Acts 2 Peter Preaches!
Notes
Transcript
Peter Preaches....
Peter Preaches....
Good morning everyone!
Did you have a great week?
You know I ask that question a lot, simply because each day lived for the Lord Jesus, with his presence with us is good.
I think even in difficulty, it is good because we are His children, a part of His family. Now, I realize that is not always easy, it is difficult at times to see life and its challenges as positive.
How can we take bad days or events and consider them good? I think it is all out perspective, not circumstance as I have spoken about before...
I think a lot on James, when he says “Count it all joy....” in James chap. 1.
Our life in Him, in Jesus defines our perspective, not our circumstances. Our circumstances only effect joy as we allow it too...
I think the early church experienced this too.
They found themselves looked upon as a group that were filled with heretics, leading people astray from the Jewish faith and tradition.
But as Pentecost arrives, change takes place.... the disciples and other believers are empowered and they are about to start sharing Jesus with the world.
So lets go to Acts chapter 2 and as we open the text this morning I am going to use this passage as my platform, and we will build off of that...
39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
Wow, that my friends is the first crusade ever recorded for the gospel message. 3000 souls were changed, I think that is so awesome.
But lets back up, remember from last week, it is Pentecost, the Feast of First Fruits, a celebration of the first harvest in the land of Canaan.
It is 50 days since the resurrection of Jesus, 10 days past His ascension. As the disciples and others waited in the upper room, suddenly there was the roar of a mighty rushing wind and God’s Holy Spirit, the 3rd person of the Holy Trinity entered the world...
Each believer is filled and cloves of fire, like tongues licking up in the air rested on top of each of them. And suddenly they began to speak in other languages,, and those who were in the city to celebrate the Pentecost they heard this and were astonished..
How can these simple Galileans be speaking this, we are hearing our mother tongues from them, this can’t be happening… they were astonished at what they were witnessing....
But sadly some mocked, thinking them just drunk......
And it is here were we begin, empowered and emboldened by the Holy Spirit, Peter senses the Spirits leadership to stand and speak, to preach Jesus to those present..
And this is where we begin my friends, three thoughts from the text I want to share with you and have you consider as we look to the word of God.
1. Peter’s Introduction...
My friends, the Scripture says that as the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and as the disciples then spoke in other languages and attracted the attention of the other Jews who were there in Jerusalem to celebrate and worship God.
And as they listened and wondered what was going on, Peter stands as speaks to those who are listening…
Look at verses 14-15 Acts 2:14-15
14 But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15 For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day.
Remember, some mocked what the disciples were doing and saying they must be drunk. But Peter addresses this accusation that morning..
Peter says listen friends, you men of Jerusalem and Judea, pay attention, listen carefully....
These people are not drunk as some of you are saying, my goodness it is only 9 in the morning… they are not drunk, there is no man made spirits inside of them, But God’s Spirit has entered them this day and you better pay attention.
Why could Peter say they were not drunk? Well two reasons, one He knew they were filled with the Spirit of God, but from a merely human standpoint for the day, most morning meals were not taken until around 10 am according to the great Historian Josephus...
Now moving on.... Listen to what Paul tells them… Acts 2:17-21
17 “ ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 even on my male servants and female servants
in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.
19 And I will show wonders in the heavens above
and signs on the earth below,
blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;
20 the sun shall be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood,
before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.
21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.’
So Paul is calling for these men to dismiss that accusation, and give him their attention as he shares with them just what is happening..
These people have seen and heard the miraculous, what could all this mean.... What was happening??? God was at work and it is hear that Peter begins...
And Peter draws from the Old Testament, the prophet Joel chapter 2, from the imagery of a earth, dry and parched from the lack of rain, and suddenly there is a torrential downpour, one that marks the generosity of God upon His people.
And Peter is not speaking about a future, No! He is telling them that what Joel spoke about is now happening… That day has come and the God poured out His Holy Spirit upon all people.
It is the Holy Spirit that has enabled these people from other nations to hear the words in their native tongues and now they should give their full attention to Peter now..
They needed to pay attention because the world was filled with sin and with it, sinful men. They have made a shambles of God’s moral order. But God is reaching out to men and women for all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved, Acts 2:21 and Joel 2:32 .
God is revealing himself in that day, and today He is still speaking to the hearts of every person.
Friends, is God speaking to you today? Peter’s introduction was to get them ready for the fulfilled message of God as he will continue to speak to those in His hearing.
Now lets move to the second thought about this day...
2. Peter’s Testimony of Jesus...
As these many men, devout men and Proselytes from all over the world give their attention to Peter, Peter does one thing in their midst.
What does he do?
Peter preached Jesus!
Lets go back to our text and it is a long one, so we are gonna break it down for you.
22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know— 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. 24 God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Peter says men, pay attention… Then Peter tells them to remember, Jesus of Nazareth, a man who was attested to you by God, a man who did mighty works and other signs so that you may know who He was… to know that he was indeed the Christ..
So what is Peter talking about? How did God show the world about Jesus.
A. His miraculous birth.... the kings ( as in King Herod) and with that if He knew we can make the supposition that many of the Jewish leaders knew…
B. The Testimony of John the Baptist… John came preparing the way. And when the religious saw John, they came out to him to see if He was the Messiah.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. 10 Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into the barn, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
C. The Works of Jesus....
Jesus did the miraculous, in fact over the course of this 3.5 years on earth, Jesus did 37 miracles.
