The Message
Acts 4:1-4
April 15, 2012

It is obvious that when we read this passage it is a story about
How Peter and John were arrested for their sermon in the temple.

In fact all of chapter 4 follows this incident and reveals the outcome of it.

But in my estimation it is a mistake
To spend all of our time focusing on the arrest of these men
So as to speak only about persecution.

Rather, it seems to me that Luke’s purpose in presenting this story
Is not to talk about persecution, but rather to talk about
How little the persecution actually affected the message.

When you look at these four verses there is a great conflict.
It is the authority of the Jews vs. the power of God’s word.

And it is obvious that Luke wants you to see
That the message reigns supreme.

So tonight I want you to see the power of the message
That these men preached.

Now, when we talk about the message of the gospel,
You and I must understand that it is a polarizing thing.

While the gospel does unite us with fellow believers,
It first divides us from the world.

Jesus said:
Matthew 10:34-36 “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. “For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW; and A MAN’S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.”
It is first a SWORD that divides,
Then for those who believe it, it is a STAFF that pulls together.

But it is polarizing.

On one hand the message of the gospel
Is the power of God for salvation.

Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.”

Romans 10:17 “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.”

But on the other hand the message of the gospel
Is the very cause of persecution.

Matthew 10:22 “You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved.”

Matthew 10:24-25 “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. “It is enough for the disciple that he become like his teacher, and the slave like his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign the members of his household!”

The message of the gospel is clearly the lightning rod of the church.

And the early church knew how valuable it was.

All you have to do is listen to the TERMINOLOGY USED
As the apostles talked about the message of the gospel.

Listen to Peter in his epistle:
1 Peter 1:24-25 “For, “ALL FLESH IS LIKE GRASS, AND ALL ITS GLORY LIKE THE FLOWER OF GRASS. THE GRASS WITHERS, AND THE FLOWER FALLS OFF, BUT THE WORD OF THE LORD ENDURES FOREVER.” And this is the word which was preached to you.”

Listen to how Paul spoke to Timothy:
1 Timothy 6:20 “O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge”

2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Retain the standard of sound words which you have heard from me, in the faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.”

They saw the gospel as something powerful and something beautiful.
It was a treasure to be guarded and a truth to be proclaimed.

And the only reason I remind you of that is to say this.

In the early church the message was sovereign.

There is much talk today about being like the early church.
I don’t know if I’ve ever been in a meeting or at a seminar or at a conference
When in the conversation if the early church came up,
It was unanimously agreed that we should be more like them.

We obviously recognize that the early church had it figured out.
And it is because to them the message was sovereign.

If you want to contrast that to today, we can see a glaring difference.

Today, in the American church, the message is no longer sovereign.
METHOD is sovereign today.

Churches today easily get obsessed with fads and methods
Even to the exclusion of the gospel.
And the early church didn’t do this.

Now that is not to say culture was totally ignored.
• We all know Paul was aware of Jewish culture, that’s why he circumcised Timothy.
• We know that Paul was aware of Gentile culture, that’s why he at times lived as without the Law.
• They were ignorant of culture, but they certainly weren’t focused on it.

Their focus was the message of the gospel.
If you gave them the choice of being ignorant of the culture, or ignorant of the gospel, they would have chosen the culture every time.

The message reigned supreme.

And just for a short time tonight I want to show you why.
I want you to see why we focus our energy on knowing the gospel,
And not purely on knowing the culture.

If I know the culture, but not the gospel, I may go on mission and remain safe while I am there, but those I meet will not be safe for eternity.

Yet, if I know the gospel and not the culture, I may place myself in danger, but the gospel, which transcends culture, will get an opportunity to save souls.

There is nothing as important to the mission of the church
As a commitment to the message we are called to proclaim.

And tonight I want to show you why.

Four things
#1 THE MESSAGE WAS DELIVERED
Acts 4:1a

All we simply read is this:
“As they were speaking to the people…”

Now we could just start there, and that would be enough.
For even without the previous chapter, verse 4 gives tremendous insight,
For we know that Peter and John were
“proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

However we are fortunate to know much more than that,
Since we have the luxury of studying chapter 3.

And without recapping the entire chapter, you remember what took place there.
1) Peter and John SEIZED their opportunity.
• Thanks to the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter was able to heal a man crippled in his feet by the name of Jesus.

• When that man was healed he went running and leaping through the temple and this draw a crowd.

• Peter and John did not take that responsibility lightly, they knew that God had appointed that crowd for a reason.

• They seized the opportunity.

2) Peter and John SHOWED people their sin.

• Not only did they explain how this man was healed, but Peter also managed to remind the people of their sin in rejecting the Holy One of God by handing Him over to Pilate while asking for the release of a known murderer.

• Peter didn’t mind telling the people that they were guilty of rejecting God, and His appointed Messiah.

• They showed people their sin.

3) Peter and John STATED the requirement.
• Far from being uncertain about the situation, they clearly told the people what they were required to do.

• “repent and return” where the exact words of Peter. And if you will, then God will “send Jesus” to bring about the period of restoration.

• But Peter was clear about what was expected.

• They stated the requirement

4) Peter and John STOOD on Scripture.
• It wasn’t just their opinion that was given to the people. Even as apostles with authority, they still appealed to the word of God.

• Peter quoting from Deuteronomy about the coming prophet that the people were to listen to or die.

• And Peter informed them again that they had blown it.Telling the people, (3:25) “It is you…” they were talking to.

• And reminding the people that “God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

And so don’t miss the fact that the message was delivered.
Peter and John were faithful to give this crowd the truth of the gospel.

If they hadn’t the whole thing would have been for not.
We would have had a grateful cripple, and an amazed crowd,
And probably some popular apostles, but that is all.

They had to proclaim the message and that is what they did.
The Message was Delivered
#2 THE MESSAGE WAS DISTURBING
Acts 4:1b-2

“the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.”

Now one thing we must notice immediately as that even though
The gospel is “good news” it is greatly disturbing to some people.

You must understand that the gospel is no “feel good” message.

The gospel confronts sinners in their sin and requires them
Not only to repent, but to die that they may be re-born.

• The gospel tells sinners to leave their sin.
• The gospel tells idolaters to leave their idols.
• The gospel tells the greedy to leave their money.
• The gospel tells adulterers to leave their lust.
• The gospel tells drunks to leave the bottle.
• The gospel tells hypocrites to leave their reputation.
• The gospel tells the living to die.

The gospel confronts men at their most painful and vulnerable part
And demands a change.

It leaves no sin untouched, it leaves no closet closed,
The gospel exposes and lays men bear.
It insults men, humiliates men and condemns them
All before it leads them to salvation.

And we must understand that.
If the gospel doesn’t disturb sinners then rest assured it is not the gospel.
If the gospel doesn’t offend sinners then rest assured it is not the gospel.

We have now heard Peter preach twice
And both times he exposed the worst in those he spoke to.
The gospel message was disturbing.

And that is Luke says about the leaders here.
(2) “being greatly disturbed…”

“disturbed” comes from a Greek compound word
The first part means “through” the second means “to work hard”

It carries the meaning of being worn out, being fed up.

Another time this word is used is in Acts 16:18
Acts 16:18 “She continued doing this for many days. But Paul was greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out at that very moment.”

The idea here is that these “priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees” had had enough.

They had taken all they were going to take.
In their mind Peter was insulting them over and over and over
And they were finished.
That is why they interrupted them while they were speaking.

There may have been a point where they thought not to interrupt,
But that point had long passed they were “greatly disturbed”

And we know why.
1) “because they were teaching the people”

These were the priests and the Sadducees, the educated,
Those who were important.

And they most certainly did not like these “uneducated and untrained men” (4:13) having the audacity to teach people; especially in the temple.

It was jealousy.
Acts 5:17 “But the high priest rose up, along with all his associates (that is the sect of the Sadducees), and they were filled with jealousy.”

Peter and John were insulting their high position.
Who were they to tell these men to repent?

Understand that sometimes we disturb men when we preach the gospel simply because we have the audacity to tell them anything.

There are some who never let us get to the offensive parts of the gospel,
They are simply offended that a nobody like you
Would have the audacity to try to tell them something.

See the gospel doesn’t require that men be worldly educated,
Nor does it require a sharp intellect.

The gospel just requires that it be proclaimed.
It can even come from the mouth of a donkey
If God wills it so and it is still effective.

And a world that loves accolades hates that fact.

They were disturbed because Peter and John
Had the audacity to teach the people.

But that is not all.
2) “they were teaching the people…the resurrection from the dead.”

Now, not only did Peter and John have the audacity to preach,
But they were preaching doctrine that the Sadducees did not agree with.

Matthew 22:23 “On that day some Sadducees (who say there is no resurrection) came to Jesus and questioned Him,”

Acts 23:6-8 “But perceiving that one group were Sadducees and the other Pharisees, Paul began crying out in the Council, “Brethren, I am a Pharisee, a son of Pharisees; I am on trial for the hope and resurrection of the dead!” As he said this, there occurred a dissension between the Pharisees and Sadducees, and the assembly was divided. For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, nor an angel, nor a spirit, but the Pharisees acknowledge them all.”

Sadducees didn’t believe in resurrection
(That’s why they were Sad-You-See)

Here we have Peter and John teaching something they did not believe.

Peter and John were challenging what they had been teaching the people.
Peter and John threatened to make them look bad.

