You'll take your Bible and turn
with me to Acts chapter 5 Acts the 5th chapter and we'll be
looking at verses 30 and to 32 this morning Acts chapter 5 and
verses 30 through 32 and the scripture says The God of our fathers raised
up Jesus whom you slew and hanged on a tree and Him hath God exalted
with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior, for to give repentance
to Israel and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses
of these things. And so is also the Holy Ghost,
whom God hath given to them that obey Him." The title of the lesson
this morning, A Prince and Savior. A Prince and Savior. Last week we saw that the angel
of the Lord came to the apostles as they were put into prison
and miraculously delivered them out of the prison and commanded
them that they should go back to the temple and preach the
gospel. They were to go back and preach
the gospel. And in obedience to this, they
did. They went back and preached the
gospel in the temple, but just as sure as they were sent back,
The Sadducees and this group of the Sanhedrin went to the
temple and arrested them again and brought them before the council
of the Sanhedrin. And in verse 28, they said, didn't
we tell you to stop preaching in the name of Jesus? Didn't
we command you to stop doing that? And Peter said, well, didn't
we tell you that we were going to obey God rather than you?
That we obey God rather than men? And friends, let us by all
means, By all means necessary, we are to live quiet and peaceable
lives. That's a good thing. If we live
quiet and peaceable lives, it's good. But never let us obey men rather
than God. No matter what it costs us, let
us obey God rather than men. Let us obey God's command that
He has given to us as believers rather than obeying the commands
of men. Do not let the things of this
life stand in our way when it comes to worship and service. Whatever stands in the way of
us believers, Something that stands between us and the worship
of God or the service of God, let's cast that out and not pay
it any attention. They didn't pay these people
any attention, did they? They knew what they said, but
they didn't pay it any mind. They went and did what God commanded
them to do. And that's what we're to do.
My friends, I know that our flesh and our feelings get in the way.
God says this, but many times our flesh rises up against it
and says, I don't want to do that. It's going to cost me too
much. It's going to cost me and I don't
want to do it. Let's not our feelings or the
things of this life, whether it be our own flesh or our family
or our children, if it stands in the way of Christ, we are
to get rid of it. We are to set it aside. And rather
than obey that, obey God. Obey what God has commanded us. And now in verses 30 and 31,
Peter here gives his defense. He says, we're going to obey
God rather than you, and this is the reason. Here's the reason
and proof that of what we are doing is obeying God. You know,
many people say they obey God. Isn't that easy to say? Peter
says, I'm obeying God, but instead of just telling you, I'm going
to show you. I'm going to show you once again
why it is we're not going to listen to you. And he gives his
defense and the evidence of the gospel that he is preaching.
Peter's telling him, he says, I'm not making this up. He said,
when I'm standing in the temple preaching the gospel, I'm doing
this as a command of God. He says, I'm compelled to declare
that Jesus Christ is Lord. First of all, Peter says, we
preach Jesus because God has raised Him up. This is the reading.
Look at our text. He said, we would obey God rather
than men. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus. Raised up Jesus. This is not necessarily speaking
of His resurrection as well as it is His being brought up by
God. As Him being the Messiah set
up by God, the elect of God. In Isaiah 53, verse 2, it says,
speaking of Christ, He shall grow up before Him as a tender
plant. as a root out of dry ground.
This speaking of Christ, he says, he shall grow up before God.
Who is it that sent the Lord Jesus Christ? It was God, wasn't
it? God the Father. Jesus said, the
Father has sent me. Who was it that upheld Christ
as a man? Did Christ rely on His own strength
to uphold Himself? No. He had the right and the
authority to do it, but yet He humbled Himself before God, and
God upheld Him. God brought Him up. God raised
Him up. And he says, Peter says, I'm
not talking about any strange God, some God that you didn't
understand. He's telling these Pharisees
and Sadducees. He says, I'm speaking about the God that you claim
to worship. Notice how he put that. The God
of our fathers. The God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac and the God of Jacob, the God of heaven and the God of
earth, the God who created all things by the word of His power.
He is the one that set up Christ. He's the one that raised up Christ.
I'm not talking about a God you didn't know, you never heard
of. He's the one that raised up Jesus.
And not only raised Him up, but He set Him out there for everyone
to see. Everyone to see. Was this thing of Christ done
in a corner? Was this thing set in a corner
where no one in the nation of Israel knew what was going on?
