The First Christian Sermon Part II

Michael Howard

Acts: The Mission of God • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented 23 years ago

Acts 2:22–36

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INTRODUCTION

We are picking up where we left off last week. We are in the midst of the first Christian sermon preached after the sending of God’s Spirit on the church at Pentecost.

Peter is the one doing the preaching.

Last week we established what that means.

Preaching is reading the Word. Explaining the Word. Applying the Word.

We see Peter doing all of that in Acts 2.

Last week we looked at his text as he read from Joel 2.

This week we look at his explanation of the text in verses 22-36.

And next week, we will see his application when he calls on the crowd to turn from their sins and get baptized

And as Peter is explaining the passage this morning, his point is really this:

The last days have come. We know that because the Spirit of God has been poured out on the church.

That is evidenced in the believers speaking in foreign tongues

And the last days will end and then there will be judgment.

And Peter wants the crowd listening to know that their only hope to escape this judgment is to turn in faith to the One they crucified just a matter of weeks before.

That is truly what his sermon is about.

He says it outright in verse 36:

Acts 2:36 ESV

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

He supports that with three arguments in this passage.

We are going to study Peter’s arguments for Jesus being both Lord and Christ and then we will consider the weight that it all bears on us.

Acts 2:22–36 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— this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. 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; therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’ “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.” ’ Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”

LORD AND CHRIST

Let’s begin with the end.

Because as I said, Peter’s point really comes in verse 36.

The man Jesus that the house of Israel crucified is both Lord and Christ.

What is significance of these terms?

Well let’s start with the idea of Jesus as Lord.

When we say that Jesus is Lord, we are saying He is Lord in two respects:

He is Lord in power

He is Lord in authority

He is Lord in power in the sense that He has the power to forgive sins

He has the power to perform supernatural miracles and bring His enemies to ruin and defeat

But He is also Lord in authority because He judges from His position of righteousness

He has the authority to command the created realm—nature and angels and men

He has the authority to anoint and set men like the apostles aside for special, history-altering work

All of this adds up to equal “Christ as Lord.”

The sin-forgiving, miracle-performing, righteously-judging, completely-authoritative Lord of the Universe.

Peter also says that Jesus is Christ.

In the Greek New Testament, we have the word Christos. It is the Greek translation of the Jewish word for Messiah.

It means “anointed one.”

So when we say “Jesus Christ,” or call Him “the Christ,” we are referring to Jesus as the Messiah.

And much like Christ has shown His Lordship with His power and authority, Christ shows His Messiahship by being a Prophet, Priest and King.

He is the Prophet who has revealed God’s will to us by His Word and Spirit

He is the Priest who offers Himself up as a sacrifice for us to satisfy the divine justice of God.

He reconciles us to God and now, exalted and seated at His right hand—He makes intercession for us. Christ stands in the gap for us, forever and always.

And He is the King whose Kingdom is not of this world.

It is a spiritual kingdom.

And in it, Christ is subduing us and setting up His rule and reign in our lives.

He adds to it by the power of the Gospel.

Every person that repents is another that is subdued by the rule of Christ. That is another person who has given up on their way of life and followed Jesus.

So Peter is saying to this crowd:

The last days are here. The Spirit of God has come on the church and He sends us out with a message.

That message is that Jesus is both Lord and Christ.

He is the only hope to be saved when final judgment comes and you crucified Him.

You treated Him like a criminal.

Now, if that was all Peter had to say, someone might have objected and said, “Prove it.”

Well that is what Peter is doing in verses 22-35.

Before he even gets to his point, he is proving it.

Before he makes the claim, he makes his argument.

Let’s use Peter’s arguments as our teaching points this morning.

SIGNS AND WONDERS (v. 22)

Here is Argument #1:

1. We know that Jesus is Lord and Christ because of the signs and wonders (v. 22).

Acts is a sequel. If you want to see the first movie, you need to read the book of Luke. We spent June 2020-January 2023 doing just that.

And in it, we saw Jesus do a host of miraculous signs and wonders.

