Will You Believe?

Acts 2:22–39 NASB95

22 “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know— 23 this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. 24 “But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. 25 “For David says of Him, ‘I saw the Lord always in my presence; For He is at my right hand, so that I will not be shaken. 26 ‘Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue exulted; Moreover my flesh also will live in hope; 27 Because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor allow Your Holy One to undergo decay. 28 ‘You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of gladness with Your presence.’ 29 “Brethren, I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 “And so, because he was a prophet and knew that God had sworn to him with an oath to seat one of his descendants on his throne, 31 he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that He was neither abandoned to Hades, nor did His flesh suffer decay. 32 “This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. 33 “Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. 34 “For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right hand, 35 Until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.” ’ 36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel 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 pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brethren, what shall we do?” 38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and each of you be baptized 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 your children and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call to Himself.”

INTRO: The resurrection of Jesus Christ is at the center of the Christian faith. It’s an event we look back upon and celebrate because it is the resurrection demonstrates that Jesus’ atonement for our sin was accepted.

Still, for many, believing the resurrection is a problem. I get it though, because it isn’t what we’d say is normal in what we know of life and death.

Sometimes people have a high bar for what they are willing to accept as truth. That’s not true of everyone- some folks are quite gullible… and they’re probably on social media. I have often believed it important to have a healthy level of cynicism when considering any assertion of truth.

However that can be taken too far as well- sometimes people will reject truth even though there is ample support for the claim.

Consider Jesus’ disciples on that Sunday morning of the resurrection: We’ve studied this on Wednesday evening over the past few weeks.

These guys heard Jesus tell them that he was going to die and rise again, yet when the ladies came running back from the empty tomb and told them that Jesus was alive, they refused to believe them. Even after investigating the empty tomb, they still did not believe. There is even a disciple that the Christian church has dubbed “doubting Thomas.” It took them seeing the resurrected Jesus before they would believe.

But, the impact of the resurrection meant that there would be many who must believe without seeing the risen Lord. You and I are part of that group.

Jesus said to Thomas, John 20:29

John 20:29 (NASB95)

29 Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen Me, have you believed? Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.”

The disciples of Jesus were commissioned to go and preach that blessed message. The first account is recorded in Acts 2, our passage for today.

Allow me to paint the picture for you: It’s been about 6 weeks since Jesus’ death and resurrection. Jerusalem is filled with a bunch of religious people who rejected Jesus as Messiah and Lord.

But the Holy Spirit was poured out on the disciples. When this happened there was a noise that seemed to call the populous of Jerusalem to the public square. (2:6)

Now, listen - these were people who acknowledged God. They understood sin and holiness. They were described in the text as ‘devout’. (5)

But devout doesn’t mean forgiven. Devout does not mean redeemed.

Friends, there are a lot of religious people- nice people, even seemingly good people who are headed to hell today. On this Easter Sunday, I imagine that there are many who are devout attending church services, but they have, at least practically, rejected Jesus. I wonder if that is you?

So in our time together, I stand unashamedly before you and ask,

Will you believe?

Will you believe in Jesus as Lord?

Will you believe and be transformed?

And at the end of our time, you will have the opportunity to respond by coming forward during the final song.

The message is titled, “Will you believe?” There is a helpful sermon guide in your bulletin that you can use to follow along. Let us begin by looking back to the text.

The apostle Peter is the preacher in Acts 2. He begins as we will with:

The Compilation of Evidence (22-31)

(READ)

I want you to notice that Peter begins with God. He does not make a case for the existence of God, because it is self-evident that this world was created on purpose with intentional design.

The audience already acknowledged God’s existence, so Peter points to God’s deliberate plan.

Let’s explore that together:

God testified of Jesus’ identity during his ministry.

Peter identifies 3 categories by which God testified of who this Jesus is: miracles, wonders, and signs.

God audibly spoke of Jesus at his baptism and on the mountain as Jesus was transfigured before 3 of his disciples - “this is my beloved son...”

God’s power in Jesus’ miracles was unmatched by any prophet - He healed, multiplied food, calmed storms, walked on water, knew the hearts of men, raised people from the dead, oh, and did I mention that Jesus himself rose from the dead?!?!

These testimonies were public. The folks in Jerusalem had either been there or had heard of them directly.

2. God foretold his plan in the Old Testament.

ILL: Have you ever played H.O.R.S.E.? You know, the basketball game? There is a rule that you have to call your shot. If you expect people to believe that you meant to bank it in, you call it. If you intend to do a turn around jumper, you call it. If you plan to shoot it off the car, over the building, under the table, and through the window, nothing but net - you have to call it.

That’s what God did in regards to Jesus. He called it. He planned it. Jesus’ life, ministry, death, and resurrection were all on purpose for a purpose.

Jesus came to take the penalty of sin and remove the agony of death so that you and I could be forgiven and redeemed!

Throughout the OT, we see God telling his people that the Messiah would come- he would be born of a virgin, he would perform signs and wonders, he would suffer and die for the sins of many...

