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."
--------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
Peter continues: "This Man (Jesus) was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowl-edge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross." Because Je-sus had flesh and blood and was put to death, He was also True Man. Jesus took on that form that He might die. Of course, there were some in the crowd that thought that Jesus was just the son of Mary and Joseph. Peter said he was the Son of Man and also was the Son of God. If they didn’t believe it, Peter says, "Listen to this. But 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." Death could not hold Him in the grave, because He was the Son of God. Jesus was the Son of Man that He would be put to death, and He was God’s Son also.
This is who Jesus is. He is the Son of Man and the Son of God. We are far removed from that first Pentecost, and yet we are reminded of the importance of knowing and believing in our hearts that Je-sus is the very Son of God. There are people who attack His divinity. They say, "Well, yes, a good teacher, a good man, but God’s Son, that would be a leap of faith." Yes, indeed, it is; and by God’s grace He has caused us to believe that Christ the Messiah is the One who was promised. He fulfilled all the promises of the Old Testament, and He lived and died and rose again as God’s very own Son. In the Gospel of John, the whole first chapter talks about the birth of Jesus in a sense that He comes to this world and how that Word of God is made flesh. In verse 14 he writes: "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth"(JOHN 1:14). In this portion of the Gospel of John we are told Jesus is the very Son of God.
Yet too, Jesus had the dual purpose and the dual nature in the sense that He was the Son of Man. We can’t deny that. He was born of the Virgin Mary. We realize that He came for that very specific pur-pose, so that as a man Jesus could be put to death. No one could put God to death. From Philippians we read: "And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!"(PHILIPPIANS 2:8). Yes, as Peter had reminded the people, He was this Jesus who was put to death on the cross; but He was also the Son of God because death could not hold Him. It was impossible for Him to remain in the grave.
Peter preached Christ. He told the people who Jesus was. Now Peter continues by II. telling what Jesus does.
In order for them to listen to him and better understand, he doesn’t just say, "Here’s what I think." He gives them the testimony of David who was their king, David who was their forefather, and David who was a leader of the church. He quotes David from Psalm 16. He says: "David said about Him, `I saw the Lord always before me. Because He is at my right hand, I will not be shaken (referring to the power that God had given Him). Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will live in hope, because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.’" Now some thought that David was writing about himself. David was the one who as king of Israel cer-tainly was called "Lord" and addressed as "Lord" and "Master" all the time. Some thought that maybe David’s body would not see decay, but Peter goes on to say, "Brothers, I can tell you confidently that the Patriarch David died and was buried and his tomb is here to this day." Peter says, "He’s here. He is in Jerusalem yet to this day. If we opened up the tomb of David, his bones would be there."
So whom was David talking about? Peter explains telling them what Jesus has done: "But he was a prophet and knew that God had promised him an oath that he would place one of his descendants on his throne." Jesus came from the house and line of David. "Seeing what was ahead, he spoke of the resurrec-tion of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to the grave, nor did His body see decay." Here’s what Je-sus had done. His body did not see decay. What did that mean for David? Even though David lived thousands of years before Christ was born, he knew that the Savior would come. He would be raised back to life; and because of that, David also put his hope in the resurrection to eternal life. He writes in that Psalm: "You have made know to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence." That is what Jesus had done for the people at Pentecost. He reminded them that He came for them, to show them the path of life, to give them the victory over death.
That message is still the same for us today. We are reminded of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, and we are reminded that He came back to life. Jesus didn’t do this just to show that He could do it. He did it because it was for mankind. It was to show His power over death. When you and I face those diffi-cult times of leaving this earth, we are reminded of the fact that Christ gives us life. It is through Jesus? death that we enter into eternal life. In the resurrection chapter of Corinthians, chapter 15, we read: "The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ"(1 CORINTHIANS 15:56,57). That is what Jesus has done for us. He gives us the victory over death.
Jesus doesn’t stop there, does He? Because when Jesus came back to life, He showed His power over Satan. Even though Satan still wanders about on this earth and still tempts mankind, Jesus is more powerful than he. From the book of Hebrews, we read: "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil"(HEBREWS 2:14). Death no longer is our master. The devil no longer controls our lives, and he says even sin itself has released its grasp--all by the power of Christ’s resurrection.
