It's my privilege to be here. It's humbling to me because I
know your pastor, I know the kind of pastor you have. I know
how particular he is, who he allows stand in his pulpit. And
it's humbling to me that he would call me and ask me to come here
and fill this pulpit while he's gone. I have high regards for
Brother Paul. I love him and his wife, Mindy. They've been such friends to
us over the years. I want you to turn to The book
of Acts, Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2, our Lord had
risen from the grave. He told the disciples to go to
Jerusalem and wait for the promise of the Holy Spirit. He did not send them out in the
energy of the flesh. And I'm telling you, as I've
gotten older and through the years of preaching, I have learned
that I need the Holy Spirit in preaching far, far, far, ten
thousand times more than I need my notes. I would rather that the Holy
Spirit give me one comment to make than for me to stand here
and preach 45 minutes from a great outline. Because that great outline
is not going to mean anything if God is not in it, if He doesn't
apply it. And so they waited. They did
as they were told. filled with the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit came and came upon them. They were filled with
the Holy Spirit. And after that, they started
to preach. They began to preach in other
tongues, other languages, and people heard them. And this message
that we are going to look at this morning is the first message
that Peter The one who denied the Lord three times. He's going
to stand before that crowd, that crowd, crucify Him, crucify Him. That crowd, that mob, that turn
on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this apostle who denied Him
three times, he gets the opportunity. He gets to stand and preach to
them. And He does not back down this
time. This time He stands in the boldness
of God's Spirit and He proclaims Jesus Christ and He proclaims
to them their guilt. He doesn't sugarcoat it. You
crucified the Son of God. You killed the Prince of Life.
You did this. So now what we're going to get
to look at is Peter's first public message. Now I'm going to read
a few verses, verse 22 through 24, then we're going to look
over at verse 36. And what we're going to look
at is the message and the effect of that message in the power
of the Holy Spirit. And this is the message in all
who preach. We must learn this. There's one
message that God blesses. There's one message God blesses.
There's one message by which God Almighty is pleased to save
sinners. It's Jesus Christ and Him crucified. It's Jesus Christ risen. It's Jesus Christ seated at God's
right hand. God made Him Lord and Christ. We don't make Him that. We don't
make Him our Lord. God did. Whether he saves me
or not, he's my Lord. He's Lord over me, whether I
believe or not, he's Lord. I'm in his hands. He said in
John 17, Father, you have given me power over all flesh. There's no one not under the
power of Jesus Christ. There's no dictator, no authority
figure. No bum out there on the street
that's not under the power and authority of Jesus Christ. And
that gives me comfort. There's no thief out there, there's
no robber, no killer, no murderer that's not under His power. So
you and I can lay down at night and we can go to sleep. And our
sleep can be sweet because our Lord reigns over all. But look
in verse 22, ye men of Israel, Hear these words. Pay attention. These are not idle words. These
words are from God. I say that this morning in this
service and the next service. Hear these words. Hear the Word
of God. When we read the Word of God,
God is speaking. God Almighty. I'm not just reading
a book like any other book. This is God's Word. God's speaking. You men of Israel, hear these
words, Jesus of Nazareth, and he identified the one he's speaking
of. That one that was said is, can
any good thing come out of Nazareth? They knew who he was talking
about when he said Jesus of Nazareth. A man approved of God, God's
man, God's man and the God man. This is God's man and this is
the God man. He is a man approved of God among
you by miracles and wonders and signs which God did by him in
the midst of you, as you yourselves also know your witnesses. Him
being delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of
God. Yes, you delivered him up, but God delivered him up. God
delivered him up. God delivered him up as a sacrifice
for us. We have a sacrifice. But here's
the good news. We have a living sacrifice. He's
not dead. A dead sacrifice is not going
to save anyone. As Ralph Barner said, a dead Christ can't save
anyone but a living Lord can. A living Lord can. You have taken
and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. You know, one thing
I have learned in preaching is not just to talk about sin
in a generality. But sin is what I am. Sins is
what I do. And sins is against God. It's
against God. And that's what He's doing. He's
speaking to this crowd and He says, You crucified the Son of
God whom God hath raised up. Boy, that changed, didn't it?
