and his righteous government and his glorious gospel.
What a sobering reality. The Herald Peter is saying that this is the one, the king, that has been set upon Mount Zion. Remember what's going on in Psalm 2, what the psalmist writes there. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his Christ, saying, let us cut his cords and cast away his bonds from us.
But you see, what's the report that follows after that? He who sits in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall hold them in derision. Then the reply comes.
Then he shall speak to them in his wrath and distress them in his deep displeasure. Yet I have set my king on my holy hill of Zion. The one whom they crucified, the one whom they thought they silenced, was the promised suffering servant, the Christ of Israel. He is the one who now has been elevated to the right hand of the majesty on high, given dominion and glory in a kingdom.
You see this nail of guilt driven into their consciences, verse 36. We read in verse 37, what a glorious thing. 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? You see the The purpose of the preacher's proclamation is to be unto that end.
People cry out, men and brethren, what shall we do? The message is to cut to the heart in order to elicit a response. There's nothing worse than a than an apathetic, indifferent audience sitting there hearing something and kind of getting up and leaving. We want the message to cut to the heart, but you see, it's going to cut to the heart in two ways.
You're either going to cry out, men and brethren, what shall we do? Or you're going to be like those who murdered godly Stephen. They were cut to the heart and then they frothed at the mouth and gnashed at them with their teeth and ran after him with murderous rage and put that holy and just one to death. I don't mean holy and just like Christ.
Those are the words Stephen uses of Christ. But he was just in the sense that he was with Christ. Not deserving of this murderous execution. And he was holy in the sense that he was set apart by the Spirit. unto his diaconal work and his proclamation of the glorious Christ.
You see what we're getting at here?
Application
These messages brought to bear by preachers in the book of Acts are to cut to the heart, and if you're here tonight, is the message cutting to your heart? You know what sobering Christology means? It means that these truths, these verities, are to come to you, and they are to remedy your inebriation upon your own deceitfulness and folly and madness and rejecting such a glorious Christ and such a glorious Savior. You see, you are inebriated in the folly of your unbelief to reject such a glorious message, the voracious history, the scriptural attestation.
This is the word of the living and true God. You're going to handle it as a dusty tome of antiquated truths, not even to be given the time of day. They disclose this Christ who has been exalted, who has been raised, who has now been exalted, who rules and reigns with dominion and glory in a kingdom. Are you going to leave here and say no to this savior, to this Jesus?
You're going to fly the banner of those who crucified him, who mocked him? Essentially, that's what you're doing when you reject this glorious one. May he, unlike he was to those who remained in rebellion, be to you, whether crucified, raised or ascended, the one who is altogether lovely and chief among 10,000. Might you close with him because he is the one who by his resurrection has been given the rule and authority to judge the living and the dead.
Don't leave here without closing with Christ. Don't leave here without believing on the only one who can save you from your sins. I think we do think of sin lightly. And I'm certain that we think of hell lightly.
If you're out there and you're in unbelief and you're rejecting this Christ, you think hell is just maybe a little bit worse than Afghanistan? It's probably not all that nice there. It's hot. It's desert.
It's red rock. It's kind of like mountain home Idaho. Lots of bare mountains, some heat, and not a whole lot to look at. Violence, war, all those sorts of things.
You know what? It might not be too bad. If I like my sins on earth, man, maybe I'll like hell. No, you won't.
No, you won't. Eternity upon eternity. Day upon day, if we can even speak that language about eternity. You'll look up, your tormented soul, the horrors of hell.
You'll look up at that banner that flies. damned for all eternity. Why dangle upon this message of a glorious Christ? Why wait? Why tarry?
Why put it off? Close with Christ tonight. Believe on the one who is glorious. Believe on this one and marvel.
Don't be inebriated in your folly. Be sobered by this Christology and marvel at the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. And when you enter into the eschaton, to Emmanuel's land, Look upon the Savior now with eyes of sight. Sing his praises forever.
Let us pray.
Closing Prayer
Heavenly Father, we thank you for what your Bible discloses to us concerning Christ. We thank you for the revelation of the Savior, the one who came into this world, sinners to save. We rejoice in him, Lord, and we thank you for the fact that he saved us. We have not saved ourselves, we cannot, nor could we have saved ourselves, but rather, Lord God, that you sent him in the fullness of the times, born of a woman and born under the law, redeem those who are under the law.
He came into this world sinners to save and we thank you that by grace and for your glory we can call upon the name of the Lord and be saved knowing that he is our surety, perfection of redemption. We would pray Lord God though for those now who are outside of Christ in unbelief that you would come to them swiftly now upon the wings of victorious grace, that you would remove those hearts of stone and replace them with hearts of flesh that beat for the Savior. Pray, Lord God, that you would today make this the day of salvation, and that you would cause sinners to leave this place singing the praises of our blessed Christ. We pray that you would go with us now, that you'd help us to close as we sing doxology, that we would rightfully sing in spirit and in truth praises to our God, and that we would go into this upcoming week having been blessed, having been equipped to live in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ.
And it is in Christ's name that we pray. Amen.