Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Acts 2 | Date: March 31, 2024 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

I always appreciate Christmas Sunday and Easter Sunday because it gives us an excuse to focus on things that matter most, and we take advantage of that here. Today we will look at Acts chapter 2, and we will look at the first resurrection sermon, or if you like, the first Easter sermon that was preached, and that is by the Apostle Peter.

I’m going to take the time to read the entire account, Acts chapter 2, verses 1 to 41.

“When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And divided tongues as of fire appeared to them and rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.

Now they were dwelling in Jerusalem, Jews, devout men, from every nation under heaven. And at the sound the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And they were amazed and astonished, saying, ‘Are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God.’ And all were amazed and perplexed, saying to one another, ‘What does this mean?’ But others, mocking, said, ‘They are filled with new wine.’

Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them, ‘Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give ear to my words, for these men are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel.’ And here he quotes from Joel chapter two. ‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even on my male servants and my female servants, in those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.’

‘Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope, for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy ones see corruption. You have made known to me the paths of life. You will make me full of gladness with your presence.”‘ And that was from Psalm 16.

‘Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus, God raised up. And of that, we are all witnesses. Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing. For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,’ and here he quotes Psalm 110, ‘”The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.’

Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’ Peter said to them, ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’ So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.”

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, what a wonderful thing it is that we celebrate each Lord’s Day, and then annually at this commemoration of it, that we have a Savior who is all-accomplished in our salvation. He has died in our place. He’s borne the curse of our sins. You’ve raised him from the dead. He reigns today and we wait for his return. We pray that you would encourage and uplift the hearts of your people with this today. Exalt Christ in our hearts. For any who do not know him, Lord, may this be the day when they learn to bow before him while they may. We pray in his name. Amen.

Lying in the background here before Acts chapter 2, of course, we have the recent events of the passion and the crucifixion and death of the Lord Jesus. It was a devastating event to the apostles. They themselves, who had been committed followers of Jesus, were devastated by it, left hopeless. And then—well, that was Friday and Saturday. And then of course, Sunday, the news came that he was alive. It was quite a surprising thing to them, no less than to anyone else, but that Jesus was alive again.

And then over the ensuing days and weeks, they found Jesus. He would appear here and there and spoke to many, one time to more than 500 at once. Jesus appeared to the apostles—Acts chapter 1 tells us of this—and he commanded them to wait there in Jerusalem for the promise. That promise, of course, is the promise of the Holy Spirit, which was a dominant theme in the Old Testament: that the day of Messiah would be marked by the age of the Spirit who has come. And Jesus says, “Stay here in Jerusalem, wait for that.” That, of course, is what is fulfilled then in Acts chapter 2.

Acts chapter 2 records the day of Pentecost. It tells us in verse 1, this is the day of the descent of the Spirit inaugurating the new covenant age. Pentecost was a Jewish holiday, of course. It was the Feast of Harvest, also called the Feast of Weeks because it was seven weeks after the Feast of Firstfruits. Seven weeks and then a day later, the 50th day, Pentecost marked the day of this holiday for them.

The Old Testament holidays, as you know, just like the priesthood itself, like the temple, like the sacrifices—all of it was prospective. It pointed ahead to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Day of Atonement, of course, pointed to Christ and his work on the cross and his death for sinners. The Feast of Firstfruits pointed ahead to the resurrection of Jesus, who was the firstfruits of those who sleep. And then we have the Pentecost, which is 50 days later, which pointed ahead to Jesus and the sending of his Spirit to his people to carry out the work of his kingdom.

In Acts chapter 2 now, we find the events then of the first Pentecost. We may call it that. There were celebrations of Pentecost, of course, every year for centuries back. But this is the day that that Mosaic holiday was fulfilled. And so in a very important sense, this is the first one. And then in verses 1 to 13 of chapter 2, we have described for us the spectacular events of that day and the initial response. There’s the preaching of the Gospel of Christ, announcing His Lordship, and then we have people who are just perplexed over what has happened. They’ve heard the Apostles preach, each of them in their own language, and this marvelous event that is coming. Verse 12 tells us that they were amazed and perplexed. They’re wondering, how do we explain such a thing?