The gospel demands a change of belief
And if you are one who has been adamantly teaching what is false,
It requires you to eat a lot of your words.

That is another reason it disturbs.

But that is not all.
3) “teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection…”

And this is even worse.

• Now, not only did they steal their thunder by teaching…
• Not only did they embarrass them by teaching different truth…
• But now they sought to condemn them as murderers of Jesus…

It is no wonder they were disturbed.
They brought up Jesus and that was all it took.

They were annoyed when they started teaching…
They were even more annoyed when they taught resurrection…
But when they brought up Jesus, that was the final straw!!!

If Peter and John had not wanted to disturb people
All they had to do was not teach, not teach the resurrection,
And never mention Jesus.

But to present the gospel
It was inevitable that someone was going to be disturbed.

The Message was Delivered, The Message was Disturbing
#3 THE MESSAGE WAS DESPISED
Acts 4:3

How bad did these men hate the message they were hearing?
So bad they arrested the messengers.

That is another reality of the gospel.
Since it confronts men at their deepest point and exposes their darkest secrets, generally speaking there are those who despise it.

• Men don’t like to be embarrassed
• Men don’t like to be humiliated
• Men don’t like to be condemned

And too often instead of pointing their aggression towards sin
(the real enemy) they point their aggression towards the message that exposed it.

Paul actually hit on this in the 7th chapter of Romans when he spoke about the Law (which is part of the gospel)

Romans 7:9-13 “I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive and I died; and this commandment, which was to result in life, proved to result in death for me; for sin, taking an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So then, the Law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. Therefore did that which is good become a cause of death for me? May it never be! Rather it was sin, in order that it might be shown to be sin by effecting my death through that which is good, so that through the commandment sin would become utterly sinful.”

Sin is the problem, not the truth.
(That would be like blaming the MRI for finding a tumor)

And yet the reality is that when their sin is exposed
Men commonly turn on the message that exposed it.

That is what happened here.
They despised the message.

But since you can’t do anything about the message itself,
The only option is to stop the messenger, and that is what they did.

“And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day…”

And this is actually a fairly common occurrence for the early church.
Listen to some of the hostilities they face.

Acts 4:17-18 “But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.”

Acts 5:28 “saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

Acts 5:40 “They took his advice; and after calling the apostles in, they flogged them and ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus, and then released them.”

Of course we know that before long
They actually moved beyond warning, flogging, and arrest.

Acts 7:54-58 “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the quick, and they began gnashing their teeth at him. But being full of the Holy Spirit, he gazed intently into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God; and he said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.” But they cried out with a loud voice, and covered their ears and rushed at him with one impulse. When they had driven him out of the city, they began stoning him; and the witnesses laid aside their robes at the feet of a young man named Saul.”

And following this event the attacks grew really strong.

Acts 8:1 “Saul was in hearty agreement with putting him to death. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

But you get the point, the message we preach is a disturbing message and therefore it is often a despised message.

Do not assume that preaching this message will make you popular.
Do not assume preaching this message will make the crowds love you.
It is a despised message.

And I really feel the need to prepare you here, as this was an area
That I was grossly underprepared when I began the ministry.

It literally shocked me deeply
The first time I proclaimed the gospel and was hated it for it.

Today, you can actually go to a church, preach the message
And have people in that church angry at you for doing so.

And that is the church.
That is to say nothing about preaching the gospel message
In public venues like a funeral or a wedding or something like that.

People will actually accuse you of being “unloving”, “unchristian”,
“un-Christ-like” and all sorts of other thing.
You need to know the message is despised,
But just because you are despised for preaching it
Does not mean you are wrong or unfaithful to Jesus.

Man’s applause has never been an indicator of Christian faithfulness,
I could probably make a case that it is an indicator of the opposite.

Luke 6:22-23 “Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and insult you, and scorn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. For in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.”

Luke 6:26 “Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for their fathers used to treat the false prophets in the same way.”

So just because people hate you for what you proclaim,
Don’t let that deter you.
Know ahead of time that they will.

Even Jesus told the eleven the night before He died:
John 15:18-21 “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. “If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘ A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. “But all these things they will do to you for My name’s sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me.”

John 16:1-4 “These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. “These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. “But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them. These things I did not say to you at the beginning, because I was with you.”

Just understand that the message we preach is a disturbing message
And therefore it is often a despised message.

And the only recourse that can often be taken
Is to try and silence the messenger.
That is what happened here.

The Message was Delivered, Disturbing, Despised
#4 THE MESSAGE WAS DILIGENT
Acts 4:4

And don’t you love this?
They could stop the messenger, but they could not stop the message.

2 Timothy 2:8-9 “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.”
Paul knew this first hand.
He had personally tried to stop it and couldn’t.

He tried to kill Christians and stop the message,
But the message broke him.

That is why Paul was so passionate about the message.

1 Timothy 4:13 “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.”

2 Timothy 4:2 “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.”

Paul knew the power of the message was how God honored it,
And once it got out, there was no stopping it.

In fact, the only thing that can stop the gospel message
Is a church that fails to share it.

Because once it’s out, it’s like trying to put toothpaste back in a tube.
There is no stopping it.

And that is certainly true here.
So what you arrested the messengers.

“many of those who heard the message believed”

And this is why we are committed
To the message and not the method.

If we make the method sovereign,
Then things like being arrested most certainly stop us.
But if the message is sovereign, nothing can stop it.

We must be committed to the message,
The early church most definitely was.

In fact, if you fast forward to after Peter and John are released
And they return to the church.

Notice the prayer:
Acts 4:29-31 “And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus.” And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.”

They didn’t pray for protection so that they could keep up their ministries.
They prayed for boldness so that they would be able to
Keep getting the message out in spite of the persecution.

They knew that getting the message out was priority #1
The message was sovereign, because even persecution could not stop it.

And that is our encouragement this evening.
• Be true to the message.
• Even if it disturbs those who hear it.
• Even if it is despised by those who heart it.
Be true to the message because the message is diligent
And will accomplish its work even on the day when methods fail.
Acts 6:7 “The word of God kept on spreading; and the number of the disciples continued to increase greatly in Jerusalem, and a great many of the priests were becoming obedient to the faith.”
So be true to the message, it is sovereign.

The Second Sermon of Peter – part 3
Acts 3:1-26 (22-26)
April 8, 2012

As you know we have for the last two Sunday nights
Been studying this 2nd public sermon of Peter.

And not only have we learned some great theological truth,
But we have also learned how God was using Peter to grow His church.

We know without a doubt that it is the Lord who grows the church.
Matthew 16:18 “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”

And in the book of Acts Jesus has already started.
After the coming of the Holy Spirit in Acts 2 Peter stood and preached a message of repentance and 3,000 souls were added that day.

From there the church started operating like the church.
• They had Supernatural Power
• They had Sacrificial Love
• They had Sincere Testimony
• They had Steady Growth

Acts 2:47 “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
Jesus was growing His church.

But it is also beneficial to note how He is doing it.

And we have been seeing that very thing here in this 3rd chapter of Acts.

Chapter 3 has two basic divisions.
The Sign & The Sermon

The Sign = how God chose to assemble a crowd
The Sermon = how the church addressed the crowd God assembled

When God gathered a crowd,
They simply spoke boldly to the crowd the message of the gospel.

• There wasn’t a whole lot of strategizing going on…
• There wasn’t a whole lot of planning going on…
• They just waited for God to open a door, and when He did they seized the opportunity with boldness.

And we saw that right off the bat in this chapter.

Peter and John weren’t doing anything special,
They were just headed to the temple to pray at the time of prayer
And a cripple man started begging for money.
Since Peter didn’t have any money he did the next best thing
And healed the man who was crippled in Jesus’ name.

This obviously drew a crowd.
Acts 3:9-11 “And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.”

And just like that a witnessing opportunity was born,
And Peter didn’t even have to serve Pizza or watch the Super bowl.

All they had to do was seize the opportunity to explain
To this curious crowd what was going on, and that is what they did.

#1 THE EXPLANATION (12-16)

And Peter’s explanation was simple.
This was not done by our own power…
This was not done by our own piety…

Acts 3:13, 16 “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus… And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

According to Peter this should not have been shocking.
When Jesus was here on earth God glorified Him
By granting Him ability to work all sorts of miracles.

Now that Jesus is gone, God still glorifies Him
By granting that these miracles can be worked in His name.
That is the simple explanation.

Of course we also noted that Peter through in the
“Oh, by the way” statement.

Acts 3:13-15 “… Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

Peter wasn’t about to let them forget their crimes.
It was the second public sermon of Peter
And the second time he nailed them to the wall for killing Jesus.

But we noticed that the sermon began with
Peter seizing the opportunity afforded to Him by the Holy Spirit
And he spoke with boldness as he confronted their sin.
Nothing fancy about that, but Christ was using it to grow His church.

Then last week we saw the second part of the sermon
#2 THE EXPECTATION (17-21)

And as we said we love the fact that
Not only did Peter boldly confront their sin,
But he also authoritatively told them what they must do.

In a day of uncertainties and “That’s not for me to say…” preachers.
Peter is a breath of fresh air.

He knew exactly where they had messed up
And he knew exactly what they needed to do,
And he told them so.

Acts 3:19-20 “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; and that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,”

• There was no hesitation in Peter’s voice…
• There was no doubt in Peter’s mind…
• There was no conflict about the right course of action…

These people needed to repent and return to God.

