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.