When Peter refers to the “mighty work” and “wonders” and “signs,” that is exactly what is being talked about. All of those things that the apostles saw Jesus do with their own eyes during His ministry on earth.

Peter says that Jesus was attested to Israel by God through those miraculous works.

And you see how this works in Luke. Jesus’ teaching ministry in Luke really begins when He conquers Satan in the wilderness temptations and then He comes into the synagogue and preaches.

He comes in and He reads His text:

Luke 4:16–20 ESV

And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him.

They are fixed on Him because Scripture has been read and they are now expecting Him to break it down.

He sat down and took the posture of rabbinical teacher and they are looking for Him to explain this reading from Isaiah.

So He explains it. Because that is what you do when you preach.

Luke 4:21 ESV

And he began to say to them, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

That’s it. That is the entire exposition of Isaiah 61:1-2 that Jesus offers.

He read a Messianic text and then said, “I am here and I am doing this in front of your eyes, as we speak.”

And then He applies the Word. Just as they are all murmuring about Him and thinking, “This can’t be the Messiah. It’s the carpenter’s boy,” He reads their hearts.

He tells them they are going to want signs and wonders from Him. They heard about the water and the wine and now they want to see some proof.

But He lets them know that they will reject Him anyway because their hearts are hard.

Luke 4:24–27 ESV

And he said, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

That is the application.

I am the Messiah. I am here. You are not going to accept Me or my message.

But some Gentiles will...

They did not like this.

But He doesn’t give them signs and wonders because He knows they already heard about what Him turning water into wine at Capernaum.

However, He still points the signs and wonders He has already performed as being an affirmation of His teaching

It is the same thing right after this. He is teaching and then we have Signs and wonders.

He is preaching in Capernaum about the Sabbath and man with an unclean demon comes up and confronts Jesus.

Luke 4:34–37 ESV

“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.

Luke is showing us right away that God is attesting to the authority of the Messiah’s teaching ministry with signs and wonders that prove His identity.

And from there:

Jesus heals Simon Peter's mother-in-law of a fever (Luke 4:38-39)

Jesus heals many people who were sick or demon-possessed (Luke 4:40-41)

Jesus cleanses a man with leprosy (Luke 5:12-16)

Jesus heals a paralyzed man (Luke 5:17-26)

Jesus heals a man with a withered hand (Luke 6:6-11)

Jesus heals a centurion's servant (Luke 7:1-10)

Jesus raises a widow's son from the dead (Luke 7:11-17)

Jesus calms a storm on the sea (Luke 8:22-25)

Jesus casts out a legion of demons from a man (Luke 8:26-39)

Jesus heals a woman with a 12-year hemorrhage (Luke 8:43-48)

Jesus raises Jairus' daughter from the dead (Luke 8:49-56)

Jesus heals a man with dropsy on the Sabbath (Luke 14:1-6)

Jesus heals ten lepers, but only one returns to thank him (Luke 17:11-19)

Jesus heals a blind beggar near Jericho (Luke 18:35-43)

The people could not deny what had been done throughout Israel.

It had been heard about. The news about Jesus had spread throughout the region. He had a throngs of people following Him.

Why? Because He taught with authority and His teaching was affirmed by signs and wonders.

MINI-APPLICATION: People will say all the time that they would believe in God or trust in Christ if He would just prove that He is real.

It is the same heart that murmured and said, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?”

It is the same heart that said, “Hey—if He is going to make these claims, He is going to have to prove it.”

Jesus’ point in Nazareth was that He had already performed signs and wonders and even if He did it in front of their eyes, people still wouldn’t believe Him.

Nothing has changed.

The signs and wonders He performed 2,000 years ago still attest to His identity as both Lord and God.

But people reject those signs and wonders because they say, “We don’t trust that Book that tells us about those signs and wonders.”

And I respond to that rejection by saying, that God has sovereignly given us an overwhelming amount of evidence through manuscripts that His Word is accurate.

There are around 2,000 manuscripts (MSS) containing the Gospels.

There are around 650 MSS containing Acts.

There are around 600 MSS containing the General Epistles.

