Resurrection Sunday/baptism...
Text: Acts 2:22-41
Subject: How does Peter explain the events of “the Jerusalem Pentecost”?
Complement: by authenticating Jesus of Nazareth & calling people to repentance.
Exe idea: Jesus of Nazareth is the one & only Saviour who calls us to repentance & baptism.
Preaching idea: Salvation is found in no one else... Repent and be baptized in Jesus’name!
Introduction – It's been 50 days now since Passover(!) and the roman crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth.
a. The “Phenomenon” of Pentecost causes quite a stir!
b. ? strong winds...dancing flames...a multitude of languages
c. It's a Jewish festival – with special effects! ... city is crowded1
d. What does it mean?
Peter – one of the 12 disciples of Jesus – stands up to explain
e. Peter of course is A Jew himself
f. is this connected to Jewish roots? Or not? (King David’s throne)
g. And... he has 3 years of first person experience with Jesus (he’s supremely qualified to speak... )
...Peter’s sermon connects the entire OT/Jewish story – Prophets...King David – To Jesus of Nazareth
2. Peter speaks first of Jesus identity: 22
a. Accredited by God through miracles
b. These miracles benefited you! (yes, you)
c. “as you yourselves know!”
3. Next, Peter speaks of Jesus’ Mission: 23
a. his death was by “God’s deliberate plan” – and wicked men “helped”: v. 23
b. why would God do this?
c. His only son...sacrificed?... crucified?
d. So then, Who killed Jesus?
e. Was he murdered?
f. Was he assassinated?
g. No ? God’s deliberate plan!
h. Put him to death by nailing him to the cross; v. 23
This begs the question, why was it God’s plan to kill his only son?
4. Next, Peter speaks of Jesus purpose - Why Jesus died.
a. 1 cor 15: 3 “Christ died for our sins...” 15:3
b. Sin is the easiest doctrine to prove!
c. Psalm 51:5 “surely I was sinful at birth; from the time my mother conceived me”
d. But “Sin” isn’t in modern vocabulary
e. “Good” is in vogue... human potential... deification of self is in vogue
f. Yet we continue to see “Crimes against humanity”.... genocide...
g. Jesus, when called “good teacher” replied, why are you calling me good ?– there is no one good but God!
h. Paul said, “all have sinned and fall short of God’s holiness” (Rom 3:23)
Can anyone honestly deny this???
Do you know yourself well enough to recognize your own greed, pride, lust, jealousy?... ulterior motives...compromise... dishonesty...selfishness... do you -like me – blame others for your shortcomings?
i. So we need to be rescued from our sins...
j. We cannot save ourselves!
k. We cannot educate ourselves out of sin.
Acts 4:12 says it well... “salvation is found in no one else, there is no other name under heaven whereby we must be saved.”
5. Why couldn’t God just forgive – without Jesus having to die?
a. Because Forgiveness is never free – not even in your life or mine.
b. Someone has to pay for the loss or the lie or the slander...
You crash your car... it has to be repaired... who pays? You? The insurance co? the other party?
c. Someone has to pay to repair the damage to the vehicle.
Actions have consequences.
d. Who pays for your crimes and demeanors?
e. Who pays for your lies... selfishness... exploitation of someone?
f. Who pays?
g. You? The victim?
h. Nobody?
i. That hardly seems realistic!
Sports with a referee... without “a sense of fair play” – goes against natural order of things
6. Sacrifice is one thing - and martyrdom is heroic/ inspiring – but it has no transference of character or standing to me or you.
So, if Jesus only died as a martyr... others have too.
a. All such martyrs are to be honored & remembered, and they often inch progress forward, but life goes on....
b. MLK jr. (assassinated...)
Q... But what if Jesus not only died... but came up out of the grave???
Wouldn’t that make him unique?
7. Peter now declares - But God raised him from the dead: v. 24 (David spoke about this )
a. Now think of the closeness of these events - A mere 50 days have passed .
b. God raised him from the dead = endorsement!
c. Freeing him from the agony of death – “effects of death”
d. It was impossible for death to keep it's hold on him” v. 24
Why?
Death has held everyone else in the grave – what’s different with Jesus?
In Jesus resurrection - Death was defeated!!!
Think about it.
We hate death – it's our enemy... it's what we fear the most... it hurts the most.
To lose a loved one... to receive a terminal diagnosis.