And then in response to that, verses 14 through 36, we have Peter’s response. And his response to that amazement and their perplexity is his sermon. It’s kind of an apologetically oriented sermon directed at establishing the credentials of Jesus as Lord and as the Messianic King. We’ll see that as we go through it. And then verses 37 through the rest of the chapter, we have Luke’s report of the aftermath of that sermon. Some mocked, but many were converted and came to Christ. There’s conviction of sin. Peter exhorts them to repent. And we have the beginning of the church at Jerusalem.

Now we’ll focus today then on verses 14 and following, Peter’s sermon in which he addresses this entire matter. His sermon progresses really in three steps, and each of those three steps correspond to another Old Testament passage.

The Prophecy of Joel

In verses 14 to 21, he focuses on a prophecy from the Old Testament prophet Joel, Joel chapter 2, verses 28 to 32. He cites it and explains its relevance for the events of that day. And here Peter says, in essence, what you see here today, all of these spectacular events that you’ve witnessed, is just what the prophet Joel foresaw and foretold would take place. Verse 17: “In the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh.”

Joel, again in view here, chapter 2, verses 28 and following, the leading mark of the messianic age is the outpouring of the spirit. Joel was not the only Old Testament prophet to foretell this. We have it especially in the prophet Ezekiel chapter 36. We find it in Jeremiah chapter 31 as well and other places. This was to be an age of the Spirit. The age of Messiah is the age of the Spirit. It was needed because Israel had pointed up the—if we can say it this way—the deficiency of the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant commanded people what to do, commanded the Lord’s people how to live, but it provided no enablement. And it provided no forgiveness of sins, ultimately.

And so the new covenant was promised, and in this new covenant, God would not only give commands, but he would provide enablement and empowerment for the fulfilling of those commands through the outpouring of his spirit on his people. As I say, Joel is not the only one to prophesy this. This was a dominant note in the Old Testament. Jesus picks up on it in John chapters 14 to 16. He speaks of it very directly in his upper room discourse to his disciples. He’s about to go to the cross; he’s instructing them about the time when he will be away from them and he instructs them that the Spirit will be sent in his place and do a wonderful ministry among them. That’s what he picks up in Acts chapter 1 when he says, “Wait here for the promise.”

Peter here now cites Joel among the other prophecies that have talked about that promise, but he cites Joel, I suspect, specifically because Joel explicitly has remarks about the spectacular events associated with that day, which still have not been fulfilled ultimately, but the foretaste of it at least was, and that will accompany the day of the Lord with the outpouring of the Spirit. And Peter now cites Joel and simply says, “This what you see today is that which Joel has prophesied.” Now once you’ve said that, imagine the listeners standing there. These are all devout Jews. They’re there from every nation around for the events of Pentecost. It was an important holiday for them to celebrate. They are there for that. And Peter now announces that the day of the Spirit has come. The messianic age has dawned. And they’re going to say, “Say what? How did that happen? How did that come about?”

Psalm 16

So Peter has to elaborate on that. And in verses 22 through 32, Peter zeroes in on the resurrection of Christ. And here he cites Psalm 16 in support. Let’s look again at verses 22 and following: “Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst. As you yourselves know, this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it. For David says concerning him…” and here he quotes Psalm 16, verses 8 and following.

This is a Psalm we saw a couple of months ago here together. David says concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy one see corruption.” Now, he says a lot here; let’s work our way through it quickly. He follows his argument; he proceeds with his argument in basically three steps.