No. Peter in Acts 2.22 says, this
man Jesus of Nazareth whom God has manifest to you by signs
and wonders. You see, when he talked about
Jesus, they knew him. They knew what miracles he wrought
in that nation. what miracles he came to do. Nicodemus said, we know, talking
about the Sanhedrin, this same group of people that are sitting
in judgment of Peter, Nicodemus said of them, we all know that
thou art a teacher come from God. For no man can do these
things except God be with him. See, these people knew what he
was talking about. Yet Peter says, in spite of this,
In spite of the evidence that God had raised up Jesus, you
took Him and crucified Him. No doubt that didn't cause a
stir in their hearts. No doubt it didn't cause some
anger in their hearts when He said that. But it was true and
there's nothing they could say against it. You ever say something
that's true to somebody and watch them get angry because you told
them the truth? These men were angry. Peter says,
you slew Him and hung Him on a tree, the one that God raised
up. But they did this because they
didn't know Him. They didn't know God. They've
heard of God, but they didn't know God. These men claimed to
know God the Father, and they seem to be moral and religious
folks. But in John chapter 8, Jesus
exposed these men for exactly what they were. He says, "...the
Father honoreth Me, whom you say is your God, yet you have
not known Him." Nobody will ever know God unless
they know Him through the Lord Jesus Christ. None of us in this
building will ever know God. Oh, you can hear of Him and you
can acknowledge He exists, but you'll never know who He is apart
from the person of Jesus Christ. You that know God, and I know
God, we know Him by Jesus Christ, who is God manifest in the flesh. He hath declared the Father to
us. He hath declared Him. Jesus said
before Abraham was? I am." What was he saying? I
am God. You don't know God unless you
know Him through me. And Paul says, had they known
this, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory, yet they didn't
know it. And because they didn't know
it, they crucified Him. But my friends, let us not be distraught
concerning this. Because it was God that delivered
him by His determinate counsel into the hands of these men so
that they would crucify Him. And Peter says, God raised Him
up, but you by wicked hands have slew Him. That's my defense. That's why I'm obeying God rather
than you. Because God raised the man Jesus
Christ up. And we're preaching Christ because
God raised Him up. And although you slew him on
a tree, yet God has done something further than that. He has made
him a prince and a savior." Look at our text again. He says, "...for
him hath God raised up, whom you slew and hanged on a tree.
Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a prince and
savior." That's my second point, that Jesus is a Prince and a
Savior. This is why we preach the gospel. I'll tell you, if
it ended at the cross, we wouldn't have anything to say, would we?
If Jesus Christ died on the cross and that was the end of it, we
wouldn't have anything to say. Paul says that if Jesus Christ
is not risen, then we are dead in our sins and there's no point
in us being here. Peter said, if that had ended
it, then I wouldn't have any authority to speak in this man's
name. But he said, that wasn't the end of it. That wasn't the
end, because God declared Him and raised Him up and manifest
to us He is a Prince and a Savior. A Prince and a Savior. This is the authority by which
I speak this morning. I speak to you because God hath
raised up Christ to be a Prince and a Savior. He who was crucified
is now exalted at the right hand of God. This is the reason that
gospel preachers are preaching all over this nation this morning,
and we have the authority to do so, because God hath raised
Him up to be a Prince and a Savior. First of all, a Prince. Now,
that word just means King. King. God hath raised Him up
to be King. Now, this should thrill our souls
above everything else. This should thrill our souls
that God has raised up Christ to be our King. to be a king. Let me illustrate this for you.
Remember Joseph, when his brothers threw him in prison, and they
sold him off to be a slave, and they thought that was the end
of it. And then all of a sudden, the Lord caused that famine,
and they went into Egypt. And all of a sudden, they're
standing before Joseph, who is now the prince of the land, king
of all, next to Pharaoh. There's no more power that could
be had in Egypt but this, that Joseph had. And when He revealed
Himself, they were first afraid, weren't they? They were scared
because He had all power given to Him. But when He declared to them,
He said, don't be afraid. You meant it for evil, but God
meant it for good. Do you not imagine that their
souls leaped for joy? That their brother was at the
throne? That if they had somebody who
loved them that was on the throne of Egypt, how much more joy should
we have to know that our brother is on the throne of heaven itself. That God has exalted Christ to
be above all things. Talk about having a connection.