There are around 300 MSS containing Revelation.

Dr. Wilbur Pickering

In the case of the Gospels, it is less than 100 years in between the first copy and the manuscript.

Compare that to Plato’s writings. We have SEVEN manuscripts—not 2,000.

And there is 1200 years in between the first copy and the first manuscript.

More than that, we have Josephus, who was not a Christian, writing about Jesus in 93 AD—meaning he is writing in a time where he could talk to people who actually knew Him.

Here is what he said:

At this time there appeared Jesus, a wise man. For he was a doer of startling deeds, a teacher of people who receive the truth with pleasure. And he gained a following among many Jews and among many of Greek origin.

Josephus, Antiquities

Did you catch that? A doer of startling deeds.

There are some words of Josephus that we believe we altered later by Christians. No one questions whether “A doer of startling deeds” are Josephus’ words.

So I can look at you this morning and say that He did these signs and wonders. The Bible tells us about them and we know that it is at least accurate to what was written down.

And we have outside sources attesting to the signs that attested to the identity of Christ.

And yet many still will not believe.

BUT they will cast themselves on lesser messiahs and lesser lords and throw the hopes of their soul on them, without question.

Why will a man give himself over to a sport or a job or his own good works before he would give himself over to Christ?

Because those things do not demand repentance and surrender

Friends---beware in you a heart that will cast logic aside and come up with cute ways to try and explain away this Man who is both Lord and God, all so you can continue in sin.

Deal with the reality of the Bible.

Deal with the reality of who Christ is—He is Lord and God and His works backed up His Word, which told us so.

DEATH AND RESURRECTION (v. 23-24)

Let’s move along and look at verses 23-24, where we see the Peter’s second argument regarding the identity of the One that Israel crucified:

2. We know that Jesus is both Lord and Christ through His death and resurrection (v. 23-24).

In verses 23-24, Peter is setting Pentecost and Joel’s text in the context of the recent events.

Pentecost does not occur in a vacuum. It is really the capstone on the work of Christ in His first coming.

You have the Incarnation—the birth of Christ

The Humiliation—the Death of Christ

The Resurrection—the Conquering victory of Christ over death

The Exaltation —His ascension to the right hand of the Father—His victory parade

And then we have the Father sending the promised Spirit on the Church to begin the age of witness.

We have the Spirit of Christ indwelling the church so that Christ’s message will go to the nations

This is Pentecost

It is the capstone of Christ’s work.

It brings an end to His first coming and begins the period of time that will carry on until His second coming

And it is also the launching pad for the Gospel

And what you see the Spirit doing through Peter is drawing attention to the fact that Jesus is both Lord and Christ and that is proven by the heart of His saving work—the Cross and resurrection.

This is what the Spirit of God loves to do. He loves to bring attention to the Son.

And He is doing is through Peter here.

There are two big things you can’t miss in what Peter is saying here:

A) The death of Christ was always God’s plan

B) The resurrection of Christ is a the only possible outcome of that plan

A) THE DEATH OF CHRIST WAS ALWAYS GOD’S PLAN

Verse 23 is not about the reconciliation of God’s sovereignty and man’s choice, but it does the work for us anyhow.

The verse is about how it has always been God’s plan for His Son to redeem His people.

But in the process, Peter shows us how in God’s great wisdom, His free choice and our reasonably free choices work together.

God is completely sovereign. He does what He chooses to do and whatever He does is right because He is not capable of wrong.

Daniel 4:35 ESV

all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

No unrighteous being can question His righteous deeds and character. We have no right and no grounds.

We want to bind Him and domesticate Him and tame Him. We want to make Him into our image and create a Being that must play by the human rules we play by.

But we are finite and He is not.

We are creature and He is Creator.

The truth is, the Lord is always good and always right and we must submit to His authority.

We must submit ourselves to His plan which is declared from before time:

Isaiah 46:10 ESV

declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,’

On the other hand, the Bible does not present human beings as robots. We are real people who make real decisions that have real consequences.

We are people who talk to each other and to God in real time.

We act and there are reactions.

And yet—God has declared the end from the beginning.