WHY?
Because that was the only way that “times of refreshing” would come.
Furthermore that was the only way that
God would “send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you.”

Now this is a very Jewish sermon, but quite important to us as well.

“times of refreshing”
“period of restoration” (vs. 21)

ARE NOT SPIRITUAL TERMS
THEY ARE LITERAL TERMS.

They both refer to the millennial reign of Christ.
They both refer to that time when Christ reigns upon this earth in bodily flesh,
And the sin curse is removed, and the lion and lamb dwell together.

They both refer to the time that all of Israel was waiting for.

And Peter tells them very simply.
• The Christ could not reign until He suffered and died (18)

We know that is true because sin had to be atoned for.
But He has now suffered and died, it has been fulfilled and now He can reign.
The only thing keeping Him from it is you.

He is waiting for His people to “repent and return”
So He can come and restore all things.

And we talked about this quite a bit in regard to Zechariah 12-14
and even Isaiah, and Romans 11.

Romans 11:15 “For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?”

That the end times timeline hinges upon the obedience of Israel.
It is their return to Christ that sets the stage for His return.

And since that is fact it would do Peter no good
To speak about it in uncertainties.

It does the kingdom no good to speak unauthoritatively about the subject.

So Peter after seizing the opportunity afforded him by God’s Spirit
Then boldly confronted their sin
And told them specifically what they must do.

And Christ is using this to grow His church.

Tonight we get to the next part of the sermon.

The Explanation, The Expectation
#3 THE EXPOSITION
Acts 3:22-24

Back in verse 21 Peter spoke about the “period of restoration”
And said it is the time “which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

In short when Peter decided to verify his claims about
The coming restoration he appealed to Scripture as his authority.

He in effect said, “I’m not the one who said it is this way, God said it is this way, and He said it through the mouths of His holy prophets”

(And that by the way is one of the greatest verses in Scripture to indicate that the Old Testament is in fact the word of God.)

And since Peter is standing on Scripture for his authority
It only stands to reason that he refer to an actual scriptural text.

And so that is why we see an exposition.
To “exposit” means “to give the sense of”
And that is what Peter is doing here.
Scripture is his authority for his sermon and so now he appeals to it.

“God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.’

It is as though now he says, “For example…”
(22-23) “Moses said, “The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren; to him you shall give heed to everything he says to you. And it will be that every soul that does not heed the prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’”

Peter there quotes from Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy 18:15-19 “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him. “This is according to all that you asked of the LORD your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ “The LORD said to me, ‘They have spoken well. ‘I will raise up a prophet from among their countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him.”

And that is where Peter goes for his authority.

And it does us good to recognize some obvious truths
About what God said through Moses.

1) THE PROMISE OF THE PROPHET (22a)

“Moses said, ‘The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brethren;”

We recognize is that God promised the coming of a prophet,
But he was no ordinary prophet, he would be a special one.

Moses said “a prophet like me”

This was a special singular anointed leader of the people.

Furthermore the Jews typically viewed that this particular prophet
That Moses spoke of would in fact be the Messiah.

John 6:14 “Therefore when the people saw the sign which He had performed, they said, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world.”

John 7:40 “Some of the people therefore, when they heard these words, were saying, “This certainly is the Prophet.”

This was a person that was promised by God to come and restore Israel.

The Promise of the Prophet
2) THE POINT OF THE PROPHET (22b)
“To him you shall give heed to everything He says to you.”

And this is really only logical.
If God is going to raise up a Prophet to speak on His behalf,
Then it only stands to reason that you should listen.

That is kind of the point.
God is speaking through this Man, obviously you should listen.

3) THE PREEMINENCE OF THE PROPHET (23)

“And it shall be that every soul that does not heed that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.”

And again this is obvious.
If this man is appointed by God and speaks for God,
Then to disobey Him is to disobey God.

• What He says is not a suggestion.
• What He says is not optional.
• You must do it, or be destroyed.

The Prophet has that much authority and clout.

The Promise, The Point, The Preeminence
4) THE PROCLAMATION OF THE PROPHET (24)

(24) “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Samuel and his successors onward, also announced these days.”

The point is God was continually getting you ready
For the coming of this person.

Thanks to the prophets
• We knew where He would be born.
• We knew what tribe He would come from.
• Daniel told us a pretty specific time frame.
• We knew His appearance would be less than majestic
• We knew He would suffer

God even appointed a special prophet to come right before Him
And remind you again that He was on His way. (John the Baptist)

And you put all this together and it makes sense.

God appointed a prophet to speak for Him
That you had better listen to and to make sure you didn’t miss,
So God pointed to Him over and over through the other prophets.

And that is the essence of Peter’s use of this text.
• Israel is looking for the Messiah.
• Israel is looking for the Prophet
• Israel is looking for the One who would restore all things.

THE PROBLEM?
God sent Him and you didn’t see Him, in fact you killed Him.

Acts 3:14-15 “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

The implication is obviously that
You are in grave danger for missing God’s prophet.

And so at this point Peter has boldly told them the truth
And supported his sermon with Scripture.

The Explanation, The Expectation, The Exposition
#4 THE EXHORTATION
Acts 3:25-26

And here is where the sermon all comes home and comes together.

Up until now they could all be asking,
What does all this have to do with us?

“It is you…”

You are the ones those prophecies were for.

“It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers…”

By saying this Peter is revealing, the Messiah came to you.
Moses was telling you to pay attention.

AND I LOVE THIS!

Peter directly applies the Scripture to them.
There are no hypothetical’s here

Peter says very adamantly that Moses wasn’t talking to his people
When he said that back in Deuteronomy 18, Moses was talking to you.

Samuel and all the other prophets weren’t talking to their people
When they gave all those prophecies they were talking to you.

It is the same thing Peter says in his first epistle:

1 Peter 1:10-12 “As to this salvation, the prophets who prophesied of the grace that would come to you made careful searches and inquiries, seeking to know what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating as He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow. It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, in these things which now have been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven — things into which angels long to look.”

I had a seminary professor who was an amillennealist.
(They don’t believe in the millennium)
(Don’t believe Christ will literally reign)

When asked why, he said, because he couldn’t see taking all those Old Testament passages about the millennium and saying that they had no value to the present day of when they were given..

He wanted everything applied to the present day.

But Peter clearly says, it wasn’t.
• It wasn’t for their present day.
• They weren’t preaching for their congregation.
• They were preaching for you.

They were prophesying for you.
This word is for you.

And isn’t that an amazing revelation about Scripture.

So many simply want to study this book as a piece of history.
As though the only people Paul was referring to was the Corinthians, or the Ephesians, or Philippians, or so on.

But Scripture isn’t limited to that.
Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

Scripture is for you.

1 Corinthians 10:11 “Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”

And Peter tells his people that.
When Moses wrote that thousands of years ago, he wrote it for you.

That is how you preach, that is how we read Scripture.
Friends we have at our disposal the very word of God.
It isn’t dated, it doesn’t expire, it never becomes irrelevant

And we call men to obey it today just as Peter did 2,000 years ago.
What God wrote He wrote for you.
Peter knew this book wasn’t just for Moses’ congregation,
Moses wrote it for them.

This is for “you”

And then Peter reinforces that again:
“saying to Abraham, “And in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

Here is another text Peter directly applies to those he is preaching to.
He is pointing out an opportunity of blessing God was making for them.

TURN TO: GALATIANS 3:15
In this argument Paul gives some valuable insight as to how one obtains the blessing of God that God promised through Abraham.

READ VS. 15-18
Paul is here making the point that a promise God made first
Could not be nullified simply because conditions came later.

In this case, God promised blessing through Abraham,
That blessing could not be revoked by rules established 430 years later.

However in his argument he makes a very important statement.

And that is that Abraham’s seed is not Israel.
It is Christ.

READ VS. 19
Paul explains that the Law was never given to save,
Rather the Law was given to reveal transgression.

Men were sinning and men were dying.
The problem was they didn’t know what sin was,
Because there was no clear explanation of it.

So the Law came to reveal sin.

And the Law would be in effect, “until the seed would come TO WHOM the promise had been made.”

That means that all that blessing and inheritance was promised, not to Israel, but to whom? Christ.

And the Law came to drive us to Christ so we could receive the promise.

READ VS. 23-29
And so you see that if you want to be blessed as a recipient of the promise, then you must be “in Christ” because the promise was to Him.
Now we go back to Acts and we understand what Peter is saying.

(25) “It is you who are the sons of the prophets and of the covenant which God made with your fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’”

• When God was making all those promises through the prophets it was for you.

• When God made the promise to Abraham about blessing coming through His seed, it was for you that He wrote it.

God was speaking to you telling you to wake up and pay attention. Look for the prophet, look for the “seed”.

God was telling YOU that.

(26) “For you first, God raised up His Servant and sent Him to bless you by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

• God was sending a prophet to warn you.
• God was sending the seed to bless you.

You should have listened to Him.
He came to set you back in fellowship with God.

HOW?
“by turning every one of you from your wicked ways.”

And at this point we can say that Peter
Has effectively seized his opportunity.

He has boldly confronted the people of the temple
With the necessity of repentance telling them that
They did exactly opposite of what Moses commanded.

And so Peter is back again calling for repentance.

Now, at this point in the sermon Peter gets interrupted.

