Sermon Tone Analysis
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Actions Have Consequences
(Acts 3:11-26)
July 25, 2021
Read Acts 3:11-26 – Actions have consequences.
Bill Walton at UCLA in 1971 was an amazing bb player.
He hoped being best in the country gave him privileges – like growing a beard against Coach John Wooden’s rules.
Coach objected, but Walton said he needed to express his identity.
Wooden said, “You feel strongly about this, Bill?” “Yes, I do!” Wooden said, “Then I think you should wear your beard.”
Walton said, “Great.”
Wooden replied, “But we are going to miss you, Bill.”
Actions have consequences.
That’s the heart of Peter’s 2nd sermon.
Peter and John have just healed a man lame from birth.
He was a permanent fixture at the temple, so his sudden good fortune brought no end of amazement and created an audience for Peter -- same crowd that had cried for Jesus’ crucifixion weeks earlier.
So Peter uses this miracle to authenticate his message -- that Jesus of Nazareth was none other than Jehovah in the flesh who came to die for the sins of mankind, and was then resurrected from the dead.
The lame man was proof of that in a unique way.
Note 6b: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!”
No dead man could do that!
Done in the name of Jesus, that man’s leaping and jumping was visible, physical proof that Jesus was indeed alive.
But this was the crowd that sent Jesus to His death, Peter takes this occasion to emphasize: Actions have consequences.
Rejecting Christ has consequences, and it turns out they go way beyond killing an innocent man.
Peter beautifully itemizes the ramifications of rejecting Christ, and turns it into an invitation to reconsider – a grace-filled second chance.
What does rejecting Christ mean?
To Reject Christ is to Reject God (11-16)
Rejecting Jesus means rejecting God.
They didn’t think so.
They thought they were doing God a favor to kill Jesus.
They were dead wrong!
In using the terms he does, Peter links Jesus inextricably with the OT God of the Jews.
13) “The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified his servant Jesus.”
Jesus was in service to Israel’s Lord.
“Servant” would have reminded his audience to Isa 52-53 where Messiah is described in grim detail as a suffering servant.
This didn’t mesh with their idea of Messiah as Conqueror.
But Peter says, “You missed it, Folks.
You should have seen it.
Jesus’ life and death fit hand in glove with this description which links Him hand in glove with God.
You cannot separate Father and Son – God and Jesus.”
The point is simple.
“You can’t have one without the other.
You’ve tried to separate God and Jesus.
It can’t be done.”
Even Pilate tried to release Jesus as innocent.
They denied this “Holy and Righteous One” and asked for a murderer instead.
They “killed the Author of life [you tried killing life itself] whom God raised from the dead.”
“You’ve tried the impossible.
You tried to have God without Jesus, but just when you thought you were rid of Him, God raised Him again.
You didn’t just deny Jesus; you denied God!
And there’s the proof, leaeping before your very eyes.
This man could not be healed in Jesus’ name if God and Jesus weren’t one.”
Man’s last word was the cross; God’s last word was resurrection!
In trying to have God without having Jesus, they had made a fatal error.
It’s a persistent error.
How many today believe in God, but reject Jesus?
They want God without having Jesus and it cannot be done.
That connection is eternally airtight.
Jesus is none other than the 2nd person of the Godhead, the Son, combining human and divine natures so He could implement the plan He and the Father had agreed since before time began, to save a lost human race.
That’s how tight they are -- one in essence and one in purpose.
You cannot have a relationship with one without having a relationship with the other.
Jesus Himself prays in Jn 17:3: “And this is eternal life that they believe in you, the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom you have sent.”
Can’t have one without the other.
Jn says in I Jn 4:2: “By this you know the Spirit of God; every spirit that confesses JC has come in the flesh is from God, 3) and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God.” Can’t have one without the other.
I Jn 5:1: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God.” Can’t have one without the other.
Jesus says in Jn 14:6: “I am the way, and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except thru me.”
Can’t have one without the other.
Suppose your son sees a man about to get hit by a car, ran and pushed him out of harm’s way, but was severely crippled in the process.
Now the one rescued comes to you and says, “Listen, I am so grateful that car didn’t hit me the other night.
Let me take you to dinner – the start of a beautiful relationship with you.”
You say, “Fine, but surely you would like to thank the one who saved you.”
He says, “That wretched cripple.
I want nothing to do with him.
Stupidly pushing me away.
I’d’ve been fine on my own.
I want to know you; I want nothing to do with that fool.”
How would you feel?
Welcome them in?
Extend every curtesy?
Deny your son?
I don’t think so.
So why do you think God would deny His Son? Beloved – you can’t have one without the other.
That’s Peter’s first great point to the crowd who tried so hard to do just that.
II.
To Reject Christ is to Reject God’s Revelation (17-18, 22-24)
Peter opens the door to a 2nd chance: 17) “And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.”
Jesus prayed this from the cross: Lu 23:34: “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.”
He knew these people really didn’t know who He was.
Even Paul says in I Cor 2:8: “None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.”
Ignorant!
BUT -- that did not excuse them.
They didn’t know – but they should have.
Major events in Jesus’ life had been predicted 100’s of years before.
Peter says in v. 22: “Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers.
You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.”
That’s Moses in Deut 18:18 where God says thru Him: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers”; they were to heed him.
Jesus was universally recognized as a great prophet, yet in the end they refused to listen to Him.
But it was there.
24) “And all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and those who came after him, also proclaimed these days.”
They were privileged people living in a privileged time –predicted in their own Bible – and they threw it all away.
They accepted the OT’s political Messiah -- ignored the suffering.
Yet it was all there.
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