Acts 02_22-36 Preaching Christ (3)_Knowing for Certain

Read Acts 2:22-36 – So, in the first sermon on the new church age, what does Peter do? Preach 4 ways to get better grades; 10 keys to happiness; how to succeed in business? Not at all. What did he do? He preached Christ.

E. V. Hill used to tell of an elderly woman in his congregation who was called 1800 – bc no one knew how old she was. She was hard on visiting pastors – used to sit on the front row and would soon holler, “Get Him up!” -- meaning Christ. Shortly, if it wasn’t happening, she’d call out, “Get Him up!” If the preacher didn’t get Him up, he was in for a long, hard day! – as he should be.

Peter got Him up – quickly and persistently. Look how he begins and ends the body of his sermon. V. 22: “Jesus of Nazareth” – starting with His well-known earthly name. But v. 36 ends the body: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.” He got Him up, didn’t He? All the way up.

Peter exalted JC. He was like no one else in His life and mission. Savior of mankind! But how did they know He was all of that? Jesus of Nazareth?! Were they just to take Peter’s word for it? How did they to know it was true? How do we to know it’s true? And Peter answers, “Were you listening? I’ve given you the facts, so you may “know for certain” that Jesus is the One.” How do we know – for certain? Five unmistakable, undeniable signs.

The Sign of His Life

Jesus’ first 30 years were pretty normal, but the last 3 were off the charts. Everyone knew it. His teaching astounded; his miracles amazed. The things He said and did were beyond human explanation. God attested Him “with mighty works and wonders and signs” (22b). Supernatural power, on display! Jesus showed His power over disease, over demons, over nature and even over death. Every miracle greater than the one before. Every miracle fresh in the minds of Peter’s audience. Every miracle demonstrating the “goodness of the word of the God and the powers of the age to come” (Heb 6:5). Every miracle attesting – this man is more than man. God is at work here.

Those mighty works were also signs – signs that Jesus’ power extended beyond the physical. He used the feeding of the 5,000 to teach that He is the bread of eternal life. He healed the paralytic to demonstrate that He forgives sin. He raised Laz as a sign of His ability to give eternal life. The signs were unmistakable. The crowds marveled saying, “Never was anything like this seen in Israel” (Mt 9:33), and “God has visited his people!” (Lu 7:16). They were continually amazed at Jesus’ teaching. In Jn 7:46 temple officers said, “No one ever spoke like this man!” They couldn’t deny it. They knew!

So, why crucify Him? How’d they explain away His divine power? Mt 12 tells us. After healing a blind and mute man: 23) “all the people were amazed, and said, “Can this be the Son of David?” 24) But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons.” 25) Knowing their thoughts, he said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. 26) And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?” They claimed He was empowered by the devil, to which Jesus asked, “Why would Satan work against himself?”

Jesus knows the issue: John 15: 24) “If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin, but now they have seen and hated both me and my Father.’” They rejected not bc the works were not convincing; they were absolutely convincing. They rejected bc they didn’t want to believe. The rejected bc they were sinners and Jn 3:19: “this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.” These religionists loved their selfish ways more than they loved Jesus. They knew if Jesus was God, they’d have to answer to Him. They want no part of that. So, they deny the evidence right in front of their face. So it was, and so it has always been!

But Peter gives them a startling dose of reality. V. 23: “you crucified him.” V. 24: “God raised him up.” Despite the signs, they got Jesus wrong, like all who call Him a mere man. Friedrich Nietzsche declared, “If you could prove God to me, I would believe in Him all the less.” That is precisely what the rejecters in Jesus’ day did; exactly what the rejecters in our day do; exactly what all rejecters of Jesus do. It’s not a lack of evidence; it’s hardness of heart that sends men to hell. The signs were there; the signs were rejected.

II. The Sign of His Resurrection

Peter continues. “About this Jesus you killed; God raised Him. That tells you all you need to know. You know there’s an empty tomb just outside. You know the Romans didn’t empty it or they’d produce the body. You know you didn’t empty it. And you know the Romans would have killed us. So why’s it empty? God raised Him, that’s why. There’s your sign!”

The sentence passed on Jesus by an earthly court was overturned at the High Court. “God raised him, loosing the pangs of death, bc it was impossible for him to be held by it.” “Pangs” (ὠδίν) = birth pains. The Father released Him from the birth pains of death. It was no more possible for death to hold Him than for a pregnant woman to hold in her child at birth!

Powerful pix. Death and God are completely incompatible – exact opposites. As God-man, it was impossible for death to hold Jesus. In one sense, the miracle is that He could ever die at all. But somehow, in His human nature, death was possible under the crush of all humanity’s sin. That tells us something of the awfulness of sin. But with the infinite price paid, death had no possibility of holding Him. His resurrection was an utterly convincing sign!

But human nature is so blind to spiritual truth that even the most convincing evidence is not enough without the HS. The week before Jesus’ crucifixion, He stood before the tomb of His friend Lazarus, dead for 4 days, and ordered him to come out! Laz did exactly that! Jn 11: 45) Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him, 46) but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. 47) So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council and said, “What are we to do? For this man performs many signs. . . .53) So from that day on they made plans to put him to death.” They got the sign, knew it was a sign, then totally rejected it. They refused to believe what was right in front of their own eyes. When people don’t want to believe, no amount of evidence will do.

