Good Friday

“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— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

Have you ever seen something that was just so obvious it was right there in your face, but you just missed it? It completely escaped your gaze?

The Clear Presentation

Acts 2:22 ESV

“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—

Notice the clear presentation of Jesus Christ to the people. Jesus Christ did not come in an incredibly hidden and secret fashion.

And we’ve seen this as we’ve talked through the Gospel of Mark.

Jesus does what only the diving Messiah could possible do! He has authority over demons, over illness, over nature. He has the authority to forgive sins, which is definitely something only God can do, and he has the prerogative to authoritatively interpret the Law of Moses!

And everyone saw this.

Mighty works. Wonders. Signs.

I love how Peter says “As you yourselves know”

he says, Some of you here today actually saw some of the things that Jesus did! I’m not telling you something you didn’t already know!

They may have been witnesses of those events, but up until that moment they failed to see the significance of it.

As I read Peter’s comments my mind is taken over and over again to passages we saw throughout the book of Mark as we have studied that on Sunday mornings.

Jesus did sign after sign after sign, miracle after miracle, and time after time the people simply did not get it.

One passage in particular noted how the crowd were interested in him because of the signs, but they failed to see what the signs meant.

Many passages said the people were amazed, but they failed to make the connection that this is Him. This is the one!

Soon we will walk through the crucifixion of Christ and declaration that ironically comes from the roman soldier “surely this man was the son of God”

The people. They saw. But they had yet to understand.

The Divine Plan

Acts 2:23 (ESV)

this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God,

ESV says definite plan. NASB says predetermined plan.

God saving the world through the sacrifice of His son was the plan of God in eternity past.

Many passages of Scripture attest to this. Salvation was God’s idea. He knew as he created mankind that mankind would fall, and he determined to glorify himself in the salvation of lost sinners before you or I and anyone else was ever born.

God did not create the world, mankind fall into sin, and then have to come up with a plan B to figure out how to save them.

He created with the intent to save.

We see this allll the way back in Gen 3. On the day when sin first entered the world, God gives the first hint of Gospel light by issuing the promise of the seed that would one day crush the head of the serpent.

The promise of a coming redeemer and the thread of God glorifying himself through the keeping of his promises, including the promise of that Messiah, runs all through this book start to finish, front to back, beginning to end.

God is not up in heaven wringing His hands wondering what humanity will do next, what fires he will have to put out next, or how in the world humanity will even survive until the second coming of Christ.

No. God has his plan. And part of that plan is the salvation of lost sinners through the sacrificial work of Jesus Christ.

But look at the rest of the verse.

The Evil Plot

Acts 2:23 (ESV)

this Jesus... you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.

This is almost a startling contrast to the first portion of that sentence. This was all God’s plan, but now Peter seems to be placing blame and responsibility on the hands of the people.

Notice Peter says “your crucified him”

How can that be? Were they the ones who conspired in secret and worked with Judas to betray him? No.

Did they have the final authoritative say over the order to crucify him? No, that was Pilot.

Did they personally drive the nails into his hands and feet and then raise him up on that cross? No, that was the Roman soldiers.

Did they make up the same crowd that cried out against Jesus “crucify him, crucify him!”? That much is impossible to know, but it seems likely the crowd here is mostly made up of different individuals than those who were present during the event leading to the crucifixion.

How then does Peter lay responsibility on the crowd?

And this won’t be the first time he does this. Later in chapter 13 Peter has this to say.

Acts 13:27 ESV

For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him.

Even though there was such clear evidence regarding who Jesus was, the people did not recognize him nor understand the Scriptures which spoke of Him, and thus they fulfilled the prophecies, such as Is 53 which we read earlier by condemning him.

The people listening to Peter condemned Jesus because they did not recognize or receive him.

Jesus wrote into Jerusalem at the shout of Hosanna in the highest!

But there was no welcoming party to receive their king. They rejected him. And thus they condemned him to death.

So yes, the people, they did kill and crucify him. They may not have done it themselves by their own hands, but they were complicit by their unbelief and rejection of their Messiah.

Thus he died at the hands of lawless men. These men cared not for justice. They cared not for what was right. Pilot acted in temporal self-preservation. And as a result. Jesus Christ was crucified.

Now, I am going to take us down to verse 36. You all know how difficult it is for me to skip verse, especially when they are are rich and wonderful as the verses here in Peter’s sermon, but for the sake of time I want us to see two more things from this text as we consider Christ’s sacrifice.

The Established Preeminence

Acts 2:36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.””

What happens in the intervening verse that we skipped over are several quotations from the Old Testament and Peter’s explanation for how they are fulfilled in Christ and the significance of those texts in light of what Christ has done not only in his death, but also in His resurrection, and so now as he comes to the conclusion of his Sermon he declares to them that as a result of all that Christ has done,

You can know for certain.

There is certainty here.

So many things in life are uncertain. We don’t know what will happen from one day to the next. We don’t know who will win elections in the fall. Even the best weathermen can’t be entirely certain of the weather from day to day!

They say the only things that are certain are death and taxes.

Peter says we can add to that list.

Know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.

He is Lord. He has authority. He is the master.

He is Christ. The Messiah. The anointed one. The promised seed.

The people saw his wonders and signs and did not understand. Even John the Baptist had his doubts while he was in prison when he sent messengers to ask Jesus “are you the Christ or do we look for another”

But now. Now Jesus has been put to death. But not because he was caught. It was God’s plan. Now Jesus has risen from the dead, which we will talk more about on Sunday. Now we can clearly see how all the things that OT Scriptures spoke, how all the things about the Messiah, they all find their fulfillment in this person Jesus Christ.