This one you murder, this one you crucify, He's alive. He's alive and well. He's alive
and seated at God's right hand. Having loosed the pains of death
because it was not possible that He should be holding of it. It's
not possible. He's the spotless Lamb of God. Death could not hold Him. Death
couldn't hold him. There's no claims on him. No claims on him. Now, then he
goes on in the next several verses and he speaks about David and
how David spoke concerning him. He said, I foresaw the Lord always
before my face. He's on my right hand that I
should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice.
And my tongue was glad, moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope,
because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou
suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." And David, he's
saying, was speaking of Jesus Christ. David's not speaking
of himself because his sepulcher is with us to this day. And his
bones are still in that sepulcher. He's like, go roll the stone
away from that grave and you'll find his bones in there. You're
not going to find the bones of Jesus Christ. David's speaking
of Christ. That's what he's telling them.
He's speaking of Christ. Now, he gives them this message, and
he says again in verse 31, he's seen this before, David's seen
this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell or in the grave, neither his flesh did seek corruption.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses.
Now, go down to verse 36. Therefore, In verse 36, therefore, let all
the house of Israel know assuredly, let them recognize and acknowledge
that God has made that same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord
and Christ, both ruler, sovereign, both Lord, that means sovereign.
He made him the sovereign. He's the sovereign king that
everyone that's ever existed or ever will exist will answer
to. I don't have to answer to everybody
in this world. In fact, I won't deal with...
There's over 7 billion people in the world. The people I will
actually deal with won't even register if you compare to the
whole... I mean, it's .00 way out there. But everybody has to deal with
Jesus Christ. He's Lord. God has made him Lord. Made that man whom you crucified. That man that you and I, when
we were born into this world, we despised. We despised him. We were born with an enmity in
our mind against him. We had a natural hatred of God. We did. We had a natural hatred
of God. And he said, but you let all
the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made that same Jesus
whom you crucified, Lord and Christ. Now, notice the effect
of the message. First of all, the message is
Christ, and it's Christ and Him crucified, and it's your attitude
toward Him. As he said to that crowd, listen,
this is the crowd that watched Him be crucified. This is the
crowd that said, crucify Him, crucify Him, and they stood there,
this crowd, looked upon that mass of flesh that was beaten
so beaten, it says, his visage was so marred more than any man.
They saw him. And he's saying, that man's alive.
That man was approved of God. That man's the Messiah that Israel's
been looking for. You crucified him. And when they
heard that, and this is what happens, when the Holy Spirit
sends the gospel in power. But now listen, it's the gospel.
It's just not up here saying anything. It's not up here me
trying to convince you to accept Jesus as your personal Savior.
You'll notice Peter never says that. Peter never says Jesus
loves you and he wants to save you. Would you accept him as
your personal Savior? No, he says you're in trouble.
You're in trouble. You crucified the Son of God. You rejected the Son of God.
You were in a lot of trouble. I'm telling you, outside of Christ,
you and I are in a lot of trouble. Our sins are against God. David
said, Against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil
that I sinned. He killed Uriah. He said, But
he sinned against Uriah. David looked beyond that. David
said, No, I sinned against you, Lord. I've done this evil with
you looking on. You know, every one of us, every
one of us have sinned right in God's face. Knowing better. Knowing better. And we've done
it. And he says here now, when they
heard this, they were cut to the heart. They were cut to the heart. They
were pricked to the heart. This message is the message that
God uses to cut the heart, to prick the heart, to convict the
heart. And I tell you what, it's the
same message we hear throughout the rest of our lives. Conviction
grows from this message. Repentance grows from this message.
And it continues to grow until the Lord takes us home. We don't
just repent. umpteen years ago, then we've
moved on. No, we don't. I think we can repent more and
more as we grow older. I know this, I know this. We
repent more and more the more we grow in grace and knowledge
of Christ. I assure you, your repentance
will grow as that grows. Faith grows as we grow in grace
and knowledge of Christ. And as faith grows, repentance
grows because they go together. You can't separate them. And
this is what happens when the gospel comes in power. It lays open the heart. Repentance
is a painful work, but necessary. Necessary. It's God doing business
in the heart. It's not some facts being presented
to you and you and I, and you and I believe these facts. It
is a real operation of God in the heart. It's God giving a
new heart. It's coming to know God in Christ
in the heart. And notice their question. When
they heard this, they were pricked to the heart. They said, men
and brethren, what shall we do? We're in trouble. We're in trouble. When's the last time you've ever
heard any sinner say, what am I going to do? It's usually the preacher standing
in a pulpit, in modern day preaching, trying to get the people to do
something. Accept him, do something for him. No, what shall we do? We're in trouble. We're in trouble. Boy, I tell you what, when you
realize you're in trouble, that's when Jesus Christ means something
to you. That's when a need of a Savior
means something. When you're in trouble, people
are just not in trouble. We are guilty. You notice the
absence of begging here on Peter's part? He's preaching, he's not
begging. There's a difference between
preaching and begging. I'm not begging anyone, I'm preaching.