He raised the dead
He made the lame walk
He turned the water into wine
He walked on the water
He calmed the storms
He cursed the fig tree
He gave sight to the blind
8. He cast our demons
9. He healed the lepers and healed others of physical aliments.
10. He multiplied the fish and bread.
That is just a partial list of the miracles Jesus did and how God showed the world His Son Jesus was there and calling men and women to come and follow Him. He did this and Peter says you are completely aware of this matter..
Peter then moves on and says to them that Jesus, according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, being crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men...
I think it is important that Paul reminds them that those who did this were indeed “lawless men., Interesting the NIV uses the word; wicked men” That word lawless is important. In fact we know those religious leaders violated their own laws.
The greatest of which they bore false witness against Jesus, and held a trial at night when they arrested Him.
But death had no power over Jesus, for God raised Him from the dead on the third day. It wasn’t resuscitation, NO! It was a eternal resurrection.
Peter says that God raised him up “....loosing the pangs of death” Why? Peter says it was impossible for death to hold him.
One scholar described it as “…death being in labor and unable to hod back the “delivery” of Jesus”...
Now to drive his point home, Peter turns to David, the most respected person in Jewish history and the greatest King… Peter reminds them how David prophesied concerning the Messiah, drawing from Psalm 16.
25 For David says concerning him,
“ ‘I saw the Lord always before me,
for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;
26 therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced;
my flesh also will dwell in hope.
27 For you will not abandon my soul to Hades,
or let your Holy One see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the paths of life;
you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’
Do you see what Peter is pointing out? He said that David knew the resurrection of the Christ, that death and the grave would have no power over him… He says that He would not be lost to Hades of the grave and the Holy One would not see corruption.
Wow, God had shared so much with David about the coming of the one who would change this world.
Peter goes on to say, all this you bear witness too, you can see and hear through the coming of the Holy Spirit into the world.
Jesus came to live and die, the God man, made in every way as we were, yet without sin. He became a vicarious sacrifice for humanity, dying to forgive sin, living to prove eternal life is for all in Jesus Christ.
Eternal life is the free gift of God, do you have that gift? Do you know Jesus as your Savior?
The wonder of the cross is that all who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and then a person passes from death to life....
Peter has delivered to them why Jesus came… Now it comes time for them to respond my friends...
3. Peter’s call for Repentance...
The most important part of the truth coming to the heart of a person, is that upon hearing it, a person must make decision...
You see, truth always demands an answer, you will either believe it or refuse it...
Peter is giving them time to respond...
Lets go back to the text.... Acts 2:36-41
36 Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
What a summary… Let all Israel know, this Jesus who you crucified, who your leaders put to death, well God had made him both Lord and Christ...
And verse 37 is important friends… they were cut to the heart…
What does that mean? They felt a sharp pain of guilt, what they first thought about all that had happened, well they were wrong. And they felt horrible.
They are so moved, convicted of their sin, knowing they have killed the Messiah, they spoke up and said “...What shall we do...”
Peter tells them, Acts 2:38
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Repent, do an about face in your life, what you have believe and done. Turn from this and all sin and turn to Christ, he is the true and only way to salvation. Friends, Peter makes it clear, unless you repent, you cannot turn to Jesus unless you have turned away from sin.
And when you do, you will receive the Holy Spirit. What you have witnessed today, will come to you as well, a proof that you have been changed.
Now the Scriptures says Peter continued to urge them to come to Jesus and save themselves, escape this crooked generation. Literally, their many of their leaders, those they followed as spiritual leaders were corrupt and unless they move away from those old precepts, they would miss Jesus.
Listen, many people have some sort of idea of what they need in life. Some say, oh if I just live a good life, I will be ok.
Others, say I am not really religious...
Some have a sort of give and take, Oh, if I try to pray, if I go good, surely God will not reject me...
We are corrupt apart from God, that is why we need God. The Scriptures declare, that our best works, our trying to make our way through works… the best we do is like filthy rags.
We are called to do one thing, come to Jesus. The author and finisher of our faith.
We cannot save ourselves, but we can come to the One who promises to save us!!
Now, did any one say Yes, to Jesus as Peter called them too?
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
3000 people repented and were baptised… Wow, the church grow that day as the Holy Spirit came into the world and the first call to be a witness was fulfilled.
Wow..
Friends, God then Acts 2 and today is still calling for people to lay aside their life, repent of their sin and ask Jesus to save them.
Remember, the Bible says that All, not some, not the good or just the bad, friends we are all bad according to the law apart from Jesus.
But all repent and call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved...
You know what, God still wants people to be saved, to be changed and made each day more like the Son.
He wants us to help carry His gospel to world so that can happen.
Remember Romans 1:16
16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
The gospel changes lives… Did on the day of Pentecost and today as well.
Challenge for us...
Are you being like Peter, remember he is the one who just a couple months before denied Jesus...
But he stood back up and bore witness to those God placed in front of him, asking them to repent and be saved.
Are you following the Lord’s leading in your life?
Do you need prayer today?
Do you need a church home?
What ever you need today, we will do our best to help, to pray and ensure you are following the Lord.
Lets pray...