Acts 2:22-32

Jesus Is Alive

Opening: Stephen Dutton was admitted to hospital with breathing problems. His condition improved and he was released. But someone in the hospital mixed up his file and it was registered as a death. His wife received a letter from Social Security sending their condolences on the death of her husband and to inform her that her payments will be reducing now that she is no longer married. Stephen took the letter to Social security and told them “I’m not dead! Look at me, I’m still alive!” But they wanted him to prove that he was alive. He said, “I’m standing right here!”

• Proving someone is alive can be a challenge for bureaucrats but it shouldn’t be that hard if the person is standing right in front of you!

• There are many in the world who have said that Jesus never lived, or that he is dead, or he can no longer do what he did when he walked on the Earth…

• IOT the Apst Peter confronts the crowd he is preaching to, that they killed an innocent man, but God has raised him from the dead… and he would go on and perform miracles in the next chapters of Acts that would help to prove that Jesus is Alive… AND Tonight we want to look at this thought and learn it as fact, that Jesus Is Alive!

Title: JESUS IS ALIVE

Text: ACTS 2:22-32

I. THE PROPHETIC [4MINS]

Illustration: Over the years there have been many ppl who have claimed to have near death experiences where they travel to heaven, see Angels, or loved ones, or tunnels of white light or even Jesus. One book was about a 3y.o. boy name Colton, who had an out of body experience whilst he was operated on. He came back from that and later asked his parents what his sisters name was, who was a miscarriage child from 10 years before and that he had met his Grandma in Heaven. There are many critics of such things, b/c ppl make the claim, “No one has ever returned from the dead!”

A. IOT Apst Peter quotes King David when he prophesied about how the Messiah would be resurrected!

v27 FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES, NOR WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION.

• David knew the power of God to raise the dead… and it would be even more relevant for the Messiah to be raised from the dead and remain alive forever!

EG: Authour Phillips Brooks said, “Let every man and woman count himself immortal. Let him catch the revelation of Jesus in his resurrection. Let him say not merely, 'Christ is risen,' but 'I shall rise.'”

• We are immortal beings, created with a spirit and soul, you cannot kill these... David refers to this in v27, You will not leave me “SOUL" in hades... in death!

Genesis 2:7 [KJV] And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

• When Jesus taught his followers about the resurrection of his body he referred to the story of Jonah...

Matthew 12:40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

o In John 2 Jesus referenced his body as the temple and how it would be rebuilt in 3 days...

B. IOT Peter is preaching to a crowd, after he had just been filled with the HS.

• Making reference to the passage from Psalm 16 that David wrote 1000 years before, would have been under the unction of the HS.

o After this day we read about how the church starts to grow and the D's start to spend more time in prayer and reading God's word, which at this time is just the OT!

o There would have been questions about the proofs of the resurrection from scripture.

o The D's had all physically seen the resurrected Christ... Paul records in 1Cor 15 that over 500 ppl had seen Jesus in that 40 day period after Resurrection Sunday.

o But as the church grows, and times passes, were there any other references to such an event!

BIBEG:

Job 19:25-27 (NKJV) 25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth;

26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

27 Whom I shall see for myself, And my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!

• Book of Job was written 2000 years before Jesus came... and here we clearly see that Job believed in the resurrection. He believed in a resurrected body and he longed for that day!

There is also a very interesting verse in Hosea 6:2, that if you were a new disciple, you would look at this and what has just happened at Easter and say, WOW! I had never seen that before!

Hosea 6:2 After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight.

o There are no coincidences with God... that is not just there accidentally…

o Jesus himself, made ref to OT scriptures on a regular basis, that brings new revelation to the hearers!

EG: I have read COMM’s who have said when David wrote Psalm 16 he was talking about himself… but I totally disagree, Why? B/c Peter quotes 3 OT scriptures in his sermon on the day of Pentecost… He ref’s to Joel 2 for the fulfillment of the baptism of the HS they have just received… then he talks about all that Jesus had done for mankind but was still crucified and then raised to life by God… Peter uses the ref’s of Psalm 16 & 110 to back up his claim… that is why I believe it is a prophecy about JC’s resurrection, especially b/c it is under the leading of the HS!

II. THE PROOFS [12MINS]

Illustration: Right now, Donald Trump is in court after being charged with paying hush money to ppl to stop them from saying bad things about him during his run for the Presidency back in 2015. The only way you can know something took place is thru evidence and testimony.

