Theological term
Prophecy
2 sermons · All terms
The Apostolic Sermon
Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2:14–41, is the first apostolic proclamation of the risen Christ, and it follows a carefully constructed argument: correcting a false accusation, demonstrating from Old Testament Scripture who the Messiah is, and confronting the hearers with their guilt before the exalted Lord. The sermon examines how Peter builds his case through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, drawing on Joel 2, Psalm 16, and Psalm 110 to show that every stage of Christ's humiliation and exaltation was foreordained. The hearers' anguished question — 'What shall we do?' — is answered with a call to repentance, faith, and baptism, which Peter grounds not in human decision alone but in the sovereign, effectual call of God. The application presses hearers to submit to Christ as Lord, to feel the weight of sin's horror, and to follow repentance and faith with public baptism and membership in the local church.
Theology and the Martyrdom of Stephen
Acts 7:51–8:4, the martyrdom of Stephen, yields five distinct theological loci for examination: prophecy, the Trinity, covenant theology, hamartiology, and soteriology. The sermon traces how Jesus's words in Matthew 23, 24, 26, and 16 are precisely fulfilled in Stephen's trial, death, and the church's subsequent scattering, vindicating the veracity of Scripture. The doctrine of total depravity is pressed hard against the stiff-necked resistance of Stephen's murderers, while the conversion of Saul — the consenting bystander who becomes the church's greatest herald — is offered as the premier exhibit of irresistible, effectual grace. The hearer is called to love the Word that predicts and fulfils, to glory in the triune God who sustained Stephen, and — if unconverted — to bend the knee to the same Christ Stephen gazed upon at the moment of his death.