I'm declaring the Son of God. And the Holy Spirit will apply
the message. I can't apply it, I can't make
you understand anything. I can't make myself understand
anything. It's the Holy Spirit, He applies it. They were like
Joseph's brethren when they realized who Joseph was. They said, oh,
we are in trouble. Trouble, trouble, deep, deep
trouble. What they wanted to know was
this. How shall we appease God? We have offended God. We killed
His Son. We killed the one He sent to
us. How shall we appease God? They realized they were They
realized that there was no hope for them, but in the mercy of
God. Now here's what modern day preaching
and those who listen to it don't realize. Guilt. The preacher is standing up there
trying to put a salve over any kind of guilt. He's trying to
make them feel not guilty. The best thing God can do for
me and you is to make us understand and know our guilt. Our guilt. Our guilt of sin, our attitude
toward Him, our rejection of Him, our despising of Him. I mean, when's the last time you turned
the television on and you heard the weatherman say, God has given
us a beautiful day today? They'll say, Mother Nature. Mother
Nature has really blessed us today. Or they'll speak of luck. But they don't give God the praise.
God who gave them the energy to get out of bed, the ability
to take the next breath. He gave them the food that's
on their table. And who acknowledges that? You who believe. But the rest of this ungodly
world recognizes everything and everyone else. Except God, the
God of heaven and earth. So the only lesson here, they
have recognized their guilt and the only way their guilt could
be put away, the only way it could be put away, the only way
their guilt of shedding the blood of the Son of God, murdering
the Son of God, killing the Prince of Life, is the very blood they
shed. The only way that God can forgive
me of my sins is not, listen, it's not just by me asking. There's
got to be remission. There's got to be shedding of
blood. God's got to be a just God. That sin's got to be dealt
with. And this is one of the most comforting thoughts to me.
When I ask God to forgive me of my sins, I understand. Now listen, this is important.
I understand that the shed blood of Christ, right there in that
blood, is the forgiveness. It's the ability for God to forgive
me of my sins because that blood was shed for the sins I'm asking
forgiveness for. That blood of the Lamb of God
was shed for the sins I ask forgiveness for. Now that's, brethren, that's
comfort and that's where we get assurance. I understand that
God's not forgiven me just because I ask him to forgive me. But
there's the blood. There's the blood for the sins
I'm asking forgiveness for. Isn't that good news? And God
did it. God did it. And Peter replied, now listen,
repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus
Christ, the one you crucified and despised and hated. Now you
be baptized in his name. You identify with him. That's
what it is, you identify with him. Peter didn't tell them to
accept Jesus as their personal savior. He said repent. He said
repent, change your mind. The Greek meaning for repent
is change your mind. Listen, true sorrow over sin
comes from a change of mind about God, Christ, myself, and sin. That's what repentance is. And
a true understanding of that brings true sorrow, godly sorrow. It brings true godly sorrow.
But today's preaching has changed repent for accept. You see, accept
puts Christ in your power. Repent puts you guilty. If I
say repent of your wickedness, that makes you guilty, doesn't
it? It makes you guilty of wickedness. But if I say, won't you accept
Jesus? Now, let's put it into your powers. Well, I may and
I may not. You know, you might want to today,
you might not. But I tell you what, if I say
repent or perish, now you turn your back and walk
out that door, you've made a real choice there that you'd rather
perish than repent. But he says here, repent. Repent is putting the noose around
your neck and agreeing with God concerning your guilt and seeking mercy. You know,
the Lord doesn't have to forgive me. That's the first thing I
realized, the first thing when I heard my pastor, Henry Mayhem,
the first time I heard him preach. The first thing I realized that
stood out to me that God did not have to forgive me. Everybody
else was telling me he wanted to. Henry said he don't have
to. It's a different message, a different
effect. The Holy Spirit is not going
to honor a message where he puts God at your beckon. That puts God at your will. We
are at God's will. We are at the sovereign will
of God. God can save me or leave me alone
and be God. I'm the recipient of mercy. I am. And he says here, for the remission
of sins, repent and be baptized for the remission of sins. and
you'll receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. We've got to deal
with this sin issue and how it can be put away and how God can
be a just God and have anything to do with this wretched sinner.