A. So what is the evidence that Jesus is Alive! 3 Things… let everything be established by 2 or 3 witnesses.

• The Words

o The last pt I mentioned the ref’s from the OT, but in the Gospels Jesus foretold his resurrection and then His ascension into heaven in many places!

Mat 20:18-19 "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again."

o I have already mentioned the ref’s to rebuilding the temple in 3 days from John 2 and when he rebukes ppl for wanting a sign that He is the Christ, then the only sign that will be given in the sign of Jonah…

o But, this second ref to being in the Earth for 3 days from Luke 11 & Matt 12 were signs that Jesus was who he said he was!

o That is the proof of someone’s words being true, when they do what they say they will do! And that is exactly what Jesus did!

• The Witnesses

o Again, I did mention how the Apst Paul said there were upward of 500 witnesses that saw the resurrected Jesus… They knew that JC is alive. And b/c of that fact all of them stood by their faith… they were persecuted and killed, but did not recant b/c JC is alive!

o But look with me at the change in Thomas…

John 20:24-28 NLT One of the twelve disciples, Thomas (nicknamed the Twin), was not with the others when Jesus came. 25 They told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he replied, “I won’t believe it unless I see the nail wounds in his hands, put my fingers into them, and place my hand into the wound in his side.” 26 Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. “Peace be with you,” he said. 27 Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!”28 “My Lord and my God!” Thomas exclaimed. / This scripture is the reason why he is known as “Doubting Thomas!”

o Like any human, Thomas struggled with the thought that someone he had seen die, could now be alive again! Billions of ppl would have done the same thing, thought the same thing… but thankfully after he saw Jesus is Alive, he proclaimed JC as his Lord and God!

o Peter says IOT v32 that all the ppl w/ him, about 120, were all witnesses to that JC was alive!

• The Wonders

o IOT Peter also mentions how Jesus was attested by God… IOW, affirmed by God, Signed off on! This happened by the miracles and signs and wonders that Jesus did w/ the Power of God…

o Those signs and wonders did not finish when JC was Crucified… and TBS Jesus worked w/ the D’s in performing Signs & Wonders as a proof of the truth of the Gospel and the truth of who Jesus is, and that He is alive, like they were declaring!

Mark 16:19-20 CEV After the Lord Jesus had said these things to the disciples, he was taken back up to heaven where he sat down at the right side of God. 20 Then the disciples left and preached everywhere. The Lord was with them, and the miracles they worked proved that their message was true.

o B/c Jesus went to Heaven and sat down at the right hand of the Father, He then sent the HS to be w/ us… this is the background to OT. The day of Pentecost has come.

o And Jesus is Alive, sitting in Heaven watching what takes place here… helping us to preach the Gospel and confirming the truth of it with signs and wonders.

o A dead God doesn’t answer prayer or perform miracles… That is why Jesus is alive… the miracles, signs and wonders have not stopped!

III. THE PROMISE [20MINS]

Jesus said to his disciples, I will be with you until the end!

Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen. / This is a promises that flows over to us… as it also says in Hebrew 13:5 the Lord does not leave us or forsake us!

A. Peter is effectively preaching about the promise that God made to raise the Messiah from the dead as spoken in Psalm 16 and that now this has happened, these men needed to get right with God, right there and then!

• From v29 Peter puts forward the case that David was also a prophet; He is now dead, his grave is there with them… and therefore David was speaking about the Christ rising from the dead… this gave David hope for his own soul! 27 FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES

o David knew that b/c God could raise ppl from the dead, that He would one day be raised from the dead and be alive, just like the Messiah is. David was given a divine promise thru the spirit of God and he held true to it!

• Because Jesus is alive you and I have hope… hope in the resurrection / hope for eternal life / hope that our prayers are heard by a living God / hope that He is alive to perform miracles, signs and wonders!

EG: The evidence is in, the testimonies speak for themselves… and b/c Jesus is alive, you can live in hope, seek healing & help and end up in heaven if you would live with faith in Jesus!

Acts 2:22 "Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him: 'I FORESAW THE LORD ALWAYS BEFORE MY FACE, FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, THAT I MAY NOT BE SHAKEN. 26 THEREFORE MY HEART REJOICED, AND MY TONGUE WAS GLAD; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL REST IN HOPE. 27 FOR YOU WILL NOT LEAVE MY SOUL IN HADES, NOR WILL YOU ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION. 28 YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF JOY IN YOUR PRESENCE.' 29 "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. 30 Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his body, according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ to sit on his throne, 31 he, foreseeing this, spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that His soul was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.