Participants: Jim & Mark Howard
Series Code: ABOTB
Program Code: ABOTB00005A
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00:21 Welcome to "Books of the Book."
00:24 We're so glad you could join us. 00:25 My name is Jim Howard, and I'm the pastor 00:28 of the Metropolitan and South Lyon Churches in Michigan, 00:31 and I'm here with my brother, Mark, 00:32 who is also a pastor in the Michigan Conference, 00:35 and we're excited to dive back 00:37 into the Book of Acts today. 00:40 Where we left off last time was 00:42 with that beautiful story of the day of Pentecost. 00:45 And we walked through a portion of that, 00:48 but we kind of stopped short before we got to the real- 00:51 Heart of the message of the day of Pentecost. 00:54 We saw the prophetic message of Joel 2, 00:58 but we didn't then get into the application too much 01:00 that came after that. That's right. 01:02 The words of the apostles themselves, 01:04 as they preached and reached the hearts of their hearers. 01:08 So, just before we dive back into the Book of Acts, 01:11 I want to ask if you would just pause at home 01:13 and bow your heads with us 01:14 as we ask God to bless our study time together. 01:17 Father in Heaven, we're so grateful for Your word. 01:21 It gives us understanding and helps us in our way. 01:25 We pray that the Spirit of God would be given now 01:27 that we might be able to rightly divide the word 01:29 to understand what it means, 01:31 and we ask it in Jesus' name, amen. 01:36 So, what I'd like to do is pick back up in the Book of Acts. 01:38 So, if you have your Bibles at home, 01:39 please, pull them out, and let's look at Acts 2, 01:43 beginning with verse 22. 01:46 Now, the Apostle Peter, as you recall, 01:48 Mark had- had just pointed to the fact 01:50 that this great outpouring of the Holy Spirit 01:54 that caused such a loud noise and- 01:56 and the speaking of the apostles 01:58 in other languages, other tongues. 02:01 He pointed to the prophecy in Joel 02:03 to say this was a fulfillment of that prophecy. 02:06 But then, he comes to the heart of his message 02:08 for those who were there gathered 02:10 on this day of Pentecost, 02:12 and I want to walk through this message 02:14 because I think it has value in and of itself 02:17 that is still meaningful to us today. 02:20 Let's pick up in verse 22. 02:23 The apostle says, "Men of Israel, 02:25 hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, 02:28 a man attested by God to you by miracles, 02:32 wonders, and signs which God did through Him 02:35 in your midst, as you yourselves also know. 02:39 Him being delivered by the determined purpose 02:42 and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, 02:46 have crucified, and put to death." 02:49 Now, right from the start, 02:51 that's some pretty strong language, isn't it? 02:53 He actually, in verse 22 02:54 wants to make sure they remember that, 02:56 "Look, this wasn't done in a corner. 02:58 They saw everything that Jesus did, His ministry, 03:01 His miracles, His wonders, His signs. 03:03 They themselves also know, he says, 03:06 and yet it wasn't- it wasn't because of them 03:09 that Jesus went through what he did. 03:11 But, he says, "Being delivered by the determined purpose 03:14 and foreknowledge of God. 03:17 You-you have taken by lawless hands, this Jesus." 03:20 Now, in verse 24- 03:22 Before we go there, I think an important point. 03:23 This makes me think, you know, 03:25 somebody may read this and some of our viewers 03:27 may be thinking, "While he was determined, 03:29 delivered by the determined purpose 03:30 and foreknowledge of God," and of course, 03:32 we know that the father had- 03:34 This was a plan between Him and the Son, 03:35 the plan of redemption, but sometimes people 03:38 get the idea that there are 03:39 certain things that God foreordains 03:43 and you know, so that the people, 03:45 I've heard people say they're certain people 03:47 acting their parts like Judas and what have you, 03:48 well, they had to act that way 03:50 because it was foreordained by God, etcetera. 03:52 And it makes me think of the passage where Jesus, 03:54 speaking of some of these things said, 03:57 "It must be that offenses will come, but, 04:00 woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." 04:03 In another words, God know-knew that His son, 04:06 Jesus, would be crucified, 04:08 would be taken and crucified because of the truth, 04:10 of the message that he preached. 04:12 But God didn't force the people to reject him. 04:16 That was their choice. 04:18 That was their choice, and Peter is going to bring 04:19 that out in his message here. 04:20 Absolutely. That's an excellent point. 04:22 So, we get to verse 24, and he continues speaking of 04:26 Jesus and says, "Whom God raised up, 04:29 having loosed the pains of death, 04:31 because it was not possible that He should be held by it." 04:34 Now, that's strong language to say, 04:35 it was not possible that he should be held by it. 04:39 And the next word in verse 25 says, 04:41 "For, which means because-." 