Peter Preaches Christ

PETER PREACHES CHRIST

Acts 2:22-36 - May 12, 2002

22"Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by mira-cles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through him, as you yourselves know. 23This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. 24But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him. 25David said about him:

" `I saw the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I will not be shaken. 26Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, 27because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay. 28You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your pres-ence.’

29"Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the patriarch David died and was buried, and his tomb is here to this day. 30But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him on oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne. 31Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to the grave, nor did his body see decay. 32God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact. 33Exalted to the right hand of God, he has received from the Fa-ther the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear. 34For David did not ascend to heaven, and yet he said,

" `The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand 35until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet." ’

36"Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

From the time that Jesus had arrived on this earth and began His public ministry until the time of the early apostles, until today, and until the very end of time, there is one simple message--the message that Christ is the Savior of the world. Even though that message is simple, we find through the ages that mankind tries to dismiss it. Some have tried to deny it, and there are many in the world that follow differ-ent gods and false leaders saying that Christ is not the Savior of the world. Yet, we know that without that simple message, there is no salvation. None at all, because it is the only way to eternal life. The apostle Paul writes that. As he was learning all the things that he learned he thought that he was a very intelligent man. But it wasn’t until God had called him out of his spiritual darkness into the light of salva-tion that he realized that there was only one thing he needed to know. That was Christ and Him crucified. He writes in Corinthians: "For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified"(1 CORINTHIANS 2:2).

So it is as we come to this Pentecost sermon of Peter, and he proclaims that simple message. Peter preaches Christ! Peter proclaims Christ crucified! Peter does this I. by telling people who Jesus is; II. telling what Jesus has done; and II. telling how Jesus blesses us. We are familiar with the day of Pente-cost; and that celebration really is next Sunday. We remember how the Holy Spirit was poured out on the Christian church and the apostles were out preaching in the streets and speaking in the many different languages of the people in Jerusalem on that day.

Peter preaches Christ I. telling people who Jesus is

We find Peter addressing the crowds. (We are only going to look at the middle part of his ser-mon.) He tells the people who Jesus is, because that is what they needed to hear. "Men of Israel, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know." Peter uses the title that they were used to hearing--that they called Jesus the man from Nazareth and what good can come from Nazareth? Yet, Peter also reminded these people that Jesus was more than a man from Nazareth; that He also was the very Son of God. Peter said Jesus was approved by God or accredited by God by the miracles and wonders and signs which they had seen and which they were to know and then believe. If they had not seen His miracles, then certainly they have heard about them--people who had been brought back from the dead, storms that had been calmed, the blind that could see and the deaf could hear. He was the Son of God.