This is it! This is the one! And you can know it for certain!

Earlier we read the passage from Phil 2. It’s such a great text that speaks of Christ’s humility and self sacrifice.

We didn’t read the rest of the passage, but I am going to do that now.

After it says that he humbled himself by becoming obedience to the point of death, even death on a cross, Paul goes on to say

Philippians 2:9–11 ESV

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

God has honored the death of Christ by raising Him from the dead and exalting him to the highest position of preeminence.

The Father has made Him both Lord and Christ!

And friends, this is tremendously good news.

We have started walking through proverbs on Wednesday nights. We can so easily made a mess of life.

So often we make foolish choice and live our lives according to earthly wisdom, when all the while God has spoken. He has given us his word. all the While, God has spoken through Jesus Christ, the incarnate Word, of which we have reliable testimony in this book!

God has made him Lord. Master. Ruler.

All of humanity wants to cast of the rule of Christ.

This is psalm 2.

Why do the nations rage and the people plot a vain thing. They take counsel against the Lord and against His anointed. Let us tear apart their fetters and cast away their cords from us.

This has many manifestations.

Ben Shapiro recently tried to make the case that the phrase “Christ is King” is antisemitic so we can’t say that any more.

I don’t know if there are genuine anti-semitic groups out there that are using that phrase in that particular way, but I’m unwilling to surrender that truth to appease a man who has rejected his Messiah.

Christ is the King. He is the King of the Jews! And one day, all Israel will be saved through faith in her Messiah! That isn’t antisemitic! That’s good news for Jew and gentile alike!

That we can be saved from our own sinfulness is tremendously good news!

That we might have a master who has sacrificed himself for us, one who continually intercedes for us, one who loves us and care for us. I’ll take that master any day!

That God has made Jesus both Lord and Christ is good news!

And so that leaves us with verses 37-38 with how we ought to respond to this great message of hope.

The Proper Posture

Acts 2:37–38 “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?” 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.”

In response to this wonderful message of good news the people feel the truth of it in their own hearts. They feel the conviction of the Spirit. And they ask the question that every Christian longs to hear when they share the Gospel of Christ.

What shall we do? What should we do? Tell what we need to do!

Was the answer making sure you give 10% of funds? No.

Was the answer make sure you’re going to church each week? no.

Was the answer just be a good person? no.

What was the answer? Repent.

Repent.

This word is often misunderstood. Here at Pillar we teach that repentance and faith are two sides of the same coin. Where one is present the other is at the very least assumed.

Repentance literally means a change of mind. It’s a turning away from something. Faith is a turning toward. We turn away from our own ideas of how life ought to be, from our own efforts of trying to save ourselves, and we turn in faith to Jesus Christ and his work on the cross.

The people Peter was preaching to were in rejection of Jesus as the Messiah. They had to repent of that. Turn from that rejection and in faith receive Him.

Now I do have to make a comment here about baptism. This is a text that is often used to support a doctrine called baptismal regeneration, which is the idea that it is in water baptism that you actually are saved. We do not believe this doctrine, and we don’t believe this verse teaches it.

The word for can have several connotations. It can mean something like in order to get. So one possible translation could be “be baptised in order to receive forgiveness”

But the word can have other meanings as well. I can mean “because of” or “with regard to” or “in view of”

This can understood in English as well. We might say “Take this money for your gas” to you can fuel up your car. The money gets you the gas.

But we can also say “take this medicine for your illness” In phrases like that, it does not mean “in order to get your illness” you already have it. You are taking it because of your illness, or in view of illness.

And considering the information we have in the rest of the Scriptures about how salvation is by faith alone, it is best to take this verse to mean something along the lines of

Repent! and then be baptized in the name of Jesus because of the forgiveness of your sins. Or in view of the forgiveness of your sins.

So what is the proper response? 1. Repent. Turn away from rejection. 2. be baptized. Not to get forgiveness. But because you have been forgiven! Show your identification with Christ because you have been forgiven!

Here we are on good Friday 2024.

Good Friday is good, not because it’s fun to think about death. Indeed, the death of Christ is a very sobering reality.

To think that it is within the heart of mankind to unjustly murder the creator of all things. That’s a heavy thing.

Good Friday is good because it is within the heart of almighty God to save.

Jesus has been made both Lord and Christ and we are called upon to repent and believe in what Christ has done for us.

In a moment we shall observe this Lord’s table together.

Right before his curcifixion, Jesus shared one final meal with his disciples. In that meal he took traditional elements of the Jewish Passover observance and assignment explained the meaning of them. The bread represents the body of Christ. We eat it to remember his death.

The cup represents the blood of Christ. We drink it to remember his death.

In so doing we are not earning favor with God. But we are calling ourselves to remember what Christ did, so that we might have life.

If you have trusted in Christ today, you are welcome at the table. If you have not trusted in Christ, maybe you’ve listened to this message and thought you know I’ve never actually repented. I haven’t trusted in Christ. Can I encourage you to do that now?

Cry out to him for his mercy. Trust in what Jesus did on the cross. Turn from your own way and trust in Him alone. He promises he will save.

If you have already trusted Christ today, please use the next few couple of moments to reflect on the sacrifice of Christ. to examine your own heart. And come before him in repentance if necessary, but come in worship.