Acts 4:1-3 “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening.”

One can assume Peter was about to tell them to “repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins” just as he did at Pentecost.
But before he gets to that part, he is arrested.

However that didn’t stop Jesus from using Peter to grow His church.

Acts 4:4 “But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

And so let’s bring this thing down to a conclusion now.

And recognize how God used Peter to grow His church.

• God provided the crowd (through a miracle)
• Peter seized the opportunity (boldness came through the Spirit)
• Peter preached the truth
• Confronted their sin
• Told them what to do
• Enforced it with Scripture
• Exhorted them to obey it

And God used that to grow His church.
Now the number is about 5,000

The remarkable thing is that God did that in spite of Peter being arrested.
You would assume that Peter being arrested would put a stop
to any who were on the bubble of belief.

But it wasn’t, because it was the Holy Spirit who was at work,
Working through Peter to boldly proclaim the truth.

Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:8-9 “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, descendant of David, according to my gospel, for which I suffer hardship even to imprisonment as a criminal; but the word of God is not imprisoned.”

The point is that we don’t grow the church
Through our crafty schemes and marketing technologies.

We don’t grow the church through clever ideas or impressive displays.

In fact we don’t grow the church at all.

Jesus grows the church.
He does so by filling men with His Spirit,
By which they receive power to be His witnesses.

And when He opens the door for an opportunity to speak, they seize it
And standing upon the authority of Scripture they declare to men their sin,
Reveal to men what they must do, and authoritatively tell them to do it.

That is what Christ envisioned.
As the church we do the same.
• We have the truth of the gospel
• We have the power of the Holy Spirit

There is no need for us to embrace uncertainty.
When God grants you an opportunity, then stand and deliver.

• Man has sinned and offended God.
• They must repent.
• God has sent His Son as a propitiation for their sin.
• They must confess Him.

If they do, they will be forgiven and given the Holy Spirit.
If they don’t, they will be destroyed.

And just as Peter did we speak it with all authority.

1 Timothy 3:15 “but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

So go be the church.

The Second Sermon of Peter – part 2
Acts 3:1-26 (17-21)
April 1, 2012

Last time we met we saw God at work again
In this mighty venture of growing His church.

It is impossible to study the things occurring in the book of Acts
And come to the conclusion that man grows the church.

It really is amazing to me the amount of emphasis that is placed upon
Things like cultural relevance, drawing crowds, and being trendy.

What is even more shocking is that those things are emphasized
While things like gospel accuracy really take a back burner.

And yet Paul said:
Galatians 1:8 “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

If we have learned anything thus far in the book of Acts
It is that things like drawing a crowd, or having cultural relevance
Are not our priorities.

Beyond that, I’m not even sure they are our duties.

It has been God who has taken care of all of that.
• It was the Holy Spirit who came with the sound of a rushing wind and drew
the first crowd.
• It was the power of God to heal a cripple and his sudden change that drew
the second one.

All we find the church focused on is seizing the opportunities
With boldness and faithfulness when the opportunities arose.

And that is certainly what has happened here again.

• Peter and John were headed to the temple during the hour of prayer when they were confronted by a cripple.

• This man was no fool, he knew that the best times to receive financial help would be when people are either entering or leaving church.

• And so he turns to Peter and John and asks for money.

• (6) “But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene – walk!”

• Of course that man was instantly and perfectly healed, and when he entered the temple leaping and praising God it obviously drew a crowd.

• From there Peter stepped up to the plate once again.

We call it the second sermon of Peter.
We saw the first part last Sunday night.
#1 – THE EXPLANATION (12-16)

The people were shocked and Peter wondered why.
It certainly wasn’t done by his power.
It certainly wasn’t done by his piety.

There was in reality a very good explanation
As to why this man could walk.

(13a,16) “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus…And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

The simple explanation as to why this man can walk is that
God is still in the business of glorifying His servant Jesus.

• He glorified Jesus while He was on earth by granting Him power to
perform miracles,
• He glorifies Him still by granting that these same miracles be done in
His name.

This man can walk because God is glorifying Jesus.
It isn’t humanitarian…
It isn’t solely about compassion…

It is all because God seeks to glorify Jesus.
And incidentally this exactly what the Holy Spirit would do when He came.

John 16:14 “He will glorify Me, for He will take of Mine and will disclose it to you.”

And that was the explanation.

But by now we know that a simple explanation is never enough for Peter.
He isn’t just in to telling the people what they want to hear,
He also tells them what they need to hear.

And so Peter also included what we called an
“Oh, by the way…” statement.

Peter mentioned Jesus and then said:
(13b-15) “the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you, but put to death the Prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead, a fact to which we are witnesses.”

It wasn’t enough for Peter to simply explain the situation,
Peter also felt the need to confront their sin.
And so if you are counting Peter has now preached two public sermons
And in both of them he has directly confronted his listeners
For their sin of rejecting God’s Messiah.

So to sum up Peter’s explanation it would go something like this.

This man can walk because God raised up the Jesus you killed
And since God is still determined to glorify Him.
This man was actually healed in His name.

That is the explanation.
Now let’s move into the next portion of Peter’s sermon

The Explanation
#2 THE EXPECTATION
Acts 3:17-21

Not only is Peter more than willing to confront sin,
Peter is also ready to share what they should do.

(And just because it is on my heart…)

I’ve had several conversations over the past few weeks
With some other religious leaders,
And it is concerning to me how this notion of “certainty”
In regard to truth is under attack.

If you’ll allow me a moment to define the terms;
1) MODERNISM

This is actually a view on the way out, but still holds root with some,
And I actually ran up against it recently.
(This was what Adrian Rogers and the SBC fought in the 70’s & 80’s)

Modernism stems from a worship of ones intellect.
For those reading the MacArthur sermons on the Holy Spirit, he talked about this actually calling it “rationalism”.

It was the idea that because man is so smart
(as evidenced by his accomplishments)
That he now can pass everything through the filter of his mind.

The fall out was that instead of man testing his thoughts by Scripture,
Man began to test Scripture by his thoughts.

The mind of man became sovereign and began to evaluate the accuracy of Scripture instead of the other way around.

Paul said:
2 Corinthians 10:5 “We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,”

Paul said we judge our thoughts by the authority of Scripture
We don’t judge Scripture by the authority of our thoughts.

But modernism took hold,
And the RELIABILITY of Scripture was under attack.

“You can’t use the Bible in addressing humanity because it is not reliable, you must go to the intellect for all the answers of this life.”

2) POST-MODERNISM
We now live in what is called a “Post-modern” culture.
And post-modernists are the ones who have resisted modern thinking.

Namely the idea that anyone could actually be right about anything.
(and this includes Scripture)

A recent quote I heard which reflects post-modern thinking was this.
A man quoting another preacher who said, “In my sermon 1/3 of what I’m about to tell you is wrong. The only problem is I’m not sure which 1/3 it is.”

And people actually like that and see it is some sort of humility.
And that type of thinking is embraced by the culture today.

And so while Modernism attacked the RELIABILITY of Scripture.
Post-Modernism attacks the RELEVANCE of Scripture.

“You can use it, but let’s not get too dogmatic about it.”

I tell you all that simply to show you that Peter embraced neither.
Peter didn’t’ go to his own intellect for truth,
And when Peter found truth he did not mind enforcing it.

In these verses notice how direct, how adamant, how certain,
How convicted Peter is of exactly what these people did wrong,
And of exactly what they need to do.

Such confidence today is portrayed as arrogant, and yet it is necessary.

Paul told Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:2 “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

There is a certainty to what he is teaching.
There is a certainty about what he is proclaiming.

After all:
1 Timothy 3:15 “but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

• We are not the “birthplace of assumption”
• We are not the “institute of speculation”
• We are not the “center or recommendation”
• We are “the pillar and support of the truth.”

The idea is that we are certain about what we proclaim.
We preach and teach with confidence and conviction
Based upon the truth revealed in Scripture.

Paul told Titus:
Titus 2:15 “These things speak and exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.”

These men had the truth.
They did not discover it in the depths of the human mind,
It was revealed to them by God.

And once they found the truth, they did not question it,
They boldly and adamantly proclaimed and enforced it.

In a world that says we can’t do such things
I just wanted to get that off of my chest.

Look here as Peter gives his EXPECTATION
To these people who killed the Lord Jesus.

The first thing we will notice is that while Peter is ADAMANT,
He is also COMPASSIONATE.

He understands that the purpose of the gospel is
To save sinners, not destroy them.

(17) “And now, brethren, I know that you acted in ignorance, just as your rulers did also.”

Did they kill Jesus? Yes
Was that a heinous crime? Yes

But Peter knew they did so with a measure of ignorance.

Even Jesus said:
Luke 23:34 “But Jesus was saying, “Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing.”

Paul wrote:
1 Corinthians 2:8 “the wisdom which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it they would not have crucified the Lord of glory;”

In fact Paul even said of himself:
1 Timothy 1:12-13 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service, even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief;”

It doesn’t excuse their crime, but it does explain it.

And Peter says this as if to say, “Look you messed up, but I want to offer you a little hope here. God is not such a tyrant that He has closed the book on you. There is still hope.”

You killed Christ in ignorance.
(18) “But the things which God announced beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets, that His Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.”

Peter actually says two things that need to be recognized there.