This is Peter who comes on Pentecost, Peter who preaches Christ telling who Jesus is and what He has done. Then Peter continues to say III. telling how Jesus blesses us or blesses all people.
We heard of David telling of what was to happen and how Jesus would come back to life, how he would be overjoyed. Then he goes on: "God has raised this Jesus to life, and we are all witnesses of the fact." Now remember this is Peter. He was really telling the crowd how much he already had been blessed by the Lord. Remember Peter? Before Jesus was betrayed, Peter said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Jesus had to remind Peter, "But you will deny me." Peter did, and he felt bad and was filled with remorse. When Jesus came back to life after His death, He meets with Peter; and He restores Peter. Peter repents and Jesus says, "Feed my sheep and feed my lambs."
Now Peter is privileged to be here on Pentecost and say to them, "And we are witnesses of the fact that Jesus came back to life, and I am a witness of that fact. The Lord has blessed me." With that great blessing, the Lord was going to bless others. Peter continues with his message: "For David did not ascend into heaven, and yet he said, `The Lord said to my Lord: "Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet.’" Before this, Peter had told them how Jesus came back to life and as-cended into heaven, not David but Jesus, as David had foretold. He says all of these things happened by the power of God. "Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured what you now see and hear." They were able to hear God’s Word; they were able to hear Peter preach Christ; and then they were able to hear and understand because of the Holy Spirit who was poured out on them all.
In the last verse of our text (which is only partially through Peter’s sermon) he says: "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." In that short sentence we hear both the Law and the Gospel. Peter reminded the crowd which was there that they were the ones who put Jesus to death. Even though they did it, it was according to God’s plan. Even though they did it, it was still God who made Him Lord and Christ, the Savior of the world. Even though they killed His human body, they didn’t kill God. God fulfilled His purpose so that Jesus would be the Savior of mankind. God has blessed us abundantly. I am not talking about earthly blessings, but cer-tainly, those things which are spiritual.
In those early days of the Christian church, there was sometimes confusion and wondering about this Jesus; because in our text on Pentecost, what had happened? It happened ten days after Ascension. Ascension took place 40 days after Easter. Jesus comes back to life and is with them that long, and then He is gone, taken from their sight. People wondered whether Jesus really was the Messiah, whether Jesus really was the Christ, whether Jesus was really Lord. We have the sure conviction that indeed, Christ really was the Messiah and still is today. Even more importantly, He is our Messiah; He is our Savior. He faced death and endured pain and suffering so that we don’t have to endure the torment of hell itself; because God is our Lord and Jesus is our Savior. What a simple message that needs and always bears re-peating. Paul writes in Romans: "For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living"(ROMANS 14:9).
The greatest blessing of all that we enjoy, of course, is the forgiveness of sins. Jesus was born on earth, and then rejected by mankind. He did it so that you and I, who could not pay for our own sins, would have our sins paid for. He did it so that we who could not satisfy the divine judgment of God would have our penalty of punishment paid for. Paul describes this when he writes in the first chapter of Ephesians: "In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding"(EPHESIANS 1:7,8). God’s grace that we are saved, not by our works, not by our deeds, not by our wealth, but by God’s unde-served love. He gives this to us with all wisdom and understanding. He lavishes this on us day by day to remind us no matter how short we fall from the glory of God; He still has prepared a glorious place for each and every one of us.
It all begins here in the early church. This is really the beginning of the church--that Pentecost following Ascension--where Peter preaches Christ, a simple message. Peter was preaching to those who were Gentiles, he was preaching it to those who were Jews, God’s chosen people. They needed to hear, because they didn’t quite understand. They didn’t quite fully believe who Jesus really was yet, what He had done and how He had blessed them. So Peter preaches Christ. We are privileged to hear that mes-sage time and again that Christ is our Savior. He is true God and true Man. He died for the sins of the world and for our sins. He blesses us then through forgiveness, forgiveness of all of our sins. It has a profound effect on us.
When we look at Christ crucified, it changes our lives, which is what Scripture says: "I have been crucified with Christ (we have been made partakers of His sufferings which we had heard in our second Scripture lesson this morning) and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"(GALATIANS 2:20). All of this, be-cause Peter and pastors today still preach Christ crucified, our Savior. Amen. Pastor Timm O. Meyer.