Number one, he says, verse 22, Jesus bore divine approval. Notice how he says it: “Men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know.” Notice how he presses it. Jesus bore divine approval, and you know it. He performed miracles, and you know it. Notice how he labors it: “Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God.” There’s the assertion. “With mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him. In your midst, as you yourselves know.” So it’s kind of an evidential type of argument. You’ve seen this. You know it yourself. Jesus performed these miracles. And these are the signs of his divine approval.

Now the Father’s approval or attestation—the attestation of the Son from the Father—is a dominant, a prominent theme in the Gospels. We find it at the outset of Jesus’ ministry, at his baptism. He comes up from the waters of baptism. We hear the voice from heaven, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I’m well pleased, hear him.” We have the same at the transfiguration, the Father’s approval stated in those cases from heaven itself. Now it was important to Jesus to emphasize this; it was important to him, to Jesus himself, that this be stressed: that what he does and what he claims comes with God’s approval. Jesus would say things like, “The works that I do…” He pressed the matter of the miracles themselves: “The works that I do in my father’s name, they bear witness of me.”

Well, Peter is doing the same here, and he highlights Jesus’ miracles—these signs and wonders that were done by Jesus—as a proof and evidence that the crowd themselves who had witnessed it could not deny. Again, verse 22: it’s “attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs which God did through him in your midst as you yourselves know.” Now Jesus’ miracles were often acts of kindness, compassion, even rescue at times. But Jesus’ miracles served a higher purpose than all of that. They served primarily to demonstrate Jesus’ unique authority. That’s why in the Gospel of John, Jesus’ miracles are called signs. They point. They point to Jesus’ authority. These miracles, these wonders that he performed, pointed to Jesus and authenticated him with divine authority. In fact, John tells us that: “I’ve recorded these signs for you so that you will believe.”

Every layer of history that we have about Jesus speaks of Jesus as one who performed miracles, whether they’re Christian sources, or pagan sources, or Jewish sources. The Jews in Jesus’ own day—this was a matter that they all agreed on; they didn’t know how to explain it and had various explanations for it. But they all had to face the fact that Jesus did things that no one else could do. He had a unique kind of authority. You might remember the time when John the Baptist sent his disciples. John the Baptist is in prison. He sends his disciples to Jesus. “Are you the one or not?” Imagine John being a little bit puzzled by all of this. He introduces Jesus as the Messiah. He’s the one that’s going to bring in the day of the Lord and this is going to be great. Now John’s in prison and the bad guys are winning and the good guys are losing. This just doesn’t seem right, so he sends his disciples. “Are you the one or not?”

And you remember how Jesus responds—this is Matthew chapter 11. He says, “Go and tell John what you hear and see. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear and the dead are raised up.” These are signs of Jesus’ unique authority, his messianic credentials, if you will. The same kind of thing happened in other periods of history in the Bible. The Bible is not one long record of miracle working, but there are pockets of time in biblical history when there were miracles that were performed. We have it around the time of Moses, around the time of Elijah and Elisha, and again we have it around the time of the apostles. And in each case, the miracles were there and were performed for the purpose of vindicating or authenticating the messengers. And in the same way with Jesus, it points to His credibility.

You’ve seen these miracles yourselves. They were performed in your midst. How do you explain them? Not a few critics have fallen on this one. How do you explain them? You can’t deny the historical records, however you see them, however you read them, however critically you want to read them. You can’t deny the historical records. Everybody saw that Jesus did some unusual things. Consider the number of them. It wasn’t just a few; it was a lot of them. Consider the greatness of Jesus’ miracles. These were mighty interferences with nature: making the blind to see, making the lame walk, stilling a storm, raising the dead. You’ve seen Jesus’ miracles. Think of the character of Jesus’ miracles. They were acts of compassion and kindness and rescue. They weren’t just barren acts of power showing off. In fact, when he was asked to do those kinds of things, he refused it. Think of the credibility of Jesus’ miracles. They were done in the open. There were no smoke and mirrors. They were done in daylight. They would bear any investigation. Peter’s pressing that here: “You yourselves know. You’ve seen them done in your own midst. You were there. How do you explain them?”

