Lechem Panim #122 "Peter Preaches Christ" (Acts 2:22-41) Pastor Cameron Ury

Hello, and welcome to Lechem Panim. I am so glad you could join us today as we continue our study of the book of Acts. You will remember that last week we talked about the Holy Spirit’s coming at Pentecost and Peter’s explanation to the crowds of what they were witnessing. And it is that explanation that Peter continues in our passage today. He says in…

Acts 2:22-35 (ESV)— 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. 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.’
29 “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. 30 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, 31 he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. 32 This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses. 33 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. 34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, 35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’

How It Happened— Now the first part of Peter’s focus here was on what was happening. The Holy Spirit had come. And next [He explained how it happened: Jesus was alive]. Now Jews and proselytes to Judaism had come from all over the empire to celebrate Passover; and many of them stayed for Pentecost as well. And so everybody there was keenly aware of the events in and surrounding the crucifixion of Jesus. They had heard of His miracles, and had known (and in some cases witnessed) His arrest, His trial, and His crucifixion. Many of them had no doubt heard of the empty tomb, though the religious leaders had put out an official statement that Jesus’ disciples had stolen Jesus’ body in order to convince people that He had been raised from the dead as He said He would be. But Peter counteracts that statement with four major proofs of the resurrection: 

Proof 1: The Person of Jesus (vv. 22-44)— And the first of these regarded the person of Jesus Himself. The people knew that Jesus was a teacher from Nazareth who had performed many signs and miracles. And those signs pointed to who He is. You will remember that Nicodemus (a member of the Sanhedrin) acknowledged this all the way back in John 3:2 when he said: “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” 

​They Were Witnesses— And so this crowd is filled with witnesses to many of these signs as well, and to what and how Jesus had taught (with that amazing divine authority). These things were not done in a corner (as Paul states clearly to Festus and King Agrippa in Acts 26:26). Everyone could see that God’s hand was on Jesus in a special way. And yet (as Peter reminds them) Jesus died (which would ordinarily look like defeat). But Peter (interestingly) describes Jesus’ death in terms of pain/pangs (meaning “birth pangs”) thereby [suggesting that the tomb was a “womb” out of which Jesus was “born” in resurrection glory (see Acts 13:33).]

Proof 2: The Prophecy of David (vv. 25-31)— Now [Peter’s second proof was the prophecy of David (vv. 25–31). He quoted Psalm 16:8–11 {(which talks about One who was released from the power of death;)}, verses that obviously could not apply to David, who {at this time} was already dead and buried. {Rather, what Peter says is that David was a prophet; and} Being a prophet of God, David wrote about the Messiah, that His soul would not remain in hades (the realm of the dead) or His body in the grave where it would decay.] So (as always) there is a pointing back to the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament supports the resurrection of the Messiah.

Proof 3: The Witness of The Believers (v.33)— Now [The third proof {Peter offered} was the witness of the believers (v. 33) {themselves}], who (think about it) had just spent 40 days with a resurrected Jesus. Now you can say they were all hallucinating a resurrected Lord. Some modern theories suggest that there was a certain type of hallucinogenic mushroom that all of them were smoking (I’m not kidding) that caused this group hallucination. But any psychiatrist will tell you that people rarely hallucinate the same thing (and certainly not all at the same time). And here we would be talking about 120 believers all hallucinating the same thing simultaneously. And this is further complicated by the fact that the disciples were not even expecting Jesus to rise from the dead and had to themselves be convinced that it was true (Mark 16:9–14; Acts 1:3). And they had nothing to gain and really everything to lose (facing official opposition and even imprisonment and death) for embracing and teaching a resurrected Christ. So why would they do this if they knew it to be false? While there have been people throughout history who sacrificed themselves on the basis of false information, few (if any) did so knowing their belief to be false; and that’s the difference. But that is what the disciples would have been doing if they had stolen the body. Nobody does that. And so all this points to the reliability of the disciples as credible witnesses. They can be trusted! And this is further evidenced by their message being backed up (repeatedly) by miracles in and throughout the book of Acts, which we will see as we proceed.

