The Apostle Peter’s 2nd Sermon, pt. 3
Acts 3:22-4:4
Last week, the promises:
v. 19 Repent, and your sins will be blotted out, and the times of refreshing will come…God’s kingdom/Millennium.
Gov’t purified/war and bloodshed past/peace/ecology/infirmities gone/poverty/masses worship God!
That’s the promises, now…
The Prophets:
To make his message more clear, and to drive it all home, Peter now brings up the prophets [very high in priority in Jewish minds]…Moses…
v. 22-23 Direct quote from Deut. 18
He reminds them that even Moses prophesied to them that a prophet would come and He would be their Messiah, and that the cost of not following Him would be eternal damnation. [very powerful point to these Jews!]
Amazing the sources some base their beliefs on:
Hell’s right here on earth! [barber shop]
God would never send anyone to hell [donut house]!
Moses said, not Joe Barber/Joe Millionaire/Joe Schmo/ or even Jo Mama!
Then he reminds them that Moses wasn’t the only one…many other prophets, too!
v. 24 Peter didn’t go into a lot of detail, but he could have…but it was coming to their minds, I’m sure…
Over 300 direct prophecies had been fulfilled, like…
Is. 7:14 He would be born of a virgin Lk. 1:7 it happened!
Micah 5:2 born in Bethlehem Lk. 2:4 that happened!
Gen. 49:10 born of tribe of Judah Mt. 3:3 that happened!
Psalm 78:2 speak in parables Mt. 13:34 that happened!
Zech. 9:9 ride on colt of a donkey Mt. 21 that happened!
Is. 61 heal broken-hearted Lk. 4:18 that happened!
Is. 53:3 rejected by own Jn. 1:11 that happened!
Is. 53:7 stand silent before accusers Mk. 15:5 that happened!
Ps. 22:18 cast lots for His robe Jn. 19:23 that happened!
Ps. 22 (hundreds of years before crucifixion ever invented or thought of) prophets said they would pierce His hands and feet, and it happened!
Ps. 22:1 “my God, why forsaken me?” Mt. 27:46 that happened!
v. 5 tongue cleave to jaw Mt. 26:15 that happened!
Zech. 11:2 sold by enemies for 30 silver Mt. 26:15 that happened!
Is. 53:9 buried w/ rich Mt. 27 that happened!
One skeptic said, “certainly this is the most striking coincidence of details.”
Ill.—cover the state of Texas w/ quarters, 2 feet deep, mark the back of 1 of them with an X. Fly a man in and drop him anywhere you want in the state, blindfold him, and ask him to find that quarter with the X first try! That’s the same chance of just 8 of the Bible’s prophecies being fulfilled by coincidence!
No wonder in v. 24 Peter said, All the prophets have foretold of these days!
Now, Peter says, because you’ve come in contact w/ this info…if anyone ever ought to get saved, it’s you!
v. 25 You’re Jews, children of the prophets/covenant, you have all this inside info…to not get saved now is to sin against superior knowledge! You have a flood of lights showing you the way!
Ill.—stepping on pointy toys walking thru our dark house/tripping down steps w/ Jacob one morning…it’s one thing to do it in the dark, but in broad daylight?
Peter says, for you to not accept Christ is to sin against a flood of lights!
v. 26 [emphasize each use of “you”]…can’t “you” see this?
I can say the same to this crowd. What a shame that some will go to hell from GBC…but Jesus promises there’s some mixed in to this group and every Bible believing group, what a pity! For to go to hell from GBC is to sin against a flood of lights!
To sit here and hear the truth/surrounded by people who love and pray for you…and to not make sure you’re saved in the face of all of that!
If you’re here today and you’re not sure, you’ll never have a better chance to MAKE sure than today!
The Promises, the Prophets…
The resulting Persecutions:
4:1-4 Peter’s sermon produced 2 opposite results:
• 5k who heard, believed, and got saved…
• but the religious leaders and many others who heard, rejected it, and started up the persecuting which continued throughout the early church [eventually all the apostles would be jailed, beaten, and all would end up martyred].
The Bible has much to say about the persecution that is promised to true followers of Christ.
Matthew 5: 10 -
Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.
John 15: 18 If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. 19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you…
2 Timothy 3
12
Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution.
During the first 300 yrs. Of Christianity—10 great Roman persecutions…from Nero to Diocletian.
Estimated 4 million believers died at the hands of the Roman Empire.
Burned at stake/fed to lions/gored by bulls in stadiums/roasted on gridirons/sawed in half/beheaded/boiled/flayed alive
“why do the righteous suffer, while the wicked prosper?”
I don’t have a great answer for that, but I can tell you it has always been that way…since the beginning, even until now!
Think about it:
Abel was righteous…Cain was wicked…Cain killed Abel!