Of course, one explanation that was given—well, “he has the power of Satan,” Matthew chapter 12. And everybody finally realized that that’s really kind of a stupid explanation; that doesn’t really fit the scene either. And Peter presses the point here, “You’ve seen his miracles in your own midst, how do you explain it?” The only explanation that satisfies the facts is that Jesus bears the stamp of divine approval. Here were people who had witnessed it themselves. The miracles were Jesus’ certificate of authenticity, if you will, his credentials. And what makes this so important is that if Jesus is attested by God by these miracles, if this is God’s stamp of approval on Jesus, then what does that say about Jesus’ claims?

Jesus had some amazing claims. He’s got to be either a lunatic, or a liar, or a fraud, or he’s the Lord from heaven. Those are the three choices you have. He claimed unique prerogatives. He claimed a unique position with the Father, a unique relationship with the Father. He claimed authority to judge all people. Who claims these things? And yet if he has divine approval, attested by the miracles that he performed, what does it say about those claims then that he had made? And then what about his bold prediction that he would die and three days later rise from the dead? What do you do with that? Peter is pressing then the implications of the evidence. You cannot explain the miracles of Jesus except to say that he bore divine approval. You know it. You saw it.

Second step of his argument, verse 23. Number one, Jesus bore divine approval. Number two, you crucified him. Verse 23: “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men.” Notice just how Peter shapes his accusation here. First of all, he emphasizes that this crucifixion of Jesus—that you killed him—it was no surprise to God. Notice how he says that: “He was delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God.” Isn’t it interesting here that Peter, standing in front of the crowd that crucified Jesus and gave their assent to it, says Jesus was approved of God, demonstrated his messianic credentials, and now—”you’ve ruined everything. You’ve crucified him.” That’s not what he says. He says you’ve crucified him according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. This was God’s very purpose. And yet it remains the case at the same time that you crucified him and he was killed by the hands of lawless men.

So on the one hand, Jesus can say in Luke chapter 22, “The Son of Man goes as it was determined.” This is the definite plan and foreknowledge of God. And on the other hand, it was wicked men who in sin carried it out and killed him. And they are guilty because they did it in sin and in hatred of him. You crucified this man who bore divine approval. You are guilty. Now there are profound theological implications to all of this. God’s eternal purpose carried out through—not in spite of—God’s purpose carried out through the sinful acts of wicked men. Think on that. This is God not just ruling over and counter-moving. This is God accomplishing His purpose, His holy and just purpose, by means of the sinful acts of men. His purpose was accomplished; they did it sinfully, and they are held guilty for it.

It’s a fascinating thing. We find it in the scriptures. We’ve been reciting it not too long ago in our recent section of our 1689 confession that we’ve been reciting together recently. God accomplishes his will. He does it through the acts of sinful men. And he does it in such a way that God is not tainted with the sin, but they are. And their sin is tied to the fact—their guilt is tied to the fact—that what they did, they did willfully and with sinful intent and out of hate. And therein lies their guilt. Now, we’ll talk about that another time, but you and I, we derive all kinds of comfort from the fact that God rules through the sinful acts of men to accomplish his good and wise purposes.

But whatever comfort you and I might derive from all of that was no comfort for these men that day because they crucified this one who had divine approval and they did it out of hatred and with malintent. What they did, they didn’t do to carry out God’s purpose. They did what they did out of hatred for the one whom God approved. And therein lies their guilt. And so Peter presses the matter a little bit further. Number one, Jesus was approved by God. Number two, you crucified him. And now number three, God raised him from the dead.