The evidence is clear. Over 300 OT prophecies were fulfilled in the person of Jesus- testified by God, witnessed by men. As Peter pointed our, David’s body was still in the tomb, Jesus’ tomb is EMPTY!! That is no accident.

Knowing that God’s plan for redemption was deliberate, will you believe?

Peter did not just compile evidence. The next thing we see in our text is:

The Confirmation of the Holy Spirit (32-36)

(READ)

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to wait for the empowerment of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that gives Christians boldness to speak, clarity by which to speak, and conviction regarding the Gospel. It’s also the Holy Spirit that gifts Christians in order to demonstrate the power and wonder of God who works through us.

This sermon of Peter’s took place just after the Holy Spirit came and empowered the disciples to speak in the diverse languages of the people as a testimony of God’s power working in them.

The simple explanation is that the Holy Spirit has been poured out, just as was prophesied in Joel (noted in 2:17-20). Now, don’t miss this here: The Holy Spirit does not just empower one to speak, but also enables people to believe- to be convinced of the truth of Christ.

Even though Peter had the confidence of having seen the risen Savior, he had the conviction of the Holy Spirit which made it so that he could not help but to testify. When you look ahead to Acts 4, you can see that this empowering of the Holy Spirit allowed him to rejoice even in the persecution that he faced as he proclaimed Christ.

The boldness of the disciples’ proclamation is credited to the Holy Spirit as is the accuracy of their testimony.

The Holy Spirit alone enables one to proclaim that Jesus is Christ and Lord. But this is more than mere words. To say that Jesus is Christ is to acknowledge his identity as LORD and respond by surrendering our life and leadership to him.

If anyone is to proclaim Christ as Lord- to really believe that He is who He says He is, then we need the Holy Spirit to work in us to confirm these truths. Jesus said that no one can come to him unless he is drawn by the Father. (John 6:44) He does this through the Holy Spirit. (John 14:26)

We’ve seen the evidence… let us pause here and ask for the Holy Spirit to confirm the Gospel in our minds and hearts.

[PRAY]

Will you believe? The final plea that I bring to you is:

The Call for Repentance (37-39)

(READ 37-38)

In Jerusalem, the hearts of the people were pierced with conviction by the Holy Spirit- they believed the words and now needed additional instruction. WHAT SHALL WE DO?

ILL: Sometimes, and I’m guilty of this, sometimes we treat the gospel message like a diagnosis.

Can you imagine going to the doctor and simply hearing him say something like, “You have a life-threatening disease”… and then he walks out and leaves you hanging…?

Sometimes we tell people that there is a God and we have sinned against him, deserving hell. And then we tell them of Jesus- how we died on the cross for our sins… but we fail to make the connection on how one takes hold of the promise of salvation!

This is what we call sowing the seed.... folks, seeds need more than soil and water! Seeds need the LIGHT of the SON and so we must connect hearers of the Gospel to the LIGHT of the WORLD by calling for them to repent!

God’s promises are for God’s people. How do you become God’s people? By repenting and believing the Gospel.

Repent

Turn from your rejection and rebellion.

Change your mind about who Jesus is and what that means for your life.

Embrace Jesus as Lord- one who has authority over every aspect of our life.

Let’s lean in here just a moment: The people who were gathered in Jerusalem had rejected Jesus as lord. For them to repent meant that they would have to break away from their religious, feel-good traditions and what was socially acceptable.

For them to repent meant that they would willingly put aside their fears of being chided by society, family, etc. It meant that they would place Jesus as the priority above their employment and above their positional honor and authority.

To repent means that we are laying down one way of life and embracing a new one.

REPENT. Have you done that? Have you laid aside your selfish desires and taken up the call to follow Jesus? Have you received the Holy Spirit who is both a teacher and a seal that declares to the heavens “I am a child of God”?

Be Baptized

This is a public profession, enabled by the Holy Spirit. Repentance and baptism go hand in hand for baptism symbolizes a death to our former way of life and being raised with Christ in newness of life!

Because death could not hold Jesus, we who have been redeemed by Him will not endure the agony of death for we too will be raised to eternal life!

To be baptized is to put a definite marker on the point in your life when everything changed. And time and again, through the Lord’s Supper, you can go back to this baptism and the profession of Christ as Lord.

Baptism helps us to see that we are not the same person we used to be. Those sins that held us against our own cross have been nailed to Jesus’ cross. They are buried… just like your old self. I am a new creation!

Listen folks, the promise of salvation- the promise to be forgiven and redeemed is still being offered.

I want to point you down to v. 39. (READ)

Though nearly 2000 years separated from the cross of Jesus - far off, as the text says, we are offered the same forgiveness. The same Holy Spirit that raised Christ from the dead is offered through his resurrection to you today.

If the Holy Spirit is prompting you this morning, will you respond in repentance. Will you leave your seat and come down to the altar? I or one of our deacons will meet you there and pray with you!

Today, If you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. Will you believe?

[PRAY]

Discuss: What evidence of the Gospel do you think people find most difficult to accept?

Discuss: How have you witnessed the Holy Spirit’s confirmation of the Gospel in your life?

Discuss: Describe what repentance looks like. Is it a one-time only event?