Proof 4: The Presence of The Holy Spirit (vv. 33-35)— Now the fourth proof Peter offers is what the people are here experiencing: [the presence {and power} of the Holy Spirit (vv. 33–35). Follow his logic. {Peter is saying that} If the Holy Spirit is in the world, then God must have sent Him. The prophet Joel (whom we mentioned last week) promised that one day the Spirit would come, and Jesus Himself had promised to send the gift of the Holy Spirit to His people (Luke 24:49; John 14:26; 15:26; Acts 1:4). But if Jesus is dead, He cannot send the Spirit; therefore (because the crowds can see the Holy Spirit at work) He must be alive. Furthermore, Jesus could not send the Spirit unless He had returned to heaven to the Father (John 16:7); so, Jesus has ascended to heaven! To back up this statement, Peter quoted Psalm 110:1 {(which talks about One who would sit at the right hand of God)}, a verse that certainly could not be applied to David (note Matt. 22:41–46).] So Peter’s conclusion is clear. Jesus is the Messiah, He had risen and sits at the right hand of God, and has sent the Holy Spirit.

Seeker-Friendly or Confrontational?— Now there is a lot of discussion among many churches today about how to be more seeker-friendly; how to make your church a place new people will feel comfortable and safe. And the one thing they say you never ever want to do is sound judgmental or condemning. Why? Because you might offend someone and they won’t come back; and if they don’t come back, how will they ever find a relationship with Jesus? But I love this first sermon of the Christian Church that Peter preaches because Peter ignores all that “let’s try to be nice” kind of philosophy and preaches exactly how Jesus Himself had preached. His message directly confronted their sin. Now in verse 23 Peter says (basically) “Jesus is your Messiah, but you crucified Him!” And he says again in…

Acts 2:36 (ESV)— 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.”

Not General, But Specific— Now he could have presented this message in a general sense. He could have said that the cross was the place where Christ (as the sinless lamb of God) died as a substitute for the sins of the whole world. But no; Peter doesn’t gloss over the painful reality of how personal all of this was. They (Israel) killed their own Messiah. That (more than the any other atrocity every committed; greater than the holocaust; greater than any mass extermination ever committed on this planet); nothing even compares to what Peter said these men and women did. They killed the Son of God! Can you imagine preaching a message like that? Peter did. Why? Because it is often only when we come to grips with the full weight of our sin that we are willing to then seek forgiveness and restoration from that sin. Niceness doesn’t save people. A Gospel watered down to not offend anyone can’t save people. It is only through Christ crucified for you and for me that we can be saved. And that is why we also need to be confronted by the fact that it was for our sins that held him there on the cross.

The Soldier’s Hand— One movie that has had a great impact on the world is The Passion of The Christ, a film directed by Mel Gibson. But one interesting behind-the-scenes fact about that movie is that while the crucifixion scene was being filmed, and the soldier was getting ready to drive the nail through the hand of Jesus, the camera moved to a closeup shot of the soldier’s hand. But it was actually Mel Gibson’s own hand that hammered the nail into Jesus. And Mel Gibson wanted to drive home the point (literally) that all of us are responsible for the death of the Son of God.

Now the people here (after hearing Peter) have happen to them exactly what always happens when the Gospel is presented as it is meant to be presented. It says in…

Acts 2:37-41 (ESV)— 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. 

Their Season of Grace— Now unfortunately we don’t have the rest of Peter’s sermon. But it’s core message was one of repentance. Believe, repent, be baptized as a sign of that repentance and come and follow Christ. And we see that for these first Christians, it meant radical change; a change in their hearts; a change in their minds (through the Holy Spirit) that re-oriented the entire way they did life. And we will explore this more in the coming weeks. But God’s message to you and to me today is exactly the same. Peter said to the people “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” (v.40) You will remember that during Israel’s 40-year banishment in the wilderness, [the new generation “saved itself” from the older generation that rebelled against God.] [{And similarly here}…the nation {of Israel} would have about forty years before Rome would come and destroy the city and the temple and scatter the people. History was repeating itself.] And yet God was giving grace (another forty year period) to repent, believe, and be saved. And we see here that three thousand people did so.

​Our Season of Grace— Now you and I are in another season of grace. And from the signs of the times it looks like that time of grace is coming to an end. God’s judgment is coming. And so now is the time to examine ourselves and ask ourselves, "Have we truly repented; have we truly let go of all our sin and chosen to follow Christ with all of who we are. Have we embraced the Spirit-filled life? If not, or if you are not sure, then Peter’s message of believing, repenting, and following Jesus is for you today. Tell Christ that you are giving your sins to Him today, that you receive His forgiveness, and that you (with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength) will follow Him. If you commit to do that today; if you give yourself to Christ like that, the Holy Spirit will enter into your life and your life will be altogether changed; altogether new. If you haven’t done that, do it today. Amen.