Verses 23 and 24: “This Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.” Now there’s yet another mark of divine approval. God raised him from the dead. How do you explain this? You see what Peter’s pressing? You crucified him. Three days later, the tomb was empty. How do you explain that? You saw him yourselves after he was crucified. In the various appearances, you saw him. What do you do with that? What does that mean? He’s pressing the implication. You can imagine the frustration of these people. They consented to Jesus’ crucifixion: “Get rid of this guy.” He’s finally crucified. And then the tomb is empty. And then they start seeing him various places and he appears and talks to people. And Peter is pressing the implications of that. You guys are witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection. What does that mean? Can you imagine their frustration if they could only produce the body? Christianity had been dead on the spot; we’d never heard of it. But it’s precisely what they could not do. They themselves were witnesses of his resurrection.

Now with that in mind, verse 24, Peter adds another interpretive note. He says, “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death.” That’s the word for birth pangs. It pictures the tomb in labor. Jesus’ tomb, in labor, having to give birth, having to release him. “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.” It is impossible, Peter says. It was impossible that Jesus could remain in the tomb. It just couldn’t happen. He had to be raised from the dead. Why? I think, first of all, in answering that, it would be helpful to emphasize the pronouns in the verse. “It was not possible for him to be held by it.” Him, that is Jesus, attested by God, which you saw by His miracles. It is not possible for Him to be held by it, that is death, the penalty of sin. It is impossible for it to hold Him.

Behind this lies a whole doctrine of the atonement. And that is Christ, the righteous one, dies in the place of sinners. He exhausts the curse in place of sinners. And in vindication of it all and in declaration that God has accepted it, God raised him from the dead. It is impossible. If he has exhausted the curse, it is impossible for death to hold him. He must be raised. His resurrection then is his vindication—God’s declaration of approval and his acceptance of him. What Peter emphasizes here is that by very reason of who Jesus is, he could not be held by death. Death and the grave were for Jesus like a woman in labor. It just had to give him up. He had to come back from the dead.

Now, verses 25 and following explain, and here he cites Psalm 16. Verse 24: “God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death because it was not possible for him to be held by it for…” and here comes the explanation: “for David says concerning him,” and here he quotes Psalm 16, verses 8 and following. David says, concerning him, “I saw the Lord always before me for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken. Therefore, my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced. My flesh also will dwell in hope for you will not abandon my soul to Hades or let your holy ones see corruption.”

So he points the men of Israel to their own scriptures. Psalm 16, a Psalm written by the famous King David himself. And in verses 29 and following he reasons it out: “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried and his tomb is with us to this day. Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on the throne, he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, the Messiah, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

So follow his reasoning here. David said that his body—that God would not allow his body—to remain in the tomb. He would not allow his body to see corruption. Now, David’s a prophet. So David being mistaken on this point is not an option. He’s speaking for God. And yet David’s tomb is still out here a thousand years later, and we can go see it. His body has seen corruption. It’s still there. Therefore, Peter says, as a prophet, and knowing—David knowing—that God had made a promise to him concerning his greater son who would rule, David wrote in Psalm 16, not of himself; he wrote about his greater son, the Messiah. That’s who he was writing about, that his flesh would not see corruption, that he would not be abandoned to the grave.

And then Peter presses it further. “Oh, wait. Jesus’ body did not remain in the tomb. Jesus’ body did not see corruption.” Draw the conclusion. Jesus is Messiah. Jesus is the one that David wrote about. Jesus is the Christ. The argument is ironclad. The fact of Jesus’ resurrection means that Jesus is the Messiah, their long-awaited Deliverer, whom they crucified. Now again, that was no surprise to God. He had his purpose in doing this. Jesus’ death was not his defeat. In fact, it was the means of his establishing the kingdom. His kingdom is not just simply a defeating of his enemies. His kingdom is a rescuing of his people from their sin to make them his. And to do that, he had to take their place and bear the penalty of their sin. And having done that successfully, God raised him from the dead. This was no surprise to God. This was his very purpose in establishing his kingdom. It’s the means by which he establishes his kingdom.

