Acts 2:14, Acts 2:36-41, Psalm 116:1-4, Psalm 116:12-19, 1 Peter 1:17-23, Luke 24:13-35.
A). AN APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO PETER’S SERMON.
Acts 2:14a, Acts 2:36-41.
Peter’s address at Pentecost consisted in, first, an explanation of the phenomena surrounding the outpouring of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:14-21). Second, in what must be considered the first truly Christian sermon, an elucidation of Jesus’ works (Acts 2:22); Jesus’ death (Acts 2:23); Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 2:24; Acts 2:32); and Jesus’ exaltation to the right hand of God (Acts 2:33-36). In Acts 2:23, and in Acts 2:36 (where we began today’s reading), Peter unambiguously accuses his hearers of being responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus - but these must be understood in the context of the call to repentance following (Acts 2:38-39).
My point is this: yes, certain of the Jewish leadership were responsible for Jesus’ crucifixion - and the crowd went along with them. However, this was not accomplished without the complicity of the double-speaking Roman Governor, who, whilst washing his hands and proclaiming Jesus righteous, handed Him over to be crucified. The Roman soldiers, too, played their part: but not out of wickedness, as some of our translations suggest, but as those ‘outside the law (of Moses)’ (Acts 2:23).
Were YOU there when they crucified my Lord? I know I was. We are all just as guilty.
However, the one calling us ALL to repentance is one who himself had denied Jesus - three times, no less - on that awful day. Now, he had found repentance, and had been restored by the risen Lord Jesus in the Easter sequel. Thus, he had every right to be calling others to repentance.
Likewise, ‘the eleven’ (cf. Acts 2:14), (apart, perhaps, from John), had all run away, and had plenty to be ashamed of: yet here they were, standing with Peter, standing up for Jesus, standing in the power of the Spirit. When ministers call people to repentance, it is only as those who have found repentance ourselves. ‘I speak this as much to myself as to anyone else.’
Peter’s sermon had concluded that God had made the same Jesus whom we had crucified, both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36). It is not that Jesus was not ALREADY both Lord and Christ: but rather that, through His resurrection, ascension, and exaltation to the right hand of God, and through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, Jesus was DECLARED TO BE both Lord and Christ (cf. Romans 1:4).
This declaration alone, as the culmination of all that Peter’s hearers had seen and heard on that day of Pentecost, cut right to the heart of the matter, and they cried out, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” (Acts 2:37). We mistakenly imagine that we have it in our own power to obtain eternal life (cf. Mark 10:17). The same question was on the lips of the Philippian gaoler when he was convinced and convicted of his need for salvation (cf. Acts 16:30).
In the longer ending of Mark’s Gospel, Jesus said, ‘He who believes and is baptised shall be saved’ (Mark 16:16). Peter’s answer is similar: “Repent and be baptised…” (Acts 2:38). Faith and repentance are twin graces, and are publicly acknowledged in our lives through the waters of baptism.
Yet, here was Peter, addressing ‘men of Israel’ (Acts 2:22), and asking them to submit themselves to the humility of being baptised. In context, this was normally a sacrament of initiation into Judaism for those from outside Judaism: but now it has become, “in the name of Jesus Christ” an initiation into Christianity (Acts 2:38). It appears on the surface of this verse that there is neither “remission of sins” nor the “gift of the Holy Spirit” - without inward faith and repentance, and without baptism in the name of Jesus.
The promise of the gospel is co-extensive with the free offer of forgiveness, and the gift of the Holy Spirit. “It is to YOU, and to your (covenant) CHILDREN, and to ALL THAT ARE AFAR OFF, even AS MANY AS THE LORD OUR GOD SHALL CALL” (Acts 2:39). We thank God, in Christ Jesus our Lord, that whereas once we were far off, we are now brought nigh by the blood of Christ (cf. Ephesians 2:13).
Luke adds, “With many other words did (Peter) testify and exhort them” (Acts 2:40). Three thousand souls “gladly received his word” and “were baptised” that day (Acts 2:41). The revival of Pentecost was not yet over.