Talk about networking. I remember that in college. We
would network trying to get somewhere. We'd always try to find somebody
who had some authority and buddy up to them. Well, my friends,
we have the King of Kings who has died for us. And when He
brought us to our knees, yes, we feared Him because we thought
that He would surely cast us out. But when we came to Him,
we found Him to be a Prince, a Prince and a Savior. And now
then we have the God of heaven. Is there any circumstance that
you are going through that He cannot handle? Is there anything
that we are doing that He cannot take care of? My friends, He's a Prince. He
is exalted above all things. He said, this is My blood that
paid the ransom for your sins and the joy that should fill
our souls and confidence that should fill our hearts to know
that He is exalted to be the King of all the earth. King of
all the earth. And He's not only exalted to
be a King, He's also exalted to be our Savior. God hath not
only made this Christ to sit upon His throne in heaven, But
King Jesus was also given authority and power so that He should save
all of God's elect. He should save them, I love this
word, to the uttermost, that come to God by Him. Have
you come to God by Him? Then He has all authority as
a Prince and a Savior to save you to the uttermost. God has
left nothing to chance. Nothing. Regarding our salvation,
from start to finish, God has ordained all things and given
it into the hand of Christ to execute this authority. And that's what He's doing. Jesus
said, "...as thou hast given Him power over all flesh." What
for? That He should give eternal life
to as many as Thou hast given him." Isn't that what he said?
He said, you've given me authority to be a prince so that I might
be a Savior to your people. He's given him to be a prince.
Friends, I declare unto you that there is only one Savior for
the souls of men, and His name is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He alone can and does save sinners. My friend, he has saved me. He
is saving me and he shall save me completely. How can I be so confident? He's
on the throne. Is there any higher than him?
Is there any who has more power than him? No, no. He's been given to be a prince
and a savior. Now notice. that our Prince and
Savior does give repentance and forgiveness
of sins. Look at that. Verse 31, God hath
exalted Him with His right hand to be a Prince and a Savior for,
this is the reason, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of
sins. Now, none of us by nature ever
had any ability to repent. And those that are lost, they
can't repent. They have no ability to. Yet
God commands them to. And therefore, they're responsible.
But in order for a man to repent, it must come directly from the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He must give repentance. And let me again tell you, I've
told you this before, what repentance is. Repentance is not just turning
from one sin. Everybody thinks, well, I'm just
going to repent of that one little sin and turn to God. Have we
ever truly repented in that way? Have you ever stopped lying?
You repented of lying. Have you ever stopped? No, then
you've never truly repented. You've never really truly turned
from that one sin. What repentance is, in a nutshell,
is taking God's side against ourselves. That's repentance.
In order for a man to do that, in order for a man to take God's
side against himself, it must be given. It must be given and
it's given by Christ. To have true repentance is this, is to say in our heart, let God
be true and every man, especially myself, be a liar. It's to take
God's side completely against ourselves. It is to exalt God's
Word above all our thoughts and setting Christ first in everything. You see, the natural man only
sides with his own self. A natural man only sides with
himself. He says, this is the way I think
God should be worshipped. And therefore, I worship God
this way, regardless of what God says about it. I'll do this
and God must accept me because I think so. No, my friends, whatever
we think, however we feel about something. In order to repent,
we must do away with our thoughts and our feelings and cling solely
to the Word of God. Take God's side against ourselves.
And this is given by God, and second of all, forgiveness. Are
there any who need forgiveness? Forgiveness of sin. Not with each other, but with
God. Do we need forgiveness with God?
Well, Jesus Christ has been exalted a Prince and a Savior to give
forgiveness of sins. You know what? I realized this
morning again that I need forgiveness more today than I ever have in
my entire life. I need His mercy more today than
I ever have. Believers in Christ recognize
our need of forgiveness. We need forgiveness. Go to 1
John chapter 1. Flip over there real fast. 1
John chapter 1 and verse 8. 1 John chapter 1 and verse 8. If we say that we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. Do you have
sin? If you say you have no sin, the
truth is not in you. Skip down to verse 10. If we
say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar. Now, my friends, I know of people
in this world, and you may encounter them, and I want you to understand
where they're coming from. I want to teach you where they're
coming from. There are people who believe that when they are
saved, they are devoid of all sin, that they are completely
pure of all sin. Anyone who says that does not
know Christ at all. And I don't care what they say.
I'm clinging to God's Word. I say, let God be true and every
man a liar. But yet someone who says they
have no sin, they make God the liar. They make God the liar. My friends, I know that in my
flesh dwelleth no good thing. When I was saved, my flesh didn't
change. It's still as corruptible as
it was the day I was born. Yea, more so corruptible. In
me dwells no good thing. Therefore, let us confess our
sins, believers. Don't confess them to me or to
somebody else. I can't do anything for you. Confess them to Christ. He's
the one that God has exalted to be a Prince and a Savior,
to give forgiveness. Look at verse 9. If we confess
our sins, here it is, He is faithful, and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." He's faithful to do it, and He's
not only faithful to do it, He's just to do it. Isn't that good? He's not contradicting His law
to forgive us our sins, is He? He's not going against Himself
to forgive us our sins. How many times have we had to
go against our own principles to forgive somebody? When you
forgive somebody, sometimes you have to bite your cheek and you're
just, you're grudgingly forgiving them. I've got to forgive them
because that's what God said. Oh man, I've got to forgive.
Many times we do that, but He doesn't do that. He forgives
completely. And He does it without begrudging
us. He's not anything like us, my
friends. Not anything like this flesh.
Jesus Christ is faithful and just to forgive us our sins because
God has exalted Him to be a Prince and a Savior. His blood sacrifice
has paid the sin debt and He can freely say, I forgive you. I forgive you. Forgiveness is a wonderful thing,
isn't it? How many times we walk around
with a burden on our shoulders too heavy to bear, and then we take it to the Lord
in prayer. How many times have we breathed
the sigh of relief when these words come to our heart, He is
faithful and just to forgive us all our sins. Oh, what a sigh of relief. Forgiveness
is a wonderful thing, and Christ gives forgiveness to all who
come to Him. And now, I want us to see that Jesus Christ is given a Prince
and a Savior. In other words, there are some
people who take Jesus to be King. They do. They acknowledge Him
to be Lord and Ruler over all, but yet they have no idea of
Christ the Savior. You see, they think that Jesus
is King, and yes, you must obey His law. And so they put out
a law of Christ, and they said, you must obey His law in order
to be received into glory. You see, these people, they own
Him as King, But they have no idea that He's Savior. Oh, they
acknowledge that He did part of the work, but the rest is
up to you. You see, these people who acknowledge
Jesus as King, but not as Savior, they don't know Him at all. They
don't know Him at all. And there are some who acknowledge
Him as Savior, but don't own Him as King. They say, well, Jesus died for
me and He saved me, but yet I can go and live as I please and do
as I want. I can sin as much as I want to
because Jesus is my Savior. They view Him as like a fire
escape out of hell. And yet these men are antinomians,
lawless men who have no regard for Him as
King. They confess Him to be Savior,
but they will not have this man to rule over us. I like what
this one preacher said. He said, No man has truly given
himself to Christ until he has said this, My Lord, I give Thee
this day my body, My soul, my power, my talents, my goods,
my house, my children, and all that I have. Thine they are,
and as for me, I have nothing. I surrender all to Thee. Friends, if Jesus Christ is not
our King, He is not our Savior, And if Jesus Christ is not our
Savior, He is not our King. When we confess Christ, we must
confess Him both as Lord and Savior. Do you confess Him so? Do you confess Him so? If you
do, then my friends, we, like the Apostle Peter, are witnesses
of these things. Peter says, I'm a witness that
He is both a Prince and a Savior. I'm a witness of that. And so
are you who have the Holy Spirit inside of you, dwelling inside
of you. You are a witness. Therefore,
don't hold back your tongue. Speak, my friends, often of Christ. Speak of Him often as a Prince
and a Savior. Is there any other reason we're
here? Is there any other reason that
you think that God has left you here on this earth? We all only have one purpose,
my friends, in this life, and it's not to gain success, it's
not our job, and it's not our family. The only reason we exist
here on this earth is to be salt and light. But if the salt has
lost its savor, what good is it? If we've lost our witness
for Christ, what good is our existence here on this earth? It is good for nothing. Exalt Christ Witness of Christ
He's a prince and a savior and his worthy. He is worthy of our
witness He's worthy of our witness I pray that God will bless this
study