Psalm 110

And then verses 33 and following, Peter drives the point home: “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this—that is, Jesus has poured out this—that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” And again, a biblical argument: “For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says,” and here he quotes Psalm 110. This was an acknowledged messianic psalm. Everyone would have recognized it. “The Lord said to my Lord,” David is saying this. “The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.”

Psalm 110 is an ascension psalm. It’s an enthronement psalm. It’s a scene where the Messiah takes his throne and God says to his appointed king, “You’ve done the work that I’ve assigned to you. It has been successful. Now take your place as universal king on the throne at my right hand. And now reign here until you bring my kingdom to its consummation.” And then, verse 36, we have the punchline in brief: “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him, Jesus, both Lord and Christ.” That is, it is to Jesus that God has now said, “Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool.” Jesus now reigns as king over all. Jesus will bring God’s kingdom to its consummation. Jesus is the world’s judge, and Jesus will bring all of his enemies to justice. Verse 36, the end of the verse: “that is this Jesus whom you crucified.”

Now you can imagine Peter’s audience at this point. One after another, the points come, pushing them into the corner. Jesus was attested by God and you know it. You crucified him. God raised him from the dead. David wrote about him. He is the Messiah. And that means that you are accountable to him and that he one day will be your judge. And they’re boxed in a corner. What did they say? These were people who had been there. They’d seen the miracles. They’d witnessed the resurrection. They had a hand in his crucifixion. And now they hear, he’s the Messiah who will be their judge. Their hearts are racing, no doubt, as they stand there in stunned silence. And their silence gives tacit acknowledgement to the Messiahship of Jesus, whom they had crucified and who will be their judge.

And so verse 37 says, “When they had heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?'” This is a brief account of it, but you can just see it. Realization has dawned on them the enormity of the crime that they had committed. God’s long-promised Messiah had come. They, in absolute hatred for him, got rid of him, put him to death. But in doing so had accomplished God’s purpose in establishing his kingdom. He’s now raised from the dead. “He’ll be our judge. Brothers, what do we do now?”

And it was in response to that, Peter says in verse 38, he responds with a gospel offer. Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” That is, repentance is required. You must acknowledge your sin, and in expression of that repentance, you must be baptized in his name, acknowledging him as Lord. All of that is to say: Jesus is Lord, you crucified him, he is your judge, you have only one option, and that is to surrender to him now while you can. Bow before him in confession of your sin and acknowledge him as the Christ.

How implicit in all of this is to say that this present phase of Jesus’ kingdom and his reign allows a time of mercy for his enemies? He’s been raised from the dead, he’s exalted as Lord, and on the entailments of his Lordship is the right and the authority to judge, and he will judge all. But for the time being, he extends an offer of peace to those who rebel against him. If you come in repentance of sin, bowing before him, he’ll have you.

This is the obligation of every man and woman everywhere that Jesus is raised from the dead. He’s been exalted as Lord. He’s accomplished salvation. He’s earned the right to judge in grace. He offers a peace to all of those who will come to him, but his enemies—they’ll be made his footstool. You cannot refuse this King forever.

This was the message of the church at its first public appearance, Acts chapter 2, and it remains the message of the church throughout this age. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, attested by God, crucified, died in place of sinners, raised from the dead, has taken his place at the right hand of God as universal judge and universal king. Come to him; come to terms with him for the peace that he offers while you may. Bow before him while you still can. You cannot refuse his lordship forever. You will bow before this king. Do so today while you still safely may. That was the message then. It remains the message today until he comes again. Jesus is Lord. He offers peace. Bow to him while you safely may. Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, what a glorious Savior we have. How we praise you for giving us your Son and how we praise you for accomplishing through him our salvation and giving us in him all that we need for eternity. We praise you, Lord Jesus, for coming and giving yourself for us. We praise you, Spirit, for opening our eyes to see him. Again, we ask, exalt Christ in our hearts here today and every soul that is here. We pray that you will enable us to see him in his glory and his beauty and help us to see the value of Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen.