“WE ARE ALL WITNESSES OF THE FACT” (Outline)
April 11, 2010 -
Easter 2 -
ACTS 2:22-32
INTRO: Our lives are filled with searching. During our earthly living we spend a lot of time searching for answers, truth, and fact. This is not always easy in our world today. All too often today’s “experts” have only wrong or biased answers. Today truth is often considered as relative. This means that each person establishes his own truth. The facts can be overlooked in our age of overwhelming information. Our loving Lord makes our search for answers, truth, and fact easy. God gives us his word in the Scripture that has every answer, is all truth, and provides the facts. This is our joy of Easter in the fact of Jesus’ resurrection. "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men--the testimony given in its proper time" (1 TIMOTHY 2:5,6).
“WE ARE ALL WITNESSES OF THE FACT.
I. Our sins crucified Jesus.
II. Our Father raised up Jesus.
I. OUR SINS CRUCIFIED JESUS
A. Peter preaches to the crowd at the first Pentecost. This is the first public preaching of the empty tomb.
1. Verse 22a. Peter uses a common term of courtesy to address the crowd. He wants their ears.
2. Verse 22b. “Jesus of Nazareth” was the respectful term people used for the prophet Jesus.
3. “Miracles, wonders, and signs” were the proofs required to call a person divine, Jesus.
B. Verse 23a. Jesus was handed over to you. The crowd would be the ones responsible for Jesus’ death.
1. All of this happened as the plan of God. All this happened with God’s knowledge, approval.
2. Verse 23b. You used wicked men to carry out the crucifixion: Judas, Pilate, and Herod.
C. The crowd might try to deny their responsibility but they could not escape it. Voices cried, “crucify!”
D. Peter preached the full extent of the law to the crowd. You, your sins nailed Jesus to the cross. We do not like to hear the law. We are the guilty ones. Our sins also crucified Jesus. This is God’s law. No one can escape sin. Too many try to redefine sin as sickness. Others try to completely deny sin. Still others feel that sin is just on outdated idea of the church. Ask people what will happen at the end of their life. All agree that earthly life will end in death. We cannot escape death. In the same way sin constantly clings to every one on this side of heaven. "For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son--both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die" (EZEKIEL 18:4).
E. Make no mistake of the danger of sin. Sin is alive and well. Sin lives in the hearts and lives of every human being. We always want to remember that we spend far more time living in this wicked world than surrounded with God’s security inside the walls of worship. The world has a greater influence on our living than we sometimes want to admit. This world and all of its evil would try to turn our hearts into hardened stone. "The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every incli-nation of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time" (GENESIS 6:5). These words are spoken before the flood when wickedness ruled. Read on in Genesis and in chapter 8 (verse 21) the Lord God Almighty speaks the same words to Noah after the flood. This is God’s truth about sin.
F. We are all witnesses of the fact. Our sins have nailed Jesus to the cross. After the sin of Adam and Eve God demanded justice. The justice God demanded for payment for sin was to be paid by him. This is God’s grace for us and for all of mankind. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (ISAIAH 53:6). How very true! We all go astray and wander off to do our selfish things in this life over and over and over again and again. We also know that fact our Lord God Almighty lays on the Lamb of God all of our sins.
“WE ARE ALL WITNESSES OF THE FACT”.
Our sins crucified Jesus, nailing him to the cross.
II. OUR FATHER RAISED UP JESUS.
A. Verse 29. Peter speaks of David their well-known ancestor. David died and did not rise again.
1. Verse 27. In Psalm 16 David wrote of a resurrection. Some thought it was about David.
2. Verse 31. The resurrection in Psalm 16 was about the Christ. God’s truth is fulfilled.
B. Verse 24. The tomb was empty. Death was destroyed. It was impossible for death to hold Jesus.
1. Verses 25,26. David had joy in his life. It was because of the spiritual gifts of God.
2. Verse 28. David knew eternity waited for him. David lived in rejoicing and hope.
C. Verse 32. David knew. Peter knew. Now the crowd knew the facts about Jesus’ resurrection!
D. God’s law shows us our sins. It is not pleasant. But we need to hear God’s law to see, feel, and know about our desperate need of a Savior. God’s gospel shows us our Savior. God’s gospel reveals to us the power of God to forgive sins. Sin takes its toll on each of us. God’s grace provides joy and hope for each of us. "For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive" (1 CORINTHIANS 15:21,22). Adam sinned. Death came into world and was passed on to all people. Christ did not sin. His perfect life and resurrection is given as a gift of God’s grace to all people. Christ is greater than Adam.
E. We are all witnesses of the fact that Jesus lived, died, and rose again to fully pay for our sins and the sins of the world. Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for all the sins of all time. Jesus died once for all. Jesus rose from the dead, one for all. Such is God’s great mercy for us miserable sinners. "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved" (EPHESIANS 2:4,5). God’s fact: We were dead in sin. Now we have been made alive through Christ. It is always, only through Christ that we live – forever!
F. David’s life was changed because of God’s eternal promises. Our lives are changed not only because of God’s eternal promises but also because of God’s fulfillment of those very promises. At this time in history and at this time in our lives our nation has a general feeling of dread and fear. Many people are fill with despair. Too many people look in all the wrong places for all the wrong answers, truth, and facts. God is very clear in his holy word. "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life" (ROMANS 6:22). Jesus has taken the key of immortality and unchained our handcuffs of sin. Our sins are forgiven. We are excited to live lives of holiness in this unholy world. We are witnesses of the fact of Jesus’ resurrection for us.
CONC.: Consider Jesus’ disciples in the upper room on that first Easter Sunday (John 20:19-31). They were locked behind closed doors because of fear. Jesus comes and says, “Peace be with you!” Jesus repeats this message. Did the disciples leave to proclaim peace? A week later Jesus comes to the disciples again behind closed doors. Jesus message is the same, “Peace be with you!” Jesus had to repeat this message to the disciples who lived and walked and talked physically and daily with the Lord for three years. You can see the importance of hearing about Jesus’ resurrection for us in our lives. We also need to desperately hear Jesus’ words, “Peace be with you!” The world around us offers only the opposite. We are all witnesses of the fact. "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls" (1 PETER 1:8,9). Let your lives show this “inexpressible and glorious joy” to those who dwell in the doom and gloom of today. “WE ARE ALL WITNESSES OF THE FACT”. Our sins crucified Jesus. Our Father raised up Jesus for the forgiveness of all of our sins. Such is God’s great love for us and for the world! Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
EASTER 2 rdgs:
ACTS 5:12,17-32;
REVELATION 1:4-18;
JOHN 20:19-31;
(PSALM 16)
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