David was a man after God’s own heart, why is he constantly dodging spears chucked at him?
Why is Daniel, the purest in the kingdom, thrown into the lions’ den?/3 hebrew children into fiery furnace…
John the Baptist was referred to as the best man ever born of woman, and they beheaded him!
The Bible says, “all who live Godly in Christ Jesus SHALL suffer persecution! (not MIGHT, SHALL!!!)
Perhaps the more searching question to ask is not, “why do the righteous suffer?”…but rather ask, “have I, as a Christian, ever been persecuted?”
If not, why not?
And if so, how did I respond? Did I rejoice when persecuted, as the Bible commands? Did I have a desire to retaliate, as the Bible forbids?
If you live a life of faithfulness to the Lord, and if you live a separated life, showing a distinct difference in Christ, and if you profess that Jesus Christ is Lord, and that people need to be saved from their sins, you WILL suffer persecution. That is a promise.
“I’m glad that persecution like that doesn’t happen today”
Think again!
Here’s some facts for you:
"The 20th century is known as ’The martyrs’ century’ because more people lost their lives for their Christian faith since 1900 than in all the previous centuries together," writes the mission agency Open Doors.
Shocked by this statement, I did some thorough research, and found this claim independently verified by at least 3 other reputable organizations, including James Dobson’s Focus on the Family International…who points out a house resolution to that effect the 4th wk. of Sept., 1996. It’s not popular news coverage/media attn., though.
"All over the world there are about 200 million followers of Christ suffering today," says Michael Horowitz of the Hudson Institute, "and it’s surprising that nobody, neither the Christian community nor the establishment, talks about it."
"We want to break the silence," explains Horowitz. "We see that people don’t want to believe facts. It blows their mind that at Sudan’s market you can buy a young Christian slave starting with only two chickens."
Torture and arrest are becoming part of daily life in the Muslim world. In Saudi Arabia there is a special religious police whose job it is to search private houses and make arrests, confiscating Bibles as well as tapes with religious recording.
The Muslim world is not the only place where Christians are persecuted. "In China thousands of those who profess Christ live in religious gulags," "They are imprisoned and tortured simply because they dared to pray, sing hymns and read the Bible in public places." Chinese prisons hold more Christians than any other country of the world.
Christians are also persecuted in North Korea, Laos, Nigeria, Cuba, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Viet Nam, Ethiopia, and some parts of the former Soviet Union. Just last year 156 thousand of them were killed—an average of 17 every hour.
Here in America, religious persecution is widespread, but subtle…in mostly non-violent forms…for now!
Losing a job because you won’t compromise your convictions/Being passed over for promotion/people sneering and jeering for your witness/door slammed, etc.
Churches like ours in America have had it relatively easy for 2 reasons:
1. It’s still a semi-free country.
2. We’re not witnessing or taking a stand for Christ!
Our missionary in China tells me their people feel sorry for American Christians, whose idea of persecution is having a door slammed in their face on visitation, or a friend laugh at them if they witness to them. We feel like a martyr today if the temperature isn’t just so in the auditorium!
America may very well face extreme persecution of Christians in the future. After all, we’re already spoken of in terms of divisive hate…terms like “radical right wing, conservative fundamentalists, born again extremists”!
What if you were put on the rack, and asked to renounce your faith?/gridiron/scalded w/ water/whipped or beaten/flayed alive/your family threatened?
I don’t believe any of us can know what we would do in that moment, though we hope we would not shame our Savior…
…but I will tell you today, there is one strong indication you can look for, which will very much measure how likely you are to be willing to die for Christ, and that is, are you living for Him now?
With millions worldwide risking their lives on a daily basis just to attend underground churches, I must confess that I can’t offer much admiration for today’s Sunday morning churchgoers, who know in their hearts right now where they sit, that they won’t be back for at least a week.
If your faith won’t bring you back to God’s house tonite or Wed night, I still love you and will do my best for you, but it is highly unlikely it would take you to the gas chamber, if called upon/a faith that does not bring words of witness to your lips in our land of free speech would not likely take you to a burning stake to be a public testimony for Christ/if your faith can’t get the 10% our Lord requires out of your pocket, I doubt if it would get you to donate your head at the chopping block!/if your faith can’t keep you away from worldly amusements or can’t keep you from fleshly habits, it’s not likely it would take your flesh to the lions’ den/a faith that doesn’t prompt you to obey in the smallest of matters like Bible reading and prayer wouldn’t bring you before a firing squad.
How do I know if I would die for Christ? For starters, are you living for Him?
Rom. 12:1
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
You can know for certain that you WILL NOT submit yourself as a dying sacrifice if you aren’t a living sacrifice right now!
If not saved, don’t sin against a flood of lights.
God help us as Christians who aren’t a living sacrifice, who aren’t facing persecution at all, because we’re no threat to Satan at all!