04:44 Because David says concerning him. 04:46 So, he's saying, "It wasn't possible 04:48 for death to hold on to Jesus and the reason 04:51 was because of what the scripture said." 04:54 And he's about to quote from David, the psalmist. 04:58 So, he quotes here- in verse 25, 05:01 for David says, concerning him, 05:03 "I foresaw the Lord always before my face, 05:06 for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken, 05:09 therefore, my heart rejoiced and my tongue was glad, 05:13 Moreover, my flesh also will rest in hope. 05:15 For You will not leave my soul in Hades," 05:18 that's the grave, "Nor will You allow 05:20 your holy One to see corruption. 05:23 You have made known to me the ways of life, 05:25 You will make me full of joy in your presence." 05:28 So, when he says in verse 25, David says, concerning him. 05:32 What he's saying is that this Psalm 05:33 is in the first person- person as if- 05:37 is speaking of Jesus who is making this declaration. 05:42 And you've got to imagine that if you're there, 05:44 one of the Jews, and you've heard this Psalm before, 05:46 you knew that David wrote it. 05:48 You're thinking, "No, that's David speaking about himself." 05:51 But now Peter shows conclusively 05:54 that this could not be Peter speaking of himself. 05:58 He says, in verse 29, "Men and brethren, 06:00 let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, 06:03 that he is both dead and buried, 06:06 and his tomb is with us to this day." 06:08 In other words, this prophetic scripture that says, 06:12 you will not allow your holy one to see corruption, 06:14 you won't leave him in the grave, 06:16 couldn't have been talking- 06:18 David couldn't have been talking about himself 06:19 because he's still in the grave. 06:21 Instead he had to be speaking on behalf of, 06:25 in a prophetic sense, the Messiah 06:27 and that's where he goes on to say in verse 30. 06:30 "Therefore, being a prophet, 06:32 and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him 06:36 that of the fruit of his body that is of the lineage of David, 06:39 according to the flesh, He would raise up the Christ 06:42 to sit on his throne, he, foreseeing this 06:45 spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, 06:49 that His soul was not left in Hades or the grave, 06:52 nor did His flesh see corruption." 06:55 So, he's saying, "Look, you guys understand 06:57 that what we have known and read in this scripture 06:59 for so long was not David speaking of himself, 07:02 but David was speaking ahead of time of the Messiah 07:05 that would come through his lineage 07:07 and He would not see corruption 07:09 which means that he would need to be resurrected. 07:13 And by doing this, he just proved 07:16 that whoever the Messiah is, 07:18 we should expect the Messiah to be resurrected. 07:20 Now, of course, they had already heard the reports, right? 07:24 The reports had already been cast across the land 07:27 that Jesus of Nazareth whom so many saw 07:30 to be the Messiah had disappeared and- 07:33 and as many had seen him since his resurrection. 07:37 That's right, and the religious leaders 07:39 of course had circulated the report 07:40 that his disciples came and stole the body. 07:44 This whole thing is actually fascinating 07:46 because you have, you know, 07:48 the disciples have seen Christ 07:51 and He was seen of others and they could have simply 07:54 gone on the testimony of eyewitness. 07:56 They could have simply said, "Hey, we've seen 07:58 and this is why we're saying this," 08:00 but it's interesting that Peter goes to scripture. 08:03 And he goes to the scripture 08:04 that his hearers have confidence in- 08:07 They had confidence in David, they had confidence in Joel. 08:10 They believed these scriptures, 08:12 but they'd never seen this application of the scriptures. 08:15 They believed this- this Psalm of David 08:17 but they thought David was talking about himself 08:20 and I wondered, Jim, to myself too, 08:22 if-you know, as we see- 08:23 One of the things we're gonna see as we go on 08:25 in the Book of Acts is a lot of opposition 08:27 by a class called the Sadducees, 08:29 who were religious leaders of the day, 08:31 who strongly opposed the doctrine of the resurrection. 08:37 So, the people probably weren't taught a lot, 08:40 certainly from the Sadducees on the idea of the resurrection. 08:44 And this was probably the first time 08:47 that some of them had ever really realized 08:50 that David was foretelling a resurrection 08:54 from the grave and a resurrection of the Messiah. 08:58 And when they linked it with the current report now of Jesus. 09:03 It gripped them and they saw in the scripture 09:08 that they had confidence in, 09:10 that they had been standing on the wrong side. 09:12 That's right. 09:13 And now, Peter adds a little insult to injury, 09:16 because, in verse 32, he says, 09:19 "This Jesus God has raised up of which we are all witnesses." 