Unbelievers are like the guy whose friend asked about his doc visit. He said, “Bad news. I’ve got diabetes. Doc told me to change my diet and stop drinking wine.” The friend replied, “Sorry to hear that. What are you going to do?” The guy said, “Change doctors!” But changing docs won’t change the facts, will it? So, here is Peter’s audience, having rejected the sign of Laz’ resurrection and now faced with a second – the ultimate second chance. What will they do with this sign? What have you done with this ultimate sign?

III. The Sign of Fulfilled Prophecy

It’s always fascinated me that when the resurrected Jesus met 2 disciples on the Emmaus Rd, He didn’t confront them with His resurrected self, but took them to Scripture: Lu 24:27: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.” Rather that saying, “Look here, guys; it’s me,” He preached them a sermon!

Peter points them to Jesus’ resurrection, but also appeals to Scripture to show how Jesus’ resurrection and ascension fulfill OT prophecies – indicating God’s hand in all of this. Peter knew his audience assumed the authority of the Hebrew OT, so he chooses two out of the hundreds he could have referenced.

The first is from Psa 16. David’s in trouble, but expresses trust in God. But, as often in Messianic prophecies, the HS directs him to include some language which went beyond his experience. V. 27, quoting Psa 16:10: “For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.” David wrote it; but it can’t be him. His soul did go to Hades (a synonym for death); his body did decompose. His tomb was a well-known landmark at that time.

Peter explains: 30) “[David] Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, 31) he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.” God promised David in II Sam 7 and Psa 89 a son of his would sit on the throne forever. So God led him to prophesy that his greater son would not suffer decomposition, which Peter now knows is a reference to Jesus’ resurrection.

Then Peter goes to Psa 110:1: “The Lord (יְהוָֹה,– God) said to my Lord (אָדוֹן, another name for God), Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” Peter’s point is, “Who was David’s Lord that Yahweh was addressing? It was His greater Son, of course. It’s God the Father addressing God the Son, the preincarnate Jesus you just crucified – the one whose enemies will be crushed under his feet!” Peter is appealing to fulfilled prophecy – two out of hundreds he could have referenced. There are more than 300 OT prophecies fulfilled in the life of Christ alone. You’d have had to be fool to be as close as these people were to Jesus and miss them all. They were the continuous signs right in their midst saying, “This is the One!”

Imagine you had a 200-year-old book that described someone born in the 20th century in Tampico, Illinois, becoming an actor, against all odds becoming president of the US and dying of Alzheimer’s. You’d have little trouble identifying Ronald Reagan. But suppose it also said, his body would never suffer decomposition, and you knew that while he’d been buried at his library in Simi Valley – but you knew, the crypt is empty. That would seal the deal. He must be alive. That’s Peter’s point. There’s your sign!

IV. The Sign of Eyewitnesses

32) “This Jesus (the one you know very well; the one you killed) God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.” Not just Peter but 120 others could testify that they’d seen Jesus alive after His death. In fact, Paul says in I Cor 15:6: Jesus “appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time.” In a society where 2 or 3 witnesses were sufficient to impose capital punishment, this body of witnesses was overwhelming testimony.

Furthermore, here the disciple are, preaching Christ in the very place where He was lynched and killed just 7 weeks ago – preaching His resurrection to people who hated Him -- knowing such testimony could cost them their lives. Why would they do that? Bc it’s true! Peter’s saying, “Deny Him all you want; we know; we saw Him. It was the last thing we expected. A couple of us had to be convinced by His scars, but we saw Him. In fact, His brothers who were mockers before, are with us now. We all saw Him. We’re all witnesses.” That was compelling to Peter’s audience. It unnerved them. These were absolutely credible witnesses saying, “We saw Him.”

It’s even more compelling from our 21st century view. We know these men died for their testimony. We know that the greatest NT witness of all was Paul who started out killing Xns, only to do a 180º turnaround prompted by what? He saw Jesus. Remember how Paul saw that great light as he traveled to Damascus. Acts 9: 4) “And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” 5) And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.” That little encounter changed his whole life. It can change your life, too!

V. The Sign of the Spirit

Peter’s final sign –the arrival of the HS which these people saw their own eyes and heard with the own ears. 33) “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” There had to some explanation for this sound of a freight train coming out of nowhere – some explanation for these hicks from Galilee suddenly speaking with perfect clarity in languages they’d never heard before. This just isn’t natural.

And Peter says, “You’re right. It isn’t natural. Here’s what it is. It is the Jesus you crucified, having been given ultimate power by God, sending the HS just like He promised He would. That’s what this is. Have you got a better explanation?” No – they did not! They only way they could deny the certainty of Peter’s message was to deny what right in front of their faces.

Conc – So, there’s the heart of Peter’s great first sermon. How do we know that this Jesus the Nazarene carpenter has been declared by God the Father to be both Lord (Yahweh) and Messiah. How do we “know for certain”? Five signs light the path – Jesus’ Life, His Resurrection, Fulfilled Prophecy, Eyewitness Accounts and the Outpouring of the HS. Any one of those on its own is compelling; put them all together and they are virtually undeniable.

Those who do not want to believe never will, no matter the evidence, but one wise old pastor recounted a friend he had who said, “I’d believe in God if you could just give me a watertight argument. Then I’d believe in God.” The pastor replied, “But God didn’t give us a watertight argument; he gave us a watertight person: Jesus Christ, against whom in the end there can be no argument.” That’s Peter’s point. You’ll know for certain when you know Jesus. Let’s pray.

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