1) The suffering of Christ was part of the predetermined plan of God
2) That plan has been fulfilled

We know that in order for salvation to occur,
The Christ had to suffer and die.

(Jesus taught that to His disciples in Matthew 16)

Hebrews explains this quite well.
Hebrews 2:5-9 “For He did not subject to angels the world to come, concerning which we are speaking. But one has testified somewhere, saying, “WHAT IS MAN, THAT YOU REMEMBER HIM? OR THE SON OF MAN, THAT YOU ARE CONCERNED ABOUT HIM? “YOU HAVE MADE HIM FOR A LITTLE WHILE LOWER THAN THE ANGELS; YOU HAVE CROWNED HIM WITH GLORY AND HONOR, AND HAVE APPOINTED HIM OVER THE WORKS OF YOUR HANDS; YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in subjecting all things to him, He left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him. But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.”

The writer of Hebrews points out that man was supposed to have dominion, but he presently does not.

That is why Jesus had to die, to redeem man from the curse of sin
By tasting death for everyone.

He would go on to say:
Hebrews 2:14 “Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil”
The point is that the Christ had to die.
And God “announced [this] beforehand by the mouth of all the prophets”

• We don’t have to go again into Psalm 22
• We don’t have to go again into Isaiah 53

Now again, that does not excuse those who killed Him.
Their crime is still heinous and they still bear the guilt.

It is just that their crime did not surprise God,
He knew it was coming and even in the depths of His sovereignty
Used their rebellion to fulfill His perfect plan.

But the suffering of the Christ was part of the predetermined plan of God.

But the other thing Peter reveals is that that plan has been “fulfilled”.

In other words: The suffering is done
The suffering is over

His suffering and death where necessary before He could reign,
But that’s been accomplished and all that’s left is for Him to reign.

People talk a lot today about prophecy and end times events and what must be fulfilled before the end, and so on and so forth.

But in reality from God’s perspective
There was only one thing that had to occur before Christ could reign
And that is He had to die and be raised.

His death had to precede His reign.
And that has already occurred.

BUT – there is still one more thing (from man’s side)
That still needs to occur.

And that is where Peter goes next.
(19-21) “Therefore repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord; that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you, whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

Again, there is a mouthful.

Now you will notice that Peter uses some very important terms or phrases
That help us understand the passage.

(19) “times of refreshing”
(21) “the period of restoration”

It is important that we understand what Peter is talking about.

Many will read this passage and just assume that Peter is talking about
The inevitable refreshing of spirit after one is saved.

That Peter is saying, “If you’ll just repent and return to Christ then He will come into your heart and refresh you and in some sort of spiritual sense restore you.”

THAT IS NOT WHAT PETER IS TALKING ABOUT.
It is something much more concrete and factual than that.

The “times of refreshing” and “the period of restoration”
Are terms that are synonymous with the millennial reign of Christ.

The Jews (even the disciples) where continually looking for
This “period of restoration”

Acts 1:6 “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”

Even later in the book of Acts when discussing
The Gentile / circumcision controversy James quoted Amos 9:11-12

Acts 15:16-18 “AFTER THESE THINGS I will return, AND I WILL REBUILD THE TABERNACLE OF DAVID WHICH HAS FALLEN, AND I WILL REBUILD ITS RUINS, AND I WILL RESTORE IT, SO THAT THE REST OF MANKIND MAY SEEK THE LORD, AND ALL THE GENTILES WHO ARE CALLED BY MY NAME,’ SAYS THE LORD, WHO MAKES THESE THINGS KNOWN FROM LONG AGO.”

They were looking for “restoration”
They were looking for Israel to be restored.

WHY?
Because God had promised it.

Malachi 4:5-6 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. “He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

This is of course why the disciples asked Jesus about Elijah coming.
Matthew 17:11 “And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;”

This is why it was said of John the Baptist
Luke 1:17 “It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, TO TURN THE HEARTS OF THE FATHERS BACK TO THE CHILDREN, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
They were looking for an actual and literal restoration of Israel.

Our kids learned this last Wednesday night as they studied Palm Sunday.

Matthew 21:9 “The crowds going ahead of Him, and those who followed, were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!”

Do you know what “hosanna” means?
It is an exclamatory term meaning “Save now!”

They saw Jesus entering Jerusalem and were ready to be restored.

Now, as we just noted this restoration could not occur
Without the death of the Messiah.

This is because Israel’s problem wasn’t Rome, it was sin.

BUT ONCE PROPITIATION WAS MADE,
THEN THE KINGDOM COULD BE RESTORED.

TURN TO: Zechariah 12

Read: Zechariah 12:10-14

• This is obviously following the crucifixion of the Messiah,
• Even following the pouring out of God’s Spirit
Which causes Israel to repent and trust in Christ.

We even notice a corporate repentance as well as a personal one.

This will be followed by a total salvation:
Read: Zechariah 13:1

And by a national cleansing of sin and impurity
Read: Zechariah 13:2-9

And following that recognition and repentance and total cleansing,
God will restore the nation.
Read: Zechariah 14:1-9

God promised a restoration of Israel from of old.

Incidentally Paul focuses on this same restoration in Romans 9-11

And just to make sure we are clear on what this period is like:
Isaiah 65:17-25 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. “I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the age of one hundred And the one who does not reach the age of one hundred Will be thought accursed. “They will build houses and inhabit them; They will also plant vineyards and eat their fruit. “They will not build and another inhabit, They will not plant and another eat; For as the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people, And My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. “They will not labor in vain, Or bear children for calamity; For they are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, And their descendants with them. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear. “The wolf and the lamb will graze together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox; and dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD.”

After Israel repents (which they do in Isaiah 64)
God restores Israel and lifts the curse from this world.
It is a glorious thing!

The Christ has already suffered.
That has been fulfilled.

Now it is time for you to “repent and return, so that your sins may be wiped away, in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

Christ did His part, now you do yours.

“repent”
1) So you can be forgiven
2) So Christ can come and restore you.

You must repent
(20) “that He may send Jesus, the Christ appointed for you,”

He is not here right now.

Now He is in heaven and He will stay there “until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.”

Peter is telling the Jews that it hinges now upon you.

There is nothing more that He needs to do.
He won’t come again until it is time to restore all things.

But He won’t come and restore all things until you (Israel)
Repent and return to Him.

So take all your end times prophecies and if you want to know what delays the 2nd Coming of Christ? It is unbelieving Israel.

And that is exactly what Paul teaches:
Romans 11:11-16 “I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment be! But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen and save some of them. For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.”

We are waiting for them to “repent and return…in order that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord;”

And so the expectation is simple.
“repent and return”

And beloved recognize Peter’s conviction.

The fact is Christ suffered and died and until Israel repents and returns He is not going to restore all things.

And so it does Peter no good to speak in uncertainties.

It does him no good to say, (Like the modernist) “Well you know God said a whole lot in the Old Testament about restoring the kingdom, but my mind tells me it won’t really happen.”

It does him no good to say, (Like the post-modernist) “I can’t speak confidently about the death of Christ, or the need for repentance, or the coming of a kingdom, because it is impossible to be certain about such things.”

Peter didn’t preach like that at all.

He took the promises of God in Scripture,
Applied them to the lives of Israel,
And demanded that they change their lives to it.

He told them to “repent and return”

 

 

 

 
Now, obviously there is a lot that Peter said here that is specific to Israel,
But the pattern by which Peter preaches is one we can follow as well.
When we preach to Gentiles the fact remains that
• Because of Israel’s disobedience a window of opportunity has
opened for us to be grafted in to Christ and be part of His
kingdom as well.

• But Scripture says this is a small window of opportunity until
the day when “the fullness of the Gentiles has come in”
(Romans 11:25) and the whole thing shifts back to Israel.

• And based upon that fact we tell Gentiles you had better
“repent” and trust in Christ because a day of judgment is
coming.

It is not a thought that originated in the human mind,
It is not a thought that is only a suggestion it is the truth of God.

Our job is to call men to yield their lives to it and thus be saved.

 

That is how Peter preached at Pentecost
And that is how Peter preached here.

 

And that is what God used to grow His church.

We’ll finish this sermon up next time.

The Second Sermon of Peter – part 1
Acts 3:1-26 (1-16)
March 25, 2012

When last we met we saw a beautiful cross-section
Of what the early church looked like.
• They had Supernatural Power
• They had Sacrificial Love
• They had Sincere Testimony
• They had Steady Growth

It was apparent that God in the midst
Of this young and inexperienced congregation.
• What they lack in experience they make up for in power.
• What they lack in resources they make up for in love.
• What they lack in influence they make up for in sincerity.
And God is making the difference.

And that is what we see taking place here again in the book of Acts.

Acts 2:43 “Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”

As we noted God was granting validity to this church
Through the power bestowed upon the apostles.

This power was even referenced by the writer of Hebrews
As he appealed to lost Jews to turn to Christ.

Hebrews 2:1-4 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

The writer of Hebrews essentially said,
We know we can believe that these men speak from God
Because God validates their message by miraculous works.

Jesus Himself said:
John 5:36 “But the testimony which I have is greater than the testimony of John; for the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish — the very works that I do — testify about Me, that the Father has sent Me.”

So it was with the apostles.
God was continually granting them an audience.

The first audience was gathered at the coming of the Holy Spirit
As He entered the scene with the sound of a mighty rushing wind.
That set the stage for Peter’s first sermon at Pentecost,
When 3,000 souls were added to the church.