What do we do with this?

Well I agree with DA Carson who says:

We have expended huge quantities of energy pitting God’s sovereignty against human responsibility, when the Bible insists that these things belong together.

D. A. Carson

We see them going together in these verses.

Jesus was delivered up according to God’s definite plan.

Definite

In the Greek, appointed and declared

And He was delivered up according to God’s foreknowledge

Foreknowledge

In the Greek, prognosis

To know beforehand

And yet, Peter lays the responsibility at the feet of the men of Israel

“You crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men”

It is God’s plan and yet it is their doing.

Peter has no problem holding these things together because that is how the Bible works

God told Abram that he would have a family like the stars in the sky, but Abram had real actions that he must take and decisions to make, if he was going to be obedient.

God told David that his son, Solomon, would build the temple, but Solomon still had to do it.

The Scriptures foretold Judas’ denial and yet Judas made a real decision that brought severe judgment upon his life.

The sovereignty of God and the choice of man might look like to parallel ropes that don’t touch to you, but somewhere in the well of God’s infinite wisdom, those ropes wrap around one another in His plan.

We don’t need to pit these things against each other.

And we should avoid any theology of God’s sovereignty that diminishes man’s real choices and any understanding of man’s choice that diminishes God’s sovereignty.

Moreover, we should be encouraged that it was always God’s plan to send His Son for you because it is yet another demonstration that God’s love is eternal.

His glorious purpose to save the souls of His global church is not knee-jerk.

This was always God’s plan—for Jesus, who is both Lord and Christ to save the world by dying on the Cross.

B) The resurrection of Christ is the only possible outcome of that plan.

This is what Peter is saying in verse 24.

God raised Him up and loosened the pangs of death.

God removed the distress and reproach of death and raised Jesus up as the Victor over the grave.

And this was the only possible outcome because He is the God-Man.

1 Timothy 6:16 says that God alone has immortality.

You cannot kill God. You cannot make Him cease to exist.

That is what Satan surely thought He was accomplishing at Calvary.

But there was never a chance that God would be held by the grave.

The Second Person of the Trinity stepped over boundary of the tomb and exposed the world to His resurrected glory.

In verse 36, Peter is making an authoritative claim that could find him accused of blasphemy just like his Rabbi.

Jesus is Adonai. Master. Lord

Jesus is Messiah. Anointed One. Christ.

But if anyone would look at Peter and tear their cloak and say, “How could you say these things?”...

Peter would look back and say, “How could you not? He died and then rose again!”

And Peter is right. Everything hinges on this. This is it.

If Christians are right and Jesus died and rose again, then He is everything He said He was. He is Lord and Christ.

If we are wrong, Paul says the world should take pity on us because we are a chain of fools. We are wasting our lives and being slaughtered all the day long for nothing.

All that money you gave for missions—you should’ve gone to Hawaii or Greece or something

This is everything. Christ’s claims and teachings and identity hinge on the centerpiece of His ministry—His Cross and Resurrection.

VICTORIOUS AND EXALTED (v. 25-35)

And then, because it is so important, Peter spends the rest of the time proving that Christ is the resurrected and exalted Savior by pointing to two Old Testament texts.

3. We know that Jesus is both Lord and Christ through His victory and exaltation (v. 25-35).

Peter says that he is able to speak with so much confidence about this because of what you read in Psalm 16:8-11

Psalm 16:8–11 ESV

I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken. Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices; my flesh also dwells secure. For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Peter calls David a prophet in verse 30 and says that David prophesied these words about Jesus in verse 25.

And he is arguing that they must be about Jesus because David died.

Peter is presenting the case in verses 30-31 that David knew God promised him an heir to always sit on his throne.

And inspired by the Spirit, he foresees and speaks about Christ’s resurrection when he utters the words of Psalm 16:8-11...

Peter uses the words of the Psalm to show that while David is dead and they could go to his grave and see his bones (v. 29), Jesus:

was not abandoned to Hades—or the grave

His flesh did not see corruption and decay in the grave

He declares in verse 32 that Christ was raised and that is what he and the others speaking in tongues are witnessing to.