09:25 All of these apostles who were standing in unison, 09:29 they all declared and they're speaking 09:31 with such clarity, such authority, 09:33 and they all agree that they had seen 09:35 Jesus after His resurrection. 09:37 Sure and there's the miracle of the tongue to say, 09:39 so they're hearing in, they see there's a supernatural- 09:42 They heard the supernatural noise, 09:44 all of these elements coming together to bring conviction. 09:47 And now, we get to verse 33, where he says, 09:50 "Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God, 09:55 and having received from the Father 09:57 the promise of the Holy Spirit, 09:59 He poured out this which you now see and hear." 10:02 In other words, this Jesus who was 10:04 resurrected is still the Living Christ. 10:07 He has gone to heaven but He is alive, 10:10 He is still active, and He is the one 10:13 Himself personally, who is looking down upon us today 10:16 and has poured out this Holy Spirit upon us 10:19 and everything we see here is a manifestation 10:21 of the evidence that God has received him in heaven, 10:24 and has given him authority as Lord and Christ. 10:27 Oh, what a powerful thought. 10:29 The one you've just been responsible, 10:31 the one you may have yell, you've been in the- 10:33 you're in the crowd saying, "Crucify him." 10:35 That's right. "His blood be on us." 10:37 Yes. "And on our children." 10:39 And now, you know, thinking he's an imposter 10:41 and now- they imagine the conviction. 10:44 The conviction has come home. 10:45 That you were deceived and on the wrong side 10:48 and fighting against your Messiah. 10:51 He makes a concluding statement. 10:53 I think we'll get back to that one in a moment, 10:54 but in verse 36, I just want to look at his close 10:57 "Therefore let all the house of Israel,-" 11:01 These are the ones he is speaking to here- 11:03 "Know assuredly that God has made this Jesus 11:06 whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ." 11:11 Now, I'll tell you what, if I had heard that sermon, 11:15 I would probably be having all sorts of 11:19 differing responses, but I know that one thing I would feel is, 11:23 "Wow, I was just responsible, 11:27 partially responsible, for the death, the murder, 11:31 the crucifixion of the Son of God." 11:34 I mean, this- this prophecy pointed at home 11:37 that everything ties together here, 11:39 it made perfect sense, and now, 11:43 there's only one response that the people can give, 11:45 and in verse 37, they give it. 11:47 It says, "Now when they heard this, 11:48 they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter 11:52 and the rest of the apostles, 'Men and brethren, 11:55 what shall we do?'" 11:56 What can we do to get out of this? 11:58 It's surely judgment has come upon us for what we've done. 12:01 They now- this is an evidence 12:03 that they have fully acknowledged 12:05 that there is clear evidence 12:07 in what's shared here and just before- 12:09 I want you to respond to this, 12:10 but just before you do, I'm thinking to myself 12:13 about Jesus, back there in Luke 24, 12:16 "Opening the scriptures to those disciples, 12:20 showing them all things in the law 12:22 and the Psalms and the prophets 12:23 that we're a fulfillment of himself." 12:26 And I can imagine that Peter here is simply reiterating, 12:30 sharing what Jesus 12:32 had intimately shared with those disciples, 12:34 and now he's sharing it with conviction, 12:36 and the people are responding. 12:37 Absolutely, and that makes me think of 12:39 what Jesus told His disciples in John 13:19 12:43 about the prophecies of scripture. 12:46 He said to them, "I tell you before it comes to pass, 12:49 that when it does come to pass, 12:52 you may believe that I am He." 12:55 And he says something similar in John 14:29, he says, 12:59 "Now I have told you before it comes 13:01 that when it does come to pass, you may believe." 13:03 So, it's interesting that the Lord gives 13:05 evidence for faith. 13:08 I mean there's an element of our- 13:09 of our experience where we've got to trust the Lord 13:12 beyond what we can see. 13:14 But the Lord doesn't leave us without evidence, 13:16 and one of those evidences, 13:17 strong evidence is the prophecies of scripture. 13:19 And so he points therein, on the road to Emmaus, 13:22 He points his disciples to prophecy 13:24 and then here we see Peter 13:27 pointing the people to prophecy because it's in seeing, 13:30 it was in seeing those fulfilled prophecies, 13:33 that they realized their true condition, 13:36 their need of Christ, 13:39 the person in the authority of Christ 13:42 and their need for repentance and reception of the Gospel. 13:46 That's right. That's right. 13:47 And there's more to say on this, 13:49 but I know that we have to go to a break. 13:50 So, I hope you stay with us. 13:53 We're gonna come right back 13:54 into the Book of Acts, stay tuned. |
Revised 2014-12-17