Well tonight we see it all happen yet again.

Once again we see the Holy Spirit drum up a crowd
And once again we hear Peter stand and deliver.

Among other things we are reminded of exactly how the church works.
We simply join God in what God is doing.

Jesus said of Himself:
John 5:19 “Therefore Jesus answered and was saying to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.”

Jesus just followed His Father’s lead
And thus found Himself in the middle of His Father’s work.

That is precisely what the early church is doing.
• They aren’t surveying the community…
• They aren’t strategizing new techniques of growth…
• They aren’t studying demographics and cultural trends…
• They aren’t seeking new ways to attract the lost…
• They aren’t synchronizing their watches to line with their radio ministry…

They are just going through life and as they see God at work,
They join Him in it.

They are following Him…
They are depending upon Him…
They are just making themselves available…

If we wanted to outline the chapter
We could break it down into two main divisions.
The Sign & The Sermon

And so let’s look briefly at the sign before we dive directly into the sermon that Peter preached on this day.

(Vs. 1) “Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the ninth hour, the hour of prayer.”

And this really just falls right in line with what I was just saying.
They weren’t setting up booths…
They weren’t planning block parties…

They were just going through normal life.

Jesus had once said to them:
Matthew 10:7-8 “And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ “Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. Freely you received, freely give.”

And that is what they are doing.
They “were going up to the temple”

WHY?
Because it was “the hour of prayer.”

There were actually three hours of prayer throughout the Jewish day,
One at 9am, one at noon, and one at 3pm, which is the present one.

It was also the time of day for the evening sacrifice,
Which assures that the temple would have been busy at this time.

And Peter and John were headed there.
(2) “And a man who had been lame from his mother’s womb was being carried along, whom they used to set down every day at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, in order to beg alms of those who were entering the temple.”

We understand what is going on.

This man was a legitimate cripple incapable of medical cure
And so his life’s occupation had been reduced to begging.

Beggars were routinely laid along the road where there was heavy traffic. (like they do today at busy street lights and such)

They also gathered at the gates of rich men’s houses
Luke 16:19-20 “Now there was a rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, joyously living in splendor every day. “And a poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate, covered with sores,”

And the other obviously popular spot was the temple.
People would be coming there and coming with the intent to show off their spirituality.

This beggar was crippled, but he wasn’t stupid,
He knew where to go for the best help.

(3) “When he saw Peter and John about to go into the temple, he began asking to receive alms.”

Of course he did.
He was playing on the sympathy and compassion
Of people going to worship God.

Certainly if you avoided him on the way in, after an hour of prayer
You’d likely catch him on the way out.

And so this man is asking for money.

(4-5) “But Peter, along with John, fixed his gaze on him and said, “Luke at us!” And he began to give them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.”

And this is still going right as expected.
He just thought he had found a donor.

(6-8) “But Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you: In the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene — walk!” And seizing him by the right hand, he raised him up; and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened. With a leap he stood upright and began to walk; and he entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God.”

This however was far from expected.
Peter did not have money to give the man,
But he did have the supernatural power of healing from Christ.

And so Peter told the man to walk in Jesus name
And then grabbed him and raised him up.

“and immediately his feet and his ankles were strengthened.”
And this man leapt up!

And instantly began praising God.

Now, it is beneficial to point out here what really happened.

We hear a lot of “healing” ministries today,
Certainly we see a lot of it on television,
But let me simply enlighten you to the healing ministry of the apostles.

1) IT WAS A LEGITIMATE DISEASE

There were no mystery pains here, there were no imagined illnesses.
• No inner pains…
• No one leg longer than the other…
• No supposed injuries…

This was a legitimate verifiable problem.
This man was legitimately crippled, he had been from birth.

And his healing was measurable and verifiable as well.

This man could be medically verified both before and after.
2) IT WAS A TOTAL HEALING

In short it was not partial.
This man didn’t even have to go through therapy to learn to walk.

He was totally healed.
He could walk, he could leap,
I’m sure he even did one of those heel clicking jumps.

3) IT WAS AN INSTANT HEALING

This man didn’t need time to recover.
It wasn’t a healing over a period of days, it was instant, right now totally.

4) IT WAS PERMANENT

Today we know of people healed of a disease
And the next thing you know the disease is right back.

Not this man, his feet were permanently fixed.

But know this as well.
5) IT WAS UNEXPECTED

This man did not expect healing.
• He expected alms.
• He was not believing for a healing.
• He was believing for money.

His healing had nothing to do with his faith
And everything to do with the sovereign purpose of God.

6) IT COULD BE DOCUMENTED

And that is what we see next in the chapter.

(9-10) “And all the people saw him walking and praising God; and they were taking note of him as being the one who used to sit at the Beautiful Gate of the temple to beg alms, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.”

There was no doubt that this was a documented miracle.

Even later, when Peter and John are in trouble over this:
Acts 4:14-16 “And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply. But when they had ordered them to leave the Council, they began to confer with one another, saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it.”

It is obvious that this was a real, instant, total, permanent,
Verifiable miracle.

This was the Supernatural power of God at work through Peter and John.

AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE?
(11) “While he was clinging to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them at the so-called portico of Solomon, full of amazement.”

There was the point.
The Holy Spirit was making an entrance to gain Peter a platform to speak.

This was not about satisfying the carnal desires
Of a society that only wants comfort.

This was not about simply wowing and mystifying people
To draw them more to the miracle worker.

It most certainly was not for the purpose
Of making Peter and John rich and famous.

The Holy Spirit had a message to proclaim to the visitors at the temple, and this was His chosen way to get them all together.

This was God at work, and now it is time for Peter to join Him there.

So there is the scene, now let’s listen to the sermon.

And let’s break the sermon down into three parts.
#1 THE EXPLANATION
Acts 3:12-16

Here we find Peter recognizing what God is doing.
“But when Peter saw this, he replied to the people…”

• No doubt there was a lot of excitement…
• No doubt Peter was even getting attention…
• I’m sure the solemn hour of prayer turned into quite the circus.

But Peter didn’t just let the opportunity pass by.
Peter knew it was not just a humanitarian mission.
Peter knew that this miracle was for a purpose.

And so Peter seized this next opportunity.

Just as he had done before when the crowd arrived, Peter does so again.

And just as Peter did during the Pentecost sermon,
The first thing he does is explain to the people what they are seeing.
“Men of Israel, why are you amazed at this, or why do you gaze at us, as if by our own power or piety we had made him walk?”

We don’t have to try hard to imagine the scene.
I’m sure that Peter and John were about to enjoy “rock star” status.

After all, Jesus commonly did after miracles.
After He fed the 5,000 they tried to force Him to become King of Israel.

Peter and John just became instantly famous.
And this really does speak to their focus and humility.

They were not about to steal God’s glory.
Peter wasted no time setting the record straight.

We did not do this.

Not “by our own power”
Meaning we don’t have it within ourselves to heal people.

Not by our own “piety”
Meaning this didn’t happen because of our extreme devotion.

In short, this miracle had nothing to do with us.
• God is not pointing to us.
• God is not magnifying us.
• God is not exalting us.
• It’s not about us at all, so “why do you gaze at us..?”

I heard David Allen say one time in regard to preachers, “The donkey that carried Jesus during the triumphal entry, knew the applause was not for him.”

That is Peter.
If people were giving him credit they were misguided in their praise.

And then he sets out to explain why this happened.

(13) “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus”

This is why.

And really from there you could skip down to verse 16, “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”

The simple explanation to why this man was healed
Is that God has glorified Jesus
And granted that this miracle be worked in His name.

In other words.
God is so passionate about people placing their faith in Christ, that He has even granted miracles be done in His name in order to verify the importance.

And that is really the explanation.
This man is healed because God wants to exalt Jesus.

And as we said at Peter’s Pentecost sermon,
He really could have stopped there.

But Peter wasn’t about to let the opportunity pass him by.
That is why we also have the “Oh by the way” statement
Stuck in the middle here.

The explanation is clear, but you probably also noticed
That Peter also gave them more information than they wanted.

He also gave them an “Oh by the way”

And that is what we find in verses 13-15

Peter said, “the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus,”

And then took a moment
To remind them exactly who he was talking about.

You remember Jesus don’t you?
“the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him.”

You remember Jesus don’t you? He was God’s Holy One
“But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,”

You remember Jesus don’t you? He was the Prince of life
“but [you] put to death the Prince of life,”

Peter just has a way of rubbing salt in a wound doesn’t he.

He did at Pentecost and he does again here.
Once again he takes the most ridiculous of human mistakes
And plasters it on a billboard for all to see.

He refuses to let their denial of Jesus be a thing of the past.
At every opportunity he continually brings it up.

I mean, later the chief priests figure it out and say:
Acts 5:27-28 “When they had brought them, they stood them before the Council. The high priest questioned them, saying, “We gave you strict orders not to continue teaching in this name, and yet, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.”

Absolutely, that is Peter’s intent.
But it shouldn’t be strange, after all was it not them who said, “His blood be upon us and on our children forever”?

Peter just wants to make sure
That they are fully aware of what they have done.

And so once again he brings up the blunder of blunders.

1) YOU DELIVERED THE AQUITTED TO DEATH
(13b) “Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him”

Remember how this went down?

Delivered:
Matthew 27:1-2 “Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.”