B). FROM CRUSHING CONSTRICTIONS TO NEWNESS OF LIFE.
Psalm 116:1-4; Psalm 116:12-19.
Have you ever had an experience where you felt as if the life was being crushed out of you, as surely as if a boa constrictor had its coils around you? This could be physical illness, or mental anguish; crushing circumstances, or financial restriction. All you can do at such times, or so it seems, is cry out to God!
If I was asked why I love the LORD, I might well answer: because He heard and answered my prayer (Psalm 116:1).
Yet this may, at first glance, appear self-serving: what would I have to say for myself if my prayers had not been answered in the way that I had hoped? Experience teaches us that there will be such times, but our love must rise above that: we should be like Job, who said, ‘Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him’ (Job 13:15).
The response of the Psalmist to this question does not stop at what he has experienced: but moves through that to promise (Psalm 116:2), and celebration (Psalm 116:16-17).
A testimony may well begin, “I love the Lord because…” (Psalm 116:1), or ‘Truly God is good to Israel’ (Psalm 73:1), but we must also colour in the circumstances which led to that conclusion. “He inclined His ear” (Psalm 116:2), yes: but how did that get to the point where I could pledge ever after that I “will call upon His name” (Psalm 116:17)?
For the Psalmist, death itself came knocking at the door, constricting him in its cords: and inflicting such pain as to leave him face to face with the prospect of Sheol. In this experience, there seemed no window of hope: he could see only trouble and sorrow (Psalm 116:3).
It was THEN that he called upon the name of the LORD: “O LORD, I beseech You, deliver my soul” or “O LORD, I pray, save my life” (Psalm 116:4).
I see beyond these words of testimony the experience of Another, who made the impassioned plea: ‘O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me’. Yet to this there came no audible answer. He knew within His holy heart what He must do, and conceded: ‘Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done’ (Matthew 26:39).
“Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of” His Faithful One (cf. Psalm 116:15) - and our death in Him (Romans 6:8).
JESUS experienced death itself, and felt the pains of Sheol (Psalm 116:3) but - as with the Psalmist - THAT WAS NOT THE END. He later testified that the LORD had “delivered His soul from death” (Psalm 116:8), and therefore that He would “walk before the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 116:9).
When we come through an experience like this, and come out the other end, our heart inclines to praise and thanksgiving. Because of what Jesus has done for me, in dying and taking away my sins - and for all His other ‘gracious benefits’ (cf. Psalm 103:2) - “What shall I render to the LORD” (Psalm 116:12)?
I asked Him to save me (Psalm 116:4), and He saved me (Psalm 116:8). I must therefore grasp with both hands the salvation thus freely offered (Psalm 116:13). How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation (Hebrews 2:3)?
I must recall and repay all those vows that I made in the heat of the moment (Psalm 116:14; Psalm 116:18). He “loosed my bonds” (Psalm 116:16), and because of this I pledge myself to serve Him. He brought Israel out of Egypt for exactly this reason: ‘to serve Him in the wilderness’ (Exodus 10:24).
In order that I don’t go back on my promise, says the Psalmist, I declare my loyalty to Him anew, before the congregation of His people (Psalm 116:14; Psalm 116:18). This happens “In the courts of the LORD’s house: in your midst, O Jerusalem” (Psalm 116:19).
“Praise ye the LORD.”
C). REVERENT BRETHREN, REDEEMED PILGRIMS.
1 Peter 1:17-23.
Christians are like transient travellers passing through a foreign land. Abraham was a sojourner in Canaan, but was never a Canaanite. Israel dwelt in Egypt, but lived separately from the Egyptians. We are in the world, yet not of the world (John 17:14-16).
Peter instructs us not to lose contact with who we are, and whose we are. Our Father is the impartial judge, and we are emboldened to address our petitions to Him (Hebrews 4:16). We must be pro-active in our reverence toward Him here in the land of our sojourn (1 Peter 1:17).