And then, in verses 33-35, Peter turns his attention to the ascension of Christ.

He says that Christ is now exalted at the right hand of God and He has poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit—the promise of the Father—on the church (v. 33)

This is what they are seeing and hearing.

And Peter again turns to David’s words in the Psalms and counts them as Messianic prophecy:

Psalm 110:1 ESV

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

In the same way that David could not have been talking about himself resurrecting because his bones were still in his grave, he also couldn’t be talking about himself ascending.

Moreover, Peter is brilliant for quoting this text because it is a passage with two “Lords”

The LORD says to my Lord...

Who is the second Lord? It can’t be David because David didn’t ascend.

It can only be Jesus.

They could take a field trip to see David’s grave. But they couldn’t do that with Jesus.

He wasn’t there.

He is victorious and exalted. Risen and ascended.

THE HISTORY OF JESUS

Understanding the arguments that are holding up Peter’s big point in verse 36, let’s read it again.

Acts 2:36 ESV

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

The signs and wonders attested to it

The cross and empty grave were proof of it

The Scriptures speaking of his victory and exaltation foretold it

In many ways, Peter is laying recent history at their feet and saying, “Deal with it.”

Next week, we will see them deal with it by crying out. They are cut to the heart and they recognize that for killing the Messiah, they should receive God’s wrath.

They want to know what they must do in order to be saved.

The history of Jesus made them terrified of the future

What has occurred cries out for a day of justice. So we see 3000 convicted men cry out for mercy.

Well, what I want to say to you this morning is that the history of Jesus is laid before You, as well.

It is not as recent. The last days have gone on now for 2000 years.

The Lord waits for the time He has appointed. When that time comes, the last days will end and way of salvation will close.

Final judgment will come and the time for repentance will be over.

So you must deal with the history of Christ, now. The Lord keeps His promises and the Lord will return.

But what you do with the history of Christ determines your future.

Your response to the history of Christ determines your standing with Him on the day of His 2nd Coming.

Will you look at the evidence He has laid before You in His Word?

The signs and wonders?

The saving work of the crucifixion and resurrection?

The prophecies that foretold the coming of a victorious and exalted Messiah?

Will you look at the history of His living, dying, resurrecting and ascending?

And will you refuse to make the mistake of suppressing truth so that you can continue on in sin?

There is clear witness in the Word.

You are hearing the Word preached today, just as those people heard it 3000 years ago.

Romans 10:17 ESV

So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

You are hearing the Word of Christ this morning.

Will you have faith?

ASK THE BAND TO COME

Because I will say this before we sing—your fingerprints are on this scene more than you think.

When Jesus says, “This Jesus whom you crucified,” we cannot sit outside of that statement and act like it has nothing to do with us.

Jesus died for the sin of sinners and I am a sinner. And so are you .

He died because people like you and me don’t have self-control.

We don’t love God rightly. We don’t others rightly.

We can’t stop with the gossiping and the complaining and the lusting

We struggle to pray without a wandering mind and to read the Word without getting distracted

We are sinners who have transgressed God’s law and we have played a hand in the death of the God-Man.

As one song we like to sing says, “It was my sin that held Him there, until it was accomplished.”

So when we see Peter tell them to repent, he is telling us to repent.

And while we will do a deep dive on that next week, I won’t leave you questioning for seven days, if there is this great commotion in your heart about Jesus right now.

If your heart is restless because it recognizes the truth of who Christ is and you desire to be right with Him today, then you must believe Christ and repent.

Trust in Him alone for your salvation and intend to sin no more.

That is what you must do.

And as Peter promises to the believers in Jerusalem, you will be saved. You will be forgiven. You will receive the Holy Spirit.

Don’t wait. Don’t delay. The way of salvation is open. But soon He will return and His enemies will be His footstool, while His friends will reign with Him.

Trust in Christ and gain a friend in the God of heaven and earth.

Repent of sin and never be His enemy again.

Pin all your hopes on Jesus—the One whom God has made both Lord and Christ.

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