Is there anything worse?
***This is what makes Jesus unique – he’s the only one to defeat death
*** and he’s defeated death not only for himself – but for us too!
Others have been resuscitated – but only Jesus has eternally defeated death – and, he is still alive – yes!... Jesus of Nazareth is fully alive – these 2000 years later!!!
8. The evidence of the resurrection of Jesus is substantial:
a. Eye-witnesses – women! (Matthew’s gospel...Luke...
b. Very early accounts of the resurrection were written by Paul – so early that if false - someone could refute it – “not true”!
c. 1 cor 15 - 500 witnesses, says Paul – most are still alive – check with them!!!
d. There’s more... a 40 day period of appearing!
e. Thomas – 1 of the 12 – didn’t believe it – so Jesus appeared to Thomas too!
f. Consider also the Birth of the church - as recorded here in Acts 2
***And it didn’t Peter out (pun intended) in the face of great persecution
So, it's true... it's not a fairy tale.
Easter is not about bunny rabbits and chocolate.
A tradition of polytheism we inherited from the Greeks.
A fertility god named “est”
Modern world and it's marketing savvy isn’t about to divorce Easter from chocolate... it's much to lucrative.
But let’s be honest – Easter isn’t about chocolate or bunnies... or Easter eggs. At least not the Christian version – only the pagan version.
From the early days of the Roman Empire recognizing Christianity as the official religion of the empire, and the subsequent rise of “Christendom”, Christianity had a way of taking pagan holidays and “baptizing them into Christianity”
... Christmas is a similar “marriage” of the winter solstice (DEC 21) and Jesus birth.
So, to understand Easter from the biblical perspective, means you have to wrestle with Jesus and his teaching. To do less would be insulting to your own intelligence.
Here is Jesus - in his own words...
• “the son of man came to seek and save the lost”
• “come to me... I will give you rest.”
• “whoever hears these words of mine is a wise man who builds his house on the rock...”
• Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
9. What does this mean for you?
a. He did this for you – not for himself!
b. This is called “substitution.”
c. “substitutionary atonement”
Stott: “The essence of sin is we human beings substituting ourselves for God - while the essence of salvation is God substituting himself for us. p.160 The cross of Christ
• Jesus was already God!!!
• He didn’t need to come into our world of “dust and flies”
• Christmas celebrates his coming...
• Easter remembers his dying – Good Friday...the term hardly does justice to the event...
• Easter Sunday celebrates and proclaims his resurrection to eternal life.
10. But how does this transaction of sacrifice/substitution take effect?
a. By faith... or by simply believing it.
I don’t mean a trivial belief... like “I believe it might rain”
b. Belief concerning weighty matters of life/death are surely more substantive than token acceptance.
Belief means – love – love means obedience and worship – it means Jesus becomes the center of your life and identity.
When you fall in love ...
and you want to get married – you’re saying,
“I believe in you... I believe in us...
I’m ready to act on this belief by getting married!”
Do you believe in Jesus enough to stake your life on his life?
Your eternal destiny?
That’s what we mean by “believe in Jesus”
Not if you don’t believe in Jesus – who do you believe in more?
Who is a more “believable” than Jesus?
c. Ephesians 2:8-10 says this 8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
11. Peter gives his own witness...
a. we witnessed it ourselves, he says!
Here’s this fisherman from Galilee in Jerusalem standing in front of a crowd during the festival of Pentecost making these statements! (proclamations)
His grasp of the gospel is impressive.
Jesus is now exalted to God’s right hand
Jesus has poured out the Holy Spirit!: v. 33
(Peter’s) Conclusion: God has made this Jesus – both Lord and Messiah!
12. The People respond with conviction - What shall we do?
Peter ? “Repent and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
Save yourselves from this corrupt generation; v, 40
3000 people accepted the message/believed and were baptized.
It made sense – these are not ignorant people. They are devout Jews who have come to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost – the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai and now it's the Holy Spirit’s coming that re-defines Pentecost.
a. From all the diaspora nations...