And the only way that can be dealt with is at the cross, Christ
crucified. Christ and Him crucified. And
it's only through His blood that we can have forgiveness of sins.
And the gift of the Holy Spirit here is salvation. It's eternal
life. It's life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And it says here, be baptized. Let me give you a word on this.
I'm going to wind this down. We know that baptism doesn't
save. We know that. Everybody here
knows that. I believe everyone here knows that baptism does
not save. It does not wash away our sins. But everyone whom God
saves will be baptized, if at all possible. The thief on the
cross, it wasn't possible. He was nailed to it. But if at
all possible, God's sheep are going to follow His command. My sheep hear my voice and they
follow me. They follow me. You will make
a public confession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Aren't you glad
to own Him? Aren't you glad He owns you?
That's what we're really glad of. That He owns me. There's not a better thought
than that. Let me give you a really comforting thought you take home
with you the rest of your life. The rest of your life. God Almighty, God the Father
made him my surety. He made Jesus Christ, His Son,
my surety. You know what that means? He's
responsible to bring me home. He's responsible for me. He's responsible to present me
faultless. He's responsible to enable me
to stand before God Almighty, holy, harmless, undefiled, just
as He is. Take that thought all the way
to the grave. Jesus Christ is responsible for you who believe,
for you. They're all your failings, all
your ups and downs. He's going to bring you through
it because He's responsible. He's my surety. The debt's His. He paid it. It's already done.
The debt's done. It's over with. The books are
clean. They're clean. Oh, I'm glad. I thank God that He gave me a
heart to confess Him. And the promise is to all God's
elect Now, just briefly, and I mean briefly, I want you to
see the effect of the message when it comes in the power of
the Holy Spirit. In verse 40, "...and with many other words
did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward
generation." In other words, flee the wrath to come, flee
to the Lord Jesus Christ, our city of refuge. In verse 41,
Then they that gladly received his word were baptized, and the
same day there were added to them about three thousand souls."
Sinners gladly receive the gospel and identify with Christ when
the Holy Spirit opens their heart. In verse 42, the gospel brings
unity. Notice how they are united. They
continue steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship. It brings
unity. It'll divide the sheep from the
goats, but it don't divide the sheep from the sheep. And then
verse 43. In verse 43, godly fear came
on all who believed. That's a mark of sonship. That's
faith, repentance, and the fear of God is a mark of sonship.
Then in verse 44, they had common faith, common salvation. The
gospel is the great equalizer. What would make Mary, the Virgin
Mary, and Mary Magdalene, the one whom the Lord cast out seven
devils, what would make them walk together? The Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You couldn't get those two together
apart from the Gospel. Verse 45, a gospel that does
not reach the pocketbook will not reach the heart. You see,
they sold their possessions and goods and parted with them, and
they gave to every man that had need. A gospel that won't reach
your pocketbook never reached your heart. Really. Verse 46, singleness of heart,
God's glory. They continued daily with one
accord, singleness of heart. In verse 47, the Gospel makes
a real difference in men and women when it comes in power
and in truth. They were praising God. This
is the same crowd that said crucify Him. Crucify Him. Having favor with all the people,
and the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be said. That's the message. That's of
the Holy Spirit. That's how you know the Holy
Spirit's in the message. One thing is that it's all of
Christ. It's about Him, Christ and Him
crucified. And the effect of that message,
you'll understand something of your guilt. You'll feel something
of your guilt. You and I can't feel the full
measure of it, but our Lord did. But we can't feel the full measure
of it, we couldn't handle it. You say you're a bad sinner?
You're a whole lot worse than you think you are. A whole lot
worse. All right, I'm going to stop
here.