The people didn’t know what to do with Him
So they decided to turn Him over to Pilate,
Because Pilate had the authority to execute a person.

But that wasn’t all they did, they also disowned Him.
John 19:13-15 “Therefore when Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out, and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called The Pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha. Now it was the day of preparation for the Passover; it was about the sixth hour. And he said to the Jews, “Behold, your King!” So they cried out, “Away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered, “We have no king but Caesar.”

They also cut all ties with Him.
They made it clear that they wanted nothing to do with Him.

(14) “But you disowned the Holy and Righteous One”

That is pretty much drawing a line in the sand
To say you want nothing to do with a man as righteous as Him.

They knew He was righteous, but wanted nothing to do with Him anyway.
John 18:29-30 “Therefore Pilate went out to them and said, “What accusation do you bring against this Man?” They answered and said to him, “If this Man were not an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.”

He was Delivered and Disowned.

They took the Son of God and handed Him over to be killed
And then denied any affiliation with Him whatsoever.

2) YOU DESIRED THE WICKED TO GAIN FREEDOM
(14b) “and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.”

Mark 15:6-15 “Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” They shouted back, “Crucify Him!” But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!” Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.”

It really spells out the depth of their depravity.

They actually wanted Barabbas to go free.
Luke 23:19 “(He was one who had been thrown into prison for an insurrection made in the city, and for murder.)”

It spells of blind hatred.
It was just an ignorant rage without reason whatsoever.

They actually denied all association with the righteous man Jesus
And chose instead to associate with a murderer.

3) YOU DESTROYED THE SAVIOR OF GOD
(15a) “but put to death the Prince of Life,”
• It’s bad enough to hand Him over to flogging.
• It’s bad enough to disown association with Him.
• It’s bad enough to desire the fellowship of a criminal over Him.

But you wouldn’t even stop there.
You demanded not only that He be detained, but that He also be killed.

Luke 23:20-25 “Pilate, wanting to release Jesus, addressed them again, but they kept on calling out, saying, “Crucify, crucify Him!” And he said to them the third time, “Why, what evil has this man done? I have found in Him no guilt demanding death; therefore I will punish Him and release Him.” But they were insistent, with loud voices asking that He be crucified. And their voices began to prevail. And Pilate pronounced sentence that their demand be granted. And he released the man they were asking for who had been thrown into prison for insurrection and murder, but he delivered Jesus to their will.”
This really pushes the envelope.
Why not just ask for Jesus to be detained?
Why not just hold Him in prison?

It is one thing to not want Him released, but to adamantly push
For His execution this is really difficult to swallow.

And Peter lays this guilt right upon them again.

And then once again reveals to them that their decision was wrong.

(15b) “the one whom God raised from the dead, the fact to which we are witnesses.”

Just as He did at Pentecost, Peter reveals the depth of their sin
And the foolishness of their decision, for God reversed their judgment.

See, they could do everything humanly possible to see to it
That Jesus died, but that had no power to keep Him dead.
• Pilate sentenced Him to death…
• The Centurion certified His death…
• The Pharisees sealed the tomb…
• The Soldiers kept it under guard…

But the decision was the wrong one
And none could keep God from reversing it.

And so Peter once again reveals to Israel
That you did exactly opposite of the God’s will.
You killed the Messiah of God.

Then he gets back to explaining how this crippled man was healed.
(16) “And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.”
What conviction.

If you want to know how this man can now walk,
It is because the Jesus you killed is alive and He is still working miracles!

And this is probably a good place to stop until next time,
BUT UNDERSTAND WHAT PETER IS DOING HERE.

He is reminding the people
That there is no way to escape your sin or Jesus.

This world needs to understand they are on a crash course with Jesus.
They will stand before Him.
They will answer to Him.

• You can kill Him now…
• You can deny Him now…
• You can disown Him now…
But that is never the end of it.

He doesn’t go away.
And neither does your sin.
God would not let them forget about Jesus, or their sin in killing Him.

And that is why the world moves to such hostilities.
In the very next chapter, the obvious thing occurs, and that is persecution.

See you either submit to the truth of God,
Or you do everything you can to silence it.

Acts 4:1-4 “As they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them, being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. And they laid hands on them and put them in jail until the next day, for it was already evening. But many of those who had heard the message believed; and the number of the men came to be about five thousand.”

But the point is you can’t escape it.

There is no such thing as burying your sin so that God forgets about it.
There is no such thing as staying neutral with Jesus.

Sin has offended God and Jesus is the Savior of God.
Everyone must deal with Him.
Peter made sure of this in His preaching.
When we share the gospel we do the same,
We make sure people are placed face to face with Jesus.

And we do it to such an extent that they either turn from sin
Or turn from us, that is what Peter did.
We’ll finish this sermon next time,
But rejoice in the boldness to present God’s gospel
In such a direct manner.

Being the Church
Acts 2:43-47
March 18, 2011am

Every time we end one of our church services,
I like to tell you, “Let’s go be the church”.

That statement isn’t original with me, I heard another pastor say it,
But when I did, I was instantly convinced he was right.

Church is not something we do.
Church is what we are.

It’s really not about doing church, it’s about being the church.

And yet for many the concept of church
Never moves into that personal realm.

For many today church is just something they do.
• They attend the building at certain times…
• They attend meetings at certain times…
• They might even serve on committees or boards…

And church is merely something they put on their calendar
As another activity that they have to do.

But that is a far cry from what Christ envisioned
When He said that He would build His church.
He wasn’t talking about a BUILDING, He was talking about a BODY

1 Corinthians 12:12 “For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.”

1 Corinthians 12:27 “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.”

And this concept was meant to change the way we function.
I don’t just go to church, I am the church.
I am a part of Christ’s body.

When Paul wrote to Timothy:
1 Timothy 3:14-15 “I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you before long; but in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth.”

He was not talking about how to act when you come to this building,
He was saying that there is a way to live because we are the church.

And as the church we are “the pillar and support of the truth”,
And that requires that we each live our lives a certain way.

The letters we call “epistles” speak of the expectation of the church
But they were not letters written to give guidelines for times to meet,
Or songs to sing, or how often one should have deacon’s meeting.

The epistles were written to show the people of the church
How they are supposed to live.

This has always been the goal.
A storm could come tonight and wipe out our building…
But we would still be the church.

And so it is imperative that you and I begin to learn what that means.

We could talk about doing church and debate for hours
How long a service should last and what should be included in it.
But that is really minor.

What we want to know is now to be the church.

And while the epistles give us EXHORTATION,
The book of Acts gives us an EXAMPLE.

It all started back on that day of Pentecost.
Peter preached a bold and confrontational gospel message
And about 3,000 souls were added.

And Luke even mentioned their initial life change.
Acts 2:42 “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”

That was the initial change that occurred.
That was how the church started.

And we love to see the simplicity of what they were about.
• They were devoted to God’s Word
• They were devoted to each other
• They were devoted to the Lord’s Supper
• They were devoted to prayer

That was the start of a great church.

Now, beginning in verse 43 we see how they continued.
We know how they started, but let’s see how they continued.

And verse 43 says, “Everyone kept…”

As if to say what began at Pentecost didn’t taper off.
This was a radical new church.

And then we see a short list of the things that made them tick.
And of course one of the first things that sticks with us
When we read this text is the result.

(47) “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

But let me make sure and clarify something at the outset of this sermon.

Many have read this text and assumed
That because they had a great response at the end,
Then this must be a step by step guide of how to get that same response.
WRONG

We are reminded again, that they didn’t do anything that caused this.
Luke said, “the Lord was adding”

God was doing this.

This is not a passage where we learn how to grow a church.
This is a passage where we learn how God grew His church.

This was a place where God was at work through His people,
Not a place where these people were working for God.

And there is a difference, perhaps it is the difference
Between doing church and being the church.

NOW THAT BEING SAID, we are interested in what they were doing.
We are interested in what made them tick.

They do give us a great example.
And as we talked about last Sunday night
I love their example because they were not spoiled by traditions.

Certainly not all tradition is bad, Paul even tells some
To hold to the traditions that he handed down to them.

But all know the problems with statements like
“We’ve never done it that way before”.

This church never dealt with that, for they had never done any of it before.
They had no manual…
They had no traditions…
They didn’t even have a building…
They couldn’t print a bulletin…

They were free to be the church that the Spirit of God led them to be,
They weren’t limited by traditions or expectations of other churches.
This was all new ground for them
And in that we find an innocence and purity
That almost every believer I have ever known finds so inviting

And as we study this text,
I want us to see that the greatness of this church
Was not in their experience or intelligence or ability,
But in their dependence upon a truly awesome God.

They didn’t do church
• They weren’t capable
• They weren’t smart enough
• They weren’t strong enough
• They weren’t rich enough
• They weren’t experienced enough
• They didn’t even have some other church to market

They didn’t do church because they couldn’t do church
Instead they were the church

And as such, they let God work through them,
And that is what I want you to see.

I want to show you four things about this early church.
#1 SUPERNATURAL POWER
Acts 2:43

Back in Acts chapter 1 we found the disciples
Specifically being promised that power was on its way.

Acts 1:8 “but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

Jesus promised that when the Holy Spirit came,
He would come with power.

And that is certainly how He entered the scene.
With the sound of a mighty rushing wind
And with what appeared to be tongues of fire.