We are called to be holy (1 Peter 1:15-16). Without holiness no man will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14). We are made capable of holiness by our redemption (1 Peter 2:24).
Silver and gold was not sufficient to redeem us from the vain manner of life inherited from our forefathers (1 Peter 1:18). Neither were the sacrifices of the old economy. Our redemption was only made possible by the shedding of the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:19).
On the evening before the first Passover, the Israelites were instructed by Moses the servant of the LORD to sacrifice a lamb for each of their households, and to sprinkle the blood of the lamb on the doorposts of their houses. When the Angel of Death came to an Israelite house, he would see the blood of the lamb, and pass over that house. Each of the firstborn of Israel was spared, because of the sacrifice of a lamb (Exodus 12:21-28).
Christ our Passover (1 Corinthians 5:7) is the ultimate lamb without blemish (Exodus 12:5) slain for us. Jesus is the Lamb of God (John 1:29) who came to give His life as a ransom for His people (Mark 10:45). He is the meek lamb, who went through all that He went through on our behalf (Isaiah 53:7).
The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us (1 John 1:7). By the blood of Jesus those who were afar off are brought nigh (Ephesians 2:13). The blood of Christ purges our consciences and enables us to live our lives in the service of God (Hebrews 9:13-14).
The death of Jesus is the turning point in redemption history. This is the whole purpose of the incarnation: He became man so that as man - perfect man - He might pay the penalty due to us. The “go-el” - our kinsman redeemer - pays the ransom price to remove the curse of our sin.
The sacrifice of Jesus was not only foreknown, but also foreordained, in the counsels of eternity. God already had us in mind before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:20). Our sanctification was made possible by the blood of Jesus (1 Peter 1:2).
Our salvation is accomplished, from beginning to end, by God Himself. He loves us, and sent His only begotten Son to die for us, “that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God raised Him from the dead and received Him into heaven as our forerunner, and He revealed Him to us so that our faith and hope, from beginning to end, might be in God (1 Peter 1:21).
Our souls have been purified by our obedience to that revelation, and we have been brought into God’s love - and through Him we have been brought into a “non- hypocritical” love for the brethren (1 John 2:9-10). This brotherly love is a reality, but it often needs to be strained out of us with the same intense earnestness as Jesus’ prayer at Gethsemane (Luke 22:44) in order for it to be manifested in our lives (1 Peter 1:22). We must love more and more (1 Thessalonians 4:9-10).
Ideally, baptism is an outward symbol of the inward reality of our new birth. We are cleansed not by the waters of baptism, but by the eternal word of God (1 Peter 1:23). It is our new birth that enables us to grow in love.
D). ENCOUNTER WITH JESUS ON THE EMMAUS ROAD.
Luke 24:13-35.
A man named Cleopas and his travelling companion were on their way back from Jerusalem, walking the seven miles to a village named Emmaus. Their conversation was very much taken up with concerns about the death of Jesus. A stranger drew near, and walked with them. Unbeknown to them, it was Jesus. The Lord drew from them a full rehearsal of the facts surrounding His death, and of the reports of the empty tomb (Luke 24:13-24).
It is not enough to know the facts about Jesus. It is necessary that we have a personal encounter with the risen Lord Jesus, and allow Him to open up to us the true meaning of the Scriptures concerning Himself. It is no accident that both the Bible and Jesus Himself are known as ‘The Word of God!’
The Saviour was but a stranger to the two on the Emmaus road as they walked and talked with Him. Yet He revealed Himself to them when they invited Him into their home. They recognised Him in the breaking of bread. Does not our heart burn within us, and give us new vigour when we have had communion with Christ and listened to His Word? (Luke 24:25-32).
We do not need to have all the answers in order to become Christians. But when we invite Jesus into our hearts, He will reveal Himself more fully to us. And we will recognise Him in the breaking of bread in the Lord's Supper, and in the fellowship of God's people.
The two now returned to the upper room in Jerusalem. What a scene met them there upon their return! The dejected church was now declaring its Easter message: “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” To which they added their own testimony of the risen Lord (Luke 24:33-35).