This promise is for all! ; v. 39 says Peter!! ...Jew and gentile
13. Since those days, the church has developed over 2000 Years of history
a. World-wide church...
b. Missionaries have travelled the globe
c. Stats:
i. RCC - Catholic
ii. Greek orthodox
iii. Russian orthodox
iv. State churches - Free churches
v. Evangelical churches
vi. Pentecostal/charismatic churches
vii. Independent churches
viii. Underground churches
d. Some are liturgical – pipe organ – some are spontaneous with drums!
e. Some are simple – no priests...no paid pastors
f. Some are bible only - Some have twisted the bible out of shape
g. Renewals have come – more will follow
h. Reformation has come –
i. Some are orthodox - Some are cults – JW and Mormons
j. Some are apostate
i. Universalist
ii. Spiritualist
OK, So, it may be too much for most of us care about – although history teaches us lessons we need to remember.
14. So today – I want to show you and call you to the core of the gospel.
“Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures and on the third day, he rose from the dead, according to the scriptures.”
Which brings us to baptism... (“repent & be baptized”)
Matt 28 – the Great Commission – “make disciples and baptize them”.
Today, you’re going to hear some stories of people who have answered the call of the gospel... people who get the true meaning of Easter!
Here’s one story...
...In a few moments, Isilon’s stock would be publicly traded, and we would watch the stock price fluctuate until it made us wealthy.
When the opening bell rang, Isilon’s stock stood at $13 per share and immediately began a steady climb, more than doubling its offering price. Isilon team members spent the rest of the day hugging and congratulating each other over our roaring success. I was now a millionaire on paper.
Walking the streets afterward, we passed an older-looking office building that could have served as an apartment house. An investment banker stopped us and pointed out that Karl Marx had lived there during his time in London, while working on his book “Das Kapital”.
A voice from our group piped up: “Lucky for us Karl Marx didn’t get it right, or we wouldn’t be here.”
Everyone laughed.
The irony of passing a monument to communist history while drumming up investments for our business hadn’t escaped us.
“True,” another member of our party chimed in.
“But he did get one thing right: Religion is an opiate for the masses. It’s nothing but a support for people’s insecurities. A crutch.”
“Makes sense,” I mumbled as I nodded my head. They continued their conversation while we headed back to the hotel in our limousine.
Entering my room.... Something was stirring in my gut. I couldn’t get the comment about religion being the opiate of the masses out of my mind. It amused me because of how shallow and sophomoric it seemed, and yet it bothered me too. In some ways my mind wanted to say yes, but my heart said no.
Then a question reverberated deep inside: What would the world be like without Jesus Christ?
I wrestled with it and couldn’t shake it.
Sure, I thought, the world is a broken and depraved place where wars and violence are common. Sure, there is suffering and endless heartache.
But what would the world be like without Jesus Christ?
I reflected on the high and low points of my life. I thought especially about my quest for autonomy and self-sufficiency, and how it ended up enslaving me to the pursuit of wealth and other material things.
Then my wife, Trish, came to mind. She was a Christian—and truth be told, I had persecuted her for it.
I had seen her hiding her Bible in the morning so I wouldn’t make snide comments. I had called her a “Bible thumper” and a “Jesus freak.”
Our marriage was struggling mightily because, in biblical terms, we were unequally yoked.
But what would her life be like without Jesus?
Her joy seemed to come from something she realized she didn’t earn. How could she be joyful in anything if she didn’t earn it? That’s not how I saw life.
I realized that up to that point, I had invested all my intellectual energies into the idea that God didn’t exist. Because if he did, then where did that leave me? I had put all my stock into myself—my self-sufficiency, my business acumen.
...I felt a warm wave of energy surge through me, and my eyes welled up with tears. I couldn’t stop it—a feeling of joy but also regret. A feeling of deep and unending love but also a deep sense of the need to repent. It seemed like a light had come on, even though the room was still dark.
I’ve had this all wrong, I thought. Yes, the world is a broken, depraved, and violent place. But the Bible says that Jesus healed people. He transformed them. He hung out among the worst of them. And he forgave them.
Then I felt a divine presence in the room.
Shivers ran up and down my spine.
The Holy Spirit was there.
“Jesus!” I cried out.
“I’ve worshiped myself, but it’s empty. I don’t want to live another moment apart from you. I give my life to you. Please forgive my pride. Make me one of yours, and adopt me into your family.”
Then I laid down on the floor on my face before God and sobbed all night. Every tear washed away a memory of rebellion, a harsh word, an indiscretion. I didn’t care whether anyone in the hallway or next door could hear me. I wanted a relationship with Jesus Christ. (CT Magazine, April 2022)