And it is His power that we clearly see at work here in the early church.
“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe”

“awe” there translates PHOBOS

It is the same word for the response after the death of Ananias and Sapphira.

It is reverential awe.
It is holy fear.
It is more than being amazed and it is not the same as being afraid,
It is being keenly aware of God’s powerful presence.

To put in modern language, “They were continually blown away by God and overwhelmed with the reality of who He is.”

WHY?
“many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”

The people were blown away
Because God was putting His power on display.

The apostles were clearly equipped
With what is commonly referred to as the “sign” gifts.
(all can’t today, but they certainly could)

They healed the sick, they raised the dead,
They demonstrated the power of Christ.

They had supernatural power.
Hebrews 2:1-4 “For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.”

They had power and its purpose
Was to accomplish the effect of astounding people.
It was meant to give credit to their preaching.

The early church had power.

And sadly that is one of the striking differences
Between the early church and the modern church.

I’m not suggesting that we should be having healings and resurrections
And things of that sort (especially not if those gifts are in fact gone).

But the Holy Spirit is still here.
He is still indwelling and filling believers.
And He should still be powerfully at work.

Today one would ask,
• Where is the boldness?
• Where is the courage?
• Where is the conviction?
• Why is the church so weak, and carnal, and superficial?

Where is the congregation that is living totally beyond themselves to such an extent that God is showing up in powerful ways?

When we walk in our own strength, we only accomplish pathetic results and we are anything but blown away.

But when we trust God and let His strength work through us,
The things He accomplishes literally fills us with “awe”.

And I speak this first hand as God has demonstrated this in our church.
(Of which I bear testimony)

The deadline to sign up for Mission Sanyati was February 12th,
And that is when fundraising began.

We knew funds were a mountain too big for us
And so we were forced to pray.
(And not just us, but many of you as well)

At times we even felt convicted for pushing too hard in our own strength
And not just relying on God enough and were led back to simply trust Him

Here we are now March 18th, (35 days later)
And not even counting the giving that came this morning
The balance in the mission fund is over $54,000.
That is over $1500 a day!

If you would have told us on February 12th that this is what was required,
We would have said it was impossible, there is no way for us to “DO” that.

But then again we aren’t supposed to “DO” church,
We are supposed to “BE” the church.

Our minds were especially blown
• On a Tuesday when a woman who isn’t even a member of the church handed
over 4 gold coins worth $6700,
• And we didn’t even get to celebrate that a full 24 hours before a church
member came in and laid down a check for $8000.

“Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe”

And it is opened my eyes to understand
That this is how church is supposed to operate.

I don’t want to just do things that we can accomplish in our own strength,
I want to listen to God’s leading and attempt the impossible,
So that when God accomplishes it by His power
We feel that same “sense of awe”

The early church had that.
They walked by faith and trusted God to such an extent
That He literally blew their minds with His supernatural power.

Supernatural Power
#2 SACRIFICIAL LOVE
Acts 2:44-45

To call it “sacrificial love” is a bit redundant
Since all love by definition is sacrificial.

And there is no doubt that is what they had going on here.
“And all those who had believed were together”

That may not seem like much, but it does relate
That these people were committed to one another.

A massive congregation stayed in Jerusalem after Pentecost,
But they didn’t stay because they like the climate.

They stayed because they liked the fellowship.
They loved each other and they wanted to be together.

“and had all things in common;”

Now that is starting to push the envelope a little.

Some people come from out of town for the feast of weeks,
They get saved and now they want to stay.

But they are out of food, they are out of money.
And yet those who live in Jerusalem have said,
“Make yourself at home” and they meant it.

• If there’s food in the fridge feel free to eat it.
• If there’s a car in the garage, feel free to drive it.
• If there’s a dog in the back yard, feel free to pet it.
• (If there’s a lawn to enjoy, feel free to mow it.)

No one hoarded their surplus.
No one was stingy.
They were willing to let their extra bread feed a hungry brother.

Now that in itself is amazing, but what they did next will blow your mind.

(45) “and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”

They started out inviting a person to stay…
They escalated to sharing their food when the person ran out…
But eventually they both ran out
And then this church became sacrificial.

They started selling property
And using it to support their brothers and sisters in Christ.

IS THAT NOT MIND BLOWING?
Do you know why?

Because they were living beyond themselves.
They were not doing church, they were being the church.
And God’s grace was in full evident force!

It once again illustrates the importance
Of letting God’s Spirit flow through you.

This church had amazing love!
But it wasn’t their own love in their own strength.
It was God’s love poured into them and poured out of them!

Romans 5:5 “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

These people let God’s Spirit love through them.
And the effect of that love gives us just as much a sense of “awe”
As the signs and wonders do.

This church loved with God’s sacrificial love!
We want to be a church like that.

This is the flip side of that mission giving I was telling you about earlier.
On one hand we are blown away by the provision of God.

On the other hand we are extremely humbled by the tremendous love shown through the generosity of our church family.

I told you about the two big gifts, but we have had so many gifts from so many people that we also stand in “awe” of the love of others.

We had one boy in our church come and give $100 dollars
That he had been given for a present, another boy gave $20.

That is humbling, but it is sacrificial love!

That is how the church is supposed to operate,
It is certainly how the early church did.

Supernatural Power, Sacrificial Love
#3 SINCERE TESTIMONY
Acts 2:46-47a

What I mean by sincere testimony is that
Not only did they “say” the right things, they lived the right way.

“Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple”

WHAT DOES THAT REFERENCE?
It speaks of the message they proclaimed.

Their testimony, their doctrine was unified.
They were all in agreement with what needed to be shared.

They all knew that repentance followed by faith in the resurrected Jesus was the message, and they all stayed on message.

Today we are cursed by all the deviations of the gospel
(something that eventually came to affect the early church as well)

• One church preaches repentance, another enables them to sin.
• One church preaches denial of self, the other offers your best life now.
• One church preaches sacrifice for God, the other preaches begging blessing
• One church preaches judgment, another preaches that hell isn’t real

It’s no wonder the world is confused.

The early church didn’t have that.
They were of “one mind”

But that is just their message, look at how they lived.
“and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,”

In short, their unity wasn’t a put on.
They really did get along.
They really did love each other.
They really did want to be around each other.

It was never hard to find one of the members of the church,
Because they were always together.

John 17:20-23 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. “The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me.”

The point of Jesus is that their unity and love for one another
Will be a natural attraction to the world.
When people outside the church see how much
People inside the church love each other, it is a natural draw.

(47a) “praising God and having favor with all the people.”

This was another area of their sincerity.
God constantly received all the credit for what happened.

• There was no preacher trying to use his flock to pad his resume.
• There was no politician trying to attend church to gain votes.
• There was no activist trying to use the church to push his agenda.

These people met because they loved
And their purpose was to praise God.

And because they were so real and so genuine and so sincere
They also had “favor with all the people.”

Now we know that persecution is coming,
But the point is here that people did not see through them.

Even people who were not in the church could see
That there was something genuinely different about them.

And again their unity and devotion blow our minds.
We very seldom see a unified church today…
We very seldom see a church that fond of each other…
We very seldom see a church so genuine the world can’t find hypocrisy…

BUT THEY WERE THAT WAY
BECAUSE THEY LIVED BEYOND THEMSELVES.

They trusted God and they praised God and it was real.
It wasn’t a sham.
It wasn’t a program.
It wasn’t a performance.

They didn’t do church, they were the church!

They were redeemed people, Filled with God’s Spirit,
Filled with God’s love, Walking in God’s truth,
And the world recognized them as different.

DON’T YOU WANT TO BE A CHURCH LIKE THAT?
• I don’t want to be some powerless body that accomplishes next to nothing because we always do it in our own strength.
• I don’t want to be some selfish body that would rather the needy brother move on, than see me have to sacrifice to keep him around.
• I don’t want to be some hypocritical body that talks a good game, but anyone who looks at us knows better.
But that’s what happens when you do church without being the church.
We don’t want to do church, we want to be the church.

Supernatural Power, Sacrificial Love, Sincere Testimony
#4 STEADY GROWTH
Acts 2:47b

“And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”

They weren’t growing their church, God was.

God is sovereign over the growth of His church.
God is the One who saves.

Paul said:
1 Corinthians 3:5-7 “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one. I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”

God was doing it because the people
Allowed themselves to be used by Him.

• They weren’t just going through the motions of past traditions…
• They weren’t just recognizing their limits and living within their means…
• They weren’t focused on all they could do in their own strength…

And we are guilty of doing all of that.
• We dictate our practices by the way we’ve always done it before…
• We dictate our ministries by if our budget can afford it…
• We dictate our ability by if we think we can realistically do it…

But not that church.
• They didn’t have any tradition to go on…
• They didn’t even have money let alone a budget…
• They didn’t have any strength and ability, they were being trained by
untrained men…

And yet God used them mightily to grow His church.
They weren’t doing church, they were being the church.

They were being the conduit by which God could touch the world.
They let Him use their lives.

And that is what we want.

It’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are.
We are the Spirit-filled Church of God!
And when we focus on letting Him work through us
We might just find ourselves in “awe” of God as well!

 

Let me encourage you as well as myself
To not just focus on doing church the way we know to do it,
But focus on being the church.

To be the actual hands and feet of Jesus.
To be those used by God to change the world.

Step beyond yourself,
Trust beyond your ability
And stand back and let God blow your mind.